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Mike Monroe
Wednesday, October 27
Webber the leader of the new Kings



We all know the Spurs and Trail Blazers are the favorites to win the Western Conference this season -- they are one-two in some sports books in Las Vegas to win not just the Western title, but the NBA title -- and that the Lakers, Jazz and Rockets are considered just a short dropoff away from their level.

Here's a dark horse to crack the West's top four this season and get home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs: the Sacramento Kings.

Chris Webber
Webber needs to work on his free throws, but the rest of his game is top-notch.
And here are the reasons: Chris Webber's improved attitude about California's capital city and improved free throw shooting, and Jason Williams' maturation.

You might recall that Webber arrived in Sacramento announcing his intention to get out of town just as soon as his contract would allow. Now, he wants to finish his career there.

Traded to the Kings in the summer of 1998, Webber arrived in Sacramento last January with his bags packed, ready to depart at the conclusion of his contract. Though he got to Sacramento a few days early, he was so distressed about being there that he didn't report for the first day of training camp.

Nine months later, Webber is ready to sign a long-term agreement and plant some roots in Sacramento, where he loves playing and the city loves him.

Don't ask him when he reached the conclusion that Sacramento was the place to be. He doesn't know. He does remember when the feelings of despair began their 180-degree turn.

The Kings were preparing for their first preseason game after the lockout, and Webber talked to the team about how the new guys had to help the returnees.

"I said all of the B.S. that had been here before was over," Webber recalled. "I said this was a new team.

"That was our first time playing together, and after I said that and the way guys were talking, when we walked out on the floor together, I knew we had something good. That didn't mean I accepted it at that point, but I knew it was something good."

Webber's relationships with family and friends are precious, and his relationships with his teammates have evolved into a heartfelt camaraderie. His acceptance by the city has cemented those feelings.

"It's just been a process of getting to know Vlade (Divac) and Jason (Williams)," he said. "People in the city come up to us and say, 'Thank you for what you've done for Sacramento' and that type of thing. You can really see how much pride people have in the city of Sacramento. It was really a long process.

"I always speak my mind, and I never would have thought after coming here that I'd be ready to say this would be a place I'd like to stay, especially how adamant I was last year. But that's the truth. Now, who knows the future, but I definitely like it here and love playing here with the fans, and especially the guys on the team."

Here's an example of the kind of camaraderie that helped turn Webber into one of Sacramento's top civic boosters:

Last Thursday night, in an exhibition in Detroit, he was asked by several teammates and Kings coach Rick Adelman to shoot a technical free throw.

Now, Webber is a career 54 percent free thrower, a fact that has kept him from being a legitimate MVP candidate, an Achilles' heel just like Shaquille O'Neal's. How can a player be his team's go-to guy in the crunch, let alone an MVP candidate, when you can't go to him for fear the opponent will send him to the foul line with anticipated impunity?

But Webber appears on his way to curing his lifelong free throw ills, and his teammates' confidence in him to shoot a technical was a fine example.

"As soon as the technical was called," Webber said, "Vlade told me to shoot it. Then the head coach told me to shoot it. Then Jason, and they didn't say it because the others had said it. They didn't even know the others had said it. "Really, they were just trying to show the confidence they had in me. I'd never shot a technical shot before in high school, college or the pros. But they know I've been trying to work on (free throw) shooting, and they wanted to say they were with me.

"That's more than you can ask for from your teammates. And that's the same type of thing I would do for somebody else if they were in my situation."

Williams said it's clear Webber has been working on his free throws.

"He's like a whole different person up there shooting," Williams said. "It's like he doesn't care. I mean, I know he cares, but he doesn't worry about missing. You could see it in his face last year when he missed that it was really bothering him.

"When you're shooting them good, you don't really worry about missing them because you have confidence in yourself."

He's one of the best passers I've seen. With his flashy passing, he puts on a show.
Larry Bird on Jason Williams

Speaking of confidence, Williams never has lacked it, but in this exhibition season seems to have gained some more faith in his shot. And he still puts on his passing show. He was a one-man offensive dynamo this week in an exhibition game against the Pacers in Evansville, Ind., as he wowed an estimated crowd of 7,500 with a rare display of passing and shooting, scoring a game-high 25 points on 9-for-15 shooting, including 3-of-5 from three-point range.

"I think Jason threw about every pass you can throw," Adelman said. "He threw one to Art Long that I think shocked the heck out of him. I don't think anybody in the place believed Jason was going to try and get the ball to him."

Williams clearly is seeing the floor unlike most others who play the game and has such a varied number of methods to dispense the ball. His ability to see the game before it unfolds reminds some of Pacers coach Larry Bird.

Bird was asked if he saw any of himself in the youngster.

"Naw," Bird deadpanned, "he's a better player. He's exciting. He has deep range, out to 25 or 30 feet. He's one of the best passers I've seen. With his flashy passing, he puts on a show."

Told of Bird's comments, Williams only could laugh with a disbelieving look on his face. Then he asked for the story to be told to Webber, who trailed him out of the locker room.

"Yeah, right," Webber said.

Which may be the reaction most of you have to this bold prediction: If Webber makes even 65 percent of his free throws this season, the Kings will finish in the West's top four.

Wandering the West
  • Hakeem Olajuwon has begun to wonder about this newfangled running thing the Rockets are using. By the third preseason game, Olajuwon had been de-emphasized to a non-factor, easily outscored by Orlando's Michael Doleac, a condition he understood in the preseason but clearly expected to be corrected. "When we said we were going to run, that doesn't mean you neglect the post," Olajuwon said. "Most of the game, the guy guarding me was just relaxing. I was not a threat."

    He doesn't seem angry -- yet. He laughed when he talked about Doleac relaxing on the defensive end. He described finding his place in the Rockets' still-evolving offense as a process. "There will be a time when I need to get more touches," he said. "But it's too early to worry about it.

    "When we rebound and run in the flow, we'll get a running game," Olajuwon added. "But in basketball, you have to use the post as an advantage. The coach is now trying to get everybody adjusted to the system. In time, he'll want me to touch it."

    Rest assured, Rudy Tomjanovich is no fool. He will want Olajuwon to touch it.

  • The Spurs finally got an encouraging sign they might remain in San Antonio. The latest poll had 50.7 percent of voters supporting a Nov. 2 ballot proposal to fund a new arena, with 36.6 opposed. Politicians call that an insurmountable lead. Guardedly optimistic, the Spurs believe the final results of the Nov. 2 election will be closer. The Spurs owners said there is no backup plan if the vote fails. In other words, if it does, they're outta there. Spurs chairman Peter Holt likely would move the team himself, instead of selling.

    Would the league allow a recent champion to pick up and leave the only city in which it had played (at least as an NBA entity)? David Stern, interviewed by the San Antonio Express-News in Italy, declined to issue an ultimatum on the record. But it was clear, between Stern's lines, the league wouldn't block an attempt by the team to move.

    "Our board would be supportive in the right case," Stern said, generally speaking about relocation. "I'm sure of it. Of course, you and I know that one of the big elements in every relocation is to compare the facility of the old city to the facility of the new city. That's just the reality of the process.

    "I just remain the eternal optimist," Stern said. "The reality is every city deserves, and NBA cities have gotten, state-of-the-art arenas. You know, midsize facilities for the Ice Capades, family shows, the circus and, oh yes, basketball. San Antonio doesn't have (a state-of-the art building). So it's incomprehensible to me that there won't be a new building."

    Stern, though, is not a registered voter in Bexar County, Texas.

  • Suddenly it looks like the Clippers have a clue, on the court, at least. Michael Olowokandi is coming along nicely and rookie Lamar Odom has been very good in preseason games. Said one Clipper official, "This might be the best team we've ever had, better than the Danny Manning-Charles Smith dynasty."

    Leave it to a Clippers official to refer to a team that merely made the playoffs as a dynasty.

    Not that management can't screw this one up, too. Though Maurice Taylor has had a great attitude, he's still insisting he's leaving, which may make Derek Anderson, another free agent, restless, followed sooner or later by everyone else. Just like with the Manning-Smith dynasty.

    Said Taylor: "I always felt that the moves that we made over the last off-season were very positive. Drafting Lamar and acquiring Derek and Eric (Murdock) were great moves for the team.

    "It's just sad that we won't see it grow together."

  • Despite many suggestions to the contrary in New York, the Lakers aren't giving any sign of being interested in Latrell Sprewell. Phil Jackson, who makes no bones about what he wants and doesn't want, said this about Sprewell: "Latrell hasn't really wanted to fit in anywhere. And one of the things we try to do is we try to have people who want to be part of what we're doing. We want players that want to be here, that want to be compliant. And he has never shown that."

    Mike Monroe, who covers the NBA for the Denver Post, writes a Western Conference column for ESPN.com. You can e-mail him at monroe128@go.com

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