A case of loose-mouth syndrome broke out around Arco Arena Friday, and nothing positive resulted.
It started that morning with owner Joe Maloof speaking on the radio basically about how his coach, Reggie Theus, needs to develop a system or else.
As an owner, you can do and say what you want. Yet there's a request for the family that runs things at the big gas pump: Leave the comments regarding basketball to Geoff Petrie. Doing so limits the possibility of talking yourself and the team into unnecessary garbage.
Maloof basically said he's disappointed in his coach's style and work 10 games into the season. Theus has no concrete future with the club beyond this campaign because the team owns the option on next year, the last of his contract. That smells like setup stew.
The Maloofs are not basketball experts. They're fans with big bucks. Joe Maloof's comments sounded like those picked up from others. The guess here would be Petrie and perhaps vice president of media relations/basketball operations Troy Hanson, who is close to the family.
Once again: We're 10 games into the season.
A little more help for you: Center Brad Miller missed the first five games. Leading scorer Kevin Martin has played in seven. Francisco García's new nickname this season is "inactive."
We hear about the team's defense being disappointing. Surely, it was abysmal during that first four-game trip, but it has improved.
It's difficult to expect great defense with an offense-dominated roster unless those players are taught to defend and given time to progress as a unit.
And the organization wants an exciting, up-tempo squad. Understandable, but that also will hurt defensive statistics, just as playing three starters right now – rookie Jason Thompson, John Salmons and Beno Udrih – who never have started a full season, much less played one with one another.
The Kings are trying to rebuild on the fly. That means regularly taking lumps.
Few of us can have our cake and eat it, too. It sounds as if that's what the Maloofs want. They should remember that less than two years ago, they hired a coach with no NBA coaching experience. Silly me, but I thought that meant they were willing to give him a chance to grow.
The aforementioned syndrome didn't stop with the Maloofs. One member of the organization volunteered following Friday night's two-point overtime loss to the Phoenix Suns that veteran guard Bobby Jackson did not play in the second half because he was hurt.
That was news to Jackson.
"I wasn't hurt," he said. "I talked to Geoff and the coach this morning about it. I just thought I could have helped the team. But you can't expect me to come in and help if I don't play the whole second half. The coaches came to me with two minutes left."
By that time, Jackson had ice on his knees. That ice could have waited 10 more minutes, it says here. However, Jackson hadn't played in the first 22 minutes of the second half, so he thought he was done.
"It's not just about me," he said. "I think I could have helped make a difference in that game's outcome. I missed some shots (3 of 4) in the first half, but I can do other things to help. I will get the team in the offense, and I will play defense."
Call The Bee's Martin McNeal, (916) 326-5504.
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