Mark Kreidler: Webber showed flashes of old self
By Mark Kreidler -- Bee Sports Columnist
Published 2:15 am PDT Tuesday, October 19, 2004
BEIJING - It's going to disappoint the devil out of the cadre of fans ready to blame Chris Webber for, well, for whatever's about to happen next, but he looked better than fine in both Kings exhibition games on this continent.
Maybe he's just more effective in Shanghai than Sacramento; it's hard to say. What is clear is Webber laid down some statistically terrific quarters during the China trip, including the first quarter Sunday (Saturday night in Sacramento), when he knocked down four of his first five shots and finished with 10 points in 12 minutes.
Even Kings coach Rick Adelman has no idea what to expect with Webber insofar as his erstwhile gimpy left knee is concerned; Webber might reel off a dozen great games in a row, or he might play four quarters and suddenly need the next four off. You're talking about the kind of microfracture surgery from which some athletes never come back at all, and in that context, it's not yet clear how close to his former self Webber ultimately will grow.
But he has the touch on his midrange jumper, even here early in training camp; he's in fine physical shape overall; and if there are chemistry issues with Sacramento's starting unit (significantly, Webber and Peja Stojakovic), you couldn't have told it from these games.
No, from the China Games came the look of a starting crew that, even without injured swingman Doug Christie and the dear departed Vlade Divac, still had enough talent and cohesiveness to outplay Houston and Yao Ming pretty convincingly in the minutes the top units spent against one another.
Webber was in the middle of all that. I guess you could call it a start.
• There were some impressive moments for Kevin Martin, the rookie pressed into starting duty by Christie's absence. But have you seen this kid? On a basketball court, running around amid the NBA's sequoias, he looks like a stiff breeze might blow him off the floor.
Martin is listed at 185 pounds, not a lot when they're being distributed on a 6-foot-7 frame. He's a classic "futures" draft, the kind NBA teams never used to consider. But he has good court savvy and great quickness. He's probably 15 or 20 pounds of muscle removed from being Christie's clear successor.
• Stojakovic just isn't there yet. It's early. His teammates, Webber chief among them, could be seen on the sidelines during the two games here encouraging Peja to continue jacking up shots, but it's obvious Stojakovic is still shaking off the rust of a summer of inactivity.
The Kings wanted the small forward to take those summer months off from international and Olympic competition, but they weren't expecting Stojakovic to go completely dormant.
Still, as Adelman noted, there were mitigating circumstances.
"The personal situation that he was in, the things that kind of went on at the end of the year (Webber's comments, which were interpreted as a knock against Stojakovic's toughness), the speculation about whether or not he was going to play in the Olympics for the first time - it put a huge pressure on his back," Adelman said. "He was also becoming a father for the first time. I think he just wanted to get away."
He also asked for, and was refused, a trade. But Stojakovic is too proud a player to go south on a season, and he's a thorough professional. He'll find his stroke.
• Judging strictly off these results, that Webber-Stojakovic chemistry issue isn't a giant in-game factor. Playing in the same rotations in both games, each player got off a bundle of shots without seeming to disrupt the flow of play.
There wasn't a lot of action in the paint from anybody, though, and that's going to be a telling thing as this season progresses. It can't be only Webber, or Brad Miller, or Greg Ostertag, whose job is to go in there and knock people around. The Kings of this vintage are going to have to team-rebound their way through the rough spots.
• The strangest facet to the trip had to be listening to Adelman get grilled over his contract situation in Mandarin Chinese. It happened at news conferences in both Shanghai and Beijing.
Adelman answered respectfully, saying only that team owners Joe and Gavin Maloof hold the option on his contract for next year and that he's much more focused right now on getting this team ready for the season. Later, though, in a private moment, the coach, somewhat exasperated, felt compelled to state the obvious (although it clearly isn't obvious to everybody): He didn't ask for an extension.
What Adelman did was to answer a question about the option from The Bee's Martin McNeal by saying that, quite naturally, he'd love to see it picked up for next season.
"But we (he and the Maloofs) haven't talked about it at all," Adelman said. "(Kings president of basketball operations Geoff Petrie) and I have barely talked about it. I have no idea what they're going to do. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work."
• Lost in the shouting over Yao Ming: The Kings' Chinese guard, Liu Wei, acquitted himself well in his games here. There's likely no place for him on the Sacramento roster, since he'd get no minutes playing behind Mike Bibby and Bobby Jackson, but Liu richly earned the words of encouragement he received from Adelman. Good player. Very American game. And in this case, that's a pure compliment.
