http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/basketball/kings/story/14252430p-15068549c.html
Series notes: Wells says ball in Kings' court
By Joe Davidson -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PDT Saturday, May 6, 2006
Bonzi Wells, who most would agree was the top player in this series, is not sure where he'll be next season, though he greatly favors a return to the Kings.
"Like I told them when I got here, I don't want to move anymore," said Wells after he scored 17 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in Friday night's 105-83 series-ending loss to the Spurs
"If I am not here next year it's totally up to them. I want to be here, I want to do everything it takes to be a King for the rest of my career but if they want to go in a different direction I understand."
Kings coach Rick Adelman, who isn't even sure if he'll be back, would like to see Wells stay and continue to excel.
"Obviously, the way he's played, he's definitely changed a mind-set. If there was a mind-set someplace else, he's changed it," Adelman said. "It's a good balance with him and Ron (Artest) and Kevin (Martin). I like the mix of this team. But free agency is such a crapshoot because there's so many people involved - his agent, ownership, other teams. I certainly appreciate everything he's done (this season), and I think it's a very workable situation."
Earlier in the week, Wells said it was important that he play for a title-contender.
"The only thing you can worry about is winning championships, because that's what you are going to be remembered by," he said.
Wells likes Martin's future
Wells sees a little of himself in Kevin Martin, some 40 pounds and a half-dozen belt loops ago.
Wells is the powerfully built Kings shooting guard who plays more like a ransacking linebacker inside the paint, with gruff expressions and a shaved dome. Martin - thin, wiry and explosive with a shock of hair above his youthful face - runs the floor like a deer and jumps like no other man in this best-of-seven series with the Spurs.
Martin is the second-year swingman who admirably replaced Wells in the starting lineup for a spell this season when Wells was nursing a groin tear - and he could replace him permanently should Wells bolt via free agency this summer.
"K-Mart reminds me of myself when I got in the league (eight) years ago, like a déjà vu," Wells said. "When you're 21, 22, 23 years old, before you get all those games on your legs, you have all that cat quickness, all that energy. You need it and you use it."
Wells has been a mentor of sorts for Martin, working him over in training camp, encouraging him to succeed when he was starting. For Wells, his mentor was Steve Smith, the classy veteran who took Wells under his wing when they were Portland Trail Blazers teammates in the late 1990s.
"It's the same exact scenario," Wells said. "I had just come into the league, bouncing and flying up and down the court. I tell Kevin what Steve told me: 'Yeah, keep doing that, young fella. Keep doing it while you've got it.' "
How much left?
Wells talks about young legs with envy, so how much more wear and tear can his 29-year-old wheels stand? Plenty, he insists.
"I'd like to play six or seven more years," Wells said. "I've got a lot left in these legs. They'll have to kick me out of this league. They'll have to wheelchair me out of this league because I love it too much.
"I'll be like Cliff Robinson (the longest-tenured player in the league). This is the best time of my life. This is the only thing I know how to really do, basketball."
Reef's ride
For too long, by his own count, Shareef Abdur-Rahim watched the chaos of the NBA playoffs from afar.
Abdur-Rahim is a playoff participant for the first time in his 10-year NBA career, having brought the curtain down on the second-longest such player drought in NBA history. In past playoff seasons, he would cheer for friends with an uneasy twinge of envy.
Abdur-Rahim said he pumped his fist when former Vancouver Grizzlies teammate Mike Bibby beat the Lakers in Game 5 of the epic 2002 Kings-Lakers series with a late jumper. Abdur-Rahim shouted at his TV, as if to reach old pal Stephon Marbury, when the guard stunned the Spurs with a buzzer-beater in a 2003 first-round game while with the Phoenix Suns.
"I was happy for those guys, and I pulled for my guys," Abdur-Rahim said, adding that he always has pulled for those in his same draft class, including Allen Iverson, Marcus Camby, Kobe Bryant and Jermaine O'Neal.
Alas, Abdur-Rahim returns to the couch, rooting for friends in round two.
Remembering yesteryear
In 1990, Adelman was coaching a proven product, the highly touted Portland Trail Blazers against the upstart Spurs in the Western Conference semifinals. The Blazers prevailed in seven games, including a dramatic finale when they rallied from seven down in the closing minutes and won in double overtime, en route to a trip to the Finals.
"The thing I remember about that series is how the Spurs killed us in their three home games," said Kings president of basketball operations Geoff Petrie, who was then a front office executive with the Blazers.
Rod Strickland doomed the Spurs with a late turnover in Game 7, and Portland signed him later, with Adelman cracking recently: "We paid him back."
* Spurs coach Gregg Popovich earlier in the series, after Melvin Sanders - the lone player the Spurs left off their playoff roster - tore a knee ligament in practice: "I might be a (bad) coach, but I sure know who to put on the injured list."
About the writer: The Bee's Joe Davidson can be reached at jdavidson@sacbee.com.
Series notes: Wells says ball in Kings' court
By Joe Davidson -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PDT Saturday, May 6, 2006
Bonzi Wells, who most would agree was the top player in this series, is not sure where he'll be next season, though he greatly favors a return to the Kings.
"Like I told them when I got here, I don't want to move anymore," said Wells after he scored 17 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in Friday night's 105-83 series-ending loss to the Spurs
"If I am not here next year it's totally up to them. I want to be here, I want to do everything it takes to be a King for the rest of my career but if they want to go in a different direction I understand."
Kings coach Rick Adelman, who isn't even sure if he'll be back, would like to see Wells stay and continue to excel.
"Obviously, the way he's played, he's definitely changed a mind-set. If there was a mind-set someplace else, he's changed it," Adelman said. "It's a good balance with him and Ron (Artest) and Kevin (Martin). I like the mix of this team. But free agency is such a crapshoot because there's so many people involved - his agent, ownership, other teams. I certainly appreciate everything he's done (this season), and I think it's a very workable situation."
Earlier in the week, Wells said it was important that he play for a title-contender.
"The only thing you can worry about is winning championships, because that's what you are going to be remembered by," he said.
Wells likes Martin's future
Wells sees a little of himself in Kevin Martin, some 40 pounds and a half-dozen belt loops ago.
Wells is the powerfully built Kings shooting guard who plays more like a ransacking linebacker inside the paint, with gruff expressions and a shaved dome. Martin - thin, wiry and explosive with a shock of hair above his youthful face - runs the floor like a deer and jumps like no other man in this best-of-seven series with the Spurs.
Martin is the second-year swingman who admirably replaced Wells in the starting lineup for a spell this season when Wells was nursing a groin tear - and he could replace him permanently should Wells bolt via free agency this summer.
"K-Mart reminds me of myself when I got in the league (eight) years ago, like a déjà vu," Wells said. "When you're 21, 22, 23 years old, before you get all those games on your legs, you have all that cat quickness, all that energy. You need it and you use it."
Wells has been a mentor of sorts for Martin, working him over in training camp, encouraging him to succeed when he was starting. For Wells, his mentor was Steve Smith, the classy veteran who took Wells under his wing when they were Portland Trail Blazers teammates in the late 1990s.
"It's the same exact scenario," Wells said. "I had just come into the league, bouncing and flying up and down the court. I tell Kevin what Steve told me: 'Yeah, keep doing that, young fella. Keep doing it while you've got it.' "
How much left?
Wells talks about young legs with envy, so how much more wear and tear can his 29-year-old wheels stand? Plenty, he insists.
"I'd like to play six or seven more years," Wells said. "I've got a lot left in these legs. They'll have to kick me out of this league. They'll have to wheelchair me out of this league because I love it too much.
"I'll be like Cliff Robinson (the longest-tenured player in the league). This is the best time of my life. This is the only thing I know how to really do, basketball."
Reef's ride
For too long, by his own count, Shareef Abdur-Rahim watched the chaos of the NBA playoffs from afar.
Abdur-Rahim is a playoff participant for the first time in his 10-year NBA career, having brought the curtain down on the second-longest such player drought in NBA history. In past playoff seasons, he would cheer for friends with an uneasy twinge of envy.
Abdur-Rahim said he pumped his fist when former Vancouver Grizzlies teammate Mike Bibby beat the Lakers in Game 5 of the epic 2002 Kings-Lakers series with a late jumper. Abdur-Rahim shouted at his TV, as if to reach old pal Stephon Marbury, when the guard stunned the Spurs with a buzzer-beater in a 2003 first-round game while with the Phoenix Suns.
"I was happy for those guys, and I pulled for my guys," Abdur-Rahim said, adding that he always has pulled for those in his same draft class, including Allen Iverson, Marcus Camby, Kobe Bryant and Jermaine O'Neal.
Alas, Abdur-Rahim returns to the couch, rooting for friends in round two.
Remembering yesteryear
In 1990, Adelman was coaching a proven product, the highly touted Portland Trail Blazers against the upstart Spurs in the Western Conference semifinals. The Blazers prevailed in seven games, including a dramatic finale when they rallied from seven down in the closing minutes and won in double overtime, en route to a trip to the Finals.
"The thing I remember about that series is how the Spurs killed us in their three home games," said Kings president of basketball operations Geoff Petrie, who was then a front office executive with the Blazers.
Rod Strickland doomed the Spurs with a late turnover in Game 7, and Portland signed him later, with Adelman cracking recently: "We paid him back."
* Spurs coach Gregg Popovich earlier in the series, after Melvin Sanders - the lone player the Spurs left off their playoff roster - tore a knee ligament in practice: "I might be a (bad) coach, but I sure know who to put on the injured list."
About the writer: The Bee's Joe Davidson can be reached at jdavidson@sacbee.com.
