Adam Silver: Portland needs a new arena, will be a challenge for new owner

[The Sebastian Express]

I will admit I will laugh if he doesn't pay the luxury tax and it gets waved off as well the deepest pockets in sports is overrated after seven years were spent maligning Jody.

[oldfishermen]

The thing to worry about now isn't the team moving. Dundon just isn't that guy. The thing to worry about is that this ownership group doesn't have enough money to keep up with the joneses and we are one of those teams that always loses our good players to free agency.

Or, if you live in Portland, how many billions of your tax dollars are going to go toward building a new stadium.

For what it's worth, Locked on Blazers pod with Mike Richman did a deep dive on Dundon the business man, warts and all:

Watch on YouTube

Pretty level headed takes and questions on the business side. Sounds like there's been open questions among people around him if his reported net-worth is actually accurate, or just what he wants out in the public. And he says this in the positive, not the negative - meaning Dundon may actually have more money than he claims in reports and he's downplaying his actual worth in the public due to the lawsuit he's currently in over that football league thing.[url][/url]

Also, having the "deepest pockets in sports" is a little overrated of a thing. For decades, PA was that guy for the NBA and got absolutely zero championships to show for it. Clay Bennett is one of the POOREST owners in sports. Dundon is worth 4x that of Bennett, who's publicly estimated worth is a little south of 600mil (big reason why many expect he's gonna sell the Thunder).

So to put it simply, I don't think anyone believes the Blazers are going to be a team that would always lose good players in FA under Dundon. If he believes a player is worth keeping, he'll do what he needs to do to keep them according to all sources and reports we have so far.

Ref: the football league lawsuit, 2 thoughts.

1. Jody does not appear to believe it will hold up the sale.

2. There is a possibility that Dundon has a business insurance that covers this lawsuit. No inside info, just a guess on my part, which could be wrong.

[DusterBuster]

I will admit I will laugh if he doesn't pay the luxury tax and it gets waved off as well the deepest pockets in sports is overrated after seven years were spent maligning Jody.

Did anyone malign Jody for not paying the tax? I can't recall that ever being the case. Even Paul in his later years always wanted to keep the team near the lux tax threshold. He was only willing to YOLO that when the team was close to contention - which they never properly got to again after 2000 aside from the Dame WFC run which he was not alive to see unfortunately.

Most of the reason Jody was maligned was she operated as an absentee owner who just let her front office do whatever and with no invested interest in the actual basketball side... but she spent money on the team. That never really stopped a whole lot from the time Paul died to now.

Any significant changes to spending have largely been a byproduct of the new CBA, which has hit all teams across the board.

I can see the point you're trying to get it, but don't really see it as a fair because it will be impossible to judge how one owner spends in the current CBA to how owners operating in past CBA's spent. It's like complaining about style of play from the 90's / 00's to what we have today.

The rules of how you have to play the game of roster construction are 10000% different and why the CBA is structured like it is now is explicitly to take away the "big pocket" teams who can spend money blindly with only have to pay a simple luxury tax.

Only time will tell how Dundon spends money, but it's forever going to be an impossible thing to compare him to Paul/Jody since Dundon's entire NBA experience will be operating under this current psuedo-hard cap CBA.

[The Sebastian Express]

I will admit I will laugh if he doesn't pay the luxury tax and it gets waved off as well the deepest pockets in sports is overrated after seven years were spent maligning Jody.

Did anyone malign Jody for not paying the tax? I can't recall that ever being the case. Even Paul in his later years always wanted to keep the team near the lux tax threshold. He was only willing to YOLO that when the team was close to contention - which they never properly got to again after 2000 aside from the Dame WFC run which he was not alive to see unfortunately.

Most of the reason Jody was maligned was she operated as an absentee owner who just let her front office do whatever and with no invested interest in the actual basketball side... but she spent money on the team. That never really stopped a whole lot from the time Paul died to now.

Any significant changes to spending have largely been a byproduct of the new CBA, which has hit all teams across the board.

I can see the point you're trying to get it, but don't really see it as a fair because it will be impossible to judge how one owner spends in the current CBA to how owners operating in past CBA's spent. It's like complaining about style of play from the 90's / 00's to what we have today.

The rules of how you have to play the game of roster construction are 10000% different and why the CBA is structured like it is now is explicitly to take away the "big pocket" teams who can spend money blindly with only have to pay a simple luxury tax.

Only time will tell how Dundon spends money, but it's forever going to be an impossible thing to compare him to Paul/Jody since Dundon's entire NBA experience will be operating under this current psuedo-hard cap CBA.

Yes. People on this board alone, nevermind across multiple platforms, malign Jody every year for not paying the tax. I have had to multiple times point out that she actually paid the tax and also remind people that Paul had shied away himself from paying the tax unless in reasonable circumstances.

And that second paragraph is simply untrue. We shouldn't do revisionist history. People have called her cheap for years on this board and everywhere, because I have again had to point out multiple times the amount of money she invested in the g-league, personnel, team facilities and upgrading standards.

[DusterBuster]

I will admit I will laugh if he doesn't pay the luxury tax and it gets waved off as well the deepest pockets in sports is overrated after seven years were spent maligning Jody.

Did anyone malign Jody for not paying the tax? I can't recall that ever being the case. Even Paul in his later years always wanted to keep the team near the lux tax threshold. He was only willing to YOLO that when the team was close to contention - which they never properly got to again after 2000 aside from the Dame WFC run which he was not alive to see unfortunately.

Most of the reason Jody was maligned was she operated as an absentee owner who just let her front office do whatever and with no invested interest in the actual basketball side... but she spent money on the team. That never really stopped a whole lot from the time Paul died to now.

Any significant changes to spending have largely been a byproduct of the new CBA, which has hit all teams across the board.

I can see the point you're trying to get it, but don't really see it as a fair because it will be impossible to judge how one owner spends in the current CBA to how owners operating in past CBA's spent. It's like complaining about style of play from the 90's / 00's to what we have today.

The rules of how you have to play the game of roster construction are 10000% different and why the CBA is structured like it is now is explicitly to take away the "big pocket" teams who can spend money blindly with only have to pay a simple luxury tax.

Only time will tell how Dundon spends money, but it's forever going to be an impossible thing to compare him to Paul/Jody since Dundon's entire NBA experience will be operating under this current psuedo-hard cap CBA.

Yes. People on this board alone, nevermind across multiple platforms, malign Jody every year for not paying the tax. I have had to multiple times point out that she actually paid the tax and also remind people that Paul had shied away himself from paying the tax unless in reasonable circumstances.

And that second paragraph is simply untrue. We shouldn't do revisionist history. People have called her cheap for years on this board and everywhere, because I have again had to point out multiple times the amount of money she invested in the g-league, personnel, team facilities and upgrading standards.

Fair enough.

It's not a topic I engaged that regularly on, so I guess my response was just in the context of my conversations. I've personally never considered her a "cheap" owner and I recall Paul keeping the team near the tax (always like one move away from getting under the line at the deadline if needed) pretty regularly in the late 2010's as well.

There also was never a real opportunity for her to go spend big throughout her tenure as governor (no big FA's, Dame was gone half the time and the team was capped with bad contracts from Olshey the other half).

She's spent money on the team, facilities and even FA's throughout her tenure, but clearly wanted Cronin to keep a clean books - which after the Olshey years of bad contracts, I didn't hate. So I agree, calling her "cheap" would have never been a fair argument.

She was not the least bit transparent however which was a big issue imo. She didn't need to be Mark Cuban over here, but quite literally not uttering a single word to the media or fans for half a decade to at least throw them a bone of what you're thoughts around the team are IS however quite a stain on her tenure. Half the reason so many here are still concerned that the team might move is she hasn't even once done a simple courtesy "our absolutely goal is to find a buyer committed to Portland" comment to a media member on the record. Doesn't even have to be public speaking. Even the tiniest crumb to fans of her thoughts and plans for the team while she owned them would have done wonders to improve her overall image.

[ebott]

Any significant changes to spending have largely been a byproduct of the new CBA, which has hit all teams across the board.
.

True Dat. Seems like the owners have finally created the perfect system to ensure profitability. So even an 18 percenter like Dundon can look like theyre trying even though he doesnt really have that money to spend.

[Wizenheimer]

Jody wasn't the owner; the PA Trust was. Any money 'spent' on the team wasn't coming out of her pockets; the trust was spending it

now, Jody wasn't the person who set up the Vulcans as being secondary overlords of the Blazers, that was her brother. She basically left that structure in place and allowed Bert Kolde to be the shadow CEO (although I think the level of Kolde's influence on basketball decisions has been exaggerated)

Jody showed some occasional interest, but by and large her tenure has been one of ambivalence.

[zzaj]

Jody wasn't the owner; the PA Trust was. Any money 'spent' on the team wasn't coming out of her pockets; the trust was spending it

now, Jody wasn't the person who set up the Vulcans as being secondary overlords of the Blazers, that was her brother. She basically left that structure in place and allowed Bert Kolde to be the shadow CEO (although I think the level of Kolde's influence on basketball decisions has been exaggerated)

Jody showed some occasional interest, but by and large her tenure has been one of ambivalence.

Yeah, I honestly have no real truck with the way Jody handled the team...within the context of the assumption that she had no interest in actually owning and running a team. IMHO, things could have been MUCH worse.

Looking back on the time she spent managing the trust I would tend to agree that if felt mostly as it should--ambivalent.

I suppose one could criticize her for not making the team available for sale earlier...but if I were in the same situation collecting checks for the estate and trying to make heads or tails of what exactly I was supposed to do re: my brother's wishes...I'd probably take my time, too. Perhaps that's being too generous...

[Wizenheimer]

Jody wasn't the owner; the PA Trust was. Any money 'spent' on the team wasn't coming out of her pockets; the trust was spending it

now, Jody wasn't the person who set up the Vulcans as being secondary overlords of the Blazers, that was her brother. She basically left that structure in place and allowed Bert Kolde to be the shadow CEO (although I think the level of Kolde's influence on basketball decisions has been exaggerated)

Jody showed some occasional interest, but by and large her tenure has been one of ambivalence.

Yeah, I honestly have no real truck with the way Jody handled the team...within the context of the assumption that she had no interest in actually owning and running a team. IMHO, things could have been MUCH worse.

Looking back on the time she spent managing the trust I would tend to agree that if felt mostly as it should--ambivalent.

I suppose one could criticize her for not making the team available for sale earlier...but if I were in the same situation collecting checks for the estate and trying to make heads or tails of what exactly I was supposed to do re: my brother's wishes...I'd probably take my time, too. Perhaps that's being too generous...

by the time the team changes hands, it will have been nearly 8 seasons and 8 years since PA died. Approaching a decade. That's a definite case of slow-walking and foot-dragging toward PA's wishes. I don't really see any of positives in that as far as the Blazer franchise considering the ambivalence out of Seattle and the reality that the Moda Center is the 7th oldest arena in the NBA and has not had a significant renovation

for me, the old "it could have been worse" narrative is never convincing

[monopoman]

I will admit I will laugh if he doesn't pay the luxury tax and it gets waved off as well the deepest pockets in sports is overrated after seven years were spent maligning Jody.

I mean what teams are paying the luxury tax right now that are not one of the top 3-4 teams in the NBA?

It seems to me that most owners are so afraid of how ridiculous the luxury tax can get that they are all trying to dump salary, **** even some teams that might be good enough to win a championship in the next 2-3 years are also trying to shed salary.

The old days when the luxury tax was just a minor penalty to a very rich owner seem to be very long gone.

[Wizenheimer]

I will admit I will laugh if he doesn't pay the luxury tax and it gets waved off as well the deepest pockets in sports is overrated after seven years were spent maligning Jody.

I mean what teams are paying the luxury tax right now that are not one of the top 3-4 teams in the NBA?

It seems to me that most owners are so afraid of how ridiculous the luxury tax can get that they are all trying to dump salary, **** even some teams that might be good enough to win a championship in the next 2-3 years are also trying to shed salary.

The old days when the luxury tax was just a minor penalty to a very rich owner seem to be very long gone.

I think it has more to do with the restrictions and punitive nature of the aprons, especially the 2nd apron, than the tax. Teams are seeing the drastic impact of that 2nd apron and are avoiding it like the plague

[The Sebastian Express]

I will admit I will laugh if he doesn't pay the luxury tax and it gets waved off as well the deepest pockets in sports is overrated after seven years were spent maligning Jody.

I mean what teams are paying the luxury tax right now that are not one of the top 3-4 teams in the NBA?

It seems to me that most owners are so afraid of how ridiculous the luxury tax can get that they are all trying to dump salary, **** even some teams that might be good enough to win a championship in the next 2-3 years are also trying to shed salary.

The old days when the luxury tax was just a minor penalty to a very rich owner seem to be very long gone.

Oh I agree with WIzenheimer. And my point wasn't really about paying the tax or not. I was just stating I would be amused if some of the people maligning Jody for not paying it would wave off new owners for not paying it and saying it would be reasonable/valid excuse (which it would be, on both parts, for where the team was/is at the current stage).

[monopoman]

I will admit I will laugh if he doesn't pay the luxury tax and it gets waved off as well the deepest pockets in sports is overrated after seven years were spent maligning Jody.

I mean what teams are paying the luxury tax right now that are not one of the top 3-4 teams in the NBA?

It seems to me that most owners are so afraid of how ridiculous the luxury tax can get that they are all trying to dump salary, **** even some teams that might be good enough to win a championship in the next 2-3 years are also trying to shed salary.

The old days when the luxury tax was just a minor penalty to a very rich owner seem to be very long gone.

I think it has more to do with the restrictions and punitive nature of the aprons, especially the 2nd apron, than the tax. Teams are seeing the drastic nature of that 2nd apron and are avoiding it like the plague

Yeah, when I mean luxury tax I just mean whatever version gets very ridiculously bad money wise, so if that's the 2nd apron I mean that.

I just haven't done a ton of research on where the level of luxury tax is what is needed to hit that.

[zzaj]

Jody wasn't the owner; the PA Trust was. Any money 'spent' on the team wasn't coming out of her pockets; the trust was spending it

now, Jody wasn't the person who set up the Vulcans as being secondary overlords of the Blazers, that was her brother. She basically left that structure in place and allowed Bert Kolde to be the shadow CEO (although I think the level of Kolde's influence on basketball decisions has been exaggerated)

Jody showed some occasional interest, but by and large her tenure has been one of ambivalence.

Yeah, I honestly have no real truck with the way Jody handled the team...within the context of the assumption that she had no interest in actually owning and running a team. IMHO, things could have been MUCH worse.

Looking back on the time she spent managing the trust I would tend to agree that if felt mostly as it should--ambivalent.

I suppose one could criticize her for not making the team available for sale earlier...but if I were in the same situation collecting checks for the estate and trying to make heads or tails of what exactly I was supposed to do re: my brother's wishes...I'd probably take my time, too. Perhaps that's being too generous...

by the time the team changes hands, it will have been nearly 8 seasons and 8 years since PA died. Approaching a decade. That's a definite case of slow-walking and foot-dragging toward PA's wishes. I don't really see any of positives in that as far as the Blazer franchise considering the ambivalence out of Seattle and the reality that the Moda Center is the 7th oldest arena in the NBA and has not had a significant renovation

for me, the old "it could have been worse" narrative is never convincing

My guess is that at least some of that 8 years was Jody knowing that it was smart business to see team valuation rise by quite a bit—certainly to wait for the TV deal to materialize and go through. Was she also collecting checks? Yeah. I’m not here to defend that…

Ultimately, she waited and because of that, ostensibly a billion or two more dollars will go to charity.

In terms of the franchise impact and “it could have been much worse”? Well Jody wasn’t great. But she could have sold right away to a worse owner. Or she could of suddenly decided she wanted to heavy-hand own the team with no basketball knowledge. Or she could have waited another 20 years. Or she could have waited 7 years and sold to someone worse than Dundon, who seems like a decent enough choice. All of those are likely worse outcomes than the reality of the situation.

[SweaterBae]

I hated Silver before, for so many reasons, but I'm apoplectic about about the commissioner of the league making public statements like these. Actively undermining a small market franchise is beyond despicable. I wish him ill.

[DusterBuster]

Now that we have a better picture of the full investment group and the type of pockets they'll have to get things done, I'm a little less concerned about the private/public partnership to get things moving. If it were just Dundon and a few guys worth like 500mil ish, that could get dicey since they might want a 50/50 split of funding. Knowing now that there's a lot more money behind this group with a true "whale" investor in Peggy Cherng, this team should have a lot more of their own funding to throw around and should need less out of the city financially.

[zzaj]

Now that we have a better picture of the full investment group and the type of pockets they'll have to get things done, I'm a little less concerned about the private/public partnership to get things moving. If it were just Dundon and a few guys worth like 500mil ish, that could get dicey since they might want a 50/50 split of funding. Knowing now that there's a lot more money behind this group with a true "whale" investor in Peggy Cherng, this team should have a lot more of their own funding to throw around and should need less out of the city financially.

"should"...

My prediction is the group will kick and scratch for every penny they can to come from anyone but themselves. Billionaires don't become Billionaires by leaving money on the table.

[DusterBuster]

Now that we have a better picture of the full investment group and the type of pockets they'll have to get things done, I'm a little less concerned about the private/public partnership to get things moving. If it were just Dundon and a few guys worth like 500mil ish, that could get dicey since they might want a 50/50 split of funding. Knowing now that there's a lot more money behind this group with a true "whale" investor in Peggy Cherng, this team should have a lot more of their own funding to throw around and should need less out of the city financially.

"should"...

My prediction is the group will kick and scratch for every penny they can to come from anyone but themselves. Billionaires don't become Billionaires by leaving money on the table.

Maybe. I'll call out them for being cheap if/when it comes to that, but need to see that being the case before I want to predispose myself to being upset with the group over what might happen.

[zzaj]

Now that we have a better picture of the full investment group and the type of pockets they'll have to get things done, I'm a little less concerned about the private/public partnership to get things moving. If it were just Dundon and a few guys worth like 500mil ish, that could get dicey since they might want a 50/50 split of funding. Knowing now that there's a lot more money behind this group with a true "whale" investor in Peggy Cherng, this team should have a lot more of their own funding to throw around and should need less out of the city financially.

"should"...

My prediction is the group will kick and scratch for every penny they can to come from anyone but themselves. Billionaires don't become Billionaires by leaving money on the table.

Maybe. I'll call out them for being cheap if/when it comes to that, but need to see that being the case before I want to predispose myself to being upset with the group over what might happen.

Oh yeah, totally...we gotta remember too that "cheap" can just as easily be called "good business". Dundon does seem to have a pretty ruthless reputation as a negotiator--at this point I guess we just see what happens. It's certainly not in any of our control...

[oldfishermen]

"should"...

My prediction is the group will kick and scratch for every penny they can to come from anyone but themselves. Billionaires don't become Billionaires by leaving money on the table.

Maybe. I'll call out them for being cheap if/when it comes to that, but need to see that being the case before I want to predispose myself to being upset with the group over what might happen.

Oh yeah, totally...we gotta remember too that "cheap" can just as easily be called "good business". Dundon does seem to have a pretty ruthless reputation as a negotiator--at this point I guess we just see what happens. It's certainly not in any of our control...

My prediction.

The compromises and commitment made by the politicians and locals with agendas. Blended with out of state funds. Will go as smoothly as the I-5 bridge replacement project. Hope it does not take as much time to find an answer.