http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/story/13507805p-14348315c.html
Mark Kreidler: Don't give Kings the title ... yet
By Mark Kreidler -- Bee Sports Columnist
Published 2:15 am PDT Friday, September 2, 2005[font=verdana,geneva,arial,helvetica,sans-serif]
It took a little longer than expected, but some things are just worth waiting for: The classic overselling of the Kings has begun. If you're Rick Adelman, how do you reach your nightmare scenario two months before the season begins? That's easy: Slip into expiring-contract status as the head coach, then have the national sporting press take a passing glance at your roster - you know, the one you haven't coached in an actual game - and proclaim it capable of making a deep championship push.
[/font]
All together, now: Achieve or die!
It happened this week via the good folks at ESPN, one of whom declared the Kings the second-best team in the Western Conference entering the coming season. Give the ESPNs one thing: They've got synergy.
Before long, the same mantra was being repeated on cable sports shows, radio programs and around the places where, I guess, they talk about the NBA in August and September.
Look at that lineup, the mantra went. That's a contending-type lineup.
This a strong testimonial to the kind of offseason that personnel czar Geoff Petrie has had, what with Bonzi Wells and Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Jason Hart coming in a summer in which, really, the Kings had a single midlevel salary exception to offer.
Problem is, it has no basis in actual performance. Or, as Petrie put it Thursday, "I don't know yet (about the roster). We haven't played any games."
So that turns the flame to white-blue under Adelman's hot seat, right?
"Not in my mind," Petrie replied.
Explain.
"I'm sure that at some point there's going to be talk about Rick being a lame duck," Petrie said. "But there's nothing he's done here that's lame, and I haven't seen him ducking under any doors lately."
And let's take the conversation a step further, since Petrie did. What he noted is that when a player is in the final year of his contract, he's a potential free agent, a guy about to test the market. When a coach is in the final year, he's a lame duck. Why?
The short answer, of course, is that players almost never get blamed for their teams' horrible performances. If that weren't the case, nobody would've touched Abdur-Rahim with a 10-dollar pole; he basically hasn't played for a winner since college.
For that matter, the NBA (and any other sports league) will forgive all manner of behavior in the name of talent. If that weren't true, Wells would be another guy looking for work in his chosen field, rather than the object of a bunch of potential deals before Memphis, with coach Mike Fratello already tired of Wells' act, finally sending him to Sacramento in the Bobby Jackson trade.
But a coach? Forget about it. If a team stinks, the coach is out. Shoot, about half the time a coach is on a short leash even under the best of circumstances or even an out-and-out resurgence, which may explain how Nate McMillan wound up leaving Seattle's surprise playoff entry of last season for the vagaries and rebuilding job awaiting him in Portland.
The early consensus on the Kings is daunting on another level, if only because the message seems to be, "Great roster. Now somebody go coach it." Adelman is coming off the franchise's fifth straight 50-win campaign, but this was a one-and-out playoff team last season. Can this much really change in one summer of on-paper dealing?
Petrie's and Adelman's best teams in Sacramento have been marked by an almost chronic unselfishness among their best players. Petrie calls the process "accommodation," meaning stars have to be willing to defer to other stars when necessary on the court; and as of now the leadership role in that regard has to come from Brad Miller, Peja Stojakovic and Mike Bibby, "three guys who form the substance of a lot of the good stuff that came here before."
But Wells has to buy in, too. Abdur-Rahim has to buy in, and Corliss Williamson, and Kenny Thomas and Brian Skinner and others who either are or aren't at all used to making their contributions from the bench. As of now, it is apparent Bibby, Miller, Stojakovic, Wells and Abdur-Rahim are the starting five - with all the winning, losing, transcendence and difficulty their individual histories imply. In other words, nothing has happened yet, which won't stop the national sporting machinery in the slightest. The new and quite possibly improved Kings already are being fitted for Pacific Division title banners. Back to you down on the court, Rick.
Reach Mark Kreidler at (916) 321-1149 or mkreidler@sacbee.com.
Good to see Kreidler's take IMHO.
Mark Kreidler: Don't give Kings the title ... yet
By Mark Kreidler -- Bee Sports Columnist
Published 2:15 am PDT Friday, September 2, 2005[font=verdana,geneva,arial,helvetica,sans-serif]
It took a little longer than expected, but some things are just worth waiting for: The classic overselling of the Kings has begun. If you're Rick Adelman, how do you reach your nightmare scenario two months before the season begins? That's easy: Slip into expiring-contract status as the head coach, then have the national sporting press take a passing glance at your roster - you know, the one you haven't coached in an actual game - and proclaim it capable of making a deep championship push.
[/font]
All together, now: Achieve or die!
It happened this week via the good folks at ESPN, one of whom declared the Kings the second-best team in the Western Conference entering the coming season. Give the ESPNs one thing: They've got synergy.
Before long, the same mantra was being repeated on cable sports shows, radio programs and around the places where, I guess, they talk about the NBA in August and September.
Look at that lineup, the mantra went. That's a contending-type lineup.
This a strong testimonial to the kind of offseason that personnel czar Geoff Petrie has had, what with Bonzi Wells and Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Jason Hart coming in a summer in which, really, the Kings had a single midlevel salary exception to offer.
Problem is, it has no basis in actual performance. Or, as Petrie put it Thursday, "I don't know yet (about the roster). We haven't played any games."
So that turns the flame to white-blue under Adelman's hot seat, right?
"Not in my mind," Petrie replied.
Explain.
"I'm sure that at some point there's going to be talk about Rick being a lame duck," Petrie said. "But there's nothing he's done here that's lame, and I haven't seen him ducking under any doors lately."
And let's take the conversation a step further, since Petrie did. What he noted is that when a player is in the final year of his contract, he's a potential free agent, a guy about to test the market. When a coach is in the final year, he's a lame duck. Why?
The short answer, of course, is that players almost never get blamed for their teams' horrible performances. If that weren't the case, nobody would've touched Abdur-Rahim with a 10-dollar pole; he basically hasn't played for a winner since college.
For that matter, the NBA (and any other sports league) will forgive all manner of behavior in the name of talent. If that weren't true, Wells would be another guy looking for work in his chosen field, rather than the object of a bunch of potential deals before Memphis, with coach Mike Fratello already tired of Wells' act, finally sending him to Sacramento in the Bobby Jackson trade.
But a coach? Forget about it. If a team stinks, the coach is out. Shoot, about half the time a coach is on a short leash even under the best of circumstances or even an out-and-out resurgence, which may explain how Nate McMillan wound up leaving Seattle's surprise playoff entry of last season for the vagaries and rebuilding job awaiting him in Portland.
The early consensus on the Kings is daunting on another level, if only because the message seems to be, "Great roster. Now somebody go coach it." Adelman is coming off the franchise's fifth straight 50-win campaign, but this was a one-and-out playoff team last season. Can this much really change in one summer of on-paper dealing?
Petrie's and Adelman's best teams in Sacramento have been marked by an almost chronic unselfishness among their best players. Petrie calls the process "accommodation," meaning stars have to be willing to defer to other stars when necessary on the court; and as of now the leadership role in that regard has to come from Brad Miller, Peja Stojakovic and Mike Bibby, "three guys who form the substance of a lot of the good stuff that came here before."
But Wells has to buy in, too. Abdur-Rahim has to buy in, and Corliss Williamson, and Kenny Thomas and Brian Skinner and others who either are or aren't at all used to making their contributions from the bench. As of now, it is apparent Bibby, Miller, Stojakovic, Wells and Abdur-Rahim are the starting five - with all the winning, losing, transcendence and difficulty their individual histories imply. In other words, nothing has happened yet, which won't stop the national sporting machinery in the slightest. The new and quite possibly improved Kings already are being fitted for Pacific Division title banners. Back to you down on the court, Rick.
Reach Mark Kreidler at (916) 321-1149 or mkreidler@sacbee.com.
Good to see Kreidler's take IMHO.
