Team Paranoia strikes again

[silvercharm]

That would the Portland Trail Blazers, the team that takes nonsensical to a new level. Following today's workout involving Adam Morrison, Brandon Roy, Hassan Adams and Rudy Gay, the Blazers issued this statement.......it was the result of a reporter getting information on the workout by looking through the blinds in the media workroom.

STATEMENT FROM TRAIL BLAZERS REGARDING

MEDIA ACCESS TO PRE-DRAFT WORKOUTS

PORTLAND, Ore. – Due to the actions of a reporter revealing sensitive information from the team’s pre-draft workout session today, the Portland Trail Blazers regret to announce they will be forced to close workouts indefinitely.

The reporter admitted obtaining his information by peeping through the blinds of the team's media work room at the practice facility, while waiting to gain entry to the practice floor. The reporter was there along with numerous other media outlets, at the invitation of the team, for access to the final minutes of the workout session and to interview the players involved.

The reporter’s information first appeared in a blog and then was widely disseminated locally and nationally. The Trail Blazers accept responsibility for not ensuring that the reporter would attempt to peer through closed blinds and is taking immediate steps to rectify the situation.

“We regret having to take these actions.” said Team President Steve Patterson. “But these workouts have significant impact on the futures of these young men as well as our organization. That’s why these workouts are often closed. We were more than willing to work with the media to help our fans learn more about our potential draft picks and be as open as possible. It’s a shame that on what has been one of the biggest media days leading up to our draft, a single reporter has breached the professional trust for all of us.”

 

[Double Down]

Unless, say, Jason Quick was reporting that Adam Morrison was seen giving Rudy Gay a blowjob while Paul Allen pleasured himself, this is perhaps the dumbest freak out by a team ever.

 

[BYH]

Good ****ing ****, this is a joke, right?

"Don't look thru the closed blinds."

The Belichicking of the world continues.

 

[Flash]

Damn. Great work by the reporter!

 

[Bubba Fett]

Unless, say, Jason Quick was reporting that Adam Morrison was seen giving Rudy Gay a blowjob while Paul Allen pleasured himself, this is perhaps the dumbest freak out by a team ever.

How would that affect Morrison's draft status?

 

[hockeybeat]

You'd be paranoid, too, if seemingly every draft pick for the last 20 years has ended up doing jail time.

 

[Double Down]

Unless, say, Jason Quick was reporting that Adam Morrison was seen giving Rudy Gay a blowjob while Paul Allen pleasured himself, this is perhaps the dumbest freak out by a team ever.

How would that affect Morrison's draft status?

I'm going to defer to Chad Ford on this one. He is, after all, a professor of conflict resolution.

 

[Chi City 81]

Unless, say, Jason Quick was reporting that Adam Morrison was seen giving Rudy Gay a blowjob while Paul Allen pleasured himself, this is perhaps the dumbest freak out by a team ever.

How would that affect Morrison's draft status?

ESPN.com's Chad Ford reports that it is unclear whether Morrison's cocksucking would be viewed as a pro or con by NBA scouts.

EDIT: I'm defying D_B status on this one. I was beaten by 12 seconds. Damn you, Double Down!   

 

[hockeybeat]

Unless, say, Jason Quick was reporting that Adam Morrison was seen giving Rudy Gay a blowjob while Paul Allen pleasured himself, this is perhaps the dumbest freak out by a team ever.

How would that affect Morrison's draft status?

ESPN.com's Chad Ford reports that it is unclear whether Morrison's cocksucking would be viewed as a pro or con by NBA scouts.

ESPN.com's Chad Ford reports that NBA scouts view Morrison's crying as a negative.

 

[Pocket Aces]

Anyone know what was reported?

 

[silvercharm]

Anyone know what was reported?

http://www.oregonlive.com/weblogs/blazersoregonian/

 

[JME]

Excellent.

 

[Pocket Aces]

I guess i'm not sure what's right to do in this case...looking through the blinds is OK?

How about pressing your ear up against the door during an important meeting between GM and coach?

 

[BillySixty]

To me, this is making everyone involved look bad. For the reporter, was it really worth it putting himself in a bad situation with the team for something as simple as a pre-draft workout? And for the Blazers, why do these draft workouts need to be so secretive?

 

[daemon]

For the reporter, was it really worth it putting himself in a bad situation with the team for something as simple as a pre-draft workout?

On a normal team, probably not. But from what has been written about the antagonistic nature of the relationship between the Blazers and the Oregonian, sounds like this is the type of stuff you get as a result.

From the reporter's perspective, why not look through the blinds? Not like your relationship is going to be strained even more than it already is.

Is it ethical?

 

[BillySixty]

I'm not so sure it is ethical. But I think the only reason I don't think it's ethical is because it was so simple for the reporter to find out information that the team wanted to keep hidden.

 

[SF_Express]

From the reporter's perspective, why not look through the blinds? Not like your relationship is going to be strained even more than it already is.

In fact, it DID strain the relationship more than it already was. And got the workouts closed.

I don't know, this isn't as cut and dried as "the team's paranoid," as I thought in my knee-jerk reaction.

The media have access to one room; the reporter looked through "blinds" that were there for a reason, obviously, and then basically gloated about it in the blog.

Sorry, I don't hold the reporter blameless, and the whole methodology, with how the information was obtained to how it was reported, seems kind of childish to me.

 

[Starman]

To me, this is making everyone involved look bad. For the reporter, was it really worth it putting himself in a bad situation with the team for something as simple as a pre-draft workout? And for the Blazers, why do these draft workouts need to be so secretive?

The Blazers are going to make a dramatic break with their previous policy: They're going to try drafting players without serious drug habits or lengthy lists of felony arrests.

As with any radical change of a successful formula, they're understandably nervous how it will be perceived by the public. I mean, they've won almost 40% of their games, made the playoffs once or twice in the last decade, and attracted over 10,000 fans a game (in a 20,000-seat arena) with their tried-and-true methods. :

 

[flaming_mo]

I'm not sure I agree with this. On my beat, football practices are closed for part of the season. But, without much effort, you can go to a certain area of the athletic complex near the media room and "spy" on the practices. Yes, you'd have to be rather desperate and bored to do that. I think writing an article based on the observations you obtained by "spying" would be unprofessional at best, and unethical at worst. And in any case, why would you want to provoke an already paranoid organization just to get a few lines on your blog entry? Just my $0.02.

 

[Moland Spring]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Sports Illustrated do a thing on blog-erriffic reporting, with a feature on Quick's blog? If I recall, Quick's blog was popular because he posted all sorts of gossip and the Blazers got after him for it. Then he asked his editor not to stop blogging, but he wasn't allowed? Seems odd.

Also, he must not have thought he was being unethical. Otherwise, why would he start his blog by "unveiling" his actions. I mean, he said he was looking through the blinds. The whole thing, I don't get.

Flaming_Homer is right (wow, that hurts to say.) Spying is weak. Why tweak the organization like this?
One more thing: Are other beat writers allowed to say, "I think," even on a blog? I'm not. Opinion is for columnists, right?