Levien on the way out

[iowamcnabb]

http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/17792/assistant-gm-levien-leaving-kings

 

[Krunker]

Interesting, I wonder if he left voluntarily or was "encouraged" to go... never heard if he got along with Petrie.

 

[stevetaebo]

Meh. He's replaceable. Petrie is not.

 

[theclash4u5]

I wonder if Levien was "promised" to take over for Petrie before Petrie signed an extension, and now that several GM jobs are open, just wanted to see if he could get one of them?

 

[NME]

Jason, we hardly knew Ye. Wasn't there an article a couple of months ago about some tension and Levien being less involved in things? I guess they'll be need another heir apparent to groom.

 

[=LarryLegend=]

Mike Petrie owned Jason.

 

[Bricklayer]

I wonder if Levien was "promised" to take over for Petrie before Petrie signed an extension, and now that several GM jobs are open, just wanted to see if he could get one of them?

I think this is entirely possible. Maybe the last thing Levien wanted to see was us turn it around to extend Geoff's tenure.

I am hardly sad to see the agent go, but it deos make you wonder a bit about a few things -- as Kevin's former agent did he lose power once Kevin was traded? Were rumors of there being multiple camps in the front office favoring various guys in the draft these last couple of years including Levien maybe preferring other guys than Geoff, and being knocked into irrelevancy when Geoff did his own thing?

Then again it must be said that we have had our two best seasons of front office work in nearly a decade in the last two years -- precisely the two years Levien was slithering around corridors in Kings' offices. Would hate to think he had a part in that and was now leaving.

 

[NME]

If Levien was the Monroe-jocker, then good riddance.

 

[Larry David]

I would say this – while Petrie is excellent at evaluating talent, drafting, and making trades (for non-monetary reasons) he’s very average at managing a cap. During his tenure here, most of our free agents have been overpaid and the string of MLE contracts to players like Mikki Moore delayed / hindered the rebuild.
Many teams have a capologist – who not only works with the numbers but looks long term. Somebody who says, you know Beno was great this year, but maybe we shouldn’t put 30 million into a guy that cleared waivers 5 months ago.
Levien came in to help with that role … and see if a job would open up when Petrie looked very shaky.
After the last two drafts, Petrie isn’t going anywhere and Levien lost some power struggles. Thus, he’s leaving.
The question is …. Who fills the role this role

 

[Circa_1985_Fan]

So...Mike Petrie is being groomed by his father to be his successor?

 

[fnordius]

So...Mike Petrie is being groomed by his father to be his successor?

This nepotism moment is brought to you by Eric Musselman and the emperor Commodus.

 

[Spike]

This nepotism moment is brought to you by Eric Musselman and the emperor Commodus.

And sponsored in part by Don Nelson, and by viewers like you.

 

[Elise10]

From Sam Amick of NBA Fanhouse:

As reported by ESPN.com, it appears they'll move forward without Jason Levien. Maloof confirmed that the team's senior vice president/assistant general manager will be leaving to pursue other opportunities in the league. Levien, a former agent who represented former Kings shooting guard Kevin Martin, was hired in December of 2008 as the team's general counsel and assistant general manager.

He was believed to be a possible successor to Petrie, who signed a three-year extension last December and simultaneously promoted Wayne Cooper to vice president of basketball operations and his son, Mike Petrie, to assistant vice president of basketball operations.

"Yeah he is (leaving)," Maloof said. "I think you just need to talk to Geoff."

Petrie did not return a call for comment made late Wednesday, while Levien chose not to comment when reached by FanHouse. Levien is being considered for the vacant general manager position in Phoenix, and Maloof said he called the Suns on Levien's behalf to "highly recommend" him for the job.