Man, what a classic “dog-bites-man” story this is. I mean, seriously, is anybody surprised that Rudy Fernandez wants to be traded? Or that the team is trying to accommodate him?

Man, things change. And this is one of those times when the team definitely waited too long to deal him. A year ago this guy was thought to be a rising star and considered quite possibly to be one of the best young shooting guards in the world. Now? The Blazers will be lucky to get much for him.

I wrote a piece for Oregon Live last summer about Rudy and suggested the team should consider moving him. It’s worth a read just because it reminds us all how much we thought of the guy after his rookie season. And I may be the only one around who still believes he has a chance to be a very good NBA player.

All the reasons for Rudy to want out of here were easy to see coming down the track, like a freight train headed toward Portland. But man, I took a ton of flack for that piece and I ask that you take a look at the poll that accompanied it.

Nobody liked the idea. I was called an idiot every which way in the comments section of this blog. I know Kevin Pritchard didn’t like the idea because he told me so.

But these are the sorts of decisions that GMs are supposed to make earlier than fans. They’re the kind of decisions that are supposed to be made while a player still has value. I’m not sure Portland is going to get all that much for Fernandez, who seriously devalued himself with his work — or lack of same — in the playoffs last season.

There’s a lesson here — for fans, GMs and everyone else. And this is why general managers get paid upwards of a million bucks a year.

Tweet This Post

If you haven’t read this yet, sorry for not linking you up sooner. But you really have to go there and take a look at this detailed summary from T Darkstar on Blazers Edge — some speculation and some fact — on what happened, or may have happened. It’s good stuff.

Tweet This Post

I keep hearing that New Orleans wants Kevin Pritchard as its next general manager, partly to show Chris Paul it means business in rebuilding that team.

And Pritchard seems to be very interested in the job.

But one thing a couple of my friends within the league were talking about this week is a concern that Pritchard might be so anxious to get back to work that he takes the job.

It’s a lousy job. You think Paul Allen’s interference was a problem in Portland? Take a look at what the Shinn family has done with this franchise. It’s a total mess. To dive into that situation merely because you just can’t resist the first chance to get back into the league would be crazy.

Pritchard can do nothing but help himself by being selective about his next job in the NBA. Man, no matter how good you are, certain situations are a whole lot worse than this one was in Portland. And it’s a good idea not to purposely put yourself in that situation.

Tweet This Post

There were rumors coming out of New York last week that Donnie Walsh would be resigning soon as the president of the Knicks and that Kevin Pritchard was seen as a possible successor.

Funny, though. Walsh is denying he’s retiring and also denying he’s even spoken to Pritchard, or his agent, Warren LeGarie, about Pritchard. The Knicks coach, Mike D’Antoni, is also represented by LeGarie.

There is now even a buzz within the league that LeGarie was trying to organize some sort of coup to get Pritchard into that job, in order to protect D’Antoni’s status as the team’s head coach.

It’s similar, of course, to that other rumor a few months ago out of New Jersey, that LeGarie tried to orchestrate a scenario that would slide Del Harris into the coaching job of the Nets and Kiki Vandeweghe off the bench and back into his general manager chair with the Nets.

Here’s a great little look at how LeGarie tried to manipulate Vandeweghe’s situation in Denver and how he conducts his business in the NBA:

Naturally, those who have dealt with the awfully fluent, commendably cunning LeGarie know better. He believes unconditionally that you have got to have at least two conflicts of interest to be successful. His cup runneth over in that regard.

Many of his coaching (Mike D’Antoni, the Thunder’s Scott Brooks, Kurt Rambis of the Timberwolves) and decision-making (Vandeweghe, Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo, Sixers GM Ed Stefanski) customers are strewn throughout the NBA.

Some clients (Chris Wallace) hire other clients (Lionel Hollins) after another client (Marc Iavaroni) was paid to leave the Grizzlies.

Some clients (Kim Hughes and Neil Olshey) replace another client (Mike Dunleavy) in Clippers management, one job at a time, at least temporarily, as LeGarie queues other clients to succeed them, just in case.

“You’re right,” yet another client concurs. “Warren will campaign for Kim and Neil . . . unless he can get another client in there.”

That can be rewarding if you’re the client-of-the-day that LeGarie is selling. Or it can be detrimental to your career if he recklessly pushes his luck and bullies the wrong billionaire purely to show how slick he is and/or to test his juice quotient.

Hmmm. “recklessly pushes his luck and bullies the wrong billionaire…”??? Are we seeing a pattern emerge here?

Now, are you still having problems believing that LeGarie possibly tried to orchestrate a coup with the Trail Blazers that would have pushed Tom Penn into the president’s chair and Larry Miller out the door?

Tweet This Post

Here is a link to the Sports Business Radio website, which also contains a link to the podcast of yesterday’s show on 95.5 The Game. On that show, host Brian Berger asserted that it was, as Steve Patterson claimed on the MSP last week, Patterson who engineered the Brandon Roy/LaMarcus Aldridge draft. Not only that, he says Pritchard wanted to draft Adam Morrison.

Ouch. What worse thing could you say about a draft guru?

Berger will be a guest on the Morning Sports Page today at 7:35.

Tweet This Post

– Pretty amazing how this team puked on itself right there in front of everyone. I’m not sure why Paul Allen has never appeared to listen to any advice regarding PR. He always seem to maximize damage for decisions he makes. This was incredible — firing Kevin Pritchard on draft night. I cannot believe it went down that way.

– That said, the notion that KP was fired for “no apparent reason” is ridiculous. There were reasons and they’ll come out. And they certainly don’t have anything to do with Paul Allen being jealous about how much publicity KP has been getting. Allen doesn’t WANT publicity. Doesn’t care about it. Now would he be concerned about someone getting credit for doing something he didn’t actually do? Yes, and I think rightfully so — if that happened.

– The story floating around that Pritchard tried an “end run” around Larry Miller as a franchise takeover — probably masterminded by Tom Penn, who would have become the GM underneath Pritchard as the president — has been confirmed by several Blazer insiders. You fire people for that kind of stuff.

– Rumor has it Pritchard, whom Allen didn’t want to speak with, was reporting directly to Hat Guy. Just sayin’.

– The Blazers messed with Warren LeGarie, which is not a smart thing to do. He turned the tables on them Thursday night and made a martyr out of Pritchard. Messy situation.

– Let’s really relax a little on the “tragedy” of all this. Pritchard will survive and so will the Trail Blazers.

– Incredible how far the value of Martell Webster and Rudy Fernandez have fallen. All you can get is a No. 16 pick? Wow. I think the Webster trade is crazy — a guy who has proved he can defend the small forward in the NBA is a commodity. Whether he’s inconsistent on offense or not. Not sure if Luke Babbitt can defend anyone.

Tweet This Post

UPDATE: I am hearing that Toronto has rejected that proposed deal for Rudy. Man, is it possible his value plunged that far?

You just have to think that by the time the smoke clears today, Rudy Fernandez will be but a memory to the Portland Trail Blazers. Too bad — a lot of potential that was never realized.

The big question around the league, though, is who do the Trail Blazers want in the draft? It’s obvious they’re trying hard to move up in the draft — but to get who? They don’t just move up to move up. They always have a target, we know that.

It’s also Kevin Pritchard’s last stand, most likely. And I’d expect him to go out in a blaze of glory. No, not to try to save his job here — but to audition for his next job. That’s what’s going on here.

So it should be one busy day. And for me, one of the most fun. We’ve got some great new rumors on the future Blazer general manager today on the MSP, on 95.5 The Game from 6-9 a.m. and on Talkin’ Ball tonight on Comcast Sportsnet from 7-8 o’clock. You’ll want to pay attention.

Happy Draft Day everyone. And set up your RSS, pay attention to twitter, whatever you do because when we hear something fresh, we’ll post it.

Tweet This Post

Several sources within the league confirmed that this morning.

It’s considered dead, though, as New Orleans continues to shop him around, trying to see what his value might be. Apparently the Hornets are the ones who backed away from the Portland trade.

No surprise. I think it would be ridiculous for New Orleans to deal Paul, by the way. Talk about devaluing a franchise that’s already in a bit of trouble… without Paul it may as well move to Seattle.

If New Orleans was just looking to save money, Portland would be a great trade partner — it has Joel Przybilla and Andre Miller’s expiring contracts to barter, as well as a few young players that could fill roles.

If that trade gets made, would it save Kevin Pritchard’s job? Not sure. I would doubt it — if they’ve come to a decision to fire you, I think you’re going to get fired. And I mean, it’s not as if — at this point or maybe ever — he’s operating in a vacuum. The owner would be deeply involved from the start on a trade of this magnitude and everyone in the league knows Paul is being shopped — if just to assess his value. It’s not as if Pritchard would have unearthed a treasure that no one else knew was available.

All that said, getting Paul into a Blazer uniform would be a huge move. Putting him with Brandon Roy (assuming Roy could learn to function alongside him), LaMarcus Aldridge and Greg Oden would mean an outstanding core of a championship future.

Tweet This Post

That’s basically what this column says. The biggest problem I have with it is the whole idea that nobody of quality would ever take this job:

The Blazers aren’t going to lure any general manager who currently has a good situation. They won’t be able to entice anyone who could wait around for, say, a year or two and find a better situation. They also won’t be able to easily draw from the vast pool of talent that is managed by LeGarie. So what we have here is an old-fashioned search for miscasts, retreads and the desperate.

I’ve got news for you… it’s a good young roster, an owner willing to spend money to win and a job that will pay big bucks. There will be people out there — good people — who would take the job.

And certainly around the league, Kevin Pritchard isn’t seen as the tragic hero he’s being painted as in Portland. There was plenty of resentment about Pritchard’s attitude — where he was seen by many as arrogant or as taking credit for deals that were done only because he had Allen’s wealth to work with.

I’ve said this before. I like Pritchard. I’d like to see him come back. But to think he’s done nothing at all to bring about his own precarious situation is so patently naive I don’t even know what to say about it. And to think he’s the only person in the world capable of leading this team to the next level is really narrow minded.

In fact, there is a lot of evidence that the frustrating thing about the last few years in Portland is a reluctance to make that one big deal, that one big three-for-one or two-for-one that would bring the final piece to a championship team. You could make a case that he’s held on to pieces too long — how about Rudy Fernandez, for example? — and that they’ve been devalued because of it.

Look, I’m not a fan of a management style where people are left to hang without a clue about their future. But at the same time, when they continue to get paid and they’re earning several hundred thousand dollars a year for it, I make it a practice not to pity them.

And I certainly think it’s possible to find a replacement for just about anyone with this franchise — other than the owner. THAT would worry me much more than finding another general manager.

Tweet This Post

Kenny Vance over at 95.5 The Game was the first to report this, like 10 days ago — and even predicted that Bernie Bickerstaff would be hired as the new lead assistant coach.

All I can say is, you’re going to shake up your staff and Bernie Bickerstaff is the answer? Well, maybe. I guess. I was looking for an innovator — someone with a new approach. Someone a little younger? Of course, I guess Bernie has the No. 1 quality for anyone getting hired around here — he spent some time in Seattle.

As far as his son, J.B., getting hired here, I’m not so sure about that. He’s still under contract in Minnesota. Plus, he’s so far been just a developmental coach and in Bill Bayno and Caleb Canales Portland already has two of those.

Let me say, too, that if the Blazers are losing Joe Prunty they’re losing a very promising young coach. I really don’t understand that.

I’m also not sure where this is coming from. It doesn’t sound like a Nate McMillan thing to jettison assistant coaches in bunches. You have to wonder if this isn’t coming from up north. Certainly Kevin Pritchard doesn’t seem to be in any position to force such changes on the head coach.

Usually, in any sport, when you see the head coach making wholesale changes on his staff it means the head guy is under some serious pressure. And it often means management is looking for not just coaching changes — but changes in the team’s style of play.

Which would be nice.

One thing is certain — next season is looking more and more like a very critical year for this franchise. And its head coach.

Tweet This Post