I'm a fan of a stable Blazer organization. This hodgepodge of rumors and hearsay seems stupid to me, regardless of what I wish for the franchise.
The organization is a joke, indicative of a group of sycophants and "yes" men who work for a guy that lucked into a vast fortune. Allen has no business sense, and would be no better off than any of us if he had never met Bill Gates.
Well, that's a bit of a stretch. Early '90s PA probably saved the Blazers by paying for the RG out of his pocket. Since then, I agree, in terms of his impact on the Blazers. He'd be an unemployed IT guy without Bill Gates, fwiw.
What business has Paul run that's been successful since Microsoft? I'm pretty sure he's had a long string of failures over the past few decades. Bill was the driving force behind that company, not Paul. He just happened to be in the right place, at the right time.
He's lost a lot of money over the years. http://www.blazersedge.com/2009/2/24/768932/paul-allen-s-money-trouble
I'm just glad to finally know what took place back then when they decided to draft Webster; to know who was responsible (and I hold them all responsible for not insisting it was a bad idea). Now, maybe in another 5 years we'll know why KP got fired.
Lack of business sense does not mean any one could have walked in and Bill Gates would have dragged them to being a billionaire. Without Paul Allen, there is no microsoft.
They bought the program from a guy from Phoenix and sold it to IBM. it was all branding at the time. Apple was killing MSFT at the time. The 800# gorilla IBM made Bill and Paul a very rich man. Bill Gates was a genius. Look what happened to MSFT since he stepped down. You can buy the stock for the same price as 2000. Figure in inflation and it is 40-50% discount.Idea Man my ass. The guy is an egocentric ahole. He wanted Williams or who ever... He owned the team since 88. He went to the finals with the previous owners players. What has he done. Hired a crappy college coach (PJ), don't let me start about Moe Cheek,horrible GM John Nash, Fired good GM's with basketball IQ (KP,RC). Spent an ungodly amount on crappy players. Come on how many chances are we giving this guy. He is an idiot an liar. He owns 3 professional teams and one of the largest cable company at the time and could not start a sport network. Moron. Paul Allen should sell the blazers. He can not get out of his own way.Don't worry the next owner will be rich..poor guys don't buy pro franchises any more.
He had it to lose. You bet differently if you can afford to lose. He was swinging for the fences, not trying to bunt his way on base. barfo
Thank you! Get this man a drink! I had heard the story about Microsoft once a long time ago and I was a little fuzzy on the details. I knew that Bill had purchased the technology from someone else and re-branded it. Paul was just there for the ride. Bill was the driving force behind things.
You could say the same thing about Bill Gates. He just happened to be in the right place at the right time. And indeed he did. You can say that about pretty much anyone successful. Sure, there's an element of luck. But to think it is all luck is just wishful thinking ("yeah, maybe I'll be a billionaire tomorrow, if things go my way"). barfo
I'm less interested in Allen's business dealings as I am in why he trusts Kolde so much in basketball matters. I could see if it was big-picture stuff ("I'm thinking that I'll be more like Cuban and less like Sterling...whaddaya think, Bert?" or "should I build the stadium with my own money or leverage the city?") but in terms of "should I trade Batum for Vince Carter and 2 firsts?" I don't see why he should be anywhere near that decision.
He's a trusted friend. It seems reasonable for Paul to bounce ideas off of him. If Bert is making the decisions, then of course that's not great - but I don't think there is any real evidence he is making decisions. Even Patterson, who clearly has a beef with him, says he doesn't make the decisions. barfo
The next owner of the blazers is Larry Miller so for everyone who wants PA out do you really want Larry Miller to become the owner? I think a lot of this is overreacting by fans and media and since we are the only real sports team in Portlands market, a market with Quick and the shit stirrer Canzano who seems like he wants to be the next Skip Bayless, so no matter what happens the Blazers and their owner are going to take a lot of heat. The firing of so many GM's isn't a good sign but its not the writing on the bottom of the paper saying "This Team is Doomed". Who needs a high profile GM as long as were still able to do trades and field calls.
Who said we need a high profile GM? Rich Cho was about as low profile as you can get. What we need is stability. Other than Danny Ainge falling ass backwards into KG (with a HUGE assist from his old friend and Celtics teammate Kevin McHale), champions aren't made overnight. It took the Dallas Mavericks 13 years to build a champion. After the Lakers 3-peat and subsequent loss of Shaq, it took them seven years to get their next title. You need stability and a long term plan. Changing GMs after 10 months is not a recipe for building a contender in the NBA. Look at the most successful teams in the league; the teams that win and regularly contend for championships, and the one thing they have in common is a long tenured GM. Dallas - Donn Nelson GM for 9 years Lakers - Mitch Kupchak GM for 11 years Boston - Danny Ainge GM for 8 years Spurs - R.C Buford GM for 9 years Miami - Randy Pfund/Pat Riley GMs for combined 15 years Detroit - Joe Dumars - GM for 11 years Jerry Krause was GM of the Bulls for 18 years, including six years before they won their first title, and the eight year stretch where they won six titles in 8 years. It takes time and a steady, stable long term plan to build an NBA champion. Was Rich Cho the right guy to build and execute such a plan? We'll never know. Was Kevin Pritchard, we'll never know. Was John Nash, definitely not. Paul seems to be in desperation mode to win a title and win it now, but changing GMs frequently is not helping. Recent history has shown that teams that win championships have stable front offices with long tenured GMs. It's hard to build a long term plan and execute it when the person responsible for that plan only holds that position for 1 - 2 years. That person doesn't need to be high profile (I don't consider R.C. Bruford, or even Mitch Kupchak high profile). They just need to be competent and allowed to do their job. Every time Paul fires a GM, the plan to get to a championship gets reset. There is no coherent long term vision and no chance to execute a long term plan. NBA champions are not built overnight - at least not in a small market that has trouble luring top free agents. BNM
Apple was more successful than Microsoft at the time, but they weren't competitors until MS got into operating systems. As for 'buying the program from a guy', yes, they bought DOS. But Bill and Paul were already millionaires in their mid-20s at that point. barfo
