I Can't Believe It! I Actually (In Fact, Wholeheartedly,) Agree With Canzano

Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

Register Log in

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 1 (members: 0, guests: 1)
ABM

ABM

Happily Married In Music City, USA!
Joined
Sep 12, 2008
Messages
31,865
Likes
5,785
Points
113
From: Canzano's Saturday Piece

In the shrewd business world, you sue your competition. Or, at the least, you threaten litigation. And if you want to embarrass your enemy, you do the barking via e-mail, which is why the latest Darius Miles business from the Trail Blazers has Paul Allen's fingerprints all over it.

The Blazers practiced Friday, and general manager Kevin Pritchard fielded questions about off-court distractions. It felt a lot like Groundhog Day for a franchise that has had too many off-court distractions in the past. But if you listen past Pritchard, and up Interstate 5, you can hear the chest-thumping and growls of the billionaire owner they call "Big Bear" around One Center Court.

This power play is all Allen.

Larry Miller, Blazers president, dashed off an e-mail to the rest of the NBA on Thursday, warning that the team would "safeguard its rights, including, without limitation, litigation," in the event that another NBA team signs Miles simply to negatively impact the Blazers' finances.

The move feels paranoid and heavy-handed. It makes the Blazers look petty and punitive and small-time. The team's actions are so woeful and in such poor form that you half expect former Blazers president Steve Patterson will emerge today, claim responsibility, then get about searching through computer hard drives to see if anyone inside the organization is still communicating with the exiled small forward.....................
Click to expand...

He also had a Follow-Up Blurb

If Memphis wasn't afraid of that email, who was?
Posted by John Canzano January 10, 2009 01:26AM

The Memphis Grizzlies were apparently not intimidated by the Trail Blazers email gaffe. They signed Darius Miles to a 10-day contract after the small forward cleared waivers on Friday, and what's done is done.

Miles, who was waived by the Grizzlies on Tuesday to avoid guaranteeing his contract for the rest of the season, is expected to be back in Memphis on Saturday.

On the bright side, the Blazers had a better week than a poor man in Colorado who reportedly boarded a ritzy Vail resort ski lift, fell through his faulty seat, got his skis caught in the mechanism, and dangled upside down, with his pants pulled down to his knees for 15 minutes.

Just not a lot better.

The Blazers need to leave their mess in the past.

Move on.

Move forward.

Get your eye back on the ball.

That especially includes you, Paul Allen.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
Easy for someone who won't be the one footing the millions in lux taxes to say.
 
julius said:
Easy for someone who won't be the one footing the millions in lux taxes to say.
Click to expand...

But this is the "bed" Allen made and now he has to lie in it; he is the one who fell in love with Darius and outbid himself to sign Darius to that long term 8/9 million a year contract.

It sucks, but the letter and its tone sucks more. I hate to admit it, but JC is pretty much dead on with this one -- this was not a good move.
 
The problem with Canzano's self-righteous little diatribe is that, as per usual, he's spouting off without knowing all of the facts. Exactly what do the Blazers know that led them to think the Miles signing was primarily to screw their cap space? Exactly what will it cost the Blazers in money and, more importantly, in opportunity costs to acquire a player or players and to keep ones that they have now? What have the Blazers' legal advisors told them is needed in the way of notice to other teams in order to make the best case should litigation be necessary? My bet is that there's more to this than we know and it bugs me that Canzano presumes that he knows everything necessary to judge the Blazers actions to date.
 
Nikolokolus said:
But this is the "bed" Allen made and now he has to lie in it; he is the one who fell in love with Darius and outbid himself to sign Darius to that long term 8/9 million a year contract.

It sucks, but the letter and its tone sucks more. I hate to admit it, but JC is pretty much dead on with this one -- this was not a good move.
Click to expand...


I just don't get why people keep bringing up Miles' contract as being the a key reason in all of this. I just don't think it is relevant. A 8/9 million dollar contract at the time for Miles was maybe a 1 million more than he deserved. Big deal. You don't see him freaking out over other larger contracts. If Miles would have been signed by a team this summer and had been playing this year, Paul Allen would not have given a rats ass right now. It would be over and done with.

The point that has irked him is the comments from other organizations about trying to screw th Blazers. True or not it makes no difference. It pissed him off because he felt like it was a slap in the face. So he fought back in only manner that he knew how. Which has backfired. But his contract is not the issue because he is paying it anyways. He can accept that Miles is playing, what he can't accept is his "partners" plotting to screw him. Again whether or not it is true I don't know, but he seems to have reason to believe it is true.
 
Last edited:
these top picks who don't pan out always seem to get nice second contracts. even kwame got one, despite literally zero production. darko was well compensated too, despite barely even playing. i did not like the miles contract at the time, but it was by no means egregious under nba standards.
 
I don't blame the grizzlies. The Clippers did the same thing with Fred Jones.
 
I wonder if it wouldn't have made a lot more sense for Larry Miller to have sent a message to the NBA instead, asking for an investigation, in the event Memphis used Darius Miles for little more than the minimum needed to put Miles' contract back on the Blazers. It seems like the Blazers' message rings a little like petulant whining from the wealthiest owner in the league, worried about losing money. If there is a potential infraction, the NBA should police it, rather than have teams threaten to sue one another.

It's right for the Blazers to be worried, but the way they went about trying to remedy the situation was way off.

That said, Canzano is way over the top on this. I had to turn off his radio show when he started saying "I half-expected to see Steve Patterson come out of the practice facility..." - get over yourself, John. This is still a far sight better than the Patterson-Nash days, or the Trader Bob days. It was a dumb message to send, but come on, most Blazer fans just shrug their shoulders and hope Brandon Roy is back on the floor tonight.
 
Public Defender said:
That said, Canzano is way over the top on this. I had to turn off his radio show when he started saying "I half-expected to see Steve Patterson come out of the practice facility..." .
Click to expand...

I hear ya there. However, I couldn't help but think that today's Vulcan is the same as yesterday's (Patterson's) Vulcan.....and, in light of The Letter, simply an awoken giant from the North barking out their edicts.
 
e_blazer said:
The problem with Canzano's self-righteous little diatribe is that, as per usual, he's spouting off without knowing all of the facts. Exactly what do the Blazers know that led them to think the Miles signing was primarily to screw their cap space? Exactly what will it cost the Blazers in money and, more importantly, in opportunity costs to acquire a player or players and to keep ones that they have now? What have the Blazers' legal advisors told them is needed in the way of notice to other teams in order to make the best case should litigation be necessary?
Click to expand...
Doesn't matter. The point is, the Blazers still look bad.
 
Shooter said:
Doesn't matter. The point is, the Blazers still look bad.
Click to expand...

Sometimes looking bad for a while is the price you pay for ultimate success.

...

On the other hand, if the Blazers were really just pulling a Vulcan, then it's just looking bad for no good reason.
 
sabas4mvp said:
I don't blame the grizzlies. The Clippers did the same thing with Fred Jones.
Click to expand...

Yeah the difference is Fred Jones can actually play....

Miles has shown nothing...other than he can barely run on the floor for the last few minutes of garbage time....and literally ANYONE could do that...heck we let Ha Seung Jin on the floor.......
 
Blaze01 said:
Yeah the difference is Fred Jones can actually play....

Miles has shown nothing...other than he can barely run on the floor for the last few minutes of garbage time....and literally ANYONE could do that...heck we let Ha Seung Jin on the floor.......
Click to expand...

He had two blocks and two rebounds in seven minutes the last time he was on the floor ... hardly the scrubilicious hack you paint him out to be. :dunno:
 
fuck him, fuck him and send him right out of town he deserves NY
 
odenied said:
fuck him, fuck him and send him right out of town he deserves NY
Click to expand...

I personally found your poop in the toilet avatar humorous. And I for once, shall miss it.:lol:
 
How predictable. The Blazers are getting screwed, the Grizz are punk-ass-bitches, and Canzano takes sides against the home team.
 
Clearly I'm in the minority, but I had no problem with the memo that the Blazers sent out. Was it an attempt to intimidate other teams? Yes. Did it work? Maybe not. Memphis has signed Miles, but they haven't played him yet. I'm interested to see how this plays out since I think they're probably trying to force a trade. I don't see anything wrong with trying to intimidate other teams. If it works you get over on them.
 
When Miles either gets hurt on the court infront of thousands watching or doesn't play ever again after this mockery of basketball, the Blazers will not only look right but be right about why the Grizzle did this! It's not a matter of if but when!

We should all just relax and watch the inevitable happen.

This however will open a new chapter on underhanded basketball business and Stern has allowed it to happen. Nice job idiot! Get ready for what you've ushered in!
 
Canzano = Devil's Advocate

Warning teams not to play miles unless your serious about him, WTF is wrong with that? I hate over-sensitive DRAMA.
 
The mistake Canzano and some of you are making is that he thinks people actually CARE about this. This is not a player committing a felony or embarrassing the city of Portland. This is a business decision and who really cares about a threat of a lawsuit.

I listed to the beginning of his show yesterday for about three minutes...it was ridiculous...but he has to create some job security somehow. Once again he tries to make something of nothing...and this IS nothing.

I am thankful that the Blazers are fighting for their own best interests? Screw the rest of the league.
 
I like Canzano, but one thing I have learned about him over the years is that, while he knows his sports, whenever he talks about business, he is in over his head.

The fact is, the NBA is a Joint Venture. Joint venturers have a fiduciary duty to one another - it is the highest duty imposed by law. The Blazers would be severely remiss if they did not send a cease and desist letter to a joint venturer who is, it appears, on the verge of breaching their duty TO the Blazers and committing a tort.

That's what you have lawyers for - to protect your interests. Too bad the other teams didn't like the letter - they're not supposed to.
 
e_blazer said:
Exactly what do the Blazers know that led them to think the Miles signing was primarily to screw their cap space?
Click to expand...

They don't...but THEY said it, not Canzano. It's THEIR threatening e-mail, not Canzano's. I don't think you can blame him for THAT.
 
TP3 said:
I am thankful that the Blazers are fighting for their own best interests? Screw the rest of the league.
Click to expand...

OK, so Memphis signed Darius. In the final analysis, was the e-mail effective in helping the Blazers' organization "fight for their best interests"?

I thought not.

Conversely, was it effective in getting most of the league, and others, agitated or riled up?

Absolutely.
 
Stevenson said:
I like Canzano, but one thing I have learned about him over the years is that, while he knows his sports, whenever he talks about business, he is in over his head.

The fact is, the NBA is a Joint Venture. Joint venturers have a fiduciary duty to one another - it is the highest duty imposed by law. The Blazers would be severely remiss if they did not send a cease and desist letter to a joint venturer who is, it appears, on the verge of breaching their duty TO the Blazers and committing a tort.

That's what you have lawyers for - to protect your interests. Too bad the other teams didn't like the letter - they're not supposed to.
Click to expand...


I enjoyed this post from BostonFan in the E-Mail thread:

First of all, it is a much contested legal concept. A fiduciary duty is a kind of unwritten rule, and some courts, and many legal scholars, don't like to give a wide berth to unwritten rules. Nevertheless, there is a pretty strong tradition upholding fiduciary duties in joint ventures, in some circumstances.

The landmark case in this area is from the Cardoza court in NY in the 1920's. It has a juicy quote that is used a lot:

"Joint adventurers, like copartners, owe to one another, while the enterprise continues, the duty of the finest loyalty. Many forms of conduct permissible in a workaday world for those acting at arm's length, are forbidden to those bound by fiduciary ties. A trustee is held to something stricter than the morals of the market place. Not honesty alone, but the punctilio of an honor the most sensitive, is then the standard of behavior."

Subsequent courts have determined that joint venturer's do have duties of various kinds to partners (one duty, for example, is to avoid conflicts of interest with partners). They use several criteria to determine the nature and extent of the duties. Perhaps the most important of these is determining the nature of the business relationship between the partners. If it is a relationship characterized by contracts and arms length transactions, then they are less likely to say that unwritten rules apply.

In this case, there is no way that a court would believe that fiduciary duties should bind teams, when dealing with players. For starters, they are in an inherently conflicting situation to begin with. They are not trustees of each other. They are competitors. That's why they have contracts to bind them (the owners' agreement). And they are perfectly able to specify the rules of engagement in these contracts. No court is going to say that competitors who begin in situations of conflicting interests should somehow be bound by unwritten rules. Won't happen. Any court will say that they should be bound only to the rules they have agreed among themselves to be bound by.

Secondly, the existence of a collective bargaining agreement makes this even tougher for the Blazers. A court would never, in principle, say that unwritten rules should bind teams. This would open the doors for teams to do all kinds of things which the unions would think might violate the CBA. No, as long as there is a union around, then the written rules are the rules of the game. Period.

Net-net, there is no rule written which says that a team can't sign a player to screww over another team, and so there is no rule that will be enforced by any court. No chance. Nada. None. The Blazers can be pissed all they want, and their lawyers can write whatever they want, but it is hardly credible.
Click to expand...
 
"A fiduciary duty is a kind of unwritten rule"

This poster has no idea what he is talking about. If you are a trustee of a trust, you owe a fiduciary duty to the beneficiaries. If you are the board of a corporation, you owe a fiduciary duty to the shareholders. A lawyer owes a fiducairy duty to his client. Partners owe it to each other. This is common throughout law - by statute. Oregon, for example, has a two year statute of limitation to bring a suit for breach of fiducialry duty (O.R.S. § 12.110(1))

Enron directors breached their fiduciary duty - that is what the whole thing was about.

The poster even took his arguement, without attribution, from Wikipedia. I just saw that.

What a crock.

And btw, the fiduciary duty argument is not mine, it is what Larry Miller said in his email.
 
John Canzano is a hack. Sorry. He's the guy who writes about cancer patients and people who are down on their luck to make us all feel bad about being sports fans. He's the guy who drug Zach Randolph through the mud for having his check to Portland Parks and Recreation bounce (they still got their money John). He will ALWAYS choose the controversial side, simply because he wants to draw attention to himself. Canzano is the guy who took journalism class too seriously, which makes me wonder why the hell he got into sports journalism. He belongs on CNN or NBC, or the New York Times.
 
The Sebastian Express said:
Bleacher report is one of the most unintentionally hilarious basketball blogs because they are so often inaccurate and just flat out bad.
Click to expand...

Hell it's not even a blog, it's the flea market of sport's "journalism" (I use the term loosely). Just imagine a bathroom stall used by high school journalism students :wink:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top