Can't help but think about how wussy the NBA has got all around when I hear about guys like Beno crying to the media about comments from a coach. All the older players and coaches have stories about how coaches would never compliment you. They would never be "nice" to you. That wasn't to hurt your feeling it was to motivate you to prove them wrong. Now instead of trying to make your coach look foolish with hard work they run to the reporters. Which in turn don't write quality articles but more like gossip columns these days.
But back to the Kings....
Is it safe to say that Petrie's "mad skills" as a GM have tapered off? There is a lot of question marks for the squad. Not just at point guard or in the post. Who is going to be deemed the leader of the squad by Theus? What are they going to do with Ron Ron? Or better yet will he stay? Another question I have is does Theus have a true direction for the squad in general? When Adleman was there it had direction and was a well oiled machine. I know he just got there but what is this squad trying to do? Are they going to become a more defesive minded team like the Van Gundy Rockets? Do they want to try to cause problems on the offensive end like the Warriors? Right now I see him trying to do both. Really only the Pistons, Celtics, and Spurs currently can do that and that's because they have THREE guys who are top notch. The club seems to be going in the direction of being solid but not strong enough on either side of the ball. That just will not cut it in the West for the next 2-3 years.
I was trying to think of a half way decent compliment to woo you to the Laker Nation. Along the lines of "you are the Sean Connery of Phillyarena because even though you are a grey, bitter old man you are just as cool as you were in your 30s when Goldfinger came out" but then I realize not only was that not very funny/good, no matter what is said you rather jump into a pit of butter knives then root for the Lakers.
May I suggest the Jazz? They are a fun team to watch and not really talked about heading into the playoffs. That I think might be dangerous. The Spurs already are well repped and I think the bandwagon is actually a grey Vespa so you wouldn't fit anyways.
First off, westkoast, if the a**kissing is deemed worthy, I would certainly jump onto the Laker bandwagon and be a true warrior and wield my butter knife with pride over my purple Kobe jersey. Speaking of whom, have you seen his latest commercial? Not even sure if he is advertising the car or the sneakers, (a 'silent' video of the shoot was shown on Sportscenter last night) but in it, he is with his teammate, I think it is Turief (sp), and he jumps OVER the moving car as it speeds towards him. He does it twice, then does a very phony looking belly bump with his supposedly 'loyal' friend Turief, as they laugh about what Kobe had just done.
As for the Kings, I would not yet count Petrie out. You have to remember he has a few more limitations to work with then teams located in New York or Los Angeles. To the Lakers credit, they take full advantage of the cards dealt them in building competitive teams over time, while the New York teams look like idiots overpaying mediocre talent over and over again. the Seltics are also good at keeping up with the League eventually.
Back to Petrie. When he had to get rid of Webber, things went south for the Kings. He had to bring in overpriced pieces that have lingered like bad fish and he can't get rid of the smell until their contracts expire, because trading them away would just bring back more bad contracts, most likely. So for at least one more season, the team will have limited options to be free agent activists, or even make a decent trade. Brad Miller, Kenny Thomas, and Sharif Abdur-Rahim all will be off the books after next season, and things should open up for the team then.
Theus is getting his plan together, but he has some personnel issues that he probably could have handled better. The Udruh thing, for one, and how he was using Mikki Moore at the beginning of the season, compared to now. What to do with Quincy Douby, who needs more playing time, but at what position? Spencer Hawes should develop into a fine post player eventually. He is only 19, and has lots of potential and room to grow yet. Kevin Martin is a given, and still can be more affective defensively and as a distributor. Miller is still good for another year, then will be free to sign elsewhere if he wants. He did say no to using Kenny Thomas for anything, which was brilliant, in my mind.
Spencer Williams is another story. Picked #5 in the draft two years ago by Atlanta, he is considered a bust, and lost his starting PF job to Al Horford in training camp. But Petrie decided to make him the main focus of the Bibby trade. His playing time has not come yet, but he is an interesting piece. The Kings need a quality PF, who can rebound. Williams is big, but does he have the mental toughness? Can he learn to use his body to block out more? Can he become the beast the team needs, or will they lack that player and have to look elsewhere. Williams' future is going to be decided this off-season on how hard he works on his game.
The short term focus will be for Theus to get the young players on the court more and see what he has for next year - and work on the defense, which he continually tells his players will garnish more playing time if they play better D. In particular - Hawes, Douby, Williams and Udruh. Garcia is looking solid enough to give more minutes to right now. Martin is getting even better - he could become the focus of the team. Artest and Miller should still be on the court, and Moore is filling the PF job for now, but can't be the longterm answer by any means. Either a starting point guard (if Udruh is not resigned) or a solid backup is a priority for Petrie to get this off-season. A top power forward has to eventually get picked up either in this draft or next, if Williams can't do it.
But the Kings have at least one more season of growth to go yet, then not only will the books be cleared of expiring contracts, the youth movement will be over and these guys will either pull it off or Petrie will know it is time to jettison some of them for good.
