Chad Ford Chat Wrap

Ditto.

 

Pritchard put together a team that I fell in love with ... again. I never thought I'd connect with a team like those Porter- and Pippen-led clubs. I was so wrong. Although strangely with this team I've become more enamored with the way Pritch goes about managing than really what any one player has done (sorry Brandon).

Where KP goes, I go. Simple as that. He and the scouts are simply the best talent evaluators in the business. The culture he and Nate have imprinted on the team is, IMO, also tops. Dealing with other teams may have become a major issue, but even then he was able to bring Camby to Portland. For all the talk about a premier free agent not being brought in, he sure has signed some very integral players: Miller, Blake, Udoka, Howard, and Przybilla.

He's taken the team from the gutter and with each season added more and more successful pieces, which in turn added more and more wins than victories; achievement than disappointments; and, fans in the seats. I'm sure Pritch has made some mistakes -- and who the fuck wouldn't that was learning on the fly!!! -- but the glaring pink ass elephant in the room is that he has made up for those mistakes time and time again with a bounty of positives. He has shown no inclination to not continue bringing more successful pieces, add more wins, and achievements. So, suck it up Vulcanopolos and grasp this very mind-blowing fact. You're all not that important. Pritchard and Penn are/were. Your feelings are hurt? Well fuck your feelings. Give the man his raise. Give him his extension. Treat your valuable assets with respect.

Fuck.

 

And that is the essence of my concern. He's not perfect, no GM is. But he is, inarguably, an effective GM, and god damn they are at a premium.

 

I wouldn't freak out or stop rooting for the team...I'd just be sad that the team (likely) made itself weaker. I have a lot of optimism for the team's current talent base and its prospects with the man who assembled that talent base continuing to make the decisions. While Whitsitt had his share of flaws, he demonstrably was capable of building very good teams. The team cutting ties to him made me worried, since the likelihood of getting a superior GM was low (though certainly not zero). The Patternash/Natterson regime certainly justified my gloomy outlook.

Once again, I'm worried and for the same reason. While it's certainly possible to have a better GM than Pritchard, chances aren't high that one will be available. I think Pritchard is a top-five GM. There's a lot more downside potential to replacing him than upside potential. A lot, lot more.

 

And to add, I think KP gets Ptd and the type of team many of us want. To build a competitve team that also has a culture and character the city can be proud of is more important to Ptd than other franchises.

I don't know if a new GM will get that or be as effective of screening that out in players.

 

Very good point. Agreed.

 

I'd agree with that ... especially in light of how the Vulcans handled the Mora firing and Carroll hiring -- a move I consider lateral at best as a disinterested observer

 

Sadly, there is a lot of truth to that. The Blazer GM does have a serious handicap in dealing with all the puritanical BS spouted by the local media.

In 28 NBA cities, the fans would dance in the streets if their team landed Kobe Bryant. In Portland, there would be groups organizing boycotts.

 

Are they really, though? Weren't Danny Ainge and Chris Wallace widely regarded as completely inept as little as a year before turning their respective franchises around? Similarly, Donnie Walsh could do no wrong in Indiana but hasn't exactly taken NY by storm. Were either Pritchard or Presti hot commodities prior to being picked up from San Antonio? How many more clones are in the Spurs system?

I think the effectiveness of any given GM is highly overrated more often than not. Of course, a lousy GM like John Nash can trump anything else positive the organization might have going for it.

 

I doubt many people knew that KP was going to be a good GM when he was first hired. I also think that a lot of credit needs to be given to a John Gabriel for the LMA & Roy draft. Chet B should get a great deal of credit for finding guys as well. It takes a whole group to build a roster, not one guy. Now keep in mind that the majority of that staff was in place pre KP. They were hired at a time when the Vulcans were in control as well, oh and the Vulcans did hire KP as well so give them credit as well while you rip them. Who knows they might have the next KP all lined up.

 

You're a real rabble rouser aren't you?

 

Chris Wallace turn around? Hmm. Ok. They're not the worst team in the league anymore. And Ainge? Yep, he got Boston another banner. Very good for them. Really looking forward to what he does now. Above and beyond that, you've pointed out only a few GM's out of a ton. And I'm speaking from all professional sports. Yes, KP is a good GM. I just don't understand how anyone can dispute that honestly. And yes, a good GM has serious value, IMO.

 

A GM has 3 main jobs and a lot of less important ones.

Job 1 - A GM needs to either be a good talent evaluator or have great talent evaluators under him that he trusts implicitly.
Job 2 - A GM needs to be able to get the talent he targets.
Job 3 - A GM needs to have an overall plan or outline for the future.

all other jobs a GM does are far down on my list.

I think KP is very good at jobs 1 and 3. Job 2 he is OK at but could use some big improvements in targeting players outside of the draft. Getting Camby and Miller were good, but I feel there were a lot of other options in the years previous that KP just could not pull the trigger on which would have helped the team. None of us can actually know what deals were actually on the table, but with all the pieces the Blazers have had I have a hard time believing that there weren't good deals that were passed over.
The one big issue I have with JOB 1, was trying to get Hedo. Aside from that, he has done very well there.

Overall, I like KP and hope he holds onto his job. I doubt we will replace him with a better GM. That being said, If he is fired I will let that roll off my back, and not hold any grudge. We don't know all the inner-workings of the Blazers ORG.

 

So true.

Because they're real. As fans and people.

That's the difference that makes Portland special.

Ironic that it seems we're run by a corporate team of heartless cyborgs calling themselves the 'Vulcans' though. . .

 

Yet they were unanimously picked as a train wreck at the start of the year.

The point was that supposedly awful GM's have turned teams around and supposedly great ones have spun their wheels, so I can't help but think the quality of the GM is either not as important as your statement implied, or a GM's effectiveness is much more difficult thing to quantify than any of us realize.

Besides, most of us don't know many of the GM's by name... At least not without the help of Google. I pointed out a few that came to mind that don't fit with the premium you applied to a good GM.

 

Funny. We can go down the path of internet arguments all day long. None of that changes the fact that KP is a quality GM. It's literally a fact that he's been a successful GM. Is he the best GM? Well, there's an argument to be made there, for, and against. Is he successful? Yes. Fact. And that's my point.

 

Sounds like you could read anything into what anyone says if you don't go by what they say, but just their 'tone'. I recall that he just said it doesn't happen over nite that it would get done. Roy admitted he let his emotions get the better of him over the whole deal and at the end all the panic from fans and media was over nothing. Heck we had Roy under contract for another year as it was which many seem to forget.