I was just making a fanpost on this.

That was some great discussion and insight to what went on during draft day, and I think most of us are smart enough to realize that KP really did not weasel his way out of a deal with Charlotte.

So, what’s the point of deleting that post? It wasn’t proclaiming that KP was shady and backstabbed Charlotte, but it also gave us great insight on how things go down in the warroom.

I think that when Cats where picking KP called them and said that he wants DJ. So MJ asked to give him something like Webster and 13 for DJ, but KP said that he will give them Jack instead of Webster, MJ said no, but was thinking “since they like DJ they will come back to me”, so Charlotte drafted DJ. On the other hand KP called Charlotte and purpesly said that he wants Augustine so Charlotte would not pick Bayless, because the price for him would be even greater. KP knew that Bayless would fall all the way to 11, and thats why he called Indiana before the draft and made the deal then. Indiana already just traded for TJ Ford so they didnt need a point guard. But its still is weird why did Indiana didnt ask more for Bayless

What’s next, if a rumor came out that we talked to Seattle about Westbrook are people going to think KP pritchslapped Seattle as well? Like KP said, this will always be remembered as the “smoke screen draft”. We talked up Westbrook and Augustine and other teams bit on it. We never agreed to a deal with Charlotte, or any other team until it was Indiana’s pick. I’m surprised at all the anger/confusion regarding KP. After all, we’re all Blazer fans and we just legally got the second best point guard in the draft. Go celebrate.

The people need to be heard!

and then the post returns.
We’ll see, I guess

. . . you can see that the piece was getting HUGE attention all over.
This thing was linked to in a ton of places, including Newsweek.

I’m guessing it certainly got the attention of the Bobcats’ HQ, and some frantic calls took place.

Someone told me that all the rumors of Augustin came from a text message from Pritchard to Quick. After the Augustin pick, Quick texted KP “Is this your guy?” Pritchard didn’t check his cell until Bayless was picked, he answered “Yes” Quick thought it was his answer to the Augustin pick. It was all a miscommunication. No red-herrings, misdirections, fake-outs, or broken promises.

The smokescreen was all pre-draft I believe. KP did all the work before the draft and Bayless landed in the right spot. This is much more plausible to me instead of the crazy dual trade proposals and subsequent hosing of MJ. Even though I liked the hosing MJ part.

the rumor that went out about Blazers wanting to move up to #10, and would send #13,33, and J Jack. And in it they wanted DJ, so maybe that why Cats took DJ, after they saw that New Jersey would not deal with us.

since I see comments and questions popping up on the site.

I think Ben’s piece, both in its original form and now, is very good. I knew the moment I saw it that it would receive wide attention. Because of this there was one precaution we needed to take. In his original piece Ben had included some factual, observation-based information about what the view looked like on draft night from the media room. He also included some provocative and well-thought-out theoretical musings on what might have been behind those observations (e.g. a possible deal, or at least assumed deal, in place with the Bobcats). In the original post the line between the two was somewhat fuzzy, leaving readers open to the idea that there WAS a trade in place with Charlotte that the Blazers backed out of just as there WAS frenzied communication in the media room that night. Not having talked to Kevin Pritchard, Michael Jordan, or anyone on either staff about this issue we couldn’t leave that line unclear, especially since the post was going to be re-echoed throughout the ‘net. My stopgap solution was to put a small disclaimer at the front of the post and leave it as-is. Ben preferred to split the observational and speculative aspects of the post into two posts and two conversations, taking down the original. Since he is the author I left the decision in his hands.

In no way did I disapprove of Ben’s writing, in this story or otherwise. The piece and the conversation surrounding it was, and will be, excellent (as is usual with Ben’s work).

—Dave

no KP did not call me.

see part 2 to continue speculating with me.

sorry for the confusion.

I saw it and didn’t take time to read it, thinking I’d get to it later in the day… and now it’s GONE?!?

Man.

Was it juicy?

I’m not saying that a MSM writer wouldn’t make the same mistake. But this just fits into the stereotype that bloggers live in their basement, and do their work in their underwear.

I know that Ben was there; he WAS given access.

Ben’s been really good on this site, but a gaff like this is terrible. This has thrown mud on KP (even if it was not intended that way.)

I’ve worked in a news room before. I got the first name of a cancer patient wrong and it was printed in the paper. 18 years later, I still have the mental scars from my editor’s scalding words. Don’t think that this won’t get around the web; people find this stuff and remember.

You’ve got to have two sources to make a claim like this or a quote directly from KP.