Just Wait ’Til Next Year: 2003 — Peja’s Masterpiece

Entering the 2003 season, the Kings had made the playoffs for five straight seasons. And after watching last year’s team navigate its way to 59 wins in spite of a rash of injuries, it was a foregone conclusion that the Sacramento would never, ever, EVER miss the playoffs again. Ever! That said, there was certainly a concern over how serious of a title contender this team could be with Chris Webber on the shelf with his shredded knee. How would the Kings adjust? And when would we get to hang a “Mission Accomplished” banner, or would that be considered a Bush league move?

Let’s Kings basketball!

The Kings began their off season by trading a second-round pick for Darius Songaila. With Webber being out, and Lawrence Funderburke and Scot Pollard no longer reliable, the Kings needed to shore up the front line. But this was just an amuse bouche for the main course.

A month later, the Kings sent fan favorites Pollard and Hedo Turkoglu to the Indiana Pacers in a sign and trade for Brad Miller. Miller was coming off an All-Star year* and was a legit NBA player, but his fit with Vlade Divac was at least a bit of an eye brow raiser, and losing the versatile Hedo was a bit unsettling amongst the fan base, especially given the financial investment involved (I seem to recall it as being a 7 year, $68m deal, which was very close to the top of the investment mountain back in those days).

Miller’s reputation was that of a lunch pail guy. Hard worker, did the dirty work inside. Set hard screens. Competed on defense. Not much range on offense. But as was the case with Mike Bibby, Bobby Jackson and Doug Christie (among others), the Geoff Petrie-led front office saw something in Miller that most of us did not – a big guy that could step out and score a bit at range. And the cheat code was that he was a willing and effective passer.

The Kings’ other off season moves included signing Anthony Peeler and Tony Massenburg, and they somewhat surprisingly traded Keon Clark to Utah (the swapping of future second-round picks was also involved).

The core rotation would have some new faces, especially as long as Webber was out. Miller joined Divac, Christie, Bibby and Peja Stojakovic in the starting five, and Peeler, Bobby Jackson and Songaila would be the primary bench pieces, unless Gerald Wallace could suddenly learn how to shoot and become relevant.

The injury bug had (for the most part) moved on. Bobby Jackson missed 32 games down the stretch of the season and the entire playoffs with an abdominal strain. After all that Jackson had given the Kings over the years, I was surprised how quickly some fans (and an unnamed local sportscaster with a daily radio show on KHTK1140) questioned Jackson’s toughness and commitment. I sided with head coach Rick Adelman’s take: Adelman defended Jackson’s long absence by pointing to his own similar injury as proof that this kind of pain doesn’t show up on an X-ray, and that Jackson’s toughness means if he says he can’t play, nobody should question it.

Bobby Jackson. Good King.

Before we get into the 2003-04 season of Peja Stojakovic, a side note / rant.

Basketball Reference has a Win Shares column in their statistics layout. And we all know that we can use stats to make any point that we want, and that while stats are numerical in nature, they are subjective depending on how they are applied. With that said, this is the list of Sacramento Kings that have led their teams in win shares at least three times: Mitch Richmond (5), Peja Stojakovic (3), Kevin Martin (3), DeMarcus Cousins (3), Domantas Sabonis (3). Missing from this list: Chris Webber (2), Vlade Divac (1 – the strike-shortened 98-99 season).

This stat alone does not mean that Peja (or Martin or Cousins) was better than Chris Webber. As Jerry Reynolds has always said, bad teams have a leading scorer, too. And when it comes to Cousins and Martin, the lack of talent surrounding them elevated their win share standing (to wit, Martin led the team with 4.7 win shares in 2008-09, while Webber’s 8.6 in 2001-02 was bested by Peja’s 9.9).

But there is at least a small argument to made that from 2001 – 2004, Peja Stojakovic may have been the best player on the Sacramento Kings? At the very least, the second best player on an incredibly good team, and an underappreciated talent. Glue guy, shmu guy, I will never understand how/why Vlade Divac has a jersey hanging from the Golden 1 Center rafters and Peja Stojakovic does not. The seven and a half seasons that Stojakovic spent in Sacramento were / are rare air. If wins are part of the equation, Webber and Peja stand alone. If it is a cocktail of talent and success, then add Sabonis. If you are giving grace to players that could not overcome their front offices, add in Richmond and De’Aaron Fox. And if you are giving grace to players that could not overcome players and themselves, add Cousins. For me, Peja ranks #3, but on a par with Webber and Richmond, a clear notch above whoever you want to rank fourth.

OK, back to 2003-04. Peja Stojakovic put together what may have been the single greatest season by a player in Sacramento history. Stojakovic played 81 games and averaged over 40 minutes per game (!!!), a whopping total of 3,264 minutes. Add another 12 games of playoffs (516 minutes / 43 mpg) and Peja was on the floor for 93 games and 3,780 minutes in 2003-04. For perspective, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander logged 3,449 minutes in 99 games while leading Oklahoma City to the 2025 NBA title).

The next nutso stat is the .624 true shooting percentage. Fun fact: Peja’s three makes per game from beyond the arc led the league (Baron Davis was next at 2.8, albeit it 32.1%).

Highlight games for Stojakovic included his season high 41 at home vs. Memphis on 12/23 (in front of an absolutely raucous home crowd), a 37 point / 10 rebound game that he threw at Cleveland in a 95-89 road win in January, and the 37-point (on 18 shots) masterpiece in Los Angeles to beat the Lakers 103-101 in February.

Through 59 games, the Kings were a white hot 44-15, pacing for another 60+ wins season.

Chris Webber, meanwhile, was nine months into rehabbing his left knee torn lateral meniscus, and begin serving an eight-game league suspension (five for violating the league’s drug policy – rumored to be weed, and three games for pleading guilty to criminal contempt in the Ed Martin pay for play scandal). The fan consensus at the time seemed to be that Webber coming back in a bench role would boost the team and ease him back into play. Instead, Webber immediately returned to the starting lineup, relegating Brad Miller to the bench. Webber’s 18.3 field goal attempts per game would be tops on the team for the season (Peja clocked in at 17.1), and the team foundered to an 11-12 record in the 23 games that Webber played. To be fair, a lot of this coincided with Bobby Jackson being out, and his absence was surely felt. That said, the dynamic (and pecking order) of the team completely changed when Webber returned. I get the thought process – if you’re going for a championship, you need Chris Webber. But you need it to be the old Chris Webber, and not old Chris Webber. 20/20 hindsight, it was too soon. Webber should have sat the season.

Stojakovic would wind up fourth in MVP balloting

The Kings did exact some revenge in the first round of the playoffs, when they sent Dallas packing in five games. Game balls to Peja in game 1, Doug Christie in game 4, and Mike Bibby in games 2 and 5, especially his 36 point (on 23 shots), 8 assist performance to close out the series.

The second round series vs. Minnesota is another case of a largely forgotten (or at least not talked about) classic, due largely (I surmise) to the fact that the Kings ultimately lost. After splitting the first two games in Minnesota, the Kings dropped game three in overtime, 113-114. The Kings trailed by 13 with a tick over two minutes to go in the fourth quarter, but Stojakovic and Bibby would combine to score 14 of the team’s final 17 points, including Peja’s game tying three with ten seconds left. Peja would score all nine of the Kings’ points in overtime, but his 3 point attempt as time was expiring was blocked by Trenton Hassell.

The Kings would knot the series two nights later at home, but drop game 5 in Minnesota. Through the first five games of the series, the margin of victory/defeat was 6, 5, 1, 6 and 12. This was a tight, tense, surly series – game 5 included a double ejection for Brad Miller and Minnesota’s Darrick Martin.

And in game 6, with less than a minute left in the third quarter and the Kings holding a 76-62 lead, Kevin Garnett elbowed Anthony Peeler in the chest, picking up a flagrant 1. And Peeler returned the favor by first elbowing him the chest, and then hammering Garnett’s chin with a left elbow. Garnett was ultimately fined $7,500, but Peeler was suspended for two games, so he was gone for the series. Jabari Smith checked in for Peeler, and it would be up to Rodney Buford to fill Peeler’s shoes in game 7. The Kings would go on to blow out the Wolves 104-87 in game 6, but there just wasn’t enough manpower come game 7. The Kings basically went with a seven player rotation that included only 16 ineffective minutes from Buford, and the gassed set of Peja, Bibby, Christie, Webber and Divac fell 80-83.

Reynolds’ Wrap: “This team was my favorite in Kings history. Peja was the best player and team focus. Miller and Vlade were the best passing bigs in the NBA. There is little doubt that the return of C-Webb became a disruption. I know Coach Adelman felt that Webb would not adjust to a bench role but felt it would be a step back at first then before seasons end he would regain form and make the team stronger. Clearly didn’t happen. Chris would never be an All-NBA player again and the hopes of a championship was dimming. In the second game of the T-Wolves series is when Kings seemingly had the game in hand but Sam Cassell went on a tear and exhibited his Big Balls celebration. He damn sure had big ones.” – Jerry Reynolds

***

All in all, it was a bit of a disappointing last couple of months to what had begun as an exhilarating season. But the season did represent Peja’s coming out party leaguewide, and the Kings now had the summer to get Webber healthy. We just needed to navigate our way around the upcoming NBA expansion draft. And of course, wait ‘til next year.

*Eastern Conference, when centers had to be chosen.