Webber gets traded…Long live the Kings!

Webber gets traded…Long live the Kings!

And so ends an era. It seems so long ago that Chris Webber became the reluctant King, Jason Williams was stirring up white chocolate, Vlade Divac legitimized the notion of free agents coming to Sacramento, and Doug Christie was among the elite on-ball defenders in the NBA. That was then, this is now. All four of the original “new birth” Kings are gone, and the door has been officially closed on a team that missed a trip to the finals by just so many free throws. The recently traded Chris Webber was as reluctant to leave as we was to arrive. In as much as I miss number four, his black history collection, his charismatic smile, and his undeniable star power, there are several reasons why this trade—already condemned by Jim Rome and the TNT Crew—should prove to be favorable for the Kings:

1. Money. The Maloofs and Rick Adelman don't want to state the obvious, but they overpaid Chris Webber from the get go. His contract signing reminded me of the season A-Rod got the big money. To recap, Chris stood to make approximately twenty Meeeal-yun dollars over each of his last three seasons. That money is now distributed among three players from Philly, and the Maloofs will save reportedly save $10-$15M on the cap during that same period.
2. Health. Penny Hardaway and Allan Houston both had similar knee surgeries and are shadows of their former selves. Chris has had a fantastic season—all things considered—but…
· Chris has NEVER completed a full season in his seven years as a Sacramento King
· Chris’ knee and ankles will only continue to deteriorate at his age given the rigors of NBA seasons
3. Basketball Intelligence. Or lack thereof. This is the same Fab Five member who called “Timeout” when there were none to be had—he’ll never live that one down. This is the same guy who, after going 2-for-21 in a half, will come out of the huddle and shoot 10-15 more shots instead of playing on the block.
4. The Kings’ System. Now that the trade has had some time to ferment, the public is now seeing how the system made Chris successful—and not the other way around. The Kings offense, an implementation of the Princeton offense architected years ago by Coach Pete Carrill, makes them consistently successful because it is predicated on those principles that are so rare to find today in the NBA:
· Good Passing
· Unselfish play
· Movement without the ball
It’s these same characteristics that made the Triangle offense so successful. Couple the system with a player who consistently hogs the ball—Allen Iverson, Steve Francis, and Kobe Bryant come to mind—and all of a sudden the other four players on the court don’t look so good. Chris has his weaknesses—his lack of lateral movement makes him a liability on defense—but he still has offensive game to keep him on the top ten list of power forwards. He was having what was arguably a career year given his comeback from injury and penchant for triple doubles. And then “it” happened. He got traded to a team where passing to the point guard is akin to throwing the ball into a black hole. Typically, the ball is never to return unless said point guard is double-teamed and there are precious few seconds left on the shot clock. What AI needs is four spot-up shooters, not a premiere passing power forward. The Sixers’ coach is not making things any better. It’s the coach’s job to make the best use of his players, even if that means modifying the system to accommodate a player’s strengths. That’s not happening either, and for all of those reasons I feel bad for C-Webb.


The Sixers may still have a shot at the playoffs, though, despite Chris’ “bad” play. At the time of this writing, the Orlando Magic are in a six-game skid and just unloaded their coach—this is not a recipe for playoff success. For the Sixers to be a contended—which is a long shot by any stretch of the imagination—AI will need to come to grips with the fact that he has to get his teammates more involved. Recall that Michael Jordan didn’t win any championships until he accepted this notion as well. Any way you slice it, the Sixers have a tough mountain to climb with the Heat clicking on all cylinders and the Pistons being red hot—I know I should have reversed those analogies, but that would have been more cliché than it already is.

And so it is, I bid a fond farewell to C-Webb. He deserves better, but hey, he’s in the same town that booed Santa Claus!

Peace,
+THINKER