The Face of NBA Lockout Greed: Paul Allen

"… the man who wrote the book on collective bargaining guerilla warfare [Ed. David Stern] had retreated to the suburbs and left these unruly proceedings to someone who truly despises confrontation. Nevertheless, Portland Trail Blazers billionaire Paul Allen stepped out of the shadows, declared himself as the hardest line of the hardliners and played the part of the improbable boogeyman in these dysfunctional labor talks."

I wish Yahoo would have let Woj trade the word “bat” (it appears twice in the story) for the word he really wanted to use to describe Allen, the $13 billion man: dick.

Read this paragraph and tell me how there’s going to be an NBA season:

"The season’s in genuine jeopardy now because powerbrokers like Allen are uniting with nickel-and-dimers like Sarver in a common cause: How do I get out of NBA ownership with maximum profit, minimal pain? These are simply men gutting costs to eventually get the best price and sell those franchises. In his life, Allen has a history of disengaging people and things once he loses interest, and that appears to be happening now."

Gulp.

How terrified is the NBA of this column? Hours after it was posted, the NBA and Portland President Larry Miller called the Oregonian to defend Allen, and nearly point-by-point tried to dismiss Woj’s column.

"The Blazers and the NBA made Silver available for an interview in part to respond to stories written about Allen’s participation in Thursday’s negotiations. Silver is the league’s chief operating officer and is Commissioner David Stern’s top lieutenant."

Blazers’ Allen sets fire to labor talks [Yahoo]