The Las Vegas Review Journal reported last week that Sin City’s KSFN has hired former UNLV reprobate Jerry Tarkanian to host a Saturday afternoon chat show.
No word yet on which broadcast or web outlet will be hosting the Lloyd Daniels podcast, but I’m doing everything I can to find out.
Apparently, losing to the Knicks is justification enough for the Sacramento Bee’s Ailene Voisin to dump on Rick Adelman. High Five Hoops School’s Brian McCormick begs to differ.
The Maloofs and the Sacramento media created an unrealistic perception of an improved Kings’ roster which led to unrealistic expectations. In their pursuit of talent, Geoff Petrie and the Maloofs ignored simple facts: the Kings’ whole was far greater than the sum of its parts. Vlade Divac and Chris Webber remained effective players despite being too slow and too injured; Stojakovic is a star in the Kings’ system, while he’d be a 3rd or 4th option elsewhere; ditto Bibby; Miller is an All-Star in the Kings’ system, a soft, non-rebounding back-up center on a non-contender otherwise.
However, Petrie decied to build around the core of Miller-Peja-Bibby, three jump shooting, non-rebounding, non-defensive presences. To be successful with this core, the team needs to outscore people; to score effectively, they need players who fit the system; Garcia and Martin fit the system. The others do not. The Kings have two teams: one thrives on the system and the other does not.
The problem is not the coaching or Peja. The problem is the make-up of the team and its inability to fit together. Signing Bonzi Wells and expecting him to be a fifth option is pure folly; signing Abdur-Rahim to play the high post makes little sense. However, putting Wells or Abdur-Rahim in the low post disrupts the offense.
Bibby-Miller-Peja play in a Kings’ system predicated on cuts, screens and passing to create shots; Abdur-Rahim and Wells create their own shots with the dribble. There is a place for a creative player who can create his own shots (Bobby Jackson), but it is as a complementary player, not as the focale point.
(Eddy Curry picks the wrong time to emulate Cedric Ceballos)
New York’s Quentin Richardson seems to have finally found his stroke, having drained 4 3’s in as many attempts tonight against the turnover-crazy Jazz. Richardson and Jamal Crawford have combined for 22 points, with the Knicks leading 53-42 with about a minute to go in the 3rd quarter. Utah are struggling without Carlos Boozer, Andrei Kirilenko or Keith McLeod ; AK47 is expected to miss up to two weeks.