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http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/marty_burns/01/11/kings/index.html
Uneasy lies the crown
Lackluster play, injuries send Kings into tailspin
Posted: Wednesday January 11, 2006 3:54PM;
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/marty_burns/01/11/kings/index.html#http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/marty_burns/01/11/kings/index.html#http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/services/rss/
Owner of a .648 winning percentage as the Kings coach, Rick Adelman has watched his team drop 11 of 20 at home this season.
Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images
The biggest wreck in Sacramento right now isn't Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's motorcycle. It's the Kings, who have dropped eight of their last 11 games to fall to 13-20 on the season. Not coincidentally, their approval ratings around town have plummeted as dramatically as the Governor's.
Kings fans, accustomed to 50-win teams, are growing frustrated. Some are calling for coach Rick Adelman's head. Others are blaming last year's Chris Webber trade. There's even a handful who believe it's all a master plan by the team's owners, the Maloof brothers, to make it easier to shift the franchise to Las Vegas.
The Kings' biggest problem right now, of course, is that they are as banged up and bruised as Schwarzenegger after his collision last week with a car while riding his Harley. Without starters Bonzi Wells and Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Sacramento is undermanned most every night. Not many NBA teams could lose two starters and expect to win many games.
But in fairness to those angry Sacramento fans, the Kings weren't playing consistently well even before the injuries. The team's veteran core -- Mike Bibby, Peja Stojakovic and Brad Miller -- simply have not performed up to their usual standards. The bench has been a dud. It seems there has just been a general lack of energy on the floor too many nights.
In Tuesday night's game at Memphis, for example, the Kings got off to a great start en route to an early 15-point lead. But then they began turning the ball over and standing around on defense, and soon enough the Grizzlies were on their way. At one point just before the half, Bibby -- who had played very well to that point -- tossed a lazy pass at midcourt that Mike Miller picked off and took the other way for a huge "and one" that put the Grizz ahead for good, 49-47, and sent the FedEx Forum crowd into a frenzy.
It was a rather sloppy play for a veteran such as Bibby, but somewhat reflective of the malaise that seems to have gripped the Kings this year. It's no shame to lose to a strong Memphis team, but the way Sacramento fell apart and allowed Memphis to have its way was telling. Mike Miller wound up with a triple double off the bench ("Has that ever happened before?," Grizzlies veteran Eddie Jones asked afterward) while rookie Hakim Warrick exploded for a career-high 16 points.
Of course, Tuesday's loss was nothing compared to Sunday's dismal home loss to a Pacers team playing without Ron Artest and Jamaal Tinsley. In that game, the Kings' Big Three combined for just 29 points on 29 percent shooting (10-of-35). Meanwhile Sacramento's defense allowed Indiana to go on a 23-6 run in the first half, and then a 12-2 run in the second in which Stephen Jackson was left free to bang home four 3-pointers in a 78-second span. By the end, the Arco crowd (who have now witnessed eight losses in the last 11 games at their one-time snakepit) were actually booing their beloved Kings.
Naturally, Adelman has become the easy target for those Kings fans seeking a quick fix. Some blame the veteran coach for being too soft on his players. Others say his lame duck status (the Kings declined to offer him a contract extension last season, while the Maloofs apparently pursued Phil Jackson) has enabled the Kings to tune him out.
Both charges might be true to some extent, but don't look for Kings GM Geoff Petrie to jettison his pal any day soon. "If you're going to choose a poison," he told the Sacramento Bee, "and one of them is patience and one of them is impatience, I'm going to choose patience."
Then again, Petrie might also just be biding time. As one NBA league source pointed out, the Kings really don't have a ready assistant on the bench who could slide into the head job. Pete Carril is too old, while Elston Turner and T.R. Dunn have no prior head coaching experience.
"I could see [Petrie] maybe making a move after the season," the source said. "But right now I don't think there's any [coaching candidate] out there who's going to turn it around."
So for now the Kings plod on, waiting for their injured stars to return. But will their fans remain patient? It's hard to say. Many are still upset about last year's Webber trade, which brought back in return only veterans Corliss Williamson, Kenny Thomas and Brian Skinner. While the move was sound for financial reasons, it hasn't worked out for the Kings on the court -- especially with Webber once again putting up big numbers in his new home in Philadelphia.
Some Kings fans even suggest the Maloofs made the decision to cut ties with Webber as part of a longer-term strategy to gut the team and make it easier to grease the path for a franchise shift to Las Vegas, where the operate the Palms Casino. The Maloofs vehemently deny it, of course. But it hasn't helped that the famous bachelor brothers -- often seen at Arco for games -- have missed several games of late.
"What people have to understand is, we have had a lot of family illness," co-owner Joe Maloof explained in a phone call to a Sacramento Bee columnist Tuesday night. "My mom (Colleen) had a really, really serious scare. Then Gavin was sick for awhile, so there was a lot of personal stuff that hit us all at once. But we are not abandoning anybody. We are in touch with Geoff [Petrie] all the time, and we are going to be around a lot more now."
Having the Maloofs back in their courtside seats will be nice for sure. But the pair the Kings really need are Wells and Abdur-Rahim. Until they get back, the Kings' woes are likely to continue.
Uneasy lies the crown
Lackluster play, injuries send Kings into tailspin
Posted: Wednesday January 11, 2006 3:54PM;
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/marty_burns/01/11/kings/index.html#http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/marty_burns/01/11/kings/index.html#http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/services/rss/
Owner of a .648 winning percentage as the Kings coach, Rick Adelman has watched his team drop 11 of 20 at home this season.
Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images
The biggest wreck in Sacramento right now isn't Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's motorcycle. It's the Kings, who have dropped eight of their last 11 games to fall to 13-20 on the season. Not coincidentally, their approval ratings around town have plummeted as dramatically as the Governor's.
Kings fans, accustomed to 50-win teams, are growing frustrated. Some are calling for coach Rick Adelman's head. Others are blaming last year's Chris Webber trade. There's even a handful who believe it's all a master plan by the team's owners, the Maloof brothers, to make it easier to shift the franchise to Las Vegas.
The Kings' biggest problem right now, of course, is that they are as banged up and bruised as Schwarzenegger after his collision last week with a car while riding his Harley. Without starters Bonzi Wells and Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Sacramento is undermanned most every night. Not many NBA teams could lose two starters and expect to win many games.
But in fairness to those angry Sacramento fans, the Kings weren't playing consistently well even before the injuries. The team's veteran core -- Mike Bibby, Peja Stojakovic and Brad Miller -- simply have not performed up to their usual standards. The bench has been a dud. It seems there has just been a general lack of energy on the floor too many nights.
In Tuesday night's game at Memphis, for example, the Kings got off to a great start en route to an early 15-point lead. But then they began turning the ball over and standing around on defense, and soon enough the Grizzlies were on their way. At one point just before the half, Bibby -- who had played very well to that point -- tossed a lazy pass at midcourt that Mike Miller picked off and took the other way for a huge "and one" that put the Grizz ahead for good, 49-47, and sent the FedEx Forum crowd into a frenzy.
It was a rather sloppy play for a veteran such as Bibby, but somewhat reflective of the malaise that seems to have gripped the Kings this year. It's no shame to lose to a strong Memphis team, but the way Sacramento fell apart and allowed Memphis to have its way was telling. Mike Miller wound up with a triple double off the bench ("Has that ever happened before?," Grizzlies veteran Eddie Jones asked afterward) while rookie Hakim Warrick exploded for a career-high 16 points.
Of course, Tuesday's loss was nothing compared to Sunday's dismal home loss to a Pacers team playing without Ron Artest and Jamaal Tinsley. In that game, the Kings' Big Three combined for just 29 points on 29 percent shooting (10-of-35). Meanwhile Sacramento's defense allowed Indiana to go on a 23-6 run in the first half, and then a 12-2 run in the second in which Stephen Jackson was left free to bang home four 3-pointers in a 78-second span. By the end, the Arco crowd (who have now witnessed eight losses in the last 11 games at their one-time snakepit) were actually booing their beloved Kings.
Naturally, Adelman has become the easy target for those Kings fans seeking a quick fix. Some blame the veteran coach for being too soft on his players. Others say his lame duck status (the Kings declined to offer him a contract extension last season, while the Maloofs apparently pursued Phil Jackson) has enabled the Kings to tune him out.
Both charges might be true to some extent, but don't look for Kings GM Geoff Petrie to jettison his pal any day soon. "If you're going to choose a poison," he told the Sacramento Bee, "and one of them is patience and one of them is impatience, I'm going to choose patience."
Then again, Petrie might also just be biding time. As one NBA league source pointed out, the Kings really don't have a ready assistant on the bench who could slide into the head job. Pete Carril is too old, while Elston Turner and T.R. Dunn have no prior head coaching experience.
"I could see [Petrie] maybe making a move after the season," the source said. "But right now I don't think there's any [coaching candidate] out there who's going to turn it around."
So for now the Kings plod on, waiting for their injured stars to return. But will their fans remain patient? It's hard to say. Many are still upset about last year's Webber trade, which brought back in return only veterans Corliss Williamson, Kenny Thomas and Brian Skinner. While the move was sound for financial reasons, it hasn't worked out for the Kings on the court -- especially with Webber once again putting up big numbers in his new home in Philadelphia.
Some Kings fans even suggest the Maloofs made the decision to cut ties with Webber as part of a longer-term strategy to gut the team and make it easier to grease the path for a franchise shift to Las Vegas, where the operate the Palms Casino. The Maloofs vehemently deny it, of course. But it hasn't helped that the famous bachelor brothers -- often seen at Arco for games -- have missed several games of late.
"What people have to understand is, we have had a lot of family illness," co-owner Joe Maloof explained in a phone call to a Sacramento Bee columnist Tuesday night. "My mom (Colleen) had a really, really serious scare. Then Gavin was sick for awhile, so there was a lot of personal stuff that hit us all at once. But we are not abandoning anybody. We are in touch with Geoff [Petrie] all the time, and we are going to be around a lot more now."
Having the Maloofs back in their courtside seats will be nice for sure. But the pair the Kings really need are Wells and Abdur-Rahim. Until they get back, the Kings' woes are likely to continue.
