I seen a link to an article about Mr. P getting ready to make moves before the trade deadline. Of course when I click the link it takes me to a page on the SacBee that you need to be a registered user for. Almost like the move is top secret 
Who is it? Ostertag? Peja? Miller? Bibby?
There is no way Petrie would even hint about any deal in the works. He just never lets anything out before a trade happens.
This does not stop the local B-Ball hacks to speculate. The theoretical deals suggested in the Bee the other day involve both Webber and Peja, with Matt Barnes, Darius Songaila, and others thrown in for ballast.
The best suggestion was a trade that would send Peja and Barnes to Denver for Anthony and Nene. The other popular one sent Webber to the Knicks in a three way deal involving Utah that would bring Harpring and Boozer to Sacramento.
None of these deals are real, but they all apparently work under the salary cap limitations. There were two others that involved Toronto and Philadelphia (that one would bring Dalembert to Sacramento).
In addition, there was a very good article about Petrie in the paper the other day, which I copied for you below.
Shhhhh ... You never know what Petrie might be doing
By Joe Davidson -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PST Tuesday, February 15, 2005
The Kings could make a trade today.
Or tomorrow, or not at all.
No one really knows for sure.
The man who has a pulse on such situations is Geoff Petrie. He's the Kings' president of basketball operations with his hands on all the controls, his calculating mind crunching salary numbers and scenarios: what player piece might work, what wouldn't, or wondering if the Kings can march toward the NBA playoffs with the group they already have.
The trade deadline looms Feb. 24, but like a savvy card shark, Petrie keeps things close to his vest. He never tips his hand, tight-lipped to even those within his inner circle.
"Once, when he made a trade," Petrie's wife, Anne-Marie, explained the other day, "people came up to me and said, 'How could you possibly not know?' That was when he was with the Portland Trail Blazers' front office. Hey, 18 years later, he's still that way. One thing about Geoff in this business, he's consistent."
Consistent to the point that transactions and trades seemingly come out of nowhere. Petrie has crafted the Kings into an annual title contender by doing more thinking than talking.
His mentor is Pete Carril, who coached Petrie at Princeton and has been on the Kings' bench as an assistant coach and confidant for most of Petrie's 11 seasons with the franchise. Even the teacher waits in line for the news.
"Geoff's ... not more vocal about what he's up to because he's trying to protect us from ourselves," Carril said.
Even the men who employ Petrie, Kings owners Joe and Gavin Maloof, can't pry much out of him. Awhile back, Gavin cornered Anne-Marie in the Maloof suite at Arco Arena seeking some insight -- anything -- into the mind of her man.
"Gavin asks me, 'What can you tell me?' " Anne-Marie said. "I said, 'Gavin, I know nothing.' "
The Maloofs so entrust their team to Petrie that they just re-signed the two-time NBA Executive of the Year to a multiyear contract extension. Owners tend to be restless and reactionary, ready to dump this swingman or go after that forward with each crushing loss. But the Maloofs said they have been tempered by Petrie's cool, calm hand.
"I learned a long time ago that the one person I listen to isn't the media or the fans or anyone else, it's Geoff Petrie," Gavin Maloof said. "We've learned to listen to one guy. In his mind, he knows what the Kings should look like."
Still, other inquiring minds thirst to know.
Anne-Marie said she learned of one trade by reading the newspaper.
"I felt insulted," she said, laughing at the memory. "When a trade happens, I'm stunned like everyone else. He doesn't give me an ounce of information."
There's a reason for this, Petrie said. He doesn't discuss deals until they become fact. His personnel history shows there haven't been leaks, speculation or hints of a trade coming down the pike.
The Mitch-Richmond-for-Chris-Webber trade in the spring of 1998? Out of thin air. The Jason-Williams-for-Mike-Bibby deal on draft day 2001? Materialized just like that. The Doug-Christie-for-Cuttino-Mobley move earlier this season? Another boom, another boon for the franchise.
When fans bump into Petrie at the supermarket with trade suggestions, never mind the concept of how the salary cap works and that rules dictate player salaries must match, he will smile and roll with it, to a point. When the media inquires about prospective trades, he doesn't roll at all. It becomes a verbal standstill.
Some NBA front-office men allow media leaks to drum up interest. Not Petrie.
"First of all, having been an ex-player, I don't think it's right to be throwing players' names out there, particularly if it's just a matter of speculation or a wish-list kind of thing," Petrie said. "I think it's a sign of disrespect. I don't think it's productive for the overall stability of the team. You're asking players to commit themselves to a team system and an organization, and then to turn around and cavalierly throw their names out there, I don't think that helps at all.
"I'm not saying my way is the best way, but that's the way I feel about it. I think your players and your coaches and your staff, they're yours until they're not yours. I'd rather be the first one to tell them when there's a change."
Kings small forward Peja Stojakovic whipped up league-wide interest when the former All-Star announced before the season that he wanted to be traded. Will Petrie pull the trigger now? You could have better luck winning the lottery.
The Kings need rebounding help. Petrie says nothing.
Is there interest in Webber? Zip.
When he fields an NBA call at home, Anne-Marie said she doesn't even bother to ask.
"He says he's trying to protect me from myself," she said, sounding as if she'd heard that line a few dozen times.
Kings coach Rick Adelman ponders player possibilities like every other coach. Mostly, it's brainstorming.
"Everything we've done here, Geoff and I discussed it before we discussed it with anyone else," Adelman said of trades. "We talk. What do you think of this guy or that guy? Generally, 99 percent of the time, nothing happens."
And Petrie, a fantasy-like wheeler and dealer?
"Well, sure," he said, laughing. "You wake up at 4 in the morning, things racing through your head. It's the nature of the job. Some things put you to sleep at night, and some things wake you up in the morning.
"Am I going to do anything? Right now, my answer is, I have no idea. It's not the kind of business you say, 'Well, next week, I'm going to do this.' It doesn't work like that."
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