<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The Kings are awash in distractions as the 2006-07 season begins. New coach Eric Musselman faces a charge of driving under the influence. Point guard Mike Bibby is injured, and center Brad Miller returned Friday from a broken little finger. And the Kings' efforts to build a new arena in Sacramento are as muddled as ever, leaving lingering anxiety that the Kings one day will leave town. But really, none of that matters now. Those are secondary issues compared to the real calamity that would truly sink this team this season: Losing Ron Artest for extended minutes, games, months. That would be devastating. That would make the current distractions accompanying the start of this critical transition season seem irrelevant. Because an argument could be made that no Kings team has depended so heavily on one player as these Kings do on Artest. Even when Chris Webber went down with a horrific knee injury in the 2003 playoffs, the 2003-04 Kings tore through most of a terrific season without him. When Bibby missed the beginning of the 2002-03 season -- after starring in the Western Conference finals -- Bobby Jackson was there to fill the void. It has been the dark side of eight consecutive playoff seasons: The Kings forced to win without key players such as Peja Stojakovic, Vlade Divac and Doug Christie. All went down at one point or another, yet the wins kept coming.</div> Source
I agree. Even with all their players healthy the kings still rely very heavily on Artest. However, whoever wrote this was playing up the dramatics just a bit. We're talking about finger injuries with Bibby and Miller. Its not as if theyre going to miss alot of action. The new arena situation has been an ongoing problem for years, its not like its some new mess that just popped up. I really dont see Musselman's drunk driving charge being a huge deal either.
