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Kings Traded Away The Wrong Star
Authored by Kostas Bolos - 5th May, 2005 - 12:25 am
For some reason, there are a handful of players in the NBA who no matter how successful they are just don’t receive the respect they deserve.
One of those players would be
Philadelphia’s new-found whipping boy
Chris Webber.
Here’s a player who single-handedly put
Sacramento on the NBA map and helped transform that franchise into a perennial Western Conference power, yet was deemed expendable earlier this season with the
Kings likely on their last legs as far as serious title aspirations are concerned.
Upon dealing Webber to the
Sixers last February in what was considered one of the trade deadline’s biggest shockers,
Kings general manager Geoff Petrie felt Webber’s departure would actually improve his team’s fortunes. With an apparent power play at hand between Webber and
Peja Stojakovic, it was clear Petrie was looking to unload Webber and build the team around Stojakovic.
Biggest mistake Petrie could have made.
While Webber surely has some knocks against him – he’s an aging superstar with a bad wheel and huge contract - there are not many big men in the league who are viable triple-double threats on any given night. And though Webber has had to reinvent his game since returning from major knee surgery last season, he nevertheless was having an outstanding year statistically before he was dealt.
Granted, with
Sacramento not as deep as they have been in recent years, Petrie was able to add some quality depth for Webber in the form of
Kenny Thomas,
Brian Skinner and
Corliss Williamson, but in the end he gave up his one truly go-to player in Webber.
If Stojakovic has proven anything in his career, it’s that he can stroke silky-smooth jump shots during the regular season – when the games mean very little – but choke in crunch time when his team needs him the most. Stojakovic’s playoff disappearing act continued in the opening round versus
Seattle.
The biggest playoff disappointment thus far has to be
Sacramento’s quick first-round exit at the hands of the
Sonics – the first time the
Kings have failed to advance past the opening round since 2000. And Stojakovic’s poor play - on both ends of the floor - was a major reason why the Kings’ playoff journey lasted a grand total of five games.
Stojakovic, despite his 38-point performance in the series finale Tuesday night (he did miss his first six attempts in the fourth quarter, however), was inconsistent throughout the series (including 3-10 and 3-11 shooting efforts in Game Two and Three respectively), and when Peja isn’t stroking jump shots, he isn’t contributing in a whole lot of other areas, particularly on the defensive end.
The Peja apologists – and there are a lot of you out there – will point to an injured groin as a primary reason for his inconsistent effort versus
Seattle, but Stojakovic has been a playoff disappointment the last two seasons as well.
Long-term, Webber would have been a liability for the Kings. But at the same time, Petrie gambled and lost by figuring his team could make a legitimate run this season without their All-Star power forward. With
Sacramento’s title window all but closed, Petrie would have been well-served to take his chances by keeping Webber around and seeing if that nucleus had one last run in them.
But hey, at least Peja appears content on staying in Sactown for the foreseeable future…
