Brian Berger: Interesting Inside Info about KP

First, thanks for the recap. There's a lot here, and i wanted to speak to a couple of the points.

I wouldn't say this is news. KP was saying in October 2008 that most of us at the M&G probably knew more about the cap than he did, and that he relied on Penn for that stuff.

I don't know if anyone else had this idea also, but it was KP's relationship with Jeff Ma that got the Blazers either access to his eval system or got him to tailor it to KP's needs. Don't know which. And there are definitely more people than Jeff Ma out there for this type of work (a lot work for Morey or wish they did), but he's one of the first I'd heard about.[/quote]

Fair enough, but again, much like any organization. Lee Iacocca and Bill Clinton get undeserved credit and undeserved blame, why is a GM of basketball team different? Like those guys, though, it seems as if KP surrounded himself with competent people (Penn, Born, Buchanan, Ma)

Out of pure curiosity: I know that sometimes players don't respect a coach that never played...what about a GM? Would they be more in tune with KP since he played, or less b/c he was a "scrub", in their eyes? Anyone have a feel for this is general?

I don't quite get this. I understand that it could've happened that way, but wouldn't Ammo being destroyed by Gay or Roy at least change his mind? Why would he flip out? If he has a preconceived notion, why have the workout?

I've heard KP praise Filippi by name, as well as the rest of the staff. For all his foibles, at least publicly he conforms to the "pass praise down, take responsibility yourself" mantra

See above. Maybe it wasn't "public" enough.

First, duh about others thinking they could do better if in his position. Hell, I do that (though I'm sure I'm the only one on this board who thinks like that). And duh that LeGarie is not getting another cent in commission from Paul Allen.

Wait, MM works for Vulcan?!?!

We've heard about Roy's durability since before the talus bone days. Just about all of us on here agree that LMA isn't a real #2 option, but a decent fit in Nate's offense. I don't know about Oden not being a cornerstone. If you think Roy has 2 years left, why the heck wouldn't you trade him?

 

From what I've heard from a couple of really good sources over the years is that it wasn't Patterson or KP who made the Roy/LMA draft happen.

It was John Gabriel, former Magic GM (and NBA exec of the year) who made those deals happen. If you look at the series of transactions that were made in getting Roy that was some pretty damn aggressive GM'ing. Aggressiveness and ingenuity that we never saw previously with Patterson or afterward with KP. We will never know whose idea to draft who it really was but there was only one person in that war room who had actually been a GM before. Patterson was a team president who appointed himself GM and KP was just the director of player personnel. Only Gabriel was the one with real GM experience.

 

I'm not eating up anything and I just finished posting what I've heard about who did what during the Roy/LMA draft and that is completely different from what Patterson or Berger are now saying happened. All I was saying is that I've happened to have caught Berger's show before on the radio and for the most part it was worth listening to. He has gotten some impressive guests on the show. His show also covers the business side of sports which I find interesting.

 

One more thing that was more in the KP v. Presti thread from a couple weeks back: Artificially (for the moment) forgetting everything that happened in 2006...judging KP ONLY on what happened since March 2007....does it make sense that he would be the guy creative and talent-savvy enough to make the 2006 draft work? It sure doesn't seem that Patterson was. But the moves he's made since then only look great if given that the "Golden Boy" made them, and as such it's above our comprehension to judge. The contracts of Webster (meh), Blake (meh) , Outlaw ( )...the extensions of Roy ( ) and LMA (overpaid?) ...the big trades for Bayless (meh) , ZBo (meh-to-blech), Camby ( )...the little trades for Ruffin, Wafer, etc. (whatever)...the drafting of Batum ( ), Claver (?), Rudy (meh?), Sergio ( ), Freeland (?), Mills (?), Green ( ), JP and Dante ( to homerific "meh"), the Hedo Affair ( ), the Toxic Offer ( ), Miller (meh-to-ok)

Using those as a guide, would you say that that's a guy who shows the chops to pull off a 2006 Draft Night? Or is it more that he got to be the Anointed Face of Goodness for those things happening, we all ate it up, and his subordinates didn't like seeing one of them getting tons of praise for basically going along with the team plan? It's at least debatable.

EDIT: I just read Sly's post. Gabriel might be the missing piece of what this post is discussing.

 

So, PA wanted Ammo. KP wanted Ammo. Nate wanted Ammo. And yet we didn't draft Ammo. Patterson must have been one powerful dude.

barfo

 

Not really. Didn't we have a deal done for the #2 pick? Couldn't we have instructed them to take Ammo instead of LMA for us? If we really wanted him so badly?

barfo

 

It does fit better with everything that we now know.

 

When the one all-star we have doesn't want to play with him, and his talents don't mesh with the offense the coach has run for a while (and looks to continue)...yeah, he doesn't get a check mark or smiley face.

I'd have been curious to see if Bayless or Blake getting Miller's minutes wouldn't have had similar results. And if you know my feelings about Blake, you know that's a "meh-to-ok" grade for a reason.

 

I guess they could have been scared that Jordan would take Thomas at #3, leaving them with LMA at #4. Of course, that would have been better than what they got. Hard to know whether they were really stuck on Tyrus or they just wanted Paul's money (assuming some was thrown in) and Victor.

barfo