"Man in Hat" (aka: "what the fuck is going on around here?")

[Nikolokolus]

http://www.dwightjaynes.com/one-of-...of-so-what-exactly-is-the-role-of-the-hat-guy

To make a long story short, I’ve been kicking this idea around for months and started asking about a guy in a backward baseball cap I saw working Sonics players out in Seattle years ago. They called him “Hat Guy” and you can read a profile of him here, written in the Seattle Times in 1995. Gordon actually started his career in the NBA helping Paul Westphal rehab from an injury in the early 1980s.

The man quietly joined the staff of the Portland Trail Blazers a few years ago. Very quietly. I’ve not found any mention of him in a press guide or any stories associated with the team.

But in a matter of minutes, after a few phone calls to people within the league, I heard all sorts of opinions on what Gordon does for the Portland Trail Blazers. And they are stories tinged with mystery and a lot of speculation.

This was after Gordon, without any prompting from me, admitted that he works for the Blazers now.

“I’ve been with them for four and a half years,” Gordon told me. “I’m a consultant.”

I asked him what he consults about and he was a little vague but mentioned “development, scouting …”

A couple of NBA sources, though, have told me that Gordon — who used to help a lot of Microsoft bigwigs with their conditioning — has the ear of Paul Allen and Bert Kolde. And that he’s not shy about giving them advice.

It gets deeper and deeper and deeper ...

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

The Seattle connection.

I wonder if the player the Blazers are targeting in the lotto is Tacoma-native, Avery Bradley.

 

[Mediocre Man]

I am convinced that at some point the Portland Trailblazers will be the Seattle Super Sonics. Maybe not anytime soon, but I just see too many Seattle connections, and ZERO Portland connections

 

[THE HCP]

OK, you got me, I rock a hat from time to time!

 

[Nikolokolus]

OK, you got me, I rock a hat from time to time!

Oh shit, it's you? We're fucked!!

 

[julius]

you guys are super paranoid about the team leaving Portland. Jesus fucking chriminy.

 

[Mediocre Man]

you guys are super paranoid about the team leaving Portland. Jesus fucking chriminy.

At some point, is all I'm sayin'

 

[julius]

At some point, is all I'm sayin'

I guess it could happen, cept for the fact it'd be cost prohibitive.

It'd be sooo much cheaper to have Paul Allen sell the team and get an expansion team.

But hey, if people want to over-react to the location of the person who owns the team, or the people who they hire, have at it.

but i don't remember people having this enormous little brother syndrome when our previous owner lived in LA.

 

[Nikolokolus]

I guess it could happen, cept for the fact it'd be cost prohibitive.

It'd be sooo much cheaper to have Paul Allen sell the team and get an expansion team.

But hey, if people want to over-react to the location of the person who owns the team, or the people who they hire, have at it.

but i don't remember people having this enormous little brother syndrome when our previous owner lived in LA.

You're probably right ... of course I fully expect PA's sister to sell the team when she inherits it from him after he kicks the bucket. Which means we'll probably see some oil or mining tycoon buy the team up and relocate it to St. Louis.

 

[julius]

You're probably right ... of course I fully expect PA's sister to sell the team when she inherits it from him after he kicks the bucket. Which means we'll probably see some oil or mining tycoon buy the team up and relocate it to St. Louis.

Yeah, because the NBA is all about moving really strong franchises around willy nilly.

 

[STOMP]

our chicken littles are so adorable with the way they're always looking for a new angle that the sky might be falling. Someone could remind the section about the details of the Blazer's RG financial arrangement (I don't have that handy) if we want them to move onto the next possible doomsday scenario...

STOMP

 

[Weav]

You're probably right ... of course I fully expect PA's sister to sell the team when she inherits it from him after he kicks the bucket. Which means we'll probably see some oil or mining tycoon buy the team up and relocate it to St. Louis.

Sorry to be pedantic, but of all the places, it wouldn't likely be St. Louis. My understanding is that the Silnas brothers would have first pick at an NBA team based in St. Louis, and they make too much money off their current deal to ruin it with a team.

http://www.seattlepi.com/basketball/271843_deal27.html

 

[Eastoff]

Yeah, because the NBA is all about moving really strong franchises around willy nilly.

that's the final step to becoming the seattle supersonics

 

[Sug]

At some point, is all I'm sayin'

Is this before or after the big trade?

Or the end of the world?

Or you actually making sense?

 

[TripTango]

Damn you, Mysterious Hat Man! DAAAAAAMN YOOOOOOOOOU!

 

[BoomChakaLaka]

I can just hear it now "Drive with Us!"

to the Portland fans, after moving the team up the I-5!

 

[OSUBlazerfan]

http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19950723&slug=2132925

Looks like he has known mcMoron for a while....

circa 1995

"I've seen him actually put his cap on in the shower," swears Sonic swingman Nate McMillan, who has worked with Gordon throughout his nine years in the NBA. "He had his hat off, hanging outside his stall. He was in the last shower, way back in the building. When he saw me walk in, he reached out, snatched his hat and put it on. Right in the shower."

"He's the kind of basketball junkie you meet in the park who knows everybody and everything about the game," McMillan says. "He's a guy who should be in a higher position, with some team, but isn't."

 

[maxiep]

I am convinced that at some point the Portland Trailblazers will be the Seattle Super Sonics. Maybe not anytime soon, but I just see too many Seattle connections, and ZERO Portland connections

Paul Allen will be dead by then, and the team will be in the hands of Larry Miller and some other Nike folks.

 

[TripTango]

Paul Allen will be dead by then, and the team will be in the hands of Larry Miller and some other Nike folks.

And that's when they'll move the team to Eugene. Sigh...

 

[Nikolokolus]

Yeah, because the NBA is all about moving really strong franchises around willy nilly.

our chicken littles are so adorable with the way they're always looking for a new angle that the sky might be falling. Someone could remind the section about the details of the Blazer's RG financial arrangement (I don't have that handy) if we want them to move onto the next possible doomsday scenario...

STOMP

Sorry to be pedantic, but of all the places, it wouldn't likely be St. Louis. My understanding is that the Silnas brothers would have first pick at an NBA team based in St. Louis, and they make too much money off their current deal to ruin it with a team.

http://www.seattlepi.com/basketball/271843_deal27.html

I guess sarcasm doesn't always translate ...

some of you guys need to lighten up.

 

[STOMP]

I guess sarcasm doesn't always translate ...

some of you guys need o lighten up.

Huh? I wasn't calling you out... I guess I need to be more obvious

STOMP

 

[Nikolokolus]

Huh? I quoted someone else... why would you think I was responding to you?

STOMP

Well you didn't quote anybody, I just assumed it was following my post. No worries.

 

[STOMP]

Well you didn't quote anybody, I just assumed it was following my post. No worries.

heh... I just realized that and edited but you beat me to the post.

I was responding to those who let their buttons be pushed by proven knownothings like DJ

STOMP

 

[jlprk]

Jaynes titles his blog entry: "One of the most powerful men in the Trail Blazer organization could possibly be someone you’ve never heard of..."

Jaynes then describes some peon who gets paid a little to drill guys at the gym.

Jaynes admits near the end: "Look, I’m not saying the guy is running the team or anything. Don’t overstate this."

It's nothing.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

DJ on the radio today--"Since writing this post, I've been getting lots of calls from insiders about 'Hat guy.' One person told me, 'You think Paul Allen listens to Hat Guy? Actually, he's the only person Paul listens to.' " Jaynes also claims (now) that Penn's firing might have had something to do with comments made about Hat Guy's influence within the organization.

[/fishbowl]

 

[crandc]

Paul Allen will be dead by then, and the team will be in the hands of Larry Miller and some other Nike folks.

You guys are fucking morbid.

We are all going to die some day, but don't put the man into his coffin while he's still alive and kicking, OK? Who knows, he may outlive us all.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

We are all going to die some day, but don't put the man into his coffin while he's still alive and kicking, OK? Who knows, he may outlive us all.

If nothing else, we know he can afford cryogenics.

 

[Kaydow]

Jaynes titles his blog entry: "One of the most powerful men in the Trail Blazer organization could possibly be someone you’ve never heard of..."

Jaynes then describes some peon who gets paid a little to drill guys at the gym.

Jaynes admits near the end: "Look, I’m not saying the guy is running the team or anything. Don’t overstate this."

It's nothing.

Kind of ironic isn't it? "One of the most powerful men . . . Don't overstate this". Irresponsible Journalism if you ask me. It may have a ring of truth to it, but it needed to be further researched. Finishing with "I'm not saying the guy is running the team or anything. Don't overstate this" is contradictory and cowardly. If your going to report something, stand by it. Otherwise it sounds like fiction. I'm not a Dwight Basher, but this is poor work to me.

 

[Nikolokolus]

Kind of ironic isn't it? "One of the most powerful men . . . Don't overstate this". Irresponsible Journalism if you ask me. It may have a ring of truth to it, but it needed to be further researched. Finishing with "I'm not saying the guy is running the team or anything. Don't overstate this" is contradictory and cowardly. If your going to report something, stand by it. Otherwise it sounds like fiction. I'm not a Dwight Basher, but this is poor work to me.

I didn't read it that way. I think Dwight is trying to make that point that this guy has a great deal of influence for a consultant and developmental "coach", not that he's the faceless GM of the team. It's not mutually exclusive to say a heretofore unknown guy wields a lot of influence, but to add the caveat that his influence is not absolute.

 

[TradeNurkicNow]

OH SHIT I FIGURED IT OUT