Someone who is willing to take risks and make a trade to improve the team, even if it hurts us more than helps, *cough*notfallinlovewiththereyoungplayers*cough*
C-O-N-S-O-L-I-D-A-T-E. I spell it out because I'm not sure it's a word in the current regime's vocabulary.
Disagree. You can hire many people to help you evaluate talent. You can hire a cap guru. You can have multiple people negotiate contracts. If you're someone who (or whose team has) evaluated talent properly, manufactured cap space, and will negotiate a great extension, but can't get the deal done to actually trade for the guy you want, it doesn't help you at all. I want my GM to be able to close deals.
To add after the poll was put in: Deal maker separated by a millimeter over talent evaluator -- the two are nearly inseparable in my opinion, becuase you need to be able to fairly evaluate your talent and the talent you target, but you also need to be able to go out and get them when the time is right.
I voted wheeler/dealer, but really not that. I'd like someone who can pull off a trade when he needs to (RLEC), but also not be stupid crazy like Whitsitt was. Talent evaluators are already in place with the scouts, and I think an assistant GM's job should be to do that. I'd like someone with the sac to say Roy, Batum, Bayless and #22 for Paul without blinking, and then turn to the Cavs and say Oden or Aldridge plus filler for Lebron? If you aren't moving forward, you are falling behind, and drafting rookies in the lower part of a draft, and stashing Euros is not moving forward. I think if our GM can't get deals done, then he has served his purpose. KP did a magnificent job of rebuilding this team, and getting the pieces in place to make things happen, but I'm not sure he is the guy that can actually make those things happen. (hopefully he proves me wrong tonight). I feel the same way about Nate. Nate was brought in to shape a young team, and control the knuckleheads. Well, we have no more knuckleheads, and our young guys don't need shaped anymore. They need somoene who can help them win in the playoffs.
FWIW. According to Dwight Jaynes in the third hour of the MSP's broadcast this morning he mentioned (on the topic of who will replace KP) that he ran into Geoff Petrie's wife and he seemed to indicate that she looked a bit like the cat that swallowed the canary (paraphrasing) when she saw him -- perhaps she knows something about her husband?
Best hire ever if true. Not that he is light years better than KP or anything like that, but hiring him back woul dcertainly be a PR move to the umpteenth degree.
Petrie would be both good PR and an excellent hire, I'd put his resume' up against KP's any day of the week.
Where Petrie is concerned, I am an unapologetic homer. I would love to bring him home. The question is, why would the Kings allow it?
I thought about Geoff when i recently read about his troubles with Sac management. Funny how his main weakness back in the early 90's by most Blazer fans was that he did not make enough moves. (Traded Petro for Walter Davis, signed and lost Ainge-not much else) He is a solid GM but certainly not big on lots of moves. Refused to fire Rick. I always liked him. Met him a few times.
I guess this raises the most pertinent question for me: What is his contract status? And secondly, if he is under contract could he be be offered a named position that counts as a promotion (eg. team president vs. GM)? Does anybody know anything about this?
On December 29, 2009, Petrie received a three-year extension as team president through the 2012-2013 season. -wikipedia
Petrie is a bit like Warkentien to me (in terms of ability, not character). I think he's at least competent, so that would be a relief, but I don't consider him an upgrade on Pritchard. I don't know why Sacramento would let him leave, though.
