Why Winning Doesn't Matter To Trail Blazers Trustee Jody Allen

Portland Trail Blazers interim general manager Joe Cronin, left, team owner Jody Allen, center, and president of business operations Dewayne Hankins, right, clap during player introductions before an NBA basketball game against the Oklahoma City Thunder in Portland, Ore., Friday, Feb. 4, 2022. (AP Photo/Craig Mitchelldyer)

By 750 THE GAME STAFF

The Blazers record is bad. The coach is bad. Ownership is bad. And now we know that the tv ratings are bad. What is the biggest problem with the Portland Trail Blazers franchise?

John Canzano has long said that Jody Allen shouldn’t be in charge of the Trail Blazers. Canzano explained why Allen doesn’t care if the team wins or loses.

“It doesn’t matter if the Blazers lose money or make money,” Canzano said on 750 The Game. “Jody Allen doesn’t own the team. She’s just here as a trustee collecting a management fee, some estimate around $20 million dollars a year, to manage her brother’s estate.”

How does change happen? Allen has said that she doesn’t plan to sell the team soon. Can the NBA force her out? Canzano knows that NBA commissioner Adam Silver can’t come in and force out Allen, but he thinks that Silver would love the opportunity to get Allen out of Portland.

“So what do you do if you’re Adam Silver?,” Canzano continued. “You can’t force a trustee to sell in the same way you can come in and say ‘Donald Sterling, you’re a creep, you got to go.’ This is new ground for Adam Silver. And he’s close with Phil Knight. He would love Phil Knight to be an owner. Can you imagine the NBA board of governors? They would celebrate this because it would be added value to the league. And instead you have Jody sitting on the baseline, sometimes, and looking disinterested when she’s there.”

There have been bad owners that have won championships in the past. Why can’t Jody Allen bring a championship to Portland if the roster is better? Does it really matter if she is a good owner or not? Canzano explains the differences between bad owners who have won championships and why Jody Allen doesn’t fall into that category.

“They had something that Jody doesn’t have,” he said. “They had skin in the game. They had stake in it. They had a vested interest in the roster being better, hiring a good GM, hiring the right coach, and I don’t think the Blazers have that. She inherited this thing, that is a trust, and she’s running it. But she’s not running it saying ‘I really want this team to win,’ and she’s just a bad person or a lousy owner. Sometimes the blind squirrel finds a nut. I don’t even think she’s looking for a nut.”

Canzano would love Phil Knight to be the owner of the Trail Blazers. The problem is that Jody Allen doesn’t seem ready to sell. To anyone.

Listen to the full show of the Bald Faced Truth with John Canzano by clicking the podcast below. Catch the Bald Faced Truth with John Canzano weekdays 3-6 p.m. in Portland exclusively on 750 The Game.