Yes. You could say the worst thing that ever happened to the Blazers was when the Seahawks became serious contenders. The turn around by the Seahawks made the perpetual wheel spinning of the Blazers even more obvious and frustrating. On some level, he gave up on the NBA - which was why he tolerated a half-assed used car salesman like Olshey for all those years.
I don't think so. My thought is Jody is way more tied to the Seattle area than she is the Portland area so she has more interest in the Seahawks than the Blazers. I suppose that was my point to begin with.
This post is utterly false. If he gave up on the NBA he wouldnt be in the war room at draft time, or going to games, or giving the team a pep talk here and there, or committing millions to Turner, Meyers, Harkless, etc. Paul was a great owner, and he passed away at the worst time. He likely wouldnt have put up with our current state any longer.
Or the more likely reason is that his health had been deteriorating and he simply couldn't be as involved as he once was.
I understand the emotional reaction, but let's delve a little deeper for a moment. First, the NFL is historically more financially stable and profitable. On top of that you have to compare the sweet-heart stadium deal in Seattle with the headaches the Moda gave him. As a business man, favoring the Seahawks is just common sense. Second, the NFL has embraced parity. Any competently run team can miss the play-offs one season, and be in contention for the Super Bowl the next. How often do NFL teams talk about rebuilding programs needing 5 years or more the way NBA teams do? If you have 2 teams and only one gives you legit hope year after year, why would you favor the hopeless one? Particularly if you were in bad health. Finally, note I didn't say he stopped caring about the Blazers completely. I'm just saying that as he dealt with age and ill health it makes sense that he would prefer the team that gave him more pleasure and fewer headaches. OK, I lied, this is my final point. KP and Cho were widely reported as being in the bottom half of NBA GMs in terms of salary. Two years ago it was reported that Olshey was one of the top 5 GMs in salary. That doesn't quite fit with the notion that Allen was unhappy with Olshey. If you disagree, that's cool - but I don't think anything I have said qualifies as "false!"
He wasnt concerned about profits. Paul loved basketball. Paul was in good health until very recently. Paul wanted Stotts gone. He likely would've gotten rid of Olshey too.
You may be 100% right on points 1, 2, and 4.....but having lost my father to lymphoma, I call shenanigans on #3. Based on hard personal experience, I would bet the rent he knew for months (at least) what was coming. He put on a brave front and opted not to make it public - his right, of course - but he knew and he was suffering. Sorry, emotional issue for me.
I know a bit about cancer, and have met way too many people with that particular form of it. He'd probably been sick and in pain for a while
Where did you hear that? There might have been people who did not like him, but hardly to the point of desecrating the grave. More likely people would have gone to put flowers. Of course, if either he or his family wanted anonymity that is their call. Rest in peace.
I've often times wondered if it's the family's call or the celebrities themselves who their graves this way. John Wayne was buried in an unmarked grave for years. George C. Scott, Roy Orbison and Frank Zappa as well. Zappa always said he wanted to be forgotten after he died. And that's why he didn't have a grave stone. But I think he saw what happened to Jim Morrison and John Belushi's graves and planned accordingly.
He didn’t die from the cancer though, so it’s just conjecture as to how sick and how much pain he was in leading up to his death. It was complications associated with his treatments that killed him. He was on immunosuppressants, got an infection and developed septic shock. That happened very quickly and he may well have been relatively optimistic about his chances before the infection.
Exactly as that statement seems to be coming out of left field. If he wanted him gone, he would have likely been gone.
