KingKong
Starter
http://www.sportsline.com/nba/story/9084717/2
Dec. 8, 2005
By Tony Mejia
CBS SportsLine.com Staff Writer
The first quarter of the season is nearly in the books, and preseason Pacific Division favorite Sacramento sits in last place, four games under .500. At Arco Arena, still one of the toughest places in the league to play, they're 6-6, seemingly having lost the aura of invincibility they once enjoyed.
Peja Stojakovic is just 6-for-24 on 3-point shots in his last five games. (Getty Images)
It's time for change. Time for a revamped image. Time to part ways with their longest tenured player, Peja Stojakovic.
No doubt, the easiest thing for the Kings to do -- considering he has yet to be secured for next season -- is to part ways with Rick Adelman. But turnarounds aren't going to be achieved by taking the easy route. The man has won 50 games in five consecutive seasons, which is certainly why he was so ticked the organization went sniffing around for Phil Jackson during the offseason. He has cultivated the same winning atmosphere despite having new personnel to incorporate, but the fact is that while newcomers Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Bonzi Wells have responded well and added toughness, holdovers Mike Bibby, Brad Miller and Stojakovic have been, in a word, disappointing.
Adelman is not the problem. Blaming him for the Kings' demise follows the popular trend of removing all accountability from the athletes when they're not performing as they should.
It happened earlier this year in baseball when clouds of speculation surrounded Joe Torre when the Yankees' overspending didn't breed results. Never mind Randy Johnson was disappointing, the bullpen couldn't hold a lead and the roster was aging -- he was the target. It happened just last week in Detroit, where the Lions, after their "genius" of drafting receiver after receiver in the first round, delivered another sorry squad. Out went Steve Mariucci. Never mind that the team has no offensive line or quarterback and is clearly poorly constructed. Mooch went down as the fall guy, too nice to win in the pros.
So here we are with Adelman, and with Kings President Geoff Petrie, one of the brightest basketball men in the business, having to deflect controversy.
"Rick is our coach until he is no longer our coach," Petrie told reporters earlier this week. "That's the way it's always been."
Sure, boot Adelman if the losing continues, because clearly, he has forgotten how to coach. It's his fault Bibby can't put together consistent efforts, Miller no longer offers resistance inside and Stojakovic can't shoot straight.
"I'll look on my desk, but there's no five-year contract there or anything, so I'm in the same situation as when the season started," Adelman told the Sacramento Bee. "It behooves me to try to go out and get this team to win."
"It hasn't been easy these last three games, trust me. I don't know what the future holds, because we have a tough schedule."
The clock is ticking on his departure, even if it's undeserved. If you're of the rationale to fire him, then maybe New York should end the Larry Brown experiment because the Knicks aren't learning fast enough? Phil Jackson's return in L.A. should be a short one, because few understand his offense?
Sacramento can't move Bibby or Miller -- point guards and centers of their caliber are simply too hard to find. Moving Stojakovic, particularly since he can opt out next season and does have suitors, is a no-brainer, and it should be done sooner than later.
Over the past five games, Stojakovic is 16-for-62 from the field, including 6-for-24 from 3-point range. Awful. A player who doesn't bring much harmony to the offense outside of his ability to spot up and drain the jumper becomes a liability if he's not doing just that. It's not like you can say, well, he's got to be out there because he's playing such solid defense.
Mind you, it's understood that part of his struggles can be attributed to the pinky injury that caused him to miss three games in late November and had him wearing a protective glove, but this just shows how one-dimensional the player once considered the greatest shooter in the world actually is.
It's why Chris Webber so often alluded to him as soft, and new teammate Wells implied the same. It's why the Kings actually went 2-1 without him in the lineup. And he has been on the decline, with his shooting percentage dipping over the past five seasons, bottoming out at this year's 40.6 percent clip. Sacramento needs to find him a new home and embrace the tougher persona that Wells can help breed with help from reserves like Kenny Thomas, Corliss Williamson, hard-nosed rookie Francisco Garcia and say, a Luol Deng? Andres Nocioni? Dare we mention Ben Gordon?
How badly does Chicago want Stojakovic, who they pined for in the offseason and are expected to make a push at come July? Are they willing to be patient and scrap for a playoff berth without him, or does John Paxson feel his shooting, if and when he turns it around, can aid his own team's struggling offense?
That's what I'd be on the line finding out if I were Petrie, because getting something for a player who's likely to leave anyway and currently holding my team back would be my chief objective. Deng is a star-in-the-making, as his play lately shows. He's versatile, defends and hustles. Nocioni would offer the same type of roughneck style that has made Wells so many fans early in his Kings tenure. A shooting guard leading the team in boards? Clearly, Sacramento needs added grit over finesse. It's doubtful the Kings can pry away Gordon, but what would it hurt to ask? Get creative, find a way to make the pieces fit.
Officially put the word out there that Stojakovic's available. See who else, besides the Bulls, would bite.
"There's still a ways to go for us (in the season), so we can be optimistic," Stojakovic told the Bee. "We have to stay together and believe in ourselves. That's the only way we can get out of this problem."
Dec. 8, 2005
By Tony Mejia
CBS SportsLine.com Staff Writer
The first quarter of the season is nearly in the books, and preseason Pacific Division favorite Sacramento sits in last place, four games under .500. At Arco Arena, still one of the toughest places in the league to play, they're 6-6, seemingly having lost the aura of invincibility they once enjoyed.
Peja Stojakovic is just 6-for-24 on 3-point shots in his last five games. (Getty Images)
It's time for change. Time for a revamped image. Time to part ways with their longest tenured player, Peja Stojakovic.
No doubt, the easiest thing for the Kings to do -- considering he has yet to be secured for next season -- is to part ways with Rick Adelman. But turnarounds aren't going to be achieved by taking the easy route. The man has won 50 games in five consecutive seasons, which is certainly why he was so ticked the organization went sniffing around for Phil Jackson during the offseason. He has cultivated the same winning atmosphere despite having new personnel to incorporate, but the fact is that while newcomers Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Bonzi Wells have responded well and added toughness, holdovers Mike Bibby, Brad Miller and Stojakovic have been, in a word, disappointing.
Adelman is not the problem. Blaming him for the Kings' demise follows the popular trend of removing all accountability from the athletes when they're not performing as they should.
It happened earlier this year in baseball when clouds of speculation surrounded Joe Torre when the Yankees' overspending didn't breed results. Never mind Randy Johnson was disappointing, the bullpen couldn't hold a lead and the roster was aging -- he was the target. It happened just last week in Detroit, where the Lions, after their "genius" of drafting receiver after receiver in the first round, delivered another sorry squad. Out went Steve Mariucci. Never mind that the team has no offensive line or quarterback and is clearly poorly constructed. Mooch went down as the fall guy, too nice to win in the pros.
So here we are with Adelman, and with Kings President Geoff Petrie, one of the brightest basketball men in the business, having to deflect controversy.
"Rick is our coach until he is no longer our coach," Petrie told reporters earlier this week. "That's the way it's always been."
Sure, boot Adelman if the losing continues, because clearly, he has forgotten how to coach. It's his fault Bibby can't put together consistent efforts, Miller no longer offers resistance inside and Stojakovic can't shoot straight.
"I'll look on my desk, but there's no five-year contract there or anything, so I'm in the same situation as when the season started," Adelman told the Sacramento Bee. "It behooves me to try to go out and get this team to win."
"It hasn't been easy these last three games, trust me. I don't know what the future holds, because we have a tough schedule."
The clock is ticking on his departure, even if it's undeserved. If you're of the rationale to fire him, then maybe New York should end the Larry Brown experiment because the Knicks aren't learning fast enough? Phil Jackson's return in L.A. should be a short one, because few understand his offense?
Sacramento can't move Bibby or Miller -- point guards and centers of their caliber are simply too hard to find. Moving Stojakovic, particularly since he can opt out next season and does have suitors, is a no-brainer, and it should be done sooner than later.
Over the past five games, Stojakovic is 16-for-62 from the field, including 6-for-24 from 3-point range. Awful. A player who doesn't bring much harmony to the offense outside of his ability to spot up and drain the jumper becomes a liability if he's not doing just that. It's not like you can say, well, he's got to be out there because he's playing such solid defense.
Mind you, it's understood that part of his struggles can be attributed to the pinky injury that caused him to miss three games in late November and had him wearing a protective glove, but this just shows how one-dimensional the player once considered the greatest shooter in the world actually is.
It's why Chris Webber so often alluded to him as soft, and new teammate Wells implied the same. It's why the Kings actually went 2-1 without him in the lineup. And he has been on the decline, with his shooting percentage dipping over the past five seasons, bottoming out at this year's 40.6 percent clip. Sacramento needs to find him a new home and embrace the tougher persona that Wells can help breed with help from reserves like Kenny Thomas, Corliss Williamson, hard-nosed rookie Francisco Garcia and say, a Luol Deng? Andres Nocioni? Dare we mention Ben Gordon?
How badly does Chicago want Stojakovic, who they pined for in the offseason and are expected to make a push at come July? Are they willing to be patient and scrap for a playoff berth without him, or does John Paxson feel his shooting, if and when he turns it around, can aid his own team's struggling offense?
That's what I'd be on the line finding out if I were Petrie, because getting something for a player who's likely to leave anyway and currently holding my team back would be my chief objective. Deng is a star-in-the-making, as his play lately shows. He's versatile, defends and hustles. Nocioni would offer the same type of roughneck style that has made Wells so many fans early in his Kings tenure. A shooting guard leading the team in boards? Clearly, Sacramento needs added grit over finesse. It's doubtful the Kings can pry away Gordon, but what would it hurt to ask? Get creative, find a way to make the pieces fit.
Officially put the word out there that Stojakovic's available. See who else, besides the Bulls, would bite.
"There's still a ways to go for us (in the season), so we can be optimistic," Stojakovic told the Bee. "We have to stay together and believe in ourselves. That's the only way we can get out of this problem."
. The guy is so versatile, it's just such a joy to watch.
sad day.
