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Tuesday, November 16
Kings the model for new NBA

By Mike Monroe
Special to ESPN.com

You can stop worrying about boring NBA basketball. All you have to do is watch the Sacramento Kings in action to know the league's attempts to bring some excitement back to the game have worked to perfection.

I saw the Kings play twice last weekend. I wish I could have stuck around Sacramento to watch them play a few more games.


	Jason Williams is running the Kings into a new era.

When the NBA's rules committee went to work in the off-season to address the decade-long decline in offense and the stultification of the game that threatened to destroy the league's popularity, it has been suggested the Kings were the model for the game the rulesmakers envisioned.

See, even under the old rules, last season's Kings played an exciting brand of ball, pushing the pace with reckless abandon and scoring points in bunches.

The Kings-Denver Nuggets game Sunday night at ARCO Arena was precisely what the committee had in mind: a fast-paced, high-scoring contest reminiscent of the go-go 1970s and the disco-beat 1980s, when the Nuggets once scored 184 in one game -- and lost.

This one was 95-95 ... at the end of three quarters! That was more points than the Nuggets averaged last season for an entire game.

Eventually, the Nuggets went just cold enough just long enough for the Kings to rally from 13 down and get their third win of the young season, by a count of 126-116.

I'll let you do the research on how many times two teams scored that many points in one non-overtime game last season.

What is happening, especially in the West, is less a result of the rules changes than it is the altered mindset coaches have adopted because of the rules changes, which sort of gets us back to the intended effect of the rules changes to begin with ... but that's the kind of logic only Phil Jackson can understand.

"I think maybe this is what everyone wants to see," said Sacramento power forward Chris Webber, who scored 32 points and had 12 rebounds against Denver. "I don't know if this is what the (rules) committee had in mind, as much as it is coaches deliberately playing this style of ball. I don't think the rules make you play that way.

"Denver didn't play that way last season. But when you play that way, even a team of lesser talent has a chance to win more games."

Ah, yes, and that's the theory Nuggets coach Dan Issel has espoused for his team, which still comes up short in the relative talent matchup against most Western Conference teams. Even in defeat at Sacramento, he could admire the pace of the game.

"To me," Issel said, ""that's the way basketball is supposed to be played."

Remember, Issel played in that famous 186-184 triple overtime loss to the Detroit Pistons back on Dec. 13, 1983, when four different players scored at least 40 points and Issel's 28 points made him the sixth-highest scorer for the game.

The real point is, the Kings have more fun playing the game than any other team. And isn't basketball supposed to be fun?

"Yeah, it is," Kings center Vlade Divac said, "and we are having fun because of the youth. I'm in my 30s, but those guys are making me feel young again. We have fun, and it all starts from the locker room. When we go on the floor, it's so much fun."

	“	In just one year we have changed altogether the attitude of this organization, from a losing to a winning organization. It's a great feeling. ”
		— Vlade Divac

"You know what?" said Kings backup center Bill Wennington, another 30-something who can't wait to get off the injured list to get in on the fun. "This team does have a lot of fun, and that's a key ingredient if you want to win. I know on the Bulls teams I was on, when we were winning guys were having fun. This team pushes it beyond that, but it's very important to be out there enjoying what you're doing. When you're having fun, you just have more energy to expend and everything seems to go well. So right now that's a huge bonus for us."

"The guys just love to play basketball," said Divac. ""A lot of it starts with (point guard) Jason (Williams), because he has the ability to create so much for us out on the floor. By doing the things he does it creates energy. If he makes an exciting pass to someone and they're able to finish the play ... or if he goes through two guys and gets a finger roll basket, that can be the fuse that ignites the dynamite that gets the energy level rising, and that brings everyone up a little."

And the fans out of their seats. Sacramento's fans are becoming the NBA's most excitable. Tickets for the team's regular-season home opener against the Jazz were being scalped for upwards of $600, and there were tailgate parties -- what is this, an NFL game? -- in the parking lot before tipoff.

"That's what happens when something is exciting to watch and is valuable," said Wennington. "It's in demand. People want to come and see it. It happened in Chicago, but to have it happening here is really exciting."

"The fans are great," Divac said. "They're going to help us making this building a hard place to play. In just one year we have changed altogether the attitude of this organization, from a losing to a winning organization. It's a great feeling."

And a great style of play.

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


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