Kings' title dreams sidelined

Chris Webber absently dribbled a basketball in his courtside seat as another deciding playoff game slipped away from the Sacramento Kings. Once again, he couldn't carry the Kings to a title -- only this time, he didn't even get a chance.

Though they won 59 regular-season games and their second straight Pacific Division title, the Kings' season will be remembered largely for the staggering spate of injuries that kept one of the deepest teams in recent history from reaching full strength.

The Kings' loss to Dallas in the conference semifinals was a huge disappointment for a franchise that came within a game of the NBA Finals last season -- but given Sacramento's injury problems, perhaps it was remarkable to get that far.

Bobby Jackson, Peja Stojakovic, Scot Pollard and Webber all missed large parts of the regular season, and nearly every other regular was hampered.

The injuries culminated against Dallas, when the Kings played the final five games without Webber, their $127 million star and leader in points, rebounds and assists.

Sacramento took the high-scoring Mavs to Game 7 on Saturday, but Dallas' 112-99 victory sent the Kings back to California with an incomplete feeling.

"Sitting on the sidelines, for the first time, I realized I really couldn't help my team," said Webber, an oftentimes reluctant pressure performer who spent most of the regular season professing his readiness for the playoffs. "It's definitely tough watching."

Webber, who had three significant injuries during the regular season, tore cartilage in his left knee during Game 2 against Dallas. The Kings tried a variety of responses to his absence, including a curious attempt to pass the ball inside repeatedly to low-scoring backup Pollard, but nothing they did could make up for his absence -- or counteract the Mavericks' impressive offense.

"They didn't back away from anything," Sacramento coach Rick Adelman said of his players. "They truly believed they could win this series with Webber out. They played their tails off the whole series. Sometimes you get beat, and we got beat. You can't use Webber's injury as an excuse."

Webber has plenty of time now for offseason knee surgery, which should get him ready for training camp. Before then, the Kings must decide whether their regression this season is cause for a roster overhaul -- or simply an injury-fueled aberration that needs no correction except better health.

The Kings' future could be relatively stable, with Webber, Mike Bibby, Doug Christie, Jackson, Pollard and Stojakovic among the regulars signed beyond next season. But Geoff Petrie, the Kings' inventive president of basketball operations, never has been one to sit still.

There are several issues to be settled before next fall -- and the most important is Petrie's future.

The Portland Trail Blazers reportedly would love to hire Petrie, who won the NBA's rookie of the year award with the Blazers in 1970. He was a senior vice president with Portland in 1994 when he left to turn the Kings into championship contenders.

Portland understandably covets Petrie, who didn't return a call for comment. But he's under contract for two more years -- and Kings owners Joe and Gavin Maloof, who know exactly how important Petrie is to the franchise, aren't required to give permission to the Blazers to speak to Petrie, who seems unlikely to abandon an elite franchise for the Portland mess.

Keon Clark, who signed a one-year deal for $4.5 million before the season, must decide whether to exercise his option year. Vlade Divac shows few signs of slowing down at 35, but the Kings must begin to prepare for the future at center.

There's also the matter of Jim Jackson, who became a valuable member of the Kings' rotation after signing early in the season. If Jackson stays, Hedo Turkoglu -- who lost valuable minutes to Jackson this season -- might have to go.

As the conference semifinals proved, the Kings must improve defensively. For all their strides on defense in the past three years, they were shredded by the talented Mavericks, who seemed to score at will in Game 7.

The Kings have been among the NBA's three highest-scoring teams in each of the past five seasons, but they couldn't keep up with the Mavericks.

"In a lot of the games, I didn't show up," Bibby said after scoring 25 points in Game 7. "It's a do-or-die situation. I don't know why I didn't play like this the whole time."

 

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