Blazers Rumored To Be Interested In Geoff Petrie, But Portland Hasn't Asked Kings For Permission To Talk To GM

But Petrie’s been pretty so-so for quite some time. I realize the “everything is the Maloof’s fault” crowd will rise up, but Petrie’s still the GM of what’s been a very dysfunctional and poor performing franchise.

I agree with you 100%.

I would have no issue with the Kings replacing Petrie if they could land a hot shot right hand man to Sam Presti or R.C. Buford. But succeeding here is not a simple task in the Kings current financial forecast. A guy like Kevin Pritchard (for example), might have some major problems as a GM without the deep pockets of a Paul Allen…and the luster of the job that Pritchard did in Portland seems to dull as each month passes by.

Put another way, I have doubts that the KIngs can upgrade the GM position while they are in their present financial flux. No one worth their salt would want to come here, and the Maloofs are definitely going to pay above and beyond right now to hire a new GM.

Dennis Lindsay, Sam Hinkie and David Griffin.

for hilariousness

A few years ago I would have been upset to lose Petrie. Now I wonder if the modern game has passed him by a bit. It’s hard for me to imagine there aren’t decent young candidates out there – although it is hard for me to imagine that Heckle and Jeckle could find them.

Part of the deal with GP taking his lessened salary was the promotion of his long time contemporary Wayne Cooper and the advancement of his son, Mike Petrie.

A new deal with a new team would have to at least include those two with a long term commitment. Should a new ownership group control the Kings I don’t know how this will factor in and may influence a decision to move on or stay. Geoff Petrie’s current conract was a 3 year extension ending at the conclusion of 2012 (the signing was announced 29 December 2009).

Shareef is probably a year or two away from being ready. I don’t see the Kings going outside and adding a GM so the logical choice would be their assistant GM, Mike Petrie. The path has already been set forth and the Kings expect Geoff Petrie to finish what he started. Although I doubt he walks away, it has been a brutal year for everyone involved with the franchise. There are so many things up in the air, not just with the relocation talk, but with the lockout and the ownership group in Sacramento as well. I can’t imagine Petrie chasing another job but I wouldn’t blame him if he did.

A few years back, Eddie Jordan chose to go to Philadelphia instead of coming back to the Kings. I made the argument then that the Kings job was a better job because of the financial situation of the two team. The Kings had light at the end of the tunnel and a top 4 pick, while the 76ers had a lot of money tied up in Iggy and Brand. I see the Portland job the same way, they are better today, but they have long term financial woes that are not easily rectified. Petrie, like Jordan, would have to clean up someone else’s mess before he could ever put his own stamp on a team.

Could he win games? Sure, but if my star player (Brandon Roy) might never play more than 15-20 minutes a game the rest of his career and my team still owes him front line money ($72 million), then that’s not a good thing. Add to this the Gerald Wallace trade, the Greg Oden situation and the age of Miller and Camby, this team has a lot of holes and not a lot of ways to fix them.

That will have a huge impact on how the Petrie replacement situation shakes up.