Ex-Kings GM Geoff Petrie fires back at owner Vivek Ranadive
The former Sacramento exec took issue with some of the owner's comments
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4 min read
Former Sacramento Kings general manager Geoff Petrie was not a fan of owner Vivek Ranadive's recent interview with USA Today's Sam Amick. In an email to Deadspin's Kevin Draper, Petrie called it a "sophomoric attempt at revisionist history." He elaborated in a phone interview with Deadspin, making it clear that this passage is the one with which he had the biggest problem:
"You have to keep it a little bit in perspective, Sam, because three years ago (when, according to documents obtained by USA TODAY Sports, he paid $54.5 million to become the lead owner with a 15.08% share; his share has since increased to approximately 17%), it was (Chief Operating Officer) Matina (Kolokotronis) - she gave me the keys to Sleep Train (Arena). I'd never been here before. I walked in, and there was nobody who wanted to be here. There was no coach, no GM, it was a ghost town. (Author's note: in actuality, longtime basketball president Geoff Petrie, vice president Wayne Cooper and their front office staff stayed on through the transition to help with scouting and share intel, with Petrie even taking a three-day trip to Greece to scout Giannis Antetokounmpo leading into the draft; then-coach Keith Smart made it clear he wanted to stay, but was told early on that he would be replaced) Then I went into the arena, and literally the roof was falling down.
"So figuratively, and literally, the roof was falling down on the place. We hadn't sold a single ticket. We hadn't sold a single sponsorship. My phone was ringing off the hook with people saying that they didn't want to be here, so we had absolutely nothing. And by the way, I had also agreed to forego millions of dollars in revenue sharing, so that was a negative as well."
As you can see from the author's note, Amick wouldn't let Ranadive get away with characterizing the organization as a place where no one wanted to be. Petrie, having actually been involved in the transition, put things in much harsher terms, via Deadspin:
Deadspin: What did you think about Vivek's interview with Sam Amick?
Geoff Petrie: Well, like I said in my email, I thought it was kind of a rambling attempt at revisionist history. A lot of what he said doesn't really ... if you look back on the three-and-a-half years that he's been the managing owner, it doesn't really fit with a lot of the history. The main reason I reached out, [the interview] is long and covered a lot of territory, but when it comes to some of the representations about myself and Keith Smart and the management group that was there at that time, it was basically totally untrue, what was represented there.
What were you in the front office doing in May and June 2013, which I assume is the narrow timeframe we're talking about here?
Leading up to the actual sale of the team, it was obvious the team was going to be sold. What became of the bidding match between the Ballmer group and ultimately Vivek's group, through the league office, people were concerned about their jobs, what their future was going to be, what it would hold for them. And really, we had a group of people there that had been there, and we had worked together for a long time and were part of the best heritage that the Kings have ever had in Sacramento. I brought everybody together at different occasions and said, "Look, we're going to be professional here, we're going to continue to work like we'd work any other year, we'll prepare for the draft like we would every other year, and ultimately we will assist any new people that may come in here and try and make them comfortable and get them situated."
And that's what we did.
Petrie added that former coach Keith Smart "got a 90-second phone call in his car that they weren't going to keep him" and called the situation involving Shareef Abdur-Rahim "really deplorable." Abdur-Rahim, who Petrie called "one of the classiest people you'll ever come across," had gone from assistant coach to assistant general manager under Pete D'Alessandro before leaving the team in the 2014 offseason. USA Today reported that Abdur-Rahim threatened to sue the Kings for "hostile work environment," which led to Sacramento paying him the remainder of his salary.
Since Petrie characterized Ranadive as "a very arrogant and dismissive little chap," it's clear there is no love lost between these two. Regardless, his criticism of Ranadive is fair: the owner quite obviously used the USA Today interview to try to distance himself from the franchise's problems over the past three years, instead pointing the finger at others who are no longer with the team. Ranadive can say what he wants to reporters, but ultimately he is the one in charge, so there's no world in which he is blameless.
