11/05/24
April 20, 2007
Sacramento Kings fire Coach Eric Musselman.: He lasted one (losing) season. GM Geoff Petrie begins the search for a new head coach when he returns from his scouting trip in Europe.
posted by lilnemo to basketball at 03:04 PM - 9 comments
Kings are screwed. Ever sense they dished Chris Webber and Peja they havn't been the same.
posted by TelamarketersBeware at 03:56 PM on April 20, 2007
Might as well move the Kings to Vegas and start over.
posted by irunfromclones at 04:29 PM on April 20, 2007
Ever sense they dished Chris Webber and Peja they havn't been the same. They traded both of them after they had little to no trade value. Better to trade a year too early than a year too late.
posted by lilnemo at 06:56 PM on April 20, 2007
I really get the impression that Petrie was never completely on board with the owners choosing Musselman. His being fired after a year may signal the owners realizing their mistake in not allowing Petrie to make the calls. Handing the reins back to him he, naturally, immediately fired Musselman to make the Kings better and to show that he is once again in charge. I expect that this is just the beginning of a busy off-season for the franchise and as a long time fan, (Dwayne Schintzius and Les Jepsen be damned), I welcome the change. In Petrie We Trust.
posted by geekyguy at 08:27 PM on April 20, 2007
They traded both of them after they had little to no trade value. Better to trade a year too early than a year too late. You might want to retract that. Webber is an unrestricted Free Agent next season and almost ALL of the teams in the NBA have already contacted his agent.
posted by alvinthefirst at 08:29 PM on April 20, 2007
How many times does this guy have to prove that he's an incopentent turd before people stop hiring him?
posted by sleber at 08:37 PM on April 20, 2007
You might want to retract that. Webber is an unrestricted Free Agent next season and almost ALL of the teams in the NBA have already contacted his agent. Yes. Because he's currently under contract for the veterans minimum (plus his buyout from the 76ers). Don't get me wrong, Webber and Stojakovic still have value. But they are not All-Star caliber players anymore. You sell high and buy low. Teams will bid on Webber because at the veterans minimum, 11 PPG 7RPG is good value. But, the moment free agency opens up and teams start bidding for Webber's services, 9 out of 10 suitors will drop out of the running because they balked at his asking price. He'll probably end up with something around the MLE. But my point still stands. Lets look at the facts. Petrie dealt Webber with Matt Barnes, and Michael Bradley for Kenny Thomas, Brian Skinner, and Corliss Williamson. Skinner got spun off for Vitaly Potapenko, and Sergei Monia, whom I think we can agree, contributed little to nothing during their short tenure. Corliss still has moments coming off the bench. But even seasoned Kings fans will tell you that Kenny Thomas has "crapped the bed" in his stint in a Kings uni. Essentially the swap ends up as Webber for Corliss and a disappointing Thomas. Petrie managed to get Stojakovic for Artest straight up. And this was largely done because Peja made it quite clear that he intended to sign elsewhere once his contract ran out. Though Artest is a good player on the court, he hasn't managed to stay out of trouble while off the court. Be that as it may, Artest is only contractually obligated to play for the Kings through next year, he can opt out of his contract the following season. So Petrie managed to turn a declining Webber and Stojakovic into, essentially, Corliss, a declining Kenny Thomas, and a very combustible short rental of Artest. And not a single draft pick. Petrie should have dealt them both earlier. Having said that, I realize that ownership and the fanbase probably bound his hands on the issue. Nobody likes to break up a squad, but a good GM should be thinking a season ahead. Petrie and the Maloofs had to have known that by dealing Webber and Stojakovic for anything less than an all-star or a package of players with picks would amount to rebuilding anyway. And now Petrie finds himself not only looking for a new coach but in the familiar position of deciding what to do with 2 aging starters in Miller and Bibby who will be pulling down a combined $24 Mill next season, and almost $26 Mill the season after that. And Petrie will need to decide soon because Kevin Martin isn't going to sign an extension if he's got to suffer two more losing seasons like this one while the front office continues to invest in veteran sunk costs like Shareef or Mo Taylor rather than look to acquire picks or young players to surround him with.
posted by lilnemo at 01:03 PM on April 21, 2007
All i'm saying is that they are not the Kings of 2001-2004 anymore. Back when they were a nominant force in the NBA. Chris Webber was a All-Star and so was Peja.
posted by TelamarketersBeware at 08:57 PM on April 22, 2007
TZ of Sactown Royalty is right. If the whole point of canning Adelman was to develop a defensive squad, you don't dump your new head coach after a season. And you certainly don't expect to create a defensive squad largely by employing players who possess little to no defensive presence whatsoever. If Petrie truly aims to please the Maloof's wishes for a "West-coast Pistons" he needs to blow up the core of this team and rebuild around Kevin Martin while he still has a job. Petrie should have gotten what he could for Miller, Bibby, and Artest before the season started. Any residual value that group had garnered from last post-season has been severely tarnished this season.