Just Wait ‘Til Next Year: 1998 — The Rebirth Begins

1998. Titanic was released. Kings fans flocked to the movie. As Kings fans, they were well versed in walking into an establishment knowing that the evening’s viewing would ultimately end in disaster. The Sacramento Kings were the Titanic, the hope of the Kings fans was the floating door that Rose refused to share, and the reality for Kings fans was the frigid water. As Kings fans, we were all Jack Dawson: dashing, debonair, and doomed.

Let’s Kings basketball!

25 days after finishing their very disappointing 1997-98 season, the Sacramento Kings traded (some would say paroled) their most talented (some would say their only talented) player, Mitch Richmond, and Otis Thorpe to the Washington Wizards (they lost the “Bullets” monicker a year earlier) for Chris Webber. Webber had been charged with possession of marijuana during a January 1998 traffic stop in Maryland (he was eventually acquitted of that charge but convicted of two traffic violations and failing to obey a police order). Six weeks later, and with fans clamoring for the likes of Paul Pierce, Michael Doleac and Michael Dickerson, the Kings, who had needs everywhere, used their seventh pick to select point guard Jason Williams, a young man who played 20 games for the Florida Gators before being suspended for…wait for it…his third marijuana violation in his one season at Florida.

Recapping, the Kings dealt an albeit unhappy but rock solid Mitch Richmond, acquired a player (Webber) that almost immediately stated that he would never play for Sacramento, and used their draft pick to select a young man who apparently found the weed to be of far greater importance than his team. Was there any stop to this madness?

On July 1, 1998, the NBA locked out the players. There would be zero roster activity during the lockout for the entire NBA. No trades. No free agent signings. No team workouts.

In August of 1998, customs officials found 11 grams of weed in Chris Webber’s luggage. After initially claiming the luggage and paying a $500 penalty, he later claimed (via his agent) that the luggage belonged to a female companion. Webber was never prosecuted for the possession, but Webber’s reticence to come to Sacramento was now echoed by more than a few Kings fans. Remember, this was 1998, not quite the Reefer Madness era, but the NBA did have strict rules against marijuana use. Oh well, the league and the players seemed to be nowhere near an agreement, so what did it matter? The longer the lockout lasted, the longer that the Kings would be tied for first place!

The Kings fired Eddie Jordan in August. Why pay a head coach if your team is not playing, right? Kangz gonna Kangz, regardless of who owns the team was the general consensus.

One month later, with the lockout still in place, the Kings hired Rick Adelman, a Geoff Petrie crony from Portland who had flamed out at Golden State. This freakin’ organization.

At some point during the lockout the Kings sent their season ticket holder a VHS tape that contained some flashy footage of Jason Williams (the non-suspended version) and some grainy, third world footage of Predrag Stojakovic. Great. The 1996 draft pick is finally coming over. Does he smoke weed, too?

In what would ultimately become the longest stoppage in NBA history, the lockout did not end until January 20, 1999, a total of 204 days. The season would now be shortened to 50 games, beginning roughly two weeks later. The Kings, like every other NBA team, had two weeks to get their roster set.

Chris Webber had softened his stance a bit by this time (with the help of his dad). He was still less than thrilled to be in Sacramento, but pops convinced him that you go where the work is.

The Kings first round of free agents netted local product Isaac Fontaine, Peter Aluma and Kevin Ollie. Wheeeeeee!

A day later, the Kings waived Fontaine and signed Jon Barry, Vernon Maxwell and Vlade Divac. Wai…wha??? Real-ish NBA players, signed by the Kings?

Less than two weeks later, the Kings made their biggest signing of the off season when they landed Oliver Miller. A couple of weeks into the season the Kings added Scot Pollard.

The Kings would sell out 14 of their 25 home games, as some fans had been turned off by the lockout, while others had adopted more of a “show me” attitude.

The team would get off to a 2-1 start, but would not get over .500 again until game 47. To be fair, this was an entirely new core except for Williamson and Abdul-Wahad (and to a lesser extent, Funderburke), and the entirety of the roster had to get to know each other as well as Rick Adelman (and Pete Carril’s Princeton offense). The Kings would close like a freight train (the polar opposite of how prior Kings teams limped to the finish line), winning its last five and ten of its last eleven.

Some regular season notes:

• Chris Webber played 41 minutes a night in his 42 games and led the league in rebounding. He was named second team All-NBA. Webber also led the team in scoring at 20 ppg.
• The team had five players average more than 10 ppg (Webber, Divac, Williamson, Williams and Maxwell), and eight that averaged at least 8 ppg (add Abdul-Wahad, Funderburke and Stojakovic).
• Jason Williams was a human highlight film, leading the team in assists and earning a couple of Rookie of the Year votes.
• Webber and Divac combined for 8.4 assists in the Princeton. Passing like this had never been seen in Sacramento (or several other NBA towns).
• Jon Barry was the human floor burn. His hustle endeared him to the fan base.
• Scot Pollard was the best and most physical 10th man in the league.
• Stojakovic was 6th in minutes, and he seemed like a bit of a chucker (unless you compared him to Maxwell, who took even more 3s in fewer minutes. Stojakovic shot 38% from the field and 32% from 3. Thank goodness we had Corliss!

The finish vaulted the Kings over the Seattle Supersonics and Minnesota Timberwolves for the 7th seed in the West, and they would meet the #2 seed Utah Jazz, led by league MVP Karl Malone. We were back in the playoffs! Geoff Petrie, you mad genius!!!

The fan base memories are all about the 2001-02 playoffs (no spoilers), but this one that really resonates with me. So many signature moments that I recall with clarity.

Game 1 – The Emperor has no clothes. The Kings walked into Utah and got spanked by 30 points, losing 87-117 (by the way, I know that putting the score in this fashion enrages some, which isn’t the only reason that I do it, but it’s the main reason I do it). The Kings shot 36.5% from the floor, while the Jazz shot 56.5%. The Jazz jumped out to a 37-20 first quarter lead and never looked back. They were just a much better, much more physical team. The Kings were outmatched. It was going to be both a long and a short series.

Game 2 – Emperor This, Biatch! Two nights later, Chris Webber absolutely throttled John Stockton with an illegal screen, earning a flagrant foul nine seconds into the game. After spotting the Jazz the first four points of the game, the Kings would take a 31-24 first quarter lead. The Jazz would come back to claim a 51-49 halftime lead, and the game hung in the balance at the end of three, 78-76 Kings. The Kings would go on a 9-1 run to start the fourth quarter. After the Jazz closed it to 87-83, Divac hit a layup off of a Webber assist to give the Kings an 89-83 lead with 6:15 left in the game. Neither team scored for the next three minutes. Webber made back-to-back baby hooks to offset a Stockton three. After Malone hit a 12 footer to close it to 93-88, the Kings went 8-10 from the line over the last 1:14 to finish the Jazz off 101-90, evening the best of five series and sending it to ARCO for the next two games. Stat of the game: Kings 8-15 from deep (including a key one from C-Webb), while the Jazz were 1-11.

Game 3 – The Grind. How about a game where the halftime score is 41-37, and the score at the end of the 4th quarter is 77-77? How about 11 combined points scored in overtime? 48 fouls called in total, almost one per minute. 9-31 for Stockton/Malone from the field, 9/27 for Webber/Jason Williams. A defensive, mauling slugfest. Howard Eisley and Shandon Anderson almost pulled it out for the Jazz, scoring a combined 38 points off the bench on 14-23 shooting. But Corliss Williams on was an efficient 8-11 from the field, and the Kings had eight(!) players with at least four rebounds as they out boarded the Jazz 53-38, including 16-9 on the offensive glass. Divac’s 22 (on 7-16) and 14 (plus five assists) earned him the unofficial player of the game. In the span of three games, the Kings had gone from the bullied to the bully, and stood at the precipice of vanquishing the Jazz and moving on to the second round. Sacramento was absolutely lit.

Game 4 – To recap, after getting blown out in every way in game 1, the Kings have come roaring back to take a 2-1 series lead, doing so with both style and snarl. A win tonight and the Kings advance. A loss and its back to Utah for game 5. This would be another hard fought, in the trenches game. The Jazz shot 49% from the field to the Kings 38%, but the Kings were a quantity/quality 26-30 from the line, while the Jazz were 9-10. The +17 from the line came from the officiating crew of Dan Crawford, Ron Garretson and Greg Willard for any conspiracy theorists that like to keep track of these things. The Kings final two free throws came with seven seconds left in the game, when Vlade Divac converted a pair of free throws to put the Kings up 89-88. And then, with time expiring, shot at an angle that put me directly behind him so that I could follow the trajectory of the shot, John Stockton buried a 22 footer to win it for Utah. What was seconds earlier a madhouse had become a library. I followed 17,316 other numb Kings fans out of the arena for the funeral procession out of the parking lot. Game five awaited, but we were so close to uncorking a frenzy at ARCO.

Game 5 – Is It Always Going To Hurt This Much? First off, big ups to the Kings for overcoming a 10 point halftime deficit to send another game to overtime, thanks to holding the Jazz to 36 points in the second half. Jon Barry hit a 3 with 5:39 left to shrink the deficit to 76-79, and the lead for either team did not get bigger than 3 points for the rest of regulation. The Kings went up 84-81 on a Vlade Divac hook shot with a minute left. Bryon Russell tied it with a 3 on Utah’s next possession. There was no more scoring in regulation – at the buzzer, Divac yanked a 6 footer that would have advanced the Kings to the next round. Utah outscored the Kings 9-2 over the last 3:30 of overtime, and the season was suddenly over.

There was such a mixed bag of feelings. First, a little fan exhaustion. Simply, we were rested for the playoffs, but as a base we were not emotionally trained for the playoffs. How did fanbases like the Celtics and Lakers do this year after year? I mean, as a perennial lottery team, you always knew the exact date that your season was ending. This was so much more volatile and final. Second, this team obliterated any expectations that fans might have had prior to the lockout and even through the first half of the season. Wanting more felt almost greedy. Stockton misses, or Divac makes. Are the playoffs really decided by such vagaries? It was thrilling and compelling and stomach churning.

Reynolds’ Wrap: “The 98-99 season represented not only a turnaround for the Kings but the start of a special time for me. I was starting my TV career and also the GM of the Monarchs (WNBA). Amazingly, all three jobs, Player Personnel, TV Analyst, and GM were going great with a lot of winning and fun ahead. The only negative was a potential loss of sanity keeping up in all three responsibilities. Winning helped me maintain some level of stability regardless of what Ms. Reynolds might describe. Whether it was J-Will, Ticha or Grant providing the Hoop excitement, life for me was very good. I can’t say I deserved this Hoop Joy but I damn sure needed it!” – Jerry Reynolds

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So here we had this fresh, new team, full of heroes and anti-heroes and stars and bit players and high wire acts and lunch pail carriers. It didn’t matter that we didn’t have a first round pick (residue of a deal from years earlier, #17 to Atlanta: the one and only Cal Bowdler). We had a GM with a vision and his hand picked coach to carry that vision through. The lockout was in the rear view mirror. The past was getting smaller in the distance. A new story was about to be written, and none of us could “Wait ‘til Next Year.”