Chad Ford: Kings #2 in West

[SacTownKid]

Didn't some video game tournament before the start of last season predict we would win the championship last year. Nuff' said. Of course, I hope this prediction isn't too far off.

GO KINGS!!!!

 

[chelle]

"... Vlade Divac is the most emotional King, but there's always a time when someone will have to pick him up because he gets down. Scot Pollard fits the criteria of having toughness and an attitude and being emotionally charged, but isn't one of the stars of the team. Bibby is known more for being unemotional than exhibiting leadership."

I do not know who will emerge as th leader of the Kings. To be honest, I really do not care. It think that many times the player that appears to be the leader to us as fans is really not the true team leader. I only quoted above because I think quite often the best leaders can present themselves as unemotional.

I just want to see a TEAM working together.

 

[Bibby_Is_Clutch]

Sounds good to be. We will not only give the Spurs a run but in doing so we will overtake them.

 

[bibbyweb]

But he's not. No matter what he says, he's not the leader. I wish he would step up and take the Kings on his back, but the truth is he's not a real leader. I never see him talking to the players like Vlade ever did.

What? Are u serious?

 

[BigWaxer]

Ford talks good and bad, mostly bad about us and it doesn't matter either way. It is what happens ON THE COURT... I guess its good for Offseason chatter but that is all.

 

[captain bill]

I don't put too much stock into these things. It's nice to see that the Kings actually get some credit from national writers, especially because, regardless of how anyone things they stand in terms of the standings, they probably had one of the best offseasons of any team this year, and hands-down the most improved team in the offseason in the west. We went from falling of the radar to at least demanding a piece of the conversation about who will contend. Anyway, those rankings are fair but could easily be argued. I also don't think anyone should be sleeping on the Jazz this year. They will be better than everyone has them at.

 

[Kings113]

I agree Bill. I think the Jazz are gonna be in the mix of things in the 6-8 spots. They'll be better than last season. They were going to be a good team last year, starting off 6-1, but the injuries hurt them huge.

 

[whozit]

I am no more impressed with Ford's praise of our team than I have been with his criticisms...

Should things not go well right out of the gate, Chad Ford will be the first to crucify our team. And he'll find some nifty way to dance around these current comments.

Thank you, echos my feelings.

 

[mina16]

ronnie price is my cousin

 

[Bad Boy Bo]

The single biggest thing Bibby could do as a leader of this Kings team is to show a serious commitment on defense.

And it's here, the truth. If Bibby can prove to us and the Kings that he can overcome his weakness, the rest of the Kings undoubtly would push to work on theirs. And now it's more then ever to have Bibby to be a floor leader. And not just by example, but by putting everyone on the spot to do their job. Yes, we definately do have the firepower, but we need to see a lot of distribution of the ball amongst eachother to be able to light the fuse. I'm actually very excited about the Kings' new roster. I am very eager to see what will happen with our reformed royalty.

 

[kingsville]

This team has the chance to do great things , IF THEY LEARN TO PLAY SOME DECENT DEFENSE . We are the Rams /Colts of the nfl version , we have been a offensive juggernaut for the last 6 seasons & counting . Our three best defenders are wells,rahim and peja ... yes i said peja ! If bibby & miller even dream about playing defense we can make it to WCF vs the spurs.



Here's to Defense & Joy of 2005-06 version of SACRAMENTO KINGS !

 

[PixelPusher]

Chad Ford rates the Kings #2.



First of all, isn't Chad Ford supposed to be teaching at BYU or something like that? I thought he "retired" from ESPN.

Second, does this mean those ugly flying monkeys from the Wizard of Oz will start flying out of my rear end at any moment?

I think I'll have to echo VF's sentiments on this one, and take this article with a...

^(giant grain of salt)

 

[ParniValjak]

But he's not. No matter what he says, he's not the leader. I wish he would step up and take the Kings on his back, but the truth is he's not a real leader. I never see him talking to the players like Vlade ever did.

I do agree that leaders are born BUT there are also instances when people don't realise they are leaders until they are thrown into a certain situation. I also do think that leadership qualities can be enhanced by undertaking leadership course.

I have one perfect example for this. Since I live in Australia I follow AFL. When my team appointed our current captain 5 years ago, not many people thought he was a leader. A bloody good player but not a leader. In his first season as captain, he struggled, producing his worst season in his entire career. Since them he has grown so much that he is widely considred THE best leader in the competition. The is also such a thing as All-Australian side, a team picked by selection committe based on players form throughout the year. The team is announced once finals start. Last year he was appointed the captain of that team.

I do think Mike Bibby has leadership qualities. He need to develop them a bit more but I am sure he can be the leader of this team and lead then very well.

 

[sloter]

My two comments about the topics in this thread:
- Yes, the Kings can be that good, even though I usually don't care much about these preseason predictions.
- Divac was more natural in his role as the leader of a team than Webber. I don't think he ever announced to the team that he is the leader, it simply happened because of his personality and actions. Webber pretty much announced to the whole world how it was his team after Vlade left, and the only significant thing that happened after that was that Pedja wanted to leave the club (unrelated or unrelated). Webber was the best player that one year we went to WCF, but he was never a true leader.

 

[bye_bye_bjax24]

Mike Bibby has average defensive agility and and subpar lateral quickness. It is not really a matter of effort or desire with him on the defensive end. He cannot consciously will himself to play good defense at this level of competition. If he could have, it would have happened already. And he weighs like 190 pounds. Jitterbug PGs who weigh 20-30 pounds less like Tony Parker are gonna have the first step edge over him every time. His best chance for success on defense is to crowd his man tight or force his opponent towards help. It will also help if the big man (Shareef or KT) guarding the pick and roll traps or shows effectively, allowing Bibby to recover to his man.

Anyone pining their hopes on the Kings contending on improved defense from the point guard need to look to our back-up (J Hart) and not our starter. Can't we just appreciate Mike Bibby for what he is: one of the best cold blooded dead-eye shooters in the league, a nifty ball handler and passer, and a master at running a half-court offense?

 

[KingKong]

ronnie price is my cousin

Wow that was random.... and good for you.

 

[ZZ-TOP]

You guys just don't get it. This team wasn't Vlades od Cwebbs or... This team was good as long they worked together for the TEAM. As soon as they became to argue whos team this is things started to south. Every player has to know his place on the team, but no one can be more important then the team itself.

 

[Chris Cobb]

all i know is that i will put next to no stock in an appraisal of the western conference that puts the warriors ahead of the mavs. i think the warriors will be vastly improved but i do not see them besting the mavs next year

 

[Kings113]

They'll be improved, but not mid-top of the West improved.

Warriors will be scrapping it out in the 7-8 spots. Maybe at the 6 for a period, but mostly the bottom.

 

[VF21]

You guys just don't get it. This team wasn't Vlades od Cwebbs or... This team was good as long they worked together for the TEAM. As soon as they became to argue whos team this is things started to south. Every player has to know his place on the team, but no one can be more important then the team itself.

I also think things flew south at least partially because at least one local sports writer put his/her own agenda ahead of the story. In fact, the agenda BECAME the story too many times. This writer's motto could well be: Molehills to mountains my specialty!!

 

[KingKong]

You guys just don't get it. This team wasn't Vlades od Cwebbs or... This team was good as long they worked together for the TEAM. As soon as they became to argue whos team this is things started to south. Every player has to know his place on the team, but no one can be more important then the team itself.

Word!!!!

 

[slugking50]

lol.... We are officially screwed

Chad Ford rates the Kings #2.



First of all, isn't Chad Ford supposed to be teaching at BYU or something like that? I thought he "retired" from ESPN.

Second, does this mean those ugly flying monkeys from the Wizard of Oz will start flying out of my rear end at any moment?

I think I'll have to echo VF's sentiments on this one, and take this article with a...

^(giant grain of salt)

BYU-Hawaii is where CF is supposed to be teaching people how to make up stuff.

 

[Ryan]

haha, I love how we're getting angry because someone predicted the Kings to do well in the regular season

 

[loopymitch]

haha, I love how we're getting angry because someone predicted the Kings to do well in the regular season

that's because it's so rare but this is Ford. I'm hoping it's a good omen for us.

 

[VF21]

haha, I love how we're getting angry because someone predicted the Kings to do well in the regular season

I think some of us may be looking upon a favorable comment by Chad Ford as the "kiss of death."

 

[doone]

Totally off-topic, but I love your sig, VF.

 

[Bricklayer]

haha, I love how we're getting angry because someone predicted the Kings to do well in the regular season

Actually I think people there just aren't be hypocrites -- Ford was full of it when he was predicting us to lose, and just because he now predicts us to win doesn't suddenly make him more credible. Still the same turd he's always been and his opinions are still best used as emergency fallbacks if you run out of TP. (which btw doesn't mean we will lose because he predicts us to win, merely that him predicting us to win carries somewhat less weight than Charles Barkley saying he's on a diet).

 

[Netguy115]

I think some of us may be looking upon a favorable comment by Chad Ford as the "kiss of death."

so, obviously, you're saying the Spurs will be bad too, because he picked them #1, correct?

This forum is a real downer. If ANYONE, sports writer or forum member alike, tries to say anything even remotely good optomistic about the Kings it is immediately shot down by VF21 or some other forum bigshot and then twisted around into bad news.

I mean, how could you take a favorable prediction from a PROFESSIONAL SPORTS WRITER and turn it into a "kiss of death" for the kings? You guys don't know it all. Maybe the Kings will get it together big time this season, maybe they won't. But why can't we hear the story from both sides? The people that think they can win the championship, and the people that don't. This is a forum, where we should be able to have discussion, not just all downplay the Kings and talk about how much they are not going to win it all.

And the absurd thing is, this should be, at the very least, a slightly pro-Kings forum with a name like Kingsfans.com But, this forum is ***-backwards. We should be allowed to be optimistic or pessimistic about the Kings upcoming season. Not just the latter. Sure, no one should be crazy fanboy optomistic, just screaming in caps how the KINGZ WILL RULE DA NBA, but both sides of the argument need to be allowed . The total and utter pessism just eminating from this forum is crazy. This is friggin KingsFans.com! Where is the love?

Sure we all can speculate and speculate until our fingers fall off, but even you guys that have watched basketball all your life, and have thousands of posts on this forum don't know exactly what is going to happen. No one knows, so stop acting like you do.

 

[Kings113]

Yeah Netguy.

 

[Bricklayer]

so, obviously, you're saying the Spurs will be bad too, because he picked them #1, correct?

This forum is a real downer. If ANYONE, sports writer or forum member alike, tries to say anything even remotely good optomistic about the Kings it is immediately shot down by VF21 or some other forum bigshot and then twisted around into bad news.

I mean, how could you take a favorable prediction from a PROFESSIONAL SPORTS WRITER and turn it into a "kiss of death" for the kings? You guys don't know it all. Maybe the Kings will get it together big time this season, maybe they won't. But why can't we hear the story from both sides? The people that think they can win the championship, and the people that don't. This is a forum, where we should be able to have discussion, not just all downplay the Kings and talk about how much they are not going to win it all.

And the absurd thing is, this should be, at the very least, a slightly pro-Kings forum with a name like Kingsfans.com But, this forum is ***-backwards. We should be allowed to be optimistic or pessimistic about the Kings upcoming season. Not just the latter. Sure, no one should be crazy fanboy optomistic, just screaming in caps how the KINGZ WILL RULE DA NBA, but both sides of the argument need to be allowed . The total and utter pessism just eminating from this forum is crazy. This is friggin KingsFans.com! Where is the love?

Sure we all can speculate and speculate until our fingers fall off, but even you guys that have watched basketball all your life, and have thousands of posts on this forum don't know exactly what is going to happen. No one knows, so stop acting like you do.

1) apparently you have never read Chad Ford before to have perspective, and in any case playing the "a PROFESSIONAL SPORTWRITER" card won't get you far on this particular forum as I'd be willing to bet we have a number of posters on here more knowledgible about this team than the best of the national writers (of which Ford is not one of them) who's attention is divided by 30 in the NBA alone.

2) you are making the same error that many harboring similar views have made before -- assuming that being a fan means you have to be blind, deaf, and dumb to your team's faults. No it doesn't -- all it means is that you have to want your team to win, not that you have to believe they WILL win no matter how foolhardy that opinion seems. In this case a well known muckraker and rumor-mongerer has announced he thinks we will win this year. Well color me happy. Ford's opinion is getting about as much respect as it deserves, regardless of whether it gives you the warm fuzzies because of the incredible honor of having Chad Ford say nice things about us.