The article is here. In short, Vecsey claims that KP has taken credit for Patterson's hard work. My first reaction was "Bullshit, that's not the way I heard it." But then I started to wonder if perhaps I got snowed by Quick and company into thinking KP was the man behind all of the good moves. It is true that the guys at the Oregonian hated Patterson and have a love affair with KP. What do you guys think? I am pretty sure the answer is somewhere in the middle but perhaps leaning more towards Patterson then I might want to think. On a side note, is there another market where the sports media controls public perception of a team as much as they do here?
You will need to understand up front that 90% of the people on this board think KP can do no wrong, so any statement questioning him won't go over well. That being said, I guess it's possible that Patterson made those moves to get Aldridge and Roy. I know Steve a little bit, and while he has never come out and said he was the man, I have seen him sort of bite his tongue and roll his eyes a bit when someone throws praise at KP. This could just as easily be jealousy as well though.
Why does Jaynes mention the bringing in Blake part as something Patterson did, when he also traded Blake away? He resigned in March of 2007. Blake was signed back that summer. By Pritchard. Not Patterson. He's going to mention the drafting of Martell as a good thing? Yay, he's high character! Also low talent. We passed on Paul and Deron for him! That's not a good thing. That's fucking terrible. Why no mention of John Nash in the article? Who had the power in personnell moves, Nash or Patterson? Was it all Patterson? If so, Nash stuck around way too long. If not, then give Nash the same credit you want to give to Patterson. What about drafting Telfair? Did that help to remake the team? What abou tthe big ass contracts they handed out to Miles, Ratliff and Z-Bo? Did that help remake the team? Peter Vecsey is a complete joke. And shows more how much of a joke Jaynes is by writing an article about a Vecsey article.
the article does contain a few kernels of truth. Patterson did have a contentious relationship with the O's douchebag writers while KP has been extremely accessible and a quote machine. My guess is that he probably deserves credit for the current roster (how much ) but the newspaper of record has given it all to Pritchard. Jaynes fails to mention that Patterson also should be credited with assembling some of the worst rosters in Blazer history. The roster he took over was a 50 win team and each year he was in charge they lost more then the previous year until they were the worst in the league. The two lotto drafts prior to acquiring Roy & LA featured major faceplants. The trades made and overall roster maneuvering were pretty horrible... but he's trying to drum up interest for his featured radio guest so those omissions are understandable. STOMP
Not fair at all. PatterNash had their issues, but they were under strict order from uncle Paul to cut costs, and they did that.
They knew they were being brought in to clean house and then prob get axed because the team sucked for a few years... they knew the risk when they signed on the dotted line
I think there's some amount of merit to giving Patterson (and John Gabriel) credit for their part in the 2006 draft. But to say that he deserves all the credit for what the team has become is BS. It's not that hard to tear a team apart. Especially when at the end of said tear down you're the worst team in the league.
Wasn't it also PatterNash who hired most everyone's favorite Mr. Sonic? It would seem to me that if he had a hand in bringing in Roy and Aldridge, and hired Nate, then he had a lot to do with how the team plays now.
They also drafted terribly. I buy that KP was behind the 2006 draft because it just fits his style. Lots of trades and maneuvering to get the guys he wants, who just happen to be high-character guys. Then there is Sergio, and we know KP has his guys all over the overseas game looking for players(Freeland, Rudy, Kopenon, Batum, Claver, etc). Hell they bought the Suns' pick just to get Sergio. It was the first good draft in years and the Blazers continued to draft well the following years. Not a coincidence.
Keep in mind that out of the 6 players you mentioned, only 2 are good NBA players. And only 3 are actual NBA players.
I wasn't really focusing on how good each player is, just using it as evidence to support my opinion that KP was behind the 2006 draft.
Their worst moves (signing Ratliff and Miles to big contracts, terrible drafting) had nothing to do with being tasked to cut payroll.
If anything it sounds like Patterson is trying to take credit for KP's work ffs. Or this is just more Wankstain emailing these fucking 2 bit bloggers. Jesus Christ some of you are so fucking thick. Can't wait for all of you to parrot this shit for the next 5 years now. "baaaaaaaaa, hello....pretty bird... baaaaa ....it was all Steve Patterson... hello.... pretty bird"
Was it Pritchard who banged his fist on the table and said of Sebastian Telfair, "that's my guy"? And as a result, refused to draft either Deron Williams or Chris Paul the next year? 'Cause whoever THAT guy was, was an idiot. And has no credit to take.
Obviously we all know that was the imbecile John Nash. Terrible. If KP was running that draft Chris Paul would be wearing a Blazers jersey right now. It's been rumored KP was fighting big time for the Blazers to draft Paul but was overruled.
Wasn't that Nash? I am pretty sure Nash was all up inside Telfair. I remember stories of KP screaming to draft Paul, but Nash would have none of it.
