Bert Kolde, Advisor To Blazers Owner Paul Allen, Disputes Brandon Roy Amnesty Clause Report On Twitter
by Ben Golliver on Dec 1, 2011 11:27 PM PST
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PrintBert Kolde, former college roommate, longtime confidante, longtime courtside seat companion and current top advisor to Portland Trail Blazers owner Paul Allen, is on Twitter @bertk. A team spokesperson has confirmed that it is an official account. At the time of this posting, the account had 24 followers.
Kolde has posted only two tweets since he first began publishing on the account 15 months ago: one to introduce the Seattle Seahawks' new management staff in Sept. 2010 and one to rail on John Canzano of The Oregonian on Thursday for his report about the Blazers having decided to use the Amnesty Clause on guard Brandon Roy. Canzano's report indicated that Allen and Kolde were "calling the shots" and had made up their mind to use the Amnesty Clause on Roy.
"Once again John Canzano got it wrong about the Portland Trail Blazers by using erroneous unnamed sources," Kolde wrote, before linking to a piece written by Mike Tokito of The Oregonian which included a previous denial of the report made by Blazers president Larry Miller at the beginning of a Wednesday media availability.
If this sounds familiar, that's because Blazers COO Sarah Mensah recently opened a Twitter account to dispute a previous report from Canzano and because Miller went out of his way to specifically name-check Canzano on Wednesday.
Also on Wednesday, Miller said the "fan factor" would play a role in the decision whether or not to amnesty Roy. Earlier this week, Blazers fans made Allen's official account -- @PaulGAllen -- trend in Portland by sending him dozens (hundreds?) of messages in support of Roy. On Thursday, a Blazers fan launched an online petition in support of Roy and multiple NBA players spoke up here and here.
-- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter
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Why do we have a guy with no real basketball knowledge, much less any NBA level experience, acting as Paul Allen's top advisor?
So we have no GM, but instead we have Bert Kolde, who has the same qualifications to advise an NBA owner as my postman. Is is any wonder that the team is in disarray and hasn’t been able to advance past the first round of the playoffs for years? I would laugh, if it weren’t so sad.
by rhaegar on Dec 1, 2011 11:32 PM PST reply actions 1 recs
He's there 'cause he's been his best friend since college.
Also, don’t think of Bert Kolde in relation to the unfilled GM job, but rather as the franchise’s de facto CEO — although I believe his official job title is that of vice chairman — as he’s second-in-command at Paul Allen’s Vulcan Sports and Entertainment (i.e., a subsidy of Vulcan, Inc.).
If the Portland Trail Blazers had an organizational flow chart, Allen would be alone at the top, Kolde would sit right below Allen on the second tier, and the third tier would be upper management level executive staff (i.e., team president Larry Miller, COO Sarah Mensah, the CFO, the CLO/general counsel, et al.)
"I Am Mine"
Maybe you should start laughing.
There are thousands of books websites and News that can get anybody into BB knowledge. I have learned so much from BE that I am getting to feel I have BB knowledge although I am far from it. PA has more businesse then just the Trailblazers and the Seahawks, so being a top advisor isn’t sad,
I would say the top priorty to being Paul’s top advisory would be trust. I am sure since he was PA friend and roomate in college that they formed mutual respect, trust and friendship.
Start laughing, because it is not sad.
hg
by BBK on Dec 2, 2011 3:26 AM PST up reply actions
I think it's kind of awesome, actually
For all the criticism we’ve leveled at them in the wake of the GM firings/hirings, the fact that PA’s best friend is such an integral part of the organization shows great loyalty, and makes PA look a little more like your average, everyday fan just enjoying sports with his buddies and a little less like an off-the-rails billionaire. No team is perfect, anyway. All GMs make mistakes, regardless of their basketball knowledge or experience, so who’s to say we’d be any better off with someone with a lot of pro experience running the show? At least you can look at the big picture and say, despite all the chaos in the front office recently, the biggest barrier to success this team has faced has been injuries, not personnel or lack of talent. And that’s just bad luck.
by fart on Dec 2, 2011 6:06 AM PST up reply actions 1 recs
I second this...
If Brandon and Greg had been healthy these past 4 years, I think all the front office chaos would be non existent and KP might still have a job… but who really knows. Rich Cho at least. Winning cures most ills. I can’t wait for training camp to start so we can talk about something other than the front office/ownership short comings. Let’s waive Brandon already and play ball so we can all move on to something different. Just so you know, I love Roy and don’t really want to see him go, but for the sake of the franchise, I think it’s best to move on now instead of dragging this whole thing out when we all know that we can’t go forward with Brandon now. I mean, Brandon is no longer the future of this franchise and I think they need to start putting a new plan in place with what they have… Anyway you put it, it’s a sad and depressing story.
This is called "cronyism" in government, and it never seems to end well:
the fact that PA’s best friend is such an integral part of the organization shows great loyalty, and makes PA look a little more like your average, everyday fan
…just sayin.
by definition, no...
But the mechanisms inside organizations of humans are pretty much the same no matter what label you want to give to the organization.
Not really
I run a family business – and I can tell you that trust is a major factor in building a management group. We hire family and close friends not as a reward for being our friend – but because we understand their strength and weaknesses intimately – and can place absolute trust in their loyalty.
No one has an “entitlement” (even our wives). If you can’t help the business you don’t play a part. However, it really helps when you have close friends and family that do have the capabilities you need. Makes personnel decisions much, much more comfortable.
Law of Logical Argument
Anything is possible if you don't know what you are talking about.
by blacknoiseNW on Dec 2, 2011 12:11 PM PST up reply actions
"No one has an "entitlement" (even our wives). If you can’t help the business you don’t play a part. "
That’s why it works for you, I’d imagine.
On the flip side
Hiring close friends didn’t work so well for Warren Harding or George W. Bush. As for PA, who knows? It sure looks dysfunctional from the outside.
Yeah - I wasn't making a judgment of PA's circle
Just weighing in on the advantages of working with people you know and trust…
Law of Logical Argument
Anything is possible if you don't know what you are talking about.
Looooooooove
that Canzano is getting called out. A terrible and irresponsible writer. I’m ashamed that he’s staffed on the Oregonian.
John's been propping up their sport's section, for years
When reached 40 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!
Say what you will about Canzano
but Its a little ridiculous that two high-up executives within the Blazers/Vulcans org have seemingly created accounts just to dispute/attack Canzano.
Forget a GM, Blazers need to hire a PR guru
I JUST WANT MY BASKETBALL BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
by Sean in Vancouver on Dec 1, 2011 11:55 PM PST reply actions
Say what you will against Canzano?
He’s a hack.
by go_ducks on Dec 2, 2011 12:05 AM PST up reply actions 1 recs
Undoubtedly we can expect more provocations from Canzano.
It’s exactly what he wants.Imagine how he jumps of joy every time his name was mentioned by
a representative of Blazers upper management.He lives for these moments.
Obviously he has learned from “the best” / Adolf Hitler; Goebbels / and has adopted their philosophy:
“If you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes the truth.”
The best and perhaps only salvation of this plague,posing as a journalist is totally ignore him.
Comparing Canzano to those guys may be taking it a smidge far....
I understand you’re just making a point. Even so.
In college, a professor of mine encouraged every "budding young propagandist"
…to read “Mein Kampf.” Those guys were quite effective at the techniques of propaganda and setting the narrative. As they set the gold standard, it’s only natural to refer back to them, regardless if you are talking about a government, office politics, or a smarmy snake-oil newspaper columnist.
yeah but Goebbels
would probably argue against referring to Nazi’s to make your point if you want to get your point across in today’s world. that would be bad propaganda.
"What and how much had I lost by trying to do only what was expected of me instead of what I myself had wished to do?"
— Ralph Ellison (Invisible Man)
Well that arm motion
of Kolde does more resemble a Nazi salute than a high five. Or at least the Dr. Strangelove version of the salute. BTW neither Hitler nor Gobbels used that exact quote. It was as you say the philosophy in Mein Kampf but it was describing how Hitler believed the Jews operated. The US Army later used it in an anti-communist film as a quote from Hitler but he didn’t use those exact words:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Lie
step away from the edge
of BE site rules
When reached 40 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!
But in typical fashion, Canzano can't lose
If the Blazers do amnesty Roy (even if they haven’t already decided, and instead come to that decision in the next few weeks), he can say “see, I told you. this was their plan all along”.
If they don’t amnesty Roy he can claim that the public outcry (led by himself of course), forced the Blazers to change their mind.
"But if Ding Dongs and prime rib were the path to NBA pivot stardom we'd all be wearing the uniform." -Dave
To be fair, it works both ways
If the Blazers do amnesty him, Kolde and Allen simply say they hadn’t decided by the time of the report. If they don’t, they can claim Canzano was wrong, even if they had decided and the outcry changed their minds.
Canzano is such a jerk. I think it's his job to sell print..or whatever and he does...
So he is probably happy.
Maybe someone should point out that if Roy had just been able to have his private moment during the national anthem (as he did b/4 Canzano called ROY out) that perhaps Roy’s knees would have been just fine. Roy’s problems did all start AFTER he started joining the rest for the anthem.
I like it. Canzano gets away with too much fictitious muckraking.
"You're not too smart, are you? I like that in a man." - Matty Walker in Body Heat (1981)
by BlazerFanSince1970 on Dec 2, 2011 12:06 AM PST reply actions
Is your Roy-will-stay-O-meter up to 25%?
When reached 40 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!
Is the theory that the guy you get for 5M (full MLE) going to put us over the top where the 3M (Mini MLE) leaves us in the lottery?
Or is it the $8M it’s going to cost us to keep Roy this year that is making Paul Allen scared? What Miller said at the press conference makes way more sense than anything Clownzano has written on the subject.
by 52therim on Dec 2, 2011 7:01 AM PST via mobile up reply actions
there's a lot more to the decision than just that
"But if Ding Dongs and prime rib were the path to NBA pivot stardom we'd all be wearing the uniform." -Dave
The luxury tax 4 out of 5 rule is not to be brushed off trivially.
Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.
Roy can be amnestied after the beginning of training camp and still get under the luxury tax.
I can’t think of a benefit, other than chasing free agents, to cut him before camp. The history of full MLE guys is not stellar. We’ve got nearly $70 of guaranteed money committed to Roy. I’d want to kick the tires a bit before I showed him the door.
by 52therim on Dec 2, 2011 2:46 PM PST via mobile up reply actions
Sadly, it's at about 10%-15%.
"You're not too smart, are you? I like that in a man." - Matty Walker in Body Heat (1981)
by BlazerFanSince1970 on Dec 2, 2011 11:51 AM PST up reply actions
Likely higher than that for this year. I think you’re spot on if you’re saying those are the odds of him still being with the team at the beginning of next season.
by 52therim on Dec 2, 2011 2:49 PM PST via mobile up reply actions
I don't know what's worse
Paul and Bert weighing in on roster/draft decisions
Or letting the inmates run the asylum
Canzano is a sensationalist personality who craves attention, but when it comes to major Blazers moves in the past few years? We’ve heard about ’em from JC, first
When reached 40 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!
He must be so pleased at his recent evidence of being a prickly thorn handed to him on a silver platter by Paul, Larry, and Sarah
Faith applied reasonably is practical magic.
by Matthews vs Roy... Fight! on Dec 2, 2011 1:11 AM PST up reply actions
Is Nate an inmate?
The scariest thing I heard at that Larry Miller presser was that Nate is a substantial part of the multi-headed decision making monster. He hasn’t exactly shown an eye for talent (Blake over Miller, Taurean Green will win us some games this year, etc.).
I was referring to the fanbase, petitions to keep Roy, etc
but Nate as coach/GM is not progress, IMO
When reached 40 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!
Again?
Another post from Ben designed to cast the Blazers in an unfavorable light. Does he ever do a totally positive piece on the Blazers? A little balance please! Between Canzano, Jaynes and Golliver, the bias is obvious.
The thing is, JC will likely end up looking right in a week or so...
I bet 29 other teams, if they were in our position, would’ve made up their minds long ago. I love Brandon and I hope the Blazers can find a legitimate reason to keep him. But from everything I’ve seen and heard, there is only one choice. If you separate emotion and just look at the business side its a no brainer. Canzano doesn’t need an inside source. If we’re being honest we all know the truth. So lousy I can’t bear to type it, but I know it.
Of course the team will go through the paces and attempt to positive spin as much as possible. But this deal was done when Brandon went down last year, and everyone knows it.
I wish the new cba allowed NFL style non-guaranteed contracts. Then we could say “look Brandon, shop around and bring us the highest offer. We’ll add a couple mil to that and you can retire a Blazer.” Sadly the players union doesn’t want that.
"She fell in love with the drummer, another and another"
by Cap'n Crash on Dec 2, 2011 1:39 AM PST via mobile reply actions
That would be nice for sure.
Then we could say "look Brandon, shop around and bring us the highest offer. We’ll add a couple mil to that and you can retire a Blazer." Sadly the players union doesn’t want that.
But it doesn’t seem like it would be that difficult to keep up a mostly amiable yet professional relationship with your players. Much how good managers/bosses do with their employees. You maintain a constant line of honest communication and feedback letting them know how you’re assessing their role in the company.
If Roy over the past few years was told constantly by someone high up in the organization (whether it be Miller or PA or Pritchard er Cho er… well someone) that his contributions to the franchise were appreciated. The fact that he was so instrumental in bringing the Blazers out of the Jailblazer era (which I thankfully barely missed), etc. Tell him that this is a business and it would be unfair to the team if you hamstrung the guys just to retain one player after the injury. You remind him that even if you let him go, he’s still retaining his contract and you’ll always appreciate what he’s done. If you’re super zealous, you can offer some position with the franchise when he retires.
Letting him retire as a Blazer would be a nice gesture. Roy may not even want that though regardless. He may want to try his hand somewhere else. Whatever happens, it seems like the franchise could show their appreciation and goodwill towards Roy without necessarily keeping him. I’m just not sure if the Higher Uppers have the communication savvy for even that rather basic skill though.
I have a source very close to Canzano telling me that he makes up his sources :)
I can´t reveal my source, of course. So you can not check my story out, you can not check out my source´s credibility, you can not check out how close to Canzano my secret source is, you can not check out misinterpretations, etc, etc, etc. Being this the case, I should not say I have a source.
Because everybody in the league knows the Blazers are goint to take a look at amnesting Roy, the only way Canzano could get national attention would be by being very creative and smart or by calling inside sources. And there it is the second option. Cheap, and not the first time.
“I have an inside source” is starting to look like Canzano´s motto. Might be true, but he is putting his credibility at risk. That´s what the Blazers, tired of Canzano shooting at Allen, are denouncing.
I want to say, finally, that I have personal reasons to appreciate John Canzano. And I´m not joking this time.
Well, the "sources close to the situation (even if they were dead-wrong) approach" works for national beat writers such as Woj
Canzano is just taking a page out of their book. Though not this one, since it would require you to actually name your sources.
http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/docs/icb.topic500638.files/Writing_with_Internet_Sources.pdf
When USING any source, remember to:
Avoid plagiarism by clearly distinguishing between your ideas and those of your sources
Cite every source from which you draw a fact or idea that is not common knowledge
Acknowledge your sources when paraphrasing or quoting
Place any language taken from a source between quotation marks
[…]
Determine the author’s qualifications
Determine the purpose and scope of the source
Determine the accuracy and reliability of the source
Determine the currency and coverage of the source
[…]
I hate Kolde.
Really though, let Roy go, there’s too many benefits. I’ve made this comment a thousand times on this site…there is something wrong with this market. When fans can’t recognize by keeping Roy it hurts the team because of his Brandon’s sentimental value. There’s something wrong. Franchises are suppose to move forward, not backwards
I already said it a few times
But you can show sentiment and appreciation while still conducting good business. Good business doesn’t necessarily have to mean cold and distant and unemotional.
by Z-Bones on Dec 2, 2011 5:50 AM PST up reply actions 1 recs
Well I am sure what my opinions are,
Because he says a thousand times one way and I say a thousand time the other way, both are just opinions and are not facts.
hg
by BBK on Dec 2, 2011 9:33 PM PST up reply actions
John Canzano is loving all the attention
What does a newspaper columnist or a radio show host crave the most? It is to be noticed. How best to be noticed? Say outlandish things that provoke people. How to provoke people? Offer commentary, based on unnamed sources, putting this community’s only major professional sports franchise in a bad might.
The public is very gullible to cartoon character portrayals of the wealthy and powerful. Canzano plays public opinion like a violin.
Win the day!
Coffee is for Closers!
Always Be Closing!
by Blzr fan on Dec 2, 2011 6:31 AM PST via mobile reply actions
John Canzano Morphed into Rudyard Kipling
I am a writing legend tweaking the mere ordinary with guile and audacity!
i put zero stock in what canzano reported on this matter
Just listen to it. “Blazers plan to amnesty Roy”. Does that come as a shock to anybody? Even my mom knows the Blazers are probably gonna use that clause on Roy. There really isn’t a better candidate. “Possibly before the start of the season”. Yep, that’s a possibility. They can’t do it once the season starts. It’s either that or wait til the next off season. Smh, Canzano is just trying to stir the pot. He didn’t say anything that EVERYBODY doesn’t already know.
by King Mar on Dec 2, 2011 7:48 AM PST via mobile reply actions
Yo, Blazers! Dontcha know?
Don’t feed the Trolls!
i like it here, there, everywhere.
by Name's Ash on Dec 2, 2011 8:21 AM PST reply actions 2 recs
The picture for this article is worthy of the Drudge Report
obviously this moron can’t even execute a high five. Ben’s not making friends with senior management. I think the Roy rumors were a taste of payback for the hardline stance. Larry Miller did a respectful job of addressing the Roy situation on the first day that comments were allowed.
i like Bert more than ever !
Now let’s quit feeding Canzanos want to be important ego and move on already ! In a week we will have a big man. The brain trust will get it right.
just win baby !
by FrenchieFan on Dec 2, 2011 9:06 AM PST via mobile reply actions
I find it fascinating ...
that BE commenters will trash Canzano and accept freakin’ Bert Kolde/Larry Miller as your “Acting GMs”. The bigger concern here is you have a completely inept Blazers management that is soooo good at managing that their own star player – Brandon Roy – doesn’t know where he even stands with the organization. Simply put, how the heck does that happen? Its not like this current management team has does anything to instill any confidence. The Wallace trade was great, but then they turned around and fired the GM who made it. Why do you guys defend this ineptitude. Find a quality GM and let him do his job. And that means someone who, you know, actually knows freakin’ basketball
You're making a lot of assumptions here.
While we will probably never know the full truth, there was some reporting to the effect that Cho wasn’t the architect of the Wallace trade, that it took some combination of Miller (old friend of Jordans) and Bickerstaff (former Bobcats head coach) to swing that deal. Certainly it’s true that for all of Cho’s brilliance, neither his personality nor his experience painted him as much of a wheeler-dealer. We do know that Wallace had been on the team’s radar long before Cho got into the seat.
To go along with that line, there has also been “rumor consensus” that Cho wanted to blow up the team and rebuild. Trading for Wallace is kinda the opposite of that.
Also, you suggest that Roy doesn’t know where he stands with mgmt. If the reports are true that Brandon’s Tualatin house went on sale sometime on or before 11/25, then I would bet he’s not as ignorant of the situation as you suggest.
Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.
for all of Cho’s brilliance, neither his personality nor his experience painted him as much of a wheeler-dealer
Actually, Cho was extremely good at putting together multi-team proposals that helped all sides, according to his previous bosses at Seattle/OKC
When reached 40 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!
is anyone defending/accepting Kolde in here?
I’ve skimmed most of the comments, and haven’t found one. I may be wrong though.
i like it here, there, everywhere.
Blazers management that is soooo good at managing that their own star player – Brandon Roy – doesn’t know where he even stands with the organization
To be fair, they couldn’t speak to him from July 1 until a few days ago
When reached 40 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!
This is ridiculous
for the head of a large corporation and organization who is trying to build credibility to start bantering back and forth publicly with a columnist it’s unprofessional and counterproductive. No one will win. This a man who must stay above the argument and make a decision on what is BEST FOR THE TEAM. I’m no Canzano lover but once you start acting like him it only hurts your cause. We went down this road with the Patterson era and it didn’t end well. If you get angry you may just do something against the other person which is the wrong decision. It’s best just to say we are keeping our options open and leave it at that. As an aside I also agree with MBRANDEB. Not sure why everyone accepts the Kolbe/Miller line, maybe it’s just because of people’s dislike for Canzano but that doesn’t make them right.
Larry Miller gave JC undeserved credibility by taking the bait
Every time the columnist’s name is mentioned, he hears the cash register go CA-CHING!
BTW, the same is true whenever bloggers attack JC online. Either way, JC wins!
Win the day!
Coffee is for Closers!
Always Be Closing!
by Blzr fan on Dec 2, 2011 9:43 AM PST via mobile up reply actions
I agree
each time JC is brought up, especially from the blazers, it is the response he wants. As I said it’s best for the organization to just do and say things without referring to anyone in particular. Funny the man, whom I know you respect, who is known for not being media friendly, Chip Kelly, handled him the best. After JC created additional issues at the beginning of last year for Oregon, Mr Kelly came on the show a number of times to butter him up. I may be wrong because I don’t listen to JC much now but it seems to me that this has worked well.
Works well for JC,
If your plan is to be viewed as a db, just for ratings. He’s great at that. He should do reality tv.
I too like the way Kelly handles the media.
just win baby !
Canzano: raising the bar for trolling since...whenever he started. It is unclear from his wikipedia.
"If you type two spaces after a period, you're doing it wrong."
by joelor on Dec 2, 2011 10:36 AM PST reply actions 1 recs
Classic.
Canzono making a name for himself. I may just listen to the Bald Faced Truth just to see how he reacts to all of this.
My favorite teams are the Blazers and any team that is playing the Lakers.
I am supposed to ..
believe Larry Miller and his comments that the Blazers have a solid plan in place and yet also believe that a decision hasn’t been made on the franchise player – a decision that could save the Blazers 10s of millions of dollars and affect their MLE free agent. Canzano is probably right, but the Blazers (being tone deaf as always) probably didn’t expect the Fan blowback when it was leaked.
The picture in the article looks like the Joker just gave Kolde a big dose of Smilex.
Who's that tromping across my bedge?
now if only he'd die laughing
I don’t hate his guts, it’s just that he and Paul run the draft and make roster decisions like it’s their little fantasy league
When reached 40 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!
Blazer's Management Has Zero Credibility
You can’t believe anything they say one way or the other. They are the laughingstock, or maybe the pity party, of the NBA.
Was that the best picture you could find of Kolde Ben?
lol
"Im ready for a fight..." -Joel Przybilla
by KillaPrzydollaBILLA on Dec 2, 2011 5:23 PM PST reply actions
too bad he doesn't have "angry eyes" Bert
when Kolde stepped between Canz and PA at the RG and puffed out his chest, a few years back
When reached 40 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!
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