Coming back to Earth.

Let’s remember, for a moment, that this is not an archeological dig but rather a dramatic spectacle. Professional sports is a kind of entertainment. Otherwise, it’s just a statistical game and, while exciting, it’s the same as watching the stock market or playing fantasy sports. I know—fantasy football ruined me as a football fan. That’s why I never play fantasy basketball.

So when you toss around terms like “in KP we trust” and “Kevin-ade” (where is what’s-her-name to tell its insensitive to use that term since it’s a reference to Jim Jones?) is a refutation of your own argument.

Kevin Pritchard was a marvelous GM precisely because he gave such hope to the fans. He, more than anyone else, was responsible for unifying the fans. He DID STUFF on draft nights. He sincerely talked to the press. He looked aggrieved when Oden was hurt and elated when BRoy won rookie-of-the-year.

To me, it crystallized during the Turkoglu signing last summer. Remember the boards around here then? Everyone was mortified at the signing because, well, everyone knew the guy wasn’t that good. It was a baffling offer. But I’d say 80%-90% of the posters did one thing: they gulped, shivered, and said “In KP I trust” or “I believe in KP” or “KP must know what he’s doing.”

I have never, in any professional sport playing for any particular city, seen that kind of devotion and trust in management. I live near Chicago where hating management is part of the job.

You think we over-value Blazers? Part of that is because we believed in KP.

Think people were to eager to name late-round PGs as all-stars? Part of that was belief in KPs statistical method.

And blind, reasonless, or delusional, that’s a very, very good thing. A fanbase unified behind a team is far, far superior to the opposite. KP was a great GM because he made being a GM an asset to the team in the sense of energizing the fanbase.

I personally still regard his moves as pretty solid. I didn’t mind losing RLEC; I don’t blame him for the Darius memo; I don’t blame him for not drafting Durant; I liked watching Sergio play; I liked watching Rudy play; I like watching Bayless play. I genuinely LIKE the team that KP put his stamp on.

That’s a great GM. Those are hard shoes for Cho to fill.

They say that history is written by the victors. That seems to be happening now; the Blazers’ brass is succeeding in convincing everyone that KP was an incompetent glory hound while they’ve been sage professionals all along. Do you truly believe that?

My guess is that, as usual, the truth lies somewhere in the middle. KP was no genius, but neither was he a fool. I’d take all this revisionist history with a healthy grain of salt.

I should point out that I never deified KP. I remember being jumped on for a BE Fanpost in which I suggested that KP’s Blazer roster was lacking in toughness. (I wondered whether, as a former point guard, KP lacked a feel & appreciation for that aspect of the game.)

Speaking of toughness, later I got heat for saying that passing over DeJuan Blair not once but twice in the 2nd round was a clear mistake on KP’s part. For once, I felt, he’d been unprepared and inflexible; not expecting Blair to be available in the 2nd round, he wasn’t prepared to pull the trigger when he dropped that far. (Pendy instead of Blair? Give me a break!)

But here’s the bottom line: I never concluded that KP was a crappy GM, and I’m not concluding that now, despite all the trash being heaped on him these days. No GM is infallible. No GM has a perfect draft/trade record. KP did better than most in my opinion, and if he ended up believing his own press clippings, that doesn’t mean he should take all the blame for the obvious dysfunction in the Blazers’ front office.

Re/ KP’s alleged publicity-seeking and credit-grabbing; “nature abhors a vacuum.” With Allen & Miller hiding in the front office, someone had to talk to the media. Maybe KP ended up loving the spotlight too much. But had Allen & Miller been doing their jobs (and not interferring with KP doing his), KP might have been a better GM. He might have made better decisions (who knows how many of the questionable transactions you list were made to appease Allen et al), and he may have been much less publicly visible.

Instead of “coming back down to earth,” Jorga, maybe you should just move down from the stratosphere to the tree tops. It’s nicer up there than planted in the dirt…to stretch a metaphor. I believe KP WAS a good GM for the most part, and I think the team he helped assemble IS poised for great things. If the new GM can improve the performance of the training / conditioning staff so as to keep these young players reasonably healthy, I expect we’ll be in for quite a ride the next few seasons.