Trail Blazers Owner Paul Allen yesterday was in Portland for the team's first day of training camp, and said former NBA Commissioner David Stern "used to give me an extremely hard time about being as deep in the luxury tax as we went at one point," according to Joe Freeman of the Portland OREGONIAN. Allen, asked if he was willing to go into the luxury tax to retain the team's free agents, said, "It's been a while since I've been in the luxury tax. ... It's not something I'm looking at at this point. But look, we'll try to do what we can to be as competitive as we can in the future without causing ourselves a bunch of problems down the road by going way over the cap." Allen also addressed several other topics, and said of being on pace to turn a profit for the upcoming season, "We've had a bit of a hangover in terms of our finances from existing contracts that have been on the books, like Brandon Roy's. When some of those things completely expire, that should help our profitability." When asked about his passion for the job, Allen replied, "I'm just as excited. I think we've got a great staff here and I'm not quite as involved in the details of things as I used to be, although I still love the draft." As for the likelihood of Allen bringing an NHL team to Portland in the next five years, he said, "It's something we look at from time to time. Obviously we'd probably need to have a strong partner in terms of the ownership of the team and those things and the financial picture would have to all pencil out. There are a number of hurdles to get over and the price of NHL teams keeps accelerating. It's something we look at but there's certainly nothing imminent at this point" (Portland OREGONIAN, 10/1).
SATELLITE OF LOVE: In Portland, Allan Brettman wrote, "It's probably safe to say that whatever cable television partner has the rights to Trail Blazers broadcasts starting with the 2017 season will be able to show the games through DirectTV and Dish Network, too." Blazers President & CEO Chris McGowan on Monday said, "That would be the goal." But Brettman wrote the "lack of availability of Blazers games through satellite distributors has been a sore point with Blazers fans since the team's 10-year partnership with Comcast SportsNet Northwest began" with the '07-08 season. McGowan was "asked if it was realistic that a cable partner, be it Comcast SportsNet Northwest or anyone else, would be able to secure agreements with dish providers. He replied, "Yeah." But McGowan "would not elaborate" (Portland OREGONIAN, 9/30).
