My letter to the Blazers re: why I didn't renew

[Denny Crane]

I think there are two kinds of owners.

There's the kind that are $billionaires and have FU kind of money. They'll spend deep into the LT to try and win. It doesn't always work, needless to say.

Then there's the kind that the team is their business, their sole source of income. It has to be profitable. The equity in the team's value isn't easy to tap so the owners might be $billionaires on paper, but they don't have the cash flow from the business to support going deep into the LT.

I've been a lifetime Cubs fan. For years the team was owned by the Wrigley chewing gum folks and they used the team as a write off for tax purposes and never really did much to try and win. We fans still loved the team. It wasn't about winning so much as we didn't win a World Series since the early 1900s. It was about getting to know the players. The games were televised (150+ of them) on the local WGN (World's Greatest Newspaper) station. They had a leadoff man show where we got to see and basically know all the players. That's what won us all over (us Cubs fans) for life.

 

[illmatic99]

Very bittersweet day for this Blazer fan today.

After 15 years, I decided not to renew my fantastic season tickets, and at the last hour on the last day. It was tough to say goodbye!
But the fact was, this year I really had a hard time getting up the mojo to go to most games, and most of my pals did too. My wife stopped going with me back in January, and many nights I either had to sell my tickets for 1/2 price - or less - or eat them altogether.

I do think if Shaeden had played and he and Scoot and Ayton had developed some chemistry, the games might have been at least a tad more exciting, but as they were, until the last 10 games or so, and as you all know, they were mostly a snoozefest.

If you're interested , here is the letter I wrote my rep at 4:00 pm today:

Hi Taylor -

I have always taught my children that there are “magic moments” in life. When they were little we lived on a cul-de-sac in a super safe neighborhood for a few years. The kids all ran free after school, like my wife Maria and I did when we were kids. Those two years were a magic moment for my kids.

Well, my 15 years with the Blazers as a season ticket holder has been a magic moment - From drafting Brandon and LaMarcus my first year, then getting #1 and Oden, then that fun team with Rolo and Wes, and now this fun run during the exciting Dame years. What a blast! But, at least for me, that magic moment has come to and end, and so I am sad to say that I am going to have let my tickets go. I’ve loved it, and this is very bittwersweet for me, but it’s the right call.

Thanks for everything, you have been great to work with, as has the whole organization.

Go Blazers!

Steve

This is pretty tame tbh. But i dunno how fruitful it is to be harsher. The league needs to force Jody's hand to sell, but I dont really think she's answerable to Adam Silver. Even if the TV numbers and ticket renewals are shit, the buck still stops only at Jody. Given her apathy, I doubt she cares if fan engagement is down because it doesn't really affect her bottom line. She will get her stipend regardless of revenue or valuation.

 

[Whyachi]

Probably played some of the worst players for sure. Funny part is you got people on here talking about giving those same players contracts and calling them "Rotational" type players. Then the playoffs start and we see actual role players playing in rotaional situations and it becomes painfully obvious Banton, Reath, Rupert, Brown, Minaya, Moore, Hagans will never be on a serious NBA roster.
#FireBillups!

a rare public appearence from Cronin gave us 1 interesting quote. Joe said he doesn't want to take any more steps back. It's the easiest thing to say. The team Joe built has backed itself into a wall.

It looks like expansion basketball, in a city that isn't new to the sport. Blazer fans have been through multiple rebuilds.

Portland is trying at nauseum to get a veteran fanbase to believe the "we're the next OKC rebuild".

That original Thunder squad was already on year 3 of a rebuilding program before it was ripped from Seattle fans.

Take a look at the oil drenched cow tippers historical record in Oklahoma:

- stole an optimistic Sonics rebuild.
- 1 season tank (Harden/Ibaka).
- somehow got Nick Collison to play good basketball, 'excellent coaching'.
- 11 years straight of winning Thunder ball, with several retools to make runs.
- the teardown & rebuild lasted 2 years.
- OKC returned to victories and hard nosed ballers by year 3, playing near .500 ball, made the play-in.

.... the Thunder never benched starters to lose on purpose. They weren't embracing the cheat. This Blazers rebuild doesn't resemble OKC's rebuild. The Thunder only had 3 stinker years in their 16 year history. Portland just finished their 3rd straight stinky tank year, and nobody can predict how many more will follow.

 

[kjironman1]

a rare public appearence from Cronin gave us 1 interesting quote. Joe said he doesn't want to take any more steps back. It's the easiest thing to say. The team Joe built has backed itself into a wall.

It looks like expansion basketball, in a city that isn't new to the sport. Blazer fans have been through multiple rebuilds.

Portland is trying at nauseum to get a veteran fanbase to believe the "we're the next OKC rebuild".

That original Thunder squad was already on year 3 of a rebuilding program before it was ripped from Seattle fans.

Take a look at the oil drenched cow tippers historical record in Oklahoma:

- stole an optimistic Sonics rebuild.
- 1 season tank (Harden/Ibaka).
- somehow got Nick Collison to play good basketball, 'excellent coaching'.
- 11 years straight of winning Thunder ball, with several retools to make runs.
- the teardown & rebuild lasted 2 years.
- OKC returned to victories and hard nosed ballers by year 3, playing near .500 ball, made the play-in.

.... the Thunder never benched starters to lose on purpose. They weren't embracing the cheat. This Blazers rebuild doesn't resemble OKC's rebuild. The Thunder only had 3 stinker years in their 16 year history. Portland just finished they're 3rd straight stinky tank year, and nobody can predict how many more will follow.

If they get lucky and pull a "Harden" and "Ibaka" from their two first round picks they very well might be on the right path.

 

[Whyachi]

If they get lucky and pull a "Harden" and "Ibaka" from their two first round picks they very well might be on the right path.

every team hopes to land Harden & Ibaka. A Tatum & Brown? a Steph, Klay, Draymond? There are comps for good teams that won big in the lottery, but getting high draft picks doesn't guarantee winning.

It took Orlando over 10 years to rebuild a winner, after the Dwight Howard & Jameer Nelson playoff run.

That 2009 Orlando team would be a great Blazers comp:

Nelson= Scoot
big C Dwight ~ Ayton
Rashard Lewis = Grant
gunners Reddick, Hedo = Simons Sharpe

what happened? Why are the Blazers so bad?? Real injuries, fake injuries, and the team mopes around when they can't get their shots to drop.

Maybe next year will be different?

The Front Office has already shown they will sabotage a .500 playoff team to try to win a ping pong ball. It's probably the last straw for Blazer faithful... a team that isn't allowed to win.

 

[kjironman1]

every team hopes to land Harden & Ibaka. A Tatum & Brown? a Steph, Klay, Draymond? There are comps for good teams that won big in the lottery, but getting high draft picks doesn't guarantee winning.

It took Orlando over 10 years to rebuild a winner, after the Dwight Howard & Jameer Nelson playoff run.

That 2009 Orlando team would be a great Blazers comp:

Nelson= Scoot
big C Dwight ~ Ayton
Rashard Lewis = Grant
gunners Reddick, Hedo = Simons Sharpe

what happened? Why are the Blazers so bad?? Real injuries, fake injuries, and the team mopes around when they can't get their shots to drop.

Maybe next year will be different?

The Front Office has already shown they will sabotage a .500 playoff team to try to win a ping pong ball. It's probably the last straw for Blazer faithful... a team that isn't allowed to win.

But boy oh boy if they hit big on this draft it could be awesome. Sharpe Scoot and a dynamic duo from this draft then one more year of lotto and they might have a decent team?
One can only hope at this point!

 

[Phatguysrule]

But boy oh boy if they hit big on this draft it could be awesome. Sharpe Scoot and a dynamic duo from this draft then one more year of lotto and they might have a decent team?
One can only hope at this point!

Maybe then Billups will show us his philosophy...

 

[HailBlazers]

Maybe then Billups will show us his philosophy...

Hard nose full court defense for one...

 

[Phatguysrule]

Hard nose full court defense for one...

That would be great, as long as it's effective.

 

[Hoopguru]

I heard this morning on the radio that Blazers Broadcast viewership was down 60%. Not sure thats accurate I can see it being down big.

 

[SharpesTriumph]

I heard this morning on the radio that Blazers Broadcast viewership was down 60%. Not sure thats accurate I can see it being down big.

I watched far less than 60% from prior season.... Though the prior season kind of sucked after the trade deadline too.

But pair the Comcast price increase, loss of star power without Dame, and injuries or uninspiring play from all the key youth and Id imagine yes it was down 60% or even much more.

Now there will certainly be years the team is more entertaining and people tune back in. But as others have said the Blazers are losing out on long term opportunities to get young lifetime fans hooked on the team. That may ultimately cost much more than the whatever X millions root gave over better viewing local TV contract options.

 

[Hoopguru]

I watched far less than 60% from prior season.... Though the prior season kind of sucked after the trade deadline too.

But pair the Comcast price increase, loss of star power without Dame, and injuries or uninspiring play from all the key youth and Id imagine yes it was down 60% or even much more.

Now there will certainly be years the team is more entertaining and people tune back in. But as others have said the Blazers are losing out on long term opportunities to get young lifetime fans hooked on the team. That may ultimately cost much more than the whatever X millions root gave over better viewing local TV contract options.

The Seachickens left root with a years left on their contract to make viewership more available, seems they would consider the same for Blazers? I guess as the red headed P/L center satellite for a Seattle based mothership all things start with the home grown first.

 

[Whyachi]

I heard this morning on the radio that Blazers Broadcast viewership was down 60%. Not sure thats accurate I can see it being down big.

the "official" number drop was 49% by the time it was reported to league office.

Blame the cable companies! They jacked up the price during a rebuilding era, and fans would rather watch something else.

we're talking TOTAL viewership, not local numbers. NBA fans across the globe want to see some action, not a Blazer team that looks confused and struggles in almost every game.

Did Portland have any BIG comeback wins this year? I'm pretty sure the team was going down 20-30 real quick, and the bench brigade would chug red bulls and chop some of those blowout deficits to "competitive" final scores.

NBA fans hate garbage time stuff. G-League extravaganza is not a selling point.

 

[crandc]

My $.02.
No one can know what another person thought. But when Paul Allen died suddenly most of us were shell shocked. Most of us felt he didn't consider the Blazers just a business, that the team had a place in his heart. And that he wouldn't leave in charge a person who wouldn't carry on.

But looking back my unsupported opinion is I underestimated strength of family ties. And apparently Paul relied a lot on Jody, especially when his health declined.

Some of the comments made about her taking over were frankly misogynistic.

But over the years it seems clear that she doesn't care a lot about the Blazers. It is possible to be a good hands off owner. Appoint a really good GM and let them do their job.

That hasn't happened. In what other business would a manager whose work product kept getting worse stay?

It is possible she wants to establish her own legacy and not just be Paul Allen's sister. If she doesn't care about the Blazers she should sell.

I hope I am making sense, this is a bit more stream of consciousness than usual for me.

 

[SharpesTriumph]

My $.02.
No one can know what another person thought. But when Paul Allen died suddenly most of us were shell shocked. Most of us felt he didn't consider the Blazers just a business, that the team had a place in his heart. And that he wouldn't leave in charge a person who wouldn't carry on.

But looking back my unsupported opinion is I underestimated strength of family ties. And apparently Paul relied a lot on Jody, especially when his health declined.

Some of the comments made about her taking over were frankly misogynistic.

But over the years it seems clear that she doesn't care a lot about the Blazers. It is possible to be a good hands off owner. Appoint a really good GM and let them do their job.

That hasn't happened. In what other business would a manager whose work product kept getting worse stay?

It is possible she wants to establish her own legacy and not just be Paul Allen's sister. If she doesn't care about the Blazers she should sell.

I hope I am making sense, this is a bit more stream of consciousness than usual for me.

The thing is the quality of an NBA owner is in relation to the other 29 franchises. Even if Jody is fine as the executor of an art collection or a charity grant or whatever that doesn't mean she's going to do well leading an NBA team. For decades the Blazers always had one of the NBAs owners that was at the tops of the attributes us fans want; a mix of extremely wealthy, willing to throw away millions on his NBA play toy, and also very passionate about the team.

Those things are no long the case with Jody and Vulcan/Kolde.

There's at least 5-10 owners or ownership groups that are far better than the Blazers in all those regards, and there might be an argument the Blazers are in the bottom 10, bottom 5, or worse of the NBA.

When it's a competitive 30 team league we went from having a strength of an owner to a weakness.

It doesn't mean Jody is a bad person, evil, uncaring, or unwilling to invest some money in the Blazers. Or whatever other justification some fans put our there. It just means she's not very good compared to a group of extremely wealth Billionaires that normally throw a ton of cash around to try and win.

 

[wizenheimer]

I heard this morning on the radio that Blazers Broadcast viewership was down 60%. Not sure thats accurate I can see it being down big.

I know one viewer who quit watching...for the first time in decades. And if they feature Ant-Grant-Ayton next season, that viewer won't return