It's been over a year since the Portland Trail Blazers fired former golden-boy general manager Kevin Pritchard. Since then, Pritchard has been silent, and the Blazers have already spit out another well-regarded GM in Rich Cho. Public sympathy has continued to sway toward Pritchard, even though he hadn't said much about his firing.
Kevin Pritchard Opens Up About His Portland Trail Blazers Tenure, Says He Might Return If Asked
Pritchard finally broke his silence on Tuesday, giving an extensive interview to John Canzano on 95.5 The Game in Portland. In a surprise, not only was Pritchard surprisingly complimentary of the man who fired him, Paul Allen, but he also said he would probably go back if he was asked to be in the Blazers’ front office again.
That’s a tough question. My quick answer would be yes [I would go back] because I’m so emotionally tied. I felt like I had an opportunity and we had an opportunity to do something pretty cool and I wanted to finish it.
Then, immediately sensing the follow-up question, Pritchard affirmed that, yes, he would work for Allen again:
People would say maybe you didn’t have the relationship with Paul Allen at the end, but I will tell you this: I enjoyed all the times because [of] what you find out. I think this is probably one of the biggest things when you work for an organization. Some of the tough times are important because you figure out who you are and who you want to be with. I don’t know if that’s the same in the newspaper or the radio business, but we kinda felt like we knew who we wanted in the trenches, and that’s fun because then you know you get to point where the gun’s at everybody else and you’re going after everybody else. Sometimes that causes issues, but I enjoyed it. It was a great experience.
Pritchard also talked a lot about picking Greg Oden over Kevin Durant, saying they were wowed by Oden's commitment to winning no matter what. He also said that if Oden gets healthy, "the analytics" say he's the best free agent on the market whenever the NBA lockout ends. Finally, he said the Blazers knew that Brandon Roy had some health issues before signing him to a five-year maximum contract in 2009. If only those guys had stayed healthy, then ... and yeah, this sentence is depressing Blazers fans.
The whole thing is worth a listen. Click here for audio.
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