The Maloof Brothers - owners of the Sacramento Kings - seem to be pretty smart guys and the type of people who you want owning your favorite sports franchise. When they bought the Sacramento Kings, the team was about as irrelevent as irrelevance gets. But in just a few short years, the Kings rose from the ashes and were just a call or two away from playing in the NBA finals. As such, these guys have built up a lot of equity with the SACTO fans. Unfortunately for them, they gave back a big chunk of this capital last night when they split a pair of tens with the dealer showing eight.
I am still scratching my head trying to figure out last night's trade that netted the Philadelphia Seventy-Sixers Chris Webber and Matt Barnes in exchange for Corliss Williamson, Kenny Thomas and Brian Skinner. I nearly sharted myself when I saw this news hit the tape around 11 O"clock last night. The Sportsaholic is not a huge Chris Webber fan, but lets be serious. A package of Williamson, Skinner and Thomas is nothing short of a shit sandwich wrapped in tin foil. All three of these guys play for my "all-irrelevant" team and why the Kings felt the need to keep them together in Sacramento is beyond me. My initial reaction to this news is that Kings General Manager Geoff Petrie simply was absent the day that "salary dumps"were discussed in school. Its a little late now, but Geoff, here is the general point. When your goal is too dump a bad contract, you should do your best to not accept bad contracts and bad players in return.
Chris Webber has one of the worst contracts in the NBA and it was no secret that the Kings wanted out from under it. Its a seven year deal that will have three years and $60 million to go after the 2005 NBA season concludes. Webber can still play, but he had a major knee injury last year, he cannot defend his shadow and his best days are at least three years gone. Moreover, he didn't get along great with free agent-to-be Peja Stoyakovic and so if Webber wasn't dealt, it was assumed that Peja was a goner in the off-season. With that said, I understand why the Kings dealt Webber, but I still cannot believe that all they could get in return were Williamson, Skinner and Thomas. I may have traded Webber for Williamson when they were both sophs in 1993, but lets be serious, Corliss is a decent seventh or eighth man while Webber is arguably top-40 in the league. The thing that makes this deal so scary for the Kings is that the great triumverate comes to Sacramento with a collective contract that is pretty similar to Webber's. All three of these guys get paid and will continue to do so though 07 so if Sacramento was trying to free up some salary, they failed miserably. I guess the one positive for Sacto is that it might help them retain Peja, but the jury will be out on that issue until the offseason. And even if they are able to resign Peja, the incomming contracts will prevent the Kings from making any other meaningful roster moves. Moral to the story - the Kings are going to have some of the worst big guys in basketball through 2007.
So what does this trade mean on the basketball court. Well, for the Kings, I believe it propels them toward basketball oblivion. Peja and Mike Bibby will keep the team competiive, but because none of the guys coming aboard are frontline players, the Kings have pretty much taken themselves out of the running for the Western Conference Championship. It was going to be an uphill struggle with Webber, but without Webs, this team is one and done come playoff time. As for the Sixers, things get a bit interesting. Like I said earlier, Webber can still play. He is a legitimate 20 and 10 guy who can pass out of the low post and nail mid-range jumpers all day long. He is no Tim Duncan or Kevin Garnett, but he may be the second best power forward in the East behind Jermaine O'Neil. If he can get along with Allen Iverson and handle those insufferable Philly fans, the Sixers may have something going, especially if Shaq's injury proves serious and he is forced to sit out the year. If Shaq is out, why can't Philly with AI and CWEBB compete for the conference championship? ESPN's Tim Legler had perhaps the most asinine comment on this trade when he said this morning that Philly is now the leading contender to take the Atlantic Division. Sorry Tim, Philly GM Billy King didn't make this move to win the Atlantic. He made it in hopes of winning the East. And if Shaq is truly hurt, who other then Detroit is better then this team in the East? After last night's trade, Philly is once again relevant. The same cannot be said for the Kings.
Before I move on, I want to make it clear that I am not a huge fan of Chris Webber. He is a nice player, but he is a step - make that a giant step - below the elite guys in the NBA. Webb has always hung some nice numbers, but I never thought he was real athletic and he has a spotty record in big spots. Make no mistake about - Chirs Webber can pass and shoot. He has great hands and occasionally he will pick up an offensive rebound. But he doesn't have a signature low post move, he can't run and he often gets torched by more athletic forwards. And this should say it all - twenty years from now I will remember Webber for the following four things: dating Tyra Banks, lying to a grand jury, calling a time out that Michigan didn't have, and disappearing in game 7 of the 2002 Western Conference finals against the Lakers.
If last night's trade wasn't enough, Billy King did the unimaginable this morning. He found a way to dump Glenn Robinson and his $12 million a year contract on New Orleans. In return, Philly gets free-agent to-be Rodney Rogers and the one-legged Jamal Mashburn. Mashburn hasn't played this year and will likely retire at the end of the season. Nonetheless, this a good move for the Sixers. They get an expiring contract (and possibly two) whle they rid themselves of a grotesque cancer. Robinson has no business sitting on a winning team's bench and he is now going to a place where that won't be a problem. With these two moves, King is my early favorite for NBA Executive of the Year.
Well, I have hit my NBA quota so I will move on to college hoops and I will start in Atlanta where the Yellow Jackets came up small in a big spot against Duke. I have one suggestion for Yellow Jacket Coach Paul Hewitt - find someone who can explain the purpose of that arc that is 20 feet from the basket. You want the telling stat from this 60-56 Duke victory - The Devils made nine threes while GT made ZERO. Not only that, GT only attempted five long balls. BJ Elder missed three of them on his way to a big two-point night. Ismail Muhammed had a nice night as well with five turnovers in 20 minutes to go along with his four points. GT is really in a tough spot as we speak. They are 6-7 in conference with games remaining at Miami, at Wake and at home against Clemson. Assuming Clemson is a win, the Jackets have to steal one of the other games. I don't see it happening at Wake so the game at Miami looks to me like an elimination game. If Georgia Tech fails to make the tourney, it will be the first time that a national finalist failed to get an invite the following year since Seton Hall did it 1990. This will be a disgrace for Paul Hewitt since he had almost his entire club coming back from last year's team. During this past off-season, Hewitt's star shined bright. Today, it looks as if it may flame out.
Last night's other big game took place at Villanova where the Cats squared off with Boston College. The Cats were laying a bunch of points in this game and for good reason - they are brutally tough at home. Last night, Nova didn't shoot the ball like they normally do, but they made up for it on the glass, outrebounding BC by a ten spot. With BC losing, the NCAA is running out of candidates for number one seeds. Ok State and BC looked like good candidates coming into this week, but both lost and there are now two gapping vacancies. After Illinois and UNC, there really are about 8 teams bunched tightly. One team that could creep up on a top seed will be the winner of this weekend's Arizona-Washington game. Keep an eye on the cats - they are playing pretty well right now.
Elsewhere in college basketball, West Virginia picked up a huge win last night against Pitt and they look like they have played themselves into the tourney. They are only 7-7 in conference, but they should be able to close with wins against Rutgers and Seton Hall. The mounties swept Pitt this season and their late season run does not bode well for Georgetown. I think WVU is going to end up getting the spot that many had reserved for the Hoyas. The other team worth mentioning is Minnestoa. They looked like they had folded ten days ago, but wins over Ohio State and Iowa have the Gophers back in the picture. The Gophers finish with Purdue and Penn State and two wins get them to the 20 mark. That should be enough to earn Minnesota the Big-10's fourth and final tourney invite.
The organ grinders over at ESPN are just going crazy over this Randy Moss news. In a two hour period this morning, Mike Golic, John Clayton and Mel Kipper, all got down on their knees and praised the Raiders for this swift move. The conventional wisdom is the Raiders have now assembled an unstoppable air attack that will cause fits throughout the AFC. To the Sportsaholic, this just smacks of what is wrong with NFL commentary. As today proves, pundits are myopically focused on the skill positions. To hear some tell it, the game begins and ends with those guys who touch the ball for a living. Clayton is the worst offender. He loves to recite a teams skill players and spit out a conclusion based exclusively on this regurgitation. Clayton's belief is that so long as you got a QB, a back and two big receivers, the Lombardi Trophy is within reach. Nothing could be further from the truth as the Colts prove every year. Hey, as I said yesterday, the Raiders got a good deal on a great player. But that doesn't necessarily make it a smart move. The Raiders may score some points, but their story lies on the other side of the ball. The Raiders gave up 440 points last year. That is an abomination and it is a problem that Moss will not address. In fact, the addition of Moss will make it more difficult for the Raiders to address this problem since they now have so much salary committed to Moss and Jerry Porter. The Raiders tried to upgrade their defense last year and the experiment was a miserable failure. This year they are going the other way and while they may be exciting to watch next year, I don't think it will make much impact on their win total. But based on this morning's sample, you will hear a different tune when the boys at ESPN gather next Summer to offer their pre-season predictions.
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