http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/basketball/kings/story/13989628p-14823082c.html
Mark Kreidler: Squeeze the most out of the starters
By Mark Kreidler -- Bee Columnist
Published 2:15 am PST Saturday, December 17, 2005
Right, we all understand that the Kings' starters can't play 48 minutes every night. So the pertinent question today is simply this:
How close to 48 can they come?
I ask this not as a clueless NBA neophyte (insert e-mailed cheap shot here), but rather in my coveted role as Coach for the Next Four to Five Minutes. Bear with me as we do the math.
The Kings, by all accounts, have the weakest bench they've had in years.
You can tell Rick Adelman doesn't even really like playing his second unit against the other team's second unit. With only the rarest exception (a second-quarter burst against Detroit the other night being one), straying from the starting squad means flirting with a total meltdown for a 10-13 team trying desperately to find its footing.
So why in the world is Adelman using his bench more than he did last year?
It's all right there in the numbers. The Kings' starters are collectively averaging fewer minutes per game than did the people at those positions just last season - and that was a team with Bobby Jackson, Darius Songaila and Maurice Evans, among others, available off the bench.
Peja Stojakovic is playing less. Mike Bibby is playing less, and Brad Miller, too. Shareef Abdur-Rahim is getting fewer minutes than a post-surgical Chris Webber got at power forward, for the love of Pete. Bonzi Wells does more for this team than Cuttino Mobley ever did, yet Wells is clocking in at three fewer minutes per night than Cuttino got.
How does this square with the reality? Surely Adelman isn't devoting another wasted minute to trying to salvage the reserves as some marauding, game-saving crew. The Bench Mob, this ain't.
Go get those horses, the starters, and ride them 'til they drop. They're the best chance to win, and there's no second-best currently in the running. That's just how it is.
I'd boil in oil before I trusted my future as head coach to the bench the Kings have put together right now. Never mind what people thought might happen with Kevin Martin and Francisco García and Jason Hart and the crew; that's history. In the here and now, those guys can't be on the floor in serious minutes if I'm trying to win a game.
Kenny Thomas has earned his minutes, and there's still a reason to put Brian Skinner or Corliss Williamson in a game. But that boost is limited and it is time-compressed. Get 'em on, squeeze their production and sub 'em back out.
If I'm Adelman, operating with an expiring contract and needing wins right now, I'm going down swinging, and that means putting the best guys on the floor for as long as they can remain upright.
Forget May. Win now. You can all be exhausted together later.
I'm already on the hook for the Great Two-Month Plan ("Just wait for January!" the columnist once exclaimed in a merry burst of ego), but this much is clear without the necessity of another two weeks: Geoff Petrie's latest creation along the bench is a dud. If there's going to be trade activity around this roster, it had better involve getting significantly stronger there first.
In the meantime, Adelman is stuck. He's got a very good starting five and almost nothing after that - the third-lowest scoring bench in the NBA. Instructively, though, the two teams ranked below Sacramento in that category, the 76ers and the Clippers, both are plus-.500 teams that lead their divisions.
In other words, even winning squads can get by mostly with their starters, at least for a while. And let's be honest: Isn't that going to have to be enough for the Kings this season?
Run those starters. Run Bibby ragged. There's no horrific medical or physical risk posed here, just the chance of fatigue way deep into the season. Bibby and Wells certainly can handle more time than they're getting right now, and with all due respect to the potential of Martin and García and the energy of Hart, the dropoff from starter to reserve is often staggering.
Give Adelman this: Before the season began, he told me that Bobby Jackson - versatile, court-smart and defensively energized - was the single most crucial personnel loss from the last campaign. When the man is right, he's so right it hurts.
Two or three more minutes per game - four, maybe. If I'm Adelman, those starters are all going to average as close to 40 as I can get them. Miller won't fall apart. Abdur-Rahim can handle it. Remember when Wells was unhappy in Memphis because he wasn't getting enough playing time? Problem solved: You're in there, Bonzi.
With his team needing a win in Seattle last weekend to avoid sliding off the table completely, Adelman played four of his five starters at least 39 minutes (Bibby got 42). The next night, trying to close out a back-to-back at home against the Hornets, Adelman had four starters at 40 or more. The Kings won both games and still had enough in those starters' tanks to beat Minnesota on the road. It sure isn't perfect. Looks like the flawed approach will have to do.
About the writer: Reach Mark Kreidler at (916) 321-1149 or mkreidler@sacbee.com
Mark Kreidler: Squeeze the most out of the starters
By Mark Kreidler -- Bee Columnist
Published 2:15 am PST Saturday, December 17, 2005
Right, we all understand that the Kings' starters can't play 48 minutes every night. So the pertinent question today is simply this:
How close to 48 can they come?
I ask this not as a clueless NBA neophyte (insert e-mailed cheap shot here), but rather in my coveted role as Coach for the Next Four to Five Minutes. Bear with me as we do the math.
The Kings, by all accounts, have the weakest bench they've had in years.
You can tell Rick Adelman doesn't even really like playing his second unit against the other team's second unit. With only the rarest exception (a second-quarter burst against Detroit the other night being one), straying from the starting squad means flirting with a total meltdown for a 10-13 team trying desperately to find its footing.
So why in the world is Adelman using his bench more than he did last year?
It's all right there in the numbers. The Kings' starters are collectively averaging fewer minutes per game than did the people at those positions just last season - and that was a team with Bobby Jackson, Darius Songaila and Maurice Evans, among others, available off the bench.
Peja Stojakovic is playing less. Mike Bibby is playing less, and Brad Miller, too. Shareef Abdur-Rahim is getting fewer minutes than a post-surgical Chris Webber got at power forward, for the love of Pete. Bonzi Wells does more for this team than Cuttino Mobley ever did, yet Wells is clocking in at three fewer minutes per night than Cuttino got.
How does this square with the reality? Surely Adelman isn't devoting another wasted minute to trying to salvage the reserves as some marauding, game-saving crew. The Bench Mob, this ain't.
Go get those horses, the starters, and ride them 'til they drop. They're the best chance to win, and there's no second-best currently in the running. That's just how it is.
I'd boil in oil before I trusted my future as head coach to the bench the Kings have put together right now. Never mind what people thought might happen with Kevin Martin and Francisco García and Jason Hart and the crew; that's history. In the here and now, those guys can't be on the floor in serious minutes if I'm trying to win a game.
Kenny Thomas has earned his minutes, and there's still a reason to put Brian Skinner or Corliss Williamson in a game. But that boost is limited and it is time-compressed. Get 'em on, squeeze their production and sub 'em back out.
If I'm Adelman, operating with an expiring contract and needing wins right now, I'm going down swinging, and that means putting the best guys on the floor for as long as they can remain upright.
Forget May. Win now. You can all be exhausted together later.
I'm already on the hook for the Great Two-Month Plan ("Just wait for January!" the columnist once exclaimed in a merry burst of ego), but this much is clear without the necessity of another two weeks: Geoff Petrie's latest creation along the bench is a dud. If there's going to be trade activity around this roster, it had better involve getting significantly stronger there first.
In the meantime, Adelman is stuck. He's got a very good starting five and almost nothing after that - the third-lowest scoring bench in the NBA. Instructively, though, the two teams ranked below Sacramento in that category, the 76ers and the Clippers, both are plus-.500 teams that lead their divisions.
In other words, even winning squads can get by mostly with their starters, at least for a while. And let's be honest: Isn't that going to have to be enough for the Kings this season?
Run those starters. Run Bibby ragged. There's no horrific medical or physical risk posed here, just the chance of fatigue way deep into the season. Bibby and Wells certainly can handle more time than they're getting right now, and with all due respect to the potential of Martin and García and the energy of Hart, the dropoff from starter to reserve is often staggering.
Give Adelman this: Before the season began, he told me that Bobby Jackson - versatile, court-smart and defensively energized - was the single most crucial personnel loss from the last campaign. When the man is right, he's so right it hurts.
Two or three more minutes per game - four, maybe. If I'm Adelman, those starters are all going to average as close to 40 as I can get them. Miller won't fall apart. Abdur-Rahim can handle it. Remember when Wells was unhappy in Memphis because he wasn't getting enough playing time? Problem solved: You're in there, Bonzi.
With his team needing a win in Seattle last weekend to avoid sliding off the table completely, Adelman played four of his five starters at least 39 minutes (Bibby got 42). The next night, trying to close out a back-to-back at home against the Hornets, Adelman had four starters at 40 or more. The Kings won both games and still had enough in those starters' tanks to beat Minnesota on the road. It sure isn't perfect. Looks like the flawed approach will have to do.
About the writer: Reach Mark Kreidler at (916) 321-1149 or mkreidler@sacbee.com
