Page 1 of 1
Rumor for New Clippers GM
Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2010 4:36 am
by donemilio21
The Blazers have fired Tom Penn, vice president of basketball operations.
Penn's dismissal comes nearly 10 months after Penn was promoted to vice president of basketball operations.
It is unknown why Penn was fired, but it is believed to have come from owner Paul Allen and not Kevin Pritchard.
Penn was pursued heavily last year for the general manager position with the Minnesota Timberwolves, but turned down the job following his promotion from the Blazers.
His expertise with league rules and the salary cap allowed the Blazers to gain a trade exception in the 2007 NBA draft, which allowed them to make a trade with Phoenix for the rights to Rudy Fernandez.
Around the league he is widely regarded as a salary cap expert.
Update: Citing sources, Wendell Maxey reports that Penn is believed to have been in talks for the Clippers job.
According to a source that spoke with Columbian, there had been rumblings in recent weeks within the organization that Penn's job was at stake. The primary reason was that Penn had a tendency to rub many of those he worked with the wrong way, the source said, and was seen as being a "ladder climber."
Anybody know what kind of guy Penn is?
Re: Rumor for New Clippers GM
Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2010 5:45 am
by mkwest
I personally don't know that much about him. He's known to excel in matters concerning the salary cap (capologist). He worked under Jerry West in Memphis for a number of years and obviously he assisted Pritchard in Portland. I'm interested in finding out why he was fired.
If the Clippers are truly interested, I'm glad that they are going after some new blood from successful organizations. It sure beats hearing that Isiah Thomas is in the running lol.
Re: Rumor for New Clippers GM
Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2010 4:50 pm
by thanumba2clippersfan
I was kinda thinking that when I saw he was fired
Re: Rumor for New Clippers GM
Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2010 3:19 pm
by Em1
Kevin Pritchard is also unhappy, apparently he didn't know this was coming. If Sterling's "unlimited resources available" BS was true, he'd open up his wallet and snag them both.
Re: Rumor for New Clippers GM
Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2010 10:08 pm
by bww78
The Clippers can hire whoever they want as their next GM, but until there is a collective rising up against Donald Sterling, I don't think it's going to have any significant difference.
Maybe I'm wrong. Honestly, I think the first and most logical step is to take a step back and honestly assess the potential and ceiling for this current team. You can only act once you've formulated a solid plan based on an accurate assessment of what you've got right now.
Does anyone think this team is a contender, or likely to become one with only a few minor tweaks?
I think the new GM needs to go into full rebuild mode, building around Gordon and Griffin going forward. I'd give it 2, maybe 3 years max before the team is a top 4 team in the Western Conference.