A funny thing happened, though... the Kings turned out to be VERY good. I think the Kings becoming as good a team as they did threw a monkey wrench into his whole line of reasoning. Chris had always said he wanted to win a championship, and all of a sudden, the team he was on was perhaps the best, so he struggled between his wanting to be on the best team and his wanting to be in a certain city with certain people. He seemed to be looking for answers with each success or failure of the team. When the Kings beat Utah and San Antonio near the end of the season, Chris was giddy with excitement as he saw this as a sign to stay, but when the team was swept by the Lakers his perception at that moment was that maybe another team was better suited to beat the Lakers, and he should move on.

When it turned out that nobody came close to beating the Lakers, Chris had to re-evaluate again. At the beginning of the season he truly thought he had as good a chance of winning the title somewhere else other than Sacramento. But in the wake of the Lakers' roll through the playoffs, and the Kings battling them as hard as anyone else, Chris had to finally admit to himself that the place he was already at did indeed have a better chance of winning then the other big cities he could go to, and if he really did crave a title, how could he leave? Plus, the management of Sacramento wasn't standing still as they traded for a point guard who almost universally many felt would make the team even better.

Then he found out that the big money offers he had thought would come rolling in never materialized. The scale which had begun the season tipped way over to the side of leaving was now tipped toward staying. Chris still liked the idea of playing in a big city with lots of inner city youth he could be a roll model to, and he still liked the idea of playing with his friends, but he couldn't pass up the best opportunity to win a title, and his only opportunity to make the most money. To top it off, the ownership of the Kings treated him like a prince.

So Chris decided to stay, and the rest is history. And we will benefit and here is why... since he stayed because he truly does want to win a title, and it isn't just because he "likes it here", Chris will work his butt off for us to win one.

KINGS ROSTER
jdawg

Quick breakdown on how I see the Kings roster shaking out. Their twelve man active roster will most likely look like this:

C Vlade Divac
PF Chris Webber
SF Peja Stojakovic
SG Doug Christie
PG Mike Bibby

Bench
1st Scot Pollard
2nd Hido Turkoglu
3rd Bobby Jackson
4th Lawrence Funderburke
5th Gerald Wallace
6th Mario Bennett
7th Mateen Cleaves

And if it was up to me the guys on injured reserve would be

1 Garth Joseph or Eric Chenowith (whoever has a better camp)
2. Jabari Smith (like his upside - too bad he's a finesse playing big man on a team that's already over its quota)
3. Maurice Jeffers The team needs another legit 2guard on the roster and if his D is as good as reported I like him here. Of course I still wish the Kings would have traded up with the Bulls to grab 2nd rounder Trenton Hassel.

I would like to see Price get waived, even though the team would still be on the hook for his bloated salary. Personally I think Smith, a widebody center and a natural shooting guard are more valuable than a 4th PG who won't ever keep his knees from creaking.

TRAINING CAMP SURVIVOR
Hallama

Who will it be?

My guess is Bennett if he checks out perfect physically. He might even be better than Funderburke. This guy was lottery talent when he was drafted but scared off a lot of teams with his knee surgeries and rumored "attitude". Sounds like he has got his life and health back together, and played extremely well for the Warriors Summer League team, but was overshadowed by the "3 Rookies." He has had some monster games in the NBA when he gets minutes, in the 20 point 20 rebound category. He probably has more NBA experience then the rest of the Kings invitees combined. He can rebound and shoots a high %.

Joseph is a big body. So was Jerome James. Chenowith, however, has basketball skills and height (7'1") and could learn a lot from Vlade and Pollard. I like him as an injury list project.

I agree with jdawg; Bennett makes the 12 man roster and Chenowith, Jeffers, and Smith get to battle for the two (if the Kings use it) injury list players. Brent Price is a problem that will have to be dealt with. Actually, I could see Jeffers and Smith playing over seas to get some PT or in the new NBADL.

NEW RULES
JB

I've given the new rules some thought. The zone defense gets all the publicity, but I think the 8 second rule has the most potential to change the game. Most teams disguised their zones pretty well anyway. However, getting past mid-court within 8 seconds isn't so easy for those teams that don't have very active guards that handle the ball well. More teams will press full court in an attempt to get a violation or force a bad pass. Two seconds doesn't sound like much, but it's enough to rush a team that usually takes it's time setting up the half court offense. It should be very interesting to see if this impacts the tempo of the average game. It's pretty hard to rush a player over mid-court then slow them down and make them set up.

Frankly, it might hurt the Lakers. Kobe is a great ball handler, but Fisher and Hunter might not be great at handling the press. I think losing Ty Lue was a blunder. BTW, I'm not a big Lindsey Hunter fan. I think he'll struggle to learn the Lakers offense and be in Phil's dog house. Much like Kobe can be selfish, Hunter is in the same mold. Plus it takes some measure of control away from Phil. Like I said earlier, one of the best ways to beat the pressure is to push the ball up and make them pay by initiating an early offense where you can get players one on one. Phil wants to set up his triangle and get his player movement, but pushing the ball upcourt and putting the brakes on is against a ball players instinct.

Reno Lady

I think teams will work around the zone rule change fairly easily but the 8 second rule could really make a difference in the ballgame, especially at the end of close games. Teams like the Suns who use the backcourt press effectively would certainly benefit from the shorter time limit whereas teams that don't have a quick backcourt, like the Knicks for instance, could find themselves in trouble. I know Bibby won't be as quick as Jason, who, as I believe Critic once said was "untrappable", but he and Christie appear to have enough speed & the Kings are a good passing team, so the 8 second change shouldn't be a problem for them. I think it definitely will be for several of the teams in the West. Conf. though.