The people who work at Vulcan Inc. are busy working behind the scenes again with owner Paul Allen's basketball operation, and those following the curious firing of vice president Tom Penn this week are looking at Kevin Pritchard wondering if he could be the next to go.
"They can't do Kevin in the middle of the season, but they can do a drive-by on someone close to him," said Warren LeGarie, the agent for Penn and Pritchard. "But guess who would be next?"
A league executive confirmed late Tuesday that higher-ups in Allen's operation were steamed after they believed they got played by Penn last summer when he "misrepresented" the offer from Minnesota to get a raise and promotion in Portland.
"I'm not guessing on this, there's no speculation here, the resentment over the Minnesota thing is real," the source said, "the Vulcans can be vindictive."
The Oregonian has obtained evidence that the Timberwolves indeed made a four-year offer to Penn on May 12, 2009 that would have made Penn the team's Vice President of Basketball Operations.
Penn turned down that offer to stay with the Blazers, where he got a new title and a raise.
Pritchard has the 2010-2011 season left on his contract. After that, there's a one-year option held by the Blazers.