http://www.sacbee.com/351/story/89006.html
Petrie laments injuries to core players
By Sam Amick - Bee Staff Writer
Last Updated 8:08 am PST Thursday, December 7, 2006
Story appeared in SPORTS section, Page C5
Certainly, there are intangibles, subplots and even an X-factor or two.
But with a quarter of the Kings' season nearly in the books, basketball president Geoff Petrie is looking at the more obvious cause of his team's 8-9 start and current four-game losing streak. His feeling, in truth, is no different than it was before the season. It's just that things haven't worked out the way he had hoped.
"I said before ... that we need to have high-quality years out of Mike (Bibby) and Brad (Miller) and Ron (Artest)," Petrie said by phone Wednesday. "That hasn't changed. And to this point, in their defense, they've all been nicked up in one form or another."
First it was Bibby's thumb, with the later discovery that his shooting wrist also had taken a hit. Both injuries occurred before the regular season, and the wrist continues to affect Bibby's game.
Miller lasted 2 1/2 games before he injured his foot. That soon was followed by Artest's back injury, which at the moment is issue No. 1 on the Kings' worry chart.
Artest has missed the past three games because of lower back pain, taking the rest-for-real route instead of the tough-it-out approach.
The small forward had spent seven of the previous eight games playing through the pain and sat out just once (Nov. 24 at Seattle) while taking a magnetic resonance imaging exam that turned up negative. The question now becomes whether Artest's injury lingers for months instead of weeks.
The back, Artest has said, limits his defense more than anything else, keeping him from being his normal agitating self. The results have supported his argument. In the six games before Artest's back became a problem, the Kings allowed an average of 90.5 points. In the 11 games since, they've allowed 103.6, and 104.8 points in the four games Artest missed. Artest will decide at today's shootaround whether to play tonight against Miami.
Though the injury has caused defensive frustration for Artest, he said after Friday's game in Dallas that he was upset with his role in the offense. One day later, Artest backtracked a bit, saying he had "probably said too much," which all but ended the situation in Petrie's eyes.
"I had a couple of good conversations with Ron last Wednesday and Thursday, and obviously since then his back has flared up and he hasn't played," Petrie said when asked if he had discussed Artest's concerns with him. "He changed that the next day (after the Dallas outburst). The most important thing is to get him healthy, just got to get him out on the court."
And integrate him back into an offense Petrie would like to see improve.
In early November, the Kings went away from an "open" offensive series that was new under first-year coach Eric Musselman, and went back to their familiar high-post offense -- dubbed the "corner" series -- that was the foundation of their prolific offense in recent years.
Still, there have been frequent requests from inside the locker room for more ball movement, with Bibby saying early on that some of his teammates were too worried about their own shot, and Artest's request in Dallas for more plays called his way.
Cohesion, clearly, has yet to be achieved.
"Good offense is a combination of cutting and passing and ball movement and spacing and execution and all of that, but you can't necessarily impose a style of play on every single group because they may have different talents and different abilities," Petrie said. "We have put in some of our older offense that some of our guys are more familiar with and have gotten some decent execution out of that, but it's still a work in progress."
One that would be much further along if the team's original core wasn't so banged up.
"(Bibby, Artest and Miller) need to have, consistently, high-quality games and have them together," Petrie said. "It's been great to see the emergence of Kevin (Martin), and John (Salmons) has really come in and is doing a terrific job; Shareef (Abdur-Rahim) and Kenny (Thomas) and Corliss (Williamson) have been solid. But the big part of that (group) is yet to emerge in the manner that it needs to."
About the writer: The Bee's Sam Amick can be reached at samick@ sacbee.com.
Petrie laments injuries to core players
By Sam Amick - Bee Staff Writer
Last Updated 8:08 am PST Thursday, December 7, 2006
Story appeared in SPORTS section, Page C5
Certainly, there are intangibles, subplots and even an X-factor or two.
But with a quarter of the Kings' season nearly in the books, basketball president Geoff Petrie is looking at the more obvious cause of his team's 8-9 start and current four-game losing streak. His feeling, in truth, is no different than it was before the season. It's just that things haven't worked out the way he had hoped.
"I said before ... that we need to have high-quality years out of Mike (Bibby) and Brad (Miller) and Ron (Artest)," Petrie said by phone Wednesday. "That hasn't changed. And to this point, in their defense, they've all been nicked up in one form or another."
First it was Bibby's thumb, with the later discovery that his shooting wrist also had taken a hit. Both injuries occurred before the regular season, and the wrist continues to affect Bibby's game.
Miller lasted 2 1/2 games before he injured his foot. That soon was followed by Artest's back injury, which at the moment is issue No. 1 on the Kings' worry chart.
Artest has missed the past three games because of lower back pain, taking the rest-for-real route instead of the tough-it-out approach.
The small forward had spent seven of the previous eight games playing through the pain and sat out just once (Nov. 24 at Seattle) while taking a magnetic resonance imaging exam that turned up negative. The question now becomes whether Artest's injury lingers for months instead of weeks.
The back, Artest has said, limits his defense more than anything else, keeping him from being his normal agitating self. The results have supported his argument. In the six games before Artest's back became a problem, the Kings allowed an average of 90.5 points. In the 11 games since, they've allowed 103.6, and 104.8 points in the four games Artest missed. Artest will decide at today's shootaround whether to play tonight against Miami.
Though the injury has caused defensive frustration for Artest, he said after Friday's game in Dallas that he was upset with his role in the offense. One day later, Artest backtracked a bit, saying he had "probably said too much," which all but ended the situation in Petrie's eyes.
"I had a couple of good conversations with Ron last Wednesday and Thursday, and obviously since then his back has flared up and he hasn't played," Petrie said when asked if he had discussed Artest's concerns with him. "He changed that the next day (after the Dallas outburst). The most important thing is to get him healthy, just got to get him out on the court."
And integrate him back into an offense Petrie would like to see improve.
In early November, the Kings went away from an "open" offensive series that was new under first-year coach Eric Musselman, and went back to their familiar high-post offense -- dubbed the "corner" series -- that was the foundation of their prolific offense in recent years.
Still, there have been frequent requests from inside the locker room for more ball movement, with Bibby saying early on that some of his teammates were too worried about their own shot, and Artest's request in Dallas for more plays called his way.
Cohesion, clearly, has yet to be achieved.
"Good offense is a combination of cutting and passing and ball movement and spacing and execution and all of that, but you can't necessarily impose a style of play on every single group because they may have different talents and different abilities," Petrie said. "We have put in some of our older offense that some of our guys are more familiar with and have gotten some decent execution out of that, but it's still a work in progress."
One that would be much further along if the team's original core wasn't so banged up.
"(Bibby, Artest and Miller) need to have, consistently, high-quality games and have them together," Petrie said. "It's been great to see the emergence of Kevin (Martin), and John (Salmons) has really come in and is doing a terrific job; Shareef (Abdur-Rahim) and Kenny (Thomas) and Corliss (Williamson) have been solid. But the big part of that (group) is yet to emerge in the manner that it needs to."
About the writer: The Bee's Sam Amick can be reached at samick@ sacbee.com.
