I find the logic somewhat lacking. For example: Why? What difference does it make? You are still fired, for the same reasons. And what does it say that the Blazers back up the 'leak', saying that the decision was made an hour before the draft? barfo
I'd call that somewhat unprofessional (on both sides) ... you're right though, I'm not sure it really says anything about character.
Good read. I think with time, there will be some understanding from PA's side on this whole debacle as more of the story gets out. But right now.. Allen would probably not want to show his face in Portland.
The media angle was another piece of the interview that was interesting. Basically, he implies LeGarrie made nice with Quick and fed him a lot of information. Quick, naturally, then writes his stories with a bias toward Pritchard and his views. Helps explain why the perception is the 06 draft was largely Pritchard's doing. Patterson then says his agent doesnt work the media that way, and as a consequence, his true involvement and impact was never accurately portrayed. I agree, he did sound somewhat happily detached from the team. Didnt come across bitter or harboring anything personal. Basically said his piece and we can choose to take it or leave it. Kind of refreshing actually.
Hmm. He does seem to make some judgements, rather than just offering a different perspective I think. "KP had his chance to make this team right." What does that mean? What's wrong with them that needs to be righted? They have potential championship caliber pillars and he actively tried tweaking with the supporting cast. They are improving year to year(albeit not as fast as I and many would like) and are a dangerous respectable team. None of this could be said at the start of his shift. Just seems a thoughtless statement in my opinion. In hindsight, he probably didnt capitalize the most of his assets...but the thing is, he created those assets. Those would-be blown opportunities were opportunities to begin with largely to his doing. I'm not super hopeful the next guy will be able to manufacture so many options for himself...to blow or capitalize on. Also, I think when he was hired, he was the youngest GM in the league. Like a young coach or player, Allen had to have known Pritchard was going to slip every now and then while maturing in the role. He was likely to continuing improving and become better at trading, etc. Agree with his last paragraph though. This is a bad time of the year to be without a GM.
Yes. JQuick suggested tonight that a new guy will be in place by July 4. I hope so. It would be bad news if the search stretches out for several weeks. barfo
Listening to the show for the first time in a while. CP is ridiculous. "Babbitt is a slow white guys who can't shoot". I hate radio guys who says shit they don't really believe just to get a rise out of people. Other than that the show is pretty good this morning.
I agree. I always thought Patterson was a decent fellow, but was sked to do some specific thangs by Vulcan, did them, and then was abandonded. Vulcan doesn't like people that can be a threat to their power.
Patterson was hired to be a hatchet man. It's typical during a corporate restructuring to hire a CEO who makes all the tough decisions and is paid to be hated. When the turnaround is complete, you hire someone who can re-grow the company. Patterson and Nash were the guys hired to burn it all down.
Well, they did a horrible job of that. During their tenure, they... -tore apart a very talented team that simply needed tweaking. -screwed up the 04 and 05 drafts pretty horribly -signed on players like miles, randolph, and ratliff to unnecessarily long and exorbitant contracts. -broke the team's nba record consecutive playoff streak. -did not clean up the team's "jailblazer" image. -lost 55 and 61 games in two consecutive seasons. -aided in prolonging the rebuilding period. -distanced the fans even further from the team (take a look at the attendance #s from 02-06).
CIP: Why would you keep a guy on board when you already fired him? Patterson: Now you know what I had to deal with. Patterson: Any time you don't have an owner who doesn't live in the city, it makes it tough. You want to have an owner a part of the community and understands the city. All the people surrounding PA are "tone-deaf" to PR. With poor business people up top, it's hard for the people within the organization to perform. There's been a 20-year long relationship between LeGarrie and Bert Kolde... Kolde has long lusted for the job to run one of Allen's sports teams and doesn't understand why he's never gotten a chance and he's tried. LeGarrie, KP and Penn's agent, overplayed his card in trying to get Penn and KP new contracts.
Patterson: - Patterson hired KP, and is a big fan of KP's. The Blazers could've hired one of Patterson or Nash's friends instead of KP, but didn't and Patterson wanted someone from the outside. - His first draft with the team, they just had five names on the white board and that was how the draft was conducted in their war room. He wanted to change that, and that's why he hired KP and his new-age approach/thinking. - The franchise will get somebody and they'll survive. - 2006 Draft, he was the GM and made the trades with Ainge and McHale, and not KP's. The deals for the 2nd-round picks were made by John Gabriel. - KP was the one that made the Sergio deal during the draft. - Some scouts preferred Morrison, some scouts wanted Foye.. and PA was leaning toward Morrison during the pre-draft workouts. - PA wavered on the trade with Minnesota for Roy, and it came down to how much money the Blazers were going to pay Minnesota. It got down to $1 million, and there was a minute left on the clock and Patterson told PA to do it but he was hesitating. With 45 seconds left, Patterson basically told PA you have to do it or else you're not going to get the deal done, and he did.
Sounds like Patterson made that happen... without roy and lma deals what does KP really have??? Batum??? Camby??? thats about it Doesnt look that great now...
KP has explicitly said: "When I first saw Roy at the predraft workouts, I knew he was ours." Patterson might have made the call to the other teams, but the scouting and personnel decisions were made by KP.
I believe it was KP and his scouts that identified him as the talent they wanted, but give credit where it is due, Patterson pulled the levers to get the deal done (as well as the Tyrus for LMA swap).
