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Trail Blazers' search for GM down to three finalists; decision coming 'soon'

Published: Tuesday, May 29, 2012, 2:41 PM Updated: Tuesday, May 29, 2012, 3:54 PM

The OregonianLarry Miller says the Blazers' process to hire a general manager is in its final stage, with an offer coming "pretty soon."

The Trail Blazers have narrowed their search for a general manager to three finalists and expect to hire a candidate “soon,” team president Larry Miller said on Tuesday.

The finalists are believed to be former New Orleans general manager Jeff Bower; Indiana general manager David Morway and Los Angeles Clippers general manager Neil Olshey. Agent Steve Kauffman confirmed Allen interviewed Bower and Morway early this month, and Ken Berger of CBSsports.com reported that Olshey interviewed with Allen recently in London.

“We’ve had three people in front of Paul, and now we are down to the vetting process and checking backgrounds,’’ Miller said on Tuesday. “We’ve done a lot of that already, so we should be able to move fairly quickly. We will talk through the decision and talk details ... it could happen pretty soon.’’

The committee that will choose the general manager will be Miller, Allen and Bert Kolde, Allen’s confidant and head of the Blazers’ board of directors.

The Blazers have been without a general manager they fired Rich Cho on May 23, 2011.

Bower interviewed with Allen in New Orleans in the first week of May. Morway interviewed with Allen in Seattle on May 9. Olshey was one of five candidates who interviewed with Miller last summer, and is the only previous candidate to be revisited. Miller said the Blazers followed up with Bower and Morway after their interviews, asking them to submit proposals for how they would approach the June 28 draft if the Blazers had certain picks.

Bower and Morway are also believed to be candidates for the vacancy in Orlando.

Bower was the GM in New Orleans for seven years, during which the Hornets went to the playoffs four times After the 2007-2008 season, he finished third behind Danny Ainge and Mitch Kupchak in Executive of the Year voting, where votes are cast by his peers. He is viewed as a basketball man through and through, having held titles at the NBA level of advance scout, director of scouting, director of player personnel, assistant coach, head coach, assistant general manager and general manager. He has been out of work since being fired by the Hornets in July of 2010, and has since been a finalist for the GM spots in New Jersey and Toronto.

Morway has been an executive with Indiana for 12 years, and has teamed with president Larry Bird to resurrect the Pacers into a rising power in the Eastern Conference while maintaining cap flexibility. With sharp drafting (Roy Hibbert, Tyler Hansbrough), savvy free agent pickups (David West), and heady trades (Darren Collison, George Hill, Leandro Barbosa), the Pacers reached the second round of the playoffs this season and enter the summer with around $20 million to offer free agents. Morway is a former agent and baseball executive and is viewed as a sharp business mind who is adept at blending the gap between basketball and business within a franchise.

Olshey finished third in this year’s Executive of the Year voting after engineering the Clippers’ acquisition of All-Star point guard Chris Paul, while also acquiring Chauncey Billups, Mo Williams and Caron Butler. Previously, he drafted Blake Griffin and Eric Bledsoe. He has been GM of the Clippers since March of 2010, but his contract expires next month.

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BlazerManiac
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Posted 05/29/2012 3:59 PM

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mbmurr1
Posts: 530

Posted 05/29/2012 11:34 PM

I think we should hire a coach first so we know exactly what players to target in the draft not just put together a team then try to find a coach. I think our present coach Canales would be perfect if they would just give him the word "your our guy, pick your team". As far as a GM is concerned I would choose Olshey if I only have these three to pick from. If I had an open choice it would be Buchanan, look at what he has done with dumping salary to NJ. Wallace was one of my favorite players but he would have cost the team too much this offseason. True J.J. fell into his lap but he did sign him. He has been acting GM since Cho was fired, too bad Cho is a fantastic GM who obviously spoke his mind and was fired for it. The one thing I don't know in all of this is who was responsible for trading Miller and Faried for Felton and Smith? Someone should be jailed for that move, to most people that looked like insider trading on bad information and we got caught with our pants down.

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barnettfan
Posts: 370

Posted 05/30/2012 2:42 AM

One thing is certain the coach will come quicker than the GM did. I am sure that they already have a list of candidates for that position as well and part of the interview process was to see what coaches that they would hire from the list available just to get a feel of where they are at since that I am sure will be one of their first decisions.

The new GM and Coach have a pretty rare opportunity here, plenty of cap space depending on where the picks fall,they should have plenty to get a playoff ready team out of the gate which needed a major overhaul coming out of the regular season.

That being said the frying pan is hot the lard is spattering and the lumberjacks are hungry dont screw up the eggs. cause your tenure will be short lived if this thing goes south.

benh7777
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Posted 05/30/2012 8:24 AM

Posted By mbmurr1 on 05/29/2012 11:34 PM
I think we should hire a coach first so we know exactly what players to target in the draft not just put together a team then try to find a coach.

You have to hire 2 guys that will work together. You have to hire a GM first so he can get his guy for caoch. The GM is the one that makes the decisions of who comes and goes, how a team is pieced together, if he doesn't have his guy in there coaching his team according to his plans then nothing will work. The only situation that you would look for coach first is if you hire them as a GM/coach such as Pop in SA.

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commontongue
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Posted 05/30/2012 3:24 PM

Get a GM that a coach can respect. A GM who makes good decisions and puts the pieces together that make us a cohesive squad.

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jonthorpe
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Posted 05/30/2012 9:39 PM

Just look at what Morway and Bird did with Indiana. Undervalued GM. I cant think of a team more balanced, set for the future, but also flexible with salary, than the Indiana Pacers. And that is the work of a good GM.

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Tobyus Sanchezo
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Posted 05/30/2012 9:53 PM

Brandon Roy for GM, we need a leader. Everyone else can do all the management stuff, and it will B-Roy putting a final stamp on things.

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