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King-sized question How will Webber's return affect Sacramento?Posted: Tuesday November 27, 2001 12:55 PM
Chris Webber, who hasn't played a minute this season due to a severe left ankle sprain, has joined his Sacramento Kings on their four-game road trip that began Monday night with a surprising loss in Memphis. (By the way, did you see the beaucoup love that ex-Kings point guard Jason Williams got from his former mates after he beat them down the stretch?) C-Webb isn't going to play for a while, but he'll be back soon, and the prospect of a genuine superstar joining a team that's gotten off to an 10-4 start without him means that the Kings are really ready to take off, right? Well, not necessarily. Basketball, more than any other sport, is a game of expansion and contraction. Something gets bigger, something else gets smaller. There are only five people per team out there, folks. The demand for Webber to get the ball gets bigger, the contributions of center Vlade Divac get smaller. The shot attempts by Webber get bigger, the shot attempts by Peja Stojakovic get smaller. See how it works? I recognize Webber's multiple talents but stop short of proclaiming him a great player and never quite understood the feeding frenzy that accompanied his free-agent status this past offseason. There's a delicate balance on that freewheeling Sacramento team that has a lot of weapons, Stojko (23.7 points per game, 50 percent shooting from the field, 90 percent from the line) being the most lethal. Will the Kings suffer when point guard Mike Bibby suddenly has to keep Webber as happy as he does the jump-shooting machine? And how will Webber's return affect Divac? One of the great hidden stats of the season to date is Divac's average of 5.1 assists per game (to go with 10.1 rebounds and 14.8 points). Those assist numbers mean that the Kings' offense works quite effectively by going inside-back-outside, a handy system that frees jump shooters. With C-Webb back in the low post, you can bet there's going to be a lot less "back outside" following the "inside."
Team effort leads to hot start for the NetsThe name Jason Kidd has been conjured up so many times this season that it's possible to get the idea he's out there playing alone for those revitalized New Jersey Turnpikers. But the 9-5 Nets (who have a chance of being 13-5 by week's end with four home games against beatable opponents) have gotten terrific contributions from players other than the transplanted Sun. Keith Van Horn is averaging 17.3 points and 7.6 rebounds, outstanding forward numbers. Center Todd MacCulloch will never be an All-Star (clip that; maybe I'll be proven wrong), but he's an active presence inside and his 10.4 points and 8.1 rebounds are extremely strong for an ABC. (That's [North-]American-Born Center, an increasing rarity.) But the real difference, besides Kidd, has been the energetic play of Kenyon Martin, who's averaging 16.4 points per game, 5.7 rebounds, 2.2 assists (that's better than you think for someone who's playing underneath with another slick frontcourt passer, Van Horn), and 2.2 blocks (among the league leaders). Martin's greatest contribution, however, is attitude. One of the things emerging teams talk about is "getting an identity." It sounds (and is) elusive, but it's not unimportant. For a long while now, the Nets' identity has been that of a team with some talent but one prone to mailing it in down the stretch. This season they're slowly developing an identity as a team with decent talent (Kidd, Van Horn, Kerry Kittles) and a hard edge, a team that's co-opted the kind of big-city toughness their neighbors across the Hudson used to have. Martin, a trash-talking, opponent-challenging, rim-rattling, technical-foul-drawing kind of guy, is primarily responsible for that.
Pulling for VaughnFar be it from me to suggest that we should be kind and gentle to high-paid pro athletes. But I admit to wincing during the early part of the season as the travails of backup Atlanta Hawks point guard Jacque Vaughn became nightly fodder on the sports highlight shows. I know Vaughn from his days at Kansas and consider him one of the most outstanding young athletes I've ever met -- intelligent, compassionate, intellectually curious and an all-around nice guy. That's why it was hard to watch Vaughn start the season by missing his first 22 shots from the field, and receive ironic applause when he finally made one. Vaughn isn't in the league for his shooting -- quickness and defense are his fortes -- but a backup guard who can't toss a rock in the Olympic Park pond won't be around long. Anyway, since his ghastly, confidence-shattering start, Vaughn has made 27 of his last 49 shots, lifting his percentage to an acceptable .380. If he raises it to, say, .450, that will be one remarkable turnaround. And I, for one, will applaud him. Sports Illustrated senior writer Jack McCallum covers the NBA beat for the magazine and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com. Click here to send a question to his NBA mailbag.
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