I can't believe this wasn't posted... 
Pretty interesting read, IMHO.
http://www.sacbee.com/100/story/74748.html
Kings doing just fine at center
The team has no plans to find help, preferring to stick with smaller players in the middle.
By Sam Amick - Bee Staff Writer
Last Updated 6:29 am PST Friday, November 10, 2006
Story appeared in SPORTS section, Page C4
Former Kings center Vlade Divac called Geoff Petrie on Thursday, but it's not what you think.
As the Kings' president of basketball operations noted, the voice-mail message said nothing of a Divac return, even if the Kings are without starting big man Brad Miller for this entire month and perhaps longer.
Petrie said he isn't hitting the phones looking for center help, either, as the Kings are 2-0 without Miller (torn tendon in his left foot) and the replacement -- 6-foot-9 Shareef Abdur-Rahim -- is filling in just fine. The Kings have 14 players on the roster, meaning they could sign a 15th before reaching the league maximum or find help via trade.
"There's nothing going on there," Petrie said. "We're doing OK. (Abdur-Rahim) is doing a good job, and there's a lot of teams playing small ball anyway. To get a guy just to have a big body wouldn't help much."
In his two starts at center, Abdur-Rahim has hit nine of 24 shots for 22 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. He played just 26 minutes in the Kings' win over Detroit Wednesday at Arco Arena, when foul trouble cut his minutes and reserve Corliss Williamson was stealing the show. But as Kings coach Eric Musselman has said, Abdur-Rahim is the known commodity.
Reserve big man Maurice Taylor, on the other hand, hasn't been so predictable. The 6-9 Taylor, who was signed to the veteran's minimum deal ($1.06 million) in early October, has barely seen the floor in five games. In a combined 21 minutes, the nine-year veteran missed all six of his field-goal attempts, grabbed four rebounds and registered no blocks.
Taylor's time in Sacramento has been slow from the start, with his late signing and struggling to pass Musselman's conditioning test.
"He's got talent, and he's a proven player," Petrie said of Taylor. "He's working on his conditioning, and once he comes around there he has the capacity to help."
As the rotation remains far from regular, Williamson made his case for more minutes with his breakout game against the Pistons (15 points in 21 minutes, four rebounds).
Shooting pain -- Point guard Mike Bibby had his sharpest shooting night yet against Detroit, hitting six of 13 shots to pass the 10,000-point mark for his career and marking a full return to health. Or not.
"Just because it's going in doesn't mean it feels good," Bibby said afterward.
It qualified as Bibby's first admission of discomfort in his right shooting wrist. Since his early return and surprise start in the season opener, Bibby has been battling the wrist injury, which occurred during the same play in Reno on Oct. 22 in which he suffered a thumb injury.
Bibby is the 100th player in NBA history to score 10,000 points and have 3,000 assists.
Back to Vlade -- Divac, an international scout with the Los Angeles Lakers, is also the head of operations for the Real Madrid Baloncesto team in Spain.
The squad is part of the Real Madrid club that includes the legendary soccer team, although the basketball team has won a record 29 Spanish League titles.
There was speculation in early October that Divac's new team could be involved in a potential NBA expansion plan into Europe. On Oct. 5, Divac was part of a meeting with NBA Commissioner David Stern and other officials from Real Madrid to discuss such matters.
About the writer: The Bee's Sam Amick can be reached at samick@sacbee.com.
Pretty interesting read, IMHO.http://www.sacbee.com/100/story/74748.html
Kings doing just fine at center
The team has no plans to find help, preferring to stick with smaller players in the middle.
By Sam Amick - Bee Staff Writer
Last Updated 6:29 am PST Friday, November 10, 2006
Story appeared in SPORTS section, Page C4
Former Kings center Vlade Divac called Geoff Petrie on Thursday, but it's not what you think.
As the Kings' president of basketball operations noted, the voice-mail message said nothing of a Divac return, even if the Kings are without starting big man Brad Miller for this entire month and perhaps longer.
Petrie said he isn't hitting the phones looking for center help, either, as the Kings are 2-0 without Miller (torn tendon in his left foot) and the replacement -- 6-foot-9 Shareef Abdur-Rahim -- is filling in just fine. The Kings have 14 players on the roster, meaning they could sign a 15th before reaching the league maximum or find help via trade.
"There's nothing going on there," Petrie said. "We're doing OK. (Abdur-Rahim) is doing a good job, and there's a lot of teams playing small ball anyway. To get a guy just to have a big body wouldn't help much."
In his two starts at center, Abdur-Rahim has hit nine of 24 shots for 22 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. He played just 26 minutes in the Kings' win over Detroit Wednesday at Arco Arena, when foul trouble cut his minutes and reserve Corliss Williamson was stealing the show. But as Kings coach Eric Musselman has said, Abdur-Rahim is the known commodity.
Reserve big man Maurice Taylor, on the other hand, hasn't been so predictable. The 6-9 Taylor, who was signed to the veteran's minimum deal ($1.06 million) in early October, has barely seen the floor in five games. In a combined 21 minutes, the nine-year veteran missed all six of his field-goal attempts, grabbed four rebounds and registered no blocks.
Taylor's time in Sacramento has been slow from the start, with his late signing and struggling to pass Musselman's conditioning test.
"He's got talent, and he's a proven player," Petrie said of Taylor. "He's working on his conditioning, and once he comes around there he has the capacity to help."
As the rotation remains far from regular, Williamson made his case for more minutes with his breakout game against the Pistons (15 points in 21 minutes, four rebounds).
Shooting pain -- Point guard Mike Bibby had his sharpest shooting night yet against Detroit, hitting six of 13 shots to pass the 10,000-point mark for his career and marking a full return to health. Or not.
"Just because it's going in doesn't mean it feels good," Bibby said afterward.
It qualified as Bibby's first admission of discomfort in his right shooting wrist. Since his early return and surprise start in the season opener, Bibby has been battling the wrist injury, which occurred during the same play in Reno on Oct. 22 in which he suffered a thumb injury.
Bibby is the 100th player in NBA history to score 10,000 points and have 3,000 assists.
Back to Vlade -- Divac, an international scout with the Los Angeles Lakers, is also the head of operations for the Real Madrid Baloncesto team in Spain.
The squad is part of the Real Madrid club that includes the legendary soccer team, although the basketball team has won a record 29 Spanish League titles.
There was speculation in early October that Divac's new team could be involved in a potential NBA expansion plan into Europe. On Oct. 5, Divac was part of a meeting with NBA Commissioner David Stern and other officials from Real Madrid to discuss such matters.
About the writer: The Bee's Sam Amick can be reached at samick@sacbee.com.
