Chris Webber trade

[cfechter]

I have a nagging thought I'd like some input/opinions on - and since it's almost been two years since the trade, I think we'd all be in a position to offer good opinions on it.

Did Geoff Petrie err (in retrospect) in the Chris Webber trade? At the time I thought it would be positive for the Kings as it looked like Chris would never regain that old form (which he completely hasn't and never will) and would just marginally productive the rest of his career. i thought that it truly would give our team more flexibility (i.e. - smaller contracts which would be easier to move).

Now, it appears that in my opinion, this trade just hasn't worked out for us. Skinner, gone and traded for Potapenko, Corliss - just collecting a paycheck, and KT, marginally productive at best, and still has a lot of time left on his bloated contract (4 more years after this one at about 8 million per year). At this point, there is no way any of these players will truly benefit us on or off of the court. (I do like Kenny Thomas overall but let's face it - even at his best he's still a lower tier power forward, not to mention the fact that he's just been bad so far this year - and we'd never be able to dump his contract)

All the while, C-Webb has been a 20-10 guy in Philly. I can honestly say I would like our line-up a LOT more with Webb instead of thomas/corliss/potapenko. And even though his contract is 20 million a year right now, it expires in two years (just one more year after this one).

Any thoughts? I think that given the almost two years since the trade that we have enough history to really judge the results.

 

[Bricklayer]

Thoughts:

Thought 1) agree, but then again I was in that camp the day the trade happened.

Thought 2) you are opening up a can of worms here -- very few who felt one way or the other the day of the trade are going to admit to changing their mind now. If anything, posiitons have become hardened.

 

[cfechter]

Thoughts:

Thought 1) agree, but then again I was in that camp the day the trade happened.

Thought 2) you are opening up a can of worms here -- very few who felt one way or the other the day of the trade are going to admit to changing their mind now. If anything, posiitons have become hardened.

Well, I'll admit now, I think it was a mistake. I think with Webb on the team now instead of the three aforementioned bigs that we have a chance of winning 50 games (albeit still no chance of title in my opinion)

 

[NewMonkey]

Thoughts:

Thought 1) agree, but then again I was in that camp the day the trade happened.

Thought 2) you are opening up a can of worms here -- very few who felt one way or the other the day of the trade are going to admit to changing their mind now. If anything, posiitons have become hardened.

I predicted Webber's demise from Day 1. He seems to have returned to a decent level of productivity and has stayed healthy, so in retrospect it was a bad trade. The trade was never about getting better. It was essentially a bet against Webber staying healthy.

 

[GoGoGadget]

I'm going to preemptively bow out of this conversation based on the fact that my opinion has been made clear several times here, and has not changed a bit since the day it happened.

 

[nbrans]

I think it was a necessary trade, and I'm glad the Kings made it. Kenny and Shareef are more productive than Webber and better on defense. The Chris Webber era didn't end when he was traded, it ended when he blew out his knee. I wish Kings fans would just move on.

 

[supamari0]

I doubt very many people here will come out and support this trade anymore. As an objective NBA fan, I thought it wasn't so bad because I figured the Kings were going into rebuilding mode and were looking to dump a bad contract and follow that up by dumping some other salary and starting over but now that I see that Petrie kept the rest of the team intact, it was a really bad move on the Kings's part.

 

[VF21]

I'm going to preemptively bow out of this conversation based on the fact that my opinion has been made clear several times here, and has not changed a bit since the day it happened.

I'm going to follow G3 on this one.

 

[Kingsgurl]

I certainly haven't changed MY position either....no need to restate it.

 

[6th]

^^^^same here

 

[Widowmaker2k]

I still fell now, as I always have, that it was a bad trade.

 

[6th]

I still fell now, as I always have, that it was a bad trade.

Maybe that's because it was.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

I didn't hate the deal then but I dislike it now. So my position has changed somewhat but frankly I just don't feel strongly about it either way. This team was on the decline with Webber and its rebuilding without him. Our problems would be the same one way or the other.

The reason for the minor sway in my opinion is that I took the trade as it was billed - moving a big contract for "moveable pieces". So far all we've gotten are more moveable pieces. If one of those moveable pieces finally nets us a player of consequence before Webb's contract ends I'll change my mind again. That's a window that's closing.

The other reason I have started to dislike this deal more is because I can't take any more talk about KT. But I guess we all need someone to rag on.

 

[kennadog]

I think it was a necessary trade, and I'm glad the Kings made it. Kenny and Shareef are more productive than Webber and better on defense. The Chris Webber era didn't end when he was traded, it ended when he blew out his knee. I wish Kings fans would just move on.

I'm not going to touch that argument. However, I do think Kings fans have moved on. At the time the trade happened, the arguments were so volatile and polarizing.

What I thought at the time, is that we wouldn't be able to judge whether it was a good or bad move for at least a couple of years. So if people want to discuss it, at least its a more reasonable discussion to have now, as we have a better idea of the outcome.

For the record, I was not happy at the time, but I was willing to withhold judgement to a degree. Right now, I'm still not happy with it.

 

[vj9999]

When the trade happened, you could argue for both sides. There were pros/cons of the trade. When you look at it today, and see we are stuck with KT as our PF I would definitely say I'd rather have Webber limping on one leg in Kings uniform than have KT around.

 

[piksi]

I do think that the "idea" of trading Webber due to his health/contract was the right idea.
The execution of that "idea" was horrible because we would have gotten more at a yard sale.
So if You add both together - it was a mistake but it was "meant well"

 

[Viking]

I do think that the "idea" of trading Webber due to his health/contract was the right idea.
The execution of that "idea" was horrible because we would have gotten more at a yard sale.
So if You add both together - it was a mistake but it was "meant well"

the road to sucking is paved with good intentions it seems

 

[piksi]

the road to sucking is paved with good intentions it seems

as it happenes so often in life

 

[bozzwell]

At the time of the trade, I was hopefull - that we will come out on top from the trade. Like many I thought that Webber is done-done and that we were getting "flexibility" in return.

In retrospect it was a huge mistake.

 

[love_them_kings]

I thought it was a horrible trade at the time. Looking back, I have to say it's worked out even worse than I expected. Our "flexible trading pieces" haven't panned out, and Webb's health has held up better than I expected.

And, I still miss the energy Webb brought to the team. I am wondering how opening night will go tonight, but I miss the days of Webb yelling that we are the best fans in the NBA.

 

[Alacron]

I was very disappointed in the trade when I first found out about it, tried to have the most positive outlook since it was already done, but feel worse about it now than I did a week afterward.
~~

 

[Warhawk]

The trade was never about getting better. It was essentially a bet against Webber staying healthy.

I think I'm in this camp. It was a gamble.

Given his injury and the missed practices and games and the erosion of chemistry in the locker room, I thought it was a good trade at the time if it was the best offer we got in return. Obviously hard to know what would have happened if he had stayed, either, or what other offers (if any) might have been extended, so the question is still moot.

 

[vj9999]

I have no problem admiting that I am/was in Peja fan camp, but looking at it now (and before),we would have been in sooooo much better position had we taken a gambleon CWebb and traded Peja instead. At the time of CWebb trade, Peja's stock was quite high and we could have retained CW and gotten a decent player(s) in return for Peja.

 

[KP]

The answer to this one is pretty obvious by now.

 

[Double-K]

Hey, maybe 2 years later when C-Webb out of his huge contract we can sign him with minimum and he'll probably still be better than KT.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

I have no problem admiting that I am/was in Peja fan camp, but looking at it now (and before),we would have been in sooooo much better position had we taken a gambleon CWebb and traded Peja instead. At the time of CWebb trade, Peja's stock was quite high and we could have retained CW and gotten a decent player(s) in return for Peja.

We ended up making the right trade for Peja. If we had done the same deal when it first came up perhaps Artest wouldn't even have the stigma he does now, but in some ways I think that incident helped Artest grow as a person. I imagine he's more stable today than he was two years ago. Either way we probably got the best player available in that deal.

 

[vj9999]

I like Artest and I think he is even better than we could have gotten for Peja last year, but there was mention of some other big names back when Peja's stock was hot.

 

[Kingzrool]

I was a huge fan of moving CW on and I doubt many supported the trade more than I. I have to admit it turned out bad, you really would think that we could have gotten some value other than "flexible peices" for him. I would have rather kept him unless a better offer came along.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

I was a huge fan of moving CW on and I doubt many supported the trade more than I.

Nobody supported that trade more than sloter. Except maybe Garliguy.

 

[AriesMar27]

it was a dumb move, my feelings havent changed... he had like 3 triple doubles in 4 or 5 games when he was traded... if people thought that 02-03 was our best chance at a ring man... that 04-05 was just as open... if we had webber when we played the sonics... man... or even this past year...

trading for bonzi and later artest.... we would still be a top team in the league with webber....