Posted by Sacramento King on March 29, 2004 at 14:24:15:
Guard Bobby Jackson hopes to enliven struggling Sacramento Kings
Fri Mar 26, 6:23 PM ET
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - Bobby Jackson (news) expects to play for the
Sacramento Kings (news) on Sunday after missing the last five weeks
with a strained muscle in his abdomen.
Jackson, the NBA's top sixth man last season, also expects the Kings
to return to the form they showed before he got injured - before Chris
Webber (news) returned from a knee injury 3½ weeks ago. That's when
Sacramento hit its worst slump of the year while trying to integrate
its best player into what had been the NBA's best team.
'We know how good we can be,' Jackson said after feeling no discomfort
during a lengthy practice Friday. 'We're not giving that same effort
every night. We're not guarding nobody. That's one through 10.
Everybody is killing us. We know what we've got to do. We can't make
excuses. We have to come out and play defence.'
The Kings (51-21) led the Western Conference by just two games
entering Friday's action - a tenuous hold on the spot they've occupied
since late November. Sacramento is 8-6 since Webber's return,
including four losses in the last six games.
Jackson averaged 13.9 points and 3.5 rebounds per game before getting
hurt Feb. 20 at Chicago. He has missed 19 games.
'My stomach is fine, but my feet are barking like I ran a marathon
today,' Jackson said. 'You never know with this injury. There's always
going to be a little discomfort. If I need surgery, I can get it after
the season, but right now I think I need to be out there.'
Jackson's absence has been costly, forcing Mike Bibby (news) to play
extra minutes and leaving the team without a true point guard when
Bibby rested. The Kings also miss Jackson's spark plug presence on
their defence, which has allowed 103.7 points over the last six games.
The Kings refused to rush Jackson back, because such injuries can
linger for months if not properly rested. Shaquille O'Neal (news)
battled a stomach injury for much of last season, and Washington's
Gilbert Arenas twice re-injured himself earlier this season when he
attempted to come back too early.
Forward Gerald Wallace, out 15 games with a sprained left foot, also
returned to practice Friday. He expects to play Sunday, forcing the
Kings to make a roster move that might send guard Rodney Buford to the
injured list.
Sacramento also has fallen 1½ games behind Indiana for the NBA's best
record, while the Los Angeles Lakers (news) moved within 2½ games of
the Pacific Division lead with their 115-91 pounding of the Kings on
Wednesday night.
Coach Rick Adelman put the Kings through a physical workout Friday,
with another planned for Saturday, a day before a home game against
the Wizards. Six of the Kings' final nine games are on the road,
including a brutal trip to face all three playoff-bound Texas teams
next week.
Barring any setbacks, Adelman expects Jackson to play approximately 20
minutes Sunday.
'I told him, 'I don't care about your feet,'' Adelman said with a
grin. 'He hasn't been out here in a long time, but you can see the
difference he makes just by being out here at practice. He raises the
level. It changes the rotation a lot having him ready to play, and it
changes our energy level off the bench.'
-------
Sacramento Bee
http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/basketball/kings/story/8584590p-9512873c.html
Mark Kreidler: Team's recent troubles reflect Jackson's value
By Mark Kreidler -- Sacramento Bee Sports Columnist
Published 2:15 a.m. PST Saturday, March 20, 2004 -- SACRAMENTO
You want to go searching for the thing that's missing around the
Kings lately, you almost need to take a number. In these parts,
everybody's an investigator. Maybe it has something to do with Chris
Webber's awkward return to the mix.
Maybe it's about Brad Miller coming off the bench. It could have
something to do with how often Doug Christie brings his A game, or
with Rick Adelman's substitution patterns, or Vlade Divac's caffeine
quotient.
All plausible. But it's funny how those conversational roads
eventually wind their way back together - and dead-end at the place
where Bobby Jackson sits idling.
It has been a month now since Jackson went to the injured list with
the tricky abdominal strain that continues to elude easy predictions
about his return, and there's just no further evidence needed than
those four weeks to settle the argument about whose team the Kings
are.
They aren't anyone's team. They are a team in the almost classic
definition, a complex carbohydrate. They no more belong to Webber than
to Jackson or Peja Stojakovic or anyone else.
Webber spoke earlier this week about thinking of the Kings as his, in
the sense that if Sacramento tanks in the playoffs, Webber is likely
to be blamed for the fall. In that case, the power forward seemed to
suggest, why not try to re-establish himself as the go-to guy and
assume the mantle of authority?
There's a ring of truth to what Webber said, only for the wrong
reasons. Webber will be a focal point in the media and among fans
simply because he is. Always.
Period. It's a function of his stardom and his visibility and his
contract and, frankly, his media savvy. But it may not always have so
much to do with basketball.
I'd argue that to this point, the Kings have missed Jackson at least
as much as they missed Webber during his 58-game absence. It's the
team dynamic you see at play here, the value that a player like
Jackson brings that is so far beyond the statistically measurable.
Jackson is points, sure, and some assists and a steal or two. But more
broadly, the man is energy. He is defense and attitude and exactly the
right touch of physical recklessness. He's the player who makes Mike
Bibby better, not the other way around.
He'll launch up the occasional ridiculous shot, yes. He will drive
Adelman to distraction now and again. But first and foremost, Jackson
improves the Kings almost every minute he is on the floor.
If you're really searching for what has been missing lately, that's
the place to start.
The Kings really are different, OK? It's not your imagination. They
are filled with name players, yet almost never star-driven. They are
as likely to be put on the right track by a great one-play effort from
someone like Christie or Miller as they are by anything else in a
48-minute game. They've got All-Stars and still somehow wind up being
better than the sum of their parts - and, sometimes, worse.
They play quality defense only in spurts. That's established. And so
often those stretches of strong defense are ignited by a single play:
Christie locking down a shooting guard and coming up with a steal,
Miller hitting the deck to scrap after a loose ball.
How many times over the past few seasons has it been Bobby Jackson who
keys such a stretch? Jackson is the guy who minimizes the flaws in his
game by playing harder than anyone else. He can inspire an entire
unit, even a unit of stars, with his work ethic. That's the team
dynamic at play, and it's the reason Jackson can be so sorely missed
even with so many bright lights swirling around him wearing Sacramento
uniforms.
I figure Kings fans are inclined to find something to worry about most
of the time, it comes with the territory. The past couple of weeks
have been given over to the subjects of Webber's return and his
effectiveness and the team's cohesion around him, and to forecasting
how all of that will affect Sacramento's ability to play deep into May
or June.
Totally appropriate to the moment, of course. But the future of worry
in Kingsland is Bobby Jackson and the abdominal strain that still
restricts his lateral movement. It is the injury that keeps Jackson
off the floor and Adelman limited to a single true ball-handling
option.
It is the injury that has the Kings, less than a month from the
postseason, relying solely on Mike Bibby at point guard. Two seasons
ago in the playoffs, Bibby became a star. If the time since then has
proven anything, it is that the Kings don't need a star nearly as much
as they need a team.
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