Big City Professional Becomes Small City Baker
Far away from the NBA bright lights there is a small bakery in downtown Bloomington, Indiana with a not so typical baker. "Yeah this is definitely a change of pace" says the 43 year old ex-General Manager of the Portland Trail Blazers, Kevin Pritchard as he pulls out one of his piping hot confections. "I finally found my passion", he says with a smile.
It may seem like such a big jump to go from being a beloved General Manager of a professional basketball team to a professional baker but Kevin doesn't see it that way. "When you think about it, building a NBA team is a lot like building a cake. Mixing the right ingredients, putting it in the oven for just the right amount of time and then you need that perfect icing. I admit that the icing is always hard to get down. It's been one of my weaknesses. It's either too soupy or too thick and pasty. Now that I've got all this free time I've finally got the right icing for my cake".
It turns out that baking & cakes in particular have been been a big part of Kevin's life, even while at Portland cake played a large role. "You know some of my biggest transactions were inspired by cake. Like when Nate came to me and said we need a tall guy, someone with height, I immediately thought of billowy, soft Angel Food cake & drafted LaMarcus. On the flipside I was baking a Devil's Food cake when we drafted Oden. With a Devil's Food, the devil is definitely in the details! One of my best pickups was when I was going through a Petit Fours craze and grabbed Batum thinking he might have the secret french techniques to prefect my recipe. Rudy's situation was similar, since I brought him in to help translate this old Magdalenas recipe I had from a distant grandma".
When asked if his baking or love of cakes ever got in the way of his decision making he replied "You know, I don't think so. I am doubtful that it really did. You know one thing that really bothered me was that Nate loved my cakes that didn't turn out. Like when I was still an assistant and I was really demanding we get Jarret Jack, during that time I was baking this god awful fruit cake. Nate was the only won who loved that fruit cake and kept wanting more and more of it". Pritchard then paused for a moment of self musing and said "You know maybe it did have something to do with my failures & that whole situation. The real reason Penn was fired was due to us lying about him going to an interview with the Timberwolves. Really he was at the Pillsbury Bakeoff with our Peanut Butter "Tip-Offs", obviously Pillsbury doesn't know a good recipe when they see one as our recipe only finished 16th." Kevin then sighed and went quiet for moment.
For fans still wonder about his sudden departure on draft day & if things could have been done differently Kevin replied "You know, I am not a perfect man. On draft day I had a trade of Chris Paul for Rudy, Pryzbilla & Batum but there were a few hiccups. I was building this team as a cake and I needed the icing. Paul is no icing, he's like a huge chunk of cake. You don't just take this cake you've worked on for years and slap this huge funky piece of cake on top. It just doesn't work that way. Even after removing Rudy's, Pryz's & Batum's pieces, there wouldn't have been enough room and it would have made the cake all lopsided. Did you know that Chris Paul likes a Krispie Kreme / Mountain Dew pudding cake concoction? I was building the Blazers in the mold of a German Chocolate cake, you don't put Mountain Dew cake in a German Chocolate cake, it just doesn't work out that way! Plus, to a lesser extent Rudy had almost translated the Magdalenas recipe, Batum & I were popping out some of the best Petit Fours that side of the rockies & Przybilla... I mean where would I get my vanilla without Pryzbilla? Now I explained this all to Paul & Monty and their jaws were wide open when they heard I declined the Paul trade for these reasons. They then told me to immediately pack my things and leave the building. In the end it was probably a good thing as I had a cake baking at home and thankfully got there before it burned."
