Anyone wanna buy an NBA team

[Dinsdale]

cheap?

There's one or two in the Northwest that might be up for grabs.

It seems that Paul Allen is whining about losing money. He's also LYING tp the people of Portland about never turning a profit (he used to brag about it not too many years ago).

But the problem is, that Evil Allen tried to fuck the city a few times, and one of his last attempted rapes was bankrupting HIS arena, and sticking the city and investment group with a $20 mil bill (of course almost the same week as he stuck other people with HIS bill, he blew just about exactly $20 mil launching a toy rocket...yeah, that sat well with the people he screwed). And out of this attempted screw-job, the Blazers ended up signing a really really bad arena lease...like one that pretty much leaves them with the money from the cheap tickets, and about nothing else, ie. parking, concessions, suites...nada.

Yet the morons running the show kept overpaying people. I'm a big Theo Ratliff fan, but giving dude $10 mil a year for the 10 games a year he isn't hurt? And Arius Miles, what a great signing there -- not one fan like this guy after one week on the team, they had an expiring contract, so what did these rocket surgeons do? Why of course -- they locked him up long-term for big bucks.

So, a bunch of the money went to Arius Miles (ain't no "D" in Arius), and Zach Max Salary Randolph. Between those two guys, it's entirely possible that they might be able to stop my grandmother from going to the hole and laying the ball in, but I doubt either one of them would even try, since playing defense is beneath either one of these tards. Oh, and did I mention that my grandmother is dead? She'd still drop 30 points on either of those clowns, though. Between them, they have asbout the IQ of a bowl of Jello.

Congrats, Evil Allen. It took you like ten years, but you finally did it -- you managed to drive way the most loyal, dedicated, rabid fans in all of basketball. What was once a nearly-impossible ticket to get, is now something people avoid with a passion. Did you just figure thopse fans owed you something, the same way you feel about the rest of the world? I mean, from the get-go, the marketing strategy was brilliant -- first order of business, we'll run the WINNINGEST COACH IN NBA HISTORY, and former Blazer, out of town. Same with the GM, also former Blazer, who somehow was getting teams to the finals, and deep into the playoffs every single year on a shoestring budget.

Next, drive away Clyde Drexler. Dude was a scrub, and it's not like the people of Portland liked the guy or anything. Terry Porter? Nah, hate to have that guy retire a Blazer. Buck Williams? Nah, all those All-Star games didn't mean shit. Jerome Kersey? Again, he was unpopular in the community, even though in his rookie year, dude proclaimed that "no matter what happens, I will ALWAYS live in Portland." Nah, we didn't need any of those guys, since Allen's minions didn't hire them.

And we sure needed to close down schools to build a building that only served the purpose of making a billionaire richer...that was a real crowd-pleaser. It's not like we had fun for 25 years before that in the old building, long before anyone ever heard of Paul Allen. Matter of fact, ten years later, I can buy tickets to the new house WAY cheaper than I could have at the Glass Palace. How'd that master plan of greed work for you, Evil?

All I hope out of this is that Evil sells the team. I wish he never would have bought it in the first place. What I'd really love to see, is for Phil Knight to come to the rescue, and buy that sucker. Any time that there's been mention of Knight buying into any sort of team, there's been "conflict of interest" cries from everywhere. Dude doesn't run Nike anymore, so maybe this can be readressed. At least dude is from and lives in the greater Portland area, and doesn't just fly a private jet to town once in a while to check out a game...with his mom.

I was given a ticket to the Celts game tonight. I'm willing to bet the farm that Evil Allen won't have the nerve to show his face in the arena tonight. I doubt he'll ever show his face in the city of Portland again, since lynch mobs would be waiting for him. That guy has been hated here for about ten years now, and he's just now realizing it. The sooner we're free of that assclown, the better, and the sooner we can get back to making a playoff run every single year, like the Old Days.



GRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!! :pissed:

[RadioFan]

Like I mentioned before, I miss the days of Portland being a powerhouse and a terror for other teams trying to go into their building and eek out a win.

Sucks for the U&L that the owner appears to be a top-class A-hole. Dude should come down to OKC sometime and see how it's done. The Hornets are averaging something like 18,600 in attendance, and the team has undergone a complete turnaround, in no small part to the supportive crowds at home, imo. In part, the attendance is because Oklahoma has never had a major sports franchise before, but it's also because of decent planning, marketing and corporate sponsorship. Obtaining Chris Paul didn't hurt either, but outside of him, they didn't make any major changes or sign any marquee players.

While I wasn't aware of many of the details of the problems up there, Dins, it's that kind of ineptitude that makes me appreciate folks that the Spurs have in owner Peter Holt, GM R.C. Buford and Popovich.

They managed to get public support for a new building, kept Tim Duncan from leaving and have found new talent like motherfuckers (Parker, Ginobili, etc.)

The Spurs get some national run of the quality of their organization because they've been winning championships, but not nearly enough as if they were in NY, Boston or LA.

But I suppose by the same token, Portland's woes don't get as much national run either. Maybe they should, for the U&L's sake.

[The Assassin]

The Las Vegas Trailblazers..........


Nah won't happen. Stern relaizes the fan base is just waiting for a reason to go back to Blazer games. If it involves Paul Allen selling them then good riddance Micrsoft.

Nike owning the Blazers? David Stern should be salivating at that possibility.

[Dinsdale]

Nike owning the Blazers?

Knight ownership is working out well for the Ducks, anyway.


But, this just in from the rumormill -- The guy who has stepped up and wants to lead an ownership group to buy the team is none other than...

Damon Stoudamire.

At this desperate juncture, I can't think of anyone better. At least dude knows something about basketball, and is still held in high regard around these parts. If he could get Terrell Brandon to buy even a small chunk of it, we'd have a winner.

And it's disturbing that Allen is now even resorting to lies, which are easily refuted through public record. Dude is claiming that the team has NEVER made money since he bought them. In reality, the Blazers spent a few years as THE most profitable sports franchise in the country, the team that finally knocked the Cowboys from their throne(later followed by the Bulls). They built a $250+ million dollar arena, and were AHEAD on the payments within two years. And now this billionaire fucktard is standing there and lying right to everybody's face to try anb get a city that's closing down schools, and firing teachers and cops to pony up money to bail him out.

And remember, when all is said and done, this whining by Allen is due to him believing that it was more important to launch a toy rocket than it was to make good on his debt to the people of Portland. A toy fucking rocket.

[The Assassin]

Nike owning the Blazers?

Knight ownership is working out well for the Ducks, anyway.


But, this just in from the rumormill -- The guy who has stepped up and wants to lead an ownership group to buy the team is none other than...

Damon Stoudamire.

At this desperate juncture, I can't think of anyone better. At least dude knows something about basketball, and is still held in high regard around these parts. If he could get Terrell Brandon to buy even a small chunk of it, we'd have a winner.

And it's disturbing that Allen is now even resorting to lies, which are easily refuted through public record. Dude is claiming that the team has NEVER made money since he bought them. In reality, the Blazers spent a few years as THE most profitable sports franchise in the country, the team that finally knocked the Cowboys from their throne(later followed by the Bulls). They built a $250+ million dollar arena, and were AHEAD on the payments within two years. And now this billionaire fucktard is standing there and lying right to everybody's face to try anb get a city that's closing down schools, and firing teachers and cops to pony up money to bail him out.

And remember, when all is said and done, this whining by Allen is due to him believing that it was more important to launch a toy rocket than it was to make good on his debt to the people of Portland. A toy fucking rocket.

Bill Walton Stoudimire, Clyde Drexler, and Brandon should all pool some cash together and buy them. just those names alone would bring back the fans.

[Funkywhiteboy]

Nike owning the Blazers? David Stern should be salivating at that possibility.

Why not? Keep some of that shoe contract money in-house.

[Diogenes]

If you all were smart you'd try getting Jerry Colangelo's attention. Now that his son is out of the Suns, he's running out of ties to Phoenix, and he's someone serious about getting the job done.

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepubli ... i0302.html

He has the money, likes challenges, and if anyone could turn that team around it's him.

And for the record, the new Suns owner is a severe dumbfuck for letting Brian C. go, I hope they win it in the next couple years, because after that...

Who knows.

[Dinsdale]

If you all were smart you'd try getting Jerry Colangelo's attention.

With all due respect...no. It wouldn't. That might fly in other communties, but not this one.

Hmmm....let's see -- "has money," "likes challenges," and "is serious about turning the team around"....Hmmm....where have we heard that before?

That's right! We already have him, and his team is being all-but boycotted.

The next owner needs to be from Portland, live in Portland, and pay taxes in (or around, like Knight) Portland. Just like the owners before Allen. That's the ONLY way it's going to work. As Allen kind of learned, but still doesn't comprehend, it's a lot more important to the community that there's some unity between the team and the community than it is to win. Yet somehow, before, that same "we don't care, as long as we have good guys on the team" attitude hung a Championship banner in the rafters, and produced 22 consecutive playoff appearances. There's a longstanding between the people of the area and the team which is hard to put into words, but any former player will tell you that the team/community relationship is different from that of any other team. And the OG fans are not going to settle for anything less.

Make NO mistake -- Evil Allen's fall-from-grace in Portland isn't some accident or happenstance of the times -- it is very much a plan that was engineered by the Blazer fans. Allen doesn't seem to catch on to this, but if he opened a newspaper, turned on the radio, or did any of the other things that Portlanders do, he'd realize what his problem was, but he now has a sense of entitlement, and he honestly believes the people of the city (where he doesn't live) owe him something. He's all-but destroyed the community/team relationship, and Blazer fans are doing the only thing they can to make a last-ditch effort to preserve it -- by cutting Evil off at the purse strings.

As soon as Allen is gone, we'll be fighting to get tickets again. Blazerfan isn't dead -- he's at war. Fighting for what he believes in.

[Dinsdale]

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonia ... xml&coll=7


Good column about Allen's meltdown, if anyone is interested. You might have to enter a zipcode and whatnot to get the article to come up from the site, but it's not a spyware issue, or anything.

[Ang]

Radio,

You are so right about the Hornet's run here in OKC this year, although the home season finale was a disappointing loss with the Jazz that turns a possible play-off run to an unlikely play-off run. Still..who would have thought? the Hornets still going for a play-off spot?

Thing is, even though the Hornets have agreed to a second year here...there is a huge group of folks (same ones who got the Hornets here in the first place) that are committed to securing a permanent NBA team, and putting up some huge private investment for it. They are right out there marketing and doing it in a good way to not offend the Hornets...but making it clear that if they are staying they are OUR team...but if they aren't staying, another team will be actively recruited for the city.

And I think the way that things have gone this year, the group going for it has some juice behind them. Doing things right here...lots of private investment and not too many drags on the taxpayers, and all the diverse public and private interests seem to be on the same page, not only for the sports stuff but for all the city improvements. The recruitment of a major league team to home here is just a piece in all of it that looks like it's time to fit.

I think they might actually pull it off in the long run to have a permanent (as permanent as they are :)) NBA team here.

[SunCoastSooner]

Honestly, RF and Ang, the best thing for OKC is if the Hornets go back to Nawlins. OKC is going to get a team one way or another in the next couple of years. The Hornet ownership (Shinn) is horrible. He and Nawlins coupled the Hornets will be bankrupt in less than a decade. OKC will have the oppertunity at an expansion team or better ownership.

[RadioFan]

I heard scuttlebutt the other day that it could be the OKC 'Blazers (from Portland).

But being that it's nearing playoff time and my team is in a dogfight for either the No. 1 or No. 4 seed, I haven't been reading up on all the scenarios/columnists' opinions of what could happen in OKC regarding expansion or the luring of another team.

[Dinsdale]

I heard scuttlebutt the other day that it could be the OKC 'Blazers (from Portland).

I've heard all kinds of stuff, and it's doubtful that it's going to happen. Highly unlikely the Blazers are going anywhere.

The reasons being:

There's still huge fan support for the team, which in decades past, was an integral part of the community. The massive influx of transplants has diluted the sentiment somewhat, but overall, long-term suppost is extremely high. The current problems with attendence and overall revenue stream are a function of the fans' displeasure with Allen, and Allen alone. People are (or aren't as the case may be) puttong their money where their mouth is, and are collectively trying to force Allen out of town. I'm quite pleased that the Little Guy is managing to successfully wage war against a billionaire. It seems to be working. The day the team changes owners, look for season ticket, individual ticket, and suite sales to skyrocket. I believe some local media has done some very informal surveys, which seem to back up this sentiment.

Also, I don't have exact details or figures, but apparently, when Allen tried to gouge the city and his othewr co-investors by bankrupting his share of the arena, in his attempts to fuck others, he was the one who ended up getting fucked in the end(WAR Karma). From what I understand(but don't take me too far to task on this), to remain in business, the team side of the corporation had to agree to one really, really shitty lease, which I believe still has something like 18 years left. And apparently if the team breaks the lease, at this point, the penalties are so high, they essentially lose more than the team is worth. In a nutshell, it's not finacially feasable to move the team. The arena owners (the same folks who own the arenas in Philly, if I'm not mistaken, but operate the Garden under a satellite corp, Portland Arena Management, or something like that), are willing to wheel and deal and renegotiate with any potential new owners, but have little patience for Allen. Like everyone else with any sense, they see him as laying in the bed he made. So in this situation, the arena folks pretty much hold all of the cards. Wasn't that way before, but Allens short-sighted greed ended up biting him in the ass.

And let's not forget, that as recently as the last couplefew years, Fortune or Money (whichever one of those zines does the sports business breakdown articles) rated the Blazers as having THE most profitable climate of any sports franchise in any sport. Biggest city without a baseball team, biggest city without a hockey team, second biggest city without a football team...almost works out to a monopoly, and the fans and infrastructure(not to mention a strong tradition of perrenial winning, only very recently broken. There was kinda that run of 22 straight playoffs and all, and never even knew what a lottery ball was until a couple of years ago). And it's not like any potential owners are ignorant to that fact. Problem is, no Oregonian who can afford them is remotely interested, Knight included. Only Damon Stoudamire has expressed any interest, and he will need a lot of financial help...although when that story came out, Zersfans were pretty stoked about maybe having someone who actually knew a lot about basketball take the reigns...haven't had that for a long time now.


So, when you add this all up....don't look for the Blazers to be going anywhere anytime soon.

Thank goodness. We don't hate the team, we hate the owner(and Arius Miles). Look for this town to have a hoops explosion when the team is sold. Because franly, any billionaire whyo parks the second most expensive privately owned boat in the world across the river from the arena...the yacht that rumor has it, takes $20,000,000 a year to maintain and staff...oddly enough the same amount Allen ripped the city/investors off for...then has the gall to ask those same people he put that yacht on disply to for a public handout...how did that dude THINK that was going to go over? "Yeah Paul, we'll just close down a couple of more schools and lay off a few MORE teachers...and give the money to you...since you're starving, and all."

Yeah, that'll fly.

Let's face it -- dude has more money than God, yet the only date dude has ever got to show up with him at a game...is Monica Seles? Oh, wait...and his mom. How big a dwweb do you have to be to not be able to get a date to fly on your private plane and show up for a game to the team you own? Can you say "rich LOSER?"

The Blazers WILL be back. And they WILL be in Portland...bet the farm on it. And who knows, maybe new owners will actually let the managament do their jobs without interfence, and maybe they can put something together with this recent slew of high draft picks...you never know. You can only draft the top HS players in the country for so long before you see fruition...or at least on paper, anyway. Telfair can go fuck himself, though.

[The Assassin]

Dins I'm sure you read this alreadybut I'll post it anyways .



Terry Porter rounding up investors to buy BlazersAssociated Press


PORTLAND, Ore. -- Former Portland Trail Blazers guard Terry Porter says he is rounding up potential investors interested in buying the Blazers and the Rose Garden arena.


Owner Paul Allen told The Oregonian in Los Angeles on Friday night that he has come to terms with selling the troubled team, which has the worst record this season in the NBA and which, he says, has been costing him millions of dollars to keep afloat.


He said he planned to attend Portland's home game against Golden state Saturday night, and "that could be my last home game as Blazers owner.


"I've come to terms with it."


Allen, a co-founder of Microsoft and one of the world's richest men, has lobbied for public funding for the team but hasn't found it in a city and state that are strapped for cash. *cough* cheapskate* cough*


He said there are several scenarios that might unfold, and that he doesn't know yet how it will turn out.


He said any decision probably would be before the June 28 draft. He deflected questions on what the asking price might be.


Porter, who is one of the more popular players in franchise history, played for Portland 10 years beginning in 1985 and later coached the Milwaukee Bucks for two years. They fired him at the end of last season. He also was an assistant coach for a season for the Sacramento Kings.


Porter still holds some Portland franchise records. His time with the Blazers included the 1990 and 1992 seasons, when the team got to the NBA Finals. They won their only championship in 1976-77.


He said he will be in Portland soon to meet with wealthy prospects. Some of the richer Oregonians, including Nike Chairman Phil Knight, already have said they want no part of it.


He said his group already has $100 million in debt financing lined up but would not say how much they hope to raise, or from whom.


Porter said he also will approach other former Blazers.


Paul Swangard, director of the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center at the University of Oregon, said the problem is a relatively small pool of very rich prospects in the Portland area, a pool that gets smaller when those who don't much care about NBA basketball are winnowed out.


"There's probably money. There's just a question of whether the money's there for basketball," he said.


NBA Commissioner David Stern has said the franchise and the Rose Garden are worth at least $300 million.

Andy Brimmer, a spokesman for Allen's privately held investment company, Vulcan Capital, said the group is "open to any reasonable option that would fix the broken economic model."





Now pardon me for not knowing the entire story but why is Phil Knight not interested? This would be HUGE for both Nike and the NBA. Granted Adidas owns the rights for the unis but Nike could be the soul provider of shoes. Also if Allen fucked up the blazers this bad what is in store for the Seahawks? Seattle Seahawk fan beware!

[RadioFan]

Let's face it -- dude has more money than God, yet the only date dude has ever got to show up with him at a game...is Monica Seles? Oh, wait...and his mom. How big a dwweb do you have to be to not be able to get a date to fly on your private plane and show up for a game to the team you own? Can you say "rich LOSER?"

The first time upon reading your post, and upon reading this, I broke out into a laugh.

Laughed HARD.

That shit still fucking kills me, especially knowing that even Jess has hottie references. Hell, if Jess had more than $100 bucks to throw around, he'd in the least have them pose with him for party pics, for this freaking board.

Bwaahaaaaaaaa

[Dinsdale]

I think the Porter story broke just a few minutes after I posted that.

Having former players involved with the team, who know what the hell they're talking about...a little too good to be true. We never get lucky like that.

If it does happen, the rest of you are SOOOOOOO put on notice.

Wonder if they hit Kevin Duckworth up yet? Not sure how much funds he'd have available, since he co-owns a big sportsbar in Vancouver with the jackass known as Kermit Washington. Not sure how such a nice man like Duck would get wrapped up with the guy who isn't content to just be an asshole, but wants to be remembered as the world's biggest asshole. Damn, I hope they keep Kermit out of the mix. What a jerk.

No Kermit, the NBA doesn't owe you the fines back from your attempted murder back in the 70's...just drop it, you retard. Don't know if you guys have ever heard his schpeil, but dude thinks the fine he got for ending Rudy's career was exorbitant, and now wants it back...with massive interest. In his defense, he says he only wants the money for African relief or something...but still -- dude doesn't realize how callous he sounds. And to this day, he still insists that it was basically Tomjanovich's fault, for "making" Kermit punch him in a manner that would make Mike Tyson say "damn, he really clocked the fucker."

Certainly running for Most Arrogant Douchebag On The Planet. Must be basing his attitude on all those years of HOF career...or not.

Anyhoo, I've [zysdale]met Kevin Duckworth on several occasions[/zysdale](use to wrench on his cars, back in that former grease monkey lifetime). Nicest guy you'll ever meet.

Wonder if Walton is interested in slicing off a chunk of his favorite team? Make no mistake -- no matter how hard Bill clowns as an announcer, it's doubtful he'll ever be capable of doing any wrong in this town. Championship banner out front should have told you.

I'm not sure of the background, but Knight has never seen eye-to-eye with any incarnation of Blazer ownership/management. Not sure why. Seems like a Nike/Blazer marriage was a natural from the get-go, but it never worked that way. The Blazers had a deal with Avia (also local at the time) for quite a while...sup Dr Drexler and Mr Clyde promotion. Now, Phil is semi-retired, and probably doesn't need the headache. Plus, he already owns the U of O football team and Tiger Woods, so it's not like he needs more stuff.

Hell, since they left Beaverton, Adidas' new digs are up on The Bluffs, almost overlooking the arena(Adidas North America was out of Beaverton for a long time, now in North Portland). Maybe they want a piece -- that would be a nice "FU" to Nike. Not sure what kind of financial leverage they have these days, since getting busted for cooking the books before the Reebok merger(don't know if you guys heard about that, and I doubt you care...but 'round these parts, everything that happens to a shoe company is news).


But things are looking up. Somebody is going to step up, since it wasn't very long ago that they Zers were raking pretty serious profit. And if someone bought the arena, too -- they'd probably be rolling in the dough in pretty short order. The Blazers use to be extremely profitable, REGARLESS what bald-faced lies Allen may be telling to the contrary right now. Shows what sort of character the guy has -- he used to brag about hoiw much profit the team made, now he claims that they've never once made profit, and the people of Portland owe him.

What an ass. I don't remember that one time when the Blazers made a bunch of money, and since it came from the people of Portland, he decided to give some to the city to fund schools and services, just because he was doing so well. Instead, I remember him spending $20,000,000 out of his own pocket launching a toy rocket. That was within a couplefew weeks after leaving the city and his co-investors holding a tab for...$20,000,000. And parking his yacht with an annual operating budget of...$20,000,000 across from the arena. For some odd reaso, he seems stuck on the number $20,000,000. Claims he's going to lose $100,000,000 ovwer the next three years...because he just HAD to have that $20,000,000 RIGHT NOW. What a douche. We've been waiting for this day for about ten years or so now.

I mean, dude buys the team, and within the first couplefew years, has managed to run out of town:

-Rick Adelman(former Blazer, and at the time the winniningest coach in NBA history, percentage-wise. Hello? Yeah, not like dude's track record was very good or anything.

-Geoff Petrie -- Huge star of the Blazers' early days, still holds a few scoring records. Put together a championship-caliber team on a shoestring budget with drafted talent. Can't have that, now can we?

- Clyde Drexler...nuff said. HOFers are easy to come by, right? And when a fixture/star/HOFer has to tell the fans "I love you all. I want to make it clear, it's not you guys. Given the choice, I'd stay"...there might be a problem.

Terry Porter -- At least he was the first guy to ever make a basket in the new arena. He did it in a Timberwolves uni...BODE TP.

Buck Williams -- "I'm a grown man, and I will be treated as such." Hmmm....no red flags here, either.


Jerome Kersey -- because it's not like he was a fan favorite. The guy got a free pass from both team and fans after the....incedent at the shopping mall in Utah. Everyone else involved was gone in short order, but hardly a word was said about their ringleader. At least he's been hired on by the team since. But when he pretty much retired from basketball because "I live in Portland, and every other NBA job is outside of Portland, I'll just kick back for now"...that's going to play pretty well around here.

But I see what Allen/Whittsett were thinking -- I mean, replacing those guys with the likes of Rod Strickland, Shawn Kemp, Cryin' Brian Grant(charitble and active in the community...as long as there's a camera crew nearby...what an ass), Rasheed Wallace...and I can't even remember all of the tards they brought through the revolving door.


Nice to see these dark times coming to an end, so we can get back to kicking ass and taking names, like we were for the previos 30 years or so. Hopefully, Allen won't screw this up. Jarrett Jack, Martell Webster, Travis Outlaw, Joe Pryzbilla, Jaun Dixon, et al...we could all grow up together in the New Era. Worked before, no reason it can't work again.

As long as we ditch Arius Miles. This guy makes Shawn Kemp not seem as bad.

[quacker backer]

I heard on talk radio that compared to Ariola Miles Terrel Owens was an outstanding team member....

[Luther]

Of all the years I've read these stupid forums, I will have to say that Dinsdale's takes on the Blazers have been rock solid, factual and downright a pleasure to read. It is tough having only one sports team in town, and it is tougher when you finish dead last.

At least his posts were something that others should try and reproduce. I'm no Romey fan, but having a TAKE and NOT SUCKING is something all forums need more of.

Rip City

[Dinsdale]

I heard on talk radio that compared to Ariola Miles Terrel Owens was an outstanding team member....

Apparently, that was straight out of Theo Ratliff's mouth.

[quacker backer]

I heard on talk radio that compared to Ariola Miles Terrel Owens was an outstanding team member....

Apparently, that was straight out of Theo Ratliff's mouth.

or his butt

[Dinsdale]

PORTLAND, Ore. - Former Portland Trail Blazers guard Terry Porter has added some financial muscle in his effort to buy his old club.
Jeld-Wen Inc., one of the country's largest door-and-window makers, agreed to join Porter's investor group.

The Klamath Falls-based company previously denied having any interest in owning the team, but it recently came on board, Rob Kremer, who has been working with Porter to line up local investors, told The Oregonian newspaper.

A Jeld-Wen spokeswoman confirmed the company's interest but declined to comment further, the newspaper reported in its Thursday editions.

Porter's group has been trying to line up investors for nearly two months, anticipating it needed roughly $50 million to $75 million in equity to combine with $115 million in financing to make a bid.

Among the roughly 10 partners they have lined up is Scott Thomason, founder of a chain of Oregon car dealerships.

The group is one of two known potential bidders for the franchise, which ended the season with the worst record in the NBA and has seen attendance plummet in recent years.

Mark Wattles, the founder of the Hollywood Video movie-rental chain, has also expressed interest in buying the team from Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, who bought the team in 1988 and says he can no longer continue to lose tens of millions of dollars on it.

The privately held Jeld-Wen has been heavily involved in golf, sponsoring the Champions Tour major that bears its name.

Thomason, meanwhile, leased a luxury suite at the Rose Garden for almost a decade and bought ads during Trail Blazers broadcasts.

"I remember when the place was sold out every game and the people were in love with the Trail Blazers," he told The Oregonian. "I think that could happen again. But it's going to take a lot of work and it's going to take new management."

I'm actually trying to drum up an e-mail adress for Terry Porter, to tell him what a monumentally poor idea this is.

Jeld-Wen?

$$$$$


But Porter needs to realize that the true fanbase is the real locals. Dude won't be able to fill the seats just with the area's transplants(huge percentage of the population here), and needs the "old school" core group to support the team before the newbies will jump on board.

And therein lies the rub -- anybody who has lived here for any appreciable amount of time will boycott the team altogether if Scott Thomason is involved in any way, shape, or form. Or at least all of my hardcore, OG Blazerfan friends have said as much.

Since anyone outside of this area isn't familiar with the guy, here's a summary --

He's built a chain of car dealerships...lots and lots of big ones. In that time that he's been doing this, he's used his money very wisely -- to buy his way out of multiple child-molestation charges. He's bought his way out of hit-and-run car accidents when he was drunk. He recently plead guilty to a hit and run, in which all of the witnesses claimed he smelled of booze and appeared to have impaired motor skills. Before that, he hit a stopped car, and drove off...only after getting out and checking his own car for damage...apparently with his stagger on.


Memo to Thomason...if you're going to hit people on busy ccity streets, get out and look around, then drive off -- you might want to stop plastering your face all over town in the form of advertising. It didn't happen once -- it's become a pattern.


Sorry, but if TP gets a known child-molester on board, I see this going even worse for him than it did for Allen.

[Cicero]

So Toddowen owns car dealerships in the greater Portland area?

[The Assassin]

Looks like they are on the market. As well as the Rose Garden Arena.

[Dinsdale]

Looks like they are on the market. As well as the Rose Garden Arena.

Uhm...yeah....uhm...

Assassin...

Uhm, thanks for the update.

That's kinda why I posted this thread....3+ months ago...


But thanks for the update, anyway.


Did you hear?

Dallas made the finals.

[The Assassin]

Looks like they are on the market. As well as the Rose Garden Arena.

Uhm...yeah....uhm...

Assassin...

Uhm, thanks for the update.

That's kinda why I posted this thread....3+ months ago...


But thanks for the update, anyway.


Did you hear?

Dallas made the finals.

Yes and we landed on the moon :?

What I meant was they "OFFICIALLY" went on the market last week.

you savin your cash? I'm sure Allen won't refuse a reasonable offer.