The Gloves are off: Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports going after KP

[slickyseenis]

good article but it doesn't matter

 

[Bartholomew Hunt]

Good article.

 

[MikeDC]

He wanted to be the star in the good times in Portland, wanted all the bouquets and bows for his work on the job. He started to believe his own clippings, his own mythology, and he thought he could get away with anything.

From the start, Pritchard stumbled into the one rabid NBA market where a general manager can aspire to celebrity. Portland declared Pritchard the Golden Boy, the Gambler, and played songs about him on the radio. Never once did he seem embarrassed. Never did he do much but furiously feed the rush to declare him a genius.

He bragged of draining three cell-phone batteries a day. He bought high-risk stocks, and he never laid up on a par-5. He loves those little details about himself getting into the papers. True? Who knows? It sure made for a fast-rising legend, though. He wanted everyone to believe that he worked harder and longer and smarter. Maybe he thought it all portrayed a confidence, but it mostly masked an insecurity.

While there's some truth in the article (he's absolutely right, I think, that KP was devious, wrong and foolish to talk about Miles' prospective future, I think this graf largely makes Wojnarowski come off like he's writing a hit piece. It's unsubstantiated crap. Attributing (bad) intent to Pritchard for, really... nothing. I think most of that stuff is attributable to the nuttiness of rabid Blazers fans (No offense guys. It's very similar to seeing how John Paxson was given godlike status a few years ago). What's a GM supposed to say to that? Come out and tell his fan's they're a bunch of nitwits?

In a nutshell, it makes Woj guilty of what he decries Pritchard for. Overreaching. Instead of just playing his hand well, he has to carry it way too far. But at the end of the day, so what? We're still left with Pritchard as a heck of a talent evaluator. I don't see it as anything close to the Joe Smith situation, and I'd gladly trade John Paxson to get Kevin Pritchard.

 

[RoyToy]

Jason Quick said he's 85-90% sure Mark Warkentien has been one of the Western GMs sources that have been bad mouthing Pritchard.

Mark Warkentien was the assistant GM for the Blazers from 1999-2003, and then was Director of Player Personnel the next season for Portland.

I'd imagine he's bitter for Prtichard getting the GM job and not him.

Mark Warkentien is currently the GM of the Denver Nuggets.

 

[ppilot]

While there's some truth in the article (he's absolutely right, I think, that KP was devious, wrong and foolish to talk about Miles' prospective future, I think this graf largely makes Wojnarowski come off like he's writing a hit piece. It's unsubstantiated crap. Attributing (bad) intent to Pritchard for, really... nothing. I think most of that stuff is attributable to the nuttiness of rabid Blazers fans (No offense guys. It's very similar to seeing how John Paxson was given godlike status a few years ago). What's a GM supposed to say to that? Come out and tell his fan's they're a bunch of nitwits?

In a nutshell, it makes Woj guilty of what he decries Pritchard for. Overreaching. Instead of just playing his hand well, he has to carry it way too far. But at the end of the day, so what? We're still left with Pritchard as a heck of a talent evaluator. I don't see it as anything close to the Joe Smith situation, and I'd gladly trade John Paxson to get Kevin Pritchard.

When did KP comment on Miles? In reality I don't think he ever said anything beside the fact that the Union doctor agreed that Miles' injury was career ending.

 

[drexlersdad]

Jason Quick said he's 85-90% sure Mark Warkentien has been one of the Western GMs sources that have been bad mouthing Pritchard.

Mark Warkentien was the assistant GM for the Blazers from 1999-2003, and then was Director of Player Personnel the next season for Portland.

I'd imagine he's bitter for Prtichard getting the GM job and not him.

Mark Warkentien is currently the GM of the Denver Nuggets.

i knew i hated denver for a reason.

 

[RW#30]

For all those lost respect etc. crap ... We are talking about $25+ million $( including tax money)

BTW- Portland will sue and win. The NBA will wave the money off our cap.

 

[Денг Гордон]

For all those lost respect etc. crap ... We are talking about $25+ million $( including tax money)

BTW- Portland will sue and win. The NBA will wave the money off our cap.

I see now winnable path for Portland to win any type of lawsuit over this. The CBA is quite clear in how this process works, and Darius Miles met the CBA's criteria, and if you just watch him, you can see he still has quite a bit of basketball in him, barring another career ending injury (a real career ender this time).

 

[RW#30]

I see now winnable path for Portland to win any type of lawsuit over this. The CBA is quite clear in how this process works, and Darius Miles met the CBA's criteria, and if you just watch him, you can see he still has quite a bit of basketball in him, barring another career ending injury (a real career ender this time).

This is not about Darius.

 

[TradeNurkicNow]

He's like the Canzano of yahoo sports.

 

[MikeDC]

When did KP comment on Miles? In reality I don't think he ever said anything beside the fact that the Union doctor agreed that Miles' injury was career ending.

The article has direct quotes from him gossiping about sawing up Miles' bones and whatnot. I'm not going to bother digging up the link since there are direct quotes in the original post, but he was saying that stuff before the season started to scare other teams off of Miles. And I didn't think it was very appropriate then either.

 

[PapaG]

The article has direct quotes from him gossiping about sawing up Miles' bones and whatnot. I'm not going to bother digging up the link since there are direct quotes in the original post, but he was saying that stuff before the season started to scare other teams off of Miles. And I didn't think it was very appropriate then either.

Has Memphis guaranteed Miles a contract for the rest of the season yet after Chris Wallace effusively praised Darius in print in the Oregonian? Wallace even said that Miles was perfoming better than Gay or Mayo.

The Blazer legal team is waiting...

 

[Денг Гордон]

Has Memphis guaranteed Miles a contract for the rest of the season yet after Chris Wallace effusively praised Darius in print in the Oregonian? Wallace even said that Miles was perfoming better than Gay or Mayo.

The Blazer legal team is waiting...

Why does Memphis have to give Miles employment for the rest of the season? Why should they be forced to give someone a contract, when their finances won't allwo it?

 

[julius]

Why does Memphis have to give Miles employment for the rest of the season? Why should they be forced to give someone a contract, when their finances won't allwo it?

I would guess it would make the Blazers case significantly weaker.

If all the sudden the Grizzlies decide to dump Darius after the second 10 day contract (and therefore, on the Blazers cap space), it gives the Blazers some credence to the thinking that created the email/letter.

If they sign him to a contract for the rest of the year, it pretty much shows they weren't in it to just mess with Portlands cap space.

The funniest thing is, even with Miles salary being included in the cap space, it realistically doesn't change the plans of the team all that much. There isn't a major block buster-worthy FA out there in 09 (at least, that stands a chance at coming to Portland regardless of their cap situation), and they still have an owner who is willing to re-sign the players necessary, almost no matter what the cost.

So if Portland does make a trade (like say, for Gerald Wallace), it won't stop the Blazers from re-signing Oden, LaMarcus, Roy and (I would bet) Rudy.

All it would do is make an owner/gm have a bigger chip on their shoulder, and more reason to screw over other teams in the process.

I hope that the Grizzlies enjoy the awesome production that Darius will provide them.

 

[Денг Гордон]

I would guess it would make the Blazers case significantly weaker.

If all the sudden the Grizzlies decide to dump Darius after the second 10 day contract (and therefore, on the Blazers cap space), it gives the Blazers some credence to the thinking that created the email/letter.

If they sign him to a contract for the rest of the year, it pretty much shows they weren't in it to just mess with Portlands cap space.

The funniest thing is, even with Miles salary being included in the cap space, it realistically doesn't change the plans of the team all that much. There isn't a major block buster-worthy FA out there in 09 (at least, that stands a chance at coming to Portland regardless of their cap situation), and they still have an owner who is willing to re-sign the players necessary, almost no matter what the cost.

So if Portland does make a trade (like say, for Gerald Wallace), it won't stop the Blazers from re-signing Oden, LaMarcus, Roy and (I would bet) Rudy.

All it would do is make an owner/gm have a bigger chip on their shoulder, and more reason to screw over other teams in the process.

I hope that the Grizzlies enjoy the awesome production that Darius will provide them.

Even if the Grizzlies didn't re-sign Darius, I would imagine, given his play, that someone would pick him up.

 

[BatumKaboom]

The whole mess was just stupid. You could see it from Miles away, pun intended, that it wasn't going to work. This was a move I never expected from KP. He Pritch-slapped himself.

deleted, personal attack

 

[Sedatedfork]

The article has direct quotes from him gossiping about sawing up Miles' bones and whatnot. I'm not going to bother digging up the link since there are direct quotes in the original post, but he was saying that stuff before the season started to scare other teams off of Miles. And I didn't think it was very appropriate then either.

I was fine with these comments by KP, as long as they are true. He was asked about the severity of the injury and explained why it was that they felt the injury was career ending. Just because Darius is playing doesn't make his statements false either. KP was basically saying that the surgery was one of the worst MF surgeries and that doctors were telling KP that Miles shouldn't play and if it was their son they wouldn't even want him to touch a basketball because the risk of a knee replacement was really high. Darius is a young guy -- you don't want to see him have to get a knee replacement in his 30's or 40's. Doesn't mean he can't play. It means that he probably shouldn't play and that KP wasn't going to be the one allowing him to hurt himself like that. Of course Wojnarowski and others want to spin it a different way, but I don't know why they feel the need to come after KP for it. KP didn't send the email and didn't do anything wrong. If he was the catalyst behind the email, then shame on him for not sending it himself. The email is going to be all but forgotten in another year. Wojnarowski wanted to write something controversial and aggressive. Mission accomplished, I guess.