WaPo article on Pollin (cheapskate to the nth degree)

[mhd]

I posted snippets of the article on the trade thread, but I think this deserves its own thread. Went to lexis-nexis to dig this article up. Damning snippets about the inept ownership of the team.

Abe on the plan to have Ted as owner:

"Susan O'Malley said Pollin has constructed "a phenomenal exit strategy" that will provide money for his family, with a "hand-picked heir" in Leonsis, whom Pollin likes and who has promised to keep the teams in Washington. "And it gives him the longevity to stay as long as he wants." "

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Abe couldn't get an autobiography published:

"A decade ago, Abe Pollin, a very private yet public man, looked back over an already long, remarkable career and decided to hire a California-based writer to create his autobiography. It would be a story of tragedy and triumph, of the remarkable achievements of a gangly kid from a poor, Russian Jewish immigrant family who rose to the top of the worlds of business, philanthropy and professional sports.

Pollin, after all, saw himself as a pioneering risk-taker who brought professional basketball back to the Washington area in the 1970s and introduced pro hockey. After decades as a major builder and developer, he financed the construction of the $ 200 million MCI Center, bringing pro sports, big-name entertainment and new excitement to Washington's ailing downtown. Throughout those years, Pollin was a major player in Democratic politics and quietly gave more support to local and global charities than almost anyone in Washington.

But nobody would publish Abe Pollin's autobiography, according to three sources who spoke on the condition their names not be used, even after he'd hired a second writer and two agents, because while he had done many admirable things, he was not an exciting figure -- and the sad truth was that as a team owner he had become a loser. His hockey team invariably disappointed its fans, and his Washington Bullets, since renamed the Wizards, had last been a success in 1978, when they won the National Basketball Association championship. And, while Pollin regularly proclaimed his intention to become a winner again, nothing seemed to work, including hiring Michael Jordan, arguably the most famous and admired athlete in the world"
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Abe Stole the Idea of the Verizon center from a potential buyer (the deal was done, but Abe backed out):

"Not only did Pollin not walk away, but he ended up adopting major aspects of the Betts business plan, according to Hill. Betts and his partners didn't want to buy Pollin's old Capital Centre because they planned to build a new downtown Washington arena on a Metro line. They also intended to change the name of the team because they thought they could make more money by marketing a new brand name other than Bullets, Hill said, and they also believed that Pollin's two separate sports organizations would be more efficient and profitable if combined into a single entity.

Not long afterward, Pollin announced plans to build a downtown arena at Seventh and F streets in Northwest, change the Bullets' name, and consolidate his two franchises. Hill said he counted eight changes that he believes Pollin had taken from Betts's proposal. Hill said he called Betts and suggested bitterly, "Maybe we should send them a bill as consultants.""

[LyricalRico]

After decades as a major builder and developer, he financed the construction of the $ 200 million MCI Center, bringing pro sports, big-name entertainment and new excitement to Washington's ailing downtown. Throughout those years, Pollin was a major player in Democratic politics and quietly gave more support to local and global charities than almost anyone in Washington.

Yeah, real cheapskate.

[mhd]

More:

The Practice Court:

"One of the biggest problems, however, was the team's practice facilities at Bowie State University, where there was a single court, with old, wooden backboards that had creaky rims on the side of the courts. Dingy. Hot. Dark. Players recall tiles occasionally falling off the ceiling and windows covered with paint or soot, blocking out the light. There was an auditorium stage, which players joked was there for a production."

"The bottom of the food chain," said former Bullet Jim McIlvaine.

"A dump," Price said.

"Disgusting," said former Bullet and Wizard Tim Legler.

"A bad place," said former Bullet Rex Chapman.

Legler, who was with Washington from 1995 to '99, recalls the court at Bowie State being so small that there was no room to maneuver, and once it resulted in a wrist injury that caused Legler to miss a game. The worst part, players said, was a locker room in which 14 players had to share four showerheads, then three, then finally one working showerhead and its squeaky handle. The drainage was so poor that the water from the shower would fill up around the players' ankles. Because of the shortage of showers, players operated on a seniority system. In the 1987-88 season, for instance, Malone would shower first, forcing the others to wait up to 20 minutes for a chance to clean up. Many players would give up and go home, braving the winter weather while still sweating from practice.

"But before MCI Center, when the team's reputation as a loser was being solidified, Washington veterans said they had to pay about $ 10 a week to have their practice uniforms laundered, and say they remember washing their official uniforms in hotel bathrooms on the road and spreading them out near a heater in the hope that they would dry before the next game."
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SCOUTING
"By 1999, the Wizards' payroll spending would be among the top five or so teams in the league, although the franchise has dropped some since in an effort to free up salary cap space. Prior to Jordan's arrival, the Wizards appeared to get by with fewer resources than some other teams. The team relied on two full-time scouts, Chuck Douglas and Wes Unseld Jr., to evaluate talent. The team would sometimes hire people around the country on a part-time basis to scout prospects in their regions. By comparison, the Mavericks, one of the biggest spenders in the league, have three full-time college scouts, a director of scouting and an assistant coach who supervises the talent scouting operation in both the United States and Europe. The team also has an NBA advance scout to check future opponents."

""Dallas has 12 assistant coaches. Do you need 12 people to do the job? No, you don't," said Unseld. "You don't need anywhere close to that. I don't know what they all do. Hiring every friend you want is what happens. For what? Last year, we had four assistant coaches on the bench. We only have 12 players. That's five suits [including the head coach] and 12 players. How many assistant coaches can you listen to?""
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"When asked for an example of a culture of mediocrity, one former employee recalled being embarrassed by team stationery from the mid-1990s that still had the letterhead of a 1978 championship. The employee said he feared the stationery was a reminder of the team's lack of success.
"

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I can post more if you want to read some.

[mhd]

After decades as a major builder and developer, he financed the construction of the $ 200 million MCI Center, bringing pro sports, big-name entertainment and new excitement to Washington's ailing downtown. Throughout those years, Pollin was a major player in Democratic politics and quietly gave more support to local and global charities than almost anyone in Washington.

Yeah, real cheapskate.

Considering the utter lack of practice facilities at Bowie State, I would absolutly say he was a cheapskate. Everyone quoted in the article says so.

HE STOLE the Verizon center from a potential buyer. He STOLE the name change from the same buyer.

He said things would go smoothly in turning over to Ted. That's not the case at all.

[doclinkin]

Enough. This is in terrible taste, adds nothing new to an old story already hashed and rehashed ad nauseum. Worse, it makes our fanbase look ghoulish. Bad taste, bad karma. What the hell is the point of kicking a corpse? Drop it and move on.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

doc's right, per usual. Abe's dead. Let the man and his legacy R.I.P.

OTOH Grunfeld is fair game as are Abe's money grubbing, NBA player hating heirs.

[Donkey McDonkerton]

Bad thread...dont get mad at ABE, get mad at his peoples now. Wife & sons

[JWizmentality]

We have enough to mad about than to pile on a dead guy. Let's keep the focus on Lucifer Grunfeld.

[Kanyewest]

I think this stuff is worth reading. Granted Abe Pollin may have acted in the best intentions. However, acting kindly doesn't produce the best results especially when your management becomes the laughing stock of the league and repeating similar mistakes.

Who knows if it was even Grunfeld's call to bring back Arenas, Jamison, or even Etan Thomas. After all, Pollin does sign the checks. Maybe Pollin was a sucker for Etan's poetry.

I don't fault Pollin for not having as much money as other owners. But I feel like he never knew how manage his money wisely to build a winner, especially when he overpaid to keep core pieces like Juwan Howard, Rod Strickland, Mitch Richmond, Jahidi White, Christian Laettner, Jerry Stackhouse, Etan Thomas, DeShawn Stevenson and last but not least Gilbert Arenas.

What about getting the local guy since they would sell a few more tickets such as Juan Dixon, Steve Blake, Lonny Baxter, Jahidi White, Obinna Ekezie, and Laron Profit- right before Ernie Grunfeld came to Washington.

They looked to short term fixes like Ike Austin and Michael Jordan. They overpaid for free agent role players like Antonio Daniels and Darius Songailia, who as were very likeable but not what the team needed.

BTW, anybody else thinks that Abe Pollin would be upset with this whole Josh Howard incident. The Wizards get a pot smoking guy who calls timeouts at the end of games when his team doesn't have timeouts.

Granted Abe has done a lot for the community and seems like a nice guy contrary to that guy who owns the Redskins. Still he's not without fault for the current predicament that the Wizards are in.

[Dat2U]

Enough. This is in terrible taste, adds nothing new to an old story already hashed and rehashed ad nauseum. Worse, it makes our fanbase look ghoulish. Bad taste, bad karma. What the hell is the point of kicking a corpse? Drop it and move on.

I disagree. It would be a bit ghoulish if it was posted a day or even a week after he died but come on, its been almost 3 months since his death. I'm sure everyone has had their time to grieve.

I have no problem with this thread, in fact I find the stuff very interesting and telling.

As they say, character is what you do in the dark. And maybe, just maybe, Pollin isn't the saint some made him out to be. A good businessman for sure. A philanthropist who made a difference in his is community, definitely. A good sports owner? Absoutely not. A guy of high moral fiber. Yeah, as long as it coincided with his pockets (i.e. the name change)

Just b/c someone has past away, doesn't mean IMO their past actions can't be judged. Now if we were talking about rumor or innuendo about a dead person, that would be different IMO. But that's not the case here.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Fair enough, Dat.

I just think the arguments about his legacy can go back and forth, forever.

I've got enough about what's going on here recently to hate on. Ernie. Flip. This season.

I'm going to let Abe alone, but I've always said he made money off MJ and Gil and you see how the franchise has treated both. To see the money moves his heirs are making reminds me of Latrell Sprewell complaining of money needed to feed his kids. The moves they made are motivated of pure greed and revenge IMO.

I can talk about them and leave the dead man out of it. But for the rest, hey, go ahead and mutilate that corpse....

[Dat2U]

Don't get me wrong. I have no anger at Abe. Can't be angry at a dead man! His wife & children, well that's a different story right now.

A man's legacy can only be truly revisited after he dies so yes, I think its quite reasonable to have a discussion about it.

[Hoopalotta]

Yeah, I would read a few more.

I find a certain sort of sour charm in all the details actually, as it was those Bowie state teams that got me hooked to start with.

I remember the first 'agent zero' was actually Harvey Grant, who had forgotten to pack his own jersey for a road trip, and, seeing as that they didn't have any spares(!), he had to wear this generic '0' jersey with no name across the back. No spares!

I'm still cracking up over the idea of 'former all stars' Juwan Howard and Mitch Richmond competing for a championship.

I don't know, it all tickles me just right in a dark sort of way; it's like fodder for a really good episode of 'Black Adder'.

[Hoopalotta]

OK, 'conspiracy alert':

Maybe Grant didn't forget his jersey, maybe he was on strike against the $10 laundry fee.

[Hoopalotta]

You know what would have been really funny is if two guys had forgotten their jersey in a road game on the same night. I mean, what would they have done?

Maybe Wes says, "alright, Rex [Chapman], you're number zero tonight. Brent [Price], you're inactive, and Kevin [Duckworth], you wear Brent's Jersey"

[Ruzious]

I agree with Doc. Btw mhd, one of your quotes was "By 1999, the Wizards' payroll spending would be among the top five or so teams in the league, although the franchise has dropped some since in an effort to free up salary cap space." That's top 5... right? They certainly did spend the money. Spending it wisely is another issue. And yes, he was often penny wise and pound foolish - as we've discussed on this board - that's nothing new. Times were very different when he got in the business, and he was slow to change. He paid for the Verizon Center (the city paid for the infrastructure). Most owners in these modern times try to get their city to pay for the whole thing. And what successful businessman hasn't stolen ideas? That's a very lame criticism, imo.

[verbal8]

And what successful businessman hasn't stolen ideas? That's a very lame criticism, imo.

I don't think Betts and Hill can really claim a ton of originality with the idea of moving the Wizards into DC. Camden Yards had just opened in the Inner Harbor the year before their proposal.
The name change is also something I am sure had been suggested by other people I am sure. Imagine how bad the gun situation would have been(or even Blatche getting shot) if the team still been named the Bullets.

[Ruzious]

Right - those weren't unique or particularly inovative ideas.

[Cramer]

For those that want to bash the man, give me a couple of names of people that have done more for the city than Abe.

OK, give me one....

Or go the **** away.....

[Severn Hoos]

More:

The Practice Court:

"One of the biggest problems, however, was the team's practice facilities at Bowie State University, where there was a single court, with old, wooden backboards that had creaky rims on the side of the courts. Dingy. Hot. Dark. Players recall tiles occasionally falling off the ceiling and windows covered with paint or soot, blocking out the light. There was an auditorium stage, which players joked was there for a production."

"The bottom of the food chain," said former Bullet Jim McIlvaine.

"A dump," Price said.

"Disgusting," said former Bullet and Wizard Tim Legler.

"A bad place," said former Bullet Rex Chapman.

McIlvaine...Price...Legler...Chapman...

Why did the target those guys for quotes complaining about the BS Univ. facilities? Seems kinda fishy to me.

Which reminds me - why didn't they get a quote from Matt while they were at it?