AleksandarN said:
Ok I was reading this trhead for awhile now. I do not want to post anything that can be negative inreguards to Webber but people here are underestimating Petrie. The one person I will defend is Geoff. Petrie made this trade given the health reasons of Webber. No way he would trade Webber otherwise. What made Petrie shop Webber is evident, his health. Look at what was reported. Webber did not pratice with the team all season due to his knee. In Philly even King(Philly's GM) said that he did not fully know how bad the knee was untill after the trade. All you have to look at is Penny and MCDyess and how they fared before and after the same injury Webber is dealing with.
The comments of how we would have done this last part of season had Webber not been traded is puzzling. Let me ask you this what was our depth like after the trade? Petrie traded for the guys that gave us depth were we needed it most the front court. Petrie did not want to lose in the first round of the playoffs when he traded Webber. It was very bad luck that we had the injury to Brad shortly after the trade.
I still believe in Petrie. We will get better not because of the players we have but what who we have running the Kings(Petrie and the Maloofs)
P.S. I have nothing agianst Webber. Actually I was against the trade at first given what we got for him. I actually posted my frustrations on this same board the day of the trade. But now knowing what I know about Webber's health I realized we got what we could get for him at the time.
You're making a huge assumption that isn't quite supported by the various comments made by Petrie and the Maloofs subsequent to THE TRADE.
First, Petrie didn't dream up this deal. He received a phone call from the Sixers, based on what he said AND what the Maloofs said.
Geoff Petrie would not have pulled the trigger on this deal himself. Webber was the franchise player. You don't trade away the franchise player without letting the owners know what's going on. My educated guess is that he called the Maloofs and THEY told him to pull the trigger. He did so.
Joe Maloof has as much as come right out and said this with his and Gavin's comments about rebuilding the team and trading Webber in various interviews after the fact.
So, as much as I respect Petrie, I don't believe this trade had his full, complete and unwavering support. It didn't look like it when he announced it - and it went contrary to everything Petrie has done in the past. If there's a reason for it, I strongly suspect it was the Maloofs who said pull the trigger because THEY were afraid of not being able to do so later.
Team Dime - I am not blindly defending anyone. Nor are the majority of other posters who do not think the trade was the best possible scenario. If you look around the league, you'll find a vast majority of people scratching their heads, wondering why the Kings did it when they did...and for the players they received in return. BTW could you possibly point out a precise location where you were able to determine "precisely how precarious" Webber's health is? His knee was still recovering. Orthopedic surgeons say it takes more than 18 months for all the tissue, cartilege, etc. to fully recover. So, he didn't practice at times because there was a modicum of swelling, which is to be expected. They (meaning the Kings) didn't want to push him too hard because it could have actually set back the total recovery. How do I know this? Personal experience of a very close friend who had the exact same procedure done about three months after Webber. And no, before you ask, he's not an athlete. He's a hard-rock miner - and puts every bit as much stress, etc. on his knee as Webber does on his, according to his own physician.
AleksandarN - I absolutely love these comments about how we now have depth where before we didn't have any. Depth doesn't mean a blasted thing if your starters aren't good enough to get the job done. We had a really deep bench once before - where did it get us? And Petrie has NOT once said the trade was done because of Webber's knee. What he has said TIME AND TIME AGAIN...right after the trade and in subsequent interveiws... was that it was done because of financial considerations. And those financial considerations were those of the Maloofs... you can take that to the bank.
We'll eventually see the outcome of all the drama that occurred this past season. My heart wants to tell me everything will be okay, but - much like SactoGreg - my brain is screaming otherwise. Believe me, I would love it if the heart won - just this once.
