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Bert Kolde wore a navy blue suit, a blue button-down shirt and a burgundy tie at the basketball game on Thursday night. The roommate and college lieutenant Paul Allen wore a new haircut for the occasion. And he was sitting in his usual seat next to the court.
It was opening night, as in the good old days, instead of his old friend next to him, there was an empty chair with a long-stemmed rose and a baseball cap "RipCity "on the seat.
That's how it happened.
In addition, he went: Portland 128, Lakers 119.
I do not know if the Blazers are better than a year ago. The bench certainly looked like a more interesting offensive unit. I do not know if it's a playoff team. That night, Portland was more beautiful than the Lakers. But what I do know is that Thursday night was an important evening for the franchise, because on one side she was saying goodbye to an owner, and on the other, she dribbled past LeBron James and entered the great unknown.
This week, I asked former team president and chief executive Bob Whitsitt to ask him to facilitate his work.
"The only thing was," said Whitsitt. "I knew he was going to be the owner of it and I knew that he would be the owner for a long time … I never even thought," he said.Will he sell the team? He had the resources and wanted to commit to winning. "
Now nobody can be sure of what is happening. That's why, after watching Damian Lillard score 28 and CJ McCollum add 21, I saw Kolde leave alongside Chris McGowan, CEO of Vulcan Sports. Because I am convinced that the Kolde-McGowan duo will be more important to Portland's long-term plan.
What is the plan, anyway?
This will be the question to ask this season. It can take months, if not a year or two, to become clear. But the prevailing idea is that Trail Blazers are a fair bet to be sold by Vulcan, Inc. It's a $ 1 billion chip that's waiting to be cashed. This uncertainty will weigh on the mind of this franchise until it is settled. But if the organization finds itself under a new property, it will belong first to this city. This truth was all around Thursday. The hardcore fans. The arena filled. Commissioner Adam Silver, sitting at level 100, could not have missed him.
Whitsitt said, "I'm 99% sure (they stay in Portland.) It's a great market .It has always been well supported.It's a very nice achievement for the NBA and I guess my only percent is, I could have said the same for the sonics.
"I can not imagine any scenario where my brain would see the Blazers not in Portland."
Hold this last thought close.
In the closest tunnel to the Blazers bench, the gaming operations staff set up a folding table to hold all the cards, gifts and flowers that the fans brought to give them to their guests. Several cards were addressed: "Allen Family", and were picked up in the last minutes and transferred to the Operations Center. Allen 's life ended Monday and it was a sobering opportunity, but something else began Thursday night.
The first page of the postscript of his legacy as the owner of the team.
Blazer guard Nik Stauskas scored 24 points and took the lead in the NBA's most improved player race. LeBron scored 26 in a lost effort. Blazers fans came away with a coupon for six pieces of McNuggets chicken.
While the core of the Portland training is pretty much the same, as the coach is the same and the fans are the same, all of a sudden we are on new ground with this franchise , is not it?
For example, it was the 16th time in a row that the Blazers were beating the Lakers. But when we asked Lillard about it, he said, "I mean, 15 of them belong to the past, whatever we wanted, it was tonight."
This is an organization that has had a lot of places. Allen's property includes 19 playoff appearances and two trips to the NBA Finals. Is there a 20th participation in the upcoming playoffs? Can this franchise ever come back to where Allen and Whitsitt dared to take it?
Maybe even beyond that?
"I was told you could not do it when I went there," Whitsitt said. "We've done it, it takes a lot of work and creativity, there are some markets where players do not want to live … You can get free agents to come to Portland." You can create a championship in Portland … Everyone likes to have an apology, it 'sa difficult business, there' s no excuses, the job is to do the job.
"The job is to train a very good team, and that should be fun as well, so you'll have to take risks, take risks, and you'll have thick skin."
It was the rallying cry on the first night of the rest of the franchise's history.
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