Geoff Petrie knows what he’s doing…

[sactown100]

Geoff Petrie knows what he’s doing…

Geoff Petrie is not recognized as being one of the top GM’s in the league for being stupid, or not knowing how to build a winning team, or not seeing talent. I guess only a few people here truly understand what it takes to be a GM, or what it takes to have the toughest job in the NBA. Yes he has to make the owners happy but by no means is Petrie a puppet for the Maloof’s. If Petrie was no more than a front man for the Maloof show he would leave in a heart beat.

Why are we so quick to judge? The offseason isn’t even over not a single game has been played.

He is the GM, the number one basketball mind for the kings. He was a basketball stud as a player and knows first hand what it takes mentally and physically to be and build a winner. He’s also an excellent judge of talent and potential. He single handily built this joke of a team into a 8 straight playoff bound team, and was a bad call or two from bringing sactown a championship. He has made one deal after another to build around or just replace an aging core of players. Mistakes have been made but we must look at the big picture of what he has done. Minus the almost winning a championship,

I think he traded for Webber( I think ouch cant remember) I think he also got Vlade Divac (hmm cant remember either) but he did draft Peja out of no where. He traded for Bibby. He traded no names for Miller (great move at the time). He knew better than to commit too much money to Divac who didn’t play more than what 20 games for the Lakers? He managed to trade Webber for 3 living beings that could at least walk on the basketball court. He traded Christie for Mobley. Wow was that a good move for the Kings. Orlando had to pay him even after his career basically ended. He drafted Martin and others that have much promise and at the least will be in the league awhile. We traded Jackson for Wells, and finally Peja for Artest. Come on guys Peja for Artest ? I don’t want to hear it.

Ok Bonzi walked, But watching Peja walk for nothing to join the Hornets? Take your pick. Are we down on Petrie because we wanted Bonzi to stay. Well Bonzi wasn’t really committed to ending his career as a King. He was all about the pay day. The Kings are over paying close to 10mil. for players that are old (or more prone to injury), not a part of the future, or just asking for too much money. Yes his numbers were great but it was a contract year, and he just about had a career year. He’s not capable at his age of being that kind of player for 5 more years, and who knows if the problems he was having with teams before he got here wouldn’t start again once he got his pay day. By the outcome of today it looks like he’s been having issues again for awhile now.

Petrie is a stud and I refuse to believe that just because Bonzi walked or we added a player that has improved every year, and was sought out by other Top GM’s that he should be fired or the Kings are done and over. For all we know letting Bonzi go was the best option.

John Salmons has talent and potential. He was stuck in a log jam with the 76’ers. He obviously was coveted by other top GM’s so give the guy a break. He’s a King and I got his back till he isn’t, or flops like Jason Hart( who many at ESPN said was a great move). The offseasons not over and not a single game has been played. Everyone needs to chill the hell out and let Petrie do his thing.

Maybe we made a mistake but Petrie always finds a way to move problems.

 

[HndsmCelt]

Paragraphs can be your friend.

 

[sactown100]

sorry just thought i would be shorter... kinda in the zone...

 

[Vitamin K]

Geoff Petrie knows what he’s doing… Geoff Petrie is not recognized as being one of the top GM’s in the league for being stupid, or not knowing how to build a winning team, or not seeing talent. I guess only a few people here truly understand what it takes to be a GM, or what it takes to have the toughest job in the NBA. Yes he has to make the owners happy but by no means is Petrie a puppet for the Maloof’s. If Petrie was no more than a front man for the Maloof show he would leave in a heart beat. Why are we so quick to judge? The offseason isn’t even over not a single game has been played. He is the GM, the number one basketball mind for the kings. He was a basketball stud as a player and knows first hand what it takes mentally and physically to be and build a winner. He’s also an excellent judge of talent and potential. He single handily built this joke of a team into a 8 straight playoff bound team, and was a bad call or two from bringing sactown a championship. He has made one deal after another to build around or just replace an aging core of players. Mistakes have been made but we must look at the big picture of what he has done. Minus the almost winning a championship, I think he traded for Webber( I think ouch cant remember) I think he also got Vlade Divac (hmm cant remember either) but he did draft Peja out of no where. He traded for Bibby. He traded no names for Miller (great move at the time). He knew better than to commit too much money to Divac who didn’t play more than what 20 games for the Lakers? He managed to trade Webber for 3 living beings that could at least walk on the basketball court. He traded Christie for Mobley. Wow was that a good move for the Kings. Orlando had to pay him even after his career basically ended. He drafted Martin and others that have much promise and at the least will be in the league awhile. We traded Jackson for Wells, and finally Peja for Artest. Come on guys Peja for Artest ? I don’t want to hear it. Ok Bonzi walked, But watching Peja walk for nothing to join the Hornets? Take your pick. Are we down on Petrie because we wanted Bonzi to stay. Well Bonzi wasn’t really committed to ending his career as a King. He was all about the pay day. The Kings are over paying close to 10mil. for players that are old (or more prone to injury), not a part of the future, or just asking for too much money. Yes his numbers were great but it was a contract year, and he just about had a career year. He’s not capable at his age of being that kind of player for 5 more years, and who knows if the problems he was having with teams before he got here wouldn’t start again once he got his pay day. By the outcome of today it looks like he’s been having issues again for awhile now. Petrie is a stud and I refuse to believe that just because Bonzi walked or we added a player that has improved every year, and was sought out by other Top GM’s that he should be fired or the Kings are done and over. For all we know letting Bonzi go was the best option. John Salmons has talent and potential. He was stuck in a log jam with the 76’ers. He obviously was coveted by other top GM’s so give the guy a break. He’s a King and I got his back till he isn’t, or flops like Jason Hart( who many at ESPN said was a great move). The offseasons not over and not a single game has been played. Everyone needs to chill the hell out and let Petrie do his thing. Maybe we made a mistake but Petrie always finds a way to move problems.

Well said, I just hope he adds a defensive big who can rebound and block shots, Geoff not everyone has to score to be effective.

 

[Bricklayer]

Maybe we made a mistake but Petrie always finds a way to move problems.

1) Kenny Thomas anyone?

2) I second HndsmCelt's post.

3) Here is a summation of Geoff's recent accomplishments: He has now managed to turn Vlade Divac, Chris Webber, Doug Christie and Bobby Jackson into...Kenny Thomas, Corliss Williamson, and Vitaly Potapenko. Luckily for him the Maloofs insisted on a Peja for Ron deal or that could look much much worse. Can;t wait to see what he turns Bibby into.

 

[Kings113]

He knows that. Look at keon Clark/Pollard... and Petrie and Musselman said earlier this month they want to improve the interior defense.

 

[GoGoGadget]

3) Here is a summation of Geoff's recent accomplishments: He has now managed to turn Vlade Divac, Chris Webber, Doug Christie and Bobby Jackson into...Kenny Thomas, Corliss Williamson, and Vitaly Potapenko. Luckily for him the Maloofs insisted on a Peja for Ron deal or that could look much much worse. Can;t wait to see what he turns Bibby into.

Yuck.

 

[Fillmoe]

apparently hes not according to all the expert gms we have on this board

 

[BK_KingsFan7]

Petrie sucks and is overrated. He hasn't made a good move in like three years.

 

[Yoda]

3) Here is a summation of Geoff's recent accomplishments: He has now managed to turn Vlade Divac, Chris Webber, Doug Christie and Bobby Jackson into...Kenny Thomas, Corliss Williamson, and Vitaly Potapenko. Luckily for him the Maloofs insisted on a Peja for Ron deal or that could look much much worse. Can;t wait to see what he turns Bibby into.

Some call that rebuilding...

I'll call it the work of a man whose job should be in jeopardy. Or just, "yuck"

 

[AriesMar27]

he traded doug for nothing.... he could have traded doug for bonzi instead of mobley and we could have kept bobby who was actually pretty healthy last season....

he traded webber for nothing... he could have kept webber who oddly enough was healthy as well last season... and could have still signed reef or kept darius... thomas is garbage, corilss isnt used and traing skinner for potayohead was pointless... at least skinner could have played and would have been pretty useful against the spurs..... since we got nothing from miller...

peja was the only good trade that he was made since we got bibby... then again, jason has a ring and bibby doesnt, lol.....

 

[Kev.in]

I think the Maloofs budgetary constraints have messed Petrie up the past three summers. If you let him just do his thing, he does a good job. There is no way a guy like John Salmons was anywhere on Geoff Petrie's offseason priority list but he's got to work with the situation.

 

[Sptsjunkie]

Petrie sucks and is overrated. He hasn't made a good move in like three years.

Hmmm, drafted Kevin Martin and Garcia late in the first round (might be able to add Douby to this list soon).

Traded Peja for Artest (he made the move, if we blame Petrie for other moves the Maloofs might have pushed for we have to give him credit for this too)

Traded BJ for Bonzi. Yes Bonzi is gone now, but even without a sign and trade we probably wouldn't have paid BJ what he wanted, so this was a good move for last season.

Signed Shareef to a bargin of a deal.

Traded Christie for Mobley. Again, he refused to overpay Mobley (who he replaced with Bonzi) but Christie did not even finish the season we traded him due to injury).

He helped convince the Maloofs to hire Musselman instead of Whisenant.

That's better than most GMs the last three years.

 

[OptimusRhyme]

Im sick of these people trashing Petrie, some of you are such bandwagoners, do you not think hes trying to gain defence, what big man were we going to sign, stop looking at the negatives...

Williamson, Potapenko & Hart all expiring.
Young Potential- Martin, Garcia, Salmons, Price, Amundson, Williams
Stole Shareef
Stole Artest
New coach

And yah Bricklayer he turned Vlade Divac, Chris Webber, Doug Christie and Bobby Jackson into...Kenny Thomas, Corliss Williamson, and Vitaly Potapenko.
But that team was the past, they were getting old, were lucky we got that for Webbers injured knee.

You guys seem to forget people thought the window was closed last year, they thought we were done, Petrie has re-built us and rejuvenated us, hes doing everything in his power to make this team a winner.

And when you look at this team, we are solid, I'm sure hes still going to address our interior defence.
The most important part about signing a guy like Salmons is it gives Martin the chance to shine, which he will, 30 + minutes...

Is frustrating to see these fans turn on this GM trying so hard, give him a friggan break.

 

[SacTownKid]

1) Kenny Thomas anyone?

2) I second HndsmCelt's post.

3) Here is a summation of Geoff's recent accomplishments: He has now managed to turn Vlade Divac, Chris Webber, Doug Christie and Bobby Jackson into...Kenny Thomas, Corliss Williamson, and Vitaly Potapenko. Luckily for him the Maloofs insisted on a Peja for Ron deal or that could look much much worse. Can;t wait to see what he turns Bibby into.

Well I think your #3 tells why Geoff is a good GM. He turned those players into something at least! I mean its not like there was much choice in the matter.

 

[Alacron]

I don't blame Geoff for losing Christie... as we can see now, his career was winding down anyway, and at least we got a good scorer and a potential S&T opportunity out of it.

As for Bobby Jackson... there's no denying how important Bonzi was to us this last season, and the fact is we had the best shot at any team at resigning him, but the no-brainer deal was apparently bungled by both sides.

The only thing that really upsets me is the Webber deal.
~~

 

[Bricklayer]

Im sick of these people trashing Petrie, some of you are such bandwagoners,

So what do you think of Peja right now Optimus? If its anything but butterflies and sweet syrup then under your definition you too are a bandwagoner. So is anybody who chooses to wake up from the self-imposed dream, take a look around, and go ewww.

Because what we've got here is a team that has won fewer games for 5 straight years and is continuing to bleed talent like a man who has had his throat slit. We barely snuck in as a #8 seed last year, there is nowhere else down to go but the lottery, something we flirted with last year.

 

[sactown100]

right now you have to ask your self would all hope have been lost if Wells had gone down last year and we were given John Salmons to back up Bibby and Martin? basketball is a team game and although losing Wells is a blow... Martin is a stud and could hold his own... Salmons is young and has potential other GM's saw it to so its not like this came totally out of no where... lets see how this team does after they build some more chemistry with a full training camp together. yes we still need a big man but theres not alot to work with...

 

[Sptsjunkie]

BTW, the Webber trade gets blasted on this board a lot and there are some good reasons for that. However, our team would not be as good as it is now had we kept Webber.

If Webber was still here:

1 - We would not have Artest. Artest wanted to be the star and Webber dominates the ball. There is no way these two would have co-existed. Even moving to a new team in a new role, he's had problems co-existing with Iverson and the team hasn't done squat in the weaker Eastern Conference. If he had stayed the offensive star on this team he would not have defered to Artest. And for those who miss Webb's O, you're living in the past, last year he took 19 shots a game and shot 43% from the PF spot.

2 - Our defence would be worse regardless of who was playing small forward. As slow as Miller has been since breaking his leg, Webber is just as slow. And in 38 min a game, he averaged .8 blks, not exactly the front line shot blocker we've needed. Did I mention the way he gets killed in man D now would make you long for KT's man D.

3 - Shareef would not have signed with us if he knew Webber would be starting 38 mintes a game at PF with Brad playing 30 at C. Shareef had better offers.

Sometimes to rebuild a team, you have to reshape it. Petrie has done what other GMs, outside of the Lakers signing Shaq and the Spurs getting the #1 pick with Duncan available (neither option available to Petrie), has been able to do, rebuild on the fly while still making the playoffs.

No the Webber deal doesn't look great. We would have loved to get more for him, but no other team was willing to deal for him. Dealing KT this offseason would make it look a lot better, but even that doesn't happen, by trading Webber he was able reposition this team, bring in new players and continue the rebuilding process without going through the same debacles that the Bulls, Celtics, Heat, Knicks, Warriors, Pistons, Trailblazers, 76ers, Suns, Rockets, Magic, Cavs, Hawks, Jazz, Sonics, etc. have all gone though/are going through recently between their contending teams.

 

[SacTownKid]

I just can't believe that this is the end of things. Too many guys in the backcourt. I just hope this means Garcia gets playing time, I really want to see what Francisco can do.

 

[Kings113]

"the end of things"? - explain that, please

 

[SacTownKid]

Trades and whatnot.

 

[Sptsjunkie]

3) Here is a summation of Geoff's recent accomplishments: He has now managed to turn Vlade Divac, Chris Webber, Doug Christie and Bobby Jackson into...Kenny Thomas, Corliss Williamson, and Vitaly Potapenko. Luckily for him the Maloofs insisted on a Peja for Ron deal or that could look much much worse. Can;t wait to see what he turns Bibby into.

Ok, using that same logic:

Who did Auerbach turn Parish, Bird and McHale into? Nothing.

Who did Jerry West turn Magic, Kareem, Worthy, Scott and Cooper into? Nothing. And don't say Shaq and Kobe, they were signed or traded for other players. Brick's list did not include players Petrie brought in through different trades or free agency.

Who did Poppavich/RC Buford turn David Robinson, Sean Elliot, Mario Elie, and Avery Johnson into? Nothing. Remember he drafted Parker and Ginobilo.

This is absolutley insane. Teams have to rebuild and unless you trade superstars in their prime, you aren't going to get prime value back for them. Sure if Petrie had blown up the team after 2002 he could have gotten great players for the above mentioned former Kings. However, how much would everyone have protested if they blew up the team after going to Game 7 of the WCF?

So what happened to the players we traded after they left? Vlade and Christie were out of the league after essentially one unproductive season. Webber's a shell of his old self and can barely make the playoffs with Iverson and Iggy in the EC. Jackson had a solid season last year, but certainly was no better than Bonzi's and would have asked for a bigger deal than we wanted to give this off season. Do you really think Petrie would have matched the Hornets deal for a 33 year old PG?

 

[Kings113]

Trades and whatnot.

Um, no it's not? Geoff spoke positively about trades on the radio, and we still have the LLE which could be used. Aside from that, I really doubt Geoff is blowing off the rest of the off-season. Which is until opening night.

 

[Bricklayer]

Ok, using that same logic:

Who did Auerbach turn Parish, Bird and McHale into? Nothing.

Who did Jerry West turn Magic, Kareem, Worthy, Scott and Cooper into? Nothing. And don't say Shaq and Kobe, they were signed or traded for other players. Brick's list did not include players Petrie brought in through different trades or free agency.

Who did Poppavich/RC Buford turn David Robinson, Sean Elliot, Mario Elie, and Avery Johnson into? Nothing. Remember he drafted Parker and Ginobilo.

Hmm...I am going to assume here that you are not inentionally trying to be disingenuous in the belief that i somehow was going to miss it. But either way as you likely realize the vast majority of those guys actually retired with their teams after long title runs. Kind of hard to get a return on a guy who retires in your uniform (or a guy like Parish who should have but refused to quit playing at 40).

We didn't get any retirements in our uniforms. Or anything else out of our players. Even when solid inbetween moves were made, in the end we let the talent walk, and now its all dead loss. And along the way the secret of how you take a 60 win team and turn it into a 44 win 8th seed gets a lot easier to see.

 

[SacTownKid]

Um, no it's not? Geoff spoke positively about trades on the radio, and we still have the LLE which could be used. Aside from that, I really doubt Geoff is blowing off the rest of the off-season. Which is until opening night.

No I was saying I think that they WILL make more moves.

We are still 4-5 million under the tax after signing Salmons right? There is too much wiggle room to not be used. I see something going down where we take on more salary.

 

[Kings113]

Ah, when you said "this is the end of things", and then said trades and whatnot. I thought you meant we were done for the off-season.

*shrug*

 

[Sptsjunkie]

Hmm...I am going to assume here that you are not inentionally trying to be disingenuous in the belief that i somehow was going to miss it. But either way as you likely realize the vast majority of those guys actually retired with their teams after long title runs. Kind of hard to get a return on a guy who retires in your uniform (or a guy like Parish who should have but refused to quit playing at 40).

We didn't get any retirements in our uniforms. Or anything else out of our players. Even when solid inbetween moves were made, in the end we let the talent walk, and now its all dead loss. And along the way the secret of how you take a 60 win team and turn it into a 44 win 8th seed gets a lot easier to see.

Ok, not all of these players were traded (some were) and some left via free agency.

So instead of trading players and retooling, you're saying guys retiring after their teams were contenders was better? The Celtics became a mess after their top players declined. The Pistons didn't fare any better post Thomas/Dumars. The Heat were garbage when Zo and Hardaway were gone.

The point is, when a team is an elite team for a few years, eventually they have to rebuild. It's not as if the Kings prematuraley faded from prominence. If the Kings had kept Vlade, Webber, Jackson, and Christie would we still be contenders right now? Of course not.Good teams find a way to rebuild and don't make short sighted moves for an ill-fated final run. Petrie has avoided that. Instead we have a great player in Artest and a mix of talented players. The Kings are rebuilding nicely and have not gone through the years of suffering that some of the teams mentioned earlier have.

A lot of fans here want to blame Petrie for the fact that the Kings have not been able to skip the inevitable rebuilding phase. This is a fact of life in the NBA. Just be glad our phase has not included a string of 20-30 win seasons so far and that we have a neucleus that can be build into a contender with even one or two more good moves.

 

[OptimusRhyme]

So what do you think of Peja right now Optimus? If its anything but butterflies and sweet syrup then under your definition you too are a bandwagoner. So is anybody who chooses to wake up from the self-imposed dream, take a look around, and go ewww.

Because what we've got here is a team that has won fewer games for 5 straight years and is continuing to bleed talent like a man who has had his throat slit. We barely snuck in as a #8 seed last year, there is nowhere else down to go but the lottery, something we flirted with last year.

I do realize whats going on around this Kings organization, and I've have tryed to be as positive as I can about all of our moves, I'm just dissapointed in some fans, I meen this is Petrie, seriously we could look alot worse right now.
We barely snuck into 8th last year because Ron came 40 games into the season.
No Where else to go down but the lottery? Come on man be a little more optimistic then that, we have some talent on this team, for now and the future.
I just can't wait till Geoff makes his next move and the "Geoff Petrie for God" threads start to appear.

 

[BawLa]

Although I'm not as pleased with the last move made by GP, I still have to say we are not looking as dim as some think.

If you are wondering how we are going to fare next year just look at our division. The Clippers are the only decent team. And we own them. We have enough youth to "run" with the Suns, + there is no guarantee that Amare will be OK. The Kobes still aren't a team. The Warriors are equally as garbage.

I see us making the playoffs and again our young ones will gain valuable experience. As of right now I think we are one big man away from being a complete enough team to compete.