FanHouse Geoff Petrie

Before naming Paul Westphal the new coach of the Kings, Sacramento GM Geoff Petrie asked all three candidates (including Lakers assistant Kurt Rambis) if the team's set salary structure (two years at $1.5 million, a third year team option at $2 million) would work for them. If not, you know, see ya.

According to the team, Rambis -- mired in the Finals -- refused to answer if the salary structure would work. On Tuesday, Petrie pushed forth with the question. Rambis' agent Warren LeGarie said his client couldn't be bothered to think about it right now ... so Petrie hired Westphal. Now accusations that LeGarie had been ripping Westphal behind the scenes have come out, while Rambis claims he actually turned down the job.

It's a lot of drama for a job almost no one outside of Sacramento cares about.

Pardon the leap of logic present in that headline, but there's little room to see the latest round of Rick Pitino rumors any other way if you've paid attention to the situation. To catch up, earlier this week, Sacramento Bee Kings beat writer Sam Amick mentioned Pitino's name in a story on rumored candidates for the coaching vacancy in Sacramento. Thursday night, Yahoo! yeoman Adrian Wojnarowski followed up with a full story, placing the interest squarely on Pitino's side.

Kings owner Gavin Maloof has denied talking to Pitino, and mentions only that Pitino is a "great coach." Ultimately, there's an overwhelming sense that these Pitino-to-the-NBA rumors are being pushed by The Rick -- not the Kings. That Louisville is now jumping out to publicly declare Pitino will stay is all the more suspicious.

For 24 hours, the NBA had no head coaching vacancies. That's a stunner for the week after season's end; usually there's a bloodbath immediately following the final regular season game. But Flip Saunders quickly replaced Ed Tapscott, Oklahoma City hurried to lock in Scott Brooks, and the other potential openings remained tentatively filled ...

... until the Kings declined the 2009-10 option on interim coach Kenny Natt's contract Thursday. The move had been expected with some certainty. But in comments related to the new opening, Geoff Petrie has raised some eyebrows about what kind of coach the team will seek.

Apparently Reggie Theus will be getting a chance to reprise his role as a television coach, though sadly it'll be less "teen comedy" and more "reality TV." The Maloof family has partnered with producer Mark Burnett of Survivor and The Apprentice fame to develop a reality show called Rebuilding the Kingdom, which, as the title suggests, will follow the team from their current state (hopefully) back to prominence.

Apparently the show will focus more on the front office and the business side of the team than the coaches and players, which makes me wonder if this is simply an orchestrated attempt by the Maloofs to get more camera time. Besides, the players are the only people that fans care about -- I'd rather see behind-the-scenes footage of Kevin Martin rolling his eyes at Theus in practice than watch Geoff Petrie having lunch at his desk while sitting through a conference call on arena negotiations.

But maybe that's just me.

Considering Ron Artest has already admitted that he's going to opt-out of his contract this summer and doesn't foresee a long-term future in Sacramento, it's not surprising to read that the Kings are contemplating trading him before February's deadline. On Wednesday, Kings GM Geoff Petrie coyly admitted as much to Sam Amick of the Sacramento Bee:

When asked of the latest status of trade talks, Petrie said, "They say 'Where there's sparks, there's fire?' Well we're still at the stage where you're rubbing two sticks together."

Has the phone been ringing more, he was asked? "A little bit," he answered.

Where might he end up? Amick thinks a swap with Denver involving Nene might work out, which sounds reasonable to me. Nene is currently recovering from testicular cancer but his prognosis for next season and beyond looks good, and he could be the physical presence the Kings need inside. As for Artest, he'd add an interesting wrinkle to Denver's roster. The Nuggets are known for their high-octane offense, but come playoff time, having a pair of defensive stoppers in Marcus Camby and Artest would make the Nuggets an extremely formidable foe.

Rumors over the past week have whispered Drew Gooden is a serious target for Golden State. Gooden's name has been everywhere all summer, mostly in stop-motionesque attempts to land Mike Bibby. He's very clearly available, especially considering Anderson Varejao is surely remaining in Ohio.

Golden State's asset of choice is the trade exception received in the Jason Richardson-to-Charlotte deal. The Warriors could send a portion of that exception equal to Gooden's salary to Cleveland to get a solid, reasonably priced power forward.

But Cleveland has the upper hand. The Cavaliers are within $3 million of the expected luxury tax threshold. Signing Varejao to his qualifying offer would keep the team just under, and a contract for Sasha Pavlovic would place the team just over the threshold. Owner Dan Gilbert is apparently willing to pay a bit of luxury tax while he still has LeBron has a team on the cusp, but isn't expected to thumbs-up a giant salary step. If no other team steps in to offer Varejao big money, Cleveland can go status quo and wait til the deadline.

And there's the way Golden State can gain leverage.

With the offseason in its infancy by chronos but adolescence by activity, we're still waiting for that wind which truly transforms the landscape. The Luis Scola acquisition has the potential to create a fourth elite and the Rashard/Darko bungle could build our Knicks South. But in terms of actually affecting June, we've seen nothing yet.

For this reason, we should pray for a storm. Phoenix, San Antonio and Dallas remain literally identical to last season's editions. The Pistons have only lost Chris Webber; the Heat James Posey. The Cavaliers are on the verge of either overpaying Anderson Varejao or delaying their overpaying of Anderson Varejao for one season... with no roster improvement imminent. Minor figures such as Charlotte, Atlanta and Memphis have improved, and the Knicks might escape the gallows of total irrelevance. By virtue of sheer luck, Portland and Seatlle have been set on the path to serial seriousness.

But this offseason needs to be rescued. Forgive me my homerism, but it has come to Geoff Petrie's feet to save this summer.

We all thought a long look at Boobie in May and June would help Cleveland get over Mike Bibby, but the Cavaliers just can't let that flame die.

Two independent reports say Cleveland and Sacramento were close to acting on Danny Ferry's Bibby lust this week. Brian Windhorst of the Akron Beacon Journal says Jackie Butler was scheduled to head to Sacramento with Cleveland's Drew Gooden in a deal getting Bibby to Ohio. Damon Jones was the probable buy-in for San Antonio. But things stalled and the Spurs got antsy, instead consummating the Luis Scola deal which sent Butler to Houston.

Sam Amick of The Sacramento Bee has the intriguing note that Gooden was seen hanging out with the Maloofs in Las Vegas Thursday. There has to be a third team involved, and the Butler rumors serve to show what Geoff Petrie is after: an overweight Mike Sweetney clone a young prospect. More than anything, the rumored deal shows how badly San Antonio wanted to get out of Butler's contract. (I'm not sure how constraining a 22-year-old center with two years, $4.7 million left on his deal can be...)

One other ramification from these overheated talks: Ron Artest really is going to stay in Sacramento. Let's just pray he doesn't kill Spencer Hawes before Christmas.

The Knicks currently have 17 players under contract, two more than they will be allowed to carry into the regular season, so it's clear they're going to do some kind of move. If Isiah Thomas has his way, his next move will make as big of a splash as his recent trade for Zach Randolph. From the New York Post:

If the Knicks are to land forward Ron Artest in a trade this summer - one of their remaining summer goals - they will have to package a couple of prospects.

The one young Knick who could seal the deal is David Lee, as Isiah Thomas ponders whether to make him available for the former Defensive Player of the Year who carries lots of baggage. Lee could be packaged with either Jared Jeffries or Malik Rose to make the deal work under collective bargaining agreement mathematics.

A starting front-court of Artest, Randolph and Eddy Curry would be off the charts, both in terms of talent and off-the-court craziness. Giving up Lee would be a very steep price, especially on the heels of dealing Channing Frye (another talented, young and most importantly, cheap big man), but if it allowed Thomas to unload Jeffries, who still has four years and $25 million left on his contract, it might be something worth considering. And if Thomas was somehow able to convince the Kings to leave Lee out of the talks but instead include a guy like Nate Robinson, well, all the better.