The Kings begin one of their first phases of preparation Thursday when president Geoff Petrie meets with members of the Maloof ownership family in Las Vegas to discuss the state of the team.

Joe Maloof said Saturday that other members of the family might participate in the meetings.

"It's usually just Geoff, me and (brother) Gavin," Joe Maloof said of the gathering at the family's hotel, the Palms. "We usually meet two or three times during the year. (Minority owner) Bob Hernreich will be part of the meeting. He's a member of our partnership, and we value his input. Some of the other members of the family could be there. (Brother) George could be there if he has time, and my mom (Colleen) might be there."

Petrie said, only half-kiddingly, he enjoys the meetings "because there is a lot of good food."

The depression lingers, the defeats haunt, but at some point during this most unpleasant of offseasons, Kings officials will have to strike a balance between being deliberate and decisive.

They have to improve, have to make changes.

The choice is no longer theirs.

The 76ers and Pistons were in the same place my smart-aleck kids say they can find me: stuck in the 60s. That's all each team, plodding along at a glacier pace, had scored deep into the third quarter last Friday.

Brent Musburger of ESPN, fighting sleep behind the mic, invoked Charles Barkley and his recent throwaway line on TNT: "If we have to watch these Eastern Conference games, we want a pay raise."

Musburger isn't the only hoop-head checking out Barkley and his posse on TNT.

Turner Sports was averaging a 2.9 rating for the postseason through the weekend, leaving ESPN and its 2.4 in the dust. Not coincidentally, Turner was blessed with the bulk of NBA playoff dates from the elegant Western Conference, while ESPN has slogged along primarily with the dreadful East.

A: Stay with me. Let's say that leaves Dallas, L.A. and Sacramento. If Dallas comes up short, Mark Cuban might conclude he's one Karl short of seriously competing for the whole shebang. The Lakers clearly need something, and even if Jerry Buss tries to go cheap, Malone isn't necessarily off the table -- the Kings, Lakers and Mavs all would likely offer Malone the mid-level exception to the salary cap, around $4.5 million.

Q: Your point being?

A: My point being this is no decision in a vacuum for Maloof Money Inc. By signing Malone, brothers Joe and Gavin would be moving not only to bring him to Sacramento, but -- perhaps just as important -- to keep Malone from playing for the Lakers or Mavericks during these next couple of years in which a Kings title remains viable.

You know, right here on the Third Morning After seems like the perfect time to have the talk.

Q: Zeus in heaven, not the Karl Malone thing ...

A: Yes. Absolutely. Karl Malone.

Bobby Jackson said this was a step back, never mind that the Kings' top player -- forward Chris Webber -- watched the majority of the Western Conference semifinals in street clothes.
Jackson, the Kings' ace reserve guard, said Sacramento was still capable of downing Dallas, that depth should have been enough. It wasn't, of course, and that's why the Mavericks are in San Antonio today to prepare for the Western Conference finals.

"When you don't achieve what you did last year, it's a step back," Jackson said.
Webber disagreed. Walking gingerly with a knee cartilage tear that made him look like a man in dire need of a cane, Webber scoffed at any such talk.

Chris Webber now doesn't have to worry about anything but getting healthy.

The Kings' power forward said Saturday night that his No. 1 priority is to gain information about the torn lateral meniscus in his left knee and figure out when to have surgery.

"I'm going to start talking to everybody concerned," Webber said while checking out the postgame grub provided to the visiting team by Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. "I'll talk to (trainer) Pete (Youngman) and the doctors and move as soon as possible to having the surgery so I can get my summer going."

Before Game 7, Webber had talked about playing in the NBA Finals if the Kings had advanced past Dallas and then the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference finals.

The images were coming fast and furious, or maybe it was slow and horribly painful. But there they were. Down at the long end of the Kings' bench, All-Star forward Chris Webber, dressed in an extremely nice suit but, alas, no uniform, forlornly dribbled a basketball during a timeout.
"Just wanted to touch the game ball," Webber explained helplessly afterward.

In an office, just around the corner from the quiet locker room, coach Rick Adelman sat, looking exhausted and at least 25 percent shocked, though it couldn't have been totally amazing to lose a Game 7 to a 60-game winner on its home floor with the Kings' best player out of action.
And in a hallway, speaking softly: Geoff Petrie. He is perhaps the only man who can really do anything about what comes next for a Sacramento franchise that has looked at two straight windows of opportunity without being able to leap through them.

But that, of course, presumes the continued presence of Petrie.

Chris Webber now doesn't have to worry about anything but getting healthy.
The Kings' power forward said Saturday night that his No. 1 priority is to gain information about the torn lateral meniscus in his left knee and figure out when to have surgery.

"I'm going to start talking to everybody concerned," Webber said while checking out the postgame grub provided to the visiting team by Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. "I'll talk to (trainer) Pete (Youngman) and the doctors and move as soon as possible to having the surgery so I can get my summer going."

They needed to dangle over the cliff and feel the haunting wind whistle past, needed to know that ridicule was bearing down with a G-force they could not imagine. The Dallas Mavericks are better for it.

Had they lost, either time, it would have been about their lack of heart, in the first round nearly becoming the first team ever to blow a 3-0 series lead before recovering and then almost not even being able to beat the Kings minus Chris Webber. But to gut check through the same situations, it becomes more than reaching the Western Conference finals for the first time since 1988.

It's stepping up.

"When you're pressed, when you're tired, and a seven-game series is as close as it can be contested, it makes you better," center Raef LaFrentz said. "You grow."