ESPN: Chris Wallace leader for Kings GM

Status
Not open for further replies.
There is a part of me that wonders if for the most part this is Ranadive doing his due diligence before hiring Schlenk, the guy he's already familiar with and who has worked with Malone already.

If nothing else, you get to sit down with a few executives and pick their brains on how they'd approach the Kings roster short and long term so it's a valuable exercise regardless.

We'll see.
 
This is hilarious - went back to 2008 for articles after the Gasol trade that Wallace masterminded:

NEW YORK -- Grizzlies GM Chris Wallace went on the offensive against his critics on Thursday, calling the unattributed criticism of the Pau Gasol trade from other general managers "pillow talk" and daring any league executives to go on the record against the deal.

Before Friday night's game against the Knicks, Spurs president and head coach Gregg Popovich did just that.

"What they did in Memphis is beyond comprehension," said Popovich. "There should be a trade committee that can scratch all trades that make no sense. I just wish I had been on a trade committee that oversees NBA trades. I'd like to elect myself to that committee. I would have voted no to the L.A. trade."

When told that Wallace had challenged executives to criticize the deal publicly, Popovich replied, "Well, there you go. I'm on the record."
 
Hallama said:
Pretty sure that was an Ainge pick.
Click to expand...

Yeah, had forgotten when exactly he got canned by the Celtics. Wikipedia claims he was with them for 10 years, which would have been 1997-2007. But hoopshype's transaction record suggests he was out in Boston after 2002-03, then sat out 5 years before taking over the Grizz. If that's true then virtually the only good thing he did in his entire Celtcis tenure was draft Pierce. The rest was just blech, although in the early years that was notoriously Rick Pitono's muddled meddling.
 
Chris Wallace looks very easy going, and was attending broadcasts of Chris Vernon Show weekly(not every week, but there's enough audio evidence to get a feel for the guy). So listening to his show of May, 29th, Chris Wallace just admitted that trading for Marc Gasol he didn't know if Marc would come over.
edit: As for Wallace in Boston, he was a part of process of drafting Rondo.
 
Last edited:
Hallama said:
Funny part is Wallace turned out to be right! Wonder if Pop ever ate his crow?
Click to expand...

Not exactly, though he's been asked about it a few times, including this year's playoffs where he just rolled his eyes and said, "Please".

But to be honest I don't think he NEEDS to eat crow. The Spurs were the defending champs when the Pau trade happened in 2008 and it set the table for the Lakers to win two more championships. Sure, Marc looks great now, but Pau may have cost Pop another title in 2009 or 2010 had he not been in LA.
 
funkykingston said:
Not exactly, though he's been asked about it a few times, including this year's playoffs where he just rolled his eyes and said, "Please".

But to be honest I don't think he NEEDS to eat crow. The Spurs were the defending champs when the Pau trade happened in 2008 and it set the table for the Lakers to win two more championships. Sure, Marc looks great now, but Pau may have cost Pop another title in 2009 or 2010 had he not been in LA.
Click to expand...

Well yeah, but his statement wasn't about the Spurs -- Memphis clearly has no duty to do what's best for the Spurs. His statement is he would have voided the trade because it was terrible for Memphis (and of course great for the Lakers). But in the end it didn't turn out to be terrible for Memphis. Still not sure how much of that Wallace knew was going to happen, but still.
 
Bricklayer said:
Well yeah, but his statement wasn't about the Spurs -- Memphis clearly has no duty to do what's best for the Spurs. His statement is he would have voided the trade because it was terrible for Memphis (and of course great for the Lakers). But in the end it didn't turn out to be terrible for Memphis. Still not sure how much of that Wallace knew was going to happen, but still.
Click to expand...

Wallace has admitted that he didn't know if Marc Gasol would even come over to play. So it could have been Javaris Crittenton and two late 1st rounders for Pau. I was shocked by that trade when it went down. Marc Gasol has single handedly made it not completely reprehensible, but if anyone thought he'd be capable of that he wouldn't have been a late 2nd round pick in the first place.
 
Bricklayer said:
Yeah, had forgotten when exactly he got canned by the Celtics. Wikipedia claims he was with them for 10 years, which would have been 1997-2007. But hoopshype's transaction record suggests he was out in Boston after 2002-03, then sat out 5 years before taking over the Grizz. If that's true then virtually the only good thing he did in his entire Celtcis tenure was draft Pierce. The rest was just blech, although in the early years that was notoriously Rick Pitono's muddled meddling.
Click to expand...
Wallace stuck around in Boston in a diminished role until around 2007. Ainge took over in 2003 after ownership changed. He brought in Bowen during the Pitino years which I thought was a good move - apparently he was in Miami during Wallace's tenure there. He completely blew a 3 first round pick draft as well. Well, he did draft Joe Johnson only to trade him that year. Otherwise he was pretty unremarkable to downright godawful.
 
Pop was right and wrong. He was wrong because Marc Gasol is playing much better than Pau. However, Pau helped bring rings to the Lakers, Memphis has zero.
 
From Pop's POV, it was a horrible trade because it made the Lakers vastly better, and champs again. But Wallace did throw out the challenge to go on record against the deal, Pop did, and it has worked out great for the Grizz (lucky or not).
 
lwc said:
Pop was right and wrong. He was wrong because Marc Gasol is playing much better than Pau. However, Pau helped bring rings to the Lakers, Memphis has zero.
Click to expand...

No, as it turned out Pop was wrong and wrong. As were most. But Pop went on record saying he wished he could void the deal. Quite obviously as it turned out that would have been completely out of line. It worked out for Memphis and they are better now than they ever were with Pau. Just a question, as I've said, of whether Wallace really deserves credit for planning that result.
 
Lets be honest. He was absolutely horrendous in Boston and set their rebuild back years. In Memphis, his legacy is saved only because one of the worst trades in nba history happened to net a defensive anchor that Wallace never thought would come over.

He's ranked the second worst drafter in the nba (right ahead of Kahn). He hasn't done well with free agents, salary management and has a mixed to poor record on trades. Not a stellar career so far.
 
Bricklayer said:
No, as it turned out Pop was wrong and wrong. As were most. But Pop went on record saying he wished he could void the deal. Quite obviously as it turned out that would have been completely out of line. It worked out for Memphis and they are better now than they ever were with Pau. Just a question, as I've said, of whether Wallace really deserves credit for planning that result.
Click to expand...
Play fair Brick, you can hardly criticize Wallace in one post for trading recently drafted players like Love who had not performed well, saying Wallace "failed to see the talent" then in the next post fail to give Wallace credit for the guys he traded for saying "I am not sure he saw the talent"
 
To be fair a couple of Grizzlies blogs are sure that 3 things were decided by the owner, not Wallace:
1. Trading Pau to Lakers, not Chicago
Quote from Woj's article
For Gasol and Memphis’ Hakim Warrick, the Bulls were willing to part with Andres Nocioni, Tyrus Thomas, Joakim Noah, Thabo Sefolosha, possibly Adrian Griffin and draft picks.
Heisley didn’t offer up those names, but insisted, “Chicago wouldn’t offer us any of their good, core players,” he said.
...
Around the league there are those who believe that Wallace was forced to turn the Gasol trade into a salary dump, and there are league officials, including a close friend, who believe, “There is no way that Chris ever would’ve made that trade on his own.”
Click to expand...
2. Drafting Thabeet
3. Signing Gay to that contract.
 
HndsmCelt said:
Play fair Brick, you can hardly criticize Wallace in one post for trading recently drafted players like Love who had not performed well, saying Wallace "failed to see the talent" then in the next post fail to give Wallace credit for the guys he traded for saying "I am not sure he saw the talent"
Click to expand...

Its an awful longshot. Reeks of throwing **** against the wall and hoping something sticks. Then when it does you take it down and parade around saying see? See?

I actually think I am being charitable I admitting the possibility of a plan there. I'm rather more encouraged by the post here suggesting Heisley may have shortcircuited a superior deal with Chicago that included Noah. As we've seen with Petrie, get a meddlesome owner who doesn't know his stuff and it can make anyone look bad (and I say that as someone who generally approves of the right of owners to meddle -- I know when I buy a team that GM is going to be a puppet who brings me coffee and doughnuts in the morning before I shoo him off to dust the trophy room. :p
 
I would WAY rather have Petrie over Wallace...

I have said this before...I wonder how much of Petrie's horrible job he has done the past years is due to the Maloofs. I would really like to give him the power to do WHATEVER he wants and see where it goes.
 
Amory said:
I would WAY rather have Petrie over Wallace...

I have said this before...I wonder how much of Petrie's horrible job he has done the past years is due to the Maloofs. I would really like to give him the power to do WHATEVER he wants and see where it goes.
Click to expand...

No. Someone should have stuck a fork in Petrie years ago. Wallace would be a poor decision but its clearly time for Geoff to move on. It's been bad move after bad move the last 6-7 years. Even if the maloofs were cheap, it doesn't exuse the past couple draft picks, bad trades, signings, public handling of conflict, rumors of inactivity, management dysfunction, etc.

Let's honor him for the webber era and forgive him for the latter half but either way, it's over.
 
Amory said:
I would WAY rather have Petrie over Wallace...

I have said this before...I wonder how much of Petrie's horrible job he has done the past years is due to the Maloofs. I would really like to give him the power to do WHATEVER he wants and see where it goes.
Click to expand...

I couldn't disagree more. I'm done watching Petrie ignore a defensive anchor role year in and year out while he evaluates a poorly matched group of players.
 
Not just bad moves. Lousy philosophy.

I don't trust Wallace, but you know what? He seems to like bigs and defense. Or at least maybe. And that's philosophically a big step forward. Get me any GM who won't trade Cousins or Evans (again, I don't trust Wallace) and who will pursue some defenders and shotblockers to put around them, and I'm good with it for the time being.
 
To be fair to Wallace, although he wasn't sure that Gasol was going to come over, Marc was in the middle of an MVP season at La Liga (2nd best league in the world) and was considered the best player in Europe at the time of the trade.
 
Bricklayer said:
Its an awful longshot. Reeks of throwing **** against the wall and hoping something sticks. Then when it does you take it down and parade around saying see? See?

I actually think I am being charitable I admitting the possibility of a plan there. I'm rather more encouraged by the post here suggesting Heisley may have shortcircuited a superior deal with Chicago that included Noah. As we've seen with Petrie, get a meddlesome owner who doesn't know his stuff and it can make anyone look bad (and I say that as someone who generally approves of the right of owners to meddle -- I know when I buy a team that GM is going to be a puppet who brings me coffee and doughnuts in the morning before I shoo him off to dust the trophy room. :p
Click to expand...
Maybe the plan is for Wallace to be Malone's goffer?
 
Sam Amick ‏@sam_amick 17m
Potential Denver/Sacto crossover in GM searches. Memphis' Chris Wallace wants to bring Nuggets' Pete D'Alessandro to Sacto if he gets job

this is kinda interesting. D'Alessandro is talked about as an in-house solution for the Nuggets newly vacant gm spot and is apparently really good at what he does.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Mr. S£im Citrus
  • Locked
  • Poll Poll
[Game] 80/82: Kings vs. Nuggets 09 APR 2025, 7pm PT/10pm ET (ESPN)
7 8 9
Replies
255
Views
7K
Capt. Factorial
Capt. Factorial
KainLear
[The Athletic] Dumars has no interest in being the long-term head of basketball operations, and will not be a candidate in the search.
6 7 8
Replies
216
Views
14K
pdxKingsFan
pdxKingsFan
T
GM candidates coming to Sacramento to interview with Kings, but not with Joe Dumars?
Replies
0
Views
394
The Sacramento Bee
T
T
Sources: Denver Nuggets general manager Calvin Booth unlikely to meet with Kings
Replies
0
Views
354
The Sacramento Bee
T
T
Kings mailbag: Who is top GM candidate? Is Luke Walton's job safe? NBA Draft targets?
Replies
0
Views
311
The Sacramento Bee
T
Back
Top