http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/basketball/kings/story/14246122p-15064067c.html
Stuck in the middle
Geoff Petrie may not be able to save the job of longtime friend Rick Adelman
By Mark Kreidler -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PDT Friday, April 21, 2006
When Geoff Petrie resigned from the Portland front office in 1994, thereby setting in motion the events that forever altered the NBA landscape in Sacramento, one of the popular theories was that he quit because he saw his old friend, Trail Blazers coach Rick Adelman, being done wrong.
The notion had an obvious appeal. Petrie and Adelman, after all, were former running mates, roomies on the road as young players during the early days of the Trail Blazers' existence in the 1970s. They had come up through the ranks together. They had forged winning ways in Portland together - three conference finals and two NBA Finals appearances.
Now, Adelman was getting squeezed out of his job by Blazers owner Paul Allen, and Petrie simply could not stomach it. He quit without a job lined up, which is how Petrie found himself in the summer of 1994 saying yes to Jim Thomas' offer to run the foundering Kings franchise.
It's a great story save for one flaw, which is that it is largely false, if not entirely so. Petrie quit mostly because he was getting out-politicked in Portland by another vice president, Brad Greenberg, and he intuitively understood that if Allen had the bad sense to align with Greenberg, the Blazers' future didn't look so hot.
"I talked to Paul Allen the same day Geoff left, and we only discussed the roster and the fact of Geoff resigning," Adelman said recently. "Paul didn't even call me again for a week. He didn't tell me I was fired until seven, eight days later.
"Now, Geoff might have had an inkling of what was going to happen, but that's not why he left. It was more what was going on with the front office that caused him to go."
Still, you will hear the tale from time to time. It's a better story - friend sticking up for friend even at the cost of his own job.
It might even come in handy over the next few weeks. As people line up on both sides of the debate over Adelman's future with the Kings, the coach's long and remarkably solid relationship with Petrie is certain to come to the fore.
In the final year of his contract, with no extension offered and no talks scheduled, Adelman is a man waiting on a resolution. He is the coach who has led the Kings to eight consecutive postseason appearances, but also the coach whom the Maloof family attempted to replace with Phil Jackson after a first-round playoff exit last spring.
"It's not the time to talk about that right now," Joe Maloof said by telephone Thursday, as he prepared to fly to San Antonio in advance of Saturday's playoff opener against the top-seeded San Antonio Spurs.
"Rick has meant a lot to the franchise, with all he's done through the years," Maloof said. "Hopefully ... we'll see what happens after the playoffs."
Whatever happens, the Petrie-Adelman axis almost is certain to be central to the conversation. That much, at least, is consistent with the career of a coach and a front-office executive who have kept a working relationship going for decades, with almost uniformly successful results.
Adelman and Petrie both have stayed in Sacramento long enough for the bodies of thought - for and against - to have calcified around them. Those who wish for Adelman to remain on the job may actively root for Petrie to throw his body in the way of any suggestion otherwise. Those who want Adelman gone may see Petrie as the final obstacle to the Maloof family's making the change it tried to make a year ago.
In truth, the two friends long ago made peace with the difference in their job descriptions. Adelman knows full well that all of Petrie's goodwill won't ultimately sway the Maloofs if they have made up their collective mind to seek a change. Petrie, for his part, has often remarked that, in his view, every Kings front-office employee is living on borrowed time - not an active threat so much as a basic truth of the job description.
Still, the two men have worked together so well for so long that those around them often assume an intimacy that doesn't always exist. Petrie and Adelman talk virtually every day, sometimes several times a day, but away from basketball their lives have moved in completely different directions.
"We used to be a lot closer, but we're just different," Adelman said. "I have a lot of kids (six, with his youngest son a junior in high school), and his are grown.
"We don't socialize - dinner and that stuff - but that doesn't mean you can't have a good relationship. I consider him a good friend."
Added Petrie: "Our relationship has grown less and less personal, and more and more professional. But we have a pretty common understanding of the game."
And much of that goes back to the relationship, the one that began with those nights traveling through the league as Trail Blazers players in the early '70s.
"We started out as roommates and teammates and golf buddies, getting up in the middle of the night on the road and playing gin rummy and talking about coaches and players," Petrie said.
"We still talk about those things, only in different circumstances."
And with different levels of import. Petrie is fully ensconced in his role as a long-term franchise caretaker. Adelman's career has been at the coaching level, existing from one game to the next, trying to string together enough victories to make a season acceptable.
It was in Portland that Petrie and Adelman realized they could function side by side on the front lines of an organization. Adelman coached the Trail Blazers to 50-plus victories in four of his five full seasons, with Petrie serving as a senior vice president who was credited with helping assemble much of the talent on those teams, including Terry Porter, Jerome Kersey and Buck Williams.
When Petrie quit in Portland, Kings executive Jerry Reynolds immediately was on the phone to Thomas, then the owner. Reynolds and others in the front office wanted Thomas to grab Petrie right away - and Thomas, to his enduring credit, did so in June 1994, ceding a substantial chunk of his front-office clout in the process.
Four years and two head coaches later, Petrie brought in Adelman in 1998 to replace the outgoing Eddie Jordan, and the franchise's renaissance began in earnest. Petrie was the personnel expert unafraid to take a risk, Adelman the coach who understood how to manage erratic, egocentric or underdeveloped talent.
Chris Webber. Vernon Maxwell. Jason Williams. Doug Christie. Bonzi Wells. Ron Artest. Petrie mixed and matched skills and price tags, temperaments and emotional needs. But he and Adelman almost always were in concert on the underlying talent and the quality of the risk.
"Oh, they've disagreed on some things," Reynolds said. "But I've never seen either of them have harsh words for the other, which is just about impossible. It's just remarkable, in my opinion."
Much of the credit for that has to go to Petrie, with his gift for burying his ego when the situation calls for it. Petrie's approach always has been inclusive, going back to his relationship with his first coach with the Kings, Garry St. Jean.
Adelman and Petrie work so comfortably together that, as years have gone by, each often appears to know the other's thoughts. The two clearly save time by being on the same page in terms of the kinds of rosters they like to put together: long, athletic, multi-positional, with an emphasis on versatility.
"We don't spend any real time at all away from it, because we spent so much time together at work here: practices, games, travel," Petrie said. "We have a great working relationship and a long history."
Still, the distinction between them is clear. Petrie directly works for the Maloofs. Adelman, as a coach, is generally one layer removed, for better and for worse.
Last summer, when the Maloofs pursued Jackson, Adelman found himself last on the food chain of people being told what was going on. This winter, the Artest deal essentially came down via the Maloofs and Petrie. The coach, so often consulted on every facet of every move, was one step behind.
Petrie downplays that, saying: "Rick and I talked religiously about that over a period of time. He was definitely in the loop."
But Adelman and others have made clear that the Artest deal, as well as it has played out to this point, certainly was different in its formation and execution.
Whether that portends anything related to Adelman's future is unclear. In January, it seemed all but certain that Adelman was done in Sacramento. Now, many people believe he is the right coach for this collection of talent, which he has coached to one of the better records in the league (26-14) since Artest came aboard.
One thing is clear: If Adelman is offered a new contract, his relationship with Petrie - and others in the organization - weighs heavily in favor of his wanting to come to an agreement.
"If I would decide to (stay), it's because of who's here, and Geoff is the leader of it," Adelman said. "You can't have a better staff, basketball-wise, than we have here.
"He's an extremely smart guy who thinks things through and usually gets them right. He's well prepared to do his job and have success - and he'd have done it in Portland if he had stayed there."
Portland's loss was Sacramento's gain - on two fronts, as it developed. And the future?
"Geoff works for the owners," Adelman said. "I think he will always back the people he believes in, but the final decision is not going to be his.
"We've had a great run here. It's been good for me, too. So we'll find out."
About the writer: Reach Mark Kreidler at (916) 321-1149 or mkreidler@sacbee.com.
Stuck in the middle
Geoff Petrie may not be able to save the job of longtime friend Rick Adelman
By Mark Kreidler -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PDT Friday, April 21, 2006
When Geoff Petrie resigned from the Portland front office in 1994, thereby setting in motion the events that forever altered the NBA landscape in Sacramento, one of the popular theories was that he quit because he saw his old friend, Trail Blazers coach Rick Adelman, being done wrong.
The notion had an obvious appeal. Petrie and Adelman, after all, were former running mates, roomies on the road as young players during the early days of the Trail Blazers' existence in the 1970s. They had come up through the ranks together. They had forged winning ways in Portland together - three conference finals and two NBA Finals appearances.
Now, Adelman was getting squeezed out of his job by Blazers owner Paul Allen, and Petrie simply could not stomach it. He quit without a job lined up, which is how Petrie found himself in the summer of 1994 saying yes to Jim Thomas' offer to run the foundering Kings franchise.
It's a great story save for one flaw, which is that it is largely false, if not entirely so. Petrie quit mostly because he was getting out-politicked in Portland by another vice president, Brad Greenberg, and he intuitively understood that if Allen had the bad sense to align with Greenberg, the Blazers' future didn't look so hot.
"I talked to Paul Allen the same day Geoff left, and we only discussed the roster and the fact of Geoff resigning," Adelman said recently. "Paul didn't even call me again for a week. He didn't tell me I was fired until seven, eight days later.
"Now, Geoff might have had an inkling of what was going to happen, but that's not why he left. It was more what was going on with the front office that caused him to go."
Still, you will hear the tale from time to time. It's a better story - friend sticking up for friend even at the cost of his own job.
It might even come in handy over the next few weeks. As people line up on both sides of the debate over Adelman's future with the Kings, the coach's long and remarkably solid relationship with Petrie is certain to come to the fore.
In the final year of his contract, with no extension offered and no talks scheduled, Adelman is a man waiting on a resolution. He is the coach who has led the Kings to eight consecutive postseason appearances, but also the coach whom the Maloof family attempted to replace with Phil Jackson after a first-round playoff exit last spring.
"It's not the time to talk about that right now," Joe Maloof said by telephone Thursday, as he prepared to fly to San Antonio in advance of Saturday's playoff opener against the top-seeded San Antonio Spurs.
"Rick has meant a lot to the franchise, with all he's done through the years," Maloof said. "Hopefully ... we'll see what happens after the playoffs."
Whatever happens, the Petrie-Adelman axis almost is certain to be central to the conversation. That much, at least, is consistent with the career of a coach and a front-office executive who have kept a working relationship going for decades, with almost uniformly successful results.
Adelman and Petrie both have stayed in Sacramento long enough for the bodies of thought - for and against - to have calcified around them. Those who wish for Adelman to remain on the job may actively root for Petrie to throw his body in the way of any suggestion otherwise. Those who want Adelman gone may see Petrie as the final obstacle to the Maloof family's making the change it tried to make a year ago.
In truth, the two friends long ago made peace with the difference in their job descriptions. Adelman knows full well that all of Petrie's goodwill won't ultimately sway the Maloofs if they have made up their collective mind to seek a change. Petrie, for his part, has often remarked that, in his view, every Kings front-office employee is living on borrowed time - not an active threat so much as a basic truth of the job description.
Still, the two men have worked together so well for so long that those around them often assume an intimacy that doesn't always exist. Petrie and Adelman talk virtually every day, sometimes several times a day, but away from basketball their lives have moved in completely different directions.
"We used to be a lot closer, but we're just different," Adelman said. "I have a lot of kids (six, with his youngest son a junior in high school), and his are grown.
"We don't socialize - dinner and that stuff - but that doesn't mean you can't have a good relationship. I consider him a good friend."
Added Petrie: "Our relationship has grown less and less personal, and more and more professional. But we have a pretty common understanding of the game."
And much of that goes back to the relationship, the one that began with those nights traveling through the league as Trail Blazers players in the early '70s.
"We started out as roommates and teammates and golf buddies, getting up in the middle of the night on the road and playing gin rummy and talking about coaches and players," Petrie said.
"We still talk about those things, only in different circumstances."
And with different levels of import. Petrie is fully ensconced in his role as a long-term franchise caretaker. Adelman's career has been at the coaching level, existing from one game to the next, trying to string together enough victories to make a season acceptable.
It was in Portland that Petrie and Adelman realized they could function side by side on the front lines of an organization. Adelman coached the Trail Blazers to 50-plus victories in four of his five full seasons, with Petrie serving as a senior vice president who was credited with helping assemble much of the talent on those teams, including Terry Porter, Jerome Kersey and Buck Williams.
When Petrie quit in Portland, Kings executive Jerry Reynolds immediately was on the phone to Thomas, then the owner. Reynolds and others in the front office wanted Thomas to grab Petrie right away - and Thomas, to his enduring credit, did so in June 1994, ceding a substantial chunk of his front-office clout in the process.
Four years and two head coaches later, Petrie brought in Adelman in 1998 to replace the outgoing Eddie Jordan, and the franchise's renaissance began in earnest. Petrie was the personnel expert unafraid to take a risk, Adelman the coach who understood how to manage erratic, egocentric or underdeveloped talent.
Chris Webber. Vernon Maxwell. Jason Williams. Doug Christie. Bonzi Wells. Ron Artest. Petrie mixed and matched skills and price tags, temperaments and emotional needs. But he and Adelman almost always were in concert on the underlying talent and the quality of the risk.
"Oh, they've disagreed on some things," Reynolds said. "But I've never seen either of them have harsh words for the other, which is just about impossible. It's just remarkable, in my opinion."
Much of the credit for that has to go to Petrie, with his gift for burying his ego when the situation calls for it. Petrie's approach always has been inclusive, going back to his relationship with his first coach with the Kings, Garry St. Jean.
Adelman and Petrie work so comfortably together that, as years have gone by, each often appears to know the other's thoughts. The two clearly save time by being on the same page in terms of the kinds of rosters they like to put together: long, athletic, multi-positional, with an emphasis on versatility.
"We don't spend any real time at all away from it, because we spent so much time together at work here: practices, games, travel," Petrie said. "We have a great working relationship and a long history."
Still, the distinction between them is clear. Petrie directly works for the Maloofs. Adelman, as a coach, is generally one layer removed, for better and for worse.
Last summer, when the Maloofs pursued Jackson, Adelman found himself last on the food chain of people being told what was going on. This winter, the Artest deal essentially came down via the Maloofs and Petrie. The coach, so often consulted on every facet of every move, was one step behind.
Petrie downplays that, saying: "Rick and I talked religiously about that over a period of time. He was definitely in the loop."
But Adelman and others have made clear that the Artest deal, as well as it has played out to this point, certainly was different in its formation and execution.
Whether that portends anything related to Adelman's future is unclear. In January, it seemed all but certain that Adelman was done in Sacramento. Now, many people believe he is the right coach for this collection of talent, which he has coached to one of the better records in the league (26-14) since Artest came aboard.
One thing is clear: If Adelman is offered a new contract, his relationship with Petrie - and others in the organization - weighs heavily in favor of his wanting to come to an agreement.
"If I would decide to (stay), it's because of who's here, and Geoff is the leader of it," Adelman said. "You can't have a better staff, basketball-wise, than we have here.
"He's an extremely smart guy who thinks things through and usually gets them right. He's well prepared to do his job and have success - and he'd have done it in Portland if he had stayed there."
Portland's loss was Sacramento's gain - on two fronts, as it developed. And the future?
"Geoff works for the owners," Adelman said. "I think he will always back the people he believes in, but the final decision is not going to be his.
"We've had a great run here. It's been good for me, too. So we'll find out."
About the writer: Reach Mark Kreidler at (916) 321-1149 or mkreidler@sacbee.com.
