http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/story/13870249p-14709633c.html
Mark Kreidler: Give Kings some time, then panic
By Mark Kreidler -- Bee Sports Columnist
Published 2:15 am PST Thursday, November 17, 2005
Wait, wait, wait, wait. Come back in six weeks and tell me what you know.
Come back in six weeks and tell me Mike Bibby has lost it, or Rick Adelman has to go, or it's time to junk the Geoff Petrie approach to acquiring and deploying NBA talent. If the Kings are losing then at the rate they're losing now, if they're still the leaders of the NBA's Erratically Unpredictable division, we'll all know it beyond a doubt.
Can't wait six weeks? Wait a month. Not a month? Try a fortnight.
Anything would make more sense than the faux panic that currently surrounds 3-5, even a certifiably cruddy 3-5.
Let me put it another way: Why the rush to panic, when you have so much time to let it build?
I love a good sporting emergency as much as the next couch spud, but this is ridiculous. Terrell Owens ripping the Eagles apart, that's one thing. The Kings off to a slow start? Even in Sacramento, there has to be at least a modicum of perspective attached.
At the risk of trending toward Pollyanna McMyopic, consider the following:
* 2004-05 season: A 1-4 start that featured a 30-point blowout defeat in Seattle, a loss so lousy it had people wondering whether the Kings were going to spontaneously combust. Final record: 50-32.
* 2003-04 season: A 4-4 start that included getting run out of the gym by the Nuggets in Denver in Game 3, a waxing so thorough it set off alarm bells all around Concern Campus. Record: 55-27.
* 2002-03 season: A 3-3 start in which the team dropped three consecutive games on the road, leading some to wonder what in the world had happened to the bunch that was just in the Western Conference finals that spring. Record: 59-23.
Each of those teams featured guys who had played together longer than the current edition - and, significantly, those teams seemed to know how good they could be, even when they were going bad. As assistant coach Elston Turner described the group dynamic Wednesday, "There's a composure about you, a confidence about you on the court. Detroit has that right now."
The Kings of 2005 clearly don't yet know how good they might become - but did you really expect them to, not even three weeks into the season with a retooled roster and uncertain leadership? How myopic is that?
Six weeks. End of December. I want to see Bonzi Wells and Shareef Abdur-Rahim after Brad Miller starts finding them on the floor. I want to see Adelman's offense with Bibby and Peja Stojakovic shooting consistently behind it, which they haven't yet done.
This team might prove to be no better in January than it is right now. Let me ask: Do you really think, given the history, that that's the smart bet here?
The Kings aren't going to play much defense, and they aren't going to be great off the bench, period. But they're a team designed around the Petrie/Adelman offense-first philosophy, and if we've learned anything this season, it's that the system sure wasn't as simple as the Chris Webber/Vlade Divac teams so often made it look.
Come back in December. We'll talk.
Adelman wasn't buying much of the six-week project after Wednesday's practice, but, then, Adelman can't indulge the luxury. He's the coach with the one-year choke collar and exactly enough service time in one city for people to jump up and bleat, "See! He's doing it again!" as soon as Adelman does something that they remember hating from a season past.
At one point, discussing his mostly woeful second unit, the coach said, "If it continues, I've got to make some decisions - maybe I can't have all five bench guys on the floor." Later, Adelman added, "I haven't got that much time to wait."
You, on the other hand, do. And whether or not Adelman likes it, he's going to have to wait at least awhile longer before he really knows what he has with Abdur-Rahim and Wells learning how to play alongside Bibby, Stojakovic and Miller.
"It's almost like school," Turner said. "Each individual learns at a different pace. I don't know that any coach can put a time frame on it."
The great thing about sports fandom is that one may panic whenever one feels up to it. With ticket prices past ear-bleed levels and the playoffs already in question, now might seem like the perfect time.
Just a thought: Give it a little room to breathe. Come back next month. At least then, it'll be a richly earned case of the howling.
About the writer: Reach Mark Kreidler at (916) 321-1149 or mkreidler@sacbee.com
Mark Kreidler: Give Kings some time, then panic
By Mark Kreidler -- Bee Sports Columnist
Published 2:15 am PST Thursday, November 17, 2005
Wait, wait, wait, wait. Come back in six weeks and tell me what you know.
Come back in six weeks and tell me Mike Bibby has lost it, or Rick Adelman has to go, or it's time to junk the Geoff Petrie approach to acquiring and deploying NBA talent. If the Kings are losing then at the rate they're losing now, if they're still the leaders of the NBA's Erratically Unpredictable division, we'll all know it beyond a doubt.
Can't wait six weeks? Wait a month. Not a month? Try a fortnight.
Anything would make more sense than the faux panic that currently surrounds 3-5, even a certifiably cruddy 3-5.
Let me put it another way: Why the rush to panic, when you have so much time to let it build?
I love a good sporting emergency as much as the next couch spud, but this is ridiculous. Terrell Owens ripping the Eagles apart, that's one thing. The Kings off to a slow start? Even in Sacramento, there has to be at least a modicum of perspective attached.
At the risk of trending toward Pollyanna McMyopic, consider the following:
* 2004-05 season: A 1-4 start that featured a 30-point blowout defeat in Seattle, a loss so lousy it had people wondering whether the Kings were going to spontaneously combust. Final record: 50-32.
* 2003-04 season: A 4-4 start that included getting run out of the gym by the Nuggets in Denver in Game 3, a waxing so thorough it set off alarm bells all around Concern Campus. Record: 55-27.
* 2002-03 season: A 3-3 start in which the team dropped three consecutive games on the road, leading some to wonder what in the world had happened to the bunch that was just in the Western Conference finals that spring. Record: 59-23.
Each of those teams featured guys who had played together longer than the current edition - and, significantly, those teams seemed to know how good they could be, even when they were going bad. As assistant coach Elston Turner described the group dynamic Wednesday, "There's a composure about you, a confidence about you on the court. Detroit has that right now."
The Kings of 2005 clearly don't yet know how good they might become - but did you really expect them to, not even three weeks into the season with a retooled roster and uncertain leadership? How myopic is that?
Six weeks. End of December. I want to see Bonzi Wells and Shareef Abdur-Rahim after Brad Miller starts finding them on the floor. I want to see Adelman's offense with Bibby and Peja Stojakovic shooting consistently behind it, which they haven't yet done.
This team might prove to be no better in January than it is right now. Let me ask: Do you really think, given the history, that that's the smart bet here?
The Kings aren't going to play much defense, and they aren't going to be great off the bench, period. But they're a team designed around the Petrie/Adelman offense-first philosophy, and if we've learned anything this season, it's that the system sure wasn't as simple as the Chris Webber/Vlade Divac teams so often made it look.
Come back in December. We'll talk.
Adelman wasn't buying much of the six-week project after Wednesday's practice, but, then, Adelman can't indulge the luxury. He's the coach with the one-year choke collar and exactly enough service time in one city for people to jump up and bleat, "See! He's doing it again!" as soon as Adelman does something that they remember hating from a season past.
At one point, discussing his mostly woeful second unit, the coach said, "If it continues, I've got to make some decisions - maybe I can't have all five bench guys on the floor." Later, Adelman added, "I haven't got that much time to wait."
You, on the other hand, do. And whether or not Adelman likes it, he's going to have to wait at least awhile longer before he really knows what he has with Abdur-Rahim and Wells learning how to play alongside Bibby, Stojakovic and Miller.
"It's almost like school," Turner said. "Each individual learns at a different pace. I don't know that any coach can put a time frame on it."
The great thing about sports fandom is that one may panic whenever one feels up to it. With ticket prices past ear-bleed levels and the playoffs already in question, now might seem like the perfect time.
Just a thought: Give it a little room to breathe. Come back next month. At least then, it'll be a richly earned case of the howling.
About the writer: Reach Mark Kreidler at (916) 321-1149 or mkreidler@sacbee.com
