http://www.sacbee.com/351/story/157663.html
Ailene Voisin: Transition time is approaching for the Kings
By Ailene Voisin - Bee Columnist
Last Updated 12:12 am PDT Thursday, April 19, 2007
No postseason at Arco Arena. No playoffs for the Kings. It's been so long -- eight consecutive seasons -- that you almost forget how it feels.
Empty. Weird. Disappointing.
The players in a funk.
The crowd in a purple daze.
The outcome of the season finale, irrelevant.
When the Los Angeles Lakers come to town on a Wednesday night, their playoff positioning still in doubt, and Phil Jackson can't even muster a prickly comment about one of his favorite cities and preferred (former) rivals, then you know times have changed.
And that change is forthcoming.
"We've never missed the playoffs anywhere, and it's really, really hard," Kings co-owner Gavin Maloof said the other day. "We reached the postseason when we owned the (Houston) Rockets, and even when we owned the Birmingham franchise of the old WFL. This is a whole new experience for us as a family, and while we know that every team eventually goes through it, we don't like it. We have to dig our way out."
In other words, Geoff Petrie will be a very busy man before he boards that overnight flight to Europe on Sunday. The Kings' basketball president plans to spend the next 48 hours meeting with his players and, from all indications, firing head coach Eric Musselman. Then comes the hard part: hiring the right coach and making the necessary roster additions/deletions to ensure that next season isn't a repeat of 2006-07.
"This never should have happened," a disgusted Corliss Williamson said. "We ended last year so strong, thinking that we would come back and be that much stronger. But to not even have a shot at the playoffs ... losing all those close games, all those games at home. And for me personally, it's very disappointing. I've gotten used to postseason play."
The last time the Kings failed to make the postseason?
The last time the lights went off this early at Arco?
The season was 1997-98, and Eddie Jordan was head coach of a squad that featured an aging, disgruntled Mitch Richmond and included Olden Polynice, Otis Thorpe, Billy Owens and Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf. Williamson was the second-leading scorer. Tariq Abdul-Wahad was a rookie. A local product and former ballboy named Michael "Yogi" Stewart routinely earned the loudest applause, his energy and effort exceeding his size and talent.
The ensuing offseason makeover became the stuff of near-champions: Former owner Jim Thomas fired Jordan and, after a lengthy flirtation with Paul Silas, hired Rick Adelman. Vlade Divac became the organization's first significant free-agent acquisition.
Richmond was traded for Chris Webber. The wildly undisciplined, but immensely talented Jason Williams was drafted out of Florida. Former first-round draft pick Peja Stojakovic was lured from Greece. Jon Barry, Vernon Maxwell and Scot Pollard completed the overhaul, a near-masterpiece by NBA standards. And the Maloofs, who had purchased a minority interest from the financially strapped Thomas, prepared to open their wallets and assume controlling interest.
The next eight seasons? Mostly good, sometimes great. The Kings reached the Western Conference finals once, but they had their chances, and there is something to be said for staying in the game. There were annual encounters with the Jazz, Suns, Mavericks and, most memorably, with Jackson's Lakers. There was that Game 6 officiating debacle and Game 7 meltdown in 2002. There was Webber's devastating knee injury and Petrie's maneuvering for Doug Christie, Mike Bibby and Brad Miller. There was that huge, huge, huge opportunity blown in 2004, when Webber returned from surgery and was thrust back into the lineup prematurely, disrupting a team with the league's best record and the game's best chemistry. There was the horrible start to 2005-06, with fans racing for the exits and Adelman's job temporarily secured by the season-saving swap of Stojakovic for Ron Artest.
But the run stops here, stops right here at home. And it's weird, it's disappointing, and, yes, it's probably inevitable.
"Nobody likes the way things ended," the soft-spoken Shareef Abdur-Rahim said. "I think all of us would like to come back and redeem ourselves."
The chances of that are highly unlikely. Change is forthcoming, fast.
About the writer: Reach Ailene Voisin at (916) 321-1208 or avoisin@ sacbee.com.
Ailene Voisin: Transition time is approaching for the Kings
By Ailene Voisin - Bee Columnist
Last Updated 12:12 am PDT Thursday, April 19, 2007
No postseason at Arco Arena. No playoffs for the Kings. It's been so long -- eight consecutive seasons -- that you almost forget how it feels.
Empty. Weird. Disappointing.
The players in a funk.
The crowd in a purple daze.
The outcome of the season finale, irrelevant.
When the Los Angeles Lakers come to town on a Wednesday night, their playoff positioning still in doubt, and Phil Jackson can't even muster a prickly comment about one of his favorite cities and preferred (former) rivals, then you know times have changed.
And that change is forthcoming.
"We've never missed the playoffs anywhere, and it's really, really hard," Kings co-owner Gavin Maloof said the other day. "We reached the postseason when we owned the (Houston) Rockets, and even when we owned the Birmingham franchise of the old WFL. This is a whole new experience for us as a family, and while we know that every team eventually goes through it, we don't like it. We have to dig our way out."
In other words, Geoff Petrie will be a very busy man before he boards that overnight flight to Europe on Sunday. The Kings' basketball president plans to spend the next 48 hours meeting with his players and, from all indications, firing head coach Eric Musselman. Then comes the hard part: hiring the right coach and making the necessary roster additions/deletions to ensure that next season isn't a repeat of 2006-07.
"This never should have happened," a disgusted Corliss Williamson said. "We ended last year so strong, thinking that we would come back and be that much stronger. But to not even have a shot at the playoffs ... losing all those close games, all those games at home. And for me personally, it's very disappointing. I've gotten used to postseason play."
The last time the Kings failed to make the postseason?
The last time the lights went off this early at Arco?
The season was 1997-98, and Eddie Jordan was head coach of a squad that featured an aging, disgruntled Mitch Richmond and included Olden Polynice, Otis Thorpe, Billy Owens and Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf. Williamson was the second-leading scorer. Tariq Abdul-Wahad was a rookie. A local product and former ballboy named Michael "Yogi" Stewart routinely earned the loudest applause, his energy and effort exceeding his size and talent.
The ensuing offseason makeover became the stuff of near-champions: Former owner Jim Thomas fired Jordan and, after a lengthy flirtation with Paul Silas, hired Rick Adelman. Vlade Divac became the organization's first significant free-agent acquisition.
Richmond was traded for Chris Webber. The wildly undisciplined, but immensely talented Jason Williams was drafted out of Florida. Former first-round draft pick Peja Stojakovic was lured from Greece. Jon Barry, Vernon Maxwell and Scot Pollard completed the overhaul, a near-masterpiece by NBA standards. And the Maloofs, who had purchased a minority interest from the financially strapped Thomas, prepared to open their wallets and assume controlling interest.
The next eight seasons? Mostly good, sometimes great. The Kings reached the Western Conference finals once, but they had their chances, and there is something to be said for staying in the game. There were annual encounters with the Jazz, Suns, Mavericks and, most memorably, with Jackson's Lakers. There was that Game 6 officiating debacle and Game 7 meltdown in 2002. There was Webber's devastating knee injury and Petrie's maneuvering for Doug Christie, Mike Bibby and Brad Miller. There was that huge, huge, huge opportunity blown in 2004, when Webber returned from surgery and was thrust back into the lineup prematurely, disrupting a team with the league's best record and the game's best chemistry. There was the horrible start to 2005-06, with fans racing for the exits and Adelman's job temporarily secured by the season-saving swap of Stojakovic for Ron Artest.
But the run stops here, stops right here at home. And it's weird, it's disappointing, and, yes, it's probably inevitable.
"Nobody likes the way things ended," the soft-spoken Shareef Abdur-Rahim said. "I think all of us would like to come back and redeem ourselves."
The chances of that are highly unlikely. Change is forthcoming, fast.
About the writer: Reach Ailene Voisin at (916) 321-1208 or avoisin@ sacbee.com.
