I would be shocked if he actually did. That has always seemed like a bogus title for a guy who's been around the team for half his life.
On two different occasions, I was able to sit down with Reynolds and just shoot the bull for an extended period of time. It was a long time ago, and then, if you kept buying the beer, he kept sitting there and relating stories.(he no longer drinks by the way) Once was at the Fair Oaks sports bar and grill. Don't be fooled by the image he projects on TV. Off camera he's an entirely different person. Knowledgable, and tough minded. Having said that, I wouldn't recommend him for the GM job because I think they need some outside blood to come in and shake things up. I like stability as much as the next person, but right now, management has become so stable, it appears nonexistent at times.
I realize that many have reservations about firing Petrie because of who might replace him. I understand that, but its apples and oranges. If you truely believe someone isn't doing a good job, you fire them, and deal with the other issues that result from that firing later. Otherwise you have paralysis by analysis. I know its easy to blame the Maloofs. I have no doubt they've meddled. But I just don't think you can blame them for every decision that was made. I doubt they decided to pick up Outlaw. Yes, he's relatively cheap, but there are other players that were just as cheap, or slightly more expensive that would have been better fits, and who were more proven.
The trend that Petrie has been in, is to pick up players that border on being good players potential wise, with the hope they blossom with us. Outlaw, James Johnson, JJ Hickson, Sheldon Williams, Rashon McCants, and yes, I'll throw Thornton into that group. Hey, hitting on one out of maybe 10 ain't bad is it? Instead of going after more veteran players with proven records like Kyle Korver, Lou Williams, etc. If its all about money, then instead of outfitting the team with 4 or 5 cheap average to below average players, combine that money and get one good player. Just look at the results of what the combined salaries of Salmons, Cisco, Brooks, James Johnson and Outlaw has gotten us.
Those salaries add up to $23,245,006.00. Thats a lot of money folks, and with that amount of money, spent more wisely, we could have had at least two very good basketball players, maybe three. You tell me, are we getting our moneys worth? I think not! Does any thought go into these player decisions? Are they just knee jerk reactions of the moment.
Who would you rather have on the team right now. Garcia, or Korver? I think most would say Korver. Guess what, Garcia makes more money than Korver. Yeah, I know we drafted Cisco, but I'm trying to make a point. In the previous draft to the recent one, when it was our turn to pick in the second round there were two players sitting there that I had on my list. Tyler Honeycutt and Chandler Parsons. I had Parsons rated ahead of Honeycutt. I just thought he was bigger, and overall more skilled than Honeycutt. So we took Honeycutt, who is now playing in the D-League, probably waiting for his next injury, while Parsons is the starting SF for Houston. And in my opinion, he's a better SF than anyone desguised as one on our team. Did the Maloofs make that choice? I doubt it.
Now thats a small mistake, but with big consequences. And there have been a lot of them of late. No bold moves, just conservative safe moves which have netted zero improvement. Was T. Robb a bad choice? No, I don't think so, but the real question should be, was he the right choice? In reality, he was, once again, the safe choice. Great reputation! Hard worker! And, we needed help up front. The right choice probably would have been Lillard, or taking a gamble on Drummond, or, trading down for two later picks in the first round, or a veteran player.
Every once in a while, you just have to take a gamble. Take a risk. If you play it safe all the time, you'll never walk on the moon. Petrie took a risk when he went after C. Webb. He took a risk when he drafted Peja and then drafted J. Will, neither popular choices at the time. For some reason, he doesn't seem to be the same person. When your young, and your running through the woods and you come to that log across the stream, you just bounce across and continue on. When you come to that same log 30 or 40 years later, you stop and think about it, and perhaps you don't cross it.
