While in some
circles people would think that waiting until the season started, or at
least until the off-season's flurry of trades and signings ended before
making a blanket judgment on the NBA would make sense, I defy their convention!
Rah! Where's the fun in the NBA unless you can make bold statements that
no one will remember if wrong, but that you can take ample credit and praise
for if they happen to be right? Much in that same vein, I've also decided
to add a bunch of really terrible jokes that I will take credit for if
found funny, and will move to Poland if found lame.
Last year,
the Lakers, after barely squeaking through the playoffs and into the finals,
pretty much convinced everybody but a few hardcore doubters that they were
going to dominate the NBA for a long time. Cries of "Who can mess with
the triumvirate of Kobe, Shaq and Madsen and live to tell about it?" Echoed
through the streets, and Bob Whisitt furiously tried to trade another good
player for another fat power forward. Then came the off-season, where the
Lakers, despite the owner's unwillingness to pay the luxury tax, managed
to snag Lindsey Hunter, and seemed to be addressing their primary needs
with Mitch Richmond and Samaki Walker. All 28 rival general managers immediately
hung themselves.
Actually, make
that 27 general managers. Standing over the pile of corpses was a man who
controlled a team, THE only team, that could challenge the Lakers, and
not just challenge, but had a great chance of beating them. That man was
Geoff Petrie, aka "Petri-dish" to a select group of admirers and stalkers.
With generous owners, a crafty mind, and flat-out unbelievable luck, Petrie
turned the "Yeah, they were pretty good" Sacramento Kings into the "Wow,
I never knew who Scot Pollard was until he won the MVP award" Sacramento
Kings. In the draft, Petrie took 'Bama's Gerald Wallace, a player shoots
about as well as Darius Miles last year, but hopefully has Miles' ball
handling skills and basketball IQ. Either way, for the 25th pick in the
draft, it was definitely a good choice, and Wallace could see time in the
secondary running on fast breaks and airballing free throws and so forth.
With the Maloofs kindly doing whatever it took to create a great team,
Petrie resigned Doug Christie and Chris Webber to huge contracts, and then
pulled a stunner trade by sending Jason "White Chocolate" Williams to Memphis
for Mike "I'm actually a good point guard" Bibby. Putting Bibby, who averaged
the 3rd most assists in the league last year, on a team so stocked with
scorers as Sac, and you're looking at the new assist leader, albeit one
who won't be in the Nike Freestyle commercials.
An important
thing to realize is that last year, though the Lakers swept them, the Kings
were ultra competitive in practically every game. The first two games were
very close all the way to the end, along with the fourth game. Webber was
also injured and performing poorly, forced to settle on jumpers instead
of dunking on Grant over and over. Peja was the recipient of some questionable
defense on the part of Rick Fox. Next year, the Kings will bring back a
healthy Webber, a great zone buster in Peja, a rapidly improving Hedo,
and a real point guard. As the Kings get wiser and more playoff tested
they're only going to be better. Jason Williams was terrible against the
Lakers, and Bibby will be a huge improvement. The zone defenses will slow
down Shaq a little, and a healthy Webber will dominate whoever the Lakers
throw at him. No other team can even come close to the Lakers, but next
year, the fans will see that the Kings have surpassed them. With the sun
setting on the Spurs and the Mavs still a season away from being a true
contender, the race for the title is really down to the Kings and Lakers.
As for contenders in the East...well, Sacramento is in the East if you
happen to live in Osaka, right?
