ABM organized a trip to the Blazers Practice Facility and a meet and greet with Kevin Pritchard today. It was AWESOME! KP spent over an hour talking with us. UNBEAVABLE!
I'm sure we'll get some pics up relatively soon. Blazer Wookie was there. There was probably 20 people. Unfortunately I don't know the handles of everyone.
KP was absolutely terrific...as was Nate. Nate wasn't even scheduled to meet with us, but he came out to the media room and spent at least 15 minutes with us answering questions. You can tell that they're both very excited about the season. KP came out to Hayden's Grill and spent probably an hour and a half talking with us. He thinks LMA is the best player in training camp right now. He says Bayless is looking like he will force the team to give him serious minutes this season as well.
I remember when we had a Blazers List Talk event (I think that was the community) where we got to meet with Bob Whitsitt. Now, I was and remain a big Whitsitt fan, but he was an asshole. Sounds like ABM set it up and it was UNBEAVABLE! Ed O.
The thing I found interesting was KP's use of quantitative analysis in evaluating draft prospects. He and Sam Presti developed a computerized system for doing this at San Antonio and he said that the system they use with Portland is far superior to what they currently have at San Antonio. This is because of the resources that Paul Allen makes available for building these computerized models.
My thanks to ABM as well. Definitely one of the highlights of my time as a Blazers fan. Nate and KP were both very engaging and open with us. One teaser sure to make Darizzle wet his drawers KP said that he's asked Nate and the rest of his staff to consider seriously whether Kobe would fit in with the longterm direction and culture of the team.
My take on that was that it would be unlikely that Kobe would fit into our culture. It might give us one championship, but I think KP and Nate are more interested in winning multiple championships.
Damn. I live in Tualatin. I would have loved to have been at Hayden's. Send me a PM next time, I don't bite (too hard)! EDIT - My man eblazer was there? Cold, man, cold.
Oh yeah! The BlazersEdge guy was there. KP said that he has posted on BE. He mentioned that he does read and occasionally post in the message boards.
I hope to have pics up by morning. Man, that was great. Nate was smiling and laughing, and he volunteered to talk to us for fifteen minutes once he heard we were there. I got to see Casey Holdahl before he took off, I was tempted to swipe the media guide he left on his desk, lol... ABM and I are in the bar at the Crowne Plaza by the Rose Garden, watching the Beaver game. Dang turnovers!
