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Ailene Voisin: Webber looks out for No. 1 - the team
By Ailene Voisin -- Bee Sports Columnist
Published 2:15 am PST Wednesday, November 10, 2004
On a bum knee, on a big night, Chris Webber made the passes that led to field goals and contributed the plays that led his teammates. He took the easy way out - moving within the flow of the offense and relying on instinct and his incredibly subtle skills - and produced one of the most impressive efforts of his Kings career.Webber, with the pass.
Webber, with the rebound, with the block.
Webber, no longer soaring above the rim, dominating instead on the ground.
If the Kings are to challenge in the Western Conference? If they are truly committed to capitalizing on Shaquille O'Neal's departure and making a race of the Pacific Division? Look again. This is how Webber has to perform and how the Kings have to play. Moving, passing, cutting, rebounding, defending, and not just one of them, or even two of them, but all of them.
"At some point you say, 'this is the level I can get to,' " said Kings president Geoff Petrie, a former NBA player whose career was shortened by a serious knee injury. "Then, as a player, you're talking about accommodating. (Webber's) running gait is much better. It's not fast, but he's not gimping up and down, and there have been signs when he jumps ... he just has to play within himself."
Learning to function with physical limitations has to be remarkably painful for any player, especially a player of Webber's background and ability. This past decade, he has had few equals in terms of sheer athleticism and basketball gifts. When younger, healthier and at least 15 pounds lighter, before being hampered by arthritic knees and forced to undergo microfracture surgery in June 2003, the veteran power forward had double-digit ability in every category. It was as if he simply looked at the stats and big numbers mysteriously appeared.
His inside game was based on explosiveness and anticipation, his massive palms able to caress everything from lobs to passes that appeared headed for the seats. But what always set Webber apart from other power forwards of similar size, what has Kings officials still stubbornly clinging to the belief that he can remain a major player for years to come, is his extraordinary court vision and his talent to make the pass, to make the play.
He did this on opening night at Arco Arena.
He did everything on opening night.
As if taking Doug Christie's pregame address to the sellout crowd as a personal challenge - "We will work like hell to give you the product that you want to see" - Webber, who had amassed a triple double before the end of the third quarter, was a completely different player than in the previous three games, seemingly committed to filling the role of the facilitator first, leading scorer second.
On the Kings' opening possession, he found the struggling Peja Stojakovic on a curl. Then, he assisted on Brad Miller's jumper from the baseline, found Peja in the corner for a three, connected with Miller again on a cut that gave the Kings a 9-0 advantage. The pattern persisted, the passing contagious, with Mike Bibby (11 assists) and Miller (five assists) padding the team total (31).
"Good passing takes the tension out of the game," assistant coach Pete Carril said.
But it wasn't merely the passing, the improved rebounding or the energetic defense that distinguished Tuesday's performance - not coincidentally, a convincing 108-92 victory over the lithe, active Raptors - it was the collaborative tenor.
It was all initiated by Webber, who picked his spots and, in a very legitimate sense, finally found his game. In sharp contrast to the previous three games, in which the Kings executed the pick-and-roll to a slow death, he never tried to do too much or do it alone. There was nothing labored about his offense or his movements. Accordingly, the end result was a model of unselfish, all-inclusive efficiency: the passes early, the jumpers late, the rebounding and defense throughout.
"You develop bad habits," Webber said afterward. "When you can't jump, you start fading away on the jump shots. When you can't push off, you can't drive, so you shoot the jumper. And now, the different things that I've been made to learn ... hopefully I'm finding out what my body will allow me to do more. I've had to learn to play on the ground."
The real test, of course, comes with time, with consistency, with commitment to a five-man assault. There is a game tonight, and 77 games after that. But there is only one way for these Kings to have a chance. One player can't do it all, or do it alone.
Ailene Voisin: Webber looks out for No. 1 - the team
By Ailene Voisin -- Bee Sports Columnist
Published 2:15 am PST Wednesday, November 10, 2004
On a bum knee, on a big night, Chris Webber made the passes that led to field goals and contributed the plays that led his teammates. He took the easy way out - moving within the flow of the offense and relying on instinct and his incredibly subtle skills - and produced one of the most impressive efforts of his Kings career.Webber, with the pass.
Webber, with the rebound, with the block.
Webber, no longer soaring above the rim, dominating instead on the ground.
If the Kings are to challenge in the Western Conference? If they are truly committed to capitalizing on Shaquille O'Neal's departure and making a race of the Pacific Division? Look again. This is how Webber has to perform and how the Kings have to play. Moving, passing, cutting, rebounding, defending, and not just one of them, or even two of them, but all of them.
"At some point you say, 'this is the level I can get to,' " said Kings president Geoff Petrie, a former NBA player whose career was shortened by a serious knee injury. "Then, as a player, you're talking about accommodating. (Webber's) running gait is much better. It's not fast, but he's not gimping up and down, and there have been signs when he jumps ... he just has to play within himself."
Learning to function with physical limitations has to be remarkably painful for any player, especially a player of Webber's background and ability. This past decade, he has had few equals in terms of sheer athleticism and basketball gifts. When younger, healthier and at least 15 pounds lighter, before being hampered by arthritic knees and forced to undergo microfracture surgery in June 2003, the veteran power forward had double-digit ability in every category. It was as if he simply looked at the stats and big numbers mysteriously appeared.
His inside game was based on explosiveness and anticipation, his massive palms able to caress everything from lobs to passes that appeared headed for the seats. But what always set Webber apart from other power forwards of similar size, what has Kings officials still stubbornly clinging to the belief that he can remain a major player for years to come, is his extraordinary court vision and his talent to make the pass, to make the play.
He did this on opening night at Arco Arena.
He did everything on opening night.
As if taking Doug Christie's pregame address to the sellout crowd as a personal challenge - "We will work like hell to give you the product that you want to see" - Webber, who had amassed a triple double before the end of the third quarter, was a completely different player than in the previous three games, seemingly committed to filling the role of the facilitator first, leading scorer second.
On the Kings' opening possession, he found the struggling Peja Stojakovic on a curl. Then, he assisted on Brad Miller's jumper from the baseline, found Peja in the corner for a three, connected with Miller again on a cut that gave the Kings a 9-0 advantage. The pattern persisted, the passing contagious, with Mike Bibby (11 assists) and Miller (five assists) padding the team total (31).
"Good passing takes the tension out of the game," assistant coach Pete Carril said.
But it wasn't merely the passing, the improved rebounding or the energetic defense that distinguished Tuesday's performance - not coincidentally, a convincing 108-92 victory over the lithe, active Raptors - it was the collaborative tenor.
It was all initiated by Webber, who picked his spots and, in a very legitimate sense, finally found his game. In sharp contrast to the previous three games, in which the Kings executed the pick-and-roll to a slow death, he never tried to do too much or do it alone. There was nothing labored about his offense or his movements. Accordingly, the end result was a model of unselfish, all-inclusive efficiency: the passes early, the jumpers late, the rebounding and defense throughout.
"You develop bad habits," Webber said afterward. "When you can't jump, you start fading away on the jump shots. When you can't push off, you can't drive, so you shoot the jumper. And now, the different things that I've been made to learn ... hopefully I'm finding out what my body will allow me to do more. I've had to learn to play on the ground."
The real test, of course, comes with time, with consistency, with commitment to a five-man assault. There is a game tonight, and 77 games after that. But there is only one way for these Kings to have a chance. One player can't do it all, or do it alone.
