This little blurb from Dave at Blazersedge really struck a nerve with me http://www.blazersedge.com/2010/3/23/1386224/reflections-on-a-team-gone-wrong I know we all wring our hands over Paul Allen's health and despite his up and down tenure here he's invested enormous amounts of his own personal wealth into the team and without him there might not even be a Portland Trailblazers (more like the Omaha Bison) but I've really been wondering just how good of an owner is Paul Allen really? This kind of clusterfuck is nothing new to the city or the team since he took over in 88. Does all of this stem from PA being mentally incapable of not stepping on his own dick? Can he keep it in check for a couple of years, leading us to believe that he's changed his ways, only then to let his true nature reveal itself? I guess what I'm wondering, is this team doomed to repeat these kind of snafus for as long as PA and the Vulcans are at the helm running the team from 200 miles away in Seattle?
Re: It starts at the top ... This is Dave at his best and I completely agree with your sentiment about the Paul Allen/Vulcan disconnect with the rest of the franchise.
Re: It starts at the top ... I agree with Miller on his statement. From his perspective they fired Penn. Not KP. This should have nothing to do with KP. Yes I assume he knew KP would not be happy and nor his agent, but I doubt they thought the agent would make it all about KP. Penn was an after thought yesterday. No one really cares about him. The Agent (With or without KP's blessing) made it about KP with his comments to the national media. There may have been problems, but they were problems that could have been worked out. Now it will be much more difficult as ego's are more involved and PA has been publicly embarrassed.
Re: It starts at the top ... ++++999999999 If you don't normally click and read the whole article on links here...I DEFINITELY recommend reading this one. It's long but, to me, it presents my concerns about this mess really well.
Re: It starts at the top ... I fail to see why the location of Vulcan or Paul Allen has anything to do with it. If Paul Allen were to live in Portland, do you guys think he'd be different? If Vulcan's HQ were in Portland, would they have a different influence on the team? Many people in Portland have a stick up their ass about Seattle, and it's something I understand. I grew up having the Seahawks shoved down my throat every Sunday, when I wanted to watch other games. I still don't root for a single Seattle sports team in spite of living here for over a decade partially because of my dislike of the teams I had as a kid. I also believe that Seattle deserved to lose the Sonics because the city, county and state were unable or unwilling to pay the price of an NBA team. I'm not anything approaching a Seattle homer when it comes to sports. But... blaming the failure of decades of NBA management on Paul Allen's residence in Seattle seems silly to me. He's lost tens of millions (maybe hundreds of millions) of dollars on the arena and team since he has been the owner, and he's generally delivered a winning product. He's had ups and downs in terms of successes, but I don't see something systematically poisoned... look at almost any NBA franchise and it has its warts. If there IS a systematic poison, and it can be traced to Paul Allen or Vulcan, I don't think that it would be at all different if those entities were in Portland or San Jose or Boise rather than Seattle. Ed O.
Re: It starts at the top ... It's simple to me. I don't believe that the Vulcans have any idea what the Blazers mean to this city because they don't and have never lived here. I happen to like Seattle as a city. I went to college at UW, and I have a bunch of friends plus my brother living there. It's my opinion that having Vulcan Inc. in Seattle hinders both the efficacy and efficiency of running the team. It's as simple as that, and the Sonics meant so much less to Seattle than the Blazers mean to Portland.
Re: It starts at the top ... I have worked in a number of companies where ownership is located off-site /at a distance from the actual operations. My personal experience, without exception, is that arrangements like that lead to some level of disconnection between ownership and operations. I haven't really seen anything to suggest things aren't similar with the Blazers. I can't say for sure, but perhaps having ownership walking the floor every day *might* give them a little better feeling of what's going on so they could handle dicey waters a little better than they have so far. Also, if Paul Allen was walking the sidewalks of Portland every day, don't you think he'd be more likely to give a statement about this mess because it would be in his face whenever he left the house? And... I have nothing against Seattle. I think it's a great city and always enjoy visiting (I was there last week). Personally I enjoy Portland more as far as where I want to live, but that's just my preference and I expect a lot of folks feel the opposite.
I've come to the realization that We should have expected this. All this is nothing new. The only thing thats new this time is that we have a great and passionate GM and a no-nonsense coach (even though i dont like nate). The people at the top are still making the ultimate decsions, they are the ones that keep fucking everything up. The same ones that wanted to give Darius or whoever it was money to keep quiet. The same ones who let this franchise become the laughing stock of the league. Who makes these kinds of decisions??? Who fires a member of their staff 18 games from the end of the season??? Who trots KP out to a press conference when he looks like hell??? Damn, there has got be some accountability with this team. Eventually people have to really look and see if its all worth it. Listen i know that there are people that dont care if KP will be here next year. But the fact of the matter is the upper management of this franchise cant seem to get their heads out of their ass and make it seem they cant make one sound BASKETBALL decision, EVER! Anyone with me?
Re: I've come to the realization that Yes, if they can't get it right with KP they'll never be able to get it right
I agree with Ed. Allen would run the Blazers the same way if he was here or in Seattle. It's not like Allen, after owning the Blazers for decades, and has attended countless games and has spent countless days in Portland, with Portland people, doesn't understand the connection the city has with the Blazers. That is foolish to think. Perhaps the Vulcans do not understand the connection, but the guy making the decisions certainly does, IMO.
The Vulcans make the decisions. Allen created them to save him from himself. Just read Tod Leweike's interview after he was hired to see who is calling the shots on the business side. Allen has influence on the basketball side, but he has the business sense of a cucumber. I said cucumber because I just took a bite of on in my salad. That was random.
I just have a really, really hard time believing a billionaire has the business sense of a cucumber. Mmmm...salad.
AGAIN, I meant to imply the physical distance is also figurative distance ... PA seems very detached from the day to day operations of this team, and yes it would probably be the same even if he lived here in Portland. This isn't some anti-Seattle, "poor little brother" Portland thing.
He managed to run his team into bankruptcy and lose control of the arena he built. He alienated his own paying customers, who stayed away from the team. He did this in arguably the best NBA city in terms of fanbase. That is a special category of fuck up in the world of fuck ups. As somebody posted yesterday, Allen's best business move was being Bill Gates' buddy.
It's pretty hard for anyone to top that as a business move, so not topping it doesn't reflect badly on Paul at all. barfo
But here is my problem with your statement. You are assuming that him being detatched is: 1. A bad thing. 2. Not the normal operations of most owners. I tend to think that most owners are not that involved in their team besides cutting the check. The Marc Cubans of the league, are rare at best.
Meaning, you fire a guy mid-season? I don't think there was anything else "dramatic" about it. And I'm not sure they did it "publicly" either. It happens to have been a position that the public and press were aware of, so of course the firing is going to become public. But that's different than firing him at center court during a game. You shouldn't fire people if their agents are assholes? Wouldn't that tend to increase the number of assholes you have to deal with? You shouldn't fire anyone who is represented by an agent for any of your other personnel? Again, that would seem to tie your hands in a lot of personnel matters, as they'd all use the agent for the person with the most job security. Uh, what? What actual, not made up on the internet or by Canzano, turmoil are we talking about here? I don't think Larry Miller spent years in any such relationship. barfo
