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2005 Kings Preview: Your moves, Mr. Adelman
The Kings' coach has plenty of depth this season, but will he use it wisely?
By Mark Kreidler -- Bee Columnist
Published 2:15 am PST Tuesday, November 1, 2005
Right: The Kings have extra pieces. No debate there. After a couple of seasons of corporate payroll-minding, they clearly are a deeper team in talent than they were a year ago, with options behind the starting rotation that didn't exist then.
But that's not the question, is it? Depth on the Sacramento roster has come and gone, but for the most part Geoff Petrie always has made sure he had a few extra pawns for the chessboard.
No, the question, in the final year of Rick Adelman's contract as head coach, is this: What's the point of having the pieces if Adelman doesn't reach for them?
And why is it a question? Because, if history matters, Adelman won't.
If you've followed along with the Kings' story to this point, you already know how it has played out. Rick Adelman is a starter's kind of a coach. He believes, and always has believed, in big minutes for his main guys.
Adelman gets dinged for it on every annual performance review delivered by the fan base, but it sure hasn't changed: When in doubt, he wants his best players on the floor - or, at the very least, the players who play best together.
I can think of absolutely nothing that would alter the formula now. In fact, Adelman's contract status almost screams the opposite.
A coach in the final year of his contract coaches for victories, pure and simple. Adelman is no different, even if by now his résumé is sufficiently glowing to merit immediate consideration for another NBA job if and when this one ends.
He'll coach for the win all the same. And in Adelman's case, that means dancin' with the ones that brung ya.
So this is Mike Bibby's year, once again. Adelman will talk about Bibby resting more, but when push comes to shove, there's no Bobby Jackson behind Bibby to whom the coach confidently can hand the reins of the offense. Bibby's going to get his minutes.
Brad Miller - he'll be on the floor. There isn't a passing big man on the roster whose skills even approximate what Miller can do for the Kings. He is as close to a perfect successor to Vlade Divac as Adelman and Petrie ever could have hoped for, and when Miller goes off the floor the Kings' offense is going to change fairly radically. Miller plays.
It goes on like that - there isn't really a true backup for Peja Stojakovic on the roster, for one thing - but you get the point. The Kings do have more pawns to move around the board this season than they did last, but to what end?
If anything, a deeper roster in the NBA really is injury insurance - and don't tell a Sacramento fan it doesn't matter. The truly sick fan can recite the whole litany of maladies that (maybe) prevented the Kings from going as far as they might have.
Chris Webber's knee blowout in 2003 effectively ended their chances in the Western Conference semifinals against Dallas. The next year, Webber was hobbling back from his surgery and Doug Christie's foot continually was on fire, and Jackson couldn't play, and Sacramento still took Minnesota to Game 7 of the semis.
You'll still occasionally hear from the person who sees Stojakovic going up and firing that airball at the end of regulation against the Lakers in the 2002 postseason and saying, "If only he'd been healthy. ... "
So, sure, injuries matter. They always will. But know this: Unless something is turning black and blue or falling off a player, if he's one of Adelman's guys, he is going out there. From his Portland days forward, Adelman has coached in exactly the same manner.
When Petrie and Adelman moved to solidify the roster after last spring's first-round playoff loss to Seattle, they did so in the knowledge, Adelman says, that the team that ended the season was not a 50-win team. The Kings won 50, true, but with since-departed players such as Webber and Christie having been a huge part of that.
What Adelman wanted wasn't depth so much as versatility. He got that. If Kenny Thomas is in the game, then Shareef Abdur-Rahim is available off the bench. Bonzi Wells can move from shooting guard to small forward in certain configurations. Either of the kids, second-year pro Kevin Martin or rookie Francisco García, might be called on to shift away from the two-spot, depending on need.
In many ways, they're the quintessential kinds of Petrie/Adelman players: Long reach, generally athletic, able to get up and down the floor and, if at all possible, capable of playing two or three different positions depending on the need. They give Adelman attack options.
Still, when the coach gets down to the nubs of winning NBA games that count in the standings, he's going right back to the same guys as before, the players he knows. Adelman is habitual that way. Expect no change.
"It's going to be a challenge for those three guys, those core guys - Mike and Peja and Brad," Adelman said recently. "It's going to be on their shoulders, and they can't be the players they were before."
They'll need to be more, the coach meant. This much is certain: They'll get the minutes to prove they can.
About the writer: Reach Mark Kreidler at (916) 321-1149 or mkreidler@sacbee.com.
2005 Kings Preview: Your moves, Mr. Adelman
The Kings' coach has plenty of depth this season, but will he use it wisely?
By Mark Kreidler -- Bee Columnist
Published 2:15 am PST Tuesday, November 1, 2005
Right: The Kings have extra pieces. No debate there. After a couple of seasons of corporate payroll-minding, they clearly are a deeper team in talent than they were a year ago, with options behind the starting rotation that didn't exist then.
But that's not the question, is it? Depth on the Sacramento roster has come and gone, but for the most part Geoff Petrie always has made sure he had a few extra pawns for the chessboard.
No, the question, in the final year of Rick Adelman's contract as head coach, is this: What's the point of having the pieces if Adelman doesn't reach for them?
And why is it a question? Because, if history matters, Adelman won't.
If you've followed along with the Kings' story to this point, you already know how it has played out. Rick Adelman is a starter's kind of a coach. He believes, and always has believed, in big minutes for his main guys.
Adelman gets dinged for it on every annual performance review delivered by the fan base, but it sure hasn't changed: When in doubt, he wants his best players on the floor - or, at the very least, the players who play best together.
I can think of absolutely nothing that would alter the formula now. In fact, Adelman's contract status almost screams the opposite.
A coach in the final year of his contract coaches for victories, pure and simple. Adelman is no different, even if by now his résumé is sufficiently glowing to merit immediate consideration for another NBA job if and when this one ends.
He'll coach for the win all the same. And in Adelman's case, that means dancin' with the ones that brung ya.
So this is Mike Bibby's year, once again. Adelman will talk about Bibby resting more, but when push comes to shove, there's no Bobby Jackson behind Bibby to whom the coach confidently can hand the reins of the offense. Bibby's going to get his minutes.
Brad Miller - he'll be on the floor. There isn't a passing big man on the roster whose skills even approximate what Miller can do for the Kings. He is as close to a perfect successor to Vlade Divac as Adelman and Petrie ever could have hoped for, and when Miller goes off the floor the Kings' offense is going to change fairly radically. Miller plays.
It goes on like that - there isn't really a true backup for Peja Stojakovic on the roster, for one thing - but you get the point. The Kings do have more pawns to move around the board this season than they did last, but to what end?
If anything, a deeper roster in the NBA really is injury insurance - and don't tell a Sacramento fan it doesn't matter. The truly sick fan can recite the whole litany of maladies that (maybe) prevented the Kings from going as far as they might have.
Chris Webber's knee blowout in 2003 effectively ended their chances in the Western Conference semifinals against Dallas. The next year, Webber was hobbling back from his surgery and Doug Christie's foot continually was on fire, and Jackson couldn't play, and Sacramento still took Minnesota to Game 7 of the semis.
You'll still occasionally hear from the person who sees Stojakovic going up and firing that airball at the end of regulation against the Lakers in the 2002 postseason and saying, "If only he'd been healthy. ... "
So, sure, injuries matter. They always will. But know this: Unless something is turning black and blue or falling off a player, if he's one of Adelman's guys, he is going out there. From his Portland days forward, Adelman has coached in exactly the same manner.
When Petrie and Adelman moved to solidify the roster after last spring's first-round playoff loss to Seattle, they did so in the knowledge, Adelman says, that the team that ended the season was not a 50-win team. The Kings won 50, true, but with since-departed players such as Webber and Christie having been a huge part of that.
What Adelman wanted wasn't depth so much as versatility. He got that. If Kenny Thomas is in the game, then Shareef Abdur-Rahim is available off the bench. Bonzi Wells can move from shooting guard to small forward in certain configurations. Either of the kids, second-year pro Kevin Martin or rookie Francisco García, might be called on to shift away from the two-spot, depending on need.
In many ways, they're the quintessential kinds of Petrie/Adelman players: Long reach, generally athletic, able to get up and down the floor and, if at all possible, capable of playing two or three different positions depending on the need. They give Adelman attack options.
Still, when the coach gets down to the nubs of winning NBA games that count in the standings, he's going right back to the same guys as before, the players he knows. Adelman is habitual that way. Expect no change.
"It's going to be a challenge for those three guys, those core guys - Mike and Peja and Brad," Adelman said recently. "It's going to be on their shoulders, and they can't be the players they were before."
They'll need to be more, the coach meant. This much is certain: They'll get the minutes to prove they can.
About the writer: Reach Mark Kreidler at (916) 321-1149 or mkreidler@sacbee.com.
