The Athletic, an online sports newscast I subscribe to because our local paper (The most pitiful on the face of the planet) does not cover late news (sports and hard news) had a story about the Kings lack of defense, something to the effect that a team can't rely on offense to win games. Coach Walton of the Kings was quoted as saying, "You can't just try to outscore people."
Yes you can, Luke. Mike D'Antoni did it rather successfully with the James Harden led Rockets. It was a coaching strategy. Houston never failed to make the playoffs. It ultimately failed in the later stages of the playoffs when it ran into playoff DEFENSE. Coach D'Antoni employed a strategy. The Kings outscoring opponents does not look to me like a strategy, at least not in any discernable way like the one used by the Rockets.
So, at the risk of sounding like a broken record, let me say that team defense is only as good as players'\ individual defense, and individual defense is only as good as players' willingness to suffer the hard work it takes to, first learn it, and second how to sustain it throughout a game. Team defense breaks down when one player out of the five is not doing his job. This is inscribed in stone commandments brought down from the Mount of Defense.
When watching our River City Kings, I have tried to see strategies on both ends of the court.. I wish I could say I see some. Either there isn't, or the players consistently deviate from it.
Enough said. The Kings have little chance of making the playoffs, which is a sad thing for a hugely loyal fan base. On to another Kings' subject.
In yesterday's sports section of the Sacramento Bee's pitiful sports section (how can there be a newspaper that does not cover late news?) there was an article pointing to the owner of the Kings, Vivek Ranadive, as the principal reason for the Kings' years of failure. Without going into a bunch of details, the point of the article, I believe, was to suggest a change of ownership. This may indeed be the answer. It certainly was with the Golden State Warriors when the team was purchased by forward thinking men like Joe Lacob and Peter Guber. But this may not be the right move for the Kings at this time. For the first time in my memory since Geoff Petri, the Kings have a GM with years of NBA experience at the helm. His recent acquisitions to bolster the Kings' bench was thoughtful and effective. I had hoped the three newbies would have helped right away, but it took too long, which seemed to me a coaching mistake. The present Kings team is better than their record or performance. So, back to firing the owner. Wouldn't that be fun? Guess you can't fire owners. They're the guys with the bucks. If it were me, I'd hang for a while and see what GM McNair can come up with. A real GM might slow down the meddling of Ranadive and allow Randadive to help the best way he can with an open checkbook. Give it two years.
After that, I know an ownership group in Seattle that it itching to get back into the NBA.
HOODIE by January Gill O'Neil
from rain, from the New England Cold.
I see the partial eclipse of his face
as his head sinks into the half-dark
and shades his eyes. Even in our
quiet suburb with its unlocked doors
I fear for his safety - the darkest child
on our street in the empire of blocks.
Sometimes I don't know who he is anymore
traveling the back roads between boy and man.
He strides a deep stride, pounds a basketball
into wet pavement. Will he take his shot
or is he waiting for the open-mouthed
orange rim to take a chance on him? I sing
his name to the night, ask for safe passage
from this borrowed body into the next
and wonder who could mistake him
for anything but good.. .
