http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/basketball/kings/story/13405344p-14246649c.html
Marcos Bretón: Stethoscopes at 10 paces: It's dueling doctors
By Marcos Bretón -- Bee Sports Columnist
In the NBA, it's all about matchups, about which team has the better players, coaches or front office.
But in the miraculous little matter of Shareef Abdur-Rahim as a King - and not a New Jersey Net - it's all about which team has the better doctors.
Indeed, the Friday signing of the 6-foot-9 forward by Sacramento ultimately will be judged by whether the Nets' doctors were right and Jersey was right to dump the nearly signed Abdur-Rahim because of a bum, possibly arthritic, right knee.
Or whether the Kings' doctors are right and Abdur-Rahim is good to go in a multiyear deal for the unbelievably low price of a midlevel exception.
Man. Don't you hate trusting doctors for anything, let alone the near future of a Kings franchise being rebuilt like Chris Webber's meniscus?
Well, for the Kings' sake, hopefully it looks better than that. It could be much better if we come to find the Nets' doctors went to med school in Haiti or were analyzing Tony Soprano's knee instead of Abdur-Rahim's.
Because if the Kings' doctors are right and whatever scar tissue Abdur-Rahim has turns out to be nothing - watch out.
Sacramento could have a good little team on its hands. And the Kings could have a long, athletic player who can run the floor, do damage on the low block and perform a skill called rebounding. At least I think it's called rebounding. I've lived in Sacramento for so long, sometimes I forget.
Either way, Kings "resident genius" Geoff Petrie thought it was worth the gamble to scoop Abdur-Rahim off the New Jersey Turnpike after the Nets called off a deal reportedly worth $38 million over six years.
That's roughly $9 million more than Abdur-Rahim will get with the Kings, who are set to pay $29.3 million over five years. A potential bargain.
What a stunner. But no one was more stunned than Abdur-Rahim, who thought he was going to play with fellow Cal product Jason Kidd until he suddenly was being described as a near invalid in the East Coast media.
"The only thing I can tell you is that I'm healthy," Abdur-Rahim said at a news conference Friday at the Kings' practice facility. "I guess the Nets saw something they were uncomfortable with."
Abdur-Rahim's agent, Aaron Goodwin, said he's still unclear why the Nets deal fell apart.
"There was information that was released that shouldn't have been," Goodwin said of reports that Nets doctors red-flagged Abdur-Rahim's knee in regards to a long-term contract."His knees are not arthritic."
While Goodwin isn't accusing the New Jersey front office of anything, Abdur-Rahim's jagged road to Sacramento speaks to the dark side of high-level contract negotiations in the NBA.
Who knows who is telling the truth on why a sure-fire deal died for the 28-year-old Georgia native once voted a "good guy" in sport by the Sporting News?
What is certain is that Abdur-Rahim lost a ton of money in the flicker of an MRI. And this after he declined $47 million from Milwaukee, almost $20 million more than he'll get here.
"It pains me to see a player not get his market value," Goodwin said.
Yet Goodwin was happy because his client was happy to be coming to a winner, something Abdur-Rahim never has experienced as a pro.
And the Kings definitely are happy to add a key piece to an attractive puzzle containing Mike Bibby, Bonzi Wells, Peja Stojakovic and Brad Miller - a formidable starting lineup in theory.
"In this business, you cannot take the risk out of everything," Petrie said. "But we feel like we've upgraded ourselves. There is good reason (for Kings fans) to have some new excitement."
Of course, it only will work if the Kings play together, if an untested collective can click well enough to revive the Kings' spirited sense of unselfish play - once a creative, hardwood version of Brazilian soccer.
As for Abdur-Rahim, it only will work if he plays as advertised, gets down low, steps out and fires a sweet jumper and rebounds effectively. In other words, if he does most everything Webber couldn't do in his depressingly limited final days here.
We'll see, but for now: What can we say about Petrie - the man who once made the Kings the toast of the NBA?
Here is a man who is as smart as they come and yet this time he may have been so lucky, it's not even funny. He may have signed a star at half-price. And if that happens, today's luck becomes tomorrow's genius. That's how legends are built in the NBA.
Marcos Bretón: Stethoscopes at 10 paces: It's dueling doctors
By Marcos Bretón -- Bee Sports Columnist
In the NBA, it's all about matchups, about which team has the better players, coaches or front office.
But in the miraculous little matter of Shareef Abdur-Rahim as a King - and not a New Jersey Net - it's all about which team has the better doctors.
Indeed, the Friday signing of the 6-foot-9 forward by Sacramento ultimately will be judged by whether the Nets' doctors were right and Jersey was right to dump the nearly signed Abdur-Rahim because of a bum, possibly arthritic, right knee.
Or whether the Kings' doctors are right and Abdur-Rahim is good to go in a multiyear deal for the unbelievably low price of a midlevel exception.
Man. Don't you hate trusting doctors for anything, let alone the near future of a Kings franchise being rebuilt like Chris Webber's meniscus?
Well, for the Kings' sake, hopefully it looks better than that. It could be much better if we come to find the Nets' doctors went to med school in Haiti or were analyzing Tony Soprano's knee instead of Abdur-Rahim's.
Because if the Kings' doctors are right and whatever scar tissue Abdur-Rahim has turns out to be nothing - watch out.
Sacramento could have a good little team on its hands. And the Kings could have a long, athletic player who can run the floor, do damage on the low block and perform a skill called rebounding. At least I think it's called rebounding. I've lived in Sacramento for so long, sometimes I forget.
Either way, Kings "resident genius" Geoff Petrie thought it was worth the gamble to scoop Abdur-Rahim off the New Jersey Turnpike after the Nets called off a deal reportedly worth $38 million over six years.
That's roughly $9 million more than Abdur-Rahim will get with the Kings, who are set to pay $29.3 million over five years. A potential bargain.
What a stunner. But no one was more stunned than Abdur-Rahim, who thought he was going to play with fellow Cal product Jason Kidd until he suddenly was being described as a near invalid in the East Coast media.
"The only thing I can tell you is that I'm healthy," Abdur-Rahim said at a news conference Friday at the Kings' practice facility. "I guess the Nets saw something they were uncomfortable with."
Abdur-Rahim's agent, Aaron Goodwin, said he's still unclear why the Nets deal fell apart.
"There was information that was released that shouldn't have been," Goodwin said of reports that Nets doctors red-flagged Abdur-Rahim's knee in regards to a long-term contract."His knees are not arthritic."
While Goodwin isn't accusing the New Jersey front office of anything, Abdur-Rahim's jagged road to Sacramento speaks to the dark side of high-level contract negotiations in the NBA.
Who knows who is telling the truth on why a sure-fire deal died for the 28-year-old Georgia native once voted a "good guy" in sport by the Sporting News?
What is certain is that Abdur-Rahim lost a ton of money in the flicker of an MRI. And this after he declined $47 million from Milwaukee, almost $20 million more than he'll get here.
"It pains me to see a player not get his market value," Goodwin said.
Yet Goodwin was happy because his client was happy to be coming to a winner, something Abdur-Rahim never has experienced as a pro.
And the Kings definitely are happy to add a key piece to an attractive puzzle containing Mike Bibby, Bonzi Wells, Peja Stojakovic and Brad Miller - a formidable starting lineup in theory.
"In this business, you cannot take the risk out of everything," Petrie said. "But we feel like we've upgraded ourselves. There is good reason (for Kings fans) to have some new excitement."
Of course, it only will work if the Kings play together, if an untested collective can click well enough to revive the Kings' spirited sense of unselfish play - once a creative, hardwood version of Brazilian soccer.
As for Abdur-Rahim, it only will work if he plays as advertised, gets down low, steps out and fires a sweet jumper and rebounds effectively. In other words, if he does most everything Webber couldn't do in his depressingly limited final days here.
We'll see, but for now: What can we say about Petrie - the man who once made the Kings the toast of the NBA?
Here is a man who is as smart as they come and yet this time he may have been so lucky, it's not even funny. He may have signed a star at half-price. And if that happens, today's luck becomes tomorrow's genius. That's how legends are built in the NBA.
