How would you sell this team to the fans to purchase/re-new season tickets? I know two season ticket holders who have no plans to re-new their seats after this season. Brandon Roy is no longer an All-Star caliber player who's health is only going to get worse. Greg Oden is physically deteriorating before our eyes. I can go on and on about each player on this roster but the outlook of this roster in the future and the present is bleak. Do you take a page out of Kevin Pritchard and Larry Miller's book and talk about riding this storm out and 'don't give up', or do you go into another direction?
If I'm the sales staff I hope to god this team sucks badly enough to get a top five lottery pick and have the team draft Terrence Jones if he's available then you can play up the local angle, but really it could get very, very ugly from a sales and marketing standpoint ... there could be a whole lot of sucking for a couple of years before they'll be able to turn this thing. A year long lockout wouldn't be the absolute worst thing in the world -- it feels more and more like a chance for this team and its fanbase to "heal" (figuratively and literally).
I sent an e-mail last night wondering what my options were for canceling my tickets, expressing my I got of the phone with my rep this morning; she called me at 9:14am this morning, and we talked. She let me know their policy (they stop charging, you stop paying, you keep the tickets you've paid for - I've currently paid for 27 of the 44 tickets), and talked about how it is tough but that it's reasonable to give the front office and the players time to react first. If I don't like where it's going after that, sure; call back and cancel the tickets. But don't get mad, cancel, and not let the team react to the issue. That was her message, and it is (I'm sure) the company message as well: yes, you're mad, but don't give up until we've had a chance to try and make it right.
Come see a team anchored by former All-Star Brandon Roy and former number one pick Greg Oden!* Thrill to the exploits of former top European prospect Rudy Fernandez! *All players listed may not suit up. Void where prohibited.
Mediocrity is a tough sell. If the team really goes into the tank, I'd sell it like the Spurs the year that they got Duncan: a blip on the radar relative to the glory that the future holds! Ed O.
I'm willing to give this team some time, but Cho really has his work cut out for him in the next few months if he's at all serious about retooling, versus a tear-down and rebuild. Roy and Aldridge look like millstones at this point (especially Roy), but I have a feeling there could be some contending type teams in need of some veteran big man help that might want Camby or Joel, Miller might be attractive to somebody, but I doubt he gets moved until draft day (if at all) and really his best bet may be to try and move Batum who probably has the best combination of upside and contract on the team. There are options, but they're not unlimited and nothing seems obvious.
Given the contracts other PF's have, I'm not worried about LMA as a piece of our puzzle for the next 5 years. Everyone around him? Total confusion. Do we/can we re-sign Batum? What about Oden? Can you/will you trade Joel, Camby, Andre, Roy? It's a firesale, but our uninjured players are 33+. Damaged young players and creeky old guys. Oh god...
I'd act as if nothing has changed. And if they complain about the team, I'd just call them bandwagon fans and hang up.
I hope to god we don't see any ads about our effort. I don't care though, I'm a fucking closer, I can sell season tix to Ron Tonkin in a bad year. holla.
Plateau With Us! Come and be amazed by Blaze the Trail Cat and his low flying antics! Play "Guess the Turnover" with Armon Johnson you might win the game ball he dribbled off his foot out of bounds. Come see a special reunion night for the Blazer Jam Squad. hasoos and I thought of a contest called Make Your Marks for a Day where you enter a drawing. If you win, you get to take Sean Marks place in the rotation for a game. Instead of a montage of only highlight plays from each player, at the beginning of the game show "highlights" from the 2005-2006 season with a player from that season morphing into a current player on the team. This would serve to remind people that even as bad as the team is today they would kick the living shit out of the team they fielded in 2005. For example, show Victor Khryapa miss a dunk then morph into Batum actually scoring. Or have Juan-On-Five Dixon morph into B-Roy. Their slogan could be "We've Come Alive Since 2005". Remembering that team is the only thing keeping me sane these days.
