New faces force Kings to adjust
By Joe Davidson -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 a.m. PDT Wednesday, October 22, 2003
Doug Christie scans the roster these days and still sees names he's
still trying to put to faces, particularly a bench that will most
certainly have to perform in the ever-improving Western Conference.
And the Kings hobble into tonight's preseason encounter with the
Dallas Mavericks at Arco Arena minus their two best big men in
Chris Webber(knee) and Vlade Divac(ankle), seeking far more than
their first victory after four successive losses.
"Our identity," said Christie, the Kings' veteran guard. "We were
lacking that at the beginning of camp, and that happens when you
have so many new faces. We still have a ways to go. We have 82 (
regular-season) games to find an identity, and it starts with the
final two preseason games."
Kings coach Rick Adelman has given substantial minutes to the
newcomers, per the norm in the preseason grind, and he expects
to gain a better gauge of his club against Dallas and Friday
in Las Vegas against the Los Angeles Lakers in the preseason
finale. Adelman also stressed that his starting lineups haven't
been particularly sharp, at times downright awful.
Divac will not play this week, a loss for his experience and
versatility. The center is resting a badly sprained right
ankle. Divac said he should be ready to test his weary wheel
in practice next week to prepare for the Cleveland Cavaliers
on opening night. In the meantime, it's more time for more
reserves.
"We have seven to eight new guys, and that's an unknown for me,"
Adelman said. "I knew what we had last year because we had
everyone back. I'm not sure this year. We'll play 10 guys a lot
of minutes tonight and see what we have."
And then the ax will fall. Adelman said he'll meet with Kings
president of basketball operations Geoff Petrie after tonight's
game to scale down the roster. Among the newcomers Adelman wants
to find more about are guard Anthony Peeler, center-forwards Tony
Massenburg and Jabari Smith and forwards Gerald Wallace and Darius
Songaila.
More "O" for "Big D" --
The Mavericks are suddenly much more offensive after acquiring
three-time All-Star forward Antoine Walker and guard Tony Delk
from the Boston Celtics for Raef LaFrentz, Jiri Welsch, Chris
Mills and Dallas' 2004 first-round draft pick.
The new Dallas players had a media conference Tuesday and will
be with the club tonight.
"There's a lot of offense there," Christie said of the Mavericks.
"They haven't had any defense, but that's not what they're known
for. They were close last year ( to making the NBA Finals ) out-
scoring people. This could help put them over the hump."
Adelman said Walker has to accept taking less shots because of
the Mavericks' array of stars.
"I think it all depends on how he comes in and how he plays," the
coach said. "I don't think he's going to score 20 points per game
there if he wants to fit in with them, but he definitely gives
them some options. He can play the center, he can pass it, he can
bring it up, he can create things for people."
Adelman said the real wild card is Delk, a guard he knows well.
Delk had a strong season with the Kings in 1999－2000, when he
averaged 6.4 points in 46 games. Delk then signed with the
Phoenix Suns and torched the Kings for a career-best 53 points
Jan. 2, 2001, making 20 of 27 shots.
"Tony is going to be good with that team," Adelman said. "He can
make threes, he can make open shots. I've always liked him....
"The thing about Tony, too, is he's a good defender. When he plays
24 minutes, you're going to get 24 hard minutes from him. I think
that was a great pickup for them. He'll fit right in."
X-rays, please --
Adelman said he wasn't the least bit surprised about the news that
the NBA will issue Webber a suspension when he becomes healthy,
citing his guilty plea to criminal contempt when he admitted to
lying to a federal grand jury in 2000 about accepting money from a
University of Michigan booster.
"If it's something like five games, I'd really be shocked," Adelman
said. "What I'd really love to know is how ( is the NBA ) going to
know when he's healthy? Maybe they can tell me.
"I'll tell them that he's healthy for opening night, and then (
Webber will find he's still not healthy). And we'll say, 'Oh, he's
not ready.' "
Hold the residue --
Christie said he and his Kings teammates haven't forgotten the
anguish of falling to the Mavericks in seven games in the Western
Conference semifinals last season. But it's ancient history, at
least for tonight's preseason game.
"You always have a little residue, it's human nature," Christie
said. "You really can't let it bother you. We did that the year
before with the Lakers (who eliminated the Kings in the postseason).
"You can't stand on that because there's no ground there."
http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/basketball/kings/story/
7645495p-8585852c.html
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國王隊今年增加許多新面孔，
希望在熱身賽能夠使球員融入整個球隊，
Divac 還要繼續休息，明天不會上場比賽，
老Ｋ臉也對明天將對上小牛表示了他的看法，
然後昨日之事譬如昨日死，
前年總冠軍賽打滿七場輸給湖人，
去年打滿七場輸給小牛，都是過去的事情了，
國王隊即將要邁向美好光明的未來 :)
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