Quick Poll - The Blame Game

But I blame every one, including the players.

The Maloofs need to stop clinging to this team, If you cannot afford to stay competitive, sell to someone who can.

The Owners for sure.

2 years of hearing about a salary FLOOR solidifies that they are without question, out of their league.
I bet most fans of other teams don’t even realize there is a salary floor!

I don’t think Petrie has done a very good job lately either, but I imagine he is doing what his bosses are telling him to.

Winning costs money.
Spend, Maloofs, and spend wisely (i.e. remove yourselves completely from any financial decisions. And management decisions…just remove yourselves).

The front office has been nothing to write home about the past few years. There have been horrible MLE contacts in recent memory. The nail in the coffin for me was the Salmons trade and Jimmer draft. I know…I know… Jimmer was apparently a Maloof pick, but why trade down and take on MORE salary in Salmons when you could have had Jimmer at the original pick. The Outlaw pickup was definitely a Petrie pick, as was Douby a few years back.

We should all not be blinded by the cult of Petire! I like the guy personally, and can’t think of anyone that I would rather have at this moment, but give credit where credit is due. Watching Leonard tonight playing for the Spurs has me envious of their management….hell, who wouldn’t be envious of the Spurs management. He ma be handcuffed by the Maloofs pocket book, but when other teams kind find D-League level talent and pull off trades like Wallace to Portland and Odom to Dallas for second round picks, why can’t our glorious Petrie pull a rabbit out of his hat…because honestly, most of us our optimistically expecting him to do so at anytime. When was the last time, however? ….Alright, tear me a new one…

One of my biggest blames is the lockout. Part of the biggest problem is that the new schedule leaves us with little to no time to practice and get used to the new coaching style.

Also, two years of big salary cap space and we haven’t come away with any big free agents. I truly think we are an sf away from being a complete team that needs to mesh together and we will be far more competitive.

Granted, there are several other problems that can’t simply be solved by these two things but I think they have significantly impacted this team so far this year.

1. Owners – The buck literally stops with them. I hope they sell soon.
2. FO – Their hands are tied, but bad decisions have made the situation worse than it has to be
3. Coaching staff – Westphal alone has set us back at least a season
4. Players – They are what they are, for the most part I think they are doing their best given the circumstance

Tremendous points. Many new players, two new systems with two coaches… it’s not possible to have cohesion, development under such circumstances. Impossible.
Given the Maloofs’ influence(little resources and actually thinking they know some hoop))
has a continually corroding influence…
We Kings’ fans have endured many a promise and false starts, but our history and accompanying frustration drive these discussions. It’s unfair to so swiftly judge this team until they have practices, and some home games. Let Coach Smart sift and sort until he settles on a rotation to develop; get Hayes back….and like it or not, this is our team, and constant playing of the blame game helps with venting…but positive breeds positive.
If the Kings gather some momentum, and this group begins to enjoy playing together, doing so effectively, then all this will be steps up the ladder..

Because I’ve suffered a traumatic brain injury, and don’t remember.

All I know for certain is that I’m now qualified to own an NBA franchise.

Practice time I believe would make a difference. Remember Tyreke and his late night shooting after a series of bad FT percentages? Now look.

If Petrie is so hamstrung, why did he a) push Levien out, and b) stay in his position when all it can do is sully his reputation?

Because his reputation is going down the drain with every losing season at this point. If he felt truly hamstrung, wouldn’t he skip town? He already took a massive paycut to stay (which in itself is evidence of the Maloofs’ financial woes, so, hmm).

Blame everyone.

Everyone has been bad but if the owners won’t pony up the cash then you are screwed from the get go.

By the way, he’s averaging the same amount of ast per game as Nash during his rookie season with 2.1 per game…

because he was ….oh…..not an old, famous coach deserving of their discriminating largesse. Scott Brooks, the local boy made good. But No—o-o-o! The Maloofs wanted a coach with cachet….like Westphal!

if i may bastardize the word.

it dates back to the release of adelman. i don’t think the maloofs had any idea how great an impact letting him go would have. and i don’t simply mean wins and losses.

i understand their letting him go, he kept getting them to the playoffs but seemed like the guy who just couldn’t get over the top, and they figured that the team was good enough, and they simply needed a change.

unfortunately, a coaching carousel followed which i know all too well from following the raiders. this eventually leads to westphal, which is where the current problematic season has been festering. (i’m not entirely sure that festering is an appropriate word in that sentence).

westphal’s problems have been well documented here, with his communication issues and general lack of a gameplan. neither of those have had quite the negative impact as has his complete lack of player development. which i suppose can be attributed to that no gameplan thing.

and this is where adelman’s release comes into play. with all of these younger, cheaper coaches that the maloofs tried and failed with, they needed a veteran coach with a resume which they could rely on. westphal looked like the man, and at the risk of yet another pr nightmare, they had to stick with him. no one was showing up to games, the team was getting ready to move. there was always the chance that the move would fall through, and canning another coach (especially one with the slightest bit of success in the past) would have further wrecked whatever image they had left. it’s really difficult to make yourselves look better while putting a wretched product on the floor and filled with instability at the coaching position.

fortunately for them, westphal made an ass out of himself and his team was terrible. firing him when they did was the perfect move, even if it was the only move they had left.

i don’t directly blame the maloofs for how terrible the team looks this year, that falls on westphal. they didn’t need to be championship material, but they can’t go around losing by 30 every other night. i want to blame petrie. i really do, but the kings were top bidders on most of the free agents out there which the kings were tied to. nobody wanted to come here. i accept that.

this is a roundabout way of saying that westphal isn’t a poll option, so to the ownership it goes!

I never agreed with the firing of Adelman. I thought the Magoofs did it in poor taste given how much he had done for the franchise.

And they did it with no plan for a successful successor to succeed him (Yes, I did that on purpose).

So they thought, "Ey! Let’s get rid of the head coach for some change, one of the winningest coaches in NBA history, and pick…..random guy #1, then #2, then #3….

And so it goes.

I’m shocked it has the least votes. I don’t think we’re terrible because of the players.. it’s our offense.

That said, I think Petrie’s share of the blame has been understated. Has he been hamstrung by budgetary constraints? Sure. That doesn’t mean he couldn’t have made better choices, though. Let’s look at some moves he’s made in the past few years:

1. Salmons/10 for Beno/7 – Awful. Shouldn’t have given in to Westphal’s pleading for Salmons. He could’ve just taken Jimmer at 7 if he wanted him, and could’ve made a different deal for a small forward. He could’ve signed Matt Barnes or Mike Dunleavy Jr. in free agency for relatively cheap. Quincy Pondexter was traded for Greivis Vazquez; I have a hard time believing he couldn’t have beaten that offer. Mickeal Pietrus was waived; he could’ve been picked up for cheap. Corey Brewer was acquired for a future 2nd-round pick. Instead, not only did he move DOWN in the draft and pick up a terrible contract for a mediocre player, but he also picked up Travis Outlaw on a FOUR-year deal (that’s its own point). What a clusterf***. Petrie was not handcuffed into making this move; he had other options.

2. Travis Outlaw – Travis Outlaw on a one-year, $3 million deal, I could live with. Two years even. FOUR?? I know he had to choose between four years or not having Outlaw, but he made the wrong choice. Petrie was not handcuffed into making this move; he had other options.

3. Trading for Samuel Dalembert – For a rebuilding team, this deal really didn’t make a whole lot of sense. Yeah, Spencer Hawes wasn’t playing all that well, but he’s still only 23. Getting rid of Nocioni’s deal was nice, but the purpose was so they’d have money for the big spending spree they were supposedly going to go on this year, which not only didn’t happen, but never seemed to have a very good chance of happening. Maybe Hawes would’ve improved with the Kings like he has with the 76ers or maybe he wouldn’t have, but either way I would’ve liked to have found out. Petrie was not handcuffed into making this move; he had other options. He could’ve kept Hawes/Nocioni. He could’ve found another deal for a non-expiring player or something else. Who knows.

4. Francisco Garcia’s extension – No explanation needed. Petrie was not handcuffed into making this move; he had other options.

5. Beno’s extension – Too many years. One less year, and the Salmons deal probably never happens because an expiring $7 million contract really isn’t so bad. Five years didn’t seem necessary, but Geoff seems to like bidding against himself. Petrie was not handcuffed into making this move; he had other options.

6. Protections on the pick in the Hickson deal – The Kings really can’t trade a draft pick any time in the next several years now. Not sure what other options were on the table, but this seems like a mistake in itself. Petrie was not handcuffed into making this move; he had other options.

7. Mikki Moore signing – Didn’t really make much sense to me when he was signed, and I remember plenty of others scratching their heads as well. Petrie was not handcuffed into making this move; he had other options.

8. Bonzi Wells extension offer – Yes, he didn’t take it, but holy crap would this have been a horrendous deal. Six years, $36 million? Bonzi did more for the Kings in turning down this dumbass offer than he ever did in a Kings uniform. Petrie was not handcuffed into making this move; he had other options.

9. Kevin Martin deal – I know plenty of people liked this deal or thought it was necessary, but I didn’t like it. I think Petrie could’ve gotten a better deal that fit this team better if he’d kept shopping. Petrie was not handcuffed into making this move; he had other options.

Just some examples. I’m sure some people like(d) some of these nine moves, and I’m sure there are moves I didn’t name that people hate, but I don’t think the problem is Petrie being handcuffed by the Maloofs. If the two options are pay way too much to acquire an average player, or pay very little to acquire a slightly below-average player, give me option B; at least you don’t hamstring your roster by doing that. Petrie wasn’t obligated to make any of these moves; he made them all by himself. I think it’s time for a new general manager.