Bee: Former Kings pick watches stock rise

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Former Kings pick watches stock rise
By Sam Amick - Bee Staff Writer
Last Updated 6:34 am PDT Thursday, March 15, 2007


There's room to grow, not only for his bank account but for his game, too.

Gerald Wallace, the Kings draft pick whose game has risen since Charlotte picked him up in the 2004 expansion draft, will face free agency this offseason. He has a player option for $6 million for next season, which is like saying one of Donald Trump's kids could get $100 per week from their billionaire papa.

The Bobcats are among the few teams that will have loads of salary cap room, with $27.7 million officially on the books for the 2007-08 campaign and the cap expected to be $54 million to $58 million.

But Wallace said he is focused on securing progress relative to last season. With the Bobcats' win over the Kings, they are within two of their mark from 2005-06.

Come July, though, Wallace will have options. He is considered among the top free agents available.

The Bobcats seem to place Wallace as a priority and have the spending room to follow through, but they are also amid change. Michael Jordan, the team's managing member of basketball operations, announced Tuesday that coach-general manager Bernie Bickerstaff won't be courtside next season, though he likely will retain his upper-management duties. Still, Wallace said he likes the direction of the franchise.

"It feels pretty good to me, the way the organization is going and the way they're putting everything together," Wallace said. "I like the guys they're (bringing) in, so it's pretty much a good situation for me here."

Wallace had it good against the Kings, with his squad winning despite his struggles against Ron Artest. The Kings small forward held Wallace to 13 points on 5-for-13 shooting, and Wallace fouled out with 3:37 remaining.

About the writer: The Bee's Sam Amick can be reached at samick@ sacbee.com.
 
He never really got enough playing time here to show much beyond his freak athleticism. I remember him being pretty bad actually. Lots of dumb mistakes. Glad to see him proving that wrong...
 
Peeler had a player option that year. What that meant was that if the Kings had protected Peeler, they would have had to, by rule, leave another player unprotected (every team has to leave at least one player unprotected, and players with player options don't count). So leaving peeler unprotected does the Kings no good.

The one option the Kings did have was to sign an extra player mid-season and leave that player unprotected, but the Maloofs were unwilling to pay another player that year, so Petrie had his hands tied. The Kings could have left C-Webb unprotected--but the Kings didn't want to take the risk of losing him to a sign-and-trade or incurring C-Webb's wrath if he doesn't get picked. There really wasn't any other realistic option--that's how deep the Kings were back then.
 
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Peeler had a player option that year. What that meant was that if the Kings had protected Peeler, they would have had to, by rule, leave another player unprotected. So leaving peeler unprotected does the Kings no good.

The one option the Kings did have was to sign an extra player mid-season and leave that player unprotected, but the Maloofs were unwilling to pay another player that year, so Petrie had his hands tied. The Kings could have left C-Webb unprotected--but the Kings didn't want to take the risk of losing him to a sign-and-trade or incurring C-Webb's wrath if he doesn't get picked.

We tied our own hands with the Peeler signing. Said it a dozen times, Geoff just flat screwed up. The expansion draft was no mystery, and everybody knew the rules. Simple math to figure out who got left out. Letting Peeler have a player option guaranteed the loss of either Gerald or Songaila. The simple solution was to sign somebody, ANYBODY, Peeler or not, to a two year guaranteed contract. Just to expose them in the expansion draft. Was not rocket science. Instead we gave Peeler the option to screw us, which he did. Should never have been given that chance.
 
Oh, I absolutely agree that the Peeler signing was a mistake. Of course, they should've signed someone just to stash on the "injury" list. But signing another player (or signing a player to a two-year guaranteed contract) and possibly paying the tax was for the Maloofs to say, not Petrie.

My main point was that the choice wasn't to protect Peeler or Gerald Wallace--if that were the choice, the Kings would've left AP unprotected, I'm sure. Many Kings fans back then had pointed out the option of leaving C-Webb unprotected with his monster contract, but I really didn't think the Kings took that option seriously.
 
I think Adelman was fed up with him honestly. Wallace was known for a poor work ethic and Peja-level toughness while here. I still remember the Christmas game against the Mavs where he started due to other player's injury, had a GREAT first half, then pulled himself out of the game for some phantom injury. He had all the opportunity he needed to get PT and steal minutes, but he kept letting those chances pass him by.
 
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