Ok so now you again are attributing a move by a GM to emotion "KP is screwing over Utah just to anger them." What's more you go on to suggest that Wallace just wanted to thumb his nose at KP? Are you kidding me? Memphis made MILLIONS with that move and was willing to potentially burn a bridge with us to do it. KP and Wallace's opinion of one another probably didn't enter the equation other then as an after thought. KP might need to tone it down, but it also seems alot of this is jealousy pure and simple. Not to mention the national media desperately wants to see Oden, Roy et al on big market teams preferably in the East. I can't remember a time when the National Media really portrayed Porltand well or even fairly UNTIL KP came to town. I feel KP has made some mistakes and maybe even pissed off some GM's but I really think you are over reaching with your attributing multi-million dollar moves to junior high revenge and FU scenarios. I'm sorry I don't buy that.
I'll put it this way. In todays NBA you are either getting screwed, or the one doing the screwing. I think you know which one you want to be.
just sounds like 1 or 2 bitter GMs - not the whole league. Really, speaking for all of the other GMs would be pretty unprofessional, and fairly unlikely.
So, is every other team that bids on a free agent also doing something "bad", or does this only apply to certain teams?
I can recall around Y2K the constant mention of Blazer team salary being 90M+ by the national media. They would harp on it in every broadcast and magazine article as if it was some sort of terrible shame for a small market to spend money like a big market. I doubt the national media will ever embrace a Blazer club as they want the marquee teams involved for bigger ratings. As the team progresses, I expect some sort of negative narrative to develop about the club and be repeated ad nausea. Clyde's era was that they were stupid. Then it was Sheed's Jailblazers. I doubt that they'll settle on KP is a big meanie as the next theme but we'll see STOMP
And considering those 1 or 2 GMs will only speak anonymously, they clearly don't want to burn any bridges. Which means they want to be able to deal with Pritchard in the future.
Hank, this is just the national media narrative right now. Wojo has had a bug up his ass about KP for over a year, for what reason I don't know. I think most of this resentment is KP doesn't suck at his job like Nash. Everyone in the NBA liked John.
You realize that the Blazers (KP gets most of the credit), "fucked" 4 teams to get Brandon Roy. Ainge is tricked into thinking Telfair has some "potential" and might be a good PG someday, thus giving up the #7 pick for him. Armed with the #7 pick, KP finds out that Houston is totally hot-to-trot for Roy, thinking he is the perfect "glue" player to pair with T-Mac and Yao, and will be good right away. Amazingly, they are 100% correct. Deciding that Portland is going to take Roy at #7, Houston tries to jump in front of Portland by asking Minnesota to draft Roy for them at #6. Portland gets all up in Minnesota's mess by drafting the guy they want - Foye. Forcing Minnesota to abandon its pact with Houston and make what is now called the worst trade in Minnesota franchise history - Roy for Foye. John Nash was a "nice" GM. He even returned my e-mails. A true sweetie pie. Would you rather have a "nice" GM and no Brandon Roy?
Its more than that. KP has struck out on several players that would have helped this team... One of two things are happening right now with the Blazers... 1 - KP is wildly overrating his players and is looking for a magical deal that turns garbage into gold... or 2 - Other GM's are not offering up the same deals to KP that they are to other franchises. Either way.. it reflects poorly on KP.
I do think KP has high opinions of our players. It may or may not turn out to be a fact that they are as good as he thinks they are. I think GMs will execute any deal that makes their team better. I don't think given roughly equivalent offers a GM will give us the final piece to put us over the top for the next 5-10 years.
I think the "KP is a dick" stuff is overblown. This is business, after all. But I will say that if the way KP has conducted himself personally or professionally is becoming a hindrance to getting deals done moving forward, then it is a potential issue. I have no evidence that this was/is the case, but there seems to be a small narrative forming around the league that teams are unwilling to deal with Portland for this reason (or it might be the fact that we keep fleecing people and no one wants to be next). So to that end, I would say that Portland management, especially KP, needs to not be doing anything that kills business relationships and holds them back from improving this team through deals. That's just smart business. I'm all for being a hard ass in negotiations, but if the way you do it is keeping anyone from wanting to negotiate with you at all, then (fairly or unfairly) it is worth reconsidering.
Excuse me, but are you out of your freaking mind??? You actually think Portland is going to offer a $36 million contract and a $10 million signing bonus to a player they don't want? What if Utah doesn't match--then we're "stuck" with a player we never wanted in the first place. What team takes a chance like that??
