http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/or...o_paul_allens_inaction_s/4774/comments-2.html With KP's tone in the press conference, and Paul Allen & Larry Miller unwilling to say that he'll be back, I don't think this is an unreasonable assumption. I was just hoping I was reading too much into it, but as each day goes by I think KP is in real trouble. And while not everyone here likes Canzano, his belief that KP is done makes me feel even sicker to my stomach when it comes to this whole mess.
Odds are Canzano will eventually be right once just from sheer volume of predictions. Chances are low on any particular prediction, though. Because he's pretty crappy at analyzing and making predictions.
Canzano might be right, but he's pretty clearly relishing the chaos that exists in the organization and he stoking the fires with his writing ... just try to remember he's doing his best to rile people up.
Canzano is such a little shit. "Paul wouldn't give me an interview, so he's evil" is about what that amounts to. barfo
Paul Allen is in rehab. I don't blame him for not giving out info on the blazer organization right now. Canzano, just wants to stur up more drama for him to to write and he bitches that he can't get a comment from the owner. Canzano is too impatient to wait for next year to see what he has to write about Oden or Przy and just wants to stir up more crap. He's a piece of shit journalist in my books with a lack of heart.
You'll have to excuse me, but I'm out of the loop on this story. Why in the world would Paul Allen replace Pritchard, who has done such a great job of building this team over the last few years??? Did I miss something? Has Pritchard sexually harassed an employee, or done something else that is forcing Paul Allen's hand???
He's done nothing, there is no fact to this rumor. It's just a bunch of silly people worrying about something they perceived was said, even though it was never said.
He also said that "everyone knows" Dre would never fit in on this team. I'm hoping he is as right about this as he was that.
Shooter, I wrote a post on another board about organizations whose cultures are externally-focused vs. internally focused and talked about two firms for which I used to work. The first organization was results-oriented. You had to follow a certain set of rules: Be civil to one another; Wear pants to work; Etc., but in the end all that mattered was whether or not you produced. If you didn't produce, you didn't stay. I took it for granted that's how all companies operated. I left that organization with a colleague to take a higher-level job at another, which happened to be internally-focused. At that firm, production took a back seat to how you were perceived within the organization. People there worried how close your office was to the head of the group, how big your office was and the level of furniture, if you had a reserved parking spot and how close it was to the elevator, with whom you had lunch, etc. Those that understood the corporate culture and played the game thrived, regardless of their production. I get the impression that Vulcan is the latter type of organization. Production at one of the subsidiaries doesn't matter if there's a rising star that threatens your position. I've dealt a bit with the Vulcans on RE end and haven't been impressed. I did get the impression, however, that they're people with sharp elbows. They were smart enough, but I got the feeling how the deal was perceived was more important than the results of the deal. I get the impression that the Blazers under Whitsitt and PatterNash were internally-focused. It seemed people were always trying to position themselves against one another. KP certainly has that kind of ambition, but the culture he seems to nurture is one where the producers get promoted, not the most skillful political operators. I'm sure most of us that have worked in several organizations over our careers have seen these contrasting cultures at our own workplaces. In the end, I think it comes to a cultural conflict, because on the production end, it's awfully tough to say KP's done a crappy job.
While he is certainly taking a lot of drugs right now, I don't think PA is in rehab. I think he's in treatment for cancer.
I personally find it is much easier to be civil when nobody has pants on. The irony of course is that KP values culture over production all of the time. In fact many people have either strongly agreed with that principle or felt like it was the one thing holding us back. If you are a "KP guy" then you are set and cannot be traded. That is one reason I was very happy about the Blake & Outlaw trade, it showed some shift in the position. The same could be said of Nate as a coach, does he value the way you play over how well you play? It seems to me that both KP and Nate follow the culture and are more internally focused. Now that KP is being evaluated the same way, many feel this is unfair. I think you made an interesting observation, but I am still wondering if internally focused cannot get the same results as externally focused when it comes to something like professional sports. I remember a time when people were very concerned about the Vulcans running like an externally focused organization and totally caught up in the numbers. I guess the view of Vulcan changed depending on the way they are framed by the media or how the fans feel at the time. I honestly feel like Canzano has framed them both ways to simply get the ire of fans. He is very good at that, and as a result he has essentially created this whole media sensation that is the KP situation.
So is the best path a balance between the two? And on top of that is having your dream job threatened a good way to reflect on your flaws? I wonder if in the end this whole event does not make KP a better GM even if it is not with the Blazers. I personally hope we retain KP, but I also want to see growth out of him just like I want to see with the players, coaches, and I suppose to some degree PA. Although to be fair it is Paul's team, and I suppose if I was an owner I would make decisions that pissed off a portion of the fan base as well.
