Kings general manager Dean Lombardi was asked today about yesterday’s New York Post report that Kings players locked Coach Darryl Sutter out of the team locker room after a recent road game. Here’s what Lombardi said…

LOMBARDI: ”It’s factually inaccurate. The timing is wrong. It happened in Tampa (in February), not last week.’’

(on whether players actually blocked the door with garbage cans…)

LOMBARDI: ”I don’t know if it got that far. It happened in Tampa. This was just brought to my attention yesterday, in terms of that part [the garbage cans]. So I guess it’s fair to say there was a little scuffle in Tampa.”

(on whether he is troubled by the story…)

LOMBARDI: ”No, and here’s why. I could look at it and say, `That’s when we won eight in a row, so let’s do this more often.’ In terms of what actually happened, maybe (players) don’t have to go to that extreme, but theoretically I don’t have a problem with it. Here’s the thing, with where this team has to get to. If you look at what a coach’s number-one role is, it’s to give his team structure and detail. The emotion, in terms of getting that emotion to where it needs to be, if we’re going to be a top team it has to come from within the room. With it, at times, the coach obviously still has to have some ability (to talk). So we’re, at times, a part of raising the emotion. Obviously one of the problems this year was just that, that for whatever reason, we weren’t where we needed to be mentally.

”That said, I don’t know if I like the way it happened, but if you look at great teams, the perfect example is Derek Jeter. When Joe Torre was ready to blow or something, Jeter would walk in the room and go, `Whoa, whoa, whoa, I got this one. Stay out, and don’t be losing it.’ You see this with top players all the time. The players, essentially, you want (to be) in charge of your room. Maybe the way to do it was, `We don’t need to hear from you now. We got it,’ and go out and get it done. Maybe you don’t have to go to that extreme. But the point is, what happened there, that’s what needs to happen. The players need to take over the room emotionally, and if they want to go in there and say, `Coach, stay out, I’ve got this one. We know how to win,’ I’ve got no problem with that. Again, you maybe don’t want to do it with garbage cans. But if we’re going to be a top team, your best players have to take over the emotion of your room. At times, that might require them to say, `Coach, I got this one.’ There are enough players in that room who have won. The problem you would have had before is credibility. When Jeter tells Torre, `I’ve got this one, stay out,’ well you better listen to that guy. He’s won four championships. There’s guys in there now with two championships. They’re qualified to do that now. You might not have said that four years ago: `Hey, no, you’re not ready for this.’ But they’re ready for that. They know where they’ve got to be.

”So the irony is, that’s essentially what you want to happen, your players take over your room and, `Stay out, coach. I don’t want to hear from you. We got it. Stay out.’ Because they know way more than we (coaches and management) do. You usually get more involved when they don’t know how to win. But they’ve been there. So that’s the way I look at it. In terms of trash cans or whatever, I’m not sure you have to send a message that way, but you look at the top players and they say, `We’ve got this one,’ and they go out and get it done. The irony is, it happened and then we went on one of our best streaks. [laughs]’’