ATTN: Paul Allen and the rest of the Px3

Zyme · Post #1 » by **Zyme** » Sun Jul 13, 2008 5:22 am

With all the overseas players that we have been acquiring in the last few drafts, it has been compared to by many here as a minor league system. If this is the case, why not just go the whole nine yards and make a true minor league team. If you were to purchase a Euroleague team and stock it with players like JFree or PKop and all the future players you will likely be drafting to just stash overseas.

You could always start with the current roster and replace them with incoming draft players. By putting them together you could start to have them familiarize themselves with the differing playstyles that each player would bring to the team.

In addition, with a euroleague, spanish or other team in a strong league, you would have your potential players competing against the best of Europe that would do wonders for players that have been playing in the weaker leagues (like finnish or the like).

I really think that if we are going to proceede with this great tactic of stashing players overseas we should really try to take this to the max. By doing so you can really benefit both the players and in better control over the development of you potential assets.

Clipsz 4 Life · Post #2 » by **Tim Lehrbach** » Sun Jul 13, 2008 5:47 am

You'd still have to get players to sign. That's an astronomically expensive gamble.

PDXKnight · Post #3 » by **PDXKnight** » Sun Jul 13, 2008 6:09 am

I think it's beyond the point of just buying teams in Europe to serve as a developmental league since the Euroleague is now trying to compete with the NBA in terms of talent and salaries. I'm not saying it's impossible, but it'd be much more realistic and affordable to start up a minor league system in America.

SpyderRyder1 · Post #4 » by **SpyderRyder1** » Sun Jul 13, 2008 6:15 am

Tim Lehrbach wrote:You'd still have to get players to sign. That's an astronomically expensive gamble.

Paul Allen is astronomically rich, like $16BILLION rich, 43rd wealthiest in the world rich.

Looking at the net worths of NBA owners PA eclipses the next highest owner by a factor of about 3 and his boat, the $200mill Octopus:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopus_(yacht)

is worth more than some owners TOTAL net worth.

Zyme · Post #5 » by **Zyme** » Sun Jul 13, 2008 6:22 am

SpyderRyder1 wrote:
Tim Lehrbach wrote:You'd still have to get players to sign. That's an astronomically expensive gamble.

Paul Allen is astronomically rich, like $16BILLION rich, 43rd wealthiest in the world rich.

Looking at the net worths of NBA owners PA eclipses the next highest owner by a factor of about 3 and his boat, the $200mill Octopus:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopus_(yacht)

is worth more than some owners TOTAL net worth.

200 million, try 300 million

btw holy crap that thing is huge!!

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2006/08/ ... 47123.html

BigSkyBlazerFan · Post #6 » by **BigSkyBlazerFan** » Sun Jul 13, 2008 7:01 am

It’s a nice Idea but I’m not sure it would cost a lot, Key point the team wouldn’t likely be good because of the fact all the great players would likely be in Portland already. I could be wrong I do like the concept Zyme though.

blazers73 · Post #7 » by **blazers73** » Sun Jul 13, 2008 7:15 am

Talk about thinking outside the box. Very creative idea. Like the idea for the Blazers. I hate it for basketball in general. I'm sure the cities fans would hate their team basically being a farm team for the Blazers. The team would focus more on developing and not winning thus bringing down the team's competitiveness. What if this catches on in Europe? It has the potential to bring down the level of play in Europe IMO.

Post #8 » by **DaVoiceMaster** » Sun Jul 13, 2008 7:39 am

I don't see it working. Drafting players and sending them overseas.. they just might make more money over there than rookies in the NBA. Still gotta compete with the Euroleague teams or players won't want to play for you making less money.

SpyderRyder1 · Post #9 » by **SpyderRyder1** » Sun Jul 13, 2008 8:06 am

Zyme wrote:
SpyderRyder1 wrote:
Tim Lehrbach wrote:You'd still have to get players to sign. That's an astronomically expensive gamble.

Paul Allen is astronomically rich, like $16BILLION rich, 43rd wealthiest in the world rich.

Looking at the net worths of NBA owners PA eclipses the next highest owner by a factor of about 3 and his boat, the $200mill Octopus:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopus_(yacht)

is worth more than some owners TOTAL net worth.

200 million, try 300 million

btw holy crap that thing is huge!!

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2006/08/ ... 47123.html

That looks like $300mill AUS and back in 2006 when that was written, the Aus dollar was about .65 compared to the US dollar, hence the $300mill AUS x .65 UD dollar=$200mill US. Now it is probably close to 1 to 1 as crap as our $$ is around the world.

I suppose either way, that boat alone is probably worth more than all us Blazer posters total lifetime income combined, makes me want to buy a Powerball ticket, see if I can get lucky.

Anyways back OT, I think it would be great for PA to buy controlling interest in a Spanish league, or Euroleague team. We would sign Euro players to a contract with a reDONKulously large buy out, say $5mill to dissuede other teams from picking them, and then draft players we like with the 30th pick or buy a 20 something pick, and draft them while keeping them over and when it it time to bring them over we can cut them from their current contract freeing up the $5mill buy out clause and we can bring them over fresh off the boat.

Since the NBA has no rules on what a foreign team can and cannot do with its players, the foreign club can just say we void the buy out clause and will give him to you with no buy out. We would also be able to offer a huge deal to the player in europe to join our team and force him to have a high buy out knowing that we will waive it for the Blazers alone.

PA needs to get his head around to this idea, hell maybe even sign Jennings to a 4 year deal 5 mill per and a 5 mill buy out clause to scare away some teams.

JD45 · Post #10 » by **JD45** » Sun Jul 13, 2008 12:39 pm

It is a very interesting idea.

I can see lots of ways that could work, however I suspect the NBA would step in to take away a lot of the advantages.

Post #11 » by **mojomarc** » Sun Jul 13, 2008 4:46 pm

SpyderRyder1 wrote:Looking at the net worths of NBA owners PA eclipses the next highest owner by a factor of about 3 and his boat, the $200mill Octopus:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopus_(yacht)

is worth more than some owners TOTAL net worth.

Don't forget--he also owns the Tatoosh (300' long) and the Meduse (198' long). His yachts are probably worth about as much as the Clay Bennett ownership group.

Oh, and the current estimated value of the Octopus, according to Yacht Review, is 250 million Euros, or more than $400m. The $200m is what it cost Allen almost a decade ago when he had it built.

Clipsz 4 Life · Post #12 » by **Tim Lehrbach** » Sun Jul 13, 2008 7:19 pm

I didn't mean that Allen couldn't afford to sign guys, just that there is no guarantee of them wanting to sign for his Euro squad, which would make owning the team an astronomical waste of money. Then again, he is Paul Allen. The yacht stuff is relevant when considering this sort of venture.

d-train · Post #13 » by **d-train** » Sun Jul 13, 2008 7:46 pm

Tim Lehrbach wrote:The yacht stuff is relevant when considering this sort of venture.

The difference is buying the yachts was Allen's idea and the Euro team is Zyme's idea.

Zyme · Post #14 » by **Zyme** » Sun Jul 13, 2008 7:51 pm

d-train wrote:
Tim Lehrbach wrote:The yacht stuff is relevant when considering this sort of venture.

The difference is buying the yachts was Allen's idea and the Euro team is Zyme's idea.

I feel like I sould be insulted somehow... :sigh:

Anyway, I just thought it would be a worthwhile idea for pursuit. Just look at the NHL or the MLB. Teams like the Beavers and Winterhawks provide excelent prooving grounds for many future major leaguers. Under those conditions, the parent teams like the Padres can watch their investments closely and know every detail of thier game to better assist that parent club should the get that callup.

d-train · Post #15 » by **d-train** » Sun Jul 13, 2008 8:09 pm

Zyme wrote:I feel like I sould be insulted somehow...

No insult is intended. Your idea is a great idea to you but it is Allen's money. IMO, Allen is wasting his money on his yachts, but if Allen enjoys owning and playing with his yachts it's worth it to him. Tim is right when he says your idea is in the same category as purchasing and owning yachts because neither is justifiable as good business.

Zyme · Post #16 » by **Zyme** » Sun Jul 13, 2008 8:17 pm

I knew you were kidding, just having some fun. I realize you were making the apples and oranges type of argument.

It does go to reason that you could always up the use of foreign players to the next level and just go the whole shebang and buy a team to put them on.

SpyderRyder1 · Post #17 » by **SpyderRyder1** » Sun Jul 13, 2008 9:06 pm

d-train wrote:
Zyme wrote:I feel like I sould be insulted somehow...

No insult is intended. Your idea is a great idea to you but it is Allen's money. IMO, Allen is wasting his money on his yachts, but if Allen enjoys owning and playing with his yachts it's worth it to him. Tim is right when he says your idea is in the same category as purchasing and owning yachts because neither is justifiable as good business.

Generally speaking owning a sports team is a break even proposition, as you will not really make $$ from the actual team istelf, but rather it will accumulate value and when the team is sold you will recoup the $$ PA bought the Blazers for $70mill in 88 and they are worth about $300mill now. Granted we are in a better situation than some other teams as we have a super strong fanbase that regularly sells out the RG but look at Mem or LAC.

On the whole, owning a sports team is a zero sum game, with half of the teams making $$ and half of the teams losing $$, with the payoff coming when you sell the team, so in a way owning a sports team is not a good business move, but rather a bragging right and entry into one of the coolest clubs in the world.

As for PA buying and running a team in Europe lets say that the said team costs as much as the Blazers, $300mill. If we do some math here:

$3^10x8
-------------
$1.6^10x10

= 1.875%

So that would be like saying that if you made $50k/yr would you spend $1000 on a toy? That would be the equivilent of what PA would be spending if the foreign team costs $300mill, unlikeley as that is what a NBA franchise costs, but you get my point.

Post #18 » by **BlackMamba** » Sun Jul 13, 2008 11:52 pm

can a nba owner own a team in europe?

b_roy7 · Post #19 » by **b_roy7** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 12:27 am

BlackMamba wrote:can a nba owner own a team in europe?

Is that owner is a rich as Allen, I don't see why not. :wink:

JustTheFacts · Post #20 » by **JustTheFacts** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 5:55 pm

Here is the link of the boat

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopus_%28yacht%29

The sobering fact is that he has two other boats almost as big. It’s good to be rich

As for a team in Europe I think it would be great if he can do it legally. The team may cost $300 million but with the growth of Basketball it’s an investment that may pay off if the team is competitive.