tlongII
09-29-2009, 08:53 PM
http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/oregonian/john_canzano/index.ssf/2009/09/a_healthier_paul_allen_is_a_he.html
TUALATIN -- The Trail Blazers need him to stay healthy if they're going to win an NBA championship someday. And he looks terrific. It's why Tuesday's first practice of the season was so encouraging.
He moved around well. Everyone was happy with how he looked on the court. He grew a beard in the offseason, as men around this league sometimes do, but owner Paul Allen is healthy and that's wonderful news.
What?
You expecting Martell Webster here?
Webster needs to stay healthy. Greg Oden, too. Brandon Roy needs to continue to lead. The team must stay injury-free as a whole, sure, but none of these things are more significant than keeping the guy in charge out of the hospital. Because for all the knocks on Allen, he's the player who really makes the franchise go.
Allen was sick at the end of last season. His skin looked gray. His eyes were sunken. He shuffled around during the Blazers-Rockets playoff series, sometimes with a doctor alongside him.
There were whispers inside the organization about his heart, which had undergone a prior valve surgery. Then, Allen's seats were empty for Game 6 in Houston, and he didn't appear in the locker room after the loss, either. So the Blazers summer search for a small forward felt insignificant compared to the crisis the team would have at ownership should Allen not be around.
While the front office was chasing free agents, and while the players were working on their games this summer, something more significant was going down -- Allen went underwent another heart surgery.
"I'm fine, finally," Allen said Tuesday. "I'm much, much better. I hit a few bumps in the road.
"Your health ... is the most important thing in the world, isn't it?"
He's talking like a guy who understands the stakes, now. And maybe we're witnessing the evolution of a man. These things happen when life throws perspective your way.
Allen is a wonderful owner. He spends money. He's enthusiastic about the team. He's intelligent enough, and aware enough, to grant the good people he hires plenty of autonomy. Those things should never be taken for granted when you have so many clumsy professional sports organizations that forgo winning in the name of cost-cutting and ego.
It's rare for an owner to be as ambitious as Allen without becoming a distraction.
Sure, he's stopped Nate McMillan on occasion before games to ask, "Is Sergio playing more tonight?" or "Is (Jerryd) Bayless going to get more minutes?" because the owner likes seeing what his young players can do. Allen also went through a Sebastian Telfair phase, but in the end, McMillan always answers the overtures with, "I'm trying to win the game."
Allen loves to see the young players develop.
"I know he owns an NFL team," McMillan said, "but I think the Blazers are his baby."
Allen gets knocked because he's the richest guy in the room. The money makes him a slow-moving target when things go wrong. But in the end, if we're talking about what's best for the franchise as the window of opportunity opens, keeping Allen healthy becomes the biggest storyline for the rest of this decade for the Blazers.
General manager Kevin Pritchard says all the time, "He'll do whatever it takes to win."
You have to love an owner like that.
Said Allen: "When I bought the team, I think Clyde was making $1 million. I'm just trying to do the right thing. Sometimes doing the right thing isn't easy, whether it's deciding to rebuild or changing management."
There are better investments than professional sports teams. And so I asked Allen why he owns the Blazers. What's in it for him? What does he get? Why does he do it?
"I get to be a fan. I get to see what's going on behind the scenes. I get to take an active role. It's fun."
His skin looked good on Tuesday.
His eyes danced again as he watched practice.
His beard, "a why-not impulse decision," he said, was just him trying out a new look.
Allen wore a dark corduroy jacket, a pair of navy pants, and some black New Balance tennis shoes to the first practice. He was asked about expectations for the team, and about hope, but all you really needed to know about Allen you could tell by standing a few feet away and looking at him.
He's healthy again.
Keeping Allen that way becomes the key.
TUALATIN -- The Trail Blazers need him to stay healthy if they're going to win an NBA championship someday. And he looks terrific. It's why Tuesday's first practice of the season was so encouraging.
He moved around well. Everyone was happy with how he looked on the court. He grew a beard in the offseason, as men around this league sometimes do, but owner Paul Allen is healthy and that's wonderful news.
What?
You expecting Martell Webster here?
Webster needs to stay healthy. Greg Oden, too. Brandon Roy needs to continue to lead. The team must stay injury-free as a whole, sure, but none of these things are more significant than keeping the guy in charge out of the hospital. Because for all the knocks on Allen, he's the player who really makes the franchise go.
Allen was sick at the end of last season. His skin looked gray. His eyes were sunken. He shuffled around during the Blazers-Rockets playoff series, sometimes with a doctor alongside him.
There were whispers inside the organization about his heart, which had undergone a prior valve surgery. Then, Allen's seats were empty for Game 6 in Houston, and he didn't appear in the locker room after the loss, either. So the Blazers summer search for a small forward felt insignificant compared to the crisis the team would have at ownership should Allen not be around.
While the front office was chasing free agents, and while the players were working on their games this summer, something more significant was going down -- Allen went underwent another heart surgery.
"I'm fine, finally," Allen said Tuesday. "I'm much, much better. I hit a few bumps in the road.
"Your health ... is the most important thing in the world, isn't it?"
He's talking like a guy who understands the stakes, now. And maybe we're witnessing the evolution of a man. These things happen when life throws perspective your way.
Allen is a wonderful owner. He spends money. He's enthusiastic about the team. He's intelligent enough, and aware enough, to grant the good people he hires plenty of autonomy. Those things should never be taken for granted when you have so many clumsy professional sports organizations that forgo winning in the name of cost-cutting and ego.
It's rare for an owner to be as ambitious as Allen without becoming a distraction.
Sure, he's stopped Nate McMillan on occasion before games to ask, "Is Sergio playing more tonight?" or "Is (Jerryd) Bayless going to get more minutes?" because the owner likes seeing what his young players can do. Allen also went through a Sebastian Telfair phase, but in the end, McMillan always answers the overtures with, "I'm trying to win the game."
Allen loves to see the young players develop.
"I know he owns an NFL team," McMillan said, "but I think the Blazers are his baby."
Allen gets knocked because he's the richest guy in the room. The money makes him a slow-moving target when things go wrong. But in the end, if we're talking about what's best for the franchise as the window of opportunity opens, keeping Allen healthy becomes the biggest storyline for the rest of this decade for the Blazers.
General manager Kevin Pritchard says all the time, "He'll do whatever it takes to win."
You have to love an owner like that.
Said Allen: "When I bought the team, I think Clyde was making $1 million. I'm just trying to do the right thing. Sometimes doing the right thing isn't easy, whether it's deciding to rebuild or changing management."
There are better investments than professional sports teams. And so I asked Allen why he owns the Blazers. What's in it for him? What does he get? Why does he do it?
"I get to be a fan. I get to see what's going on behind the scenes. I get to take an active role. It's fun."
His skin looked good on Tuesday.
His eyes danced again as he watched practice.
His beard, "a why-not impulse decision," he said, was just him trying out a new look.
Allen wore a dark corduroy jacket, a pair of navy pants, and some black New Balance tennis shoes to the first practice. He was asked about expectations for the team, and about hope, but all you really needed to know about Allen you could tell by standing a few feet away and looking at him.
He's healthy again.
Keeping Allen that way becomes the key.