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I'm a Los Angeles Lakers fan and it still bothers me as to why the Kings shipped out Webber instead of Stojakovic. Webber was clearly the better player hands down. Webber was a one of a kind Power Forward. His passing, shooting, and rebounding all stood out. I was thinking maybe if the Kings would have sent Stojakovic ass out they could have gotten a shooter in return. All I'm saying is that I was mad at your FO for making that damn trade. You just don't trade a 20/10/5 guy, you just don't. I was wondering do you guys fell the same way I do?

Webber was not the better player when he was traded. Before his injury? Most certainly. Regardless, that trade was about a whole lot more than choosing one between Webber and Peja. IMO, that was a very, very small part of it. The bigger part, for one thing, was Webber's contract.

Webber was SO NOT a 20/10/5 guy after his injury. Did he ever get even close to that with Philly? No. XD

And neither was Peja Stojakovic! He's never been close to a 20/10 guy. Furthermore this trade is STILL around in the form of Kenny Thomas for 1.67 more seasons. I told you guys when it happened that this trade would haunt us.

"oh but Peja can lead the team"
WRONG


"oh but the three pieces can be moved for other piece"
WRONG
Only Skinner was moved


"But we played better without Chris Webber"
WRONG
We've been searching for a PF since Webber left.


"If we keep Webber we're no longer going to be a contender"
RIGHT
If we trade him we aren't going to be one either. - ICMTM


"If we keep him we'll have a 20+ million dollar expiring"
RIGHT
Under the ICallMyselfTheMan plan that would have happened.

Now the Kings are retiring his jersey to sell more tickets! I think that is wack.

mitchweber wrote:Webber was not the better player when he was traded.

Yes, he was. And clearly.

Lightning Strike wrote:Webber was SO NOT a 20/10/5 guy after his injury

When he was traded, his averages: 21.3/9.7/5.5/1.5 steals/0.7 blocks. Player of the Month in January, and playing at an excellent level since some weeks before the trade.

This is old news, does this deserve a thread? Anyway, I think trading Webber had more to do with getting the man out of here as much as it did the basketball player. The Kings tried getting younger while still competing, and don't forget how well Thomas and Skinner played for us after the trade. At the time everyone in the media gushed about how we won out in that trade. Still, for cap reasons keeping Webber obviously would have been better since he would have already expired by now and we are still lugging around Kenny Thomas but the real problem was that we took too long to rebuild after the fact.

Yea it was a pretty bad trade anyway you look at it. I mean we couldnt even get get one expiring out of the three players we got back, no second round pick lol for a guy who put up 20/10 for the sixers. Kenny Thomas looked pretty good for the rest of that season and then we signed shareef and he turned to straight crap.

ICMTM wrote:And neither was Peja Stojakovic! He's never been close to a 20/10 guy. Furthermore this trade is STILL around in the form of Kenny Thomas for 1.67 more seasons. I told you guys when it happened that this trade would haunt us.

"oh but Peja can lead the team"
WRONG


"oh but the three pieces can be moved for other piece"
WRONG
Only Skinner was moved


"But we played better without Chris Webber"
WRONG
We've been searching for a PF since Webber left.


"If we keep Webber we're no longer going to be a contender"
RIGHT
If we trade him we aren't going to be one either. - ICMTM


"If we keep him we'll have a 20+ million dollar expiring"
RIGHT
Under the ICallMyselfTheMan plan that would have happened.

Now the Kings are retiring his jersey to sell more tickets! I think that is wack.

I don't know about others, but I'm not saying that the team couldn't build around Peja. Then again, the team wasn't really built around Chris either, per se. It was built around the system, and Chris happened to be the best player. That's what it was about. It wasn't about building around Peja, it was about building without Chris.

And the important thing to remember is that although we're still stuck with Kenny (who, in all fairness, shouldn't have declined this quickly), we also saved $10million off of last year's cap, where we would have otherwise been well into the luxury tax.

I'm not saying it was the right deal or that we shouldn't have kept Chris, but we at least have to look at the totality of the situation.

zar wrote:

mitchweber wrote:Webber was not the better player when he was traded.

Yes, he was. And clearly.

When he was traded, his averages: 21.3/9.7/5.5/1.5 steals/0.7 blocks. Player of the Month in January, and playing at an excellent level since some weeks before the trade.

No he wasn't, and clearly. Ask Philly fans if they got a near-prime Chris Webber. Chris was still quite good, but anybody arguing that he was still a franchise-level player is kidding themselves. The guy had no mobility, which left him as strictly a (jump) shooter offensively (obviously his passing was still great, but with regards to scoring), and as one of the worst defenders I have ever seen. Yes, he still put up pretty stats, but he wasn't the same player.

I actually though the year we started with Mike, Bonzi, Peja, Reef, and Brad had some promise and was a very talented team. That was probably one of the most disappointing teams I've ever seen, with that much talent they should have been much, much better. Didn't fit together though. Didn't fit Adelman either.

SacKingZZZ wrote:I actually though the year we started with Mike, Bonzi, Peja, Reef, and Brad had some promise and was a very talented team. That was probably one of the most disappointing teams I've ever seen, with that much talent they should have been much, much better. Didn't fit together though. Didn't fit Adelman either.

ya i do wonder what would have happened if after the Spurs playoff series we kept Bonzi/Adelman along with Artest. That was the year we turned things around after the trade and if we kept that team together I think we could have been competitive for a while

Bibby, Artest, Bonzi, Shareef, Martin, Miller. Solid group of guys. But yes you have to rebuild at some point.

This is a old topic, but considering how bad the Kings are I rather talk about the past Kings. Of course the trade was about money. This was the turning point of the franchise. The Maloofs decided they weren't going to spend the money to win and got rid of the core team.

All I have to say, the Kings have been going downhill ever since that trade happened, something that should have NEVER happened. They should have had Webb retire as a King because he is the best player to ever put on a Kings uniform, I don't care what anyone says. He was the main guy for all the success this team had in this decade. It is probably one of the worst moves this team ever made. Not saying Webber would have been better if he stayed, but he did enough for this team to let him stay here. Also, of course Webber would have gone down a little also, but he was a much better player as a King than with any other team, age has something to do with it too.

Draino wrote:All I have to say, the Kings have been going downhill ever since that trade happened, something that should have NEVER happened. They should have had Webb retire as a King because he is the best player to ever put on a Kings uniform, I don't care what anyone says. He was the main guy for all the success this team had in this decade. It is probably one of the worst moves this team ever made. Not saying Webber would have been better if he stayed, but he did enough for this team to let him stay here. Also, of course Webber would have gone down a little also, but he was a much better player as a King than with any other team, age has something to do with it too.

They were no longer a contender when the trade happened, so they had already been going down hill.

Nicky Nix Nook wrote:ya i do wonder what would have happened if after the Spurs playoff series we kept Bonzi/Adelman along with Artest. That was the year we turned things around after the trade and if we kept that team together I think we could have been competitive for a while

Bibby, Artest, Bonzi, Shareef, Martin, Miller. Solid group of guys. But yes you have to rebuild at some point.

You know what, I was thinking about that the other day when I read the 50 millionth thread or article asking if it was time to lay blame at the feet of Geoff Petrie. I don't think people should overlook that team and the possibilities it had. We had just taken a champion to it's limits and could have become one of the most physical and feared teams in the NBA. Moves would have had to have followed but that team had the chance to go somewhere, either explode into infamy or crush poor little opposing G/F tandems left and right. Either way, excitement and ticket sales were sure to follow. Obviously things turned out the way they did and it was most likely us dodging a bullet in the end but that was still a move in the right direction. So in between all the mess we had some hope and an entirely different direction might I add. Totally not a Petrie-esque team so I don't know if Geoff would have known what to do from that point on. I can still see us getting Bonzi back and going after someone like Tyson Chandler, maybe trading Kevin for depth, and us totally beating the **** out of teams like the old school Pistons or Knicks. Ah well.

I believe Petrie tried to do something with that team. He offered Bonzi a great deal and Bonzi the idiot turned it down. I blame many things on Petrie but trying to do something with that team is not one of them. It's not his fault Bonzi and his agent are two of the dumbest people in the business.

If Wells is the answer then why is he playing in China right now instead of for the Kings?