The Mind of Kings Fans

The following is an email exchange between two die-hard Sacramento Kings fans -- myself (SonDog -- living in Vail) and Aaron (OZ -- living in Sacramento) --

SonDog -- Did you watch last night? Pretty good show, considering it was Utah's Junior Varsity squad.

OZ -- Speaking of JV, the Kings bench would get cut from the frosh team at this point (wow, one sentence and I've already beaten that analogy to death). You know what's sad, Miller looks more like a point guard than Bibby. Flat out. Bibby is not a good point guard. After the first quarter Miller had 4 assists and Mike had 1. Bonzi and Miller look good though. They play up on the post well and both are threats to drive. It seems to be clicking for them.

SonDog -- I agree, the chemistry between Miller and Wells last night was solid. They have a nice two-man game going. Reef still needs to pass a bit more in this offense. I thought KT played well when he was in with the starters, but other than that the bench was putrid. I'm not keen on Jason Hart. He seems ill-suited to run this offense. Skinner has looked helpless. Again, I hate to say this, but this is the best I've seen Peja play since before Webb came back. He just seems to actually care all of a sudden. I agree with your Bibby analysis. What's the feeling around town this morning? Milwaukee is coming in on Friday, and that will be the real test.

At least Bonzi is on the Varsity squad...

OZ -- Injured and hesitant. The pride has fallen very low and a win against Utah's WNBA team doesn't really say much, particularly when Utah made a go of it in the 2nd. I blame Rick Adelman exclusively for his inability to get this TALENTED bench going. And yes, Peja is playing well......it's a contract year after all.

SonDog -- I can't believe how many rumors there are about Peja going to Chicago when he's a free agent. The Bulls have a ton of young talent to trade back, so I don't think that would necessarily be the end of the world. One of these days, Adelman will be fired. I see ownership giving him 15 games to right this ship. We're 8 in, 7 to go.

OZ -- As I aid early in the season, I can stomach a horrid start this year if it means they get a new coach. I don't think Rick is a bad coach, I just don't think he can coach this team effectively any longer.

SonDog -- Did you know Peja is shooting better from 3pt range than he is from 2pt range? He's averaging 7 attempted threes per game. Good lord. As long as he keeps making 45%, I'm fine with that. Also, did you notice Bibby making a concerted effort to get Peja the ball a couple of times last night?

OZ -- I saw Bibby making a concerted effort to not suck and he was only moderately successful. If you look at his game in three parts, last night was not good.

1) Offense. Got his shot going yesterday. Good for him. Doesn't prove a thing.
2) Defense. Wait....what?
3) Point. He did not run the point yesterday, Brad did or it was a pass around. I fear he lacks this ability.

Given the above, Bibbs just might be a one dimensional player, which is OK, but a ball handling 2 guard will always be needed for this team to be successful.

SonDog -- Again, sharp analysis. What have you done with OZ? Where is he? Do I even know you any more?

Bibby is great... I repeat, GREAT, in a high-pick-n-roll offense with a big man who draws a double-team (See: Webber, Chris). The problem is the Kings no longer have a big man who commands a double. Thus, Bibby's lack of quickness kills him as he can't seem to get open from aggressive man on man defense.

Defensively... wait... what?

He's still one of the best mid-range shooters in the game, but he's turning into a bit of a streak shooter, which is scary, and not in a good way.

The bench couldn't beat the Monarchs. I'm not even close to kidding.

OZ -- The fact that the bench could get schooled by "The World Champion Monarchs," as they are known in Sac, should strike Geoff as strange. Hart is a future Kevin Willis journeyman but he is not without skill. Kevin Martin is still young but also not without skill. KT is flat out a scoring threat and if he wasn't so busy pouting about not starting (see Philly last year, this concerns me) he could be getting great numbers off the bench. Skinner is apparently a "game altering presence," which is absurd and could only have come from the mouth of the worst Kings coach in franchise history, but Skinner is a blocking threat and can throw down some offensive boards. Corliss who? Is he still on the team?

Yet, you put it all together and they go 0 for 7 from the floor in over six minutes of play. Are you kidding me?! This does not add up.

SonDog -- Do people actually realize that the Monarchs won the WNBA championship this year? Really, I need to know this. I think ESPN forgot about it because they were too busy talking about the Terrell Owens and Donovan McNabb divorce.

One bright spot on the bench is going to be Francisco Garcia. While I'm secretly hoping that he starts dating Paris Hilton so they can form the skinniest celebrity couple in the history of Western Civilization, I don't think he is without skill. If he starts letting the game come to him... If he stops jacking up 3's at every opportunity... If Adelman has trust to actually play him... If he can avoid injury, he will be a good player in this league. For a small forward, he has great court vision. He reminds me a lot of Hedo Turkoglu when he first came to Sac (and wouldn't they love to have him back right about now).

What's scary is the rest of the Pacific Division. Phoenix and Golden State (I can't believe just said that) look very good. But, the Clippers... wait... what? Did you see what they did to a solid Milwaukee squad last night?

OZ -- Two words: Donald. Sterling. The Clippers are doomed to always be failures. They are the Omega to the Lakers Alpha. Look for them to fall like Cassell and Maggette's ability to stay healthy.

Is it true that Baron hasn't missed a game yet? Is that possible? This has got to be some kind of a record for him. Maybe he'll actually make it to double digits in games played consecutively. I wonder if that stat would be shown under him in pre-game warmup like it's an accomplishment. Can you see the banner swing in on the TV screen with the announcer's voice in the background, "And making his TENTH start in row is Baron Davis today. Way to go buddy."

Garcia is still in the air with me. That guy has traces of an old J-Dub's unpredictability in that at any point he could throw up an off-balance, double-teamed fade-away from 10-feet behind the 3-point line, and that's not really desirable (but boy are those a lot of hyphens). But he has potential, it'll just be interesting to see if it unfolds. He might be the type of player that needs to be in the right place and the right situation (see: Jermaine O'Neil trade from Portland to Indy).

SonDog -- Actually, Davis missed a game when you and I were watching the W's play the Jazz in California. Remember that? It was only two weeks ago. Are you high?

I see what you mean about Garcia. He does need to tone down his obsession for the incredible. There's an old saying that goes something like, "Great players make spectacular plays. You're not great, so don't try to make a spectacular play." This fits for Garcia.

Have Kevin Martin and Garcia been excluded from the employee cafeteria or something? Sweet Jesus, it looks like those guys have been stranded in Somalia for four years.

OZ -- Okay, on that note, I have to work now.

SonDog -- Unacceptable.