- Joined
- Oct 5, 2008
- Messages
- 126,506
- Likes
- 146,970
- Points
- 115
By John Canzano | JohnCanzano@iCloud.com
Follow on Twitter
on March 15, 2014 at 7:01 AM, updated March 15, 2014 at 7:16 AM
In the spring of 2012, agent Todd Musburger operating on Phil Jackson's behalf, made overtures to the Trail Blazers as they searched for a general manager, and later, team president. The now 68-year old former coach was interested in a front-office, non-coaching job with Paul Allen's basketball team.
Allen instead hired Neil Olshey as GM, and four months later, Chris McGowan as president, another indication that the owner wasn't willing to give the keys to anyone, not even a guy with his fingerprints on 13 NBA championships.
Jackson and the New York Knicks reportedly finalized a deal on Friday that will make him team president. And while the rest of the country is celebrating this as the return of the Zen Master to the NBA, in Portland, for Olshey and Allen, this becomes something entirely more serious.
No matter what Olshey says, no matter what Allen acknowledges, they must know they're now in a race now not only against the rest of the Western Conference, but also against Jackson. If Jackson should pull the Knicks out of their mediocre spin and make a deep run in the NBA playoff before the Blazers do, it's going to confirm what we've suspected all along about Allen --- that he would be better off simply hiring good basketball people and getting out of the way.
I celebrated Allen's magical Super Bowl run with the Seahawks. He made a great hires with his coach (Pete Carroll) and GM (John Schneider). Then, Allen stepped aside, and spent his most visible moments raising the 12th-Man flag, NFC Championship trophy, then Lombardi Trophy. He sounded and looked like an evolved version of the heavy-handed, reactive NBA owner who ground his sports employees to dust and threw the Rose Garden Arena into bankruptcy.
Allen was taking a football victory lap. Then, he did an interview with the New York Times in which he said, "In Portland, I am more involved in the details of trade discussions because I’ve been around that sport longer and can watch tape and can give some input to the drafting process. In football, not at all. It’s so specialized."
Wrong.
In the NFL, you can have a misfire on a draft pick, a signing or a trade and take a mulligan. Defensive back Brandon Browner played in eight games for the Seahawks this season due to suspensions. Receiver Percy Harvin, who Seattle gave up three draft picks (including 2013's first-round pick), didn't truly contribute either this season until the second half of a Super Bowl that was already a blowout. The non-guaranteed contracts in the NFL allow for mistakes and the 53-man roster is forgiving, and this is exactly where an owner who wanted to give some draft input could do minimal harm.
In the NBA?
Not so much.
Make a mistake with a draft pick, fall in love with the wrong free agent, or make a lopsided trade and you're stuck with the problem. Contracts are guaranteed, the rosters are limited to 15 players, 12 of whom are active. Errors are compounded and lasting, and we've seen Allen get enamored and duped before, including, but not limited to, players such as Darius Miles and Sebastian Telfair. Those without serious basketball acumen and terrific instincts shouldn't be allowed to have their hands on the controls in the NBA. Good owners are involved, but would never overrule a terrific basketball advisor.
Is Jackson a team builder or just a great coach who had the fortune of designing an offense for Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant? That's the question everyone around the NBA wants answered. Everyone is looking at Jackson, wondering how much of his comeback has to do with Pat Riley's success with the Heat. But what the rest of us in Portland want to know is whether Allen would have simply been better off two summers ago hiring Jackson instead of Olshey and letting the Blazers follow the path of the Seahawks.
Olshey's contract with the Blazers reportedly was for three guaranteed years and $3.6 million, with team options for two additional years. He's knee-deep in that deal now.
Jackson won two NBA titles as a player with the Knicks in the 1970s. He didn't build those teams, he suited up for them. He won 11 titles as a coach, and while he may have been heavily involved with personnel, he didn't either design those rosters. But the Knicks have brought Jackson back to be their architect, and if you're Allen and Olshey, you understand that your timeline just started ticking louder because it's Jackson who is about to join the race.
On the basketball side, Allen and Olshey had a head start of two-NBA Drafts, two summers, and nearly two complete seasons of play. They know their roster better, and have more flexibility. Aside from Carmelo Anthony, a bet to opt out at the end of this season, the rest of the Knicks roster amounts to basketball gridlock.
The Blazers have two All-Stars (Lamarcus Aldridge and Damian Lillard), a couple of other nice pieces (Nic Batum and Wesley Matthews). But also, a heavy playoff-victory drought that dates back to the 2000 Western Conference finals, more than a year before Apple introduced the first-generation iPod.
This is only to say that as much as Allen and Olshey might want to be compared with the Thunder, Spurs and Rockets right now, the most honest and authentic comparison is the Knicks. New York hadn't won a first-round playoff series during the same stretch as the Blazers until last season when it knocked the Celtics out, 4-2, before sputting out in the second round by the Pacers.
Momentum, talent, flexibility --- Allen and Olshey have every advantage over Jackson today --- everything except those 13 NBA titles.
Can they get close to one championship before Jackson has a brush with No. 14?
--- @JohnCanzanoBFT
Follow on Twitter
on March 15, 2014 at 7:01 AM, updated March 15, 2014 at 7:16 AM
In the spring of 2012, agent Todd Musburger operating on Phil Jackson's behalf, made overtures to the Trail Blazers as they searched for a general manager, and later, team president. The now 68-year old former coach was interested in a front-office, non-coaching job with Paul Allen's basketball team.
Allen instead hired Neil Olshey as GM, and four months later, Chris McGowan as president, another indication that the owner wasn't willing to give the keys to anyone, not even a guy with his fingerprints on 13 NBA championships.
Jackson and the New York Knicks reportedly finalized a deal on Friday that will make him team president. And while the rest of the country is celebrating this as the return of the Zen Master to the NBA, in Portland, for Olshey and Allen, this becomes something entirely more serious.
No matter what Olshey says, no matter what Allen acknowledges, they must know they're now in a race now not only against the rest of the Western Conference, but also against Jackson. If Jackson should pull the Knicks out of their mediocre spin and make a deep run in the NBA playoff before the Blazers do, it's going to confirm what we've suspected all along about Allen --- that he would be better off simply hiring good basketball people and getting out of the way.
I celebrated Allen's magical Super Bowl run with the Seahawks. He made a great hires with his coach (Pete Carroll) and GM (John Schneider). Then, Allen stepped aside, and spent his most visible moments raising the 12th-Man flag, NFC Championship trophy, then Lombardi Trophy. He sounded and looked like an evolved version of the heavy-handed, reactive NBA owner who ground his sports employees to dust and threw the Rose Garden Arena into bankruptcy.
Allen was taking a football victory lap. Then, he did an interview with the New York Times in which he said, "In Portland, I am more involved in the details of trade discussions because I’ve been around that sport longer and can watch tape and can give some input to the drafting process. In football, not at all. It’s so specialized."
Wrong.
In the NFL, you can have a misfire on a draft pick, a signing or a trade and take a mulligan. Defensive back Brandon Browner played in eight games for the Seahawks this season due to suspensions. Receiver Percy Harvin, who Seattle gave up three draft picks (including 2013's first-round pick), didn't truly contribute either this season until the second half of a Super Bowl that was already a blowout. The non-guaranteed contracts in the NFL allow for mistakes and the 53-man roster is forgiving, and this is exactly where an owner who wanted to give some draft input could do minimal harm.
In the NBA?
Not so much.
Make a mistake with a draft pick, fall in love with the wrong free agent, or make a lopsided trade and you're stuck with the problem. Contracts are guaranteed, the rosters are limited to 15 players, 12 of whom are active. Errors are compounded and lasting, and we've seen Allen get enamored and duped before, including, but not limited to, players such as Darius Miles and Sebastian Telfair. Those without serious basketball acumen and terrific instincts shouldn't be allowed to have their hands on the controls in the NBA. Good owners are involved, but would never overrule a terrific basketball advisor.
Is Jackson a team builder or just a great coach who had the fortune of designing an offense for Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant? That's the question everyone around the NBA wants answered. Everyone is looking at Jackson, wondering how much of his comeback has to do with Pat Riley's success with the Heat. But what the rest of us in Portland want to know is whether Allen would have simply been better off two summers ago hiring Jackson instead of Olshey and letting the Blazers follow the path of the Seahawks.
Olshey's contract with the Blazers reportedly was for three guaranteed years and $3.6 million, with team options for two additional years. He's knee-deep in that deal now.
Jackson won two NBA titles as a player with the Knicks in the 1970s. He didn't build those teams, he suited up for them. He won 11 titles as a coach, and while he may have been heavily involved with personnel, he didn't either design those rosters. But the Knicks have brought Jackson back to be their architect, and if you're Allen and Olshey, you understand that your timeline just started ticking louder because it's Jackson who is about to join the race.
On the basketball side, Allen and Olshey had a head start of two-NBA Drafts, two summers, and nearly two complete seasons of play. They know their roster better, and have more flexibility. Aside from Carmelo Anthony, a bet to opt out at the end of this season, the rest of the Knicks roster amounts to basketball gridlock.
The Blazers have two All-Stars (Lamarcus Aldridge and Damian Lillard), a couple of other nice pieces (Nic Batum and Wesley Matthews). But also, a heavy playoff-victory drought that dates back to the 2000 Western Conference finals, more than a year before Apple introduced the first-generation iPod.
This is only to say that as much as Allen and Olshey might want to be compared with the Thunder, Spurs and Rockets right now, the most honest and authentic comparison is the Knicks. New York hadn't won a first-round playoff series during the same stretch as the Blazers until last season when it knocked the Celtics out, 4-2, before sputting out in the second round by the Pacers.
Momentum, talent, flexibility --- Allen and Olshey have every advantage over Jackson today --- everything except those 13 NBA titles.
Can they get close to one championship before Jackson has a brush with No. 14?
--- @JohnCanzanoBFT
