http://www.sacbee.com/100/story/158437.html
Is the Musselman era over?
Sources close to the Kings say the coach likely is on his way out, but team management has elected to remain mum on the subject.
By Sam Amick - Bee Staff Writer
Last Updated 12:14 am PDT Friday, April 20, 2007
The idea was simple, a Kings season finale that would be capped with players handing out shoes to their loyal followers on Fan Appreciation Night at Arco Arena.
Then came loss No. 49 Wednesday night against the Los Angeles Lakers, followed by early exits by many fans and post-buzzer confusion on the floor because the staff members and players just couldn't seem to get in sync. And much like the season itself, what was planned at the outset never seemed to transpire in the end.
A day later, the exodus continued at the team's practice facility, where Kings basketball president Geoff Petrie and coach Eric Musselman conducted separate one-on-one meetings with the players after the Kings were out of the playoff picture for the first time in nine seasons.
Sources close to the team who won't go on record for fear of repercussions have indicated that Musselman will not return.
Petrie, who is scheduled to leave Sunday for a two-week trip to Europe, will meet with Musselman today. Petrie said Wednesday that he would not speculate beyond today's meeting regarding the fate of his first-year coach, but indicated that he wanted to "address as much as I can as quickly as I can" as it relates to the team.
By all accounts, the decision to keep or fire Musselman is Petrie's to make and the Maloofs to approve, as the team co-owners would owe the coach for the final two years on his three-year contract, worth approximately $5 million.
The Maloofs are in Miami on a business trip that, according to team spokesman Troy Hanson, had been planned for six weeks. This trip did not result in the changing of a Las Vegas meeting between the team's co-owners and Petrie, and their schedules and locales mean they will not be able to convene in person for some time.
Petrie declined all media requests Thursday and is expected to discuss the past and the future of the team today.
The players, of course, are now free to book trips for which they wish they didn't have the time. And as for explaining what went wrong in the past seven months, the opinions varied.
"If guys are honest, (they'll say) there were a lot of guys who didn't buy into their roles, didn't like their roles, and sometimes that affected the way we played," forward Shareef Abdur-Rahim said.
Forward Corliss Williamson said there were issues on both ends of the floor, but the defensive lapses of a team that finished 24th in opponents' scoring (103.1 points per game) played the heaviest role.
"We started it off talking about being tougher defensively, and we seemed to be dedicated to improving in that area," Williamson said. "But as the season went on, that sort of fell to the wayside, and we lost focus."
There was no lack of issues off the floor, either, with Musselman's arrest on suspicion of driving under the influence in October starting a downward spiral nobody imagined.
"Somebody told me how they had a thing in the paper that was a whole timeline of things that happened, and it's just the fact that, 'What's the first thing that happened?' " Abdur-Rahim said.
Point guard Mike Bibby has said he would like to see Musselman return, while numerous players said the choice is management's to make.
"There are smart people around here who make those decisions for us," Abdur-Rahim said. "I'll leave that up to them."
About the writer: The Bee's Sam Amick can be reached at samick@sacbee.com.
Is the Musselman era over?
Sources close to the Kings say the coach likely is on his way out, but team management has elected to remain mum on the subject.
By Sam Amick - Bee Staff Writer
Last Updated 12:14 am PDT Friday, April 20, 2007
The idea was simple, a Kings season finale that would be capped with players handing out shoes to their loyal followers on Fan Appreciation Night at Arco Arena.
Then came loss No. 49 Wednesday night against the Los Angeles Lakers, followed by early exits by many fans and post-buzzer confusion on the floor because the staff members and players just couldn't seem to get in sync. And much like the season itself, what was planned at the outset never seemed to transpire in the end.
A day later, the exodus continued at the team's practice facility, where Kings basketball president Geoff Petrie and coach Eric Musselman conducted separate one-on-one meetings with the players after the Kings were out of the playoff picture for the first time in nine seasons.
Sources close to the team who won't go on record for fear of repercussions have indicated that Musselman will not return.
Petrie, who is scheduled to leave Sunday for a two-week trip to Europe, will meet with Musselman today. Petrie said Wednesday that he would not speculate beyond today's meeting regarding the fate of his first-year coach, but indicated that he wanted to "address as much as I can as quickly as I can" as it relates to the team.
By all accounts, the decision to keep or fire Musselman is Petrie's to make and the Maloofs to approve, as the team co-owners would owe the coach for the final two years on his three-year contract, worth approximately $5 million.
The Maloofs are in Miami on a business trip that, according to team spokesman Troy Hanson, had been planned for six weeks. This trip did not result in the changing of a Las Vegas meeting between the team's co-owners and Petrie, and their schedules and locales mean they will not be able to convene in person for some time.
Petrie declined all media requests Thursday and is expected to discuss the past and the future of the team today.
The players, of course, are now free to book trips for which they wish they didn't have the time. And as for explaining what went wrong in the past seven months, the opinions varied.
"If guys are honest, (they'll say) there were a lot of guys who didn't buy into their roles, didn't like their roles, and sometimes that affected the way we played," forward Shareef Abdur-Rahim said.
Forward Corliss Williamson said there were issues on both ends of the floor, but the defensive lapses of a team that finished 24th in opponents' scoring (103.1 points per game) played the heaviest role.
"We started it off talking about being tougher defensively, and we seemed to be dedicated to improving in that area," Williamson said. "But as the season went on, that sort of fell to the wayside, and we lost focus."
There was no lack of issues off the floor, either, with Musselman's arrest on suspicion of driving under the influence in October starting a downward spiral nobody imagined.
"Somebody told me how they had a thing in the paper that was a whole timeline of things that happened, and it's just the fact that, 'What's the first thing that happened?' " Abdur-Rahim said.
Point guard Mike Bibby has said he would like to see Musselman return, while numerous players said the choice is management's to make.
"There are smart people around here who make those decisions for us," Abdur-Rahim said. "I'll leave that up to them."
About the writer: The Bee's Sam Amick can be reached at samick@sacbee.com.
