|
|
|
Tuesday, October 31, 2000
Kings: Wins are there, what about Webber?
|
Team page/schedule | Stats: Preseason / 1999 | Roster
Last year: 44-38, fifth in Pacific, eighth in conference
Coach/VP: Rick Adelman/Geoff Petrie
Arena, first game: ARCO Arena (17,317); Nov. 8, 1988
All-time franchise record/NBA titles: 1,863-2,210/1
Notable: First .500-or-better full season since 1983
|
THE TOP EIGHT
|
|
Pos
|
Player
|
Key Stat
|
Skinny
|
|
PG
|
Jason Williams
|
7.3 apg
|
Jason, the 296 turnovers. It's an awful lot.
|
|
SG
|
Doug Christie
|
4.4 apg
|
Finally, someone who can play defense
|
|
SF
|
Peja Stojakovic
|
11.9 ppg
|
Will score, but so will other small forward
|
|
PF
|
Chris Webber
|
24.5 ppg
|
This year's Duncan for free agent follies
|
|
C
|
Vlade Divac
|
.503 FG
|
At 32, it's time to stop saying underrated
|
|
6th
|
Jon Barry
|
8.0 ppg
|
He, Bobby Jackson might finish games
|
|
7th
|
Nick Anderson
|
.391 FG
|
Hard to shoot that brutal every year
|
|
8th
|
Scot Pollard
|
5.3 rpg
|
Serving exactly the role he should be
|
|
 |
|
|
The Kings have to get more out of Doug Christie at the swingman spot than they got out of Corliss Williamson. But the most important thing is that Jason Williams maintains his creativity and yet becomes more consistent and judicious about when to take threes and when to drive. Everything revolves around Williams. Defensively he has to get better. As a three-point shooter he has to make better decisions. As a passer and offensive playmaker he has to be more consistent. Getting to the second round would make this a successful season.
|
|
|
By Frank Hughes
Special to ESPN.com
The Good
The once moribund Kings have established themselves as a
legitimate team in the NBA, one that now is regularly expected to participate
in the playoffs. Despite some offseason movement, they kept the core of their
team intact -- at least for now -- with Chris Webber declining to commit to
yet another California team but remaining for at least this season. Webber
finally has developed a game that makes him one of the league's best power
forwards, a term he has owned since he came into the league but not one that
he necessarily deserved. Now, he has low-post moves that can carry his team
in the fourth quarter -- although he still tends to commit bad turnovers in
those situations, as well. But where Webber did not have a supporting cast in
Washington, he does in Sacramento, where the Kings have a decent starter at
every position. Vlade Divac is not the prototypical center, but he has enough
savvy to make him respected. And this season, expect to see Predrag Stojakovic in the starting lineup, alongside Doug
Christie, acquired from the Toronto Raptors for unhappy Corliss Williamson.
The Kings have one of the league's most prolific offenses, as well as one of
the most exciting to watch. They are truly the West Coast offense, where
running and running and more running is expected. Jason Williams is a nice
point guard to direct such an attack, but this could be a crucial year for
him in terms of development of a game that needs to be more substance than
style. Also, the Kings drafted rookie Hidayet Turkoglu, who scouts have said is a
better all-around offensive player than Stojakovic.
| |  | |
| Williams |
The Bad
Williams should probably be mentioned here, as well, because he
is so prone to turnovers and poor shot selections -- i.e. 3-pointers from 30
feet on a 3-on-1 fast break -- that he often hurts his team as much as he at
times helps it. Throw in the fact that he is suspended for the first five
games of the season for flaunting the league's drug policy -- smoking
marijuana -- and there is some question whether he is serious enough about
trying to become one of the best point guards in the league. On top of that,
Tony Delk, the player who spelled Williams off the bench and many times
played much better than him, fled for Phoenix, leaving the team with some
questions at the position if Williams does not mature. Perhaps the bigger question than Williams' development, though, is
Webber's plans when he becomes a free agent this summer, a topic that is sure
to serve as a distraction the entire season. Webber did not make the issue
any easier to deal with when he told a reporter in almost every city he
visited that he would like to play in that city. And he has Latrell Sprewell
publicly lobbying in New York for Webber to embark for the Big Apple.
|
THE BIG QUESTION |
|
Will Williams continue to think that behind-the-back,
no-look passes that sometimes end up in the 17th row are more effective than
less flashy passes that find their mark? And, will Webber return to the city
that he claimed he did not like even before he set foot in it? Both answers
will go a long way in determining the fate not only for this season, but for
the future of the franchise.
|
Whose team is this?
Unquestionably Webber's. In fact, while Webber is not
necessarily vocal, he ripped into his teammates at a preseason practice for
not running suicide sprints hard enough. And it will be Webber who will be
blamed if the Kings do not exceed their success of last season.
How they'll play
This team loves to run. It loves to pass, to the point,
sometimes, of overpassing. It loves to showboat. And it hates to play
defense. Actually, that's not true. It loves to play matador defense. But
their mindset is that essentially it does not matter if they don't play any
D, because they can score more points than the opponent anyway. It remains to be seen whether bringing one defensive player in Christie can change any of this. Another thing the Kings will do a lot is go their bench, which was a strong point last season. Bobby Jackson, Jon Barry, Scot Pollard, Lawrence Funderburke and now Nick Anderson are the featured cast here.
Projection
Because of its inconsistencies, this team is likely to win
between 44 and 48 games and wind up as the seventh, eighth or ninth seed in the
Western Conference. And that's at best.
|
|
|
|
|
