Draft Approaching, Trades Coming?

Another NBA season comes to a close and the Blazers are once again pursuing ways to improve their team during the off season. I'm sure that you, myself, and every other avid Blazers fan have weighed out the options and claimed an ideal solution as to what deals they should do next. The options, however, are endless for Kevin Pritchard, Larry Miller and the Blazers staff. While I don't anticipate we'll be entering the 2010 summer sweepstakes for LeBron James, I do think we will make a move, or two, or ten.

Lately Pritchard has been a mastermind during the off-season. For those of you, short term memory fans, yes, he did push to take Greg Oden at number one; rather than take sharpshooter, Kevin Durant. Optimistically, I faithfully believe Oden will still turn out to be a more than decent starting center and lead Rip City to many playoff runs. Plus, had Pritchard taken Durant, Nicolas Batum (easily our best defender—Durant plays about as good of defense as Tracy McGrady—and suddenly, an up and coming scorer) would have no spot on the roster. Plus, the Blazers needed a center at the time. If not Oden, we should have waited a year and traded pick for Brooke Lopez, if you want to talk in retrospect terms.

Aside from the 2007 drama, Pritchard has been known to make off season moves that unanimously enhance the Blazers. As we approach June 28th and the 2010 NBA Draft, I have become more and more antsy, waiting to see KP's next move. From the Marcus Camby trade, to the Jeff Pendegraph deal, and the 2008 draft where he dealt very little for Jerryd Bayless, he has made several key improvements to make the Blazers a legitimate western conference contender. None of which would be possible without the 2005 draft where he stole Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge, throwing away Tyrus Thomas and Randy Foye who are just now starting to develop.

Last summer I thought Pritchard was crazy for landing us old Andre Miller and Juwan Howard. But, who knew that they would play key roles in our season, with the plethora of injuries. Miller, who I refused to give a chance, will likely start at point guard next year, and I couldn't be more thrilled. Chicago Bull Kirk Hinrich may be a better player, but Andre Miller is definitely a better fit.

Now, with June 24th just around the corner, Pritchard and the Blazers staff have an endless amount of options for draft night. Lately the Blazers have highlighted drafts, making trade after trade, maximizing benefit from the annual event. This year, the draft seems relatively top heavy. While this doesn't play in the Blazers hands, who hold the 22nd and 44th picks in the draft. However, Nate McMillan manages to find room for all 12 players to check in and out of games, which can mean one thing; we have too many C+/B- players. If the Blazers want to compete for an NBA title, we need to add another superstar to what I would call Roy's team.

This off-season features a superstar-heavy free agency. While I don't think the Blazers necessarily need to deal for a superstar, they can find a future one on draft night. Recently, I perused mock drafts, searching for college basketball stars hiding at the latter end of the board. To my surprise, Grievas Vasquez (Maryland), John Scheyer (Duke), and Andy Rautins (Syracuse) appeared far later than I anticipated. Any of these guards would a great selection with our 44th pick in the draft, but that still leaves the 22nd pick free.

While mock drafts differ with who they have the Blazers selecting, I believe none of them got it right. The Blazers should opt to trade that 22nd pick with Joel Pryzbilla and Jerryd Bayless for the Minnesota Timberwolves 4th pick. Here the Blazers would select Wes Johnson (Syracuse), who I believe is the best NBA player in the draft. Sure John Wall was arguably the best player in college, and Evan Turner was called “the greatest player I've ever seen at any level,” by Kobe Bryant. But, I've seen all three of them play many times, and Wes Johnson played against the best competition in the Big East, endured an injury, and still managed to put up big numbers, nearly 17ppg and 9 rpg.

Now, while all of this seems to good to be true, the Timberwolves would have to want to make this trade, and why should they? If you look over their roster, they have leadership in Al Jefferson, but need a surrounding cast. They are inexperienced at their other positions, and the addition of Jerryd Bayless into their guard rotation would help immensely. Bayless has filled in for various injuries on the Blazers and shown he has the potential to run a team. Minnesota would enhance their roster with the addition of Bayless and they would still obtain the 22nd pick of the draft from the Blazers, where they could draft a much needed small forward--Devin Ebanks (West Virginia). Here, the Blazers and the Timberwolves win. So as a message to any Blazers official, please find a way to draft Wes Johnson. Pritchard said earlier this year that Johnson was his favorite player in the draft, and we can only hope he acts upon his message. And who knows, maybe point guard Andy Rautins will find his way onto the Blazers as well.

But the only way to find out is to tune in to TNT on June 24th, 2010 at 8pm EST to see what the 30 NBA teams accomplish.


~Jacob Rogers~
06.02.10

Who's #1?

This season is the Blazer's 40th in the NBA. Has it really been that long? In honor of the 40th anniversary,OregonLive and Jason Quick have been counting down the 40 best Blazers of all time. It has been fun to read about the players of the past and reminisce about the old times. I remembered watching the 1992 season highlight video "Make It Happen" over and over and wondering why the Blazers let Jordan do all the same moves. Every time I watched I thought they would figure out how to guard him and win the championship. I remembered Bill Schonely narrating the highlights from the double OT game against Phoenix in the '92 playoffs ("a gunslinging battle of epic proportions"). I remembered Sabonis and all the amazing passes. I remembered how good Rasheed was when his head was in the game, and how unstoppable his turnaround fadeaway was. I remembered Scottie Pippen suddenly becoming one of my favorite players instead of a player I rooted against. I remembered the drafts and all the trades that were made to obtain the players we have today.

The biggest question of all, of course, was who would grace the top of the countdown. Most Blazer fans knew who the final two would be, but they were left to debate which player is #1 . Walton or Drexler? Bill vs Clyde? Mountain Man vs The Glide? Let's break it down and try to come up with an answer.

Durability: Easy answer. Walton holds the record for most games missed during an NBA career. Not a good record to have. Potentially could have been the greatest center of all time if his feet didn't betray him. Drexler played less than 50 games only once during his Blazer career. Edge: Drexler

Scoring Ability: Clyde was extremely athletic but was a very raw talent when he was drafted from Houston. Clyde could run and jump as high as anyone but didn't really understand how the pro game was played. Over the years, he improved his jump shot and post game and used them to his advantage. Clyde averaged over 20 points six times during the 11-1/2 years he spent with the franchise. Drexler has the single season scoring record (27.2 PPG). He could get to the basket basically whenever he wanted. Clyde also had an uncanny ability to dribble with his head down yet still know where he was on the court. Walton never averaged 20 points a game for the Blazers. He concentrated more on his rebounds and passing rather than his points. Walton was an accomplished scorer at UCLA, famously going 21 of 22 ( 44 points) in the 1973 national championship game. Walton was the ultimate team player and sacrificed his scoring stats for the good of the team. Therefore, we give the edge to Clyde. Edge: Drexler

Hair: Had to put this in the breakdown. Walton had flaming red hair that made him look like he was on fire. His long hair combined with a legit beard was a classic hippie look. Drexler battled male pattern baldness for years. He refused to shave his head when it was most popular to do so. Clyde had a nice fro in college but never really sported it in the NBA. As easy an answer as the durability section. Edge: Walton

Defensive Prowess: As we discussed earlier, Walton was an amazing defensive force. He averaged two blocks a game during his career in Portland with a high of 3.2 a game in 76-77. He also never averaged UNDER 12 rebounds a game during his four years as a Blazer, peaking in 76-77 with 14.4 a game. Drexler was known more for his offensive game and high flying ability, but he was a decent defender as well. Clyde averaged a little over two steals a game in his 11-1/2 years with the team and only averaged over seven rebounds a game one time. Clyde used most of his energy on offense and running the fast break. A good majority of the furious Blazer fast breaks were caused by steals, so Clyde gets points for that. The Blazers ran their offense through Walton, but it all started with his defense. Bill was named first team all NBA for defense two seasons, and he led the league in rebounds and blocks in 76-77. Grabbing boards, blocking or changing shots, and zipping fast outlet passes was a key part of his game. Edge: Walton

Passing: As stated above, the Blazers ran their offense through Walton. Pretty rare for a pro team to run the offense through a seven foot center. They did this because of Walton's unbelievable passing and extremely high basketball IQ. Watching Walton play in old Blazer games is a thing of beauty. The team is constantly moving with screens and backdoor cuts. Walton's high season average for assists was five, which is again rare for a seven foot center. When Walton was healthy, the Blazers ran like a well-oiled machine. But the best part of Walton's passing skill was his outlet passes. Catching the ball in the air and sometimes throwing the ball down the court before hitting the ground was his speciality. His outlet passes were a sight to behold and also keyed the fast break for those teams. Only two centers have been so good at outlet passes (Walton and Wes Unseld). Drexler averaged more assists than Walton in almost every season with the Blazers. Most of these assists were on fast breaks while the majority of Walton's assists came in the half court offense passing to cutters or the open player for a jumper. Gotta give the edge to Walton here. Watch some old Walton Blazer games if you disagree. Edge: Walton

Nickname: "Clyde the Glide" vs "The Mountain Man". Both classic nicknames that originated from Clyde's ability to "glide" and Walton's already discussed hair. Jim Nantz says that he dubbed Drexler "The Glide" when he was broadcasting basketball games for Houston. Clyde's first nickname was "Windex" because he could jump high enough to clean the glass. Walton just looked like a Mountain Man--there really isn't any other way to describe it. I'm giving the edge to Clyde in this section because his nickname oozes coolness and is more remembered among fans and analysts. Edge: Drexler

Stats: Walton should be up high in most Blazer stats, but injuries killed his potential. Clyde is the franchise leader in points, rebounds, steals, and is second in assists. Clyde had the most all star appearances of any Blazer player (eight). Drexler also holds the single season scoring average record with 27.2 in 88-89. Walton is the only Blazer to be named MVP and one of two players to be named first team all NBA (Drexler was the other player). Walton was first team all NBA in defense two years. Drexler is the easy winner here. Edge: Drexler.

Championships: Walton was 1/1 and Drexler was 0/2. Walton's Blazers were looking prime for another title in 1978 before Walton went down with an injured bone in his foot. They were 50-10 when he got hurt and were never the same. From March 29, 1977 to March 1st, 1978, including the 1977 playoffs, Walton's team went 70-15. Drexler's Blazer teams were one of the top three or four teams in the league from 90-92. Their best team that finished with the best regular season record of 63-19 in 1991, lost in the WCF to the dreaded Lakers. Yes, I still have nightmares of Uncle Cliffy dropping the pass on a three on one break with a minute to go with the Blazers down one in game six. Those Blazer teams that made the Finals were just unlucky with the teams that they played against in the finals. Isaiah's Detroit team in 90 was more experienced and defending the title from 89. Jordan's Bulls had finally made it over the hump in 91 and were determined to go back to back in 92. They ran into really good teams defending the title from the previous year. Walton wins easy here because of the Championship win in 1977. Edge: Walton

According to this breakdown, we have an even race for the right to be #1. But we need to dig even further to determine the correct choice. Walton played for the Blazers in the mid to late 70's. The style of play was completely different compared to when Drexler was playing. Back when Walton was dominating, basketball was really all about fundamentals and team basketball. The Blazers' style back then was to work the offense through Walton and try to come up with the best scoring opportunity. Drexler's Blazer teams had a completely different style of play, especially in the two runs to the NBA Finals. Their goal was to play competitive defense and crash the boards hard all game in order to create fast break opportunities. Walton was a master of fundamentals, had a very high basketball IQ, but his body wasn't built to take the beating of playing pro basketball. Drexler was a freak of athleticism but had to be taught the fundamentals of the game by Jack Ramsey.

Because they played so far apart, some fans didn't get to see both of these players play in their prime. A fan who grew up with Walton playing and that great championship in 1977, would probably pick Walton over Drexler. A younger fan who just heard stories of Walton but grew up watching Drexler and those runs to the Finals would pick Clyde. Everybody I asked who had seen both of them play picked Walton over Drexler. Jack Ramsey (who coached both players) said Walton was by far the better player. Drexler was a better player for a longer amount of time, but Walton was the best player in the league for two of the years he played in Portland. If I had the first choice in an all Blazer draft and I could select any player from any year for a full season, I would pick Walton. Drexler would happily go to the person with the second pick. My logic for picking Walton in that pretend draft and in the real countdown is this: As long as you surround Walton with a decent rebounder, a decent shooter, and some quick guards, you are pretty much guaranteed a title if he stays healthy. I would rather have two or three amazing years of Walton and have my team win the title, instead of 11 years of Drexler and no championship. OregonLive and Jason Quick picked The Glide over The Mountain Man because of Drexler's excellence over a long period of time. Let the debating begin.

Owen Reutlinger

The Draft

"Twice in my lifetime they have taken a injury prone center over the leading scorer in the NBA." "Every time I see a Kevin Durant highlight on Sportscenter I change the channel because I start to cry." These statements were made by my father in the last few days. He is of course mentioning the disastrous Sam Bowie over Jordan pick, and the recent Oden over Durant choice. With the playoffs approaching and the hope of a long playoff run looking slim, some Blazer fans have now begun to look forward to the NBA draft.

The Blazers draft history has been hit or miss for their entire existence. They have either been wonderful late round sleeper picks, great picks at the top of the board, or complete busts. Let's run through some high and low moments in the draft history of our favorite team.

The successful picks:

1970: Geoff Petrie 8th pick, The first great Blazer. Rookie of the year in the Blazers first season.

1974: Bill Walton 1st pick, Led the team to the title. Obvious 1st pick that year. Could do everything on the floor and was the ultimate team player. 1977 NBA Finals game 6: 20 points, 23 rebounds, 7 assists, and 8 blocks. Enough said.

1975: Bob Gross 2nd round, The Batum of the 77 championship team. Remembered for his hustle, defense, and the time Dr J put him on a poster in the finals.

1976: Maurice Lucas 2nd pick in the ABA dispersal draft, The Enforcer and one of the best Blazer players ever. Did everything for his team. Walton calls him the greatest player he ever played with. Those are strong words from a guy who played with Larry Bird when Bird was in his prime.

1983: Clyde Drexler 14th pick, Houston had two chances to take him. (He played for Houston in college) A Drexler Hakeem combo for their whole career? Oh boy. Thanks to every team above 14 who didn't take him. Clyde was the 2nd best player in the league behind Jordan in 90, 91, and 92.

1984: Jerome Kersey 46th pick, Little known player from Longwood University. Key player on the late 80's early 90's teams. A more athletic Travis Outlaw but with a higher basketball IQ.

1985: Terry Porter 24th pick, Another little known player from Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Could shoot from anywhere on the court and never backed down from a challenge. Coaching career has been unsuccessful compared to his playing career.

1986: Arvidas Sabonis 24th pick, took a risk and had to wait until 1995 before he came over from the Soviet Union. Successful pick even though we didn't see his best basketball by a long shot.

1989: Cliff Robinson 36th pick, Uncle Cliffy was a key bench player during the championship runs. Brought defense, energy, and the headband craze to Portland.

1990-2005: Blazers don't have any high picks. They either trade the picks (I'm talking to you Bob Whitsitt), or make bad decisions. More on this later.)

2006: Tyrus Thomas 4th pick (only because they traded him for the 2nd pick Lamarcus Aldridge), Thanks to John Paxon for making that trade. I think he would like a redo. LA looks like the power forward of the future for the Blazers. If he learns some new post moves and puts on some muscle, we have a player to be excited about.

2006: Randy Foye 7th pick (Traded for Roy), See above but replace Kevin Mchale for Paxon. When you really think about it, Boston should have Roy right now. Boston traded their first round pick to Minnesota in the KG trade. Minnesota took Roy, we took Foye, and the rest is history. So Boston could have Rondo, Al Jefferson, Pierce, and Brandon Roy right now. Looks better for the future instead of Rondo, Pierce, KG, and Ray Allen.

2009: Dante Cunningham 33rd pick. The next Uncle Cliffy minus the headband. Defense, energy, and a solid midrange game.

The not so successful selections:

1972: LaRue Martin 1st pick, widely regarded as the worst #1 pick ever in an NBA draft. He was out of the league after his rookie contract was up. LaRue just couldn't play in the NBA. They also passed up Bob "Can Do" McAdoo, who was selected 2nd. Bob McAdoo is in the Hall of Fame. LaRue Martin works for UPS.

1976: Wally Walker 5th pick. Passed up Adrian Dantley and Robert Parish.

1978: Mychal Thompson 1st pick. Boston took junior Larry Bird with the 6th pick. Bird was still in school but there was some strange rule where you could take players and then wait for them to graduate. While Boston and the Lakers were the only teams rumored to take Bird, Bird would have looked nice in a Blazer uniform.

1984: Sam Bowie 2nd pick. This simply was the worst pick in NBA history. Not only did they pass up on Jordan, Charles Barkley, and John Stockton, they selected a center who was out TWO SEASONS with broken shinbones at Kentucky. They had just recently been though the Bill Walton foot injury saga. They also apparently gave Bowie a 7 hour physical before the draft. If a physical takes 7 hours that should be a red flag. They also had taken Mychal Thompson with the first pick just 6 years earlier. Guess what position he played? Center. Lets move on before I punch something.

1987: Ronnie Murphy 17th pick. Mark Jackson went 18th. They had Terry Porter at PG, but Ronnie Murphy over the player with the 3rd most assists of all time?

1995: Sean Respert 8th pick. Traded for Gary Trent (11th pick). Passed up Theo Ratliff, Michael Finley, and the immortal Greg Ostertag. Just kidding about Ostertag. I would take Ratliff and Finley over Trent any day of the week.

1996: Jermaine O'Neal 17th pick. Youngest player ever to play in an NBA game. Unsuccessful because he got no playing time and they traded him too soon for a washed up Dale Davis. Put up great numbers in Indiana and now his corpse is making $22 million this season. That's correct, Jermaine O'Neal is the 2nd highest paid player in the NBA this year. And people wonder why the league is losing money...

2000: Erick Barkley 28th. The Blazers ring in the new millennium by taking a player who never saw the floor. Oh and Michael Redd went 43rd. Do over please.

2001: Zach Randolph 19th. Unsuccessful because the Blazers didn't win many games when he was starting, he was the classic "I think I'm better than I really am" player that you should only see at the YMCA, he isn't on the team anymore, and the fact that they chose him over Tony Parker and Gilbert Arenas.

2002: Qyntel "the original dog-fighter" Woods 21st. The Qyntel era never worked out. Passed on Tayshaun Prince, Carlos Boozer, and Luis Scola. In other news, Qyntel was unstoppable in video games and got in trouble for dog fighting.

2004: Sebastian Telfair 13th. Should have gone to college, couldn't make a 15 foot jumper to save his life, and was 6 feet tall on a good day. Passed on Al Jefferson, Josh Smith, and Jameer Nelson.

2004: Viktor Khryapa and Sergei Monia 22nd and 23rd. Both of them are back in Europe after weak NBA careers. Passed on Kevin Martin, Delonte West, Anderson Varejao, and Trevor Ariza, who all have steady paying jobs.

2005: Martell Webster 6th. Sorry Andre Miller. Deron Williams or Chris Paul should be our point guard right now. The Blazers had the 3rd pick but traded it to Utah for the 6th and the 27th pick. Williams and Paul went 3rd and 4th to Utah and New Orleans. To make matters worse, the Blazers passed up on Andrew Bynum, Danny Granger, and David Lee ( twice the Blazers could have picked him). Martell could develop into a solid player who can shoot and play defense, but give me Deron Williams or Chris Paul instead.

2007: Greg Oden 1st. You can't call this a bad pick. The Blazers needed a center and Oden was all they ever wanted. His injury woes have truly been devastating for Blazer fans of all ages. Oden hasn't played enough to show the Blazers what he can bring to the table. I would put this pick in the "wait and see" section. But Durant is making this pick look worse and worse every game. Durant is two years older than me and would be a senior in college right now, yet he is currently in a dead heat with Lebron in the scoring race. How many points would he be averaging in college right now? 45? For the health of my dad and other Blazer fans, I hope Oden gets healthy and plays to his potential. If Durant continues on this pace and Oden can't stay on the court, this pick could very well rival Bowie over Jordan and Webster over Williams and Paul.

So what direction should the Blazers go on draft night? Knowing Kevin Prichard and the front office, we should expect the unexpected. They look set at point guard for the next few years with Andre, Bayless, and Roy bringing it up the court in crunch time. Shooting guard is interesting. Roy is the franchise player and will hopefully be in Portland for a long time. The rumor of Rudy going back to Spain gives us a scenario of the Blazers taking a shooting guard in the draft to back up Roy and relieve him of some minutes. Martell is also a solid backup to Roy if he is playing smart and making shots. Batum is the small forward of the future and Rudy and Martell are also solid backups to Batum. Either one of these players could start or finish a game depending on how well they are playing and the team matchup. LaMarcus is the power forward of the future for now. Even though most people think the Blazers heavily overpaid him and numerous fans have been yelling at the TV instructing him to take it to the basket like a man, he should be here for a while. LaMarcus is better when the Blazers have a legit center like Marcus, Joel, or Greg. He has been forced to play long minutes and crash the boards more this year with all the injuries the team has dealt with. I would love to see Jawan Howard come back next year and share bench minutes with Dante (Jawan is on pace to play until he is 85 and has no feeling in any body part). The center position is the most interesting of the bunch. It doesn't look like Marcus Camby is going to be back next year. Both of our centers are coming off severe knee injuries. Oden should be ready sooner than later (there have even been rumors of him coming back for the playoffs. Stay tuned). But nobody really knows when Joel will be back and he might miss a little bit of next season (who knew showers were so dangerous?).

I know it sounds corny and simple, but the Blazers should take the best player available with whatever pick they have. John Wall and Evan Turner are the only true blue chip players that are going to be in the draft. Unless KP somehow swings a trade to get the first or second pick, I expect the front office to select a player with upside who could spend some time on the bench, or an international player to stash overseas and mature. The depth chart is looking good and if the team can stay healthy next season we are looking at a high playoff seed. I'm very excited for the postseason and the offseason. Let's hope for the best.

Owen Reutlinger

Pritchard--not pushed out yet, but probably will be this summer

“I support everyone who works for me, including Kevin Pritchard” stated Paul Allen in a press release read during Thursday’s game. http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2010/03/portland_101_dallas_89.html Paul may have originally mumbled it under his breath(with cuss words before and after Pritchard‘s name, later edited out by a secretary), but he said it--general manager Kevin Pritchard is not leaving yet.

“Yet“, however, is the key word.

“When the season ends we will evaluate how best to move the Trail Blazers forward,” the release went on to say. Official speak for “we’ll ‘ditch Pritch’ later”? You bet!

Yes, Kevin Pritchard has performed miracles. Contracting Brandon Roy, Lemarcus Aldridge, Greg Oden, Rudy Fernandez and Nicolas Betum has made Portland what they are--a team that can walk away with more injuries than B51 bomber practice target and be #8 in the playoff line-up. But Pritchard also poses problems. If the reports are accurate, it isn’t a mere tiff with Corporate or a bit of arrogance that‘s putting full court press on Pritchard’s career, it’s something much more dangerous.

We’d heard about Vice President Tom Penn’s ousting for trying to beef up his salary by beefing up the story of how much Minnesota was interested in paying him to come over to their side, and how Pritchard had had a hand in that, http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AiPnEpqyCi6M3tknt87wqdGKPaB4?slug=tsn-pritchardsoncourtres but what we haven’t heard about, until now, goes a bit deeper.

According to insider Adrian Wojnarowski, http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AhaWidg31yD5tGWlidxEntizvLYF?slug=aw-trailblazers032210&prov=yhoo&type=lgns “How much do you make?” became Pritchards trademark question to business compatriots and acquaintances alike when he became frustrated that Coach Nate Mcmillan made more than he did earlier this season. One can only imagine the wall of tension this would create among teammates, not to mention the coach and manager. What do you do while the man who drafted you is bagging on your coach behind his back? As if that wasn‘t bad enough, Pritchard went so far as to try to increase his own salary by siding with star Brandon Roy over contract negotiations, a ploy that could have cost the team one of its best stars. After pumping out millions for contracting players, Paul Allen and Vulcan inc. couldn’t believe the audacity, or ,might we say greed, of their general manager. Having an eye for talent is important, but a nose for business, equally so. And Pritchard seems to either lack the second or put himself above the team. Either is a key ingredient for failure when you’re dealing with a franchise where team work is so integral on and off the court.

Pritchard’s uncanny ability to schmooze with his television and internet audiences to the point of seeming like a friend or neighbor, however, puts Allen and Vulcan in an unusual plight. What do you do with a GM who has charmed the fans onto his side, when you have a delicate team and playoffs are coming up?

You stall.

By letting the team finish gelling, without any more drastic alterations to their lives as a team, and by letting time pass without putting Pritchard in the lime light, thus helping fans to forget him a little, Allen and co. might feel they can quietly manoever the money-mad-man off the team.

Whether or not they will accomplish that remains to be seen, but it may be their best bet if they want to keep their coach, their team, and their fans all in one piece.

By Catherine Mullins