(From the FanPosts. Personally, I think firing Petrie would be A TERRIBLE MISTAKE. But lest this site become an echo chamber, let's hear dmj out. -- TZ)

I know all of you will think I'm overreacting with this post, and maybe I am. But I'm starting to think that we should at least consider this possibility after last night's events.

It is not that I'm especially angry over any particular player we acquired last night, though the Patrick Ewing Jr. pick was phenomenally terrible. What really bothers me, and what I believe is bothering a lot of other Kings fans, is Petrie's style of running the franchise--and I think this draft was a perfect example of it.

Simply put, Petrie let's things happen to him; he is too passive. He will never chase after a player, never try to acquire more picks, and will never trade down. Maybe there is something positive about that strategy, but I can't see it, especially not when your team is rebuilding.

The thing that really bothers me is that so many other teams around us in the lottery realize that you have to be active to rebuild and acted accordingly. The Blazers traded up to get Bayless and got the 27th pick, the Pacers traded to get the 17th pick and TJ Ford, the Nets picked up Yi,  the Bobcats traded for the 20th pick, and the Bucks traded for Richard Jefferson. All these teams made moves to improve themselves, while the Kings just sat back and did nothing.

And Petrie have been doing nothing for the last couple of years, too. He has made one trade during that time, which amounted to Mike Bibby for cap room, and one free agent signing, which was the pointless and wasteful signing of Mikki Moore for the MLE. None of these moves have improved our team, and you could make the argument that Mikki Moore's signing actually hurt us by tying up cap room and playing time for younger players.

In fact, the last time I can remember Petrie making a good decision was in 2004, when he drafted Kevin. Of course, Kevin does demonstrate Petrie's undisputed strength: he can draft really well without high lottery picks. Maybe that is enough to warrant keeping him, especially when you consider how many god-awful GMs there are in the league today (see Kevin McHale).

But something has to change. The Kings have been dead in the water for 2 years now, and in all likelihood we will be no better off next year. How we should change I don't exactly know, but I feel confident that drafting with low lottery picks year after year is not going to reverse our team's fortunes, not by a longshot. Hopefully Petrie realizes this and becomes more aggressive in running this team.

As some of you might have noticed, teams have been putting up clips of their pre-draft workouts on their websites. I've gone through a lot of them and found some videos of the guys we're interested in.

Grizzlies:

Darrell Arthur and Anthony Randolph 

DeAndre Jordan, Kevin Love, Joey Dorsey

Bobcats:

Kosta Koufos and Russell Westbrook

Anthony Randolph and Darrell Arthur

DeAndre Jordan, JaVale McGee, Alexis Ajinca, Roy Hibbert

Donte Greene and Joe Alexander

Blazers:

DJ Augustin, JJ Hickson, Joe Alexander, Russell Westbrook, Donte Greene

Suns:

Mareese Speights, JaVale McGee, Robin Lopez, Nathan Jawai

mms://phxsuns.wmod.llnwd.net/a205/o2/suns_predraft_080608.wmv

DJ Augustin and JJ Hickson

mms://phxsuns.wmod.llnwd.net/a205/o2/080606_suns_predraft.wmv

A bunch of recent reports have Danilo Galinari saying that he will only play for the Knicks or the Nets, and unlike Yi he actually has a contract in Europe to fall back on, making it more likely that he would actually through with the threat.  While most of us probably weren't too high on Galinari to begin with, his decision could affect what players are available to us at 12. This becomes even more of an issue when you consider that the Knicks are, by most accounts, not interested in Galinari, effectively leaving only the Nets as a potential destination. Of course, if NJ decides they don't want Galinari, then it would likely cause one of the players we are interested in to get "bumped" up the draft boards, further limiting our choices at #12.

Geoff Petrie pulled off the trade that would define the Sacramento Kings franchise for the better part of six years. The trade, one of the biggest steals in NBA history, sent an aging, though still very productive, Mitch Richmond to the Washington Bullets for a young Chris Webber.

At that time, Chris Webber had been much maligned after recent run-ins with the law. Worse yet Webber's team, the Washington Bullets, had only been to the playoffs once during his four year tenure, when they were swept by the championship bound Bulls.

Still, Webber's talent was undeniable. He was a former rookie of the year whose career averages at that point were 20 points, 9 rebounds, and 4.3 assists. His arrival immediately sparked the Kings revival, leading the Kings to an above .500 finish and only their second playoff appearance in the last decade.

Now, 10 years later, the Kings are in need of a new Webber--an All-NBA caliber player who they can develop their team around. Even with the addition of Ron Artest and Kevin Martin's development the team is still far from returning to its former success. Going forward then, it seems that something has to change or else the team will continue to tread water.

Looking over the league there aren't any it's hard to find any players of Webber's ability that would be available. The one exception I can find is Carmelo Anthony, whose recent troubles with the law and inability to lead his team deep into the playoffs seem to have opened the Nuggets up to trade talks involving him. He's easily the best SF in the league outside of Lebron James, and is capable of putting up 28, 7 and 4 on a nightly basis. To top it all off, he is only 24 and arguably has yet to reach his full potential.

So what do you guys think? Is there anyway we could pull off a trade Anthony? I'd imagine doing so would require at least Kevin Martin and a first round pick or two, assuming that the Nuggest would even be interested. If you're not interested in Anthony, however, do you think that there is any other young franchise caliber player that we would have a shot at?