I'm in the minority

[VF21]

I don't like tanking; in fact, I hate it. I think it ruins the competitive balance of the League, and it's not a characteristic synonymous with a proud franchise.

That having been said, since we are relegated the Lottery this year, there's no sense ruining our chances at getting a top five pick. Whether the Draft is going to set us ahead or not, I think everyone would agree that the higher up you pick, the better your chances of getting a player who can contribute to success. And on a team like ours, there's no reason why a rookie would only see limited action; it's not like there are a ton of players on the team who would warrant extended minutes every night.

I'm probably in the minority in that I don't like seeing my team lose games, even if it's probably best for the future of the franchise. However, I know why it's important that we sacrifice the remainder of the season in order to get a leg up on getting back to where we were, in contention for a championship.

Great post, Supes. You pretty much said what I've been feeling but haven't been able to state anywhere near as clearly.

 

[ezekielbear]

At least Ainge will draft a big man...

As far as I'm concerned, Petrie is no longer entitled to my unconditional support. He lost that right when he traded Webber for "moveable" pieces of garbage.

Bad deal, no doubt...but he can't win them all.

Other then the Abdul-Wahad blunder, he's done a pretty solid job overall.

He'll most likely upset you again when he drafts a guard as well if no big men are left that he desires. lol

 

[KingsFan93]

That is one of the most informative threads I have read on this forum for a long time

Good discussion, most of what the Kings have been going through is presented here, I wish the owners and/or management could read this

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Bad deal, no doubt...but he can't win them all.

Other then the Abdul-Wahad blunder, he's done a pretty solid job overall.

September 7 2001
Traded guard Jon Barry to the Detroit Pistons for guard Mateen Cleaves.

August 5 2003
Traded forward Keon Clark and two future second-round picks to the Utah Jazz in for a future second-round draft pick.

August 15 2003
Signed guard Anthony Peeler.

February 23 2005
Traded forwards Chris Webber, Michael Bradley and Matt Barnes to the Philadelphia 76ers for forwards Kenny Thomas, Corliss Williamson and Brian Skinner.

August 2 2005
Traded a future second-round pick to the Charlotte Bobcats for guard Jason Hart.

June 2 2006
Named Eric Musselman head coach.

August 15 2006
Signed center Loren Woods.

October 3 2006
Signed forward Maurice Taylor.

Which Abdul-Wahad "blunder" would you be referring to, by the way? The one where he drafted him, or the one where he traded him?

 

[Bricklayer]

Don't forget losing Gerald...unless that is going to count as part of the asinine out clause we gave Peeler.

 

[ezekielbear]

Which Abdul-Wahad "blunder" would you be referring to, by the way? The one where he drafted him, or the one where he traded him?

Most of those deals were all money related.

It's as much his job to run a business as well build a team in terms of players.

And I was talking about the drafting of him.

Nick wasn't that bad.

 

[ezekielbear]

Don't forget losing Gerald...unless that is going to count as part of the asinine out clause we gave Peeler.

Who would you have put available that year? Just curious.

 

[Bricklayer]

Who would you have put available that year? Just curious.

I would have made Anthony Peeler available.

Because you see, unlike our genius of a GM I was well aware that there was an expansion draft coming up after the seaosn, and knew the rules thereof, so you can bet your hind end I would have had a spare vet with a guaranteed contract around as my sacrifical lamb to protect the younguns. Geoff did not, gave his vet an opt out clause, and was trapped when he took it. Crappy planning.

 

[ezekielbear]

I believe, I could be wrong, but I believe Peeler was signed to a 2 year contract...the 2nd year was an option which he declined.

And Patricia's says he was as well...

http://www.eskimo.com/~pbender/misc/salaries04.txt

The Sacramento Kings signed veteran guard Anthony Peeler to a one-year contract with a second-year option, The Bee has learned.
Peeler had spent the last six season with the Minnesota Timberwolves before being traded during the offseason along with teammate Joe Smith to the Milwaukee Bucks for Sam Cassell and Ervin Johnson. The Bucks waived Peeler 10 days after the trade.

Peeler, 34, was a first-round draft choice out of Missouri by the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1992 draft. He was traded to the Vancouver Grizzlies in 1996 before being traded to the Timberwolves in 1998.

This past season Peeler played in all 82 games for Minnesota, starting 39 times. He averaged. 7.7 points per game and 3.0 assists

http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/basketball/kings/story/7228121p-8173390c.html

 

[BMiller52]

Read what Bricklayer said again. He KNEW Peeler could opt out. His point is, don't LET him have that option, so we can keep Gerald.

 

[ezekielbear]

I don't think Petrie would just give Peeler that option for the hell of it knowing the situation at hand...

He knew what he was doing...and no matter if you agree with it or not, the guy has run a professional organization for years...he's not so incompetent to not see what was going to happen at the end of that season.

He let Gerald go for a reason.

And if he is that incompetent...

Run!

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Yeah, he let Wallace go for a "reason." And the reason was... he ****ed up.

 

[ezekielbear]

I guess we could always bring back St. Jean and Thomas. lol

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Right... and that's exactly what I said, too... Petrie ****ed up the Wallace deal, so that puts him on the same level as Garry St. Jean...

 

[jimbodan]

Forget about Peeler, he should have left Webber unprotected. There was no way the Bobcats would have taken him, his contract was close to their entire teams salary and even if they did then he would have been off of our books and we wouldn't be stuck with K9 now.

 

[vytzka]

Yeah, it's so awesome that we now know perfectly well how everything turned out. That Petrie dude must be really thick to have done all those things when he could have used all this excellent post-factum knowledge of the situation.

No, wait a minute...

Sorry, just felt like biting. Yes, Geoff has done quite a few stupid things in his career. Some good ones too. Remember this Webber chap for instance - did he come here by himself?

We don't even know how many of his recent mess-ups were done by his own will, or orchestrated by Maloof brothers, their mum, family dog (in which case they should reassign RonRon to take care of it - that will teach him) or whoever else has been running this ship in recent years. I'll go so far as to claim that Petrie is the only one currently in the organization capable of getting us out of this mess.

Is he the most capable overall? Probably no. But he is head-and-shoulders less incompetent than everyone else.

IN PETRIE WE TRUST!

 

[ParniValjak]

Lets just hope Petrie can pull a rabbit or two out of the hat during the summer. Starting with the draft.

 

[Jerryaki]

so you think it's no biggie the kings slipped from #6 to #10 in the draft. you think they can rebuild through trade and free agency. fine.

WHY THE HECK WOULD YOU NOT WANT THE HIGHER PICK AS A TRADING CHIP THEN?

and for all the petrie is a genius/competent GM backers out there, fine, he's had his successes. what i'm looking at is his more recent history, one that is basically full of f*ck ups. the league has caught on to his game plan, and they sure as hell aren't dealing gold for trash anymore.

 

[Geoff]

At least Ainge will draft a big man...

As far as I'm concerned, Petrie is no longer entitled to my unconditional support. He lost that right when he traded Webber for "moveable" pieces of garbage.

While I agree with you, what if it wasn't his idea to make the trade, but the Maloofs idea?

 

[Jerryaki]

While I agree with you, what if it wasn't his idea to make the trade, but the Maloofs idea?

then all his genius means diddly squat, because the maloofs are still around and still make the decisions. regardless of whose f*ckup it was, the same management and owners are still in place.

 

[Kingster]

Precisely: we may have only had one losing season, but we've been "losing" for some time now. And that's another reason why so many fans want this team blown up and rebooted, starting with the draft: as bad as Musselman is as a head coach, this deconstruction is three or four years in the making.

Even more bothersome is the end product at the end of deconstruction. If I had to guess, it will be a rather mediocre team that will be good enough to make the playoffs, but never good enough to have a chance at a championship. Petrie/Maloofs haven't shown the guts to do what is necessary so far, so I'm skeptical whether they are going to have the guts going forward. More and more I get the feeling that winning for them means getting just enough wins - 41, 42, 43 - to fill the seats and vie for the 8th playoff spot, but never the sacrifice required to vie for a championship. This offseason is going to be very telling.

 

[Warhawk]

This offseason is going to be very telling.

Unfortunately, I don't know if that's true.

I think there may not be a bunch of changes this year. Frankly, who would bite on what we are selling? Brad and Kenny are probably unmovable. Bibby's contract situation is pretty shaky for a team to take on. Artest is, well, Artest.

That's where most of our $$$ are.

Corliss and Vitale are off the books this year, but it doesn't free up any real cash for us to do anything. Maybe a S&T with Corliss?

SAR seems to be slowing down and may not be worth the MLE $$$ in the long run.

So who do we trade? Our young guys who have shown a propensity for playing with heart and hustle? Is someone willing to take Kenny's contract just to get a Kevin Martin?

I don't think, other that the just-screwed-up-draft-position, we had a lot of real options this year. And now any hope of drafting someone of potential "star" status just went out the window except for the bleak hope of a VERY lucky ping-pong ball.

 

['89 Kings Fan]

Right... and that's exactly what I said, too... Petrie ****ed up the Wallace deal, so that puts him on the same level as Garry St. Jean...

I always thought the expansion draft went exactly as the Kings wanted. There is no way Petrie could be that stupid the summer before. I think Wallace was left unprotected to save money. If they cared they could have just unprotected Christie since the Bobcats would have never taken him, and we ended up trading for someone we did not resign 6 months later.

It felt just like the JB trade, an easy way to trim payroll.

 

[Kingster]

Yeah, he let Wallace go for a "reason." And the reason was... he ****ed up.

I remember when Petrie let Wallace go and the fans were up in arms, me included. Petrie just laughed. I guess he was laughing at those foolish fans who were enthralled with the athleticism of Wallace, when he, Petrie, knew he just wasn't all that valuable. Who's laughing now?

 

[Kingster]

Unfortunately, I don't know if that's true.

I think there may not be a bunch of changes this year. Frankly, who would bite on what we are selling? Brad and Kenny are probably unmovable. Bibby's contract situation is pretty shaky for a team to take on. Artest is, well, Artest.

That's where most of our $$$ are.

Corliss and Vitale are off the books this year, but it doesn't free up any real cash for us to do anything. Maybe a S&T with Corliss?

SAR seems to be slowing down and may not be worth the MLE $$$ in the long run.

So who do we trade? Our young guys who have shown a propensity for playing with heart and hustle? Is someone willing to take Kenny's contract just to get a Kevin Martin?

I don't think, other that the just-screwed-up-draft-position, we had a lot of real options this year. And now any hope of drafting someone of potential "star" status just went out the window except for the bleak hope of a VERY lucky ping-pong ball.

I think Bibby and Artest are tradable. Maybe even SAR if you wanted to trade him. The rest of the guys, probably not tradable. I wouldn't trade the young guys because I'm in the Blow-It-Up-Go-Young camp. What is going to be telling is whether Petrie trades Bibby or Artest for veterans, or whether he goes young. At this point, I'm pessimistic he goes for young athletic talent or that he gets another high draft pick out of the trades. Instead, he'll probably opt for a rearrangement of the deck chairs on the Titanic.

 

[Superman]

I remember when Petrie let Wallace go and the fans were up in arms, me included. Petrie just laughed. I guess he was laughing at those foolish fans who were enthralled with the athleticism of Wallace, when he, Petrie, knew he just wasn't all that valuable. Who's laughing now?

Hindsight is 20/20.

Petrie's made his share of mistakes over the decade that he's been GM. He's still shown incredible judgment of talent, an ability to acquire key pieces to a team that's already established, and let's not forget that he built the contender Kings from the ground up, practically. Made all the moves that got us into the picture and kept us in the picture for several seasons. I think he's capable of rebuilding the team.

The question isn't about Petrie's ability, if you ask me. I wonder more about the authority he has to make basketball decisions with this franchise. It was GP who had to plead with the Maloofs to pass on Whisenant last summer; we were all thrilled that he won that argument, even if we got stuck with Eric Musselman. He pulled off the trade for Chris Webber, moving over the hill Mitch Richmond for one of the best big men in the League, in his prime. Also orchestrated the deal that brought Brad Miller to the Kings, and at a time when we would desperately need a player with his skills since Webber was hurt. Drafted Peja, in the face of constant criticism. Got Vlade here, got Doug Christie here. Traded Jason Williams for Mike Bibby, straight up, which paid off immediately.

The man's resume is chock full of great moves over the past 10 years. He also has some glaring oversights that probably warrant an explanation. The Gerald Wallace deal still makes no sense, but there are probably a ton of other factors that played into that whole mess. For instance, a second year option may have been a stipulation that Peeler wouldn't do without. I'm still convinced that the Webber for "moveable pieces" deal was forced by the Maloofs, and wasn't Petrie's decision. Same with the Rick Adelman debacle last season. And I'm sure Musselman wasn't Petrie's first choice. He was his miracle save from having a man who had no high-level coaching experience trying to win us a championship - who was all but inked, by the way.

Bottom line, whether GP has the ability to rebuild this team doesn't concern me. I'm more concerned with whether the Maloofs will let him do what needs to be done in order to land us some players that can make a difference, as opposed to signing guys like Jason Hart and Vitaly Potapenko. If Petrie is calling the shots, I'm good with it.

 

[nbrans]

Hindsight is 20/20.

Petrie's made his share of mistakes over the decade that he's been GM. He's still shown incredible judgment of talent, an ability to acquire key pieces to a team that's already established, and let's not forget that he built the contender Kings from the ground up, practically. Made all the moves that got us into the picture and kept us in the picture for several seasons. I think he's capable of rebuilding the team.

The question isn't about Petrie's ability, if you ask me. I wonder more about the authority he has to make basketball decisions with this franchise. It was GP who had to plead with the Maloofs to pass on Whisenant last summer; we were all thrilled that he won that argument, even if we got stuck with Eric Musselman. He pulled off the trade for Chris Webber, moving over the hill Mitch Richmond for one of the best big men in the League, in his prime. Also orchestrated the deal that brought Brad Miller to the Kings, and at a time when we would desperately need a player with his skills since Webber was hurt. Drafted Peja, in the face of constant criticism. Got Vlade here, got Doug Christie here. Traded Jason Williams for Mike Bibby, straight up, which paid off immediately.

The man's resume is chock full of great moves over the past 10 years. He also has some glaring oversights that probably warrant an explanation. The Gerald Wallace deal still makes no sense, but there are probably a ton of other factors that played into that whole mess. For instance, a second year option may have been a stipulation that Peeler wouldn't do without. I'm still convinced that the Webber for "moveable pieces" deal was forced by the Maloofs, and wasn't Petrie's decision. Same with the Rick Adelman debacle last season. And I'm sure Musselman wasn't Petrie's first choice. He was his miracle save from having a man who had no high-level coaching experience trying to win us a championship - who was all but inked, by the way.

Bottom line, whether GP has the ability to rebuild this team doesn't concern me. I'm more concerned with whether the Maloofs will let him do what needs to be done in order to land us some players that can make a difference, as opposed to signing guys like Jason Hart and Vitaly Potapenko. If Petrie is calling the shots, I'm good with it.

Very good post, and I agree.

I still think the Gerald Wallace thing is overblown. He needed time to flourish, never would have gotten it sitting behind first Peja then Artest. Anyway, I trust in Petrie, I don't trust in the Maloofs. We're hearing some rumblings that the Maloofs are going to let Petrie do his job, finally, and if that's the case, things will be ok in the long run.

 

[fnordius]

Bottom line, whether GP has the ability to rebuild this team doesn't concern me. I'm more concerned with whether the Maloofs will let him do what needs to be done in order to land us some players that can make a difference, as opposed to signing guys like Jason Hart and Vitaly Potapenko. If Petrie is calling the shots, I'm good with it.

I think we need some new term to use in referring to GP. None of us know what is him, or what is the Maloofs, and people will always disagree about where the blame should lay.

For future reference, whenever I mention Petrie, I am not actually referring to the former Trailblazer, Geoff Petrie. I am referring to the GM's job description. Geoff may or may not be doing a fine job, but for the last 3 years or so, someone's been letting the GM's duties be done rather badly. I don't really care anymore who is to blame, management just needs to work it out. Fixing that is already years overdue, and it's killing the team.

 

[Kingzrool]

Petrie/Maloofs haven't shown the guts to do what is necessary so far, so I'm skeptical whether they are going to have the guts going forward. More and more I get the feeling that winning for them means getting just enough wins - 41, 42, 43 - to fill the seats and vie for the 8th playoff spot, but never the sacrifice required to vie for a championship. This offseason is going to be very telling.

If this were true, why did they let RA go?

I think, in the Maloofs minds (I am not agreeing), letting him go was the first step to making the necessary changes to actually get a championship.

A championship is very important to the Maloofs, how to get one is the question. True, they need to let GP do his job, but I think a championship is their goal, not "to fill the seats and vie for 8th playoff spot". The Kings are mostly about $$ for them, but make no mistake, ego is also playing a part.

I am going to the game tonight (thanx again you know who), and like it or not, I will root for the Kings to win. I will be happy if they lose, but I refuse to go and cheer for a loss. IMO that is pathetic.

 

[Vlade4GM]

Very good post, and I agree.

I still think the Gerald Wallace thing is overblown. He needed time to flourish, never would have gotten it sitting behind first Peja then Artest. Anyway, I trust in Petrie, I don't trust in the Maloofs. We're hearing some rumblings that the Maloofs are going to let Petrie do his job, finally, and if that's the case, things will be ok in the long run.

I doubt Peja would've been traded for another small forward if we still had GW.