Catching Up With The Kings: Bonzi Wells
Mar 18, 2020, 1:54 PM | Updated: 2:23 pm
(Photo by Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images)
(Photo by Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images)
“The Drive” is bringing former Sacramento Kings onto the show to reflect on their time in the purple and black, talk basketball and much more!
This morning on “The Drive”, Carmichael Dave and Jason Ross had former Kings guard Bonzi Wells on the show to reflect on his time as a Sacramento King.
Wells, 43, played one season for Sacramento back in 2005-06 and was apart of the last Kings team to make the postseason.
With all that is currently going on in the world regarding the COVID-19 outbreak, Wells shared his thoughts on what is going on with the NBA Regular Season suspension.
“I think that I was just like the rest of the world, it was coming in layers”, Wells shared. “The layers, just coming in deeper and deeper. The virus, how it can impact the country.”
Like the rest of the NBA fans around the world, Wells is missing being able to watch the game that he played professionally for over a decade.
“I’m just like everybody else, I’m having a really bad hangover not having sports. I find myself doing what everybody else is doing, watching old videos of myself and my kids, anything to pass the time”.
Wells was acquired in an off-season trade with the Memphis Grizzlies during the summer of 2005, as Sacramento sent fan-favorite Bobby Jackson and Greg Ostertag in return for the then 29 year-old.
In his lone season as a King, Wells averaged 15.1 points, 8.6 rebounds and 3.1 assists over 52 games.
“I loved coming to Sacramento”, Wells stated. “I was thankful that the city embraced me and I loved every moment of it”.
The 2006 playoffs were where the legend of Bonzi grew, when the eighth-seeded Kings took on the top-seeded San Antonio Spurs. Facing elite defenders Bruce Bowen and Manu Ginobli, Wells was handed the difficult task of carrying the the offensive load for Sacramento.
Wells delivered one of the greatest postseason performances in Kings history, averaging 23.2 points and 12 rebounds per game while shooting 60-percent from the field and 62-percent from beyond the three-point line.
In the hard-fought six-game series, Wells had some monster games for Sacramento while attempting to upset San Antonio.
Here is a look at Wells’ game-log from the series:
- Game 1: 12 points, 6 rebounds
- Game 2: 28 points, 12 rebounds, 12/17 FG
- Game 3: 19 points, 14 rebounds
- Game 4: 25 points, 17 rebounds, 3 steals
- Game 5: 38 points, 12 rebounds, 13/20 FG
- Game 6: 17 points, 11 rebounds
“In my position, I’ve always been confident that I could always score or be a key rebounder against anybody because of my size,” Wells said of the big performance. “Throughout my years I always knew how San Antonio was going to guard me, and I always found my niche on how to be effective against them.
In the rest of the interview, Wells goes on to talk about his former teammate Ron Artest (now known as Metta World Peace), playing for Rick Adelman and much more.
Check it out below or click on the YouTube video at the top of the post!
