Updated throughout the day with quick takes from staff.
Remember when Kevin Pritchard could do no wrong? The Portland Trailblazers were a hotshot item, and their GM got pretty much all of the credit. It got to the point where Blazers fans were inventing new terms (e.g. Pritch-slapped) to describe all of Pritchards roster moves.
My, how times have changed. First, there was the Darius Miles fiasco. Then, Pritchard got spurned by both Hedo Turkoglu and Paul Millsap in free agency. Now, the Blazers are languishing at just 12-8 this season, and Pritchard’s third choice for all that cap space, Andre Miller, is not working out.
SI contributor Brian Hendrickson has a great piece about all the chemistry problems Miller has created this season, from failing the Blazers’ annual pre-training camp conditioning test to complaining about not starting. The underlying message of the article is that this is how Andre Miller has been his entire career and he hasn’t been able to change.
Which, of course, begs the question: shouldn’t have Pritchard seen this coming? Why sign a guy who hasn’t demonstrated any ability to fit into the type of culture you’re trying to build? So much for being a GM that valued chemistry about all else.
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