Game 67 - at Atlanta

First item: I dont know if Muss got a raw deal in GS. He did have arenas & dampier on a final deal to coach. That is something to work with. Even if hibachi zero wasnt on the level he's currently at. I dont know how much working for mike fratello helped him or not. Fratello got canned for losing his players this season. Also ive never hired/fired anybody. But i know that running a nba team is not like running other business'. You dont do things the way you would run a beer distributorship, casino etc etc etc.

2nd item: I didnt say musselman deserves all the blame or even most of the blame. This isnt a team that takes advantage of what he does. I think the team would be best to part ways. It's clear he doesnt have an elixir to brad miller being permanently grounded. Again this comes back to the maloof's. Noone realistically expects muss to be able to coax athleticism or speed out of miller,bibby etc etc etc.

3rd item: He deserves to get fired for the way he's handled this team this season. Handling artest with kid gloves is not a smart way to go. He never drew a boundry. This team looks confused on the court & i think that is a byproduct of a mismatched group from the coaching staff to the group that is on the court.

4th item: Geoff Petrie does deserve some blame. Part of a good relationship between a coach & owners is on the management buffer between them. I'm pretty sure ,though, that Geoff can only take that buffer so far. Rick can be surly & difficult for sure and anyone will tell you that when they've tried to interview him. The problem is they really believe (naively from my view) that coaching makes a great difference in playing defense. Eh not with mike bibby on your team. Ive said for years including when this blog was newish that mike bibby was an awful defender. I still maintain he's 1 of the 5 worst. Anyway the problem that as I see it with the maloofs is they are trying to be a mark cuban'ish' owners. But as ive said many times they should settle for listening to their basketball people. They dont understand personnel like cuban does (they dont have his success or failure @ it...well maybe the failure...but not the success either...the kings greatest assest's belong to petrie)and frankly have a different set of circumstances. Cuban has a much bigger market and more money to spend too. He likes attending the games & so do the brothers. The comparisons end there.

5th Item: Artest is very different from most of the players you mentioned really. Mad max was a 1 year option. So was bonzi wells in my humble opinion. In fact 1 of these days im gonna do a bonzi vs johnny post. I think webber's problems were more locational than anything. Being a star in a place like sacramento balanced many of his quirks. Ron-Ron is not like any of these guys. He has personal problems that stem his ability to focus. I'm not sure comparing any of those guys to each other has much to be learned in a comparison.

Last but not least the lesson is that petrie is still the biggest asset this organization has. Not everybody likes every move he makes. But it says here that the maloofs would be wise to step back & listen to Geoff. I have had arguments with a few unwise kingsfans who swear up & down that geoff was hired in 1995. The reality isnt simply so but they go onto hoopshype and they see thats when, according to hoopshype, he was hired. It doesnt matter if thats the reality or not. I think thats what happened to the maloofs. They heard comments from hubie brown about jason williams playing defense because he demanded it. That mike bibby played defense because he demanded it. Well the reality is that demanding defense wont get it. Jason williams' defense didnt improve in memphis. He simply funneled guys into the shot blockers memphis had. That isnt better defense. Thats simply a different focus on how to play basketball. No one will ever confuse hubie brown for rick adelman or vice versa. Unfortunately, for the maloofs & us, they quite arent able to make these distinctions. I wish they could as they have the potential given their passion to create a truly top echelon franchise. That would be truly remarkable given over the course of time how few small franchises have been able to maintain an upper echelon status. They wont however achieve this if they are trying to compete with the cubans of the world for attention. They're Las Vegas guys who like glitz & glamour. They better learn the cow pasture just dont roll that way.