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<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The news conference started late. And the men under the lights never really answered the key questions. But when it comes to the Trail Blazers' announcement Wednesday that they've retained general manager John Nash for another year, let's call it what it is.
A peek behind the curtain.
Because last summer, Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak called the Blazers and offered Shaquille O'Neal in exchange for Zach Randolph, Darius Miles and Theo Ratliff.
The deal didn't materialize.
And just before last season, in putting together his 2004-05 Basketball Operations plan, Nash set a goal of 50 victories and a second "personal" goal of making the trades during the season to improve the roster.
Neither of those happened.
And just 24 hours before the Blazers exercised their option on Nash's contract, he told me in a private conversation that he figured the team would wait until his contract expired, in late June, before letting him know if he would be retained.
"That's how they do things here," he said. "They wait."
And then the sun came up, and with it came the end of the agonizing overnight wait. Except that for maybe the first time since new management took over, we all got a good long look behind that heavy, dark curtain. And that's valuable, if you ask me.
Because when the curtain came back, there they were, in matching sombreros, red-handed, at the levers -- the Three Amigos. Nash, President Steve Patterson and player personnel director Kevin Pritchard. </div>
Source
A peek behind the curtain.
Because last summer, Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak called the Blazers and offered Shaquille O'Neal in exchange for Zach Randolph, Darius Miles and Theo Ratliff.
The deal didn't materialize.
And just before last season, in putting together his 2004-05 Basketball Operations plan, Nash set a goal of 50 victories and a second "personal" goal of making the trades during the season to improve the roster.
Neither of those happened.
And just 24 hours before the Blazers exercised their option on Nash's contract, he told me in a private conversation that he figured the team would wait until his contract expired, in late June, before letting him know if he would be retained.
"That's how they do things here," he said. "They wait."
And then the sun came up, and with it came the end of the agonizing overnight wait. Except that for maybe the first time since new management took over, we all got a good long look behind that heavy, dark curtain. And that's valuable, if you ask me.
Because when the curtain came back, there they were, in matching sombreros, red-handed, at the levers -- the Three Amigos. Nash, President Steve Patterson and player personnel director Kevin Pritchard. </div>
Source
