The EXACT same sentiments could have been, and I'm quite sure were, made about Muss last year. Saying Petrie has not distanced himself is a straw man. Obviously as the GM he is never going to distance himself from a coach being hired, no matter who it is. The day he does choose to do so, will be the day he has one foot out the door.
And the Maloofs were involved last year too. Mama and Gavin and Joe and the whole gang. Apparently still have not, and presumably with their egos, never will figure out that if their GM says that so and so is the best basketball hire, they should say "ok". Not sit there and lsiten as some old crook croaks in their ears about how they should be making all the decisions.
I also remember that. Don't recall the exact words, but think Petrie mentioned something like "there is no decision on which he and the owners have not agreed on 100%". At that time though, I think he was referring to letting Rick go, instead of the decision to hire Muss.
This does not mean that it was his decision. Letting Rick go was quite certainly the owners' decision, something Geoff agreed/accepted. Similarly, trading for Ron, hiring Muss/Reggie might have been the Maloofs' decisions or done at their prompting, but ultimately Geoff agreed with them.
I am not defending him. Even if he didn't agree with the decisions, as GM, he is ultimately responsible, and deserves flak for the bad decisions, as much as he desrves praise for the good ones. I do believe though, that sometimes, it is okay to lose the battle in an effort to win the war. Even if he was leaning towards Shaw, it was better to agree with the owners about Reggie, if the difference wasn't much, rather than make it an issue, and lose future bargaining position with them.
My bigger concern is, will Reggie hire prevent trades? At least publicly, Reggie talks about getting Ron and Bibby on board, and how, getting equal value for them will not be possible. While true, this displays a win-now mentality, which is good/required of a coach. The owners and GM however, need to think long term. Right now, we can only hope they have a plan they agree on.