April 9, 2001
						A Day Of Rest, Sure! Pondo Every day brings another test for us Kings Fans! Was hoping the T-Wolves would help us by beating the Lakers on Sunday but no help. The T-Wolves have another shot at them on Thursday at Staples Center. Good Luck T-Wolves!!! Would love to see the Suns on the 10th, the Blazers on the 15th and Denver on the 17th beat the Lakers!!!!   Oh well, can dream can't I? Sure wished the T-Wolves had beat the Lakers, bummer. Guess the Kings are going to have to keep winning and not look for help from the other teams.
		K. Garnett is the Invisible Man as the Wolves, failing to help the Kings, let the Lakers win the game. Photo "enhanced" by Fireplug
	Looking Ahead Bawsor For us to take the Pacific division, we will have to go 57-25. The Lakers have 4 remaining games, all home: Phoenix, Minnesota, Portland, and Denver. I see them winning all the games, with a final record of 56-26. This means the Kings should and will go 5-1. The one loss will most likely come on the road against the Spurs. The crucial games will be on the road against the Mavs and Suns. I guess nothing comes easy for us and we will have to win it the old-fashioned way. This being the hard-luck Kings, I have to assume the worst scenario; which is, the Lakers will win all the remaining games. That being the case, I still like our chances. The two recent losses to the Mavs and Bucks were played without Brother Hedo. I have no doubt we would have won the Bucks game with him. In close games, clutch shots are so crucial and Hedo is a money player. With Peja and Hedo, we have two deadly sharp shooters. I also feel the Kings are playing much more intelligently. There is a focus and a sense of urgency. They are playing with much more energy and passion. In the NBC telecast, one announcer said that Coach Adelman told them that Webber's decision to leave or stay will depend on how the team plays these last few games. There is obviously a lot riding here.
	Excerpts from Phil Jackson's book: Comments by Sioux32 "Jason Williams was the starting point guard, a wild talent whom Adelman managed to control as much as possible. Jason is just as capable of hitting five 3-pointers in succession as missing ten, of completing five consecutive dipsy-doo passes for lay-ups as tossing 5 out of bounds. Nick Anderson is an offensive minded small forward capable of scoring a flurry of points. Corliss Williamson is a tough customer at the small for ward slot, tough inside and on the boards. Their bench was very potent, starting with PS who is a deadly outside shooter on theory another fine shooter Jon Barry, and point guard Tony Delk, who always played well against us. Every playoff series is like solving a puzzle, and the key to beating Sacramento was in slowing the pace. To do this, we needed to create and make good shots, play good transition defense, and make them play half-court basketball. On the other hand, the Kings did not always hustle back on defense, so we felt we might be able to run on them and possibly go to Shaq before they could collect their defense. We also felt that having the home-court edge was a significant advantage for us. Because of their racehorse style, the Kings were much more comfortable playing at home, where their devoted fans helped energize them, and where the shooting background and the rims were totally familiar. Younger players like Williams, Barry, Delk, PS, and even Webber don't yet have the resilience necessary to stand up to a hostile crowd and win road games. In preparing my teams for play-off opponents, I've always spliced some form of popular movie into my scouting tapes. For the Kings I used American History X which starred Ed Norton as the leader of a group of skinhead pseudo-Nazis. For me the film addressed the mistaken belief and one's existence is totally influenced by external forces. Specifically, the view raised by the movie is that white Americans are losing their jobs because people of color are coming into the country and supplanting them. Norton's character is a young man who goes over the edge and is sent to prison. That's where he's befriended by an African American who forces him to come to terms with his prejudice and to take charge of his own life. My message to the players was this: "The play-offs are not about the Lakers' recent history of disappointments. It's not about how the refs will treat us. It's easy to blame outside forces. But the playoffs are all about controlling our own destiny. Somehow, though, a media hound found out about the film. Because Adelman's mustache gives him a certain facial resemblance to Hitler and Jason Williams has numerous tattoos and a clean head, the charge was made that I was out to brand both of them as being fascists. Nothing could be farther from the truth Williams is just a young ball player searching for his niche in the league and I don't know and don't care about his politics.... as for Adelman, well, he's one of the nicest guys around........"
	Well, Phil, I think everyone knows you weren't branding them as fascists, but you fail to deal with the question of using a film where the main character looks like a player on the opposing team. No one believes that you didn't notice that Phil.....so maybe you should have written about the appropriateness (is that a word?) of selecting the film under those circumstances. "All of this was going on in the noisiest arena I've ever been in. the hometown fan corps were totally supportive of their team, as well they should be. But aside from the crowd noise, the decibel level was boosted by so many buzzers and electronic noisemakers being detonated behind our bench that communication with my players during time outs was very difficult. To further stoke the fans, Lakers' jerseys were set on fire. After the game, a local reporter asked me if the Kings fans were the most energetic I'd ever seen. And I said, "No, the fans down in Puerto Rico were much more rabid. But I do have to assume that the fans in Sacramento are at least semi cultured, even though they might be rednecks." Perhaps my comments could be considered rude and insulting, but that's exactly what I said. Sometimes I'm not as diplomatic as I should be, but I had to take the heat and right or wrong, assume total responsibility for my public remarks."
	Untouchable?   (Classic Post - Originally posted Feb. 21, 2001) Critic No one is (or should be) "untouchable." You can't have your Kate and Edith too. A year ago most here considered Jason "untouchable." At that time, he would have had a LOT of trade value. Now that many consider him "touchable," his trade value has diminished tremendously. Why? Same reason that Kings fans' opinions shifted -- he hasn't improved much and his "upside" is now viewed as more limited and his "downside" more likely to be future reality. When you decide to keep a young player, you have decided to forego some of the value ascribed to that person's unknown "potential." Each year that passes makes less about the player unknown. A large element of Hedo's trade value is his "unknown" potential. There have been glimpses of an excellent player. His maximum trade potential is probably right now. What would be going on is like an arbitrage situation -- one team would trade proven, but limited talent for less limited but unproven talent. It is a way to get a player who is NOW at a better level than Hedo in exchange for Hedo. You are trading his future for someone's present. Usually a team that thinks it's on the verge of winning it all is willing to swap a young player with potential for one who currently is clearly better, but who is a known commodity who won't get much better. Teams looking to start over do the opposite -- look at Orlando last year. At some point ALL would surely say trade HT now! For example, if the Lakers offered Kobe for HT and NA, only certifiably crazy Kings fans would say "No deal." We could use the Socratic method to work our way from Kobe to Gatling, but somewhere along that spectrum all would surely pull the trigger on a deal. Gatling? I wouldn't trade HT for him, even tho Gatling would be more valuable to the Kings than HT in the very short run. Not that GP should trade HT -- that's a very different decision and depends on what the market will offer. It may well be right to keep him -- if GP thinks he is very likely to become even better than what is offered for him. But at SOME price all players in the NBA are "touchable." When you don't trade Hedo YOU are taking the chance on his future instead of the other team. Doing nothing is just as risky as trading -- it's just a different risk. What are the odds? That's why GP gets the big bucks -- to make such difficult decisions where NO ONE can be perfect. When you see how good Peja has become, GP looks wise to have kept him. When you look at Jason, you have to wonder if it would have been better if GP had traded him last summer. All hindsight and so far GP looks pretty good overall -- he's turned a bad team into a good one -- rapidly.
	Gary Gerould  (Classic Post - Originally posted Feb. 21, 2001) Jeremydb26 I am somewhat of an outsider when it comes to broadcasts of the Kings. I love the kings and follow them in depth as much as you guys do. I read the Sacbee every day, read ESPN.com, USA Today, NBA.com, and talk to you guys every day so I am pretty informed with what is going on. What I do miss is hearing callers and broadcasters (Grant, Jim, etc.) talk on 1140 about the Kings. I have a sports station here I listen to so I get the rumors and inside info you guys get but not about the Kings. Anyway, to get to my point, I never hear Grant or Jim on the radio or any of their broadcasts on fox sports and UPN 31. I watch every Kings game on tv that I can. However, when the Kings are not on tv I catch every game I can on the internet listening to KHTK 1140 and Gary Gerould. As an "outsider", I like his broadcasts. You would too if it was all you had. I have come to enjoy listening to Gary just because, for my purposes, I associate him so much with the Kings. He is all I have. After watching NBC, listening to Hornets and Hawks broadcasts, and others, I appreciate Gary for his enthusiasm with which he does each broadcast. While extreme at times, he seems to me to be like us - a Kings fan who loves the team. As a play-by-play man, he is emotional and his emotions rise and fall with the performance of the team. He complains about calls to the point of whining at times. But remember, I can't compare him to Grant and Jim's broadcast of the game. I hear other team's broadcasters and they act like they are at a funeral. So while he can be a little too dramatic at times, I appreciate Gary Gerould as a play-by-play man who loves his team, rises and falls with them, and it shows with his broadcasts. For his honest emotion in the game, I appreciate that. TO be honest, he sounds like one of us diehard fans behind a microphone. Everyone gets on here and complains about calls and why they didn't call this and did call that. How is Gary any different then than what we do here? He tries to be objective, knows his stuff, and loves this team. And it shows when he broadcasts. So think about it. Gary Gerould may be just like us - diehard fans whose emotions go up and down with the game. Only difference is, he has the mike. Just my opinion here from a diehard Kings fan in SC.