What a difference a year makes...
I was going through my drawer of Kings crap the other night and I was drawn to the cover of last year's media guide. There were four guys that made up the cover:
Brad Miller Check that - World Team participant Brad Miller. Just a few months earlier Miller was wildly cheered at ARCO as it was announced that he would be representing the old red, white and blue. The crisp passing, the selflessness, the blue collar play, the bullseye shooting stroke. Yep, it was high time that the rest of the world found out what we already knew - Brad Miller is a stud!
Ron Artest The guy that took an 18-26 squad and turned it into a playoff team. Hell, he even got Adelman interested in defense, right? How good would we be with Ron-Ron for a whole season? And I'm telling you, he's maturing...
Mike Bibby You mean soon to be all star Mike Bibby, biatch. This is going to be his team this year. He's playing defense in the pre-season, pal. He even tweaked his wrist a little trying to steal a pass, but I'm sure it's no big deal. Now we just need the right guy to bring it all together...
Eric Musselman Brilliant! The wunderkind young coach with a penchant for defense and hard nosed play. The DUI thing? Hey everybody drives drunk. Some of us are just unlucky and get caught. But did you see the way the team stood behind E-Muss at the press conference? Solidarity and chemistry, baby. This is going to be sweet.
Not pictured was Kevin Martin. But hey, he's just a kid and the cover of the media guide is not just given to you. You have to earn it.
So it's less than a year later and the general consensus is that two of the three pictured players are overpaid, two of the three pictured players can't/won't play defense, two of the three pictured players don't get along, and all three pictured players need to be dealt. We may have missed the mark a little on E-Muss, too.
There's a little poll below. I have a pretty good idea whose going to win this, but given the passion of some the trade conversations I am curious to see the numbers.