Shock, but no loss for words: fans react to Pritchard firing

In the grand scheme of things, Kevin Pritchard was simply an NBA GM. There are 29 others in the NBA, and in the end, it's only a management position. If the guy puts a talented roster on the floor, then everything's gravy and the fans are focused on the on-court product. If the team is constantly awful, then the guy gets fired.

Kevin Pritchard helped rebuild the Blazers into a solid team on the rise during his tenure as GM, but the way he did it - through a unique sense of openness - endeared him to the fans unlike any other NBA General Manager.

At a rally in downtown Portland after the Blazers selected Greg Oden first overall in the 2007 NBA draft, fans responded to their GM with chants of "Pritchard! Pritchard! Pritchard!" It was a moment you would never expect for a member of the front office, but one that was deserving after the moves that Pritchard has made and the way he had done his job.

But three years later, on Draft Day 2010, Pritchard was given the axe; fired by owner Paul Allen for reasons that are still unclear.

And Blazer fans are, for lack of a better term, pissed.

I've never seen a fan base so taken aback by the dismissal of a front office executive. Tonight, friends of mine have been sharing their thoughts on Pritchard's firing, through Facebook, Twitter, text messages, and more.

The overriding feeling: why did this happen?

-Geoff Ziemer, the author of The 300 Level and my former mentor with the Franklin Post, responded to Facebook with the most disgusted (if slightly hyperbolic) reaction: "THE SKY IS FALLING. KP FIRED. You make me sick Mr. Allen. You better share with the media WHY this came about."

The last part I agree with wholeheartedly. The media cannot let this pass by without doing their job and continuing to ask the right questions.

-Anthony Mcfeters asked what we all have been asking throughout the duration of this mess: "I am so confused.... why is Pritchard fired?! He has without a doubt saved this franchise from a management standpoint."

-My brother Justin Sandberg had to come home from work to this ugly situation: "Leave it to Paul Allen to fuck things up for everyone." His night was probably completely ruined, especially with the trade of Martell Webster.

-Mark Nelson provided the only laugh tonight through this exchange on Twitter:
Me: The Portland media should camp outside Paul Allen's house until we get answers.
Mark Nelson: He'll sick the robotic Richard Simmons on them.

-Kevin O'Brien from Remember '51 gave me perspective on what other fans around the country probably think of the Blazer organization: "The fact that you guys fired a top-10 GM (perhaps even a top-5) shows how big of an ego Paul Allen has." Time will tell just how big of a negative impact this will have.

-Faris Tanyos predicted that Pritchard would be fired after the draft, but never imagined it would happen the day of): "Paul Allen is insane. I'm in complete shock."

-And Bill Christensen could only feel sympathy for the man who lost his job for reasons seemingly unknown: "I'm sorry Kevin Pritchard. I as a devout Blazer fan, I am extremely sad to see you go. THANK YOU for getting this franchise back on its feet and I am sorry that 'someone' lost their minds and let you go."


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Pritchard is gone, and judging on how fans in Portland respected him, I'm sure they won't stop talking about this for a very long time.

Meet Your Longshot NBA Draft Prospect: Matt Bouldin

Matt Bouldin was the unlikely superstar during the latter half of his career at Gonzaga.

During his time as a Zag, there were teammates who scored more, who were faster, who were more emotional, who were better ballhandlers, passers and shooters. Bouldin was not spectacular in any one area. But he was solid in every area.

And as it turned out, that made him the perfect type of player for Mark Few's system of college basketball. When Bouldin's senior season rolled around in 2009 and the more one-dimensional stars had left the Kennel, it allowed Bouldin to take the reigns and utilize his multiple talents as the star.

In the world of Gonzaga basketball, Bouldin was just about as perfect of a player as you could ask for.

Unfortunately, that may end up being his undoing in the NBA Draft.

Bouldin may end up becoming a victim of the same system that made him look great in college. Playing in the WCC, you need a player who has good court awareness, who can control the tempo of the game with the ball in his hands. Teams in the conference aren't overly athletic, but they make up for it with scrapiness and good decision-making. A player like Bouldin can see the openings in systems like that and use his skills to take advantage. He never had to overpower, outshoot, or run past a team on his own; only wait for the openings and operate with a surgeon's precision.

But the NBA is about raw athleticism, which makes up for any lapses and closes those openings quickly. Someone like Steve Nash can take advantage of situations because he is an excellent passer with incredible court vision. Someone like Brandon Roy isn't overly athletic, but he can control the tempo of a game simply because he is a great scorer.

Believe it or not, in the NBA, having one or two great skills can be more effective than having 3 or 4 good skills.

Bouldin is hoping to be the exception to that rule.

For more perspective on the Gonzaga guard's outlook, I've turned to former Gonzaga Bulletin colleague Ben Pearson, who now writes a blog called The Left Coast Bias:

The NBA Draft is all about raw players with potential rather than proven players with experience. In other words, Matt Bouldin gets the short end of the stick at a critical time in his career. After a successful four-year career at Gonzaga, there is a very good chance Bouldin will not hear his name called on June 24th.

There is not a college coach in the country that wouldn’t have wanted Mr. Bouldin on his team. He has a high basketball IQ, good work ethic, and is an unselfish player. He took the traditional path by staying in college all four years with his role increasing each year. He answered by raising his scoring average each season, but that’s not always enough in the eyes on NBA GMs.

Bouldin is an all-around player, but in a way that is his problem. He is skilled in so many areas, but he doesn’t do any one thing great. There are many players who exploit their one superior skill and end up having lengthy NBA careers because of it. Bouldin will need to carve out his niche to last.

Bouldin’s biggest asset to a NBA team would be his vision. He has the size to see over most point guards and has a great feel for the game, always knowing where his teammates are on the floor. Bouldin would play the point in the NBA, a position he never played at GU, but I don’t think the transition would be very difficult for him. He has always possessed the ball handling and passing skills of a point guard, but with Jeremy Pargo playing alongside him for three years, it never made sense to have the offense run through him.

There are people out there who claim that Bouldin can’t play against athletic teams. I was skeptical myself as well. I remember the Duke game in December in which he had more turnovers (5) than points (4) and I can’t forget that he ended his college career going 3-13 against Syracuse. I went back and did some research comparing his performance against BCS schools to how he did against small conference schools.

In 40 career games against BCS schools:
12.38 points, 43 FG %, 4.42 Rebounds, 3.25 assists 2.55 TOs

In 93 career games against non-BCS schools:
12.77 points, 48 FG %, 3.86 rebounds, 3.38 assists, 1.92 TOs

Those differences aren’t that alarming, but a five percent dip in field goal percentage is somewhat significant given the amount of games. Also his assist-turnover ratio is discouraging, especially since he would be handling the ball even more as a point in the NBA.

What doesn’t show up on the stat sheet is his defensive performance against these BCS schools. While Bouldin has some speed off the dribble, his lack of agility and lateral quickness is what will probably end up keeping him out of the draft. With Gonzaga match-up zone, Bouldin’s sub par one-on-one defense never was really exploited. But could you imagine Bouldin trying to stay in front of Derrick Rose or Rajon Rondo?

I think Bouldin could be a solid backup point guard in the right system. For example, I think he would be a great fit in Phil Jackson’s triangle offense (Jordan Farmar is a free agent). That being said, there are too many teams that would not have room on their roster for a player like Bouldin. His lack of athleticism, paired with the fact that he has never exclusively played the point, don’t bode well for him.

My thanks to Ben for helping me out. Go check out The Left Coast Bias, where Ben is doing some NBA Draft Previews of his own.

For Bouldin, it may have been the system at Gonzaga making him look like a superstar, but that's what you want for your team and star player - a perfect fit. While on the surface, Bouldin may not look like the ideal NBA player, under the right coach and the right system, he might just end up finding a place in the league after all.


For last season's installments of Meet Your Longshot NBA Draft Prospect, click here.

Paul Allen's fall from grace

Billionaire Paul Allen bought the Portland Trail Blazers in 1988, and it clicked right from the start.

The Blazers were a team with a strong nucleus of talent who had been on the verge of breaking out for several years. Clyde Drexler, Terry Porter and company were an exciting bunch coached by newcomer Rick Adelman, but they were a team that had been in the middle of the pack in the Western Conference. They just needed a little something extra to put them over the top.

Enter Mr. Allen.

He had the deep pockets to purchase the talent that the team needed. He had the business savvy to make the right moves on the basketball and management side of things. And he had the passion and the knowledge to continue to push the organization toward new heights beyond its tiny northwest borders.

And immediately it paid off. The Blazers went to the NBA finals twice, and were one of the NBA's elite teams.

And Paul Allen was there along for the wild ride. He was a billionaire software developer, but there he was in the front row, sporting a blazer sweatshirt and hat, cheering his head off for his team.

He was a fan who had the money and the means to make his favorite team better.

In other words, the most powerful man in the room.

Somewhere along the line, that turned out not to be the case anymore.

The Paul Allen that runs the Trail Blazers now is a different man than the Paul Allen from years past. He still has the money, still has the courtside seat, still has the power, but his actions - and inactions - have made him seem like a shadow of his former self. And what he has been apart of over the past few months is the bitter climax of his downfall from the man he once was.

His sudden and bizarre treatment of Kevin Pritchard over the past few months have surprised and confused many, while offering solid answers to no one. Pritchard may soon be out of a job, and no one really seems to know why.

I'm not even sure if Paul Allen does.

For the past few days, speculation has run rampant that Kevin Pritchard will be fired as Blazers GM - surprising, considering what he has done for the team over the past few years.

When he was hired on as GM, Pritchard spent the next several years molding the team and the organization into something the city could be proud of. Through a series of shrewd moves that GM's across the league still envy, Pritchard was able to piece together a solid young roster of budding stars, while jettisoning horrible contracts and players with bad character. Through it all, Pritchard did it with amazing charisma, and did it with a complete openness toward the fans and the media. Nothing was off limits. Pritchard wanted people to see how this organization was being turned around from the inside.

In the metamorphosis from Jail Blazers to the "Rip City Uprise," Pritchard was the one who built the organization's chrysalis.

Now Paul Allen wants to fire that man.

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This is not the same Paul Allen that Portland has known. Through the years, he has always tried to build up the organization.

Sometimes he would make moves that were unpopular, but they were always for the best. When the Clyde Drexler-led teams of the early 90s started to show their age and slip into mediocrity, Allen blew the team up, in order to get some slight return and begin anew.

He loved his team, and wanted what was best for them.

At some point, something changed. Maybe his multiple business ventures began to be too much for him. Maybe being the owner of a basketball team no longer excited him. Maybe the rise of Apple drove him insane. Regardless, he was a changed man.

In the mid-2000s, he began making moves like a man who didn't know his organization anymore.

He hired two men in Steve Patterson and John Nash to clean up the franchise. They only succeeded in driving it further into the ground.

He handed out monstrous contracts to Zach Randolph (a ball-hog only concerned with himself), Theo Ratliff (an aging center who blocked a few shots in a contract year) and Darius Miles (a lazy head-case who berated his own coach).

And after all this, he tried to convince the city of Portland that the Blazers were losing hundreds of millions of dollars and needed to be bailed out, or else.

His disinterest was costing him the team he used to love so much.

That's when whatever was left of Paul-Allen-The-Fan woke up inside. He saw the mess he had created with his own team, and vowed that this was not the way things should be done.

Paul Allen was going to save the Portland Trail Blazers. And everyone would realize just how much he cared, after all.

So he went about building the team back up again. He brought in his own company, Vulcan Sports & Entertainment, to help him run the organization, which would show that he was willing to be hands-on with the team. He personally bought the Rose Garden Arena in 2007 to prevent it from being sold and to protect the "long-term health of the franchise."

And after the debacle that Patterson and Nash caused, Allen promoted an upstart employee named Kevin Pritchard to General Manager. Pritchard had proven his talent at scouting and immediately built the Blazers into a young, promising team on the rise.

All was finally well with the Portland Trail Blazers. And as Paul Allen finally rested, he basked in how he had saved the franchise. The fans, he thought, would embrace him as a hero.

But as Paul Allen sat in his ivory tower reflecting on his own ingenuity, the fans found their own hero in Kevin Pritchard.

He was the golden boy, the face of the franchise. And why not? It was his moves that netted the Blazers Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge in the same draft. It was his call to draft Greg Oden with the number 1 pick. And it was his skill that landed the team veteran influence with Andre Miller and Marcus Camby. The fans idolized Pritchard, chanted his name at rallies, and left messages on his office voice mail (Author's note: Guilty). Pritchard sat courtside with his pink good-luck-tie, pumped his fist, and cheered his team on.

The way Paul Allen used to.

And as this was happening, Allen and his Vulcan flunkies sat and stewed. "After everything I've done, why should Pritchard get all the admiration?" Allen wondered.

The Vulcan yes-men, brought in to run the company, only compounded these thoughts of egocentrism and self-pity, showering Allen with false priase as he sat isolated in Seattle. "Boss, you're the best owner there is. That's why we work for you. If anyone deserves the credit, it's you." Like Wormtongue whispering into a powerless Theoden's ear, the Vulcans fed Allen's ego, telling him exactly what he wanted to hear.

Allen knew what he needed to do. He needed to take the reigns again. How dare Pritchard take credit for this? Allen was determined to do something.

He wanted to be the hero. Again.

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So shockingly, maddeningly, the rumors arose that Pritchard was on his way out. There were assistants fired. Rumors of massive egos and botched moves. Houses being sold. Headhunting organizations being hired.

Allen's jealousy is palpable. He doesn't just want Pritchard out, he wants to humiliate him. As the rumors continue to swirl, Allen will neither cut Pritchard lose, or give him his confidence.

And as he hangs his once-golden GM out to dry, Allen is putting his hands in his pockets and pretending his is innocent of the whole thing.

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We may never get a true answer from Allen as to why he is doing this.

Short of an Al Davis-like tirade about his fired employee, Allen looks like he wants to control the flow of information. Nothing will be allowed to come out that could be potentially damaging to Allen's image or ego.

But soon Pritchard will be gone, and everything he built along with it. And sometime in the future the team will begin another rebuilding effort aimed at convincing fans that the organization is committed to success.

And Allen will once again be at the top of it all, sitting at his desk with an empty smile, believing with all his heart that his actions have made him what he has always aspired to be.

A hero.