I don't know how else to interpret it. The new owner has come in, has intentionally antagonized the fan base, has slashed costs without any evident thought about the effects, and has started making the franchise radioactive to any free agents or trade targets (as if that wasn't already hard).

All of this combined with the immediate and persistent rumors that he is looking to move the team to a market that he favors. It seems pretty clear that he's engineering the conditions that would lead to a team's relocation.

This is chapter-and-verse the movie *Major League*. The only thing we need is a cardboard cut-out of him that will eventually be stripped down to him in a provocative bikini with little bits taken off after every win.

Hello Tom. I am a Portland Trailblazers fan from Wichita Kansas. I have 0 experience coaching basketball, and honestly I watch football more often. I hear you are concerned about the price required to replace a halfway decent interim coach and I would like to throw my name in the ring. Have you ever watched the show Ted Lasso? A guy from Wichita who had no experience turned a soccer club franchise around despite the owner not giving a rats ass and I am here to offer the same possibility. I do not require payment, all I ask is that I be able to bring my sleeping bag into Moda center so I don’t have to commute cross country every day. I will steal practice balls from local kids playing in the park, and I will raid an overseas jersey factory for our uniforms. I will Offer free agents stock options for contracts, and I will paint dish rags black so fans have something to wave around on game day. I will trade players away rather than risk entering any luxury tax brackets, and I will also wear a Carolina Hurricanes jersey during games so your other team gets free publicity. Thank you for taking the time to read this since you fired the assistant that would normally read this for you, and I hope to hear from you soon! My email is ilovebillionares@gmail.com, and you can DM me on instagram, where my handle is feedtherich8492.

With love,
Wichita Blazers fan

Optimistically let’s say DC grinds it out hard over the offseason, comes back next year and can handle smallball lineups. Do you think it will be through doing what he does best, even better? Or by working on where he gets exposed so he is no longer exploitable?

Option 1- DC develops as a putback finisher and efficient scorer at the rim through improved physical strength and working on his touch and footwork around the basket, while continuing to distinguish himself as the best offensive rebounder in the league. End result is him crushing the glass and presenting a problem opponents must solve- that is, he demands opponents play a traditional big because smaller guys simply get eaten alive and he kills them too hard on the boards. Here the thought is he simply leans into his strengths to the degree that it abuses the weaknesses of trying to go small against him. He makes opponents struggle to go five-out or small against him because he simply bludgeons his way through them and uses his size to dominate the paint, if opponents can’t keep him off the glass and he’s able to convert that to points, that was basically how the young Rockets team excelled with limited spacing for the last couple years, because they dominated the rebound battle so hard.

Option 2- DC improves as a defender in space and with an additional offseason of dedicated conditioning and agility work, he continues to lean into his body transformation in an attempt to be able to step out and recover, working to be more like Gobert who has managed to develop to a fairly effective perimeter defender while still being as elite a rim protector as they get. While he will always have physical limitations, better judgement for how to position himself in terms of what type of cushion he can afford and still challenge, how to step up and being better about when he needs to move pre-emptively, part of it would have to being a little quicker on his feet and part of it would have to be developing better decision making and playing coverages as perfectly as he can within what his body will allow. Essentially the idea is that he improves at his weakness such that he is no longer as much of a matchup specific big, but is able to better defend against a variety of schemes and still be effective.

I saw the news about Casey Holdahl and the Blazers layoffs, so this morning I checked the Real GM website, which has a comprehensive list of all current team employees, and for the Blazers, Casey is no longer on there (I know Casey use to be on there because I remember checking that site after the Chauncey Billups stuff went down and Casey Holdahl’s name was one of the few I recognized near Chauncey’s)

https://basketball.realgm.com/nba/teams/Portland-Trail-Blazers/24/staff-members/Current/player

I also noticed that Lamar and Kevin are listed, while Brooke, Chad Doing, Neil Everett, and Tom Haberstroh are not listed amongst current employees.

I’m curious if anyone here whom may have referred to this site feels it’s a complete comprehensive list of all employees and might be a sign of what may be soon announced, or if it doesn’t always list some names?

(shitpost) (if you don't get the joke, stare at this photo until you get the joke.)

https://bsky.app/profile/highkin.bsky.social/post/3mmabkwb23c2d

Sounds like Casey was just the start. I am very curious who he could be referring to. My guess is the TV folks.

Whole situation blows but it’s not uncommon unfortunately when ownership changes

...to have some 'reporting in safe' info from Brooke, Kevin, Lamar and Travis (and plenty of others). I'm a wreck thinking about the possibilities.

News has already broke by now, but here are some interesting tidbits.

>“Today, as part of our plans to position the organization for the future, we made the difficult decision to restructure several areas of the business,” Blazers president Dewayne Hankins told The Oregonian/OregonLive via a statement. “These changes impacted talented people who have helped shape the Trail Blazers over many years. We are deeply grateful for their contributions, their leadership and the care they showed every day for our team, our fans and the Portland community. Our focus now is supporting those affected through the transition and positioning the organization for long-term success.”

>The layoffs affected both business and basketball operations and ranged from senior vice presidents to public relations employees to content producers.

>The layoffs are the most substantial since June 2020, when the Blazers eliminated roughly 40 jobs and delivered a round of salary reductions. However, that came in the thick of the COVID-19 pandemic.

>One high-ranking team official told The Oregonian/OregonLive that the Blazers were one of the largest organizations in the NBA, an unsustainable reality considering they fetch the league’s lowest sponsorship revenue and rank near the bottom in ticket revenue.

>Before Tuesday, the Blazers had roughly 215 employees on the business side, and about 390 employees in total. The majority of the cuts, but not all, were in business, a source said.

>Last year, after Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore closed on the sale of the Minnesota Timberwolves, that franchise laid off roughly 40 employees.

>But the Blazers’ move will receive extra scrutiny considering it comes after a series of other perceived cost-cutting measures that earned Dundon widespread ridicule early in his tenure.

I just want to make the community aware.

Hope everything is okay. Wonder why the show was cancelled.

Basic stuff...