Kings Notes: Something to play for - to ruin teams' dreams

[VF21]

http://www.sacbee.com/351/story/155094.html

Kings Notes: Something to play for -- to ruin teams' dreams
The Kings will play a big role in the Western Conference playoff chase in the stretch run.
By Scott Howard-Cooper - Bee Staff Writer
Last Updated 12:21 am PDT Saturday, April 14, 2007

The Kings are in the middle of the playoff race after all. Just everyone else's race.

The chance to ruin someone else's season began Friday night with a stretch of four games to close the regular season against four teams fighting to make the playoffs.

The Kings go on vacation from there.

They played the Golden State Warriors on Friday night, are in Los Angeles on Sunday to face the Clippers and back at Arco Arena on Monday to play the New Orleans Hornets. The Clippers and Warriors, both winners Friday, are tied for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. The Hornets, who lost to Denver on Friday, are two games back.

The Kings then finish with the Lakers on Wednesday at Arco, a meeting that could have a lot of meaning to Los Angeles, which is No. 7 in the West but holds just a half-game lead on the Warriors and Clippers.

"You take whatever you can," forward Shareef Abdur-Rahim said of the Kings finding importance when they would otherwise be playing out the schedule. "We're trying to put ourselves in a good situation (for the future). We have to go out and make it tough for other people."

Louis, Louis -- Turning setback into success, Louis Amundson went from being a late cut by the Kings in training camp to being named the NBA Development League Rookie of the Year after averaging 11.1 points and 7.6 rebounds and shooting 56.3 percent for the Colorado 14ers.

The fact that he won't accept the award while in the D-League no doubt makes the honor better. Amundson, a 6-foot-9 forward from UNLV, got two 10-day contracts from the 76ers and then was signed for the rest of the season on March 28, likely giving him a spot on the Philadelphia summer-league roster as well.

"I think that's super," Kings coach Eric Musselman said of the honor. "He had a great camp, he had a great attitude, and I was very happy to see him get picked up."

Just in case -- The Clippers have the tiebreaker over the Warriors if necessary, and the Warriors have it over the Hornets.

About the writer: The Bee's Scott Howard-Cooper can be reached at showard-cooper@sacbee.com.

 

[VF21]

"You take whatever you can," forward Shareef Abdur-Rahim said of the Kings finding importance when they would otherwise be playing out the schedule. "We're trying to put ourselves in a good situation (for the future). We have to go out and make it tough for other people."

Memo to SAR: If you want to put the team in a good situation for the future, you don't think about keeping other teams out of the playoffs. You think about playing the kids and getting the best possible draft pick. Anything else at this point - and remember, this is coming from a die-hard Kings homer of the highest magnitude - is just stupid.

 

[Löwenherz]

Yeah, that quote really doesn't make any sense, except from a personal, in the moment prideful sort of way.

 

[Elise10]

You can take what he said to mean just as you said VF:

"You take whatever you can," forward Shareef Abdur-Rahim said of the Kings finding importance when they would otherwise be playing out the schedule. "We're trying to put ourselves in a good situation (for the future). We have to go out and make it tough for other people."

"You take whatever you can": more likely than not a loss

"We're trying to put ourselves in a good situation (for the future).": As in Musselman's going to play the kids even more now to get losses for draft picks

"We have to go out and make it tough for other people.": Because the kids play defense, but don't worry, once most the veterans are back we'll still lose

Just gotta read between the lines

 

[VF21]

You can take what he said to mean just as you said VF:


"You take whatever you can": more likely than not a loss

"We're trying to put ourselves in a good situation (for the future).": As in Musselman's going to play the kids even more now to get losses for draft picks

"We have to go out and make it tough for other people.": Because the kids play defense, but don't worry, once most the veterans are back we'll still lose

Just gotta read between the lines

Ah, I see ...

 

[Vlade4GM]

This is so rediculous. Even when all playoff hopes are completely dead and buried they STILL want wosses. What does everyone outside of this board have against the draft?

 

[Löwenherz]

Well for SAR ... the higher our draft pick, the better his replacement is going to be.

 

[KevinMartinsGirl23]

I'm all about developing the kids right now, but wouldn't be nice if the Kings could knock the Lakers out of the playoffs on the last game of the year?

Misery loves company

 

[Vlade4GM]

I'm all about developing the kids right now, but wouldn't be nice if the Kings could knock the Lakers out of the playoffs on the last game of the year?

Misery loves company

Uh no it wouldn't be nice. Any woss would be horrible.

 

[VF21]

I'm all about developing the kids right now, but wouldn't be nice if the Kings could knock the Lakers out of the playoffs on the last game of the year?

Of course it would be nice to knock the Lakers out of the playoffs on the last game of the year. The problem is it would be better to have a higher draft pick. Rebuilding the Kings and being better than the Lakers would be a LOT nicer.

 

[VF21]

Tonight those Sonics who have not been given the rest of the season off, will play the second game of a road back-to-back, in Staples. If they couldn't win in Portland when rested, something tells me they won't beat the Lakers when tired. And a Lakers victory tonight will essentially clinch a playoff spot. On Tuesday, Golden State would have to beat Dallas and the Warriors would have to win in Phoenix (in addition to both of those teams winning other games) for it to matter anymore.

So no need to stress, it will be a moot point before we play that game.

The cynic in me can't help but think if the Lakers have secured the spot in the playoffs they might just intentionally lose to us to ruin our draft hopes...














(kinda)

 

[Emma]

I believe that this team's real improvement will come in the form of a new suit on the bench. I have prepared myself for the 8 - 11 pick and would be shocked to see it go any other way.

What is the difference between the 7th and 9th pick really anyway? Jason Williams (7th), and Ray Allen (I swear they came in the same year and Allen was 9th). I'll check it later. On the flip side, Kobe was a mid first round trade that barely escaped a Kings jersey by one position! (we got Peja instead). We may lose out on Horford and instead land Hawes, Jianlin, Thabeet or Noah.

My point: this draft is a crap shoot with many great prospects. This draft is really deep.

That said, knock them Lakers out if we have a chance!!!

 

[Evenstar]

Of course it would be nice to knock the Lakers out of the playoffs on the last game of the year. The problem is it would be better to have a higher draft pick. Rebuilding the Kings and being better than the Lakers would be a LOT nicer.

i concur!

hopefully the lakers ge themselves out of the playoffs, so we can lose to them on the last game of the season. see, it wouldn't really be a loss because it would get us a higher draft pick

 

[fnordius]

Tonight those Sonics who have not been given the rest of the season off, will play the second game of a road back-to-back, in Staples. If they couldn't win in Portland when rested, something tells me they won't beat the Lakers when tired. And a Lakers victory tonight will essentially clinch a playoff spot. On Tuesday, Golden State would have to beat Dallas and the Warriors would have to win in Phoenix (in addition to both of those teams winning other games) for it to matter anymore.

So no need to stress, it will be a moot point before we play that game.

 

[bibbinator]

The best thing that happens is that we beat the Lakers in an amazing show by the kids and that it doesn't make a difference in draft positioning.

If the win would make a difference I'll take a hard fought battle featuring the kids which we safely lose in the last 2 minutes.