KP's Post-Deadline Q&A Transcript

[MARIS61]

I personally wanted a deal; what i'm trying to say is not too many people, especially those who are involved in Portland Blazer basketball, in his situation would've walked away from the table empty-handed.

KP is holding 4 aces and a king, and posters here are screaming because he chose not to draw 4 new cards.

 

[oldmangrouch]

It does seem like we might have gained something for future negotiations. That is, other GMs learned that KP is willing to walk away rather than compromise - and that experience may encourage them to meet KPs demands in the future (if/when he has something they want).

Of course, whether we gained that leverage depends on just how the deals failed to go down, and we'll never know that.

barfo

That is the one positive thing about this situation. We may never know if he whiffed on a good deal, but you can't say he got suckered into a bad deal.

 

[ABM]

ABM, good to hear you are employed! Which dealership?

barfo

Dealerships are corrupt. I'm self-employed.

Thanks for asking, though.

 

[Shooter]

Do you like your car?

Would you sell it to me at half its value?

Would you sell it to me at twice its value?

I might. But if you didn't offer me what I thought it was worth, I wouldn't run around telling people I decided to hang on to the car because I was so "committed" to it. I would tell them that you didn't offer me enough money.

 

[ABM]

I might. But if you didn't offer me what I thought it was worth, I wouldn't run around telling people I decided to hang on to the car because I was so "committed" to it. I would tell them that you didn't offer me enough money.

Seriously, though, what did you expect KP to say? We're talking about humans here. Everyone in the world knew he was working the phones to make deals. I'm still struggling with what about him not pulling the trigger do you not jive with?

 

[Shooter]

Seriously, though, what did you expect KP to say? We're talking about humans here. Everyone in the world knew he was working the phones to make deals. I'm still struggling with what about him not pulling the trigger do you not jive with?

Is it really so difficult to understand my point??

After weeks of trying to make deals involving our young players, KP comes out and says, "We decided we just love this young team too much to part with any of our players." That's clearly a lie. What actually happened is that they didn't get the deal they wanted, so they stopped trying to trade our young players.

I don't mind that KP didn't pull the trigger; I mind that he had to make such a phony statement about his "love" for the team as it stands.

 

[Wizard Mentor]

That is the one positive thing about this situation. We may never know if he whiffed on a good deal, but you can't say he got suckered into a bad deal.

He folded Ace-King suited, at least he didn't suffer a bad beat? Ridiculous. He totally pussed out.
He has NEVER brought in a high caliber veteran to play with this group.

Everyone should scroll until they find humongous tits and reread Shooter's posts - he's right on.

 

[MickZagger]

1. If he thinks the team is "overachieving", why not change things? You sell HIGH, not low. If the team (meaning individuals) are outperforming where the management expected them to be, why not cash in a few of those chips? Is it better to wait, as Chicago and so many other teams before them have done, for assets to stop overachieving before you trade them?

Ed O.

Like when they cashed in those chips like Brand, Artest and Chandler?

 

[ABM]

Is it really so difficult to understand my point??

After weeks of trying to make deals involving our young players, KP comes out and says, "We decided we just love this young team too much to part with any of our players." That's clearly a lie. What actually happened is that they didn't get the deal they wanted, so they stopped trying to trade our young players.

I don't mind that KP didn't pull the trigger; I mind that he had to make such a phony statement about his "love" for the team as it stands.

Clearly you don't understand GM-speak, then. I've heard virtually those same types of comments come out of GM's and coaches' mouths countless times. As I mentioned about the "human" element, though, the players seem to continue to buy into it, don't they? Heh, as LMA, himself, said today, "It's a great day to be a Blazer." Appears he doesn't share your same sentiment. Either that, or he's lying through his teeth, as well.

 

[Wizard Mentor]

KP is holding 4 aces and a king, and posters here are screaming because he chose not to draw 4 new cards.

No, we're screaming because he folded!!!

 

[Shooter]

Clearly you don't understand GM-speak, then. I've heard virtually those same types of comments come out of GM's and coaches' mouths countless times.

I'm sure you're right. I've also heard presidents, and CEOs, and professional athletes lie and "spin" and distort the facts, and it still sticks in my craw.

As I mentioned about the "human" element, though, the players seem to continue to buy into it, don't they? Heh, as LMA, himself, said today, "It's a great day to be a Blazer." Appears he doesn't share your same sentiment. Either that, or he's lying through his teeth, as well.

Huh? You've lost me, ABM. I'm not sure what the players are "buying into," or even what you mean by that remark. As for Aldridge's comment, if he means he's glad he wasn't traded, then I'm glad for him. I didn't want him to be traded, either.

 

[MARIS61]

1. If he thinks the team is "overachieving", why not change things? You sell HIGH, not low. If the team (meaning individuals) are outperforming where the management expected them to be, why not cash in a few of those chips? Is it better to wait, as Chicago and so many other teams before them have done, for assets to stop overachieving before you trade them?

Chicago never had anyone overachieve that I know of in recent years.

They were merely overrated.

When people (particularly young people) exceed your expectations, it may just mean you underrated them in the first place and therefore have stumbled into unbelievable fortune.

I don't expect to win millions when I buy a lottery ticket but if I did, I wouldn't sell the ticket for $400.

 

[ABM]

Huh? You've lost me, ABM. I'm not sure what the players are "buying into,"?

Meaning, they're buying into the "love", baby!

That all said, the old adage remains that "it's a business" and KP, I'm sure wants to please everybody (press, players, fans, etc.), which, obviously, he'll never be able to do. So, he places a bit of "spin" on some of his statements? OK, so what, I say. Big deal. What I currently, see, though, is a team in 4th place in the WC that is going to the playoffs. That's well and plenty good for yours truly. At least for now.

 

[noknobs]

Is it really so difficult to understand my point??

After weeks of trying to make deals involving our young players, KP comes out and says, "We decided we just love this young team too much to part with any of our players." That's clearly a lie. What actually happened is that they didn't get the deal they wanted, so they stopped trying to trade our young players.

I don't mind that KP didn't pull the trigger; I mind that he had to make such a phony statement about his "love" for the team as it stands.

You can do your due diligence and always be looking at ways to improve AND love the current team enough that you decide you'd rather keep them intact as opposed to what you were offered.

Is that really that difficult to understand?

 

[Minstrel]

I might. But if you didn't offer me what I thought it was worth, I wouldn't run around telling people I decided to hang on to the car because I was so "committed" to it. I would tell them that you didn't offer me enough money.

What you consider its "worth" can be related to how much you loved it.

If you love that car dearly, to the point that you won't even sell it for 10x its Blue Book value, it's fair to say you didn't sell it because you love it, even if it's conceivable you'd have sold it for some offer (like a million dollars).

 

[Shooter]

You can do your due diligence and always be looking at ways to improve AND love the current team enough that you decide you'd rather keep them intact as opposed to what you were offered.

Is that really that difficult to understand?

Nope. In fact, that's exactly what Pritchard did, and what he SHOULD do. I have no problem with his strategy at all.

What I have a problem with is him telling the media that he doesn't want to trade any of our young guys, when in fact that's exactly what he's been discussing with other GMs around the league. If he didn't have some interest in trading our kids, he wouldn't have been part of so many discussions about them.

It's just a patently false statement, and unnecessary, to boot.

 

[PapaG]

Nope. In fact, that's exactly what Pritchard did, and what he SHOULD do. I have no problem with his strategy at all.

What I have a problem with is him telling the media that he doesn't want to trade any of our young guys, when in fact that's exactly what he's been discussing with other GMs around the league. If he didn't have some interest in trading our kids, he wouldn't have been part of so many discussions about them.

It's just a patently false statement, and unnecessary, to boot.

He didn't say that though. He said it came down to A PLAYER he didn't want to let go of one deal that made sense. Get your facts straight.

 

[Shooter]

Meaning, they're buying into the "love", baby!

Ha. If Pritchard had somehow managed to pry Vince Carter away from the Nets for only Sergio Rodriquez and Raef LaFrentz, do you think Sergio would be "buying into the love" right now??

 

[Shooter]

He didn't say that though. He said it came down to A PLAYER he didn't want to let go of one deal that made sense. Get your facts straight.

My facts are straight, thank you very much. Pritchard said more than once that he loves this young team and he wants to keep it intact. It was very clear that he wasn't talking about just one player--he was talking about his entire collection of young players.

 

[noknobs]

My facts are straight, thank you very much. Pritchard said more than once that he loves this young team and he wants to keep it intact. It was very clear that he wasn't talking about just one player--he was talking about his entire collection of young players.

You're seeing things a weee bit to black & white for some reason and appear unable to grasp the simplest of concepts. KP has never claimed he wasn't in serious trade discussions, he has said quite the opposite. He simply said that at the end of the day he loved what they have more than what they were offered...

Before you respond, read it a few more times, slowly. I really think you can do it this time.

 

[WWBRoyD]

Not bringing in an expensive contract can be justified.

Not bringing in some kind of depth at the C and SF position cannot be justified. We know Webster and Oden are hobbling around. We know we are one deep at C right now, and Joel is playing with a broken bone as it is. We're only one-and-a-half deep at SF. We could have brought some depth that's a little bit higher quality than the type of guys who can be brought in on minimum contracts. This was a real failure in one of the most basic tasks a GM has to do.

Pritchard got all distracted by waving around his "RLEC" to the media and telling the media he had 15 players being offered to him. He pushed all the superstar trade discussions to the last nanosecond, and he completely spaced the fact left the Blazers without a healthy center on the depth chart.

Pritchard had my complete trust in his decisions before today. Pritchard took his eye off the ball, and he lost that complete trust today.

 

[BlazersBlood]

When you look at your team with Rudy (Fernandez) and (Nicolas) Batum and Brandon (Roy), as special as he is, and LaMarcus (Aldridge) and Greg (Oden) and Joel (Przybilla), I just don't want to give up on those guys. I think that we can go a long way with what we have and maybe we get criticized because we didn't pull the trigger on Raef's deal, but what Raef's deal does is allow us to let it expire and give us some flexibility this summer.

Anybody notice anybody missing from our rotation? Outlaw I'm looking at you!

 

[anonymous gambler]

Yeah, I think this was a mistake. In order to have cap room, we have to get rid of outlaw, frye and Blake- thus all were expendable in a trade. Teams had a great financial advantage to picking up Raef's contract.

KP should have been willing to give up Batum to get us a stud small forward and he didn't.

If Batum doesn't end up being as good as Wallace, etc, it's a huge mistake- because it sacrifices not only the future talent of our team, but our shot this season.

KP sucked an egg today. I'm very disappointed. Our future is still bright, but we gave up the chance to have a fourth stud player because of dreams of potential...

Mixum- you called it. Take a bow.

 

[B-Roy]

Oh well. Nothing we can do about it now.

 

[STOMP]

I'm sure you're right. I've also heard presidents, and CEOs, and professional athletes lie and "spin" and distort the facts, and it still sticks in my craw.

didn't you reveal that your career is in advertising???

and could you show me where KP said the quote you relayed... "We decided we just love this young team too much to part with any of our players."... or were you just spinning?

STOMP

 

[MickZagger]

Yeah, I think this was a mistake. In order to have cap room, we have to get rid of outlaw, frye and Blake- thus all were expendable in a trade. Teams had a great financial advantage to picking up Raef's contract.

KP should have been willing to give up Batum to get us a stud small forward and he didn't.

If Batum doesn't end up being as good as Wallace, etc, it's a huge mistake- because it sacrifices not only the future talent of our team, but our shot this season.

KP sucked an egg today. I'm very disappointed. Our future is still bright, but we gave up the chance to have a fourth stud player because of dreams of potential...

Mixum- you called it. Take a bow.

Do you think that Gerald Wallace would put us over the top this season? Or any player thats out there for that matter?

 

[ABM]

My facts are straight, thank you very much. Pritchard said more than once that he loves this young team and he wants to keep it intact. It was very clear that he wasn't talking about just one player--he was talking about his entire collection of young players.

If, in fact, it were Nate that blocked one or more so-called trades, what would you have to say about KP's quotes then?

I have a feeling these types of situations are far more complicated and dynamic than you, I, or anyone else could realize or ever imagine.

 

[crandc]

LOL I actually hated that quote.

This team is overachieving, meaning we aren't that good.

No, it means the team is ahead of the curve. They were expected to fight for a 7-8 seed; instead they are fighting for a 4-5.