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Momentum building for Kings
By Ken Gimblin and Joe Cronin December 23, 2004 |
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SACRAMENTO - The Sacramento Kings have embarked on another successful season when they can keep their mind on the game. They have solid players at every position and are able to score on demand, most importantly being able to take advantage of other teams' mismatches. The Kings have a team that appears may win about 53 games this year. We think the Kings will be in the playoffs, probably as third or fourth seed in the West. Chris Webber, the big Sacramento power forward who's been the best player on the club for the last four or five years, appears to be back in the fold as a real team leader. He makes the Kings go, although the Kings are a fairly talented team - not the most talented in the league. Not the least by a long shot, either. We're not going to say Sacramento will win it all, but this is the type of year when Sacramento does better in the playoffs than you might think. The Kings rank in the top five in the NBA on offense. They've got an absolutely wonderful offense, but when they really get tough to deal with from other teams' standpoint is when they begin to play good team defense. Over the past several years, the Kings have been good offensively, but this year they don't appear to be good defensively. It's the old thing like in baseball or football - offense is the most entertaining, but what really wins games is good defense. You have to play good defense to play in the NBA, and we think the Kings are capable of it. Defense was a concept most of the players really didn't understand completely. The good teams in the league play defense, the also-rans in the league are also-rans because they don't play defense. If you talk to a lot of people who know about the NBA, they'll tell you the talent is pretty much the same from club to club. The difference is which players are intense enough to want to play defense. Joe Cronin and Ken Gimblin cover the Sacramento Kings, Cal Bears, and the San Francisco Giants and host Sportstalk on KVVN 1430 San Jose and KLIB 1110 Sacramento. |
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