Real GM Article-Kings Traded Away The Wrong Star

[thesanityannex]

So, you think a first round exit is what they had in mind when the season started?

when they started the season, definitely no. first round exit was out of the picture. after trade deadline. possibly, probably happy to just be in the playoffs. didnt the finish with a measly 15-15 record?

 

[thesanityannex]

I agree. However, there are some people who seem to think the possibilty of squeaking by the Sonics with Webber to get eliminated by the Spurs is more noble.

exactly, and then we'd be in the same spot as now, but next year, with a webber contract a tijuana hooker wouldnt touch.

 

[Kev.in]

So, you think a first round exit is what they had in mind when the season started?

For the players: obviously not, just like they didn't have an injury-filled season in mind either.

For the front office: no also, but I don't think they considered the team to be good enough to push their way into the WCF.

What did they do to get better from last year's squad that went down in the semi's? Nothing. So considering the ages of some of the players, why wouldn't they anticipate the team being weaker? And what would be the point of keeping a team together that might get a 2nd round playoff series to go 6 or 7 games instead of getting an early start on turning the roster over?

 

[Kingsgurl]

Nothing. So considering the ages of some of the players, why wouldn't they anticipate the team being weaker? And what would be the point of keeping a team together that might get a 2nd round playoff series to go 6 or 7 games instead of getting an early start on turning the roster over?

Then they waited too long. Should have done something about such obvious deficiencies over the summer.
Nothing like getting a start on rebuilding the roster for next year in...February. It smacks a lot of quitting.

 

[uolj]

exactly, and then we'd be in the same spot as now, but next year, with a webber contract a tijuana hooker wouldnt touch.

I disagree with this. Kingsgurl has it right. I absolutely think there would be teams out there willing to trade for Webber this off-season after his performance this year. It's all about who you will take in return. The only benefit to doing it when it was done is that now those players received are available to be traded again. If Petrie had waited until this summer to trade Webber, then he would not be able to re-package the new players until the season starts.

And by the way, the goal would not be to be more noble by losing to San Antonio instead of Seattle. The goal would be to hang around as a good team with experience that could step in and take the title if things fell in to place. Not terribly likely, but Duncan did get injured already, and it's been laid out here several times how the Kings could have realistically ended up in the finals.

 

[AleksandarN]

I disagree with this. Kingsgurl has it right. I absolutely think there would be teams out there willing to trade for Webber this off-season after his performance this year. It's all about who you will take in return. The only benefit to doing it when it was done is that now those players received are available to be traded again. If Petrie had waited until this summer to trade Webber, then he would not be able to re-package the new players until the season starts.

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I am sorry by all acounts the Kings were trying to trade Webber all season long only the 76ers bit. Most people seem not realise how bad Chris's knees are. He could not practice all year with the Kings because of his knee would not hold up. That is also why he did not play in back to backs. Petrie did his best given his track record and his ability I believe him.

 

[loopymitch]

We no longer have a leader and that's what I really miss. No-one else wants to step up and do it. He was leading in points and rebounds before the trade and he has a good head for the game. He gave the team much needed direction. I don't think anyone truly knows how bad his knee is except him, he says it will get stronger over the summer if he works on strengthening it. It may be a profitable trade in the long term, time will tell but IMO yes we traded the wrong guy.You can't really look at the owies alone, after all we are the Kings and we're going to be hurt especially when it counts. If he was hurting us I'd say dump him but he wasn't. We need someone like him and unless Petrie works miracles in TDOS it's not going to get any better.

 

[uolj]

I am sorry by all acounts the Kings were trying to trade Webber all season long only the 76ers bit. Most people seem not realise how bad Chris's knees are. He could not practice all year with the Kings because of his knee would not hold up. That is also why he did not play in back to backs. Petrie did his best given his track record and his ability I believe him.

You don't think the 76ers would trade Skinner, Williamson and Thomas for Webber right now? After he played 80% of the games this season and put up the numbers that he put up? I think most people do realize how bad Webber's knee is, including Philadelphia. They knew it when they traded for him in February, and that wouldn't have changed had Petrie waited until the end of the season, which is what my point was.

 

[love_them_kings]

We no longer have a leader and that's what I really miss. No-one else wants to step up and do it. He was leading in points and rebounds before the trade and he has a good head for the game. He gave the team much needed direction. I don't think anyone truly knows how bad his knee is except him, he says it will get stronger over the summer if he works on strengthening it. It may be a profitable trade in the long term, time will tell but IMO yes we traded the wrong guy.You can't really look at the owies alone, after all we are the Kings and we're going to be hurt especially when it counts. If he was hurting us I'd say dump him but he wasn't. We need someone like him and unless Petrie works miracles in TDOS it's not going to get any better.

Yeah, I agree... The leadership, vision and passion that webb had are sorely miss. It will be interesting to see if Webb really can get his knee stronger over the summer... I hope he can for his sake, but it would sure put a different spin on the whole trade.

I think you hit on my biggest fear, which is, what can Petrie pull out during this off season that can come close to replacing what we had with Webb? I believe the move was made for the future, and I trust GP enough to believe he has things in mind, but as I scroll through the trade proposals & ideas, I am stumped. Haven't come across one that makes me pause and say, Now THAT would make it worthwhile.

Did we trade the wrong guy? I don't know. Webb's contract and health was a problem, as is Peja's playoff record. I like Peja, and am finally getting over the bitterness I felt when he demanded a trade, but he only had one game in the playoffs where he put forth 4 solid quarters. That concerns me, and I don't know what we do about that.

 

[Just_Lurkin]

Maybe the maloofs should have waited until the offseason to trade him. Now we're gonna have to read stuff like this all summer.LOL

 

[Just_Lurkin]

exactly, and then we'd be in the same spot as now, but next year, with a webber contract a tijuana hooker wouldnt touch.

technically we didn't fall to the sixth spot until after he was traded. I think we could have taken phoenix in the second round.

 

[Just_Lurkin]

What did they do to get better from last year's squad that went down in the semi's? Nothing. So considering the ages of some of the players, why wouldn't they anticipate the team being weaker? And what would be the point of keeping a team together that might get a 2nd round playoff series to go 6 or 7 games instead of getting an early start on turning the roster over?

I wonder why we didn't make any changes last summer,too, when it was obvious that the teams around us were getting better.

 

[Kev.in]

Last summer was puzzling (and frustrating). I thought Doug would be traded and that we'd find a young big man, instead we looked to Europe and Greg Ostertag for free agent help. That's what makes me think that this season was sort of an audition, to see where certain players were at physically before moving them.

 

[AleksandarN]

You don't think the 76ers would trade Skinner, Williamson and Thomas for Webber right now? After he played 80% of the games this season and put up the numbers that he put up? I think most people do realize how bad Webber's knee is, including Philadelphia. They knew it when they traded for him in February, and that wouldn't have changed had Petrie waited until the end of the season, which is what my point was.

It's seems to me by the articles I have read that they did not know that his knee was that bad(Philly knew that the knee was in bad shape but did not know it was that bad). It was actually written in a couple articles. The question has always remained will his knee hold up and that question was there when Petrie had to decide wheather to take Philly's offer or not. How would you have known that they could off load Webber in the offseason when Petrie was trying to trade Webber all season and no one bit untill Philly came. Heck at first I was mad at Petrie like everyone else but when all this infomation came out about how bad Webber condition was I realised Petrie got as much as he could from that trade.

 

[Twix]

It's seems to me by the articles I have read that they did not know that his knee was that bad(Philly knew that the knee was in bad shape but did not know it was that bad). It was actually written in a couple articles.

I read that too. A lot of Philly fans also didn't know his knee was that bad until afterwards. I don't think a lot of other teams knew how bad Webb's knee was until the trade happen. Then everyone really wonder and got more in depth about the injury.

I still believe that Webb got trade in mid-season because Petrie thought it's probably the best deal he can get and went with his guts (like Billy King did knowing that Webb isn't 100%).

The leadership, vision and passion that webb had are sorely miss.

Don't forget Doug and especially Vlade who I thought was the biggest part of the championship run that brought leadership, etc. to the team.

 

[BigWaxer]

I thought the article sucked. This guy is no more an expert then I or anyone here.

Another article to create space and to get us to click on his link.

 

[VF21]

Some of you seem to think Webber is a cripple and totally unable to get around because of his knee. That simply is not the case. There is some restriction of lateral movement and his jumping isn't what it used to be, partially because of age as well as the knee. He does get some occasional swelling, but it's not like he's damaged goods.

It wasn't the current condition of the knee that was the primary concern. It was the fear that ANOTHER injury could take him out for good.

 

[Kingsgurl]

I am sorry by all acounts the Kings were trying to trade Webber all season long only the 76ers bit. Most people seem not realise how bad Chris's knees are. He could not practice all year with the Kings because of his knee would not hold up. That is also why he did not play in back to backs. Petrie did his best given his track record and his ability I believe him.

Most people don't seem to grasp this still, and I really don't understand why, after watching what happened at the end of the year, but Webb's strength to this team wasn't in his knee, it was in his passion and his heart and his will to win, as well as his leadership. Those things we are solely lacking.
He made it through this season on that knee, putting up triple doubles, and adapting his game. By all physicians accounts, the knee should get stronger as time goes by. Will he ever be the player he once was? No. But will he better than he is now? Seems likely. Can he make it through two more years, when his contract becomes this HUGE ASSETT, instead of a potential liability? It's comforting to assume he won't, but we really don't know that yet, do we? He made it through full contact practices and a ton of back to backs in Philly, after all.

 

[VF21]

...Webb's strength to this team wasn't in his knee, it was in his passion and his heart and his will to win, as well as his leadership. . .

WORD! And those qualities aren't easy to find.

 

[love_them_kings]

Most people don't seem to grasp this still, and I really don't understand why, after watching what happened at the end of the year, but Webb's strength to this team wasn't in his knee, it was in his passion and his heart and his will to win, as well as his leadership. Those things we are solely lacking.
He made it through this season on that knee, putting up triple doubles, and adapting his game. By all physicians accounts, the knee should get stronger as time goes by. Will he ever be the player he once was? No. But will he better than he is now? Seems likely. Can he make it through two more years, when his contract becomes this HUGE ASSETT, instead of a potential liability? It's comforting to assume he won't, but we really don't know that yet, do we? He made it through full contact practices and a ton of back to backs in Philly, after all.

Great post!! I agree with you 100%. You have a very realistic and refreshing perspective on the whole situation. Obviously Webb's movement isn't what it was, and he'll probably never be physically 100% what he was presurgery, but I just laugh at the descriptions of Webb being "crippled" and so forth.... come on, the guy is hardly in a wheelchair, and he is just as healthy as he was when he was putting up triple doubles for us. Next season he may be even healthier.

We don't really know if this trade was good or not, and if Webb comes back stronger next year, GP is going to have his hands full coming up with a player/players that makes it look like this was a good move.