The Stakes for Jason Levien

Can It be a trick to get Luol Deng?

but I really really want to see Geoff get a ring with the Kings. I hope he stays in the front office long enough….

I consider this a good move all things considered. One is that Levien learns the NBA under the cover of Geoff. He will get to watch a rebuilding team, without exaclty being on the hook for it. He’ll have the chance to learn Petrie & Cooper’s method’s (I’m very sure Wayne Cooper has a ton more power than anybody realizes), and he’ll get a chance to work with the scouts which is the most important job of any GM in my view. It will also mean that Whiz won’t get a top job with the Kings probably, too, and part of that, maybe, is that Whiz is now 62 (something I didn’t know, and am far less worried about the future). It’s probably more of a threat to Reggie if anything else.

I disagree about Levien’s connection to Martin. Presumably, if you’re hiring Levien long term, he will be around much longer than Kevin Martin will. So in a sense, hiring him to appease Kevin doesn’t make a ton of sense. It also could anger Kevin, in the sense now that he has to find a new agent. (I’m sure Thorpe can help him with that. Or an agent Levien trusts that type of thing.) Either way I’m excited that the Kings are looking beyond Petrie to cover what was, presumably, a GM hole after Geoff went away. Cooper, too, may be on his way to retiring after awhile (none of those guys are poor let’s face it), and in essence, this is about accomplishment. Geoff’s got his money, and glory, and maybe Coop too. My question is, is Levien part of a piece of the puzzle, like say Mark Warkentian and Rex Chapman in Detroit, or is he just like Daryl Morey? Either way, I like the maneuver. If for nothing else, because Geoff and the Maloof’s sign off, and this is the first time that either side can publicly be viewed as completely unified, without straining to actually say it. This is a quality start.

As Kfan mentioned, about Martin getting back at Reggie. It doesn’t seem that was the case to me for several reasons. A) Joe mentioned the lack of perimeter defense, which Kevin was a part of for the first 7 games. B) What Kevin seemed mad at last April was not being mentioned as a guy who should get the ball at the end of games. Now that obstacle isn’t there, I’m not sure Reggie has to worry much about that in regard. C) is that he pushed Reggie to make Spencer run sprints. If Kevin is trying to undermine Reggie, that would have been one way to do so. Yet Kevin came out quickly, and promptly, on Reggie’s side in that ordeal. So I don’t think Levien has much to do with appeasing Martin long term. I assume making Kevin happy will to be nearly wealthy enough to make him happier than he should be.

The other part of this, however, is the timing of the announcement. I’m assuming that part of the timing had to do with Joe’s interview; alas it seemed a good move for the team to announce that something positive within the ownership/management ranks was happening. This was news that all of Kingsland needed to hear, and we finally got some. This makes Joe’s statement’s last Friday seem more absurd than they were to begin with, that is the forum he chose to make them, not the criticism’s themselves which were valid, and that he did so mostly out of frustration, and maybe find one last chance for Whiz to get himself in the coaching door. Maybe Whiz wasn’t the issue here at all to begin with. Maybe it’s the whole Family’s loyalty to him. Or the fact he coached the Monarchs to a championship.