AleksandarN
Starter
http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/basketball/kings/story/12834542p-13684518c.html
SEATTLE - First, because I know you're wondering, the Kings don't plan a change at head coach. Rick Adelman's deal already was extended for the coming season, and while that and 25 cents won't even get you a newspaper anymore, team executive Geoff Petrie said Tuesday evening that he expects no alterations to the coaching staff.
So let's get to the nubs of it. Upon who, exactly, does this franchise build?
The questions are pretty good ones right now. When Mike Bibby and Peja Stojakovic almost double-handedly shot the Kings past the SuperSonics before fading and yielding to Seattle's 122-118 victory and a first-round playoff exit, you had a pretty graphic example of why Petrie (a) traded Jason Williams for Bibby in the first place, and (b) told Stojakovic that he isn't going anywhere for a long while.
And that's fine with Stojakovic, who told me after the game that he is happy playing in Sacramento and doesn't plan to revisit his words of last summer, when he politely requested a trade. That ship sailed without Peja, and he's fine with it.
He's also still capable of truly great performances, although possibly not for 40-plus minutes per game. Both Stojakovic and Bibby ran out of gas again in the fourth quarter against Seattle (a combined 3 for 13 from the field), suggesting that Rick Adelman needs some complementary help if his duo is going to make serious noise in the coming year.
I'll take them both, and add Brad Miller for atmosphere, not to mention (when healthy) great offensive coggery. Petrie reiterated Tuesday that Bobby Jackson's contract option will be picked up, and why not? Jackson is relatively cheap and has every reason to come back full throttle in October.
The variables? Well, here's where it gets dicey.
Cuttino Mobley isn't really a fit here. He's a shooter who doesn't do a whole lot else, and he's trying to make that work in the Petrie-Adelman offense in which flow and continuous ball movement are so critical. It was a little shocking, but undeniably true, that the Kings' offense got better and more efficient in Game 5 only after Mobley went out because of a sprained foot.
And yet the Kings would undoubtedly prefer Mobley to exercise his option to pick up the final year of his contract. Why? Because if he opts out and leaves in free agency, Sacramento gets nothing for him - and still sits too far over the salary cap to make any use of his money coming off the books.
Maurice Evans is a free agent, and he opened plenty of eyes this season. The Kings ought to hope that Evans realizes he was in the right system, and decides to hang around. Greg Ostertag and Darius Songaila have their choice on options for next year as well; Songaila is a player of promise, and Ostertag, though I think he's the wrong guy for Sacramento's system, is still a shot-blocker and a foul-giver on a team with no size.
So what's left? Well, to quote Petrie directly, "We still need to get better defensively," and I think after surrendering 237 points to Seattle in the last two playoff games, that's a place to start.
But don't be shocked to see a team next fall that looks a little like the one - in shape, at least - that just went out in the first round for the first time in five years. Don't be shocked to see Bibby, Stojakovic and Miller out there, accompanied by Jackson and Songaila.
Petrie and Adelman are both of the opinion that Kenny Thomas, who came over in the Chris Webber trade, could be a real player in their system if given even one training camp to get things set. Sacramento is already beginning to take on the dimensions of a smaller, faster team than they've put on the floor in years.
And for those keeping score: Right, it's not championship timber, not even with a camp under its belt. This is a team trying to change out engine parts while still running a race.
"To get 50 wins and get to the playoffs while essentially you are re-doing the team - that's pretty remarkable," said player personnel director Jerry Reynolds. "I don't think there'll be a whole gob of different players - two, three, four different guys, maybe. As far as the main guys, it's going to be very similar."
That's what they said last year. Then Vlade Divac left, and Doug Christie, and Webber, and you know the rest. But that was then, when Petrie felt compelled to deal off his old, his inflexible and his infirm. What's left is what you see. They don't make Renaissances like they used to.
SEATTLE - First, because I know you're wondering, the Kings don't plan a change at head coach. Rick Adelman's deal already was extended for the coming season, and while that and 25 cents won't even get you a newspaper anymore, team executive Geoff Petrie said Tuesday evening that he expects no alterations to the coaching staff.
So let's get to the nubs of it. Upon who, exactly, does this franchise build?
The questions are pretty good ones right now. When Mike Bibby and Peja Stojakovic almost double-handedly shot the Kings past the SuperSonics before fading and yielding to Seattle's 122-118 victory and a first-round playoff exit, you had a pretty graphic example of why Petrie (a) traded Jason Williams for Bibby in the first place, and (b) told Stojakovic that he isn't going anywhere for a long while.
And that's fine with Stojakovic, who told me after the game that he is happy playing in Sacramento and doesn't plan to revisit his words of last summer, when he politely requested a trade. That ship sailed without Peja, and he's fine with it.
He's also still capable of truly great performances, although possibly not for 40-plus minutes per game. Both Stojakovic and Bibby ran out of gas again in the fourth quarter against Seattle (a combined 3 for 13 from the field), suggesting that Rick Adelman needs some complementary help if his duo is going to make serious noise in the coming year.
I'll take them both, and add Brad Miller for atmosphere, not to mention (when healthy) great offensive coggery. Petrie reiterated Tuesday that Bobby Jackson's contract option will be picked up, and why not? Jackson is relatively cheap and has every reason to come back full throttle in October.
The variables? Well, here's where it gets dicey.
Cuttino Mobley isn't really a fit here. He's a shooter who doesn't do a whole lot else, and he's trying to make that work in the Petrie-Adelman offense in which flow and continuous ball movement are so critical. It was a little shocking, but undeniably true, that the Kings' offense got better and more efficient in Game 5 only after Mobley went out because of a sprained foot.
And yet the Kings would undoubtedly prefer Mobley to exercise his option to pick up the final year of his contract. Why? Because if he opts out and leaves in free agency, Sacramento gets nothing for him - and still sits too far over the salary cap to make any use of his money coming off the books.
Maurice Evans is a free agent, and he opened plenty of eyes this season. The Kings ought to hope that Evans realizes he was in the right system, and decides to hang around. Greg Ostertag and Darius Songaila have their choice on options for next year as well; Songaila is a player of promise, and Ostertag, though I think he's the wrong guy for Sacramento's system, is still a shot-blocker and a foul-giver on a team with no size.
So what's left? Well, to quote Petrie directly, "We still need to get better defensively," and I think after surrendering 237 points to Seattle in the last two playoff games, that's a place to start.
But don't be shocked to see a team next fall that looks a little like the one - in shape, at least - that just went out in the first round for the first time in five years. Don't be shocked to see Bibby, Stojakovic and Miller out there, accompanied by Jackson and Songaila.
Petrie and Adelman are both of the opinion that Kenny Thomas, who came over in the Chris Webber trade, could be a real player in their system if given even one training camp to get things set. Sacramento is already beginning to take on the dimensions of a smaller, faster team than they've put on the floor in years.
And for those keeping score: Right, it's not championship timber, not even with a camp under its belt. This is a team trying to change out engine parts while still running a race.
"To get 50 wins and get to the playoffs while essentially you are re-doing the team - that's pretty remarkable," said player personnel director Jerry Reynolds. "I don't think there'll be a whole gob of different players - two, three, four different guys, maybe. As far as the main guys, it's going to be very similar."
That's what they said last year. Then Vlade Divac left, and Doug Christie, and Webber, and you know the rest. But that was then, when Petrie felt compelled to deal off his old, his inflexible and his infirm. What's left is what you see. They don't make Renaissances like they used to.
