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Are the Sacramento Kings merely the 10th best team in the Western Conference, as TV commentator Steve Kerr suggested in one preseason publication, or one of only three teams - along with San Antonio and Minnesota - capable of winning the West?

It's a tough call, and the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle. How the Kings, the NBA's greatest teasers, fare this season will be largely dependent upon three keys:

- whether the seven-man core group stays healthy (there's a first time for everything);

- whether their vaunted team chemistry holds together now that locker room leader Vlade Divac is gone and stars Peja Stojakovic and Chris Webber are feuding;

- and whether a young player or two can emerge as a contributor to what seems a rather thin bench.

The Kings have won, on the average, 57 games each of the last four seasons. They took the Timberwolves to seven games in the conference semifinals last year despite playing without Bobby Jackson, arguably the NBA's best sixth man. They have all-star caliber players at four positions in forwards Stojakovic and Webber, point guard Mike Bibby and center Brad Miller; a perennial all-league defender in shooting guard Doug Christie; and Jackson and big man Greg Ostertag off the bench. They are coming off a season in which they were the first team to lead the NBA in both field goal and 3-point shooting (.462 and .401, respectively) in more than a decade.

In other words, anyone who dismisses them out of hand (Ahoy, Mr. Kerr!) may have run into too many blind-side picks during his career.

But the possibility of the Kings taking a tumble in the standings cannot be ignored totally. In fact, they could just as good as last year, performance-wise, and finish with a poorer record because several Western Conference teams upgraded their talent while the Kings essentially were treading water. The Kings simply can't count on beating teams with one knee (Webber's) tied behind their back this season.

Health always seems to be a major issue with the Kings. Things are already off to a somewhat shaky start on the injury front: Christie had a procedure to reduce the pain of plantar fascitis on September 24 but should be back close to the start of the regular season. Ostertag broke a bone in his right hand in a fall at his home October 3 and might be out until mid-November.

However, Webber is the biggest concern. He missed all but 23 late-season games recovering from microfracture knee surgery and serving an eight-game suspension last year. Without him, the Kings played Miller at power forward next to Divac and maintained the league's best record for a good hunk of the season. The ball movement was superb and small forward Peja Stojakovic emerged as the league's No. 2 scorer.

When Webber returned, coach Rick Adelman faced a dilemma: work Webber back into the mix gradually to maintain the team's momentum or throw Webber back into the starting lineup immediately to get him ready for the playoffs. He went the latter route. The good news: Webber held his own in the playoffs. The bad news: the team didn't adjust well, going 11-12 with Webber to finish the regular season. Kings fans are still arguing about whether the team could have won more games than Minnesota (58) and enjoyed home-court advantage had Adelman done things differently.

While Webber has sat out a few preseason practices with a sore knee, he looked good in the two exhibition games in China against Houston. At 31, Webber is no doubt past his prime. But if he can even play at 80 percent of peak efficiency, it might be enough for the Kings so long as he doesn't miss long stretches of games.

"I think he's doing better, a lot better than last year," Adelman told the Sacramento Bee, adding: "His lateral movement is a lot better than last year. He's putting the ball on the floor better. He's getting some confidence where he pursues the ball better."

Webber, who averaged 18.7 points on a career-low 41.3 percent shooting in his limited time last season, told the newspaper he no longer has pain, just occasional soreness.

"I played last (season) in excruciating pain," he said. "It really hurt to get into a defensive stance and to try to rebound. Making moves, anything was painful. Now, it's all good. There is no pain whatsoever." There apparently is strain, however, in Webber's relationship with Stojakovic, perhaps the NBA's most gifted shooter. Without naming names, Webber after the season indicted certain teammates for their lack of toughness and effort. Stojakovic, having suffered through a poor playoff performance, took it personally. Once his countryman and best buddy Divac signed with the Lakers, Stojakovic requested a trade ... anywhere.

There were rampant rumors over the summer that Stojakovic would be sent to Indiana for Ron Artest, and although he reported to training camp on time, Stojakovic insists he still wishes to be traded. At the same time, he has vowed to handle things professionally. So far, so good. There have been no reports of Stojakovic TP-ing Webber's crib or C-Webb giving Peja a wedgie.

The Kings have always gotten along, at least for public consumption. But all that jolly fellowship hasn't equated to a championship and Christie, for one, thinks a little adversity might not be so terrible. "You have to learn from any situation," he told the Bee. "If you can only learn from positive situations, then you have to look at yourself in the mirror, because life isn't always positive. I think, from this situation, Peja has learned."

The Kings will have to learn to play without Divac, a mainstay since 1998. Although Divac's leadership, passing and low-post trickery will be missed, losing Divac isn't an insurmountable obstacle. For every sweet bounce pass he made to a cutter and every flop that drew an offensive foul, there was a missed layup that should have been a dunk and a rebound grabbed by a shorter, swifter player.

Still, the Kings will have to find a low-post threat somewhere. Good as Miller is, he has a limited post game. Webber too often is content to camp at the elbow and fling up jumpers; if his knee allows, he needs to get on the block more often. Ostertag can do a lot of things that will make him valuable to the Kings -- set picks, rebound and block shots - but he's not much of an offensive threat. 'Tags shot .476 on a career-high 437 field-goal attempts last season; by comparison, Divac took 668 shots.

Ostertag and Jackson, fully recovered from an abdominal strain, will anchor the bench. Power forward Darius Songaila showed surprising promise as a rookie, although he's probably not the answer if Webber takes his customary 20-game hiatus. Beyond that, the depth is rather shallow.

Courtney Alexander, who has shown he can score at the NBA level but hasn't stuck anywhere, is battling with first-round draft pick Kevin Martin for playing time at shooting guard. If Martin is to ultimately fill Christie's shoes, as the Kings hope, he needs to eat his Wheaties: He's listed at 6-foot-7, 185 pounds. Stojakovic has no established backup; Matt Barnes, a Sacramento native who played a bit for the Clippers last year, and Israeli League import David Bluthenthal are the top candidates. Stojakovic wore down toward the end of last season - perhaps the reason he was disappointing in the playoffs -- but for the first time rested rather than playing for his national team over the summer.

"We're pretty confident what our core guys will do, but it's going to be kind of exciting to see what the young guys are going to do," Adelman told the Bee. "I think we can run the same things offensively for the guys off the bench but may get some different things out of it because of their skills. ... I think they can be very energized as a team." It's a do-or-die season for Adelman. The Kings hold the option on his contract for next year but haven't exercised it yet.

"Definitely, I want to stay here," he said. "I'd like that year. I love this group. I love the city. ... But if it doesn't happen, we have a job to do here. We have a good team. And I'll try to get us to win as much as I can."

Good idea. As good as the Kings have been, the Maloof family, which owns the team, said from the get-go that they were in it for the championship rings. A couple of good chances have gone by the wayside. If it doesn't happen this year, there may be some major shakeups in Sac-town.

"It's not like we've had injuries to the 10th and 11th men," Joe Maloof told the Bee. "It was Peja (Stojakovic) in 2002 and Chris (Webber) in 2003 and Bobby (Jackson) last (season). If we can just be healthy, I'd like to see how we'd do."