Mary Mac: How soon we dismiss playoff run

[VF21]

http://www.sacbee.com/351/story/144580.html

Marty Mac's World: How soon we dismiss Kings' playoff run
By Martin McNeal - Bee Columnist
Last Updated 6:26 am PDT Tuesday, March 27, 2007

It's pretty funny listening to Kings fans these days as the team struggles toward the end of what likely will be its first non-playoff season since the 1997-98 campaign.

They may support their team with a consistency unmatched in the league, but they're also either the most spoiled or forgetful.

Perhaps if the Kings had copped a championship in the early 2000s -- which they could have with a little more good fortune and intestinal fortitude at the free-throw line -- these fans would recognize and better appreciate the team's eight-year playoff run.

Making the playoffs is not a given, as longtime Kings fans should remember. For that matter, the Kings from 1987 through 1994 showed that even winning 30 games a season was not guaranteed -- or attainable.

Maybe the focus here on Kings fans is too concentrated. The Detroit Pistons on Monday got booed on their home floor during a long run by the Denver Nuggets. The Pistons have the Eastern Conference's best record and were weakened by a bout of the flu, but that was not enough to dissuade the booing. Maybe fans will be fans, and that includes owners such as Joe and Gavin Maloof. They're really just fans with mega-capital.

And, hopefully, they'll remember that during the offseason. Just step back and let basketball president Geoff Petrie do what he does. It's easy for me to say, but when the Kings were at their best, that was what ownership did. The Maloofs weren't tripping on the salary cap or the luxury tax. They were trying to win at all costs. That philosophy might be what it takes to get back in the championship mix.

That and, as always, a little good fortune. It says here the Kings' fortunes began sliding that night in Dallas when Chris Webber blew out his knee in the second game of a 2003 Western Conference semifinal.

 

[Miles and Miles]

About 10:30PM on Friday if we lose against the Clippers. I can't give up yet since I am going to the game and sitting in the second row. Go Kings.

 

[CaminoChaos]

I don't think that it's the fact that we are "spoiled" or "forgetful". I believe the team has not played up to it's potential. I am upset because we are neck and neck the Portland "Freaking" Trailblazers. You can't tell me they have more talent on there roster than we do. We have talent but it has not been utilized the right way.

 

[tyrant]

I don't think that it's the fact that we are "spoiled" or "forgetful". I believe the team has not played up to it's potential. I am upset because we are neck and neck the Portland "Freaking" Trailblazers. You can't tell me they have more talent on there roster than we do. We have talent but it has not been utilized the right way.

eric musselman

 

[Superman]

I don't think that it's the fact that we are "spoiled" or "forgetful". I believe the team has not played up to it's potential. I am upset because we are neck and neck the Portland "Freaking" Trailblazers. You can't tell me they have more talent on there roster than we do. We have talent but it has not been utilized the right way.

We have practically the same record as them. What does talent have to do with anything? They suck, we suck.

Our team is not designed to win anything. Yeah, Eric Musselman has been a sad excuse for a coach, and yeah Ron Artest has been bi-polar, and worse. And we've had injuries (Kings fans should be pretty well used to those by now). But our team just isn't very good, top to bottom.

Our best player is scatter-brained, our best shooter can't defend, our biggest player is soft as Charmin', we have no depth at power forward or center (which is obvious when we start Francisco Garcia at the four and play Corliss Williamson at the five)... and the list goes on and on.


Until we get a legitimate big man and a consistent first option in the lineup, we can't expect to win anything, no matter who the coach is. I think we are spoiled from the last eight years. Forgot about it felt to finally be in contention, and now we expect it. Doesn't come that easily, and I think that's the point McNeal was trying to make. Good point, too.

 

[Troy]

Yeah, we sure are a sad excuse for a contender or even just a playoff bound team trying to claw it's way to the 8th seed only to be humiliated and eather alive by the Mavs. Blow this team up already GP.

I find it funny for the writer to say we need to let GP do what GP does best....what is that again????? I sure don't see him with swagger and trying to make things happen, but mearily being unrealistic with his trade ideas or fielding others from other GMs and then nothing gets done in the end.


The Maloofs if they are so set on staying in Sacramento need to open their wallets a bit and start paying to bring in the talent and give this to GP so he can have something to work with. Good teams attract good players, many times ones who are nearing retirement and play now not for the $, but for a title. While we cannot do that because we aren't a good team with a chance to win the title...we can however start paying for the right tools in our arsenal that is right now very depleted and needs a entire make over.

As long as we have heart and fight, I can see where fans would support the product put on the floor as in rebuild mode, but you have to do it, not just keep doing band aid on a gashing wound. Do it all the way, or don't do it at all. Fix the 4/5 which has been the problem since the departure of Webber and Vlade!!!!

 

[Vlade4GM]

Yeah, we sure are a sad excuse for a contender or even just a playoff bound team trying to claw it's way to the 8th seed only to be humiliated and eather alive by the Mavs. Blow this team up already GP.

I find it funny for the writer to say we need to let GP do what GP does best....what is that again????? I sure don't see him with swagger and trying to make things happen, but mearily being unrealistic with his trade ideas or fielding others from other GMs and then nothing gets done in the end.


The Maloofs if they are so set on staying in Sacramento need to open their wallets a bit and start paying to bring in the talent and give this to GP so he can have something to work with. Good teams attract good players, many times ones who are nearing retirement and play now not for the $, but for a title. While we cannot do that because we aren't a good team with a chance to win the title...we can however start paying for the right tools in our arsenal that is right now very depleted and needs a entire make over.

As long as we have heart and fight, I can see where fans would support the product put on the floor as in rebuild mode, but you have to do it, not just keep doing band aid on a gashing wound. Do it all the way, or don't do it at all. Fix the 4/5 which has been the problem since the departure of Webber and Vlade!!!!

Dude, give GP time for crying out loud. He needs to EVALUATE!!

 

[pdxKingsFan]

I don't think that it's the fact that we are "spoiled" or "forgetful". I believe the team has not played up to it's potential. I am upset because we are neck and neck the Portland "Freaking" Trailblazers. You can't tell me they have more talent on there roster than we do. We have talent but it has not been utilized the right way.

Its a good time to be a Blazers fan. They've stockpiled young talent. They are a team on the way up, we are on the way down.

 

[Kingster]

Yeah, we sure are a sad excuse for a contender or even just a playoff bound team trying to claw it's way to the 8th seed only to be humiliated and eather alive by the Mavs. Blow this team up already GP.

DITTO!

I find it funny for the writer to say we need to let GP do what GP does best....what is that again????? I sure don't see him with swagger and trying to make things happen, but mearily being unrealistic with his trade ideas or fielding others from other GMs and then nothing gets done in the end.

AGREED. Petrie has been very passive. What I haven't seen in any column or article from the Bee is the role of the Maloofs in personnel decisions. McNeal implies that maybe Petrie hasn't been allowed to do what he does best. If that's the case, then let's hear it. Do some reporting for once and find the story behind the story. Has the Maloof's role changed in personnel decisions since this team started devolving? The biggest mystery is the interaction between Petrie and the Maloofs in all of this. We'll probably never know the true story of how much of what hasn't been done over the last 2 years is due to Petrie or the Maloofs, or a combination of both. Considering everything about the situation is hush-hush, my view is that they both deserve blame.

 

[Bricklayer]

I don't think that it's the fact that we are "spoiled" or "forgetful". I believe the team has not played up to it's potential. I am upset because we are neck and neck the Portland "Freaking" Trailblazers. You can't tell me they have more talent on there roster than we do. We have talent but it has not been utilized the right way.

I do think that's part of the problem though -- Kings fans have developed a real sense of entitlement, and I think being fed heaping loads of delusional hooey by their owners and Grant/Jerry hype machine hasn't helped. Seems that every Kings team, no matter how flawed, is now automatically assumed to be a winner and a playoff team. Every Kings player, no matter how limited, is automatically a stud. And when these teams or players "fail" by playing down to their level, the fanbase turns on them looking for scapegoats for failing to live up to unrealistic expectations.

There is always going to be some of that with any fanbase -- part and parcel of being a homer, and despite best efforts I myself have not always been immune to overrating guys -- Hedo as potential All-Star, the impact of a Miller/Webber frontcourt, Tag to anchor the middle etc. etc. But its just reached dangerous, almost poisonous heights in Kings land where we should/must/will always make the playoffs...just because we're the Kings.

And the constant feeding of that monster by our delusiuonal and pretty much cowardly front office/media boobs is what has me turned off to the Kings. Not the losing itself. Not inferior players. That's all a shrug. Happens, and is actually fine so long as their is a plan and hope for the future. Me beef is with the front office, not the "losing players". Players can be (and should be) traded, cut, drafted, but when the powers that be, and their talking heads, are the problem, that's when you are in trouble.

 

[VF21]

...And the constant feeding of that monster by our cowardly/delusional front office is what has me turned off to the Kings. Not the losing itslef. Not inferior players. That's all a shrug. Happens, and is actually fine so long as their is a plan and hope for the future. Me beef is with the front office, not the "losing players".

I know you've probably posted this a dozen times, but I'm glad you said it again because (with just a bit of embarrassment) I have to admit it's the first time I've seen it and understood what you're saying...

The line of pablum that's come out of the front office is, indeed, the largest amount of future baby poop ever assembled in one place.

 

[ezekielbear]

I believe, according to Forbes, the Kings were in the "red" for a few years when they were paying the tax/had a higher salary.

 

[bloom]

It says here the Kings' fortunes began sliding that night in Dallas when Chris Webber blew out his knee in the second game of a 2003 Western Conference semifinal.

I think the fortunes began sliding when Chris Webber came back from his knee injury (even though the knee injury was the cause of the problem).

 

[Troy]

Even if we were in the red, we were contenders and we attracted many of the fans that were with us, some still are, but others too were player fans and left when Webber, Peja, BJ, Christie left. It takes $ to win, but also being smart, not like NY and their $120M plus payroll, much of it for players who they bought out their contracts and aren't with the team anymore.

GP is a good GM, I think I'm pretty safe in saying that the Maloofs are tying his hands, or not opening up their wallets/check books in brining in good talent. I feel that GP is not far from leaving the Kings and very possibly going back to Portland where he has had a lot success in the past. I also don't think it's too much of a stretch for RA to go be a head or even assistant coach and GP and RA being reunited again in Portland. The Maloofs very clearly went over GP's head with getting Artest and pursuing him even after Artest apparently said he didn't want to come here.

Also the front office treatment of good players we had that we threw out is just terrible...Peja hearing he was traded on TV. This guy was one of our core and a All-Star, but was thrown out like trash when we were done with him. That for a small market like Sacramento is just terrible. We have the best fans, but our owners/front office/Sac Bee writers are tarnishing that image very quickly.

I sometimes thing that the Maloofs want to move out of Sac and are tilting things in that direction with their selection of Muss and not giving GP the tools to get the players we desperatly need, namely a decent 4/5 which we haven't had since Webber/Vlade when they were healthy.

 

[Bricklayer]

I think the fortunes began sliding when Chris Webber came back from his knee injury (even though the knee injury was the cause of the problem).

Oh no, by that time we were already dead men wlaking. That injury was immediately the cause of our decline. When we collapsed without Webb, all of a suddent he Maloofs closed up the purse strings, having learned the painful lesson that all the depth in the world won't help you if you lose your main guy. But they took it too far, and the team we fieleded the next season was MUCH less talented than the one that closed 2003. remember Adelamn hinting at that in camp that year. Was easy to ignore at the time, but obvious in retrospect. The incredible depth was gone, along with Webb. No more Keon, Pollard, Hedo, JJ, Damon, and of course no more vintage Webb. And THEN you took a less talented team, with age beginning to noticeably slow some of its stalwarts (Vlade, Doug), on defense and the glass in particular, and threw in the development of a huge chemistry issue directly related to the injury, and the die was cast. Also of course was the summer when the fanbase began to get tainted -- an angry bent, feeling cheated, betrayed etc.. Other than Magic announcing he had AIDS I'm having a hard time thinking of a single event which so clearly shook up an elite franchise top to bottom. Stole our talent, cut off our finances, and tainted the fanbase all at once. Everything that has happened since has been the direct result of that one moment. And I still recall some ******* on here claiming to be a Kings fan laughing about it when it happened. It wasn't only the end to our title hopes, but pending an arena deal may even have ended the Sacto Kings era. How much more likely would the city/fanbase be to help finance a building for a titile winner?

 

[Spike]

I sometimes thing that the Maloofs want to move out of Sac and are tilting things in that direction with their selection of Muss and not giving GP the tools to get the players we desperatly need, namely a decent 4/5 which we haven't had since Webber/Vlade when they were healthy.

Relax, Rachel Phelps isn't running the show.

"I think he'll fit in with out team concept."
"That reminds me, I was going to ask you. What exactly IS our team concept?"

Or better yet:

"In case you haven't noticed, and judging by the attendance you haven't, the Indians have managed to win a few ball games, and are threatening to climb out of the cellar."

 

[bloom]

Oh no, by that time we were already dead men wlaking. That injury was immediately the cause of our decline. When we collapsed without Webb, all of a suddent he Maloofs closed up the purse strings, having learned the painful lesson that all the depth in the world won't help you if you lose your main guy. But they took it too far, and the team we fieleded the next season was MUCH less talented than the one that closed 2003. remember Adelamn hinting at that in camp that year. Was easy to ignore at the time, but obvious in retrospect. The incredible depth was gone, along with Webb. No more Keon, Pollard, Hedo, JJ, Damon, and of course no more vintage Webb. And THEN you took a less talented team, with age beginning to noticeably slow some of its stalwarts (Vlade, Doug), on defense and the glass in particular, and threw in the development of a huge chemistry issue directly related to the injury, and the die was cast. Also of course was the summer when the fanbase began to get tainted -- an angry bent, feeling cheated, betrayed etc.. Other than Magic announcing he had AIDS I'm having a hard time thinking of a single event which so clearly shook up an elite franchise top to bottom. Stole our talent, cut off our finances, and tainted the fanbase all at once. Everything that has happened since has been the direct result of that one moment. And I still recall some ******* on here claiming to be a Kings fan laughing about it when it happened. It wasn't only the end to our title hopes, but pending an arena deal may even have ended the Sacto Kings era. How much more likely would the city/fanbase be to help finance a building for a titile winner?

I agree with you and the series of events that happened..but I just think that when the season started (before Webb came back) our team was the number 1 seed. We played hard and had an amazing flow to our game and then Webb came back. He basically destroyed the team; there was lack of ball movement and people were in stand still positions. And then because of the lack of fluidity to our game, everything unraveled so quickly after that (from the players to the organization)...That whole situation shook up everybody so quickly.

I know this is off subject but why was everybody (or a lot of people) so high on Keon?

 

[Spike]

I know this is off subject but why was everybody (or a lot of people) so high on Keon?

Pun intended?

I think it's not necessarily Keon per se, but the fact that our bench at a point where it could beat quite a few teams on their own. The Kings had BOTH quality AND depth, something that is now lacking.

 

[Kingster]

Oh no, by that time we were already dead men wlaking. That injury was immediately the cause of our decline. When we collapsed without Webb, all of a suddent he Maloofs closed up the purse strings, having learned the painful lesson that all the depth in the world won't help you if you lose your main guy. But they took it too far, and the team we fieleded the next season was MUCH less talented than the one that closed 2003. remember Adelamn hinting at that in camp that year. Was easy to ignore at the time, but obvious in retrospect. The incredible depth was gone, along with Webb. No more Keon, Pollard, Hedo, JJ, Damon, and of course no more vintage Webb. And THEN you took a less talented team, with age beginning to noticeably slow some of its stalwarts (Vlade, Doug), on defense and the glass in particular, and threw in the development of a huge chemistry issue directly related to the injury, and the die was cast. Also of course was the summer when the fanbase began to get tainted -- an angry bent, feeling cheated, betrayed etc.. Other than Magic announcing he had AIDS I'm having a hard time thinking of a single event which so clearly shook up an elite franchise top to bottom. Stole our talent, cut off our finances, and tainted the fanbase all at once. Everything that has happened since has been the direct result of that one moment. And I still recall some ******* on here claiming to be a Kings fan laughing about it when it happened. It wasn't only the end to our title hopes, but pending an arena deal may even have ended the Sacto Kings era. How much more likely would the city/fanbase be to help finance a building for a titile winner?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the Kings have the opportunity to waive Chris Webber after his injury with total relief from any cap implications? That was the special NBA cap exception year so that teams could get under the cap from the exact type of situation that we had - a mega-priced player with a debilitating injury. I thought at the time that it was the politically correct decision for them not to waive him, but not the right one. If they would have just cut the guy, wouldn't it have been much better for the franchise to have that cap flexibility rather than be chained to KT, Corliss trade? And for the Chris Webber lovers, it would have given Webber the opportunity to go wherever he wanted.

 

[Kingster]

I do think that's part of the problem though -- Kings fans have developed a real sense of entitlement, and I think being fed heaping loads of delusional hooey by their owners and Grant/Jerry hype machine hasn't helped. Seems that every Kings team, no matter how flawed, is now automatically assumed to be a winner and a playoff team. Every Kings player, no matter how limited, is automatically a stud. And when these teams or players "fail" by playing down to their level, the fanbase turns on them looking for scapegoats for failing to live up to unrealistic expectations.

There is always going to be some of that with any fanbase -- part and parcel of being a homer, and despite best efforts I myself have not always been immune to overrating guys -- Hedo as potential All-Star, the impact of a Miller/Webber frontcourt, Tag to anchor the middle etc. etc. But its just reached dangerous, almost poisonous heights in Kings land where we should/must/will always make the playoffs...just because we're the Kings.

And the constant feeding of that monster by our delusiuonal and pretty much cowardly front office/media boobs is what has me turned off to the Kings. Not the losing itself. Not inferior players. That's all a shrug. Happens, and is actually fine so long as their is a plan and hope for the future. Me beef is with the front office, not the "losing players". Players can be (and should be) traded, cut, drafted, but when the powers that be, and their talking heads, are the problem, that's when you are in trouble.

Boy, you're on a roll! DITTO!

 

[Bricklayer]

I agree with you and the series of events that happened..but I just think that when the season started (before Webb came back) our team was the number 1 seed. We played hard and had an amazing flow to our game and then Webb came back. He basically destroyed the team; there was lack of ball movement and people were in stand still positions. And then because of the lack of fluidity to our game, everything unraveled so quickly after that (from the players to the organization)...That whole situation shook up everybody so quickly.

I know this is off subject but why was everybody (or a lot of people) so high on Keon?

We played the one of the weakest schedules in the league, on our home floor, 100% healthy. We were terrible on defense, and crap on the glass. It was all for show. Smoke and pretty mirrors for the style over substance crowd. We had almost no chance at the title, one year after leading the league in defense and being the favorites to take it all. We had lost 5 of our top 7 defenders, our top 3 rebounders, and with Vlade's legs looking wobby as grandma's, our post game as well. We were only doing well, only "healthy", for those who desperately wanted us to be.

And all of the above of course while significant is secondary to the very obvious changes in the ownership and fanbase after we bowed out to Dallas. The financial retrenching, the murmors at Arco, the infighting, whatever, did not start the summer of '04, it started the summer of '03, while Webb was still out rehabbing. Our pretty little 3 month burst to start the 03-04 season was just afterglow. We'd already suffered the fatal wound. And it wasn't even so much the injury itself, devastating as it was to lose your franchise guy like that. It was everyone's reactions to it, and our predictable dismisal by the Mavs, that did us in.

 

[uolj]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the Kings have the opportunity to waive Chris Webber after his injury with total relief from any cap implications? That was the special NBA cap exception year so that teams could get under the cap from the exact type of situation that we had - a mega-priced player with a debilitating injury. I thought at the time that it was the politically correct decision for them not to waive him, but not the right one. If they would have just cut the guy, wouldn't it have been much better for the franchise to have that cap flexibility rather than be chained to KT, Corliss trade? And for the Chris Webber lovers, it would have given Webber the opportunity to go wherever he wanted.

It was luxury tax relief, not salaray cap relief. The full contract would have still counted against the cap and still have to be paid. The team would only save whatever penalty they had to pay for being over the luxury tax. They have hovered at the luxury tax level for awhile, so the savings would be minimal if any. There was no benefit to waiving Webber there.

Edit: There was no special benefit for Philadelphia to waive Webber there.

 

[Padrino]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the Kings have the opportunity to waive Chris Webber after his injury with total relief from any cap implications? That was the special NBA cap exception year so that teams could get under the cap from the exact type of situation that we had - a mega-priced player with a debilitating injury. I thought at the time that it was the politically correct decision for them not to waive him, but not the right one. If they would have just cut the guy, wouldn't it have been much better for the franchise to have that cap flexibility rather than be chained to KT, Corliss trade? And for the Chris Webber lovers, it would have given Webber the opportunity to go wherever he wanted.

not that i know of. i don't think there is nothing like that in the nba. in the nfl, gm's can cut players whenever they want and be relieved of their salary. the nba's collective bargaining agreements, however, always heavily favor the players.

but if you're referring to the one-time amnesty clause offered in the 2005 offseason, that only allows a team to shed a contract from the luxury tax threshold. the kings traded webber in february of 2005, before the one-time amnesty was offered, so its irrelevant, but had they not traded him, they could have exercised the amnesty clause in order to remain safe from the luxury tax hit, though webber's contract would have remained on the kings books until 2008.

 

[Bricklayer]

not that i know of. i don't think there is nothing like that in the nba. in the nfl, gm's can cut players whenever they want and be relieved of their salary. the nba's collective bargaining agreements, however, always heavily favor the players.

heh -- actually you have that a little backwards -- its the NFL's collective bargaining agreements that heavily favor the owners -- they broke the union a while back, and now what you have are one way obligations -- the player can't just cancel the contract and go play for somebody else if he is unhappy, but the owners can. Barely mutual. NBA's are actual mutual covenants -- neither side can bail. And if you;re Bobby Jackson or Peja and sign for too little, tough. And if you're the Kings with Webber or the Magic with Hill, tough.

 

[chelle]

Also of course was the summer when the fanbase began to get tainted -- an angry bent, feeling cheated, betrayed etc..

Brick, was that the same summer we got that big, gold 6? Didn't you know that made everything better?

By the way, I agree with all that you just said!

 

[uolj]

Miss Mary Mac Mac Mac
All dressed in black black black
With silver buttons buttons buttons
All down her back back back...

Every time I see the thread title I started repeating that over and over.

And don't ask me how I know it.

 

[bloom]

Pun intended?

I think it's not necessarily Keon per se, but the fact that our bench at a point where it could beat quite a few teams on their own. The Kings had BOTH quality AND depth, something that is now lacking.

no, there was no pun intended..ok. yeah, I remember how our bench was deep (how things have changed) but I never knew why people liked Keon so much. He never really did anything for us, but thanks for the explanation.

 

[Mateo]

The only decent column I have read from the Bee this season. Marty mac is the only writer that doesn't take a side. It's almost as if the others hold some type of grudge.

 

[Padrino]

The only decent column I have read from the Bee this season. Marty mac is the only writer that doesn't take a side. It's almost as if the others hold some type of grudge.

i guess you haven't read any of marty's articles about musselman then...

 

[Bricklayer]

no, there was no pun intended..ok. yeah, I remember how our bench was deep (how things have changed) but I never knew why people liked Keon so much. He never really did anything for us, but thanks for the explanation.

I've heard that expressed before about Keon, and I do wonder how that got started. Guy was a knucklehead, inconsistent, and faded/pouted down the stretch as the minute crunch got acute with everybody coming back healthy. But along the way he was an impact bencher for us, blocked nearly 2 shots a game in a smidge over 20min a night, threw in a couple of game winners over Dallas, and was a major factor both in our defensive prowess that year, and in us being able to withstand the awful barrage of injuries that befell us all season long. I'd take him, from that year, back on this current team in an instant. Very good 4/5 bencher against all but the Shaq-sized monsters.