Flip Saunders? Ugh, He had KG and only got out of the 1st round of the playoffs once? Why would we want him? Like he was really succesful in controlling his players (Sprewell and Cassell).
Just because the Maloofs extended RA's contract does not guarantee he'll be coach next year. And despite the obvious loyalty between Petrie, Adelman and Carril, I don't think Petrie would hesitate to change coaches if he thought it was best for the team. (Personally, I like loyalty, I think there's far too little of it these days.) The one valid reason I think there might be for changing is that maybe the team is tuning RA out. If true, then shame on them, but change might be necessary.
A lot of people say he never adjusts. With all the injuries he's had, I'd say he adjusts amazingly well. How often has this team continued to play very well with key players gone. Do you really think Adelman had nothing to do with that? With Brad and Webb hurt last spring the Kings continued to play beautifully. I was actully pretty proud of the team for taking the Wolves to 7 games last year and falling short by one shot, considering ADleman had to adjust everything to take advantage of what Webb could and couldn't do. And this year after the trades, Brad goes down and he has to change from an offense that goes thru the big men to a guard initiated offense. And he's had all his players available for the first time in the first playoff game! It looks to me like he's made all kinds of adjustments. Why do people expect a roster like this to play like a team that was together for years?
I fully believe Petrie had to pull the trigger on the Webber trade. Everyone thought he was untradeable. So how did you expect him to get more in return? I'll bet he was shocked when the 76ers called and wanted to do a deal. What do you think he should have gotten from the trade (please don't get ridiculous and say AI or even Dalembert....that was never going to happen). Sure Webb was a 20/10/5 guy, but the problem was that his efficiency score all year was quite negative....the worst among the starters. In other words, the team was losing points with him on the floor. Something was clearly wrong. You can stat stuff and still not improve your team. Doug had a bad wheel and it was generally conceded his contract was too high. Finally, Vlade has a bad back! I love and miss those guys terribly, but let's be real. This team was not any more of a contender for a title before the trades than they are now. These trades were made for the future.
Finally, whether you like Peja or not, he explained that he did not "want" to leave Sacramento, but it appears there was friction between him and Webber. Peja said he "offered" himself as the one to go. Up until the Webber trade, he said he fully expected he'd be the one to go. But I would've traded Webb in a heartbeat, before I would've traded Peja. Trading Peja would not have gotten rid of a huge contract. And if you still want to trade Peja, he'll be more appealing to a lot of teams than Webber would have been. Why...because a lot of teams will take a chance on a player who's contract isn't huge and is expiring at the end of next season.
I was listening to another season ticket holder today on KHTK who said he was selling his season tickets, becasue the team was so bad and wasn't going to win a championship in the next 15 years.
Geez! All I could think was. you may be a season ticket holder, but you're no fan. Are Cubby fans less rabid, becasue their team isn't a champion often enough? We're Red Sox fans less rabid, because it took 86 years to win another championship? No. Those are FANS! The Kings are my team....that's all that matters.
