thedofd
Bench
This rumor's like a vampire -- you can't kill it.
http://www.hoopshype.com/rumors.htm
Days of uncertainty for Peja
by Chris Sheridan, ESPN
posted: Sunday, January 22, 2006
Once upon a time, at a medieval castle in Belgrade, my cell phone rang and Peja Stojakovic was on the other end, saying he wanted to be traded.
It was the summer of 2004, a couple weeks before the start of the Athens Olympics, and the downfall of the Sacramento Kings had not yet begun. Stojakovic was direct and to the point, saying he thought it was time for both him and the team to move on, and I filed a story to my desk in New York that immediately lit up the airwaves in Northern California.
I reminded Stojakovic of that moment Sunday night after his team gave another dreadful fourth-quarter performance and lost in Florida for the second time in as many nights, 119-99 to the Miami Heat, and I gave him another opportunity to express his wishes as he works through the final few months of his contract before becoming a free agent in the offseason.
"I don't have any problems right now. That time when we spoke, that was a suggestion, I didn't actually demand a trade. I suggested to be traded because I thought the team, there needed to be changes, I spoke to Geoff Petrie, he said I wouldn't be traded, and I kept playing," Stojakovic said.
Stojakovic's production has plummeted; his scoring average is down to 16.4 -- a nearly eight-point drop from his level of two years ago when he made the All-Star team -- and his shooting percentage is all the way down to 40 percent.
This year's Kings are also a shell of what they were not so long ago, their 11 home losses -- an unfathomable total in recent years when Arco Arena was one of the league's toughest places to play -- helping drag down their record to a worse-than-pedestrian 17-23 as the franchise moves through what's turning out to be its worst season since 1997-98, the year before Adelman took over and began a string of seven straight postseason appearances.
Stojakovic blew a layup and missed his final six shots Sunday night to finish 7-for-19 for 19 points, his only two points of the fourth quarter coming on his only two foul shots of the night. Stojakovic shot from behind a screen only once all night, and his body language was that of a player seemingly going through the motions.
There remains a possibility that Stojakovic might stay with the Kings past this season, but it might be a stretch to expect the Kings to shower dollars on a player who will be 29 next season and appears to be in rapid decline. Sacramento's best option might be to work out a sign-and-trade over the summer, but the Kings would be taking the risk of losing him for nothing if Stojakovic were to decide to sign with a team with ample salary cap room, such as the Chicago Bulls.
If Stojakovic were to be traded midseason, the team that acquired him would also acquire his Larry Bird rights, allowing them to exceed the cap next summer to retain him. Stojakovic was involved in early speculation regarding a Ron Artest deal, but that talk was quickly dismissed by the Kings as baseless. If Sacramento was willing to reconsider, a Stojakovic-Artest trade would still seem to make sense for both teams -- provided the Pacers were confident they could keep Stojakovic after his contract expires.
"I've heard speculation, rumors going around, but it's something we players cannot control," Stojakovic said. "They're going to do what they wish to do. I'm OK right now. We'll see what's going to happen by the trade deadline. I'm not sure with our front office, what changes or not they're going to do."
EDIT: Tthe actual site where this story orignated is ESPN.com. It's part of Chris Sheridan's blog. (Gee, what a surprise...) - VF21
And, because this is simply a rehash of a lot of stuff already being discussed in a myriad of other threads, I'm closing this one.
http://www.hoopshype.com/rumors.htm
Days of uncertainty for Peja
by Chris Sheridan, ESPN
posted: Sunday, January 22, 2006
Once upon a time, at a medieval castle in Belgrade, my cell phone rang and Peja Stojakovic was on the other end, saying he wanted to be traded.
It was the summer of 2004, a couple weeks before the start of the Athens Olympics, and the downfall of the Sacramento Kings had not yet begun. Stojakovic was direct and to the point, saying he thought it was time for both him and the team to move on, and I filed a story to my desk in New York that immediately lit up the airwaves in Northern California.
I reminded Stojakovic of that moment Sunday night after his team gave another dreadful fourth-quarter performance and lost in Florida for the second time in as many nights, 119-99 to the Miami Heat, and I gave him another opportunity to express his wishes as he works through the final few months of his contract before becoming a free agent in the offseason.
"I don't have any problems right now. That time when we spoke, that was a suggestion, I didn't actually demand a trade. I suggested to be traded because I thought the team, there needed to be changes, I spoke to Geoff Petrie, he said I wouldn't be traded, and I kept playing," Stojakovic said.
Stojakovic's production has plummeted; his scoring average is down to 16.4 -- a nearly eight-point drop from his level of two years ago when he made the All-Star team -- and his shooting percentage is all the way down to 40 percent.
This year's Kings are also a shell of what they were not so long ago, their 11 home losses -- an unfathomable total in recent years when Arco Arena was one of the league's toughest places to play -- helping drag down their record to a worse-than-pedestrian 17-23 as the franchise moves through what's turning out to be its worst season since 1997-98, the year before Adelman took over and began a string of seven straight postseason appearances.
Stojakovic blew a layup and missed his final six shots Sunday night to finish 7-for-19 for 19 points, his only two points of the fourth quarter coming on his only two foul shots of the night. Stojakovic shot from behind a screen only once all night, and his body language was that of a player seemingly going through the motions.
There remains a possibility that Stojakovic might stay with the Kings past this season, but it might be a stretch to expect the Kings to shower dollars on a player who will be 29 next season and appears to be in rapid decline. Sacramento's best option might be to work out a sign-and-trade over the summer, but the Kings would be taking the risk of losing him for nothing if Stojakovic were to decide to sign with a team with ample salary cap room, such as the Chicago Bulls.
If Stojakovic were to be traded midseason, the team that acquired him would also acquire his Larry Bird rights, allowing them to exceed the cap next summer to retain him. Stojakovic was involved in early speculation regarding a Ron Artest deal, but that talk was quickly dismissed by the Kings as baseless. If Sacramento was willing to reconsider, a Stojakovic-Artest trade would still seem to make sense for both teams -- provided the Pacers were confident they could keep Stojakovic after his contract expires.
"I've heard speculation, rumors going around, but it's something we players cannot control," Stojakovic said. "They're going to do what they wish to do. I'm OK right now. We'll see what's going to happen by the trade deadline. I'm not sure with our front office, what changes or not they're going to do."
EDIT: Tthe actual site where this story orignated is ESPN.com. It's part of Chris Sheridan's blog. (Gee, what a surprise...) - VF21
And, because this is simply a rehash of a lot of stuff already being discussed in a myriad of other threads, I'm closing this one.
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