How the best ever Sacramento Kings team missed the NBA Finals, then deteriorated

- The Sacramento Kings were once the

best

team

in the NBA. Executive Geoff Petrie revamped the humble franchise in the late '90s. Petrie hired Rick Adelman, an experienced coach. He made a controversial trade for Chris Webber, a multi-talented young power forward mired in serious legal trouble off the court. Webber's game flourished in Adelman's fast-paced offense, so much so that he overcame his initial distaste for Sacramento and signed a huge long-term extension. By 2002, a

team

led by Webber and Adelman had gone from good to great and reaching championship caliber. Center Vlade Divac congratulated Webber on his own veteran and creative talent.

Young Peja Stojakovic stood out not only as an elite shooter, but also as a star, one of the

best

scorers in the league. Doug Christie was the prototypical glue ready to defend the opposition's best scorer and contribute some shots of his own. Bobby Jackson was Sacramento's beloved spark plug off the bench, along with the rapidly improving young Hedo Turkoglu. And a risky operation in 2001 paid off. Petrie traded dazzling fan favorite Jason Williams for Mike Bibby, who soon proved to be a superior and more reliable point guard, precisely what the Kings needed to win it all. And the search for Sacramento's first ring was going well.

The Kings maintained home field advantage in the 2002 Western Conference Finals and took a two-to-one series lead over the L.A. Lakers. 2002 seemed like the year the Kings would become finalists, if not champions, and perhaps not for the last time. This one hurts. (melancholic instrumental music) So let's jump right to the 2002 Western Conference Finals. Yes, Shaq, Kobe and friends were two-time defending champions looking for a third title, but Phil Jackson's team was an underdog. The Kings maintained home field advantage in the series and, after blowing it early, regained their lead with a big win in game three on the road.

This, despite playing the start of the series without Peja Stojakovic, who had injured her ankle early in the playoffs. On May 26, 2002, Sacramento nearly won again in Los Angeles to establish a three-to-one lead in the series that they were unlikely to relinquish. Hedo Turkoglu stepped up and in Peja's absence, part of a solid opening unit that led by double digits before Los Angeles sharpshooter Robert Horry reduced the deficit. Vlade Divac led Sacramento's balanced scoring, but

missed

the first of two late free throws to give Los Angeles some life. The Lakers got the ball back with just two with 11 seconds left, but Kobe

missed

and Shaq missed.

Sacramento's top-notch defense got the job done, except for this. Divac grabbed one last rebound out of the paint and right into the deadly hands of Big Shot Rob. - The Lakers have won! - Robert Horry's greatest hits tour continues. - A three-one series lead turned into a two-two tie due to this unfortunate slap. Painful but not the end of the world. Sacramento came home and took the lead on Mike Bibby's game-winning jumper. And maybe you remember what happened next. Game 6 remains one of the most controversial in NBA history. The extreme discrepancy in fouls drew attention during the action.

It made headlines immediately afterward, and

then

years later, when corrupt former referee Tim Donaghy came right out and said the officials rigged Game 6 in favor of the Lakers. We have to keep moving forward, but that rabbit hole awaits you if you really want to lose your mind. That being said, rigged or not, the Kings had a chance to win game six. Bibby could have tied it with these three in the final seconds. The same for the seventh game. Despite the lousy free throws, the Kings took the deciding game to overtime only to ruin it in the final minute.

The Lakers won the West and

then

advanced to their third consecutive championship. That sucked, but the Kings had more than proven they were on par with the dynastic Lakers, especially given the turmoil brewing in Los Angeles, the future looked bright. And in fact, the 2002 and 2003 Kings were just as good as the year before, if not better. The team looked the same, only deeper: the progress of Turkoglu and the high-flying Gerald Wallace, plus a couple of new signings. Even with Webber, Stojakovic, Bibby and Bobby Jackson missing significant time due to injuries, the Kings nearly matched their 2002 peak.

They won 59 games and recovered in time for the postseason, where they unceremoniously extinguished Stockton's title chase. Malone. Next up or the Dallas Mavericks, an excellent team, but one that the Kings had managed in the regular season. Sacramento immediately made a statement by dominating the first game in Dallas. The second game brought disaster. In the third quarter of a crushing loss, Webber stood up to catch a Bibby lob and n

ever

managed to get off the court. After years of use, the meniscus in Webber's left knee tore. The Kings competed impressively without their leading scorer, but fell to Dallas in game seven.

A year after cruel twists of fate and dubious refereeing kept the Kings from the precipice of victory, an injury halted their second promotion. And this one hurts in the long term. Webber's injury required surgery in the summer and the Kings would miss their star for a while. Petrie knew Sacramento needed help. He acquired Brad Miller in a deal that lost Turkoglu del Rey and key bench defender Scot Pollard. That and a couple other small moves left Coach Adelman with less depth, much less defense and, of course, without Webber entering 2003-2004. But the King still had Peja, who earned some MVP votes with a brilliant scoring season.

The Kings didn't reintroduce Webber, who served a suspension in addition to his recovery, until March. They lost Bobby Jackson midseason. Even with all that, Sacramento won 55 games and entered the playoffs with the fourth seed, but the prelude to the playoffs was completely different. Webber was not himself. His percentages dropped, his defense disappeared, and his presence hampered the system Adelman had reshaped around Stojakovic and Bibby. Once he was the face of the Kings, Webber argued with his teammates and was booed at home. Reports even surfaced that Webber wanted a trade. Sacramento rekindled some positive vibes with a first-round revenge win over the Mavericks.

In the second round, they eliminated another seven-game series against the Timberwolves. Webber put up an admirable fight against league MVP Kevin Garnett, but KG took over Game 7 in Minnesota, and in the final seconds, Webber's overtime shot sailed off the rim. Now what? With no more basketball, the Kings had to figure out who they were and what, if anything, needed to change. Petrie had had success before with big, risky moves. Would I try something again? He wasn't going to fire Adelman, the first coach to win in Sacramento. And while Webber's return was bad for all parties involved, trading the star wasn't the GM's first, or second, or any option.

It's better to let the big guy regain shape. Petrie seemed more inclined to keep the core intact, but it was not entirely up to him. Divac left in free agency. As much as he loved Sacramento, the 36-year-old wanted one more big contract, and he found it with the post-Shaq Lakers. Stojakovic was disappointed to see Vlade leave and irritated by Webber's continued public comments. So Peja requested an exchange anywhere. Not dice. The Maloof brothers, owners of the Kings, dismissed the idea. They and Petrie met with Peja and told him that he planned to stay, and so he did.

Observers saw a team in crisis, but the Kings remained largely intact. His biggest mistake was letting the expansion Bobcats take Gerald Wallace, who flourished in Charlotte. But Sacramento made up for that by drafting another late bloomer, Kevin Martin. Nice pic. Other than that, the Kings simply hired the great Greg Ostertag to replace Divac and moved forward hoping

ever

yone would get along. Things seemed to be going well. Webber gave an increasingly decent impression of what he was like before the injury, Peja shook off a rusty start, the Kings won games, but Petrie wasn't feeling it. He first made some tweaks by swapping Christie for the young Cuttino Mobley.

Then, in February 2005, he took the big step. No, not Stojakovic, not Webber, who insisted that the stars had nothing between them and that he did not want to leave. Petrie said changing his cornerstone was one of the most difficult and emotional decisions he has ever made. This fan wondered if the Kings were self-destructing to start over. He was happy to dismiss Webber's sore knees and big salary. And finances indeed seemed to be foremost on Petrie's mind, because even considering Webber's condition and contract, this return was quite weak, although the salary differences gave Sacramento at least some future flexibility.

And that's a good thing because the Sonics ousted the Webber-less Kings from the 2005 playoffs. Yes, Sacramento lost to a twisted Vlad Radmanovic. One step further back from the achievements of 2002. Now what? The Maloofs were not 100% interested in Adelman, but they had already exercised the option on his contract for one more year. Even after disappointment in the playoffs, even after a flirtation with Phil Jackson, the Kings kept their coach. So it was up to Petrie to improve the squad, which was lacking in several areas. He saw some of Sacramento's role players leave as he looked for moves to replenish talent.

In August, the Kings were part of a multi-team deal in which they lost Bobby Jackson but added the versatile Bonzi Wells, who had only one year left on his contract. Then they finally found a hopeful replacement for Webber, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, the only All-Star who was only available because a knee problem derailed his trade to the Nets earlier that month. So yeah, here were your Kings entering the 2005-2006 season. A little disappointing and, as it turned out, not very good. The defense hadn't really improved and the offense fell off. Stojakovic and newcomer Wells missed several matches due to injuries.

At the end of January, the Kings were well below .500, heading for their first lottery pick since the pre-Adelman '90s. But Petrie, refusing to compromise, made a move. The Kings eventually granted Peja's trade wish, trading him directly to the Indiana Pacers in exchange for the man known at the time as Ron Artest. Artest had not returned to a happy role with Indiana after his long suspension for Malice at the Palace. So the deal made sense for both sides. Artest had a wild card personality, but also elite defensive talent, so the Kings took the risk. The Maloofs were gamblers or, you know, they owned casinos.

In any case, the measure paid off immediately. The Kings saved their season by playing elite basketball after the All-Star break. Sacramento entered the playoffs as an eighth seed and put up a decent fight against the one-seeded Spurs before losing in six. Now at this point you might be saying, “Okay, so an elite team got unlucky,” he made some moves and fell back to the middle of the pack. "It's not a big collapse." Shut up, here it comes. Shortly after the playoff loss, the Kings fired coach Adelman. Petrie may have wanted to keep his old friend close to him, but those spiky-haired brothers who courted Phil Jackson and then spent last season yelling from the sidelines, we're done with the coach.

To replace Adelman, the Kings hired Eric Musselman. Why bother men when you can muscle them up? After some negotiations with Wells, now a free agent, the Kings let him go and signed John Salmons to a huge contract. And here you go, the 2006-2007 Sacramento Kings. Artest played well, Bibby and Abdur-Rahim stayed healthy, Salmons was good and Kevin Martin became one of the league's leading scorers. And they stunk. Musselman's team played fast, like the old Kings, but his offense was much less efficient and his defense abysmal. The Kings lost 49 games and missed the playoffs, so they fired Musselman, hired Reggie Theus as coach, drafted Spencer Hawes and spent money on the great Mikki Moore.

When that team predictably continued to lose, Petrie dealt the last remaining member of the 2002 Kings, Mike Bibby, to dive headfirst into rebuilding mode. From 2008 to 2009, the Kings came up empty. They became the worst team in the NBA. However, the 2009 draft lottery did not go as expected. Sacramento, represented by a recently retired Webber, had the best odds but fell to the fourth pick. Therefore, theKings missed Blake Griffin and James Harden. They ended up picking Tyreke Evans, who won rookie of the year and played pretty well for a while, but they also didn't pick Steph Curry, who went seventh.

In the years that followed, Petrie failed to land big lottery picks or find the right leader. He picked DeMarcus Cousins ​​in 2010, which was fine, but then he picked Jimmer Fredette over any of these guys in 2011, and he picked Thomas Robinson over these guys in 2012. After employing Adelman for eight consecutive winning seasons, the Kings had five coaches. over the next seven losing seasons. Never again during Petrie's tenure did Sacramento achieve even 30 victories. Getting out of the basement is much harder than diving into it, and the franchise's constant threats of relocation only deepened the gloom of this era.

Under new ownership in 2013, the Kings stayed in Sacramento, but Petrie did not. Gone is the last relic of that era: the Sacramento Kings were really good. It's a different period in the team's history. In the first 35 years the Kings played in Sacramento, they enjoyed eight winning seasons. Those seasons happened consecutively and coincide precisely with the management of coach Rick Adelman. Those Kings became the most powerful team in the league with a perfect combination of players, including stars of different ages, an excellent supporting cast and the right point guard for the moment. This team was a magnificent construction, but misfortunes of all kinds forced the architect to dismantle his creation.

He never got the right pieces back to rebuild, and as quickly as the Sacramento Kings rose, they collapsed.