Just field a team that can make the playoffs, or close. There's where the profits are made. True statement?
How many teams have traded control of their drafts for multiple years? Which teams do you think are guilty of this?
Nope. That is one thing that isn't true. They are trying to field the best team possible and they make more if they win a Championship without question. There is plenty of other things that are true that would shock you though.
I've been told that, particularly as it pertains to the smaller teams, ownership has found a sweet spot (balance between) in keeping fans somewhat satisfied, while also making money, when their team hovers somewhere between the 6th and 9 spots.
Well he just covered a revolving 8-16 teams every year so why would he need a "Source" ? Blanket extremely vague statements are real easy to confirm.
I'd say that what you're describing is the norm, since that's where the majority of teams end up each year whether intentional or not. No team wants to lose money for long, so keeping the fans interested by at least being somewhat competitive has to be a minimum goal. The only franchise owner that I can recall who had a model based on continually losing was Donald Sterling. He perfected the art of finishing in the bottom end of the league every year, drafting great prospects that would keep the fans coming to see the new talent, keeping the payroll low with lots of players on minimum contracts, and making a profit every year. I think most teams try to compete to get the extra income from the playoffs. Here's a link to Forbes information on the worth of the Blazers. You can page forward and back to compare with other NBA franchises. https://www.forbes.com/teams/portland-trail-blazers/?sh=17134f5827d7
I can't speak for any other team in the league, but I can describe what I've witnessed as a pattern of behavior for the Blazers over the last 15-20 years, particularly after the reign of GM Bob Whitsett. "Trader Bob", as he was called, inherited a solid but aging team when he arrived in the late 90s, stuck in the tidewaters of a failed championship run 5 years before. Being the architect of the mid-90s Payton-Kemp Sonic Teams that challenged for the championship (and a former NBA Exec of the Year), he was given instructions by Paul Allen to reform the team into a title contender. He was not shy about taking risks, bringing in Damon Stoudamire and Rasheed Wallace, and ultimately Scottie Pippen, which immediately blossomed into WCF runs in 1999 and 2000. Emboldened by his sudden success. he swung for the fences.... and struck out. Bringing in Dale Davis, as well as Sonic retreds Shawn Kemp, Detlef Schrempf, and Reuben Patterson, blew the fragile chemistry of the team to bits, and resulted in several years of sub-.500 basketball and a strained relationship with the fanbase causing threats of selling/moving the team and defaulting on the ownership of the Rose Garden arena. New Management was able to slowly build the team back to respectability through the draft, but never making the drastic trades that would be necessary to raise the team from "solid playoff team" to "Championship Contender", which could also backfire and cause the team to regress. It's my opinion that after the experiences of the mid-2000s where the team saw attendance and revenues shrink to the point of endangering the economic stability of the franchise, the team will never again take those kinds of risks. They will be content with being competitive, and catching lightning in a bottle occasionally as they did in 2019, but remained on a steady, "don't rock the boat" trajectory that would continue to see the team make the playoffs, occasionally secure first round home court advantage, but never join the elite teams that compete for titles year after year. A prime example was earlier this year when an MVP-type player became available in James Harden and the team made no realistic attempt to bring him on board, which would have cost the team core pieces of its existing squad, and would have created an unknown outcome. The team wants no part of "unknown outcomes", as they are deathly afraid of losing what they have, not just from a player personnel standpoint but also a profitability one.
While incredibly simplistic, I would agree with this statement. I assume most owners operate with a business mindset, not a fan mindset. There are exceptions, but in general an owner should want to be profitable to have to ability to make the right moves with the opportunity presents itself.
