The comparisons between Paul Westphal and Rick Adelman began almost immediately Wednesday, when Kings basketball president Geoff Petrie sat in the practice facility and discussed at length his team's latest new coaching era.

There was the similar record of achievement, with the new Kings coach and the former one regularly winning 50-plus games and guiding their teams into the playoffs only to fall short of a championship.

There were the similar stories about style, with both men known as creative offensive coaches who manage with tact more than toughness.

There was the reality that both coaches entered Sacramento with plenty of critics, their previous NBA head-coaching jobs (Adelman at Golden State and Westphal in Seattle) having ended badly.

But by the end of Westphal's first unofficial day, there would be yet another similarity between the two: a Lakers rivalry.

The saga involved Lakers assistant Kurt Rambis, one of three candidates for the Kings job who – according to sources – was the leading contender. Rambis made it clear all along that he wouldn't be distracted by the Kings' process so long as his team was in the playoffs, but his preference in handling the matter would eventually conflict with that of the Kings because of Westphal.

Sources say Westphal came close to pulling out of the race late last week after growing frustrated with the politics and pace of the process. The former Phoenix and Seattle head coach had interviewed nearly a month before and agreed to hypothetical terms of a deal not long after, then waited while his fate was on hold and the delay was clearly related to Rambis.

Yet after Petrie called Westphal personally and persuaded him to stay in, he had pressured Rambis' agent, Warren LeGarie, for an answer on Tuesday regarding the terms of a deal. That answer came in the afternoon in the form of an e-mail from LeGarie, who insisted once again he needed more time and made it clear he couldn't commit to anything.

Without a commitment on the Rambis front and with the fact that a third candidate (Boston associate head coach Tom Thibodeau) had pulled out of the race earlier in the day, sources say Petrie's desire to get a deal done with someone whose desire to be in Sacramento was no mystery rather than head further down the rocky Rambis road won out.

But when an ESPN.com story Tuesday said Rambis had turned down a formal offer before the Kings opted for Westphal, the typically tight-lipped Petrie denied the report.

"The way we approached this hire was that we had a compensation structure that was basically a pre-qualifying type of … commitment that was going to be needed," he said. "So all of the people who we talked to were either told ahead of time or immediately after in their interviews what this structure was. And in order to have a chance to be offered the job, there needed to be some acknowledgment that that structure would be acceptable, which is not unlike a lot of jobs that get put out there.

"The job could not have been offered to somebody who hadn't said that that structure was acceptable. The only person who was offered this job was Paul Westphal. That's the bottom line."

There had been rumblings all along Rambis had serious doubts about joining the Kings on a number of fronts, and that he would not have taken the job unless the expected salary and length of contract ($1.5 million base per year in two guaranteed seasons) rose significantly.

Then hours after Petrie's candid comments circulated on the Internet, Rambis gave his retort in a radio appearance on the "Petros and Money Show" on Fox Sports Radio.

"(The Kings) put some sort of timetable there (on the search)," said Rambis, who had declined comment on the Kings' situation throughout the postseason. "I understand that they wanted to move forward in their coaching search, but really what it came down to was that they have a bunch of young players on their team. It's a project team. As it stands right now, that team is – particularly in the Western Conference – is a ways away from winning.

"They have holes in their roster, and they certainly have to improve as a ballclub if they expect to win. And I was just looking to be involved with that team for a longer term than what the Sacramento Kings were looking for. I think that that's basically what it came down to.

"I like the Kings organization. I like Geoff Petrie as a general manager. The Maloofs are good owners, but my vision and their vision just didn't coincide, so I decided to turn their offer down and they moved in another direction."

Petrie, however, insists moving away from Rambis was a matter of time and not terms.

"I just think we gave everybody enough time to examine, analyze, mull over," Petrie said. There was no gun, really, put to anybody's head. …

"I guess the question was, 'How much time do you need?' And I think we gave everybody adequate time to formulate their own sense of whether this works or doesn't work. At some point, you want to have a coach. We liked them all very much and decided that Paul was the best."

Read the Kings blog at www.sacbee.com/kingsblog.