This guy is a bigger fan than any of us. Guy has Billions of dollars at his disposal and can do almost anything he wants yet he chooses to fly into Portland to see almost every home game. He wants to do everything possible to see this team succeed.
I'm trending this direction ... Allen may be somewhat bumbling, but is he really that diabolical/stupid?
Maybe, but this is 2010. We don't exactly live in a bubble. I have a hard time believing that if it was anything that egregious we wouldn't have heard about it. Instead we're just getting new random rumors every day, ranging from KP's agent being naughty, to KP wanting to take over Larry's position, to human resources issues, to Paul being envious of KP, etc. etc. etc. All these conspiracy theories, it feels like I'm in a Dan Brown novel.
Think about this. You really think the Blazers really leaked this to the press 15 minutes before the draft? C'mon. This has Legarries fingerprints all over it, and Quick even admitted that his source was from inside KP's camp.
Or is that what they want the fans/media to think, since firing KP for his job performance would look like an over-reaction?
That doesn't change the story that Pritchard was told right before the draft, does it? Who the fuck cares who leaked what? A team supposedly contending for a title is without a GM and has a coach on an expiring contract goning into the biggest NBA summer in recent memory.
Apparently KP and Allen had a heated argument over his status last night over the pre-draft dinner ... the point is, we don't know what went on behind the scenes, we don't know why KP was fired, but it was apparently not just some random act of violence.
You brought up Pritchard's camp leaking the firing. This is what I was commenting on. Who cares who leaked it?
I don't care about the leak. I don't care what the media think about the firing. I don't care that I found out before the draft, after the draft or 10 years from now. But on what fucking planet do you fire an employee one hour before they are going to do their most important job of the year then tell them to stick around to do that job? That is what is so absurd. You want to fire him, fire him. You want to fire him the night before, do it and tell him to fuck off. Instead you allow a disgruntled employee give you a hand during one of the most important days of the year for the team. There is a reason PA's business ventures tend to fail. This is probably part of it.
Larry said that KP wanted to stay and do the draft after he and Allen agreed it was time to part ways.
And that's a plus for Allen? You fire a guy, then allow him to direct your draft? Incompetence at its finest. If Allen was a real boss, he'd have told Pritchard to pound sand. This pretty much confirms the wishy-washy image I have of Paul Allen.
I get it, your super pissed off at Allen, and I agree that this was not handled well, but I'm a pragmatist: KP is gone, the draft is over and the team needs to figure its shit out pretty quick. I just hope they do.
Yet it worked out just fine. Maybe if he refused to let him finish the day, the others may have rebelled or at least not have been as focused.