Noooooooooo! Anyone? Anyone? KCRA says 1st rounder, B-Jax and someone else. If so,  w/b B-Jax. Houston will be too damn good! Makes you pine for Adelman and recognize that the title probably goes back to Texas this year. Conversely, this opens up a lil room in logic for that Bulls trade, eh...eh?  Considering the health of Yao/McG, this might be the best damn team o' the year. 75 words stink.

I think the organization believes in 'Kings" basketball. I also think it's flawed. Let's generalize and say that the Kings' offense and it's players are formatted to fit some
version of the Princeton Offense. With that out of the way, I'll use Wiki to define just how such an offense should be run.

"...Having a strong post player is important because this player is critical to passing to backdoor cutters, and can draw help defense to open outside shots..."

"...All five players in the offense-- including the center-- should be competent at making a three point attempt, further spreading the floor..."

The 'glory era' Kings had an array of 3 shooters at 1-3, but weak at long range C and PF.
Vlade Divac's only 3 was packs a day.
Chris Webber, the Buffalo Bills in gym shorts.
Scott Pollard, love ya, but...
Lawrence Funderburke(insert painful joke here)

But look around you now.
See a dead roster rise again.
Dream of the comparisons and see a future just 2 years ahead...see the plan in action.

A little prognostication:
A young 5 who can pass, shoot, and get ugly when necessary(making D. Lee unnecesary).
Losers at the 4.
An athletic 3 who doesn't miss much.
A D-minded 2 who will get his.
Another Bibby-type PG who'll fall off in 3 yrs.

I like to make comparisons, because within I find the difference. So let's take a look @ those 'glory' years, and today.

Mike Bibby>Beno Udrih, Douby,  et al.
Simply when Mike wants to play, Mike is an  all-star. I believe Bibby CAN play defense, but it's one or the other for him. Beno Udrih has his moments, but I'm concerned there's a 'Bibby factor" to his game(Not much proven, not much defense, and commanding too much $$$ to keep him).

No one else on the roster is an NBA guard. They just play one on TV.

Doug Christie<Francisco Garcia.  Playing styles and habits are as identical as their personalities differ. Both used for ball-handling in certain situations, able to put up the occasional 20 point night, and attack ball-handlers every day.<p> Kevin Martin>Peja Stojakovic.  Martin's proved consistently that with all thing's considered, he's the team's best player. One shoots ugly, the other smooth, but the results are the same. Money.  His greatest advantage over Stojakovic is his speed and willingness to atack and throw himself to the wolves.

Chris Webber<(L.)Ron Artest. Chris while being statistically better, never had the passion to win like Artest does. Chris looked shocked sometimes at the amazing things he pulled off, while L. Ron doesn't care, he just wants to kill you. Artest is certifiable, but that kind of certfiable would've got us over the Lakers in '02. You can't let your C get popped in the teeth, or your PG elbowed in the face w/o repercussions, there's alot to be said for enforcers of the Laimbeer type. You don't like 'em, but you WIN with 'em. Webber was much too finesse-y for a PF his size and ability, PEja-shy about contact, and inclined to let his teammates stagnate for the love of his own game.  

(If  I wonder how many of us remember that when Chris wanted a max deal, that SAR was being thrown about to replace him, and get some cap room? I wanted that deal, SAR was solid then. Now it looks like Webber would still be an upgrade over every PF on this team.)

Spencer Hawes>Vlade Divac. Vlade's unbelievable passing skills (and being money on big shots)was offset by smoking and a phobia of weight rooms. Hawes should be being groomed for that same high-post pick and pop but with more muscle and a hell of alot more youth. Shawes' attitude is alot more aggressive and with another year or two under his belt be as good or better than Divac ever was.

This roster seems so familiar. Remember where familiar got us?

Despite being sold how great the NBA is, how the finest athletes on earth perform miracles for my hundred bucks and five hours of leisure, and what super-power their shoe will give me, there's only enough great players in the league for your average pick-up game. Face it, if you have more than a dozen teams in a league every team is going to have glaring vulnerabilities. The winner of anything is often those who over come their weaknesses, San Antonio being the a prime example. The Spurs aren't so much as great as they're the least terrible. Any NBA team this year is especially beatable in a playoff due to age and injury, and the western conference is particularly weak in this manner. The Kings cover their vulnerabilities well, enough with their starting five, yet still they have that one gaping hole: power forward. By trading Mike Bibby, any head from the hydra of mediocrity at PF, and a 1st round pick 2008, possibly '09, I think this lineup could make a serious contender out of THESE Kings, this year.

 C: Miller(13/8)
PF: J. O'Neal(16/7/2)
SF: Artest(19/6/4)
SG: Martin(25 ppg.
PG: Udrih(14/5)

In a far-gone time called Winning, there were  comparisons of the Pacers and Kings, in organization and roster. Bird to Adelman. O'Neal to Webber. Stojakovic to Reggie Miller. The benches, double-screens, the offensive philosophies. No point guard to no point guard. A quick roster scan will tell you Jermaine O'Neal's fake-it-til-you-make-it-trade-strategy statistics are better than all of Sacramento's power forwards. Getting O'Neal reunites Miller, O'Neal, Artest, fills the Reggie-role with Kevin Martin, and gives  the core players a point guard again. O'Neal is a better Chris Webber in my eyes, and a better fit. Artest plays the Stojakovic role with a little less offense and immaculate defense. The burden of rebounding comes off of Miller(who will never consistently bring down Ben Wallace-like numbers), and allows him to run the pick and pop with Udrih, Martin, and Artest. This team could see the conference championship with O'Neal and a benchwarmer playing over his head in the right stretches.

Notes:
You can see the love-child of Brad Miller and Vlade Divac In Spencer Hawes. He shoots, he passes, he doesn't rebound much. He's interesting because if the Kings go deep, his defense has to harden and play like he wants to hurt someone. Beno Udrih is the best point guard Sacramento's had in three years. It doesn't take much to be a hero in Sacramento, and offensive aggressiveness from the PG will do nicely. I see him sticking, and getting a 3-year deal neither side will regret.

I've been saying things along this line for years now. Ask your favorite urbanite, and mostly likely they will tell you the same thing. There's a reason city-dwellers don't go out to the wilderness.

I still haven't stopped laughing.

From the grill of the Hibachi...

"There are these things called shark attacks, but there is no such thing as a shark attack. I have never seen a real shark attack. I know you're making a weird face as you're reading this. OK people, a shark attack is not what we see on TV and what people portray it as.

We're humans. We live on land.

Sharks live in water.

So if you're swimming in the water and a shark bites you, that's called trespassing. That is called trespassing. That is not a shark attack. A shark attack is if you're chilling at home, sitting on your couch, and a shark comes in and bites you; now that's a shark attack. Now, if you're chilling in the water, that is called invasion of space. So I have never heard of a shark attack.

When I see on the news where it's like, "There have been 10 shark attacks," I'm like, "Hey, for real?! They're just running around? Sharks are walking now, huh! We live on the land, we don't live underwater."

Hahahahahaha!

thanks to y'all, I caught the game just now and have to say...

Alright, Shawes. The offensive skills were on display. You probably can't play NBA defense, but what 7 footer not named Oden or Duncan can?  If this is how you're gonna play, much respect. You look like you play pissed off, and that's what's needed in Sacramento. I still think you're a PF(you need to REBOUND), but I'm not shooting at my monitor watching you play. Petrie's decision might prove you worthy, but then again, it's Vegas and everybody sucks there like a 3$ hooker.  It looks like you might not embarrass yourself and make me burn the Magoofs in effigy, so I say welcome. Just don't Eff it up.

WHERE can I watch these summer league games? Please don't tell me NBA TV or some crap, I feel it's a ripoff that screws the true fan and won't be spending a dime toward it.

I love this Line-up:

Price
Martin
Garcia
Yi
Hawes

But I'm scared we'll be just good enough to miss out on the OJ mayo sweepstakes.

Whaddya think:

Artest,Bibby, 2nd rounder
           for  
Gerald Wallace, #8 pick.

This sounds like the no-brainer of the Sacramento century. I dunno about cap issues, but if you CAN get it done GP, it should be done already. You effed it up a while ago,letting him go, and this is your chance top rectify it.

As a long suffering fan of the only REAL game in town(siddown, rivercats), I have been priveleged to cheer for criminals, half-assed coaching, broken down losers who can't play. Most of all, I have been PRIVELEGED, to watch a team, 8 YEARS RUNNING, implode like Clay Aiken's colon after a date with a Marine barracks. But this my friend,  this city's torture is nothing compared to one poor man I'd like to call...Gregg. Y'see, Ol' Gregg was once a well known and prosperous man about town, prone to flannels and denim, unshaven but jovial, and crucially ,a sports fanatic. Now, at the time of this story, I had no idea who, nay what he was. I was in the 4th grade, and had an eye for a striking blonde girl named Molly.  As it happened, Molly's dad was announced as a guest for show n tell, and most of us snickered. Quickly, I stood corrected and chagrined. Ol' Gregg comes in with a big-ass model of a building and says: "I just bought the Kansas City Kings for 10 Million, and I'm going to bring them to Sacramento". Mind you, this was a town, where you could still find a car on blocks parked on J street, Confederate flags were still sprinkled around downtown, & the only thing to do in town was leave. The model was of the old Arco Arena, 10,000 side-car seats in a cow barn. My eyes wide and gleaming, I stared at the damn thing. I was already a fan of basketball. Sure, who the hell were the Kansas City Kings, but who the hell cared? We had a team. Immediately, I went home to spread the gospel of all things NBA coming to town, and damn near got pimp-slapped. "Liar. Dumb-ass. Idiot. Fool." All that garbage I took for a year, never fearing, never doubting. How was I to know that faith in an NBA team would be so crushing?  After the formal announcement and move from KC, a whole city stood with me solidly like Joe Kleine in the paint(yes, thats a joke). and though our teams were rank, horrible, and not worthy of discussion we still came in droves. every night. even on the road, damn us. So, through horrible drafts, snide holdout players and insane salaries, ol' gregg held on valiantly. finally, in '89 or so, his poor wallet gave out and the team was sold to some a-hole named Jim Thomas. Now, I bet ol' gregg was feeling pretty quixotic himself, after bringing the nba to sacramento, getting out of a deal that nearly ruined him, selling it to a non-local, and then having to watch the fruit of his labor run further into the ground as the nba exploded with money and talent. not until a bunch of  "cancers" got together,  (i.e., christie/webber/williams/B-Jax/V-Max and many other players later on) was there ANY success in the land of the rising smog. And yay, the cancer was good. Scary good. I would imagine gregg smiling at the fortunes of his local legacy, and I thanked him in my mind after every game. but like his quest to bring the grail of sophistication to SAC and prosper for 1000 years on, the attainable, was simply not. Heart-breaking shots. gut-wrenching injuries. Mafioso diguised as refs. With each final defeat over 8 seasons, my thoughts have all been with one man: courageous, innovative, and probably suicidal by now, Gregg Lukenbill. We're sorry buddy. maybe next year...

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