On Thursday, multiple reports (here and here) surfaced that Portland Trail Blazers owner Paul Allen attended a mediated labor negotiation session in New York City that ended with the players union publicly claiming that Allen was there to deliver a "take it or leave it" ultimatum that led to the disintegration of talks. On Friday evening, NBA deputy commissioner Adam Silver disputed those reports and statements in an interview with Allan Brettman of The Oregonian. On Saturday morning, Mike Tokito of The Oregonian noted that the NBA placed pre-conditions on the interview, including hand-selecting the reporter to conduct it and threatening to take the interview elsewhere if their conditions were not met. John Canzano of The Oregonian offers this take on the situation... ------------------------------------ Peculiar development, though, as the NBA sought out The Oregonian on Friday, and scrambled to arrange an interview with Silver to make sure everyone knew the billionaire was silent. Again, no one disputed this fact. Still, the NBA went into damage control and planted its message on the doorsteps of the very fans who know Allen's heavy-handed billionaire schtick best. ------------------------------------ Canzano writes that he hopes that Allen is considering selling the team and calls him "a cartoon character." -- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter