Kevin Pritchard on NPR

by Ben Golliver on Apr 23, 2009 2:40 PM PDT

As promised at the end of yesterday's Practice Report, here's a link to a brief interview Kevin Pritchard did with Geoff Norcross on OPB/NPR.

Shift + click here to stream it in your browser.

And here's another link to OPB's story regarding the current Blazers re-igniting fan interest.

-- Ben (benjamin.golliver@gmail.com)

Addendum: For those who are interested in following OPB's coverage they're going to be doing a radio hour tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. They'll feature Bill Schonely, Harry Glickman, and a blogger you're pretty familiar with, plus they're interviewing TDarkstar about his grandfather's story which ran here just a couple days ago. I believe they're at 91.5 FM in the Portland area. You can check it out.

Though it's related only by the medium, just a heads up...we'll also be doing an hour in-studio with Gavin, Chad, and the MSP on 95.5 The Game next Tuesday morning at 8:00 a.m.

Addition: Oh, and Ben is too modest to mention it himself, but he's included prominently in the interview linked at the top of this piece. Great insights. Check it out!

Addition #2: One of the show's producers wants to pick your brain in this Fanpost.

--Dave

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Transcription

for those w/o sound /????

sophia

Though patience be a tired mare, yet she will plod. - William Shakespeare

Roses are red
violets in bloom
Sophia’s in love
with Nicholas Batum
-Bow4Meow

by BlazerFan1 on Apr 23, 2009 2:42 PM PDT reply actions

I'll get right on it in a sec.

by RudyFTW on Apr 23, 2009 2:43 PM PDT up reply actions

ok, here it is...pretty close to word for word, with some "ums" and repeated words omitted.

Interviewer: Let’s consider how this Blazers thing came together…here’s the man who put it together—here’s Kevin Pritchard.

Kevin, good morning!

KP: Good morning, Jeff!

Interviewer: From a community embarrassment to a model franchise in just a few years. How did it happen?

KP: It started early on. Nate and myself and Paul Allen, we decided what we wanted to be and then we layed out the steps and the first step was making sure we had the right people within the organization and the right players on the floor. So, we just decided that being in the community and being unselfish and being team first was the start of that and that started with the brandon roy and lamarcus aldridge draft. Those two gentlemen have been foundational pieces.

Interviewer: Well let’s talk about Brandon Roy. Five other teams passed on him. What did you see in him that they missed?

KP: Well the one thing about Brandon is as we went through our process we scouted him a lot…I saw him play five or six times…and you could tell he was the caregiver..in terms of personality. He puts others first, then he worries about himself. Anytime you have that personality, what a great way to change your culture! We didn’t have the right culture, so we had to get it. He is absolutely the biggest reason of us changing. For sure our off court, but also our on-court demeanor.

Interviewer: Here’s the concern: these young players get famous in Portland, and then they move on to other teams with higher salaries.

KP :That’s where character comes in…the one thing that we’ve done is do studies—if they are of great character, they’ll do exactly what they’re supposed to do. Kobe is one of the highest paid guys, but he’s also one of the most competitive. Same with LeBron. Those are the top side examples. For us, Joel Przybilla gets a lot of money, but he dives on the floor four or five times just last night and he bangs with Yao Ming…It’s not about money for him. It’s about passion for the game.

Interviewer: What could other teams looking to rebuild learn from the Blazers.

KP: the big thing is you have to figure out what you wanna’ be. Then work backwards. Start with a goal in mind and then figure out the steps to get there. We chose this path. I’m not saying it’s the right path, I’m saying it’s our path.

Interviewer: Alright thanks for coming on Mr. Pritchard!

Goodbye Deke. The NBA will miss Mt. Mutombo.

by prezofdeath on Apr 23, 2009 3:04 PM PDT up reply actions 7 recs

rec for effort

"The brownies,'' Fernandez said after the game. "The brownies are good for me to make three-points.''

by Sabonis4Ever on Apr 23, 2009 3:10 PM PDT up reply actions

thank you prez

Blazers Edge.com

by Ben Golliver on Apr 23, 2009 3:11 PM PDT up reply actions

The Caregiver

new brandon nickname? doesn’t exactly strike fear into the heart of our enemies, but i like it.

JAH

by abetterbomb on Apr 23, 2009 3:19 PM PDT reply actions

Brandon already plays like an old man....and old man who will drop 50 on your face

"The brownies,'' Fernandez said after the game. "The brownies are good for me to make three-points.''

by Sabonis4Ever on Apr 23, 2009 3:26 PM PDT up reply actions

lol seems like our teachers were always trying to get us to read that book in high school

is it any good?

Goodbye Deke. The NBA will miss Mt. Mutombo.

by prezofdeath on Apr 23, 2009 3:26 PM PDT up reply actions

I can't remember

"The brownies,'' Fernandez said after the game. "The brownies are good for me to make three-points.''

by Sabonis4Ever on Apr 23, 2009 3:28 PM PDT up reply actions

its pretty good

I think I read it in like 6th grade though, not high school.

by jksnake99 on Apr 23, 2009 4:15 PM PDT up reply actions

mie hi skool delt with sum of the..uhh....nott-soe-giphted kidds.

might have been elementary school, middle school..i just remember seeing it around a lot.

Goodbye Deke. The NBA will miss Mt. Mutombo.

by prezofdeath on Apr 23, 2009 4:26 PM PDT up reply actions

Is that Blake

after a few more months of beard growth? Sweet!

‘OK Nic, swag on out on ‘em!’

by clinchmobb on Apr 23, 2009 3:31 PM PDT up reply actions

Old men kick ass

by undutchable on Apr 23, 2009 3:36 PM PDT up reply actions

Pai Mei FTW.

"I don't know Twitter" - Rudy Fernandez

by RoodiePhirnandizz on Apr 23, 2009 4:07 PM PDT up reply actions

It's only marginally better than the horrific Yellow Mamba moniker...

It's spelled "PRZYBILLA."
vanillathrillagorillaprzybilla

by RenoBlazerFan on Apr 23, 2009 4:58 PM PDT up reply actions

Roy is "The Natural" or "The Flu"

That stop and go by Roy is straight sick. I'm calling him "The Flu" from now on. - Wendell Maxey

by Norsktroll on Apr 23, 2009 5:08 PM PDT up reply actions

Interviewer didn't do his hw

“these young players get famous in Portland and they move on to higher salaries with other teams”

Who is he talking about? He clearly doesn’t realize that we have the richest owner in professional sports and are actually the ones doing the financial bullying. I’m going to go out on a limb and guess he’s not a basketball fan.

by Rip City Revival on Apr 23, 2009 4:36 PM PDT reply actions

I think he just wanted to know what KP thinks on resign Roy, and LMA.

KPjust smartly put everything in different light than just money.

And Oden, once again, is a rookie, so non-stop fast break basketball is like fast-forwarding a song while he's trying to learn the lyrics.

by RipCity on Apr 23, 2009 5:13 PM PDT up reply actions

You can't resign everyone.

If you manage to draft/trade really smart and end up with 8 guys who are all really really good, you’re going to have to lose a couple because you can’t all pay them big money. It’s an inevitability that if Batum and Bayless and Rudy etc all get to a level where they deserve higher range salaries, we’ll have to let someone go.

by aimlessgun on Apr 23, 2009 11:54 PM PDT up reply actions

Vance and Jaynes

Kenny and Dwight were talking about this yesterday on 99.5

They agreed that in 3-5 years Rudy would have to be dealt because he would require more minutes than he will be able to receive playing behind Brandon Roy in Portland. I’ve made this same comment in the past, both players are 2 guards, and playing them together (other than short stretches of games) is not a long-term option.

This reminds me of Drazen Petrovic playing behind Clyde Drexler. Dp was “too good” to be a backup and longed for starter’s minutes. When he got the opportunity to start in NJ, he was named to the all-star game. I wouldn’t be surprised to see KP having to make the same decision re: Rudy in years to come. Here’s hoping they get full trade value for Fernandez when he’s at the peak of his game, rather than hold onto him to long, let him make contract/trade demands (through his agent) that make is harder for KP to get a good return

Roster management will get dicier the closer the Blazers come to competing for a championship, that was one of the points of yesterday’s conversation. I agree with Kenny, here’s hoping KP won’t get “gun shy” when it comes time to deal (some of) the players he’s acquired/assembled

by two4larue on Apr 24, 2009 12:26 PM PDT up reply actions

my hope there

is that Brandon plays some 2 and some 3, and there is a three-person rotation among 2-guard and small forward.

Next season is going to be kickass. – Elgin

Tonight felt like the day you open the mail and receive an acceptance letter to your dream school: the University of Playoffs. - Ben Golliver, Apr 15 2009

by 22baylor on Apr 24, 2009 2:21 PM PDT up reply actions

I liked your comment, Ben

On the Jail Blazers moniker. I had not thought of it like that before. For the record, I didn’t like having a sex offender on the team, but I don’t think it had anything to do with the color of his skin. I think I’m an equal opportunity hater of sex offenders.

by sagcat on Apr 23, 2009 5:34 PM PDT reply actions

Podcast?

Had to ask because Tom is not here.

"The brownies,'' Fernandez said after the game. "The brownies are good for me to make three-points.''

by Sabonis4Ever on Apr 23, 2009 5:37 PM PDT reply actions

Casey is on the road

and he has the keys to the sound board.

I think we’re going to try and do one early next week to make up for it.

—Dave

by Dave on Apr 23, 2009 7:42 PM PDT up reply actions

OT, Jazz 21-Fake Show 14

Late 1st…

Proud member of Duck nation!

by skywaker9 on Apr 23, 2009 8:04 PM PDT reply actions

91.5 FM

I highly recommend it between 3pm and 6pm on weekdays. The rest of the day, feel free to listen to 95.5 FM, 1080 AM, or whatever. But from 3pm-6pm… 91.5 FM, OPB, great radio, definitely great radio.

MLB2PDX!!! (someday...)

by The Cactus Leaguer on Apr 23, 2009 8:21 PM PDT reply actions