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BasslineSpin.com March 4, 2007 ...How
quickly things can change. Two road wins have the Kings looking like they could be the eighth best team in the West.
Kevin Martin is
playing with better energy. Mike Bibby’s shot
is falling. Eric Musselman is
giving the guys more freedom to run. Granted—the Lakers, and Blazers both
stunk it up but the Kings offense was much better. At heart I am a Kings
fan—and I want to see them do well. I am critical of Sacramento sometimes
because I want the best for them. ...College hoops day was on
overload-a-vision. Georgetown in the morning. UCLA at Washington after that.
Ohio State at Michigan, followed by USC at Washington State which was a
double OT game. I watched the Kings
beat the Blazers to cap off the night. ...Mike Conley Jr. -
the point guard for Ohio State - is the son of former USA Track & Field
athlete Mike Conley. The
kid plays under control and not surprisingly he has great speed. ...At this
point - both wifey and I agree we would take Kevin Durant over Greg Oden in the NBA draft. I’m still not sure if people appreciate how
good a shooter Durant is. We both like Oden - just not as much as Durant.
...Michigan’s Dion Harris can
get any shot he wants but he isn’t efficient. ...I am not nearly as high on
the Hoyas’ Roy Hibbert as the
rest of the world is. ...I like the game of Arizona’s Chase Budinger. The freshman small forward has a
complete, pass and shoot, old-school feel. He makes plays. ...March 2, 2007
...Things are messy in Kingsland. Here is what is really going on. Joe Maloof said in the New York Times that coach
Eric Musselman is
“inexperienced”. That didn’t sit well with the first-year Kings coach.
Following the Kings next loss in Philly - Musselman said he’d take the blame
for the loss and that he needed to teach rebounding better. The sarcasm was
thick. The implication being that the players on the roster were not capable
of rebounding consistently. (They aren’t.) Musselman’s mistake was thinking
that the players and fans would believe he was being sincere when he made the
‘rebounding’ comment. He has since reiterated on local radio that he was
serious about what he said. No one believes the coach. Sacramento Bee columnist Marty McNeal called Musselman a “faker”. There
were scattered boos as Musselman was introduced at the last home game. ...The
thought here is that Musselman is so ultra-competitive that he lets the media
get into his head. He needs to quit reading the paper, and stop listening to
the radio. Having thick skin is difficult to accomplish. Ask Mike Bibby. The Kings guard sprinted off the
floor Wednesday when subbed for in direct response to a nit-picky piece
written by a Bee reporter about how, during a road loss, only two players on
the roster looked ready to play. The reporter made it seem as if a player is
incapable of playing well unless he sprints onto and off the floor. Bibby ran
off the court with a smirk and looked directly at the press table as he did
so. ...I can understand how Bibby would feel betrayed by the Kings for trying
to trade him. Mike has played hurt, and given his all to the Kings for years.
However, for whatever reason, he no longer produces as he did prior, and he
is still owed $28 million over the next two years (if he chooses—it is his
option.) The NBA is a business and I too would try to trade Mike. I think if
Bibby was honest with himself—he would try to trade himself if he were in
charge. ...Shareef Abdur-Rahim is
aging faster than Mark Olberding did.
...Then there is Ron Artest.
“Ron-Ron” drifts in and out of being a teammate. He has left the coaches
hanging until moments before tip-off only to choose to not play for various
reasons. ...What people are too quick to forget though is that the Kings did
the right thing to get out of the Chris Webber contract
with his trade to the Sixers. The present roster is mostly a result of that.
As bad as it sounds to think about more years of Kenny Thomas’ sulking act, at least the Kings
aren’t paying C-Webb. Corliss Williamson comes
off the books at the end of the year. ...The positives in Sac are Kevin Martin, and to some extent Francisco Garcia. Garcia is still offensively too
willing to ‘settle’ for my taste but his defensive energy and his upbeat
attitude override any negative feelings for his game. ...Re-stating the
obvious: Brad Miller is a
GREAT interior passer. ...February
25, 2007 ...The Ohio State home win vs. Wisconsin was a
bruising affair that proved to me that Greg Oden doesn’t
mind mixing it up. I still really like both teams. Wisconsin plays with so
much patience I just think they will be really tough in the NCAA Tournament.
Ohio State has great talent. Daequan Cook, Mike Conley Jr., and Oden are all future NBA
players. ...Kevin Martin played
a great game in the Kings win over the Pacers in Indiana. Ron Artest did not play for personal reasons.
...I have cooled my enthusiasm for Jeff Adrien’s game.
The U-Conn power forward isn’t nearly as efficient this year as he was last
season. |