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And, that he ALWAYS has an ongoing plan that shapes the future even moreso than the now.

Watching tonights' game and thinking about the last game against the Lakers and the games against Portland, NO and even the Jazz I have come to realize something. Petrie has built this team to be a long term conterder SPECIFICALLY against these three teams that all the pundits say are going to be the constant NBA champions for the next decade. If you leave off the fact that we are actually a bit younger than Portland overall and a somewhat behind both the Lakers and NO (both of whom came up into contention status MUCH faster than anyone had predicted), We have the same length and size at all positions as they do. The major difference (besides pure lack of NBA PT/experience) is that where those teams have a tendency toward better ATHLETES, we (as Petrie's teams ALWAYS do) have the guys with better SKILLSETS.

I'll leave this off here for discussion and jump back in later to continue my points, but I really see this team as potentially BETTER than the team of the early decade.

One win against the Lakers and Petrie's a "genius" again?

Lets at least wait until we get back to elite status.

And no, Petrie does not build his team based on what other teams look like. He likes his teams a certain way: all five guys able to shoot and pass, and put a system of ball movement to tie them all together.

I respect Petrie for what he did and still do, but lately he's making a lot of weird decisions that turn out to be mistakes. Petrie in my eyes is the first one to blame for what happened to the team.
We have a nice young core, but still none of them stands out as a franchise player, we have few talent but the face of the franchise is missing. And regarding Petrie's part in this, his draft picks were solid, Hawes was expected around that area, JT was a good reach but there are other players on his level there IMO, and he systematically ignored the PG status until he found himself obliged to trade Bibby for LT purposes, and then obliged to sign Beno to the full MLE, and he kept signing average players to the MLE that prevented the team from sucking enough when it should've (Salmone) or signing players with barely any influence (Moore).

What's hurting the Kings right now is the decisions we made earlier in the decade when we were trying to win it all.

2000 Hedo Turkoglu (eventually traded for Brad Miller)
2001 Drafted Gerald Wallace (lost in expansion draft)
2002 Kings trade their 1st round pick to ATL (traded the draft rights to Dickau)
2003 No 1st round pick
I believe the 2003 pick was lost in the Brad Miller deal? Someone may correct me here, but the idea back then was WIN NOW. Basically four years of draft picks and all we have to show for it is Brad Miller. I don't think anyone at the time was saying NO to that deal, and Dickau was traded for salary reasons. The only reason I'm bringing up old stuff is:

1.) At the time Wallace and Turkoglu weren't much and what they'd be in the league wasn't really established
2.) Petrie can draft
3.) Look how long it's taken Hedo and Wallace to become the players they are?

I for one didn't think this team was going to win a bunch of games this season. I'll wait to say if these moves are good or bad in a few years though because that's how long it's going to take for these guys to be relevant in the NBA. Thompson, Hawes, Garcia, and Martin were GREAT picks! Dealing for Greene...don't know yet how that will work. Douby is a bust. I don't think we had much of a choice with Udrih. The point is this will take time. I think Petrie tried to rebuild on the fly using free agency (the MLE) and through trades. Our roster is, and has been, undesiriable for a while so you can only do so much in trades.

If you can't see the potential though I'd have to say you're blind. I work with a die hard Laker fan that was telling me JT's the real deal all summer. Hawes is looking good this fall already. Cisco, in limited time has really improved. I just have a hard time seeing this club as a bad team for too much longer as is.

Agreed.

We have reason to be optimistic, no doubt. We've all seen Thompson and Hawes this season, no question they will be great NBA players for many years. How great remains to be seen, but nonetheless.

We also have great wing players in Martin, Garcia and Salmons, all of who are young veterans and crucial to the team. You could see the impact Garcia had last night. No way would we have won without Garcia's leadership, defense and hustle. I also believe Salmons is vital for the future of the Kings if only for his defense. He is a great one on one defender, we've all seen that over the past few years.

Then we have Greene. Who knows what kind of player he will eventually become. But we've seen flashes. He has a great jump shot. Very athletic, I've seen him go up and get some great boards. And he also plays with alot of energy. You can see how into it he is on the bench. Him and Thompson are the first ones to jump up off the bench when the kings make a big play. I believe that will carry over into his play as he progresses.

Then, we have all this cap space to sign some players in the next few years. Regardless of if we get a huge player or not, we will sign some new players, and should have some good draft picks as well. So this team will no doubt get better and better.

ICMTM wrote:What's hurting the Kings right now is the decisions we made earlier in the decade when we were trying to win it all.

2000 Hedo Turkoglu (eventually traded for Brad Miller)
2001 Drafted Gerald Wallace (lost in expansion draft)
2002 Kings trade their 1st round pick to ATL (traded the draft rights to Dickau)
2003 No 1st round pick
I believe the 2003 pick was lost in the Brad Miller deal? Someone may correct me here, but the idea back then was WIN NOW. Basically four years of draft picks and all we have to show for it is Brad Miller. I don't think anyone at the time was saying NO to that deal, and Dickau was traded for salary reasons. The only reason I'm bringing up old stuff is:

1.) At the time Wallace and Turkoglu weren't much and what they'd be in the league wasn't really established
2.) Petrie can draft
3.) Look how long it's taken Hedo and Wallace to become the players they are?

I for one didn't think this team was going to win a bunch of games this season. I'll wait to say if these moves are good or bad in a few years though because that's how long it's going to take for these guys to be relevant in the NBA. Thompson, Hawes, Garcia, and Martin were GREAT picks! Dealing for Greene...don't know yet how that will work. Douby is a bust. I don't think we had much of a choice with Udrih. The point is this will take time. I think Petrie tried to rebuild on the fly using free agency (the MLE) and through trades. Our roster is, and has been, undesiriable for a while so you can only do so much in trades.

If you can't see the potential though I'd have to say you're blind. I work with a die hard Laker fan that was telling me JT's the real deal all summer. Hawes is looking good this fall already. Cisco, in limited time has really improved. I just have a hard time seeing this club as a bad team for too much longer as is.

One was to satisfy the Nick Anderson deal. The other was from the Mateen Cleaves deal to drop salary.

Not to mention the fact that Petrie brought in Chris Webber for Mitch Richmond. Then he brought in Bibby (20/6 career guy) for Jason Williams (a 12/6 career guy), a great trade. He also drafted Peja and brought our first free agent in Vlade. I have lived in Sac my entire life, they did not sell a Mitch Richmond Kings jersey in Arden Mall which was the most expensive mall at the times. The Kings didn't exist before Petrie. I have been a Kings fan since they have been here. Petrie is one of the best GM's in the league. I can also promise you that it was probably the Maloofs that ran off Adelman and wanted Bibby traded after he missed covering a guy the guy hit a shot and we lost in the playoffs. The Maloofs still panic sometimes. Petrie never panics. Kenny Thomas was a Shawn Marion light guy and was given a huge contract just like all the teams did when they wanted to win now. Shareef killed us when Petrie went after him but he was injured for many years and he was supposed to be Artest/Shareef/Miller front line. Now we have to develop a new front line and coach which will take a couple of years. We will get be getting a PG in the draft or by trade. We will definitely be making a big splash in free agency in 2010. With no injuries we were close to a .500 team right now playing with 1 starting quality big guy so we are forced to start young players big minutes. Every team has ups and down, but there have been far more ups than downs with Petrie. The Maloofs for their credit have stuck with him, and it has been a great partnership.