Just Wait ‘Til Next Year: 1999 — The Sky Was the Limit… Until It Wasn’t

After the surprising events that led to the Kings 1998-99 season, the anticipation of what this roster could accomplish with a full camp under its belt (remember, the 98-99 team came together quickly once the lockout ended). And as the Maloof family became majority owners, it appeared that the organization would (finally!) not be run on a shoe-string budget. The sky was the limit. The region was ready. As long as Y2K didn’t bring an end to the world, the sky was the limit.

Let’s Kings basketball!

The organization made a few tweaks to the roster in the off season. Tariq Abdul-Wahad, who was the starting shooting guard a year the prior season, was traded for Nick Anderson. Tony Delk was signed, and Vernon Maxwell was out. Bill Wennington and Tyrone Corbin were signed to round out the roster.

The Kings opened the regular season with a two game set in Japan vs. the Minnesota Timberwolves, splitting them. They then came home and won a rousing “revenge” home opener vs. the Utah Jazz, and followed that with seven more straight wins. The Kings were 9-1. The team was 27-14 at the halfway point of the season. Remember, this team won ten of its last eleven the prior season, so this was a team that was playing at a 55-60 wins level. Yep, sky’s the limit.

(Pauses for effect…)

And then they went 17-24 in the second half, including losing seven of their last eight. Instead of a first round playoff matchup with the 55-win Jazz, the Kings would have to instead face the 67 win Los Angeles Lakers. The Kings were a +21 in their two home wins, but an overmatched -61 in their three games in LA.

While the 20,000-foot view of the Kings was “great offense (first in points per game and pace), poor defense” (27th in points per game), they were actually 11th in offensive rating and 10th in defensive rating. The up tempo translated into a lot of points, but they were not especially efficient offensively, and they were better than advertised on the defensive end.

Health was not really a factor for this club. The primary issue was at shooting guard, Nick Anderson shot an abysmal 39% from the floor (33% from deep) and an eye-gouging 49% from the line. The first half of Anderson’s career had him hovering around 70% from the line, but the yips got the better of him as his career progressed, and he became the most cringy Kings free throw shooter this side of Greg Ostertag. Here’s a “fun” list of players that shot more free throws for the Kings at a lower conversion percentage than Anderson: ‘tag, Justin Williams (3-Way!), Brian Skinner, Yogi Stewart, Michael (Animal) Smith. Centers, physical power forwards, and shooting guard Nick Anderson. This would probably not be tenable.

Another issue was Jason Williams. Though he provided thrills and highlights, his penchant for eschewing the easier pass for a more exciting pass resulted in an assist / turnover ratio that was a tick below 2/1. The aggregate for the top-ten assist men in the league that year (Gary Payton, Sam Cassell, Nick Van Exel, John Stockton, Jason Kidd, Mike Bibby, Mark Jackson, Terrell Brandon, Eric Snow and Stephon Marbury) was 6.7 assists versus 2.2 turnovers, a 3/1 ratio. As much fun as J-Will was, this needed to be cleaned up.

Corliss Williamson was proving to be a little bit of a wonky fit with C-Webb and Divac up front. He was a little small to play the four, and didn’t stretch the defense from the three. Peja Stojakovic was getting better from three (37.5%), and he provided cleaner spacing.

All told, the Kings had done a pretty good job at the top of the roster, but there was work to be done on the margins (sound familiar?).

Reynolds’ Wrap:  The first season of the Maloof era proved less erratic and drama filled than the product on the floor (yes, that would change). However, this first season just allowed them to bask in the media limelight which was their desire and gave total freedom to Petrie and Adelman to deal with this frustrating season. Near seasons end it was apparent to Bball ops and every fan in the building that Nick Anderson was a mistake. Nick was a former top player, but the Kings acquired the washed version. Also, it was clear that Peja needed to be a key starter going forward. All agreed that JWill needed more discipline but felt patience was required (JWill did eventually get it just happened Hubie Brown was the provider). This season was much like Beam team 2. Expected improvement but didn’t get it. However, I, like Petrie/Adelman felt confident that one good trade could get us back on track. Next season would provide the answer.

***

I’d describe the fan vibe early in the season as unbridled elation, and more of a “where do we go from here?” vibe at the end. The fan base was loving the show and the players, but years of failure loomed not too far back in the rear view mirror. Was there to be more, or was this it? The infancy of the internet and the lack of social media spared Rick Adelman the “fire Adelman!” barbs that he would have surely faced in today’s environment, as well as rampant second guessing of Geoff Petrie. That said, the results were the results, and everyone was ready to see this team advance out of the first round of the playoffs.

I don’t have to squint very hard to find similarities between this season and 2023-24. Would the 2000-01 Kings be the template for the 2024-25, Kings, or would the Geoff Petrie-led front office forge a different path? I guess that we’ll just have to wait ‘til next year.