I feel sorry for fellow blazer fans. This franchise is a mess. It all starts with the owner. Good owners usually always win the titles in any sports. Just look at my home town Buffalo. The Bills will never win cause they got the worse owner in sports...Ralph Wilson. Yes they went to four straight super bowls because they had the best GM in the league. (Bill Polian) The same guy who built the Colts and the same guy Ralph Wilson fired. (have never been the same since.) Paul Allen is a nerd who has no clue how to a run a franchise. It's painfull to watch. The Blazers will always be able to get good GM's. Any Clownzano or Clown Jaynes that says they won't are just a joke. $Money Talks$ The Sabres just got the best owner in sports. They will win the cup within 3 years. If the Bllazers got any shot at going anywhere .... Paul Allen must go.
The NBA championship is pretty difficult to win. There have been some juggernauts in the last 20 years. The Spurs, the Lakers, the Celtics. I don't think a good owner is defined by the ability to win it all, particularly in a small market. If Paul Allen owned the Lakers and was starting from scratch, I am pretty sure he wins a championship before your Buffalo Sabres win a championship. I think the Maloofs have been great owners, as has Cuban. Neither owner has a championship, yet. Right now the Blazers managment looks like they don't know what they are doing, but winning causes amnesia and short memories. Don't dump the owner just yet. A changing of the guard probably means rebuilding.
I agree that money talks on getting a big time GM. But Paul Allen doesnt seem to be willing to spend the $$$ on a big name GM. But maybe thats cause he'd prefer someone to say yes to him?
When I think of a "good franchise" I think of stability. I hate them with a passion, but the Steelers are a good example of stability. Nate is the second longest tenured coach in the league...(I think) with is stable, but I don't think he is a good enough coach to lead us to a title, so that doesn't count. GM's changing, assistant coaches changing because upper management demands it. IMO, Paul Allen needs to find the right people and step the fuck back
The Lakers reload not rebuild. Paul Allen should have a title right now with the talent that he has had. He will never get one though... KARMA.....bad owner...just rich
That's because they are the Lakers -- a Hollywood destination, a marketing mecca. As talented as the Blazers have been, not all destinations are comparable. What owner could turn the Milwaukie Bucks into an NBA champion in todays world of the NBA?
The difference there is the Spurs lucked into Tim Duncan, the Blazers unlucked into Greg Oden. The Blazers have had their chances, no doubt about it, but the Spurs success doesn't mean that every other small market owner should quit. Paul Allen is still a good owner. He may be getting a little Al Davis as of late, but I'd still give him a chance to turn the ship around. By the way, you can't fire an owner. What's the alternative, quit watching the team?
Ya, I agree. The Spurs were an injury prone Tim Duncan away from being the Blazers. I think the only thing Portland messed up on was that there was knowledge out there that said Greg had messed up knees, and they chose to ignore it.
Paul Allan may be a huge non basketball knowing GEEK but he's got a HUGE EGO!!! This guy thinks he knows basketball and fires anyone who disagrees. This is a huge problem! I agree the #1 problem with Portland is the Owner! I'm shocked that no one is close enough to him to say.. "hey Paul? You've been losing for many years now, maybe take a two year window and let your GM do his job. Can't be worse than what's going on now! Can it?"
I am always amazed at how non-Laker fans don't come down on Buss and his lapdog Kupchak. What a thin roster. Year after year, they make Sonic-like moves to save money. Wally Walker, whom I routinely burned at the stake, was better than Kupchak. Both Los Angeles teams are hamstrung by their owners. Ours doesn't involve himself any more than any other owner.
yeah, if only Portland hadn't passed on Tim Duncan everything would be different. Good point as usual. with over 25 million people + two other franchise fanbases to galvanize within the state and international players from Europe and South America starring, the "small market" Spurs bring more eyeballs to TVs then the Blazers do (3.8M residents in Oregon). Even if they'd made all the right moves for their roster in the last few years, der Commissioner might still view the NW as basketball Siberia. Portland not only needs superior basketball talent to win, they need a transcendent star or two who can move boatloads of product nationally. STOMP
Kupchak was a Gasol trade away from being cemented as "cupcake" by a lot of Laker fans. Whether or not he had a lot to do with that trade is debatable, but the spin by the league was pretty crazy. I sometimes wonder how things would've been had the Blazers drafted Durant instead of Oden, but usually I don't care much. Barring Oden staying in Portland and becoming a decent pro, the chances of Portland landing a superstar (or even a star) seems to be nil.
it would be nice if he tried an experiment for a while. Obviously he trusted Whitsitt and that probably scarred him a bit. Not that Whitsitt didn't get the team to two conference finals, but he also spent an ass load of money to do it. And in the process, had only 2 good (playoff) years in the 8 or 9 years he ran the team. This franchise has had way too many 1st and outs. They've been out of the 1st round what, 8-9 times? And one of those was because of a bye.
Can't every team say the same thing? Who cares that 'with the right moves' a team can win a championship? Don't we already kind of know that? Ed O.
