Kings May Still Deal Bibby

[VF21]

I'd like for you to give some concrete evidence if possible on how his reputation was being smeared. He fell out of favor in Memphis. It didn't go so well for him in Houston for whatever reason.

For whatever reason?

1. Bonzi Wells listened to an agent with the business acumen of road kill and held out for way too much money, walking away from a sweet deal in Sacramento.
2. Bonzi's agent kept talking about how great Bonzi was and how he was fielding calls from over a dozen teams interested in acquiring Wells.
3. The summer dragged on...
4. Wells finally signed with Houston but not without some whispers about a lack of preparation for the upcoming season.
5. Wells performed abysmally in Houston midst a lot of drama and innuendo about his mental state.
6. Wells was pretty much put out to pasture and looked to be remaining there even though he had another year on his contract with the Rockets.
7. Rick Adelman accepted the coaching position in Houston and the one player to possibly derive the most benefit from the announcement was Bonzi Wells, who had bonded with Adelman and could be expected to perform better for Adelman than almost any other coach.

So where's the mystery?

 

[dude12]

For whatever reason?

1. Bonzi Wells listened to an agent with the business acumen of road kill and held out for way too much money, walking away from a sweet deal in Sacramento.
2. Bonzi's agent kept talking about how great Bonzi was and how he was fielding calls from over a dozen teams interested in acquiring Wells.
3. The summer dragged on...
4. Wells finally signed with Houston but not without some whispers about a lack of preparation for the upcoming season.
5. Wells performed abysmally in Houston midst a lot of drama and innuendo about his mental state.
6. Wells was pretty much put out to pasture and looked to be remaining there even though he had another year on his contract with the Rockets.
7. Rick Adelman accepted the coaching position in Houston and the one player to possibly derive the most benefit from the announcement was Bonzi Wells, who had bonded with Adelman and could be expected to perform better for Adelman than almost any other coach.

So where's the mystery?

I looked at your reasons and I guess I don't see how any of this shows a smear campaign towards Bonzi. I do agree that Bonzi's agent handled his free-agency poorly and misread the market for his player. I heard the same talk about Bonzi not being ready for the season and then he got hurt which just compounded matters. For whatever reasons that it fell apart for him in Houston, it just didn't work.

 

[dude12]

And 30 years isn't old for an NBA player, it's right in their prime. It's only old when you're at least 5 years away from even thinking about a championship (like we are now).

A good post, lots of good stuff. I was not happy that they got rid of Adelman. Just didn't make sense. But the Kings had a real legit offer on the table for Bonzi. If his agent wasn't happy with the amount per year, he should have been happy with the length of the contract. If they were able to bring back that team intact with Adelman, I don't believe that they would have been able to win a championship. That team could certainly create potential problems with Bonzi and Artest posting up, but there were also holes that were exploited.....as you mentioned about our interior. 30 years old is around the prime for players but when they get a fresh new contract with a length of 5 years.....as I mentioned before, I'd rather have KMart as the starting SG. Could we have been better with a Bonzi, Artest, KMart rotation instead of a KMart, Salmons, Cisco, Artest rotation? Yep, at least in the short term but not in the long term. I just don't think that the former rotation would have gotten us anywhere......especially without Adelman.

 

[VF21]

I looked at your reasons and I guess I don't see how any of this shows a smear campaign towards Bonzi. I do agree that Bonzi's agent handled his free-agency poorly and misread the market for his player. I heard the same talk about Bonzi not being ready for the season and then he got hurt which just compounded matters. For whatever reasons that it fell apart for him in Houston, it just didn't work.

What in the heck are you talking about? Did I ever say there was a smear campaign against Bonzi? My comments were directly in response to your LAST SENTENCE - the one that says "It didn't go so well for him in Houston for whatever reason" which is precisely why I quoted THOSE THREE WORDS when I replied.

 

[Superman]

I'd like for you to give some concrete evidence if possible on how his reputation was being smeared. He fell out of favor in Memphis. It didn't go so well for him in Houston for whatever reason. In my opinion, I think his career has been characterized by very capable play as a unique SG who mostly posts up his defender and is a strong rebounder to a SG who at times isn't allowed to take advantage of his postup skills and doesn't have a consistent enough outside shot, 3-point shot or the ability to get to the free-throw line. And then as you and another post mentioned, there has been problems with attitude or being a malcontent. Because of this, I look at his career as spotty. I get the sense that you really like Bonzi. Thats fine. As I stated earlier, I'd much rather have Kevin Martin as the starting SG and I'd rather not have Bonzi's potential contract on our team when the Kings are rebuilding. I think Martin is a better player and we know for a fact that he's younger than the 30 year old Bonzi.

Simply put, Bonzi is a better player than many people give him credit for being, and a lot of that is because he came from the Portland JailBlazers, had some chemistry problems in Memphis, didn't get the offer he wanted from the Kings and then publicly regretted leaving, and then fell off the map in Houston. He gets a bad rap because he's had falling-outs in a number of places, but he is not a bad or inconsistent player.

Not unlike what's happened with Steve Francis over the past three seasons.

But he is still a very capable player, has never shown otherwise, and, for all his deficiencies, could play a very solid role for a contending team. And I think that's what we'll see this season in Houston, whether he starts or comes off the bench.

And when you think about that, there is no reason that he and Kevin Martin couldn't co-exist. Martin had a very good series against the Spurs, as did Bonzi.

 

[dude12]

What in the heck are you talking about? Did I ever say there was a smear campaign against Bonzi? My comments were directly in response to your LAST SENTENCE - the one that says "It didn't go so well for him in Houston for whatever reason" which is precisely why I quoted THOSE THREE WORDS when I replied.

Ah....no wonder. My mistake.