Kings assistant Pete Carril, progenitor of the offense when he coached at Princeton, said there have been many moments this season where the Kings have vividly brought his creation to life.
"There have been quite a few," Carril said. "When you throw the ball to the open guy, who throws the ball to someone more open than he is, who throws it to someone who is more open than he is, then you see that they understand how they're going to win the game."
We caught up with the Kings to ask them what makes their offense effective and stylish.
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Knocking down "the backdoor" with the Kings: What do you enjoy most about the Kings offense? Chris Webber: "Selfishly, I think that we like that the ball goes through the big guys, so we get to be passers. We all -- myself, Vlade [Divac] and Brad [Miller] -- think of Magic, so we like the fact on every play we can get an assist, because we know we have great shooters." Mike Bibby: "I like how free we can be. [Coach Adelman] lets us play to our strengths. Some coaches will feel like this is the way we're doing it and this is the way we're going to do it. We run the ball a lot, we get people involved, we have fun. That's the way basketball is supposed to be played." Rick Adelman: "We initiate it through our big guys and we try to keep everybody involved. If we play right, the ball hops, everybody touches it and everybody has a chance to make a play. That's what we try to do. "But we initiate it through our big guys because they're such great passers. It's hard for other teams to defend that. When they give it up, the guys they give it to can make the play. They can pass it and they can shoot it." Darius Songaila: "It's very easy to get ahold of it. It seems like it's very structured, but there's a lot of room for improv. It includes everybody. It's not about putting the ball in one person's hands and that's it."
How much of the Kings' offense is predicated on reading the defense? Adelman: "The whole thing is predicated on that. We talk about it and work on situations all the time and we're always talking about what the defense is trying to do, what they're trying to take away. There should always be an answer."
How long does it take to become accustomed to what you guys do? Adelman: "It takes a while. I think if you get the player who can make plays, the smart basketball player, he'll pick it up pretty quickly." Bibby: "I don't know exactly, but it was a lot different than what I was used to. When I first got here, I don't know how many times I got hit in the head with the pass cutting back door. I had to get used everyone passing the ball." Songaila: "It's taken awhile -- training camp, preseason. The biggest thing I think is getting to know the guys on the team, their tendencies and how they play and try to read them. Once you get that, the offense kind of comes. They plays are the plays, you can memorize those, but you need to know what the guys on the floor like to do."
As a big man, how do you like it that the offense runs through you guys?
GM Geoff Petrie continues to find people who take to this offense. How do you think he does it?
Has there been one play that sticks out in your mind this season where the offense worked particularly well? Adelman: "We've had quiet a few games like that where we're been at 35, 40 assists and when you do that, you're really being effective."
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