Here's an interesting Petrie article focusing mainly on the draft. I think it's pretty fair. Petrie's greatest skill is not in drafting the next big star, but in forming the best team of NBA players possible.
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Tuesday, June 29, 2004
Beyond the Hype: The Myth of Geoff Petrie, Draft Wizard
You discover one perennial all-star toiling in Greece and your reputation as a draft wizard is cemented, at least in the case of Sacramento General Manager Geoff Petrie. Petrie obviously has done well to construct a winning basketball team in a former basketball Armageddon, but his skill has been raiding other teams' rosters and making very lopsided trades, not building a team through the draft.
A quick look at the Kings' roster shows 2 players (Peja and Jabari Smith) who were drafted by Sacramento. Vlade Divac was signed as a free agent; Chris Webber was acquired in a trade; Brad Miller was acquired in a trade; Anthony Peeler signed as a free agent; Mike Bibby acquired in a trade; Doug Christie acquired in a trade; Rodney Buford signed as a free agent; and Bobby Jackson signed as a free agent. Petrie's skill is not talent evaluation of college players, but proper ealuation of current players who are devalued by their own team, but who fit the Kings' system perfectly.
Over the last five years, Petrie has been ordinary at best on Draft Day, with his best move probably the trade of two future second round draft picks for Darius Songalia on the day before the 2003 NBA Draft.
In the 1999 Draft, the Kings selected Ryan Robertson with the 45th pick. Ordinarily one would not expect much from a mid-second round pick, but, at the end of the 1999 Draft (#57), the San Antonio Spurs selected Manu Ginobili, a future star. The Kings also passed over current King Rodney Buford who was selected 53rd by Miami.
In 2000, armed with the 16th pick overall (in a fairly weak draft), the Kings made a promising selection in Hedo Turkoglu, who ultimately helped the Kings acquire Brad Miller. Overall, Hedo was a good selection. However, the subsequent three picks were Desmond Mason, Quentin Richardson and 2004 All-Star Jamaal Magloire. While Hedo has yet to get off the bench and establish himself as a starter in the league, Mason, Richardson and Magloire are starters and considered better players at this point in their career, despite Hedo's tantalizing potential. The biggest draft mistake made by almost all 29 teams was failing to draft Michael Redd, who lasted until the 43rd pick in the draft and today stands as one of the top 3 players from the 2000 draft class, along with Kenyon Martin and Stromile Swift, who were selected first and second.
In the 2000 2nd Round, the Kings made a good selection, drafting Jabari Smith at 45. While Smith has not contributed much to the Kings, he is still on the roster, which is more than can be said of those drafted after Smith, with the exception of the 49th pick, Jason Hart. However, Hart was cut a few times before surfacing as a valuable reserve for the Spurs this season.
In 2001, the Kings selected Gerald Wallace (#25), an exciting pick that seemed like a great selection. However, while Wallace struggled to get on the floor, the following three picks have excelled: Samuel Dalembert (26), Jamaal Tinsley (27) and Tony Parker (28). The Kings also skipped over two players selected in the second round who have already made an impact on the league: Gilbert Arenas (31) and Mehmet Okur (38), while Brian Scalabrine (35) is a player who would fit the Kings' system as well.
The Kings also had a second round selection, #55, and selected Maurice Jeffers, an otherwise forgetable pick, as were the three players selected after Jeffers at the bottom of the second round.
In 2002, the Kings selected and traded Dan Dickau with the final pick of the first round, ignoring players like Carlos Boozer, Dan Gadzuric, David Andersen, Ronald Murray, Milos Vujanic (whose draft rights were an important part of te Stephon Marbury to New York trade) and even Darius Songalia, among others. With the draft's final selection, the Kings selected Corsley Edwards.
The Kings did not have a pick in the 2003 Draft, as I believe the 1st round pick was dealt to Memphis as part of the Mike Bibby trade and the 2nd round selection was part of the trade for Darius Songalia.
In the end, it isn't so much that the Kings drafted poorly; it is that the Kings, over the last five years, have had ho-hum drafts, not exactly the stuff of wizardry. Petrie has still done an excellent job building a franchise through trades and free agents, and looking at a draft in hindsight is very easy compared to actually drafting players who will make or break one's franchise, but, overall, Petrie, considered by many to be a draft "guru" would probably grade around a C+ for his efforts in the last five years.
Brian McCormick
http://highfivehoopschool.blogspot.com/2004/06/beyond-hype-myth-of-geoff-petrie-draft.html
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