This whole saga is pretty amazing.
Larry Miller comes out with some form of support for Pritchard while a search firm is looking for his replacement and nobody in the NBA or Rose Quarter that I can find believes there’s a chance he will return next season. Meanwhile, he’s preparing to run this team’s draft day?
Really, Paul Allen? It’s getting about time, I’m afraid, to go ahead and pull the trigger on this whole thing. You can’t have it both ways. You can’t let make full plans for letting the guy go and at the same time get 100 percent out of him on draft day. I just don’t think people are made that way.
You think Pritchard doesn’t know he’s history? You think his agent isn’t already working to find him his next job? You think he’s also not already trying to figure out which of his staff he’ll take with him?
Now you can try to hold him here, try to sign his aides to contracts — whatever — but the fact is, there is something kind of slimy about this whole thing.
I mean, if you have good reasons for firing Pritchard, hey — it’s your toy. Do what you have to do — I’ve never had a problem with that. You’ve lost a lot of money at this. I think you want to win. But it’s time to move on this. I don’t think it’s really workable to think you’re going to be able to pull this off.
You want to operate without Pritchard? You better do it. Starting now. Find someone to oversee the draft room and take charge of things yourself. You can do it. To keep Pritchard here any longer is bad karma — for both sides. It’s just not the right thing to do, in my opinion.
Time to move on. Pay the man his money and send him on his way — and let him take who he wants to take. You want a new front office? Go get one. There are qualified people out there, even if you might have to wait a couple of months to convince them to come here.
The draft? Seriously, what are you planning to do with that, anyway? Add yet another untried and unproven youngster to a team screaming for veterans? Package up a bunch of reserves with your pick and get a solid veteran? You can do that without Pritchard.
And if you can’t do it without him, you’re sort of getting what you deserve, I guess. It’s time to move forward and be honest with your fans, your staff and everyone else. There is something very distasteful about this whole mess.
And it will continue to get worse until the inevitable resolution.
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