老艾訪談原文....
ML: For seven straight seasons Rick Adelman has led the Kings into the postseas
on. Those first couple of years they were learning their way. Then they became
contenders. Today, they are expected to be there come playoff time. There was s
ome doubt during the early part of the season though, but thanks to a trade for
Ron Artest, as well as the voice of their steady leader, Kings fans are once a
gain talking playoffs. I sat down with Rick Adelman to get his thoughts on the
season, his feelings about the Artest deal, and if he wants to be the Kings hea
d man come next year. I first asked him if he was more surprised by the start o
f the season or by the way his team is playing now.
RA: I think it would have to be the beginning of the season, cause I thought we
would be a competitive team. I didn’t know how good we’d be, but I felt with
the guys we had coming back we would at least be .500 or above that. But I thi
nk I’m surprised that this group, since the trade for Ron, they really have co
me together with a sense of what they have to do to win. I’ve said it before,
we have nine guys who’ve been here 60 games or less, and we have eleven guys w
ho’ve been here one year or less. So that’s a lot of change and we’ve been a
ble to turn around a negative situation into a positive situation right now, an
d you’ve got to hope we keep going the right direction.
ML: I think a lot of people perceive that it’s all Ron Artest, that since he h
as come it’s changed the attitude of the team. How much of that is truth and h
ow much is fiction?
RA: I think it’s true. I don’t think it’s the whole thing. I think he certai
nly adds. When you add a guy who is one of the best defenders in the league, no
t just individually, but as a team defender, he’s extremely good. He never qui
ts on a play, and that’s what makes him special. The other thing is, he’s a g
uy who sat out basically a year and a half, and so he had a lot of energy, and
he wanted to play, and that really changed things. When he came, our guys got n
ew energy, but I still say with Kevin and Francisco, things changed, we had bas
ically three new guys, who were giving us energy and athletic ability and it pi
cked Kenny up. Mike became better because we didn’t have to rely on him and Br
ad so much. It’s just a combination of things helped, but Ron certainly the ca
talyst with the trade, but I think you have to give the other guys some credit
too, because they turned around their attitudes and we’ve become a much better
team.
ML: So you mentioned that defensively Ron has been there and done everything th
at you’ve expected of him, but with what you’ve wanted him to do offensively,
how close is he to being there?
RA: It’s hard. It’s difficult, and it’s difficult for him and it’s difficul
t for us. We’re trying to run things and tweak it as we go, but I think we sti
ll do too much standing. Ron does too much one on one. He goes to the post too
much when he shouldn’t be there. But that’s him. Once the game starts, he wan
ts something to happen, but it’s hard on us as a team. I was surprised, we wen
t on that five game trip and won four out of five, everybody said “you played
good defense.” No we didn’t play very good defense on that trip. We gave up 1
00 points a game, but we scored 107. I think, just by playing, we developed dif
ferent ways to attack teams. We’re still a good shooting team and were a very
good passing team, now we’re just doing it in different spots, so I think the
offense is gonna be the last thing to come and it’s probably gonna come, for t
he most part, next year.
ML: Rick, you’ve had a number of different teams that you’ve dealt with. Port
land was a certain type of team. The Kings that you’ve had the last five years
were different then the team that you have now. Have they had to adapt to you,
or have you had to adapt to that?
RA: I don’t think it’s changed that much except we’ve tried to put a, some t
ype of defensive scheme in there, now we have the players who can do it. But no
w with Ron, and like you said Kevin is active, Francisco’s active, and now Bon
zi comes in and we’re pretty physical all of the sudden with Bonzi out there,
suddenly you see it on defense. You see it on the boards. Bonzi’s been around.
He’s a good team defender himself. Brad’s always been a good team defender,
but now he’s got people around him and I think we still struggle some with the
point, the way people have hurt us at the point and inside, because we’re not
real big inside. But we’re pretty good as far as a team defensively, and I al
ways thought we were with the team we had with Chris and Vlade. We didn’t get
enough credit for the way we defended, ‘cause when we got to the playoffs, we
were pretty darn good, because we were smart, and those guys knew what they wer
e doing.
ML: You alluded to Mike Bibby and his defense, and fans are quick to point that
out, but can you imagine where you’d be without Mike Bibby right now?
RA: No. He’s carried us offensively. He’s just been….The thing about Mike, i
t’s not that defensively…..when you get beat and there’s no help, and anythi
ng like that, you have a tendency to get down. You don’t know what’s happenin
g. The only problem I have with Mike defensively a lot of times, is he stops pl
aying sometimes when he gets beat. You can’t do that. You’ve got to continue
to play, but offensively, he’s carried us, I mean, three of those games on tha
t eastern trip, he won, in the fourth quarter, the Jersey game, I never saw a g
uy have a better first half than he had. So, no, he’s been terrific, and I thi
nk getting Ron in there and getting Bonzi back, it takes some pressure off him
to have to do it all the time.
ML: You mentioned something about Shareef last week, and I know you’ve talked
about Corliss Williamson. Those are guys that are willing to take their role an
d they don’t say anything. How much easier does that make your job or how much
have they contributed to this team turning it around with their team attitude?
RA: Oh, I think it’s terrific and I’d include Bonzi in that too, where he’s
accepted that it’s better for him to come off the bench right now, for this te
am. Shareef has been terrific. He’s just starting to play well, and that’s on
e reason why you only see seven guys playing, because I want to give him all th
e minutes behind Brad and behind Kenny. He’s the best basketball player we hav
e, but his attitude is, he just wants to win. He wants to do whatever it takes,
and sure, he gets frustrated. I know Corliss is frustrated, but right now, it
’s just hard to get guys in the game. You try to do it, but right now, to get a
continuity in our games, game in and game out…unless we have a lot.. We’re go
nna have a lot of games now, where we play back to backs, and those guys are go
nna become important, but Corliss is a real leader on the bench. He’s always t
alking to the guys. He gets down. He gets frustrated. I’d be disappointed if t
he guys who aren’t playing aren’t frustrated. But those guys are key. They’r
e gonna keep the young guys going. They’re gonna keep talking to ‘em and if I
put them in the game, I have confidence that if I put them in the game, they’
re gonna go out there and play hard.
ML: Kevin Martin, obviously the media has caught on because of the numbers he’
s put up. Last year, when he was a rookie, did you have any doubts about him an
d did you envision him being able to play as well as he has this year?
RA: I don’t think I envisioned him being able to play as well as he has this y
ear, but we had a lot of confidence that he was gonna be a player. I think last
year was good for Kevin in a lot of ways. He came from a small Division 1 scho
ol. They gave him the ball and he shot it whenever he wanted to, otherwise he j
ust stood around and watched. He didn’t really do anything defensively in coll
ege. So everything last year was new to him, so he had to take the lumps that h
e wasn’t playing, and it wasn’t good enough. He understood that, and the time
that I really noticed him was when we left him off the playoff roster and he b
ecame Ray Allen in practice, and he was a son-of-a-gun. We always saw the talen
t in practice, but it never carried over into the games, he was too submissive
to what was going on. He wasn’t aggressive. Defensively, he just watched and d
idn’t use his quickness. He worked his tail off all summer and he’s become a
player. He hasn’t come close to reaching it yet. He’s got a lot of natural ab
ility, and you’re just gonna see Kevin get better and better.
ML: What does Francisco Garcia have to do, in your mind, to get to the level th
at you think he can get to?
RA: I think experience is probably the biggest thing for him, ‘cause he can do
a lot of things. Experience, and a little self discipline as to when you do th
ings and when you don’t try to do things. He came from program where they trap
ped, they did all this stuff defensively, and sometimes I think he’s still the
re, ‘Cause he’ll just lose his guy for whatever reason. When he locks in and
just plays solid, he’s a good defender and offensively, the same way. He’s ta
ken a lot of threes and missed a lot of threes, ‘cause they were bad shots, an
d now he’s much more comfortable with what he can do. You’re gonna see him be
come better and better with more experience, because he can handle the ball and
he can really pass the ball and just that he has to pick his spots and he has
to understand that you don’t get more points for this dynamic pass. You get ju
st as many by making the obvious pass to the guy who’s wide open by making a g
reat pass, and once he learns that and he’s more consistent in his play, he’s
gonna be a very good player.
ML: Brad Miller obviously has a lot of attributes as a player. In your mind, wh
ich of those attributes led to him being selected to team USA?
RA: I think he’s a very intelligent player. Brad’s basketball IQ is up there.
He sees everything going on on the court. It’s a natural thing for him. He’s
a lot like Vlade was. They’re both a lot alike. I think when you’ve got a bi
g guy you can throw out there, whether it’s a zone or man to man you’re playi
ng. He’s gonna make shots. He’s gonna make passes. He’s gonna run the offens
e the way you want it run, and defensively, he’s gonna be very smart. I just t
hink he’s a natural. I’d be really surprised if, once they get around him mor
e, and see his skill level, that he’s not on those twelve guys that, cause he
’s ideal for that kind of competition.
ML: Ron Artest is a guy who’s been written about, talked about, filmed, follow
ed, it’s been well chronicled what’s been going on with Ron. A year ago, what
was your perception of Ron Artest and now that you’ve had the chance to work
with him, how has that perception changed?
RA: Number one, he’s a much better player than I thought he was overall. I thi
nk he’s just starting to understand what he can do when he gets the ball in si
tuations. He’s so used to getting the ball and he’s supposed to just score al
l the time, that’s what he did at Indiana. Post him up, do this, and that’s w
hat he did. I want him to be more of a guy you can go through and he can make t
he play and he can score, and he’s learning that now. But off the court, he’s
kinda what I thought, where he had situations where he could not control his e
motions, throwing the TV, of course the thing in Detroit was really off the wal
l. I think that even when he said he wanted to be traded, he’d been through so
much there, he just didn’t want to go through it anymore. But what I see is a
guy who’s so very, wants to play so badly, and he’s kept his emotions really
in check. He’s been super to work with. I haven’t had any problems with him
at all. He listens. I think he’s very receptive right now, but when a guy goes
through problems like that and they’ve had all that stuff, I’m amazed at how
he controls himself and puts it all away, cause every city we go to, it’s the
same questions, not only for him, but for me. He’s handled that. He’s gotten
through it. I think when he gets through this year, and gets back next year he
’s gonna be the same way. He’s really on an even keel right now, but he’s an
emotional guy and he’s a competitor. If things don’t go good, guys respond d
ifferently. I think he’s learned that he’s got to control what he does. You d
on’t see him this year on the court….He hasn’t got any technicals. He gets f
rustrated, but he’s been able to maintain it, so I think it’s a guy who’s gr
own up a lot.
ML: Tell me if my perception is wrong. When I see his team mates around him, I
see respect for him, and I think that he relishes that role and that’s somethi
ng that he wanted. How much does that help him maintain his emotions and play w
ell for you guys?
RA: I think it helps him a lot and I think he’s the type of guy who will be vo
cal in the right way. He talks to the guys and talks about what they have to do
, especially the young guys. He’s been very good that way, but I think that he
lps him, but our guys do, sometimes it takes awhile to get that respect. I mean
, even the guys now, when he’s out on the floor offensively, he does go on his
own sometimes. It takes awhile for guys to understand that it isn’t selfishne
ss on his part he’s just trying to make something happen. I think that there’
s a definite respect because of the way he plays and the way he prepares, proba
bly just the way he plays on the court and the energy he brings, you have to re
spect that, and guys are gonna react very positive to it.
ML: Did you or do you relish this year and the fact that you’ve had to change
everything and a lot of coaching, a lot of teaching has had to transpire?
RA: Yea, but I’d be less than honest if I didn’t say it’s been a very diffic
ult year. With the way we started out. The way we played. Everything going on a
nd changes again. It’s hard, and we were not getting anywhere. You get to a po
int where it kinda beats you down after a while. I give my wife a lot of credit
, cause she kept saying, you’re the guy in charge, they’re gonna look to you,
but I got really down. The trade came, and things started to change. The young
guys started to play better and so you get re-energized yourself and you like
what’s going on. You see when you go out on the court now, we can win every ga
me. Before that, I didn’t feel that way, because not only we weren’t playing
well, but we had injuries and we were shorthanded a lot of times. It got frustr
ating. But now I think everybody around the team as a different sense and you j
ust hope that we can just go and pull this off and not have any injuries and ge
t to the playoffs and see what happens.
ML: You talk about your family. How hard is it on you and on your family, becau
se, you’re a very public persona. You read in the paper the next day what ever
ybody thinks. You listen to talk radio everyday, what everybody thinks about yo
ur job. How important is it to have support from your family?
RA: I think it’s crucial. But they need the support too, because it’s not eas
y when you go through a year like this and every week you’re either gonna be f
ired or who are they gonna hire? and your trying to do the best you can and you
’ve got a son who’s a junior in high school and family in Portland. They’re
all worried about it. It’s been such a big part of our life for so long. The u
ps and downs, I think are the hardest thing. I can go on the road and I can get
away somewhat on the road, because it’s not the every day thing you hear, but
my wife can’t do that. She’s around it every day. So I think, she’s been re
ally supportive of me and I’ve been less there for her sometimes, because you
get so down, you lean on her a lot. But I think it’s hard, but I couldn’t do
it without her and I couldn’t do it without my kids.
ML: What were your feelings about the Peja for Artest trade when it went down?
RA: I was really on the fence. I knew Ron was a good player, but the unknown wa
s what was gonna happen. I didn’t know if Ron was gonna come here and two week
s later, say, I want to go somewhere else, and I’m not coming back here. I did
n’t know and I knew I had a player in Peja. A guy who came when I came and I w
as very close to. I thought he got a really bum rap from a lot of people becaus
e his game changed because of who we had and who we didn’t have. It was really
hard, I, at first I did not want to make the deal because I knew what I had an
d I’d rather go with the people I had and on the court was one thing but off t
he court was something else and how was it gonna effect the team. I didn’t kno
w that, but as we talked about it and it was pretty obvious it was gonna happen
, I said. If it was me and I had to decide, Peja’s gonna be a free agent, and
are we gonna be able to sign him? Bonzi’s gonna be a free agent and what’s go
nna happen to him? You’ve got a guy who’s a valuable commodity still in this
league and who you know is a player under contract, it made sense to do it. But
I wouldn’t say I was completely in favor of it because, how was it gonna effe
ct me? I’m not gonna lie to you, I knew I’m in the last year of my contract,
things weren’t going good. All I needed was one more thing to fall apart and t
hat’d been it. So for me it was really difficult, but Joe and Gavin and Geoff
decided that that’s the way they wanted to go and I’ve tried to go along with
all that stuff and try to make it work cause that’s my job. I’m under contra
ct to coach the people that they have here.
ML: How much input do you have in those types of decisions and in particular ho
w much input did you have on that decision?
RA: Geoff and I talked every day. We talked about all the negatives, all the po
sitives. I think this was a little bit different in that the Maloof’s got more
involved in it. They wanted to do this deal. They listened to Geoff. Geoff jus
t laid it out. Here’s the negatives. Here’s the positives. We don’t know how
it’s gonna work out, but what do you want to do? So I think that in the past,
it’s always been Geoff and I and Coop. We’ve talked it through and we’ve al
ways been kinda on the same page. But I think everybody was kind of on the fenc
e on this. It wasn’t something that everybody was in favor of or not because o
f like I said the unknowns. But when they decided that this is probably somethi
ng we should do. I think everybody had to go along in order to make it work. So
you have input, usually, but this was sort of a different situation. I think i
t’s all the reasons I said. The uncertaincy (sic) of the free agents in summer
. The way the team was playing. The way we weren’t coming together. They rolle
d the dice and so far it’s worked pretty good.
ML: I think because of the turnaround this year, peoples perception of you migh
t have changed a little bit. You’re starting to get a little more credit for t
he coaching and the teaching that has gone on. Have you felt underappreciated i
n Sacramento?
RA: Yeah, I think so. I would be less than honest if I didn’t say that because
, I think everybody was part of our success, from the Maloof’s to Geoff, to th
e players, to my coaching staff. It really irritated me when you won sixty some
thing games or fifty nine games and you lose a playoff series like we did to th
e Lakers, where you miss fourteen free throws and you take it to overtime, and
yeah, you should’ve won, but everybody wins and everybody loses. It’s just pa
rt of what happened. The year we lost to Minnesota, and we had Webb coming back
and Bobby out basically, and I only had seven guys I could play, and we take
‘em to seven games and lose by three. It’s like that’s not good enough. So yea
h, when you’ve had success like that, you get tired of, even when you’ve won
sixty games and they’re talking about firing you. You go, wait a minute? Why i
s this happening? I guess I got used to it, but it really irritated me when the
y started talking about the job we did by my staff! Because we’re the same sta
ff who got this team to be the best defensive team in the league one year, with
the best FG% against them, better than San Antonio. It’s the same staff that
’s working now, trying to do the same thing. It’s a very good staff. They work
their tails off and when people talk about, we don’t do this, we don’t do tha
t. That’s irritating. I think we should get a little more respect, but you kno
w its part of the business. You’re in it. I mean it’s the talk shows. There’
s so much more coverage, even our paper. We have four or five people covering t
he team. So you’re always gonna have an angle coming at you, and usually the c
oach is the one angle that they’re gonna attack. I’m used to it, but it’s no
t easy and I don’t like it.
ML: Joe Maloof said something very supportive of you in Sports Illustrated, abo
ut your situation and the fact that he wanted to have you back. I think people
want to know do you want to come back. Do you want to continue on after this ye
ar?
RA: I’ll find out. I think definitely what’s going on right now has been a re
al positive step. I like being part of it. I would like to come back and be par
t of this group. I’m not going to hang my whole life on it. If it doesn’t hap
pen, it doesn’t happen. I can go somewhere else and I can do something else an
d I still have my family. We can go where we want to go, but certainly I’d lik
e to come back. All the rhetoric is fine, but it’s gonna come down to the end
of the year, they’re gonna make a decision on what they want to happen. If I’
m part of it, I’m gonna listen to it and I’m gonna make a decision, but right
now, I feel very positive about it, but it’s just not gonna be like we want y
ou back and, certainly, let me come. I want to hear. I want to talk about it a
little bit. That’s gonna happen when the season ends. That’s gonna happen whe
n we’re done. We’ll all sit down and we’ll all figure it out at that time.
沒排版.......不好意思.......乾脆我自D算了.......
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