http://www.sacbee.com/kings/story/200414.html
Ailene Voisin: Lakers now know what Kings have gone through
By Ailene Voisin - Bee Sports Columnist
Last Updated 12:13 am PDT Thursday, May 31, 2007
Story appeared in SPORTS section, Page C1
The owner is taking hits for allegedly taking too many sips. The general manager is excoriated for passive roster maintenance. The role players are injured or undergoing surgery, possibly even seeking therapy. Phil Jackson has gone underground. The Buss siblings are feuding. And in the latest in a series of massive grumblings coming out of Staples Center, Kobe Bryant is demanding a trade, then reconsidering and recanting, and reconsidering again.
And all I can say to the Lakers is ... welcome to earth. There is plenty of Advil to go around.
They think they know pain? That bone-crunching, mind-numbing, ligament-tearing agony? Those cruel and unusual ill-fated developments that make children cry and cripple a franchise for years? Say, like what happened in Game 6 of that 2002 Kings-Lakers classic?
Five years ago tonight.
That was pain.
That was debilitating.
That was the night of the phantom fourth-quarter fouls called against Vlade Divac and Scot Pollard, the officiating heist (league-wide consensus by the way, not merely my spin) that forced Game 7 at Arco Arena. The Kings took it from there. Their weak knees and missed free throws cost them the game and precipitated an eventual decline, the Kings never again reaching the conference finals, never again coming so close to a championship ring.
"We can make a million excuses," Kings co-owner Joe Maloof said Wednesday, "but we've had a run of bad luck."
Chris Webber tore up his knee the next season. Vlade Divac and Doug Christie grew old. Peja Stojakovic grew comfortable. Bobby Jackson got hurt. Rick Adelman lost his job, Eric Musselman lost his locker room, and early playoff exits and disgruntled crowds became a prelude to a risky trade (Peja for Ron Artest) and what can only be called a rebuilding era.
It happens. It just never happens to this extent to the Lakers.
Years ago -- heck, months ago -- players begged to wear those ugly purple and yellow jerseys, to join the franchise of West and Baylor, Magic and Kareem, Pat Riley and Phil Jackson, and Shaq and Kobe. This is the organization that reacted with uncommon grace and sensitivity when Magic Johnson contracted the AIDS virus, that overcame the controversial firing of Paul Westhead, the unpopular trade of Norm Nixon (for Byron Scott), the departures of Riley, West and Jackson and the hammer-swinging exit of O'Neal, along with the accusations of sexual assault against Bryant.
Excluding a few clumsy offseasons, the Lakers have represented the essence of NBA entertainment and stability. Yet lately, that glossy image is showing its sweat. The postseason ended in one brief round. Siblings Jeanie and Jim Buss sniped at each other on radio shows. West resigned from the Memphis Grizzlies and, after studying his old club's dynamic, denied any interest in returning. Dr. Buss was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence, his companion young enough to be his great-granddaughter.
And now, within a matter of hours, the owner's favored young superstar flips insults into the air like so many burgers before trying to roll the hurtful words back under his tongue, only to spit them back out again.
"The more I thought about my future," a frustrated Bryant writes on his official Web site, "the more I became convinced that the Lakers and me just have two different visions of the future. The Lakers are pursuing a longer-term plan that is different from what Dr. Buss shared with me at the time I re-signed as a free agent. I have seen that plan unfold the last three years and watched great trade opportunities come and go, and have seen free agents passed on. That has led to the Lakers not winning a playoff series. All of that in itself, but then, this week, to have someone 'inside' the Laker organization try to blame me in the media for us not being a contender right now -- that is what brought me to my current position today."
Which is exactly what? Kobe wants to be traded, then doesn't want to be traded, then wants to be traded. Regardless, every dysfunctional family has its limits. Once scorned (see Shaq ripping into Buss), the owner seldom allows for seconds. Kobe will be history. So where to from here? The Suns? The Warriors? The Magic?
The Kings?
"I would never say never," Kings co-owner Gavin Maloof said. "He (Bryant) would have to demand a trade to Sacramento. But what do we have to give the Lakers? Talk to Geoff (Petrie). I think it's just a ploy to get Jerry West back. But I don't take (joy) in what's happening there. What's that saying? It gets lonely at the top. That could happen to us."
About the writer: Reach Ailene Voisin at (916) 321-1208 or avoisin@sacbee.com
Ailene Voisin: Lakers now know what Kings have gone through
By Ailene Voisin - Bee Sports Columnist
Last Updated 12:13 am PDT Thursday, May 31, 2007
Story appeared in SPORTS section, Page C1
The owner is taking hits for allegedly taking too many sips. The general manager is excoriated for passive roster maintenance. The role players are injured or undergoing surgery, possibly even seeking therapy. Phil Jackson has gone underground. The Buss siblings are feuding. And in the latest in a series of massive grumblings coming out of Staples Center, Kobe Bryant is demanding a trade, then reconsidering and recanting, and reconsidering again.
And all I can say to the Lakers is ... welcome to earth. There is plenty of Advil to go around.
They think they know pain? That bone-crunching, mind-numbing, ligament-tearing agony? Those cruel and unusual ill-fated developments that make children cry and cripple a franchise for years? Say, like what happened in Game 6 of that 2002 Kings-Lakers classic?
Five years ago tonight.
That was pain.
That was debilitating.
That was the night of the phantom fourth-quarter fouls called against Vlade Divac and Scot Pollard, the officiating heist (league-wide consensus by the way, not merely my spin) that forced Game 7 at Arco Arena. The Kings took it from there. Their weak knees and missed free throws cost them the game and precipitated an eventual decline, the Kings never again reaching the conference finals, never again coming so close to a championship ring.
"We can make a million excuses," Kings co-owner Joe Maloof said Wednesday, "but we've had a run of bad luck."
Chris Webber tore up his knee the next season. Vlade Divac and Doug Christie grew old. Peja Stojakovic grew comfortable. Bobby Jackson got hurt. Rick Adelman lost his job, Eric Musselman lost his locker room, and early playoff exits and disgruntled crowds became a prelude to a risky trade (Peja for Ron Artest) and what can only be called a rebuilding era.
It happens. It just never happens to this extent to the Lakers.
Years ago -- heck, months ago -- players begged to wear those ugly purple and yellow jerseys, to join the franchise of West and Baylor, Magic and Kareem, Pat Riley and Phil Jackson, and Shaq and Kobe. This is the organization that reacted with uncommon grace and sensitivity when Magic Johnson contracted the AIDS virus, that overcame the controversial firing of Paul Westhead, the unpopular trade of Norm Nixon (for Byron Scott), the departures of Riley, West and Jackson and the hammer-swinging exit of O'Neal, along with the accusations of sexual assault against Bryant.
Excluding a few clumsy offseasons, the Lakers have represented the essence of NBA entertainment and stability. Yet lately, that glossy image is showing its sweat. The postseason ended in one brief round. Siblings Jeanie and Jim Buss sniped at each other on radio shows. West resigned from the Memphis Grizzlies and, after studying his old club's dynamic, denied any interest in returning. Dr. Buss was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence, his companion young enough to be his great-granddaughter.
And now, within a matter of hours, the owner's favored young superstar flips insults into the air like so many burgers before trying to roll the hurtful words back under his tongue, only to spit them back out again.
"The more I thought about my future," a frustrated Bryant writes on his official Web site, "the more I became convinced that the Lakers and me just have two different visions of the future. The Lakers are pursuing a longer-term plan that is different from what Dr. Buss shared with me at the time I re-signed as a free agent. I have seen that plan unfold the last three years and watched great trade opportunities come and go, and have seen free agents passed on. That has led to the Lakers not winning a playoff series. All of that in itself, but then, this week, to have someone 'inside' the Laker organization try to blame me in the media for us not being a contender right now -- that is what brought me to my current position today."
Which is exactly what? Kobe wants to be traded, then doesn't want to be traded, then wants to be traded. Regardless, every dysfunctional family has its limits. Once scorned (see Shaq ripping into Buss), the owner seldom allows for seconds. Kobe will be history. So where to from here? The Suns? The Warriors? The Magic?
The Kings?
"I would never say never," Kings co-owner Gavin Maloof said. "He (Bryant) would have to demand a trade to Sacramento. But what do we have to give the Lakers? Talk to Geoff (Petrie). I think it's just a ploy to get Jerry West back. But I don't take (joy) in what's happening there. What's that saying? It gets lonely at the top. That could happen to us."
About the writer: Reach Ailene Voisin at (916) 321-1208 or avoisin@sacbee.com
