http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/story/11277126p-12192342c.html
Mark Kreidler: Kings to control the Pacific; will Comcast control Kings?
By Mark Kreidler -- Bee Columnist
Published 2:15 am PST Sunday, October 31, 2004
I know what you're thinking. You're thinking the same two things I'm thinking, minus the NC-17 language and pointlessly violent content.
One: Just as you're getting set to dock the Kings some playoff-positioning points on the basis of bad karma and fractured team "chemistry," along comes the rest of the Western Conference, underwhelming at a Clipperian rate. Though you can't believe you're saying this after its summer of alleged turmoil, Sacramento is probably looking at a divisional title and the No. 3 seed in the postseason.
And, Two: You'll see almost none of it. Because you, my friend, own a dish.
About that second part, I'd help if I could. (I really would. I own a dish.) As it is, the best I can do is to pass along the latest scuttlebutt, which is that, as of late last week, the Comcast deathstar was in gradually warming conversations with either the Dish Network or DirecTV, and there was the possibility of some good news with one or the other - perhaps both - this week.
Frankly, if that's true, Comcast has disappointed me. It's shocking that the world's most avaricious cable operator would pass up the opportunity to (a) let the NBA season go ahead and start, (b) listen as Kings-fan satellite subscribers begin truly screaming at ear-bleed levels, and (c) use that vocal battle cry - Dude, Where's My Local Franchise? - as leverage to vacuum millions out of the suddenly panicky satellite companies.
If Comcast strikes a smiley-faced deal with the dishes in the meantime, I'll be glad to amend its moniker to "purportedly" avaricious. Until then, the sentiment stands.
But for those of you who already have Comcast or SureWest and thus will receive the full, 82-game Kings package among the different carriers (the new cable-channel venture, News 10, ESPN, TNT), good news: It's a pretty interesting team you'll be watching - or at least being given the opportunity to watch.
Despite prodding from several corners and those last two exhibition games, I can't get pessimistic about the Kings this season. They're good. They've got plenty of talent. It isn't the deepest bench you've ever seen, but come on: Is that really going to bother Rick Adelman?
We can't assume health, of course, and Adelman's teams have displayed an astounding knack for splitting, popping, straining, pulling and otherwise fracturing stuff while the schedules are actually being played. Chris Webber alone is averaging only 48 games per season over the last three years, and the Kings had barely walked into camp this fall when Greg Ostertag went down with an injury. Doug Christie didn't even wait that long.
Still: It's a fine squad. Nice talent, fairly evenly distributed, with a little bit of internal healing already under way. The most overwritten storyline of the season (and it hasn't even started) is the Webber-Peja Stojakovic relationship, which has lately shown encouraging signs of normalcy. A Sprewell-Carlesimo bonfire this ain't; Stojakovic is too good and too proud to slack off under any circumstances, and Webber has all he can handle in trying to back up his own summertime words with his play.
Bobby Jackson is back. Webber is moving better. Ostertag is an improvement over Vlade Divac in terms of physicality and blocked shots, although I'm a firm believer that Divac's greatest value was in the locker room and in the minds and hearts of his teammates. Good guy, deservedly missed.
The Lakers got worse, period. Dallas lost Steve Nash, director of its offense. Houston is going to have to figure out how to make a great scorer like Tracy McGrady work in a grinding offense like Jeff Van Gundy's.
The Kings' competition in the Pacific Division? The Lakers, Phoenix, Golden State and the Clips. Not much terrifying there, even if you believe Kobe Bryant is capable of carrying a team by himself or the Suns will suddenly try to run teams out of the gym.
Nope, assuming health (and we've already stipulated that you really can't, but still), this Kings team wins its division and goes into the playoffs with a puncher's chance of stringing together some victories, and that's age, warts and all.
It's an interesting time to be saying all this, because, on so many levels, this season might stand as a last ride for the ol' gang if things go badly. Adelman's contract for next season is at the club's option, and owners Joe and Gavin Maloof may want to first decide what shape next year's club will take before acting on the head coach.
That shape will be determined to a fair extent by this current team's success or lack thereof. A blowup could hasten a franchise remodel - and, look, that's always possible. But the smart money puts the Kings right back where they've been for years, which is solidly in the hunt. It's going to be difficult to color that a failure.
Reach Mark Kreidler at (916) 321-1149 or mkreidler@sacbee.com.
Mark Kreidler: Kings to control the Pacific; will Comcast control Kings?
By Mark Kreidler -- Bee Columnist
Published 2:15 am PST Sunday, October 31, 2004
I know what you're thinking. You're thinking the same two things I'm thinking, minus the NC-17 language and pointlessly violent content.
One: Just as you're getting set to dock the Kings some playoff-positioning points on the basis of bad karma and fractured team "chemistry," along comes the rest of the Western Conference, underwhelming at a Clipperian rate. Though you can't believe you're saying this after its summer of alleged turmoil, Sacramento is probably looking at a divisional title and the No. 3 seed in the postseason.
And, Two: You'll see almost none of it. Because you, my friend, own a dish.
About that second part, I'd help if I could. (I really would. I own a dish.) As it is, the best I can do is to pass along the latest scuttlebutt, which is that, as of late last week, the Comcast deathstar was in gradually warming conversations with either the Dish Network or DirecTV, and there was the possibility of some good news with one or the other - perhaps both - this week.
Frankly, if that's true, Comcast has disappointed me. It's shocking that the world's most avaricious cable operator would pass up the opportunity to (a) let the NBA season go ahead and start, (b) listen as Kings-fan satellite subscribers begin truly screaming at ear-bleed levels, and (c) use that vocal battle cry - Dude, Where's My Local Franchise? - as leverage to vacuum millions out of the suddenly panicky satellite companies.
If Comcast strikes a smiley-faced deal with the dishes in the meantime, I'll be glad to amend its moniker to "purportedly" avaricious. Until then, the sentiment stands.
But for those of you who already have Comcast or SureWest and thus will receive the full, 82-game Kings package among the different carriers (the new cable-channel venture, News 10, ESPN, TNT), good news: It's a pretty interesting team you'll be watching - or at least being given the opportunity to watch.
Despite prodding from several corners and those last two exhibition games, I can't get pessimistic about the Kings this season. They're good. They've got plenty of talent. It isn't the deepest bench you've ever seen, but come on: Is that really going to bother Rick Adelman?
We can't assume health, of course, and Adelman's teams have displayed an astounding knack for splitting, popping, straining, pulling and otherwise fracturing stuff while the schedules are actually being played. Chris Webber alone is averaging only 48 games per season over the last three years, and the Kings had barely walked into camp this fall when Greg Ostertag went down with an injury. Doug Christie didn't even wait that long.
Still: It's a fine squad. Nice talent, fairly evenly distributed, with a little bit of internal healing already under way. The most overwritten storyline of the season (and it hasn't even started) is the Webber-Peja Stojakovic relationship, which has lately shown encouraging signs of normalcy. A Sprewell-Carlesimo bonfire this ain't; Stojakovic is too good and too proud to slack off under any circumstances, and Webber has all he can handle in trying to back up his own summertime words with his play.
Bobby Jackson is back. Webber is moving better. Ostertag is an improvement over Vlade Divac in terms of physicality and blocked shots, although I'm a firm believer that Divac's greatest value was in the locker room and in the minds and hearts of his teammates. Good guy, deservedly missed.
The Lakers got worse, period. Dallas lost Steve Nash, director of its offense. Houston is going to have to figure out how to make a great scorer like Tracy McGrady work in a grinding offense like Jeff Van Gundy's.
The Kings' competition in the Pacific Division? The Lakers, Phoenix, Golden State and the Clips. Not much terrifying there, even if you believe Kobe Bryant is capable of carrying a team by himself or the Suns will suddenly try to run teams out of the gym.
Nope, assuming health (and we've already stipulated that you really can't, but still), this Kings team wins its division and goes into the playoffs with a puncher's chance of stringing together some victories, and that's age, warts and all.
It's an interesting time to be saying all this, because, on so many levels, this season might stand as a last ride for the ol' gang if things go badly. Adelman's contract for next season is at the club's option, and owners Joe and Gavin Maloof may want to first decide what shape next year's club will take before acting on the head coach.
That shape will be determined to a fair extent by this current team's success or lack thereof. A blowup could hasten a franchise remodel - and, look, that's always possible. But the smart money puts the Kings right back where they've been for years, which is solidly in the hunt. It's going to be difficult to color that a failure.
Reach Mark Kreidler at (916) 321-1149 or mkreidler@sacbee.com.
