Paul Allen throws patience to the side

[RW#30]

Lack of business sense does not mean any one could have walked in and Bill Gates would have dragged them to being a billionaire. Without Paul Allen, there is no microsoft.

They bought the program from a guy from Phoenix and sold it to IBM. it was all branding at the time. Apple was killing MSFT at the time. The 800# gorilla IBM made Bill and Paul a very rich man. Bill Gates was a genius. Look what happened to MSFT since he stepped down. You can buy the stock for the same price as 2000. Figure in inflation and it is 40-50% discount.Idea Man my ass. The guy is an egocentric ahole. He wanted Williams or who ever... He owned the team since 88. He went to the finals with the previous owners players. What has he done. Hired a crappy college coach (PJ), don't let me start about Moe Cheek,horrible GM John Nash, Fired good GM's with basketball IQ (KP,RC). Spent an ungodly amount on crappy players. Come on how many chances are we giving this guy. He is an idiot an liar. He owns 3 professional teams and one of the largest cable company at the time and could not start a sport network. Moron. Paul Allen should sell the blazers. He can not get out of his own way.Don't worry the next owner will be rich..poor guys don't buy pro franchises any more.

 

[barfo]

He's lost a lot of money over the years.

He had it to lose. You bet differently if you can afford to lose. He was swinging for the fences, not trying to bunt his way on base.

barfo

 

[Natebishop3]

They bought the program from a guy from Phoenix and sold it to IBM. it was all branding at the time. Apple was killing MSFT at the time. The 800# gorilla IBM made Bill and Paul a very rich man. Bill Gates was a genius. Look what happened to MSFT since he stepped down. You can buy the stock for the same price as 2000. Figure in inflation and it is 40-50% discount.Idea Man my ass. The guy is an egocentric ahole. He wanted Williams or who ever... He owned the team since 88. He went to the finals with the previous owners players. What has he done. Hired a crappy college coach (PJ), don't let me start about Moe Cheek,horrible GM John Nash, Fired good GM's with basketball IQ (KP,RC). Spent an ungodly amount on crappy players. Come on how many chances are we giving this guy. He is an idiot an liar. He owns 3 professional teams and one of the largest cable company at the time and could not start a sport network. Moron. Paul Allen should sell the blazers. He can not get out of his own way.Don't worry the next owner will be rich..poor guys don't buy pro franchises any more.

Thank you! Get this man a drink! I had heard the story about Microsoft once a long time ago and I was a little fuzzy on the details. I knew that Bill had purchased the technology from someone else and re-branded it. Paul was just there for the ride. Bill was the driving force behind things.

 

[barfo]

Bill was the driving force behind that company, not Paul. He just happened to be in the right place, at the right time.

You could say the same thing about Bill Gates. He just happened to be in the right place at the right time. And indeed he did. You can say that about pretty much anyone successful.

Sure, there's an element of luck. But to think it is all luck is just wishful thinking ("yeah, maybe I'll be a billionaire tomorrow, if things go my way").

barfo

 

[BrianFromWA]

I'm less interested in Allen's business dealings as I am in why he trusts Kolde so much in basketball matters. I could see if it was big-picture stuff ("I'm thinking that I'll be more like Cuban and less like Sterling...whaddaya think, Bert?" or "should I build the stadium with my own money or leverage the city?") but in terms of "should I trade Batum for Vince Carter and 2 firsts?" I don't see why he should be anywhere near that decision.

 

[barfo]

I'm less interested in Allen's business dealings as I am in why he trusts Kolde so much in basketball matters. I could see if it was big-picture stuff ("I'm thinking that I'll be more like Cuban and less like Sterling...whaddaya think, Bert?" or "should I build the stadium with my own money or leverage the city?") but in terms of "should I trade Batum for Vince Carter and 2 firsts?" I don't see why he should be anywhere near that decision.

He's a trusted friend. It seems reasonable for Paul to bounce ideas off of him. If Bert is making the decisions, then of course that's not great - but I don't think there is any real evidence he is making decisions. Even Patterson, who clearly has a beef with him, says he doesn't make the decisions.

barfo

 

[MickZagger]

He's a trusted friend. It seems reasonable for Paul to bounce ideas off of him. If Bert is making the decisions, then of course that's not great - but I don't think there is any real evidence he is making decisions. Even Patterson, who clearly has a beef with him, says he doesn't make the decisions.

barfo

 

[Rhal]

The next owner of the blazers is Larry Miller so for everyone who wants PA out do you really want Larry Miller to become the owner?
I think a lot of this is overreacting by fans and media and since we are the only real sports team in Portlands market, a market with Quick and the shit stirrer Canzano who seems like he wants to be the next Skip Bayless, so no matter what happens the Blazers and their owner are going to take a lot of heat. The firing of so many GM's isn't a good sign but its not the writing on the bottom of the paper saying "This Team is Doomed". Who needs a high profile GM as long as were still able to do trades and field calls.

 

[Boob-No-More]

Who needs a high profile GM as long as were still able to do trades and field calls.

Who said we need a high profile GM? Rich Cho was about as low profile as you can get. What we need is stability. Other than Danny Ainge falling ass backwards into KG (with a HUGE assist from his old friend and Celtics teammate Kevin McHale), champions aren't made overnight. It took the Dallas Mavericks 13 years to build a champion. After the Lakers 3-peat and subsequent loss of Shaq, it took them seven years to get their next title. You need stability and a long term plan. Changing GMs after 10 months is not a recipe for building a contender in the NBA.

Look at the most successful teams in the league; the teams that win and regularly contend for championships, and the one thing they have in common is a long tenured GM.

Dallas - Donn Nelson GM for 9 years
Lakers - Mitch Kupchak GM for 11 years
Boston - Danny Ainge GM for 8 years
Spurs - R.C Buford GM for 9 years
Miami - Randy Pfund/Pat Riley GMs for combined 15 years
Detroit - Joe Dumars - GM for 11 years

Jerry Krause was GM of the Bulls for 18 years, including six years before they won their first title, and the eight year stretch where they won six titles in 8 years.

It takes time and a steady, stable long term plan to build an NBA champion. Was Rich Cho the right guy to build and execute such a plan? We'll never know. Was Kevin Pritchard, we'll never know. Was John Nash, definitely not. Paul seems to be in desperation mode to win a title and win it now, but changing GMs frequently is not helping. Recent history has shown that teams that win championships have stable front offices with long tenured GMs. It's hard to build a long term plan and execute it when the person responsible for that plan only holds that position for 1 - 2 years. That person doesn't need to be high profile (I don't consider R.C. Bruford, or even Mitch Kupchak high profile). They just need to be competent and allowed to do their job. Every time Paul fires a GM, the plan to get to a championship gets reset. There is no coherent long term vision and no chance to execute a long term plan. NBA champions are not built overnight - at least not in a small market that has trouble luring top free agents.

BNM

 

[barfo]

They bought the program from a guy from Phoenix and sold it to IBM. it was all branding at the time. Apple was killing MSFT at the time.

Apple was more successful than Microsoft at the time, but they weren't competitors until MS got into operating systems.
As for 'buying the program from a guy', yes, they bought DOS. But Bill and Paul were already millionaires in their mid-20s at that point.

barfo

 

[RW#30]

Apple was more successful than Microsoft at the time, but they weren't competitors until MS got into operating systems.
As for 'buying the program from a guy', yes, they bought DOS. But Bill and Paul were already millionaires in their mid-20s at that point.

barfo

They made traffic signal switches. They were rich do to Bill's dad who is an established lawyer and gave Bill the seed $ to play around with computers. Without DOS IBM would have gone with some other geek of the time.
As for Apple...Xerox and Apple had much better technology vs. Microsoft. Unfortunately IBM picked Microsoft. Not like Apple wanted to compete with MSFT. They were the BETA vs. VHS of the time. Every Co. went with IBM platform and Apple was left to die. Until the late '90's Apple struggled and almost went bankrupt. Not many people know but Steve Job and MSFT went to bed together and Apple agreed to run Windows on their stuff. In return MSFT bailed them out for 2 billion. Using that $ they started the digital music craze and IPOD was born.

 

[jlprk]

To summarize the thread, 1) Paul Allen, like every other wealthy person (please name any exceptions), got there mostly through luck, by being at the right place at the right time. 2) Paul Allen, like every owner, has friends and confidantes who aren't basketball experts. (The Oregonian has even more opinionating nonexperts, like Canzano, the guy who has the town in an uproar over Kolde.) 3) Paul Allen, like every owner, has made many personnel changes over the years. (I wish he'd make faster changes in the coaching job. As for GM, Pritchard and Cho were no loss.)

 

[barfo]

They made traffic signal switches. They were rich do to Bill's dad who is an established lawyer and gave Bill the seed $ to play around with computers.

Bill's dad taught them how to make traffic signal switches?

Truth is, they made a variety of products, and were the leading vendor of microcomputer software prior to the deal with IBM.

Taking seed money isn't a black mark on their record. Microsoft had a lot less funding than many many less successful tech companies.

Without DOS IBM would have gone with some other geek of the time.

No doubt. So what?

As for Apple...Xerox and Apple had much better technology vs. Microsoft.

Absolutely true.

Unfortunately IBM picked Microsoft. Not like Apple wanted to compete with MSFT. They were the BETA vs. VHS of the time. Every Co. went with IBM platform and Apple was left to die. Until the late '90's Apple struggled and almost went bankrupt. Not many people know but Steve Job and MSFT went to bed together and Apple agreed to run Windows on their stuff. In return MSFT bailed them out for 2 billion. Using that $ they started the digital music craze and IPOD was born.

Well, it was $150 million, not $2 billion. And they didn't agree to run Windows. They agreed to put IE on Macs. And Apple had $1.2 billion cash at the time, so it isn't so clear that anyone can say that MSFT's $150 million was spent developing the iPod.

barfo

 

[Shooter]

Now that Paul's career has gone the way of Roy's, was Webster the better choice?

No.

 

[BlazerBeav]

The previous ownership group passed on the GOAT, so it seems this could be a case of the 'grass is always greener' mentality.

 

[MARIS61]

Apple was more successful than Microsoft at the time, but they weren't competitors until MS got into operating systems.
As for 'buying the program from a guy', yes, they bought DOS. But Bill and Paul were already millionaires in their mid-20s at that point.

barfo

They were both millionaires the day they were born.

They've really accomplished nothing special that 2 other blueblood spoiled nerds with a lack of basic morals couldn't have accomplished.

 

[barfo]

They were both millionaires the day they were born.

Hardly. Paul's dad was a librarian for UW, his mom a schoolteacher.

They've really accomplished nothing special that 2 other blueblood spoiled nerds with a lack of basic morals couldn't have accomplished.

Yet there is no shortage in the world of blueblood spoiled nerds with a lack of basic morals. How do you explain that there is only one Microsoft?

barfo

 

[UKRAINEFAN]

OK, Mr. Allen, you want to win now. Rumor has it that Atlanta would love to get rid of Joe Johnson contract and are ready to trade Josh Smith. http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_y...wojnarowski_josh_smith_hawks_nba_draft_062011

Miller, Camby and Mathews for Johnson and Smith; get it done now, try to get their draft pick also and an assurance they will release Miller.