KP is under contract for one more season. Warkentien is officially unemployed in 8 days. Not quite the same situation.
Warkentein seems like a douchey, slimy, snaky guy who carries personal grudges and has no problem playing Yes Man to an owner. He will fit right in with the Vulcans.
It would be funny if Presti or even Pop/Buford end up hiring Prichard as a consultant until Pritchard lands a new GM gig.
Warkentien inherited a 49-win team in the summer of '05 and has elevated them to the incredible level of 53 wins and a first-round exit after his fifth full season as GM.
I forgot to mention that 4 out of the 5 play-off appearances for the Carmelo Anthony/George Karl/Mark Warkentien powerhouse have ended in first-round playoff flame-outs.
Reality check: this is no longer a debate about KP vs Warkentein. This is a debate about Warkentein vs all the has-beens and never-will-be's that might get the job instead. Given the circumstances, Warkentein might well be the only competent candidate! Someone once said that being critical of John Nash was like kicking a Bassett Hound. That doesn't change the fact that that hound was rabid and needed to be put down. I don't care if Warkentein is a vicious, untrustworthy pit-bull.....just as long as he doesn't turn the team back into a 20 win monstrosity.
I'm stating where his team is after his fifth season. He inherited a 49 win team and "led" them to 43 wins the next season, along with another first-round exit. After Year 5, 53 wins and yet another first-round exit. What good is WCF two years ago? Who cares. His team regressed this season, and Billups is starting to look old. No wonder Denver doesn't want him back.
Ah, but when you apply that logic to the Blazers, people freak out. Only the Blazers have injuries, only the Blazers were without their head coach (oh wait, no they weren't, that was Denver), etc, etc.
What argument? Is regressing from a WCF team to a first-round loser yet again is a plus for Warkentien? Seems fairly obvious that after five years, Warkentien has crafted a team that won 4 more games than the one he took over (with Anthony already on the roster), and got the same first-round result. Why doesn't Denver want to keep him?
That logic doesn't apply to the Blazers. Pritchard didn't inherit a play-off team, and then lead them to the exact same playoff result for the next 3 years. Whoopie. A Western Conference Finals appearance with a one of the best players, and best coaches, in the game. Wark's a fucking genius!
As I said above, this is no longer about KP vs Warkentein. Somebody will be the new GM of the Blazers - and if Wark is the best candidate (a very real possibility), I want it to be him. Call me cold - but that is how I feel.
Wark's track record is taking first round losers with an All-Star player and ... "building" them into a first-round loser with an All-Star after five years. Nothing in his record as Denver GM tells me that he is the GM that will take a first-round loser to a title. I do agree that it is time to look past Pritchard, though, since his firing is a foregone conclusion.
