|
|
|
|
|
Sacramento Kings could see post season play
By Joe Cronin and Ken Gimblin March 17, 2006 |
||
|
|
|||
|
SACRAMENTO-- Sacramento Kings General Manager Geoff Petrie should be congratulated as to what he's done with the Sacramento Kings this year along with Head Coach Rick Adleman, turning the Kings around and making them look like they have a shot at post season. They really made a good deal out of a not so good deal and they're several reasons for why the Kings doing that beginning of the season Peja Stojakovic was hurt he wasn't playing very well and the Kings were really in the tank. The Kings were playing win one loose two kind of basketball. The trade they pulled off for acquiring Ron Artest is going to be beneficial to both teams and Stojakovic gave the Indiana Pacers a good chance to get a really offensive star a guy that could shoot. Stojakovic has been averaging 16-18 points a game because he's a really good shooter. If you have other people who can take care of the rebounding in Indiana and some of the other things Stojakovic is an extremely valuable player. Stojakovic is limited obviously but very valuable. Now Artest of course is the guy that went into the crowd in Auburn Hills last season which got him suspended from the Pacers and later to be dealt to the Kings and went out and hit the wrong guy. Artest a very emotional player nice but you could say not wrapped too tight and not being insulting meaning everybody else hasn't done that. Everybody else has been provoked from time to time in the NBA maybe to that extent. But the game of Artest is a heck of a rebounder he's the leader that Stojakovic never was because the difference in personality he plays hard when he's on the floor always and he goes after his compatriots to play hard too which is that leadership quality but you really have to have a guy who that'll do that. One of the big problems in the NBA are people who have an enormous talent and then they don't use it but Artest has enormous talent. He's really busting his butt for the Kings now and he's using it. Now you realize the Kings have 13 consecutive wins in Arco and they're 10-0 at the Arena since Artest came on board. Artest is a very valuable player and he makes his team mates look better and the Kings are starting to play defense and they held Kobe Bryant the best basketball player in the NBA to his lowest first half this season. Kobe went onto pick up 30 points but that was well after the Kings put the game out of reach. The points in defeat now what it was that Artest and Bonzi Wells they were on Kobe the entire game and playing Kobe real hard trying to keep the ball from him contesting every shot and jostling him every time he was moving around. You got to understand that the way defense is suppose to be played in the NBA since Artest came aboard this team has played defense with the best of them in the league. That's the big difference in the Kings that's why they're in 7th position now as far as getting into the playoffs and that's why they couldn't even finish as high as sixth. The Kings could be playing a really good team but not San Antonio if you will. The only problem that the Kings would have right now would be if somebody gets injured or another major Kings injury. Francisco Garcia is out with an injury the rookie guard that's playing so well but he should be back this week. Now if another one of the Kings goes down its really going to be tough. Another problem the Kings have that has to be talked about. The coaching is concentrated on the first five guys which are Artest, Thomas, Miller, Martin, and Bibby. Bibby is coming in with Wells and Abdur-Rahim. Now that's only playing seven guys in a rotation and eight with Garcia back. If you get ten players back in the rotation it really helps the team it keeps them from being absolutely exhausted all the time that something the Kings are doing right now and they're doing it for good reasons and they only got eight guys that are good enough to play in the NBA. This is a practice in coaching that the Kings will ultimately have to pay for because the more energy that you have for your players throughout the whole game and throughout the season the better your team is going to be in other words the Kings need a couple of more guys that can work in rotation. That's why a couple million dollars that they paid by getting rid of Darious Sungaila might ultimately cost them in the end its going to make so that he would be a player that could come in and average 10 points a game or so and get a lot of rebounds. Sungaila is a young player but he's quite a defensive player so that might cost them later but you'd have to say that the coaching has been really amazing . Joe Cronin and Ken Gimblin cover Kings basketball and will be covering the NBA playoffs for Sportstalk heard on 1110 KLIB Sacramento and 1430 KLIB San Jose. |
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||