It's good to be a King

[sono]

http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=8358

It's good to be a King
by Sean Deveney
August 12, 2005

A year ago, the Kings were a business-as-usual team built around Chris Webber and the Princeton offense of Jedi master/coach Pete Carril. There was Peja, Bibby, Doug and Jackie Christie, plus Brad Miller and his tin of Skoal. It was a nice team, and we knew what to expect: 50 wins, some major injury, a solid job by Rick Adelman, an early playoff exit, and demands that Adelman be fired. That's what we got.


Now, the Kings are ... well, I have no idea what the Kings are.

Bibby is still the point guard. Bonzi Wells is now the two-guard. Peja is still the 3. It looks like Shareef Abdur-Rahim will be the power forward. And Miller returns, too.

If you think that starting five will take some getting used to, get a load of the bench. Jason Hart is the backup point man. Rookie Francisco Garcia and second-year player Kevin Martin can back up either wing position. Corliss Williamson comes in as a 3-4 combo. Kenny Thomas is the power forward, and Brian Skinner is the center.

I count three players coming back from the team the Kings had last year -- four if the team re-signs Darius Songaila -- and I see no way that the Kings, with this group of players, will be able to continue to play the kind of team offense that has made them a model of excellence in the league. Is Wells, a post-up shooting guard with questionable passing and shooting skill, going to suddenly start whizzing bounce passes and popping perimeter Js? Is Abdur-Rahim going to zip passes from the high post, a la Webber?

Maybe. It's funny, but something seems to happen when players come to Sacramento. It happened to Skinner last year, for example. Throughout his career, most of Skinner's passes have been balls that he dribbled off his knee and wound up in the hands of a teammate. His career average for assists: 0.5. But put Skinner in Sacramento for 25 games, after his trade out of Philadelphia, and he averaged 1.5 assists. That does not make him Magic Johnson, but it's 300 percent better than 0.5.

Cuttino Mobley made a pit stop in Sacramento last year, too, and averaged 3.4 assists, compared to his career average of 2.7. Thomas averaged 2.9, up from 1.6 for his career. Williamson averaged 1.5, up from 1.3.

In May, after Sacto was bounced by Seattle, the Kings looked like a tired team, yesterday's news, and I wondered if they'd even be back in the playoffs next year. If they add Abdur-Rahim, if they get a good year out of Wells and if they stick with the Carril-Adelman game plan (which they will do), they should definitely be a playoff team. In fact, with the Suns dipping once the Joe Johnson trade goes through, the Kings could even be in line for the Pacific Division crown. Back to business as usual, perhaps.

Forgive me if it was posted before. Thought really interesting the way he described perspectives of the newcomers.

 

[SacTownKid]

Hmmm...I don't know, up until this article I never really had any doubts that Bonzi and Reef would fit the passing game. I guess when you see a guy like Brian Skinner have 5 assist games it doesn't seem to hard to imagine they would.

 

[Kings113]

I don't think assists will be a problem with either SAR/Bonzi..

SAR's had 2-3+ his whole career, and the career avg is 2.7. Averaged 3+ for 5 straight seasons. In Portland, 2apg. Surely that goes up.

Bonzi averaged 2(only one being at 1.9, rest high 2s)-3+apg for 4 straight seasons. They only went down because his minutes did. 2.2 is the career avg.

 

[Bricklayer]

Bonzi is not a passing game guy, never has been. Adn as the new season dawns I am looking at that as potentially being a GOOD thing. He is a forceful offensive player, more akin to a Bobby in his instincts to attack his man than any pass first guy. We need more forceful players. But its still a huge stepdown from Doug as a passer. Closer to a lesser passing Jim Jackson player without the consistent three point shooting, and about a 1:1 ast/TO ratio guy over his entire career (2.0/1.93)

Shareef is an ok passer for a PF, but just ok. He might be as good as Kenny. Maybe. And certainly not remotely in the same league as Webb. He actually has a NEGATIVE ast/TO ratio over his career: 2.7/2.84. His numbers should improve a bit by being in our offense, probably get over 3 a game, maybe 3.5, but its not going to be the same thing we used to have.

People talk about the holy Princeton offense, but the fact is that its tremendous success was tightly tied to having one of the most skilled passing lineups in history running it. Many players will pass a little better if they hit the system, but the system didn't make Vlade or Webb or Doug great passers -- they already were. And you can't just plug in just any player and have them replace those guys at anything approaching that level. The new personnel simply cannot pass as well as the old, and the Princeton is not going to look the same because of it. That was always the reality regardless of who we picked up in the post Vlade/Webb era (unless it was the KG pipedream or whatnot). The new team is going to have score in different, more individual ways than the old. They have plenty of firepower and are still going to put a lot of points on the board, but 3 of the 5 positions simply pass worse than they did only 2 years ago. Don't think the offense will be broken, and if anybody can get these guys to share the ball it is Rick. But largely gone are the days of on the money behind the back bounce passes.

 

[sloter]

Our offense was never the problem. We always had enough offensive weapons, the problems have always been HUGE defensive lapses + rebounding. I'm not sure whether the new guys are going to help that much in those areas, but SAR and Bonzi are improvements in their respective positions over last year.

 

[hoops4kings]

It'll be a different look offense for sure from what we're used to. Intriguing.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Our offense was never the problem. We always had enough offensive weapons, the problems have always been HUGE defensive lapses + rebounding. I'm not sure whether the new guys are going to help that much in those areas, but SAR and Bonzi are improvements in their respective positions over last year.

Perhaps compared to what we ended the season with; compared to what we started the season with, they're lateral moves at best.

 

[PFFFT!!]

A year ago, the Kings were a business-as-usual team built around Chris Webber and the Princeton offense of Jedi master/coach Pete Carril. .

ROFL!!! Where is Yoda when you need him Second you wait....YODA HE IS!!

 

[Kings2805]

Bonzi is not a passing game guy, never has been. Adn as the new season dawns I am looking at that as potentially being a GOOD thing. He is a forceful offensive player, more akin to a Bobby in his instincts to attack his man than any pass first guy. We need more forceful players. But its still a huge stepdown from Doug as a passer. Closer to a lesser passing Jim Jackson player without the consistent three point shooting, and about a 1:1 ast/TO ratio guy over his entire career (2.0/1.93)

Shareef is an ok passer for a PF, but just ok. He might be as good as Kenny. Maybe. And certainly not remotely in the same league as Webb. He actually has a NEGATIVE ast/TO ratio over his career: 2.7/2.84. His numbers should improve a bit by being in our offense, probably get over 3 a game, maybe 3.5, but its not going to be the same thing we used to have.

People talk about the holy Princeton offense, but the fact is that its tremendous success was tightly tied to having one of the most skilled passing lineups in history running it. Many players will pass a little better if they hit the system, but the system didn't make Vlade or Webb or Doug great passers -- they already were. And you can't just plug in just any player and have them replace those guys at anything approaching that level. The new personnel simply cannot pass as well as the old, and the Princeton is not going to look the same because of it. That was always the reality regardless of who we picked up in the post Vlade/Webb era (unless it was the KG pipedream or whatnot). The new team is going to have score in different, more individual ways than the old. They have plenty of firepower and are still going to put a lot of points on the board, but 3 of the 5 positions simply pass worse than they did only 2 years ago. Don't think the offense will be broken, and if anybody can get these guys to share the ball it is Rick. But largely gone are the days of on the money behind the back bounce passes.

The new kings simply can't pass as good as the old team. Well I did some research for your claims, and let me present what I found.
2000-01 22.6 assts/gm
2001-02 23.9 assts/gm
2002-03 24.8 assts/gm
2003-04 26.2 assts/gm (pretty much without webber)
2004-05 24.5 assts/gm

We averaged more assts/gm than our furtherst advancing team 01-02 last year, with no divac, chris for 1/2 season, and christie for 1/3 of the season. We also set season highs in assts and pts after the webber and christie trade(which means it was the philly 3 with no brad miller) We had 36 assts against seattle, and a topped out at 132 pts against phoenix. Before we traded christie and webber the most pts we had in a game was 113. Simply proving that we're not going to fall off the roof in terms of passing, and play cuttino mobley style of basketball(hence individual ball), and only avg like 18 assts/gm or so.

So with the money ball passes, I guess you're saying that only divac, christie, and webber had the capability to do that consistently, and our new team doesn't know how to or if they do it must of been on accident right? I think that is bs also, behind the back passes is not as hard as you think, remember Martin behind the back inbetween the guys legs? We are still going to be in top 3 in assts, and have plenty of highlight reels. The only reason I replied to your post, is bc I don't feel that the new team wont be able to pass as well as the old, and that anybody can pass once they hit this system as evidenced by the 36 assts against seattle, 31 against cleveland when we scored 128 etc. I am gonna end this with lets watch them play 1st, before we start saying they can't play or pass as well as the old team, is all! Thanx.

 

[SacTownKid]

You know what I like about the additions of Bonzi and Shareef. That they both can play a little one on one. Much better then Mobley, who did that a little too much last season.

Bonzi and Shareef can actually break their man down and get to the basket. That is something we never really had with the current construction with the team. When our offense breaks down, give the ball to Reef in the post or at the top of the key. Or let Bonzi drive hard to the hoop and get the foul line.

I think one of our biggest weaknesses was on offense. The weakness was our inability to play outside of our own system. Now we have some players that can do just that, and I am positive, they will be able to play within it just as well. If they don't, they are VERY tradable if you know what I am saying.

 

[BibityBobtyBoom]

THis guy makes no sense!!! he condemns the whole season and the kings still of play and offseason moves, and then says the team will win the pacific division? Man, give me a break.

 

[OHSacFan]

This is really off the wall, but I thought we had four players returning from last year: Bibby, Peja, Brad, and Kevin.

I guess we were taught to count differently?

 

[Kings2805]

THis guy makes no sense!!! he condemns the whole season and the kings still of play and offseason moves, and then says the team will win the pacific division? Man, give me a break.

I don't know who you were referring to, but your sentence makes no sense!

PEACE

 

[VF21]

THis guy makes no sense!!! he condemns the whole season and the kings still of play and offseason moves, and then says the team will win the pacific division? Man, give me a break.

Sorry, but although he might not make sense to you, what he said (with the exception of not being able to correctly count returning players) has a ring of truth to it:

It was a nice team, and we knew what to expect: 50 wins, some major injury, a solid job by Rick Adelman, an early playoff exit, and demands that Adelman be fired. That's what we got.

That, like it or not, was what the Kings had become, with the exception perhaps the use of the word "early" to describe playoff exits.

In May, after Sacto was bounced by Seattle, the Kings looked like a tired team, yesterday's news, and I wondered if they'd even be back in the playoffs next year. If they add Abdur-Rahim, if they get a good year out of Wells and if they stick with the Carril-Adelman game plan (which they will do), they should definitely be a playoff team. In fact, with the Suns dipping once the Joe Johnson trade goes through, the Kings could even be in line for the Pacific Division crown. Back to business as usual, perhaps.

He's right. After the way the Kings played Seattle, they did look like a tired team or yesterday's news. They didn't bear much resemblance, if any, to the team that only three years before had been poised to win it all.

He says the acquisition of SAR and Wells (if he plays well) should be enough to get us back into the playoffs. And we might even get the Pacific Division crown...again. But, "back to business as usual" doesn't mean a guarantee of much more than

...50 wins, some major injury, a solid job by Rick Adelman, an early playoff exit, and demands that Adelman be fired.

I think he might be right...or wrong. One thing is for sure. They won't have to fire Adelman at the end of the year. His contract will be up.

So, while you may not think much of the article, I think it makes a lot of sense...which is unfortunate if you're thinking the Kings have all the pieces they need to bring the O'Brien trophy home to Arco.

 

[BibityBobtyBoom]

im talking about how he says that the offseason moves they made weren't very big, and then says they will win the pacific division. He switches his opinion through the middle of the article.

 

[thesanityannex]

why would the offseason moves have to be big to win the pacific???

 

[sono]

he assumes the Suns' moves made them worse than us which opens the door for us.

 

[Kings113]

Sarver said he thinks the Suns will be better (I think) and will score more than last year.

They're bench is better, but not too strong.

 

[VF21]

im talking about how he says that the offseason moves they made weren't very big, and then says they will win the pacific division. He switches his opinion through the middle of the article.

...sigh...

No, he DOESN'T say the Kings will win the Pacific Division.

He says:

In fact, with the Suns dipping once the Joe Johnson trade goes through, the Kings could even be in line for the Pacific Division crown.

"COULD EVEN BE IN LINE FOR" is a far cry from saying the Kings will win the Division.

 

[BibityBobtyBoom]

well, im saying, he says their moves won't make an affect but then says they "will be in line for" pacific divison champ. I just don't like it when writers start off saying one thing about a team and then change their mind in the middle of the piece.

 

[tyrant]

It's good to be a King

i think otherwise for now

 

[SacTownKid]

Its always good to be a King! Just ask the players.