Voisin Starts Packing C-Webb's Bags



What with Vlade leaving town, the Kings' Peja Stojakovic is demanding a trade. The Sacramento Bee's Ailene Voisin would much rather see Chris Webber shipped elsewhere.

Clubs that collapse as dramatically as the Kings during those final weeks, with players imitating actors who forget their lines, and whose lead character suddenly steals the script and pockets the applause, seldom survive intact.

But the wrong guys are running for the exit.

Someone better bar the door, quickly.

The Kings have already committed one serious error - failing to appreciate Vlade Divac's immense popularity and ensuring that the veteran center retired as a member of the organization - and once again are embroiled in a situation that should have been addressed aggressively months ago.

There have been only two reasonable choices: The team's most powerful personality (Chris Webber) should be traded or the head coach (Rick Adelman) should be replaced by someone willing to confront the heavyweights.

Devastating finishes call for desperate measures. Haven't the Kings learned anything from the Lakers?

When relationships become strained beyond repair, manifested by lousy chemistry on the court and poisoned dynamics in the locker room, the key ingredients require a serious second look.

And from the time Webber returned March 2 following knee surgery and an eight-game suspension, the view was the same in Serbia as it was in Sacramento: ugly, ugly, ugly, ugly.

Given the severity of his injury and 10-month rehabilitation, he was in no position to resume his role as the dominant player, much less demand that others step aside.

His mobility was significantly hampered. He carried at least 15 pounds of unnecessary muscle, a serious liability for any elite athlete with bad knees. Realistically, he was at least an offseason and several months away from discovering whether his full complement of skills would ever be recaptured.

But worst of all, Webber never embraced the nuances of a system that enabled the Kings to attack from all angles, yet attack as a single, highly efficient entity.




But no one challenged the power forward about his game or his post-game critiques - everyone was always at fault, it seemed, except Webber - or insisted that he join the team instead of revising the game plan to accommodate his individual desires. When someone should have intervened and taken control of the situation, no one did, and that someone should have been the head coach.

So why would anyone be surprised that Divac would leave? That Stojakovic would request a trade? That Webber's ridiculous ramblings, inferences and innuendos would never abate?

Posted: Sat - August 7, 2004 at 05:27 PM      

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