Jason Levien Resigns From Kings

Tom Penn took this job with ESPN as their “cap expert”. When you take a job like this, you obviously have to follow what the network wants but to what end? I can handle “dumb down information”, that is classic ESPN. What I cannot handle is blatant lies being reported by a man who was hired as an expert. This became common over the last two weeks. Blatant lies, not half truths and not dumb down information. Maybe I’m being tough on the guy but come on, you don’t bring in Roger Kosack and have him lie about legal matters. At this point, the dude just bugs me.

but what credentials does he have as a good scout?

I don’t know what Petrie thought of Omri before Levien came along, but Levien almost certainly contributed to that draft selection.

And if so, I’m glad he worked for the Kings.

There did seem to be some leakage going on in the organization around Cousins, which I found odd.

The reputation of the Bee had taken quite a few hits over the last couple of years. This incident, coupled with the relentless badgering of Amick by Grant Napier probably helped make the decision to leave a lot easier. Such a bummer, but still, Sam and now Marty McNeil are currently leading the way with Kings news. The Bee doesn’t seem to be giving the support needed to be really effective in the marketplace.

ither way, the Kings are worse off for this resolution.

It would be like adding a ball-dominating SF to play alongside Reke…no matter how good, the “fit” is detrimental to the teams long-term success…

We still don’t know what happened behind closed doors. From your analysis, there did seem to be a power struggle, but the details of why are still conjecture. The details of why he resign are still left unanswered.

reke’d

Levien was very well liked by all parties and Petrie stated multiple times that he was very happy to have him. I think there has always been this family split with Mama Maloof never really being totally comfortable with the power that Geoff Petrie has over her sons business. When you bring in a young, really smart guy who has given up tons of money in his already successful business, you are bringing in someone for the future. Levien left the basketball side of things a while ago to work on “stadium ideas” and the business side of the organization. I honestly believe that Petrie was done with the guy and the Maloofs didn’t want to pay out Levien’s remaining salary so they gave him other work to do so he would walk away on his own.

What is missing are the undercurrents that were in motion.

But mostly Petrie changed his mind about staying after seeing Tyreke in 2 months of real games. Levien saw his duties changing and eventually decided to leave.

We really don’t know very much about Levien. He may have been a talented man who wasn’t given an opportunity within the organization.

Natt was on staff, and elevated to interim coach when Theus was let go. No more, no less.

You’re entitled to look at a short scope of Petrie’s work to draw your conclusion, and it is your right to completely overlook the team that he built in the late 90’s – early 2000’s. Perhaps you were not born yet. And it is also your right to completely overlook that a team has to be deconstructed before it can be reconstructed. You are entitled to do all of this, as it is your right.

I prefer to look at Petrie’s entire body of work, which shows him to be a rather effective GM, and an elite judge of draft talent. Perfect? Hardly. But are the Kings fortunate to have Petrie as their GM? Abso-freakin’-lutely.

Look up how many current teams have accomplished that. The Spurs are probably the biggest model of consistency, and it sure helps when Tim Duncan is anchoring your roster. Most other teams have had to unload and reload. The KIngs were vital for a long stretch, all under Petrie.

If anything was botched, it was prolonging the run. The Artest for Peja trade regenerated the team that year, and led to false hopes that the team could remain competitive. Once it was determined that the team was on the downward slide, it took a little time to get out of the contracts.

And I’m not going to go back and look back through the posts and polls, but there were a lot of “keep Geoff / lose Geoff” polls around here, and he has always fared very, very well.

Let me ask you – which current GM’s would you rather have? I might take Buford from San Antonio (great eye for foreign talent). Presti has done a nice job in OKC (helped by a 2, 3, 4 & 5 draft pick in the last 4 years, and he fell into Kevin Durant…and his team will eventually win a playoff series). Next? Mitch Kupchak or Danny Ainge? It’s interesting to me that both of their fan bases were calling for their respective heads less than five years ago.

Petrie did build a solid team in the late 90s and early 2000s, with one appearance in the Western Conference Finals. Its within your rights to call that an amazing run, but I dont. (I know Peja and Webber injuries killed what could have been, but they happened)

I’m sorry but I don’t see how that is a disappointment. This team was in the playoffs for 8 years. That is a terrific stretch. I agree about wishing they started the rebuilt earlier but then again come on let’s have some realistic expectations here.

I couldn’t agree with you less about NBA GM’s. It’s absolutely the hardest GM job in sports and performance has the greatest impact on the franchise. NBA GM’s cannot gut the roster, all contracts are guaranteed and binding, talent and not coaching/system is supreme, teams only get two draft picks and failure rate on picks is significant, trades are more heavily scrutinized and it almost always takes years of planning to craft the right team.

The reality of the NBA is that its not the MLB where other teams can outspend a small market squad (luxury tax and Larry Bird rule excluded) or the NFL where you have 40 players that make a difference… its a 7-9 man rotation.

The salary cap for this year is $58 million. The Lakers will spend roughly $110 million on salary when you include the luxury tax. The Celtics spent over $100 million last year on their way to the finals. The cap is better than nothing, but it is far from a level playing field, As a small market GM, Petrie has to try to put together a competitive team while adhering to the economics of the situation, something that they do not have to worry about in places like LA, Boston, NY, Chicago, Dallas, and elsewhere. I guess this is my way of disagreeing with that statement.

Oh, and I am also a solution-driven cat. I have no qualms about handing Petrie his walking papers, but you better be able to improve the situation with the new hire. You noted this scenario yourself when you mentioned the Musselman/Theus debacle that followed Adelman – the KIngs let Adelman go, but they did not have a superior product to plug in in his place. So I ask again, who replaces Petrie? Which top shelf GM has a thirst for coming to a small market and trying to build a winner within the confines of fiscal responsibility?

as you are certainly not an improvement. And don’t try to be glib – you almost certainly have absolutely no work experience in this or a related field that would enable you to step in and effectively run an NBA franchise.

Twice asked, and still unanswered – who replaces Petrie? And that is exactly my point here. He is a top tier NBA GM, not easily replaced if the criteria is to replace him with superior talent.

A man has got to know his limitations – Clint Eastwood

Of cousre, that’s not stopping David Kahn or Brian Sabean…