KINGS WIN -- KING VLADE THE FIRST RULES!

Jeremydb26

WOW!!! THat was fun!! Brought tears to my eyes to see this one. I am so glad to be in Sacramento this year and I am going to enjoy this season. Everyone in the preseason rated the three best surprises as - Vlade, Boby Jackson, and Gerald Wallace. In the season opener, the three most impressive players to me were - Vlade, BJ, and Gerald Wallace. Vlade was the player of the game and Bk and Gerald were incredible sparks off the bench. One more guy who deserves awesome praise and gets my vote as runner up - Mike Bibby. What a great debut. I loved the way the Kings played a great team game tonight. I would like to see a little better defense and better FT shooting. Hedo came out a little to aggressive and needs to relax a little. Overall, a great game and good first win.

I absolutely love Scot Pollard!! He had grat moves to the basket early in the game but missed lay ups. He didn't miss his third shot though. BUt what I love about him is his personality and his unselfish play. He knows he is not going to be a focal point of the office. He rebounds, plays defense inside, and sets screens for Peja, Hedo, and the guards. What a wonderful asset to have a guy like Pollard who plays with such unselfish enthusiasm. It is guys like him who really make the Kings a complete and total team.

Chris who?? JK

Reno Lady

Baker played better tonight than he has the last couple of years - but then Webber wasn't there to disrupt his game which he usually does. I did notice that Baker didn't do much in close however, but was more effective from midrange. Payton was definitely off tonight but so was Christie and even Peja did poorly from 3 point range but managed to find other ways to score. Thank God for Bobby Jackson! I liked what I saw of Bibby and also liked the effort Wallace put out when he was in. This kid can get off the floor in a hurry! If that tip in he made over everyone else is an indication of what he can do around the basket, Adelman is going to have to find some way to get him more minutes.

JJ played well offensively for the Sonics but he made a lot of defensive mistakes against Vlade. He should know better or someone should have clued him in to the fact that Vlade's a pretty smart player. Booth was a good pickup for the Sonics -he rarely misses from mid-range and the Kings are going to have to make sure someone is guarding him when he's out there or he's going to hurt us. They still can't seem to stop Barry, he always gets too many open looks against us - something the Kings need to work on.

The Kings looked pretty good but obviously aren't in total sync yet - but you can see that it's there. I expect them to win in Denver but lose against the Spurs on Sunday. Unless they make some changes they're just not ready to take on TD and Robinson and win. That will change when Webber's back. I watched Chris carefully when he was moving, doesn't look like he's moving that badly - a limp but I've seen worse. Hopefully that means he'll be back sooner than anticipated.

Pondo

It looked like the feelings between team members is not lost! Great to see DC while on the bench cheering for BJ when BJ was doing great late in the game. At the time BJ was playing DC's position! To see the players on the bench cheering on their team mates is great! Sure hope they can keep it up the rest of the season.

Loved watching Bibby playing, especially when he made some great passes to another player headed to the basket or when he pulled up for the midrange shot. Also sawing him playing defense. Have a feeling he will improve that part of his game playing with BJ and DC. If he don't then he might be on the bench in the 4th quarter.

ABOUT LAST NIGHT...

Kingme

I was at the game - and I had great seats so I could really concentrate and see all of the action.

My observations...

Bibby - he always looks anxious to please, fit in with the team. I think his control, and ability to execute plays showed during the second half. I liked all of the rebounds. But his defense is no better than Jwill's so I don't want to hear anybody say it is! Adleman had to "remind" him of his defensive assignment a few times. and I wonder about the fourth quarter thing. bobby was out there late, if it wasn't for the 5 fouls he may have finished the game. Maybe Adleman is not comfortable yet having Bibby take over in the 4th until he's more used to the team, etc. I hope so, because that was supposed to be another advantage of having him rather than Jason. Bibby also looked confused on offense a couple of times, but it is his first real game so...

Vlade - A plus Great job!!!!!

Pollard - B - As Bill Walton would say, "you're 6' 11"..you gotta dunk that ball!"

Hedo - B I thought he still looks injured, or the elbow bothers him-it definitely affects his shot.

Peja - A minus - could have had a better shooting night, but a lot of rebounds which was good for the team.

BoJax - B minus - foul trouble and not a great shooting night.
Christie - A minus - the usual...poor shooting but great defense and timely steals!

Gerlad Wallace - A for effort and making the most of his limited minutes.

Coaching staff - A minus - with Webber out, they have to adjust. Adleman whines waaayyy too much! you should have heard/seen him tonight! I could see the big smile on Carril's face on every backdoor the kings successfully ran. But they're going to have to work on defense if they want to survive this big road trip coming up. also, didn't see the Kings play zone hardly at all. I only notice it twice.

Arco Experience - A Plus! As always, a thrill...but it took the crowd awhile to get into it. By the third quarter, the place was back to its old rockin' self!

nice opening ceremony but didn't like the rendition of "God Bless America"

Oh Yeah....Go Kings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Q

Although I still much prefer Jason Williams to Mike Bibby, I liked the way Mike Bibby played on offense last night. I did. Sure, he sucked on defense, but he tried hard most of the time; and well, although he was far from "great" as has been posted, he was quite good at the point. So, since Vlade Divac (the true leader of the Kings when he wants to be) likes him, and Mike is setting a good example for my children with his hand washing compulsion, and he is starting to fit into the Kings well, I am cheering him on. That said, he is not a sparkplug or leader on the floor; so this will only work if somebody else out there takes the team on his shoulders and pushes like crazy. Last night it was Vlade.

Speaking of Vlade, I wish he would stop deferring to players like Chris and Peja just because they have more innate talent and just take the team on his shoulders every game he is physically up to it; because he is a natural leader and has the respect and love of his teammates. The team needs a real leader, not a star who gets stuck with the leader role by default or a point who is steady but not energizing.

Further, it is becoming rather obvious to me that Peja Stojakovic is fast evolving as a superior talent to Chris Webber. He had an off night shooting and still put up Webber like numbers, 26 points and 9 rebounds; and he is capable of so much more. He is younger, bigger (and still growing), has a great inside/outside game and plays increasingly tenacious defense. This guy has All-Star written all over him. Peja will eclipse Chris sooner or later. And with Chris out, he is going to be the go-to guy more often than not and will probably gain lots more confidence and continue being that even when Chris returns.

Speaking of Chris, he is going to be out at least a month, and is going to take perhaps another month or so to get his legs back and become reattuned to the team chemistry on the court. So, as good as he is, and as welcome as he will be when he does return, it is probably going to be awhile before he is the huge factor in games that he huge paycheck demands.

So I hope the team learns to put teams away better than the did last night.

Also, Doug Christie did a fabulous job in shutting down Gary Payton's offense. Wow! Mike couldn't handle Gary to save his life, and Bobby though good couldn't stop him either. But Doug sure did. To bad Doug still hasn't figured out what happened to his shot. If he doesn't find it, Bobby is going to be in the game at shooting guard everytime the Kings need offense.

Bobby will also be in the game everytime the Kings need defense from the point, just like last season.

Of course, both Scot Pollard and Hedo Turkoglu were definite pluses in the game. Scot is Scot and is a must in games. And I am really looking forward to seeing Hedo become Mr. Clutch soon as he heals up and continues to get more floor time.

Finally, although the Kings are not as exciting or driven without Jason, and not as deep and talented without Chris, not yet anyway, I enjoyed seeing Vlade and Peja dominate and Gerald "Flubber" Wallace show some of what he can do. The man can sky!

Go Kings!

SPTSJUNKIE

I took a study break to watch the second half of the game, so I thought I'd give you my impressions.

Peja's 3 point touch was off, but I like how much more he's attacking the basket. He really looks comfortable and confident out there. He could be the best offensive player on our team this year even after Webber returns.

Divac really stepped up. He missed some shots he really needed to make at the end of the game though. That may have been the most disturbing part of the night. The Kings had several chances to put the Sonics away in the fourth quarter, but never took advantage of them. They cannot afford to let teams linger around like that.

Bibby looked much better than he did in the Lakers game (the only other one I've seen so far). I never saw him do anything spectacular, but he always seemed to make good decisions and found the open man. It was nice to see him hit the mid-range jumper both set and off screens. As for his defence, while he still has a long way to go, I think he is still a big improvement over Williams. He did a fairly good job of staying in front of him man. I really wish we could combine Bibby and Jackson into one super PG.

Overall, I thought this was a good game against a semi-quality opponent. The Sonics have given us trouble in the past, so I'm happy with the effort. The ball movement was superb and if we can shoot the ball better and play slightly better defence, I think this team can play nearly as well as last years even without Webber. I just hope we don't go back to isolation sets once Webber comes back. We need to keep moving the ball like tonight.

On a side note, I'd like to thank the Lakers for covering the spread. As far as I'm concerned that's the only thing they're good for.

PEJA IS SWEEEEET

SWEEtness

Can you believe what a bargain we got Peja for?!?!?!?

Well, I only got to see the second half of the game (I have it taped, so I will

watch it later) because of work. I'm glad we WON!!! Winning always puts me on a high. This has got to be better than any of the drugs that I work with!

I'm really glad Vlade showed up. He actually looked very good out there. Maybe it's just the hair, but he looks younger and more in shape. That would be awesome if he would do this for the rest of the season, but he's not that type of player...

Poor Christie...hope he finds his shot. I guess by the time I watched the game, I missed the good things he had done defensively. He didn't play a whole lot the second half. He is such a class guy. My theory is...the new tattoo on his shoulder has altered his shooting capabilities. That tattoo to me is a little overwhelming.

A TERRIFIC WAY TO START THE SEASON!

Bonsy

The only pre-season games I saw were the last two and they obviously were NOT indicative of what this team is made of.

I felt the Kings were in control the whole game but with too many lapses on defense that kept the Sonics around. They got too many open shots and fortunately they missed a lot of them last night that they made last Friday. I think our defense is still a little confusing for some, too many missed assignments.

VLADE!! He had one of "those" games where he dominated. He had a few of those last season but never in game 1. It's a good sign that he's in shape early this year since we need more from him early. I also hope these games from him aren't as random as they have been in the past.

Mike Bibby was very impressive. Last night he played the way I was expecting him to, in control of the offense and always watching. Too many times last season Jason would walk the ball down and pass it off and stand there. Bibby is such a smart player in contrast and is always looking to keep the offense moving. I was most impressed with his decisions to change what he was doing. He'd penetrate and kick out, or pass over to the other side, or sometimes pull back and shoot a sweet jumper. All that activity is what we need to keep the offense from stagnating like it did around Webber last season.

Some of you still want to blame Webber for that but he was often the most angry person in the arena with it. That standing around doesn't happen with Bibby on the floor. He won't let it.

"Great"? I can't recall anyone ever saying Bibby would be "great" here. But I do recall people saying it was a "great" trade for the Kings simply because Bibby is smarter and understands what a point guard is responsible for. I also really like his balanced contribution of points, rebounds, and assists.

We can already see how much more complicated an offense we can run with a PG who's smart.

As for the complicated offense, I think Hedo is still working on figuring it all out. He played well but at times he looked unsure of what to do with the ball in his hands. I'm not worried, Hedo is also a smart guy. He hasn't had the time that the others have had yet because of his injury.

BIBBY AND POLLARD AND PEJA, OH MY...

Jeff

Last night, Bibby had the type of night we would consider a really good performance from Jason Williams last year. 50% shooting, 15 points, 8 rebounds(!), 6 assists, only 2 turnovers, and no missed 3 pointers. In the first quarter he was running the offense exactly how it should have been run, and the team was in fine flow on the offense. Defensively, he was given the easy night as Jackson and Christie covered Payton all night long, but Barry with the size advantage wasn't very successful posting him up, and he was rotating on defense and picking up men off screens....He isn't Christie or Jackson, but neither was the guy we lost to get him.....So, early returns in my opinion are that Bibby had a solid game, and he had the type of game we would have been very happy with had Williams done it.

Pollard seemed out of sorts last night. He missed two easy layups (why not dunk?), and seemed to mess up on alot of defensive rotations leaving Baker wide open for perimeter shots. I would have liked to see Fundy come in for a while to see if he could have been more effective guarding Baker.

Peja seemed active on offense. He was getting open all nigth against very athletic defenders. He missed some shots that he likely won't be missing most nights, so if he keeps working like that, he should have a great year. Defensively, the kid just keeps getting better and better. He is no Glove or Christie, but he stuck with his man all night and made a nice steal in the 4th quarter.

Last night Hedo seemed to try to do too much. He had a string of horrible plays over a few minutes near the beginning of the second quarter, and at times he was trying too hard to single handedly take on the Sonics. But that was balanced with some sparkling minutes which leaves his over all performance pretty solid both scoring and rebounding.

Vlade looked great. I can't remember him ever being that active or conditioned. He was going against inexperienced centers and he took advantage of that fully. A couple bad passes to start the 4th, but over all a fine performance in every aspect. An in shape and active Vlade has to be a very scary thing for most centers in the league.

Doug had a remarkably horrible offensive night. He missed so many open jumpers, I thought he was immitating Nick Anderson out there. But, he covered Payton all night and pretty much kept the Glove from having a big night, and he had some key defensive plays and steals. Alot of players get down when they are having off nights from the field, Christie just steps it up on defense and makes big plays on the other end of the court.

Wallace came in and was pretty much the only guy able to keep up with Lewis' athleticism. That goal tend looked like the ball was about a foot and a half above the rim when he blocked it. Hopefully he finds a way to get some playing time, because he could be a fun kid to watch.

And Bobby Jackson is last on my list. He had a solid defensive night. He looked good in the backcourt next to Bibby; that pairing is probably something we are going to see significant amounts of this season. He had the best night shooting of the guards. He didn't seem to be that effective in certain spots at running the offense as it appeared thatt here was less ball movement and more individual one-on-the-Sonics play going on when he was on the court....And a couple of the fouls called on him! Wow, he must have been hanging out with Pollard too much in the offseason and caught what he had.