SB Nation User Blog: Exhibit G

Bust label too strong for Smith

Exhibit G — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 19:57:57 -0000

Bust label too strong for Smith

Interesting article from Mark Kreidler

In my opinion, Kreidler oversimplifies. No, the 49ers did not have to draft a QB in '05. The offense and the defense were full of holes. There were impact players at the top of the 1st round, such as Braylon Edwards (who would have filled a need at WR). The Niners decided to draft a QB when they thought Leinart would be in the draft, and ended up settling for Smith rather the re-evaluating if QB was the right way to go.

The Niners botched a lot the last few years, but Smith is to blame for his current situation. He went into a QB competition which was, based on his contract, his competition to lose. And he lost to a journeyman who couldn't get off the bench in Minnesota or Detroit. I'm a Niners fan, and I've been holding out hope for way too long. It's time to call Smith a bust.

A Kings Fans' Constitution

Exhibit G — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 17:21:34 -0000

The Kings Fans' Constitution. twasserm inadvertently inspired it by breaking an unspoken rule. AnotherStupidSN offered the idea. Section wrote the preamble. If you need to get caught up, it's all in the conversations surrounding the "When do we bury the hatchet?" post. Well, it's time for us to take it to the next level. This need to be a post in and of itself. Everyone can contribute, everyone can critique, everyone can get in a heated arguments that end in silly name-calling.

Thanks again to Section for writing the preamble. Here's what he created.

We the people, in order to form a more perfect transition game, establish justice, insure home court advantage, provide an atmosphere for more than just common defense, promote the general feeling that youth is to be served and leadership is to be valued, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our team’s posterity, do ordain and establish this constitution for Sacramento Kings fans throughout the world.

OK, who’s got the legislative branch?

Remember, we don't have to get everything perfect on the first try. The US Constituion has been amended 27 times. Some amendments were bad (18th Amendment), some were wonderful (21st Amendment). Somehow I suspect that the 21st Amendment may end up helping this project along.

I think the Executive Branch should be pretty easy: The executive power shall be vested in Geoff Petrie. In Petrie We Trust.

Martin on Artest: "I'm going to miss him."

Exhibit G — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 04:28:22 -0000

Martin on Artest: "I'm going to miss him."

I feel like it's the end of Rocky IV. "If Ron can change, if I can change, and you can change...everybody can change."

Still Hoping I'm Wrong

Exhibit G — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 17:25:51 -0000

Since 2005, I've been waiting for Alex Smith to prove me wrong about him. I've never wanted to be wrong about something as much as I've hoped to be wrong about Smith. And here we are, entering his fourth season, and I'm still hoping I'm wrong.

I think back to 2005. We had the number 1 overall pick, and Matt Lienart had just finished a stellar Junior season at USC. It was clear that he would be the first overall pick. There was even talk that Pete Carroll might fill the coaching vacancy in San Fransisco. But then Leinart decided to play one more year. I remember being devastated. It felt like we deserved him after suffering through such a horrible season. With Leinart suddenly out of the picture, the 49ers became a massive question mark. Who would be the pick?

It seemed that the 49ers were already intent on picking a quarterback, despite the fact that after Leinart there was a dramatic dropoff in QB talent, and the team had many other needs that could be also be filled. I thought the team should have drafted Braylon Edwards, and waited another year to get a QB. I wrote this on my old sports blog, sadly that site no longer exists. Believe me or not, that was how I felt. Instead, the team began trying to decide between Smith and Aaron Rodgers. Neither seemed very appealing, but I decided I would prefer Rodgers. So, of course, the Niners decided upon Smith.

For a few weeks after the draft, I was just pissed off. But I've been wrong before, and I started reading articles about how he is such a good guy, and how he is a smart QB. I decided that I really wanted nothing more than to be wrong about Alex Smith. I'd rather be wrong and have the franchise be a success.

The rookie season wasn't easy for Alex, but it was his rookie season, so I didn't worry about it too much. 2006 brought Norv Turner, and suddenly Alex Smith was showing signs that maybe, just maybe, he could fill the expectations of being a number 1 pick. This was never more clear than the game against Seattle (Thursday Night Football? I think?), when Smith played brilliantly. Things were moving in the right direction, just in time for the 3rd year, where people assume it becomes fair to evaluate draft decisions.

Well, Turner was gone, but optimism was overflowing from training camp. We were a team on the rise, Smith was ready to step into his own, and there was a lot of talk of the playoffs. Smith's season was marred by a shoulder injury. To say that the team did not meet expectations would be quite the understatement.

Now we're here. We're watching our number 1 pick battle for a starting spot against a few guys who have spent an awful lot of time on the bench for various NFL teams. And Smith has yet to distance himself from what one might expect to be mediocre competition.

I'm still not ready to give up on Alex Smith. The injury came at a horrible time in his career, and I still remember those feelings of hope in 2006. I'd like to see Smith get the starting job, because I think we still need to see more. But at the same time, I'm still just hoping that I've been wrong about him. I'm not sure how much longer I can wait.

Peach-basket Poetry

Exhibit G — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 19:03:57 -0000

This is not related to any current news with the Kings. This is a reflection on where I come from, in a basketball sense.

Last night I went to the park to shoot some hoops. I'm sadly out of shape these days, but I can still dribble and my shot hasn't left me entirely. But shooting that ball around for a few hours felt like I had gone home to a place I had long forgotten. It took me back to where I fell in love with basketball.

I remembered watching the '96 Finals, and then going out to my driveway to practice the way that Jordan wouldn't put his left hand on the ball when we went for a dunk or a lay-up. From dribbling to shooting in such a fluid motion. I spent two weeks working on that before I could do it smoothly, every time.

Or when Mike Bibby was on top of the world, and I spent hours in the driveway, curling around imaginary screens for pull-up jumpers. Or when I tried to learn to shoot 3-pointers with both arms over my head, a la Peja.

Last night at the park, I didn't spend my time trying to shoot from the hip like Kevin Martin. I no longer harbor those dreams of stumbling into a college program, or some NBA scout recognizing the skills that every high school coach chose to pass over. No, some dreams must come to end. But the ability to escape into the game shall always remain.

This is the reason why I've spent every day of the "offseason" tracking every slight movement on StR.

It's the sense of magic and wonder that I first experienced April 18th, 1991. I was 6, almost 7. The Kings were playing the Nuggets. Back then, of course, it was a true clash of the titans. The tickets cost $8 apiece. Those tickets are mounted on the wall in my kitchen.

It's remembering getting together with my friends in the middle of a cold Colorado winter. We didn't want to pay to get into the YMCA, so we brought our snow shovels to the park and cleared the court. And then we'd play as hard as we could so that we wouldn't need to keep our warm-up pants and jackets on.

This is the reason I'm so sad about what happened to the fans in Seattle. I know how much basketball means to me. How much a silly little game can mean. And I know that I am not alone. There are people out there that make me seem like a casual fan. I cannot imagine such a devastating rift in my basketball universe.

And it's why I love the summer Olympics. And I love the current incarnation of USA Basketball. They conjure memories, again from childhood, when the Olympics were an incredibly noble thing, and USA Basketball was an unstoppable force. I hope that this team doesn't let us down, and I think they have a good chance, but this team has certainly much to do before they may be even whispered as an unstoppable force.

Yes, this game is a wonderful thing. And although the words were bastardized by an NBA marketing campaign, I can still honestly say that I love this game. I believe that this game can rise above the Sterns and the Donaghys. It can transcend our wildest imaginations thanks to its pure simplicity and intricate complexity. This game can be fun again.

I know I said that this post doesn't have much to do with the current state of the Kings, but as I look back at these words that I have written, perhaps I was wrong. Perhaps the current Sacramento roster is an embodiment of these feelings. Bobby Jackson re-joins the team and fills us with nostalgia. Bibby and Artest leave and we are forced to recognize the ever-evolving view we have of the game, and the team. And the youngsters remind us that basketball can be fun, and full of optimism.

Maybe Bob Knight said it best when he said, "You don't play against opponents. You play against the game of basketball." Or maybe it was Edgar Allen Poe, "Man's real life is happy, chiefly because he is ever expecting that it soon will be so."

I do love this game. Go Kings.

"But suggestions that Yao's reservations or Artest's outspoken, unpredictable nature could convince the Rockets to walk away from the trade between now and Aug. 14 were strongly dismissed by one source close to the process."

Exhibit G — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 16:37:05 -0000

"But suggestions that Yao's reservations or Artest's outspoken, unpredictable nature could convince the Rockets to walk away from the trade between now and Aug. 14 were strongly dismissed by one source close to the process."

"The deal is done," said the source.

Phew

"I understand what Yao said, but I'm still ghetto," Artest said

Exhibit G — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 17:44:01 -0000

"I understand what Yao said, but I'm still ghetto," Artest said

Crap.

"Absolutely not [true]," Maloof said. "We're rivals with the Lakers, but we respect them as an...

Exhibit G — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 13:38:47 -0000

"Absolutely not [true]," Maloof said. "We're rivals with the Lakers, but we respect them as an organization. If we can make a move that improves our situation, it doesn't matter who the other team is."

Sorry lietothegirls, the Maloofs apparently agree with most of us and don't care about a trade to a rival, from Marc Stein.

Camby traded to the Clippers

Exhibit G — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 01:50:49 -0000

Camby traded to the Clippers

Apparently Denver will get future draft picks and cap relief. Nothing wins championships quite like short term cap relief and getting rid of the only player on your roster who knows what defense is.

Notes on the LA/Artest quagmire

Exhibit G — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 20:38:09 -0000

Notes on the LA/Artest quagmire

Notes from Marc Stein's FA update, referencing Sam Amick.

And as my man Sam Amick from The Sacramento Bee points out, retaining Turiaf leaves the Lakers with no hope -- thanks to luxury-tax concerns -- of taking on the extra contract (Kenny Thomas) they'll need to swallow if they can convince the Kings to agree to a swap featuring Lamar Odom and Ron Artest.