Though the situation in Sacramento isn’t nearly as desperate as the front office confusion in Oakland, Sactown Royalty’s Tom Ziller considers the plight of Kings GM Geoff Petrie in light of a Sam Amick report claiming John Whisenant might replace Kenny Natt at season’s end.
My problem has been that Geoff Petrie, the architect of the greatest teams in the Sacramento era, a multiple-time Executive of the Year, hasn’t been able to hire his own head coach since 1998. Eric Musselman, as has been reported extensively, was a compromise candidate (with — ironically — Whisenant as the Maloof candidate). Reggie Theus was a Maloof hire as Petrie pushed for Brian Shaw (who still doesn’t have a head coaching job, by the way) and Scott Brooks. Petrie has made mistakes — he’s not Basketball Jesus. But I trust his judgment on all matters basketball a lot more than I trust the judgment of the Maloof family. Whisenant is a Maloof hire. Plain and simple.
Petrie allowed himself to get cajoled into Musselman, and he allowed a situation in which the Maloofs could make a full court press regarding Theus. He’s letting these things happen — he could have a job tomorrow if he quit today, and he’s not quitting. So these decisions can’t be taken off his resumé entirely. It just seems so odd, so bizarrely timed that Petrie or one of his confidants would start letting it be known publically that he’s OK with Whisenant so long as Carril sticks around. Petrie could fight this and have every fan in Sacramento at his sails. But he’s taking it. He’s compromising. Again.