<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">There is something to be said for second chances in life and in sports. Or third and fourth chances. Sacramento seems to be home base for them, with Arco Arena located at the corner of redemption and renewal. Or maybe there are simply no bad apples in the agricultural heart of the West, at least not since Olden Polynice left town. It's certainly local legend that Chris Webber once dragged into this cow town, weeping as his plane landed on a gloomy day, his "troublemaker" baggage too heavy for a 747. And then he became a Sacramento icon. But nothing matches the better-than-fiction amazement of a Kings revival led by Ron Artest and Bonzi Wells. There they were Monday, moments before leaving for an epic showdown tonight against the San Antonio Spurs, basking in the glory of odds-defying achievement. There was the former "pariah" in Artest, sweating at the Kings' practice facility, his injured right thumb padded like a boxing glove, schooling his youthful teammate, Kevin Martin. "He's been in my ear the whole time," Martin said of Artest's mentoring since the former Pacer joined the Kings in late January. "It's been a good relationship for me." Then Wells strode in, as happy as a former "malcontent" could be, deflecting praise and attributing a 25-point, 17-rebound performance Sunday night to "luck." Wells' role in leveling the Kings-Spurs playoff series at 2-2 had to be the highlight of his sometimes turbulent eight-season career. And surely some fans in Memphis, where Wells was benched, then banned from the arena by coach Mike Fratello during the playoffs last season, were shaking their heads. Just as Hoosiers in Indiana, where some blame Artest's misbehavior for scuttling Reggie Miller's title dreams, would view his current success with nausea. Anger would be understandable, given that Artest once couldn't complete a Pacers season without a lengthy suspension and now is: The indispensable King. It's a metamorphosis that can't be attributed to the mighty Sacramento River as a sporting man's version of the spring of Lourdes. The truth is a lot more calculating. Artest and Wells, like Webber before them, were brought to Sacramento by a front office with a taste for gambling and with nothing to lose. Kings owners Joe and Gavin Maloof are gamblers by nature. And for all his accolades as a talent evaluator, Kings basketball president Geoff Petrie also understands the bottom line of player marketability: Sacramento's reclamation projects had little choice but to play hard or destroy their earning potential. And for all the positives such as Webber's love for and investments in Sacramento (a local eatery soon will bear his name), and for all Wells and Artest do for young guys such as Martin, they are helping themselves immensely. Webber took a horrible reputation in Oakland and Washington and made it disappear here - to the tune of a $122 million, seven-year deal. After his stellar performance in Sunday's whipping of the Spurs, Wells' marketability as a soon-to-be free agent had to shoot skyward and could go higher, as Mike Bibby's did when he blew up in the 2002 playoffs. Then Bibby signed with the Kings for $80 million over seven seasons. And Artest already is viewed differently by the NBA, save for a few rule enforcers, and stands to cash in big if he stays the course until free agency in 2008. But of course, this is not all about dollars and cents. Artest and Wells, like Webber before them, have shown signs of character obstructed on previous teams. Artest, in particular, reminds all of us that these are human beings with flaws but also with admirable qualities. He and Wells prove that redemption is possible.</div> Source
Good Post Shape. You know 3-4 years ago when Keon Clark became a King, my uncle told me that Keon previously had an attitude. Although he said, yet he felt Keon wouldn't disturb Sacramento's chemstry. He attributed this to Sacramento being by far one of the smaller Cities in America to have one of the top 4 major team proffesional Sports. In essance it's difficult, or atleast more so, to really display bad conduct. And thank you about the Olden Polynice comment. I liked him untell I met him in a basketball camp when I was 16. I love my Kings and especially class acts like Mitch Richmond, and Shareef Abdur-Rahim. But with all do respect to Polynice he's a complete jerk. <font size=""7""><font color=""Blue"">GO KINGS, DEFEATE THE WORLD CHAMPS !!!</font></font>
ya know... if you check out every single player that has come in with a bad rap, virtually every one of them has become a solid contributer while in Sac. Webber Stojakovic (the wrap on him was that he wouldnt be able to play in the NBA and that he didnt want to go to Sac when they drafted him) DC (was labled uncoachable by a couple of franchises) Wells Artest Im sure there are more but I cant think of them right off the top of my head.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting VinsanityVC15:</div><div class="quote_post">Why did Bibby and Brad Miller want to come to SAC?</div> Uhh.... Because they didn't come to SacTown by free agency, rather by trade. LOL, thought everybody knew that. Scot Pollard-Hidayet Turkoglu /For - Brad Miller !!! Jason Williams - Nick Anderson /For Mike Bibby - Brent Price !!! And why would big Free Agents like Vlade Divac, Bobby Jackson, and Shareef Abdur-Rahim want to come? Because Sacramento may be a Small Town, but the Kings franchise despite not winning a tittle yet, and being in the rebuilding process, have ben good long enough, that their days of sucking, well lets just say those days are fossile days. Let's move on the Kings being a bad organazation that big free agents didn't want belong to were back in the mid 90's and below. Don't forget VinsanityVC15, the Utah Jazz, and Phoenix Suns were bad organazations through out most of history, then Utah went on a 17 year Playoff run while Phoenix wen't on a 13 Playoff year run. So the Kings 8 year streak is atleast only half way over. And with Geoff Petrie doing such a spectacular job proving doubters wrong constantly by makeing the right moves proving he's even a greater GM than a player - (Has jersey retired with the Portland Blazers.) and the Kings new meaner, stronger defensive style play? Well, you have to kinda wonder if SacTown will be back on top in a couple of years proving that the Kings may even out do the Utah and Phoenix streak, and I don't mean make the playoff streak longer, no , I mean win a championship. Ofcourse this is a couple of years down the road. See, the Kings for 8 years have ben knowen as one of the teams in the West to go to VinsanityVC15, but certain type of great players neglected to sign for Sac. Many elite defeders didn't want to be the only bad offensive threat on what was the highest scoreing team in the league, yet get frusterated working their heads of being the only ones working hard on defense; while dureing the Kings last years of being contenders, the object in SacTown was strictly to put more points on the board than the other team. Not to get into defensive battles. Why do you think Ron, despite knowing Sac's recent successful history didn't want to come to Sacramento at first. He didn't want to be the only defensive threat. But on his own admission, he has since explained, he had a change in heart doing his home work on just how darn good defensivly Bonzi and Shareef are. Not to say either of them are as good as RonRon, atleast defensively. So are offense is still great -Not Leagues Elite Anymore - But still great, and we have good, nasty defense.A Couple free agent pick ups over the summer particulary defensive players, keep Ron, Bonzi, Shareef, And Mike Bibby. And we don't have such a rarteity of key players being injured most the season we might just be just as good the entirety of next season as we were the second half of this season.-(With Shareef, Bonzi, No Longer Hurt, and RonRon comming aboard). And keep in mind we were the holder of the second best record in the second half of this season only being out done by the very rivals were looseing to in the playoffs right now, San An. Anyways, in all honesty with all do respect vinsanityVC15, hopably this explains to you why Big Free Agents are now willing to come to Sac. Give it a rest already, the organazation hasn't been bad since 1997-98. Let's move on and face it, that the Kings are now a Franchise Big Free Agents are happily willingly to come to. And this year, has infact been a huge break threw for the Kings. Well, like I said, with Shareef and Ron guaranteed for play at Arco Arena next year, hopably Bonzinator will resign, the Kings now are on the market for every type of Free Agent that could be available. Because as far as I'm concerned previously in 20 years, collectively in that amount of time the only truely legitamently good defenders we ever had was Doug Christie, -(At One Time Best Ever In Sacramento Era.) Bobby Jackson, and Mitch Richmond. Well right now, just in the 2005-06 season we have had 4 good-great defensive players : Ron Artest, Kenny Thomas - AKA , K-9, Bonzi Wells, and Shareef Abdur-Rahim. I'm excited about the Kings future
