| Wednesday, October 27
By Mike Monroe
Special to ESPN.com |
|
We all know the Spurs and Trail Blazers are the favorites to win the
Western Conference this season -- they are one-two in some sports books
in Las Vegas to win not just the Western title, but the NBA title -- and
that the Lakers, Jazz and Rockets are considered just a short dropoff
away from their level.
Here's a dark horse to crack the West's top four this season and get home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs: the Sacramento
Kings.
|  | | Webber needs to work on his free throws, but the rest of his game is top-notch. |
And here are the reasons: Chris Webber's improved attitude about
California's capital city and improved free throw shooting, and Jason
Williams' maturation.
You might recall that Webber arrived in Sacramento announcing his
intention to get out of town just as soon as his contract would allow.
Now, he wants to finish his career there.
Traded to the Kings in the summer of 1998, Webber arrived in Sacramento
last January with his bags packed, ready to depart at the conclusion of
his contract. Though he got to Sacramento a few days early, he was so
distressed about being there that he didn't report for the first day of
training camp.
Nine months later, Webber is ready to sign a long-term agreement and
plant some roots in Sacramento, where he loves playing and the city
loves him.
Don't ask him when he reached the conclusion that Sacramento was the
place to be. He doesn't know. He does remember when the feelings of
despair began their 180-degree turn.
The Kings were preparing for their first preseason game after the
lockout, and Webber talked to the team about how the new guys had to
help the returnees.
"I said all of the B.S. that had been here before was over," Webber
recalled. "I said this was a new team.
"That was our first time playing together, and after I said that and
the way guys were talking, when we walked out on the floor together, I
knew we had something good. That didn't mean I accepted it at that
point, but I knew it was something good."
Webber's relationships with family and friends are precious, and his
relationships with his teammates have evolved into a heartfelt
camaraderie. His acceptance by the city has cemented those feelings.
"It's just been a process of getting to know Vlade (Divac) and Jason
(Williams)," he said. "People in the city come up to us and say, 'Thank
you for what you've done for Sacramento' and that type of thing. You can
really see how much pride people have in the city of Sacramento. It was
really a long process.
"I always speak my mind, and I never would have thought after coming
here that I'd be ready to say this would be a place I'd like to stay,
especially how adamant I was last year. But that's the truth. Now, who
knows the future, but I definitely like it here and love playing here
with the fans, and especially the guys on the team."
Here's an example of the kind of camaraderie that helped turn Webber
into one of Sacramento's top civic boosters:
Last Thursday night, in an exhibition in Detroit, he was asked by
several teammates and Kings coach Rick Adelman to shoot a technical free
throw.
Now, Webber is a career 54 percent free thrower, a fact that has kept
him from being a legitimate MVP candidate, an Achilles' heel just like
Shaquille O'Neal's. How can a player be his team's go-to guy in the
crunch, let alone an MVP candidate, when you can't go to him for fear
the opponent will send him to the foul line with anticipated impunity?
But Webber appears on his way to curing his lifelong free throw ills,
and his teammates' confidence in him to shoot a technical was a fine
example.
"As soon as the technical was called," Webber said, "Vlade told me to
shoot it. Then the head coach told me to shoot it. Then Jason, and they
didn't say it because the others had said it. They didn't even know the
others had said it.
"Really, they were just trying to show the confidence they had in me.
I'd never shot a technical shot before in high school, college or the
pros. But they know I've been trying to work on (free throw) shooting,
and they wanted to say they were with me.
"That's more than you can ask for from your teammates. And that's the
same type of thing I would do for somebody else if they were in my
situation."
Williams said it's clear Webber has been working on his free throws.
"He's like a whole different person up there shooting," Williams
said. "It's like he doesn't care. I mean, I know he cares, but he
doesn't worry about missing. You could see it in his face last year when
he missed that it was really bothering him.
"When you're shooting them good, you don't really worry about missing
them because you have confidence in yourself."
|
“ |
He's one of the best passers I've seen. With his flashy passing, he puts on a show.” |
|
|
— Larry Bird on Jason Williams |
Speaking of confidence, Williams never has lacked it, but in this
exhibition season seems to have gained some more faith in his shot. And
he still puts on his passing show. He was a one-man offensive dynamo
this week in an exhibition game against the Pacers in Evansville, Ind.,
as he wowed an estimated crowd of 7,500 with a rare display of passing
and shooting, scoring a game-high 25 points on 9-for-15 shooting,
including 3-of-5 from three-point range.
"I think Jason threw about every pass you can throw," Adelman said.
"He threw one to Art Long that I think shocked the heck out of him. I
don't think anybody in the place believed Jason was going to try and get
the ball to him."
Williams clearly is seeing the floor unlike most others who play the
game and has such a varied number of methods to dispense the ball. His
ability to see the game before it unfolds reminds some of Pacers coach
Larry Bird.
Bird was asked if he saw any of himself in the youngster.
"Naw," Bird deadpanned, "he's a better player. He's exciting. He has deep range, out to 25 or 30 feet. He's one of
the best passers I've seen. With his flashy passing, he puts on a show."
Told of Bird's comments, Williams only could laugh with a disbelieving
look on his face. Then he asked for the story to be told to Webber, who
trailed him out of the locker room.
"Yeah, right," Webber said.
Which may be the reaction most of you have to this bold prediction: If
Webber makes even 65 percent of his free throws this season, the Kings
will finish in the West's top four.
Wandering the West
Hakeem Olajuwon has begun to wonder about this
newfangled running thing the Rockets are using. By the third preseason
game, Olajuwon had been de-emphasized to a non-factor, easily outscored
by Orlando's Michael Doleac, a condition he understood in the preseason but clearly expected to be corrected.
"When we said we were going to run, that doesn't mean you neglect the
post," Olajuwon said. "Most of the game, the guy guarding me was just
relaxing. I was not a threat."
He doesn't seem angry -- yet. He laughed when he talked about Doleac
relaxing on the defensive end. He described finding his place in the
Rockets' still-evolving offense as a process. "There will be a time when
I need to get more touches," he said. "But it's too early to worry about
it.
"When we rebound and run in the flow, we'll get a running game,"
Olajuwon added. "But in basketball, you have to use the post as an
advantage. The coach is now trying to get everybody adjusted to the
system. In time, he'll want me to touch it."
Rest assured, Rudy Tomjanovich is no fool. He will want Olajuwon to
touch it.
The Spurs finally got an encouraging sign they might remain in San
Antonio. The latest poll had 50.7 percent of voters supporting a Nov. 2
ballot proposal to fund a new arena, with 36.6 opposed. Politicians call
that an insurmountable lead. Guardedly optimistic, the Spurs believe the
final results of the Nov. 2 election will be closer. The Spurs owners
said there is no backup plan if the vote fails. In other words, if it
does, they're outta there. Spurs chairman Peter Holt likely would move
the team himself, instead of selling.
Would the league allow a recent champion to pick up and leave the only
city in which it had played (at least as an NBA entity)? David Stern,
interviewed by the San Antonio Express-News in Italy, declined to issue
an ultimatum on the record. But it was clear, between Stern's lines, the
league wouldn't block an attempt by the team to move.
"Our board would be supportive in the right case," Stern said,
generally speaking about relocation. "I'm sure of it. Of course, you
and I know that one of the big elements in every relocation is to
compare the facility of the old city to the facility of the new city.
That's just the reality of the process.
"I just remain the eternal optimist," Stern said. "The reality is
every city deserves, and NBA cities have gotten, state-of-the-art
arenas. You know, midsize facilities for the Ice Capades, family shows,
the circus and, oh yes, basketball. San Antonio doesn't have (a
state-of-the art building). So it's incomprehensible to me that there
won't be a new building."
Stern, though, is not a registered voter in Bexar County, Texas.
Suddenly it looks like the Clippers have a clue, on the court, at
least. Michael Olowokandi is coming along nicely and rookie Lamar Odom
has been very good in preseason games. Said one Clipper official, "This
might be the best team we've ever had, better than the Danny
Manning-Charles Smith dynasty."
Leave it to a Clippers official to refer to a team that merely made the
playoffs as a dynasty.
Not that management can't screw this one up, too. Though Maurice
Taylor has had a great attitude, he's still insisting he's leaving,
which may make Derek Anderson, another free agent, restless, followed
sooner or later by everyone else. Just like with the Manning-Smith
dynasty.
Said Taylor: "I always felt that the moves that we made over the
last off-season were very positive. Drafting Lamar and acquiring Derek
and Eric (Murdock) were great moves for the team.
"It's just sad that we won't see it grow together."
Despite many suggestions to the contrary in New York, the Lakers aren't
giving any sign of being interested in Latrell Sprewell. Phil Jackson,
who makes no bones about what he wants and doesn't want, said this about
Sprewell: "Latrell hasn't really wanted to fit in anywhere. And one of
the things we try to do is we try to have people who want to be part of
what we're doing. We want players that want to be here, that want to be compliant. And he has never shown that."
Mike Monroe, who covers the NBA for the Denver Post, writes a Western Conference column for ESPN.com. You can e-mail him at monroe128@go.com |  |
NBA West: Kobe injury a good thing?
