Interesting bit over at Hoopsworld touches KP situation

Obviously, at this point, there is some bigtime friction going on between Allen/Vulcan and Pritchard. People can pooh-pooh Pritchard not sitting next to Allen all they want, but a public appearance would send a very strong message, and in a league about marketing, it's not like the Blazers would miss out on sending a message. Last night, Steve Ballmer of all people was sitting in what used to be Pritchard's seat.

Just like our little message board here, the Blazer organization is one big soap opera that included many zany characters.

 

An interesting dichotomy of talented groups breaking up.

With Van Halen, we had all sizzle and no substance David Lee Roth decide that he needed to express himself musically, and the Van Halen brothers wanting to stay with their own style of music. The end result? Yankee Rose and California Girls by Roth, which essentially ended his career as a serious rock musician, and Sammy Hagar for the remaining three in VH, which essentially ended their careers as non-sellouts (Right Now Pepsi ad comes to mind).

With G n' R, we had all sizzle and all substance Axl Rose decide he wanted to become some sort of rock composer, a modern day Jim Steinman, if you will, while the remaining members wanted to stay more rock in their roots. The first result of this creative struggle were rock ballads like November Rain. As a serious Guns fan, I shudder to think what Sweet Child O' Mine would have sounded like had it been written and recorded after Axl's power grab, which by coincidence coincided with his banging of supermodel Stephanie Seymour, who he had inserted into GnR videos. Well, enough was enough, and we know what happened next. The supernova known as Axl Rose imploded, finally reappearing years later on an MTV stage with Buckethead and an odd collection of musical misfits; the remaining members of G n' R did various projects (with Velvet Relvolver being by FAR the best, but again destroyed by an egotistical frontman), and likely living off of G n' R royalites to this day.

So, as it pertains to the Blazers, the question is this. Is Paul Allen the diva front man who wants to impose his will on an organization, or is Kevin Pritchard the person out of step in the creative process of the Blazers? If it's Allen, then this cycle is never going to end, but if it's Pritchard, it possibly will end with the next GM.

Or, will this be like Cream breaking up, where the real talent goes on to greatness, and the others go back to mediocrity? Time will tell, won't it.

 

You know, if there is any substance to these accusations, then I totally don't blame PA, and it would make sense why Penn was immediately fired and why KP will certainly be fired. I have no doubt in my mind KP is dead man walking. None. And truly, the only logical reason why this has all gone down are the reasons I quoted above. It's the only thing I've heard so far that makes sense of the situation.

 

That's totally ridiculous. Who got us Howard, Miller, and Camby, for God's sake! Those three, along with our young guys, can definitely get us a championship, provided we can stay healthy.

 

Paul misses the Jail Blazers days and hopes Warkentein can replicate those inglorious days once again? There is no god damn way Warkentein is in KP's class as a GM/Chemistry Major.

 

Even when he wasn't here when it happened?

 

If Paul Allen is really that impatient and dissatified in KP because he doesn't make enough random big-time trades, then he's dumber than the dumbest poster on this board. KP has done an amazing job redefining and growing the Blazers, and that includes the probably 100 deals KP DIDN'T make that he could have.

 

Bob Whitsitt.

 

Warkentin was the one who spread the rumors that got Penn fired.

 

We assume that Paul Allen doesn't mind his money being wasted. Then we can't figure out why he has turned against Pritchard.

Allen doesn't care about paying $3M for a draft pick that never plays here. He likes being the only team to stockpile several recent picks in Europe for many years, while their required salaries zoom upward. He likes maxing out Roy and almost maxing Aldridge without hard negotiations. He likes paying money to enable trades of picks, then picking lemons like Bayless.

At the start of this season, Pritchard wanted his contract renegotiated almost 2 years before it will be necessary. He has the easiest GM job in the league--he's really the Chief Scout and Media Liaison, while Larry Miller does the business side. I can't figure out why Allen is turning against Pritchard, can you?

 

Neither of them have won anything and Portland will have a better record than those wanksters in Denver next season.