When the Blazers came away with two lottery picks last week, they found themselves with key ingredients for turning the franchise around. Now, they have the chef they hope can cook the winning recipe.
Portland hired Neil Olshey as its general manager Monday, luring him away from the Clippers, for whom he served as the vice president of basketball operations for the previous two seasons. During his tenure in Los Angeles, the 47-year-old oversaw the acquisitions of Chris Paul, Caron Butler, Chauncey Billups, and Kenyon Martin among others, and helped lead the Clippers to the second round of the playoffs for just the second time.
Blazers president Larry Miller couldn’t help but admire his body of work.
“As everyone knows, we’ve been at this for a while trying to figure out who the right guy is,” Miller said. “We feel 100 percent confident we found the right guy. Neil is someone we targeted and been after for a while. He’s done some great things and is someone with a proven record.”
The hire comes more than a year after Portland relieved Rich Cho of his duties as GM, leaving Chad Buchanan to fill the position on an interim basis. Miller said on “Courtside” Monday that the organization still values Buchanan, and that Olshey is excited to work with him.
