Mark Warkentien An Option For....

[Wheels]

he is a lot fatter than I imagined.

 

[STOMP]

What a little bitch. Cry baby. Pritchard didn't resign when they took Webster over Paul and Deron did he?

well on top of RR7's spot on point there is only speculation that KP really wanted one of those two or was at all at odds with the path they choose (Martell+Jack). MW's staff of scouts had spent the year sussing out the draft and obviously felt pretty strongly about Jefferson over Telfair... that "little bitch" turned out to be right in a big way eh?

STOMP

 

[OSUBlazerfan]

he is a lot fatter than I imagined.

Lol, Kp has a few extra pounds on him as well, but i would rather have KP be the face of the franchise

 

[Nikolokolus]

Was it Warkentien who traded for Chauncey Billups? Sounds good to me! As to character issues, I don't know what to believe any more. It seems like every GM in the league is a dick, if "reports" are to be believed.

Indeed

 

[BoBoBREWSKI]

Mark Warkentien an option for... back stabbing, shit talkin', hide behind Wojnarowski, rat, douche bag of the year.

 

[Wheels]

Mark Warkentien an option for... back stabbing, shit talkin', hide behind Wojnarowski, rat, douche bag of the year.

ah so THATS the award that he is accepting in the pic I posted

 

[Nikolokolus]

So what are all of you Warkentien haters gonna do when KP gets fired and PA hires him? Boycott, protest, riot?

 

[RR7]

So what are all of you Warkentien haters gonna do when KP gets fired and PA hires him? Boycott, protest, riot?

Be upset about the situation for a while, for sure. Bitch on here,same as the Nate/KP/Aldridge/Roy/Miller/Oden/Webster/Outlaw/Blake/Rudy/Sergio/Jack/Bayless haters.

 

[BGrantFan]

That's an interesting theory. Clearly, you believe the culture of the organization didn't need to be changed. I disagree. The atmosphere under Whitsitt and then Patterson was poisonous. Pritchard did more than identify good players for us; he changed the culture from "Desperate Housewifes" to "7th Heaven".

The kind of bullshit meddling, Seattle power plays and public backstabbing reminds me of the dark days of this franchise. You didn't see this shit under the Glickman/Inman/Petrie regimes and you haven't seen it until a few weeks ago.

The atmosphere is once again poisonous with Pritchard as GM. What is the one common factor? It's a rhetorical question.

 

[BGrantFan]

Correct. Here's the timeline...

2004: Wark thinks Patternash is completely incompetent due to the drafting of Telfair over Al Jefferson and quits.

Why did Warkentein want to draft Al Jefferson? He already had him on the roster. A black hole on offense, a rebounding machine, and an absolute zero on defense. His name was Zach Randolph. Why did we need two Z-Bos?

Hell, Josh Smith was drafted 2 spots below Telfair, JR Smith 3 spots below, Jameer Nelson 7 spots below, Kevin Martin 13 spots below, and Trevor Ariza wasn't drafted until the 2nd round.

All of those players made more sense than Al Jefferson.

 

[BGrantFan]

So what are all of you Warkentien haters gonna do when KP gets fired and PA hires him? Boycott, protest, riot?

I'm going to turn into MIXUM.

 

[maxiep]

So what are all of you Warkentien haters gonna do when KP gets fired and PA hires him? Boycott, protest, riot?

Suffer in silence and shame like I did during the Whitsitt years. Especially when he trades for guys like JR Smith.

 

[maxiep]

The atmosphere is once again poisonous with Pritchard as GM. What is the one common factor? It's a rhetorical question.

The difference is Pritchard is the one being poisoned, not spreading the poison.

 

[tlongII]

Correct. Here's the timeline...

2004: Wark thinks Patternash is completely incompetent due to the drafting of Telfair over Al Jefferson and quits. It's unclear to me whether Pritchard was with the team at the time.
2005: Pritchard takes over as coach after Mo Cheeks is fired. Warkentien is working for Cleveland at the time.
2006: Pritchard is given the reigns for the draft. Warkentien is named GM in Denver.

As to the real topic: I highly doubt Wark would come back here. He left very pissed off back in 2004. Have things changed that much since then? Sure Patternash is gone. But he'd still have to deal with the Vulcans.

Warkentien lives in Lake Oswego so I think he'd love to be GM here. I actually think he's a good GM, but I like KP better. I'm not a fan of back-stabbers either. I thought Wark should have replaced PatterNash back in 2004 when they drafted Telfair over Big Al. I'm still pissed at that blunder.

 

[BGrantFan]

Warkentien lives in Lake Oswego so I think he'd love to be GM here. I actually think he's a good GM, but I like KP better. I'm not a fan of back-stabbers either. I thought Wark should have replaced PatterNash back in 2004 when they drafted Telfair over Big Al. I'm still pissed at that blunder.

Josh Smith made more sense than either of those players.

 

[Nikolokolus]

Suffer in silence and shame like I did during the Whitsitt years. Especially when he trades for guys like JR Smith.

Well, I'm no big JR Smith fan, but I don't think the team needs to be completely composed of choir boys either. Assuming KP is fired, Wark is hired to replace him, and he starts to trade for some 'troubled' guys I would hope that the core of players currently in place would be enough to exert some level of institutional control ... I'm sure I'll be suffering with you though, when/if he trades Brandon away for some knucklehead.

 

[RagingBull04]

Hmmm...nice find. That does seem to point to Warkentien.

I've heard 2 interviews with him on Canzano's BFT show over the past year and he didn't sound like as a douchebag either time, nor did he seem to harbor any resentment towards the Blazers or KP. I guess he is a two-faced rat like you have commented. If he is the one that is trying to sabotage KP, then I hope karma catches up to him.

Maybe it's not Wark. Maybe it's Whitsitt.

 

[illmatic99]

You know what would be awesome?

We can pull off a series of upsets to win a title, and all will be forgotten. A book about this season would be in order too.

 

[Wheels]

You know what would be awesome?

We can pull off a series of upsets to win a title, and all will be forgotten. A book about this season would be in order too.

I already have no doubt that I will fall to the ground in Tears when/if the Blazers win a championship, with how much sweat, blood (sometimes literally lol) and tears, and passion and money, and time I have pumped into my passion for this team. But if they did it after the type of season this has been. Wow, I dont know what I would do.

 

[Crimson the Cat]

I'd just as soon root for a team Pritch changes to than root for a Wark-managed one.

 

[hasoos]

Say what you want about Warkentein. He has built a hell of a team in Denver.

 

[BGrantFan]

Say what you want about Warkentein. He has built a hell of a team in Denver.

Warkentein didn't draft Carmelo Anthony. Thus, the major building block was already in place when he arrived in Denver.

 

[hasoos]

Warkentein didn't draft Carmelo Anthony. Thus, the major building block was already in place when he arrived in Denver.

That is correct they had Carmello there before he was there. But you will also notice, the team didn't do jack dick during that time. The corner turned when Billups was procured, and that was a god damn masterful trade. He turned Andre Miller into AI, and then turned old washed up AI into Billups.

Are you going to tell me Affalo wasn't a good pickup as well?

How about Lawson?

 

[RR7]

The team was primarily in place when he took over. Trading Iverson for Billups was a good move. But he was also the one that traded FOR Iverson. Thinking him and Melo would mesh well. He gave up an expiring for a good PG. I don't think Kupchak should be praised as a genius for landing Gasol for expirings and young players, and this is similar, IMO. But besides that, he took over a team with a 22 year old Melo, and saw him mature, which has helped as much as anything he has done. Anderson was a good pickup, and Lawson a good draft pick.
But that's a small portion of that team. Carmelo was there. Nene was there. JR Smith was there. Kenyon Martin was there. Looking at the team he inherited, and assuming similar improvements by guys like Nene and Carmelo, who have both gotten better, is the team they have now much better than that team?

Andre Miller, JR Smith, Carmelo, Kenyon Martin, Nene
With Kleiza, Camby, Najera, Joe Smith, Reggie Evans on the bench. Bench was very front court heavy, but smaller moves could have easily been made to rectify that problem, like the one they made bringing in Blake. That teams about as good, IMO. Assuming the same maturation and progression of Melo and Nene, which has more to do with their success.

 

[BGrantFan]

That is correct they had Carmello there before he was there. But you will also notice, the team didn't do jack dick during that time. The corner turned when Billups was procured, and that was a god damn masterful trade. He turned Andre Miller into AI, and then turned old washed up AI into Billups.

Are you going to tell me Affalo wasn't a good pickup as well?

How about Lawson?

I'm not saying that Warkentein hasn't made some good moves. I am saying that he didn't have to completely rebuild a very bad team. Pritchard did have to rebuild the worst team in the NBA.

RR7's post elaborates more on what Warkentein did/didn't do in terms of building the Nuggets.

 

[RR7]

I'm not saying that Warkentein hasn't made some good moves. I am saying that he didn't have to completely rebuild a very bad team. Pritchard did have to rebuild the worst team in the NBA.

Exactly. Look at the two rosters they inherited. And with most reports I've read suggesting KP was in charge of the 2006 draft, I'll count his time as starting then.

I mentioned the Denver roster above.

Blake/Telfair/Jack
Dixon/Martell
Miles/Outlaw/Monia/Khryapa
Zach
Joel/Ratliff

Look at the turnover in rosters between the two, and level of progression between the two. Yeah, KP has benefited greatly from Roy becomig a star. But he did select him. Wark inherited a ready made star. He made a good pickup in Billups. It was likely just as important that he get rid of AI. A Move he made. And then had to correct. I think Miller would have fit alongside Melo as well, as Melo matured and improved. Similar to how we see Miller alongside Roy, and their improvement as Roy has matured. Nene got healthy finally.

So if we fire KP, and the new GM comes in and trades Rudy, Bayless, and Miller for say Devin Harris, but then Oden is fully healthy and dominant, and we win a title, should the new GM get exec of the year, and all of the credit for building the roster?

 

[The_Lillard_King]

I think Portland GM had a harder job. I think the Denver GM has achieved much greater success.

 

[RR7]

Much greater success? Had the exact same record, and IMO, they had an easier opponent in the playoffs, otherwise we could have just as easily been in the WCF last season. A tie breaker shifted our position with their position. I wouldn't say that's MUCH greater success.

 

[Wheels]

Much greater success? Had the exact same record, and IMO, they had an easier opponent in the playoffs, otherwise we could have just as easily been in the WCF last season. A tie breaker shifted our position with their position. I wouldn't say that's MUCH greater success.

while I agree that if the roles were changed. The differences for both teams would be numerous. But With how situations were and did happen. Their WCF appearance is much greather success than our 1st round loss.

 

[The_Lillard_King]

Much greater success? Had the exact same record, and IMO, they had an easier opponent in the playoffs, otherwise we could have just as easily been in the WCF last season. A tie breaker shifted our position with their position. I wouldn't say that's MUCH greater success.

I see one team being a championship contender and the other team being a first round playoff team.

But I see what you are saying and if you are just comparing records, they are close. I don't think fans around the league see the teams as being equally comparable . . . but I guess it is just how you look at it.