Blazers interview OKC's Troy Weaver for GM job

[SlyPokerDog]

The Portland Trail Blazers have started the interview process for their vacant general manager’s job, meeting with Oklahoma City Thunder executive Troy Weaver in Portland on Thursday, NBA front-offices sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Weaver met with Blazers officials about replacing Rich Cho, who worked with Weaver under Oklahoma City Thunder GM Sam Presti.

Weaver has progressed rapidly as an executive, rising from a personnel director with the Utah Jazz to the No. 2 spot in Oklahoma City. Weaver is considered an excellent evaluator of talent, and is well-connected on every level of the game. He pushed hard for the Thunder to draft point guard Russell Westbrook(notes) out of the UCLA with the fourth overall pick in the 2008 draft, higher than any NBA executive had projected Westbrook to go.

Weaver started as an AAU coach in Washington D.C., before working as a college assistant at New Mexico, Pittsburgh and Syracuse.

The Blazers are trying to solidify their basketball operations after firing two GMs – Kevin Pritchard and Cho – in consecutive years. Pritchard was considered too brash for owner Paul Allen, and Cho was considered too reticent. Blazers executive Chad Buchanan had served as an interim GM through the June draft, but recently withdrew from consideration for the permanent job. He’s expected to stay on the staff of the new GM.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=aw-wojnarowski_troy_weaver_blazers_090211

 

[SlyPokerDog]

Wow, Blazers have a bad case of Thunder envy.

 

[BlazerBeliever]

I wonder why they would fire Cho if they wanted a guy that was not as good as him in OKC?

 

[Natebishop3]

Sigh.... I don't even want the NBA to come back.

 

[jlprk]

Pritchard was considered too brash for owner Paul Allen, and Cho was considered too reticent.

Cho wasn't reticent. He was just verbally disorganized. He sounded like a spreadsheet trying to talk.

 

[maxiep]

Here's Mr. Weaver's interview prep for Paul Allen: http://www.amazon.com/Star-Trek-Original-Complete-Seasons/dp/B001DHXT6G

 

[e_blazer]

Sounds to me like a pretty good guy to take a closer look at.

 

[Nikolokolus]

Does it really matter who they get? Allen is still going to be ... well, himself.

 

[Natebishop3]

Does it really matter who they get? Allen is still going to be ... well, himself.

Paul should just go ahead and name himself the GM so he can stop hiding behind a bunch of shills.

 

[jlprk]

Until the mid to late 80s, that's how it was. Back when there was 1 assistant coach and 2 referees, the majority owner was the team President, and the minority owner was the team General Manager. It worked fine and it saved money.

 

[HailBlazers]

Round and Round we go, where it stops Nobody Knows.

 

[Mediocre Man]

Someone just kill me. They hired one OKC guy, fired him and now interviewing another?

 

[RoyToy]

Lol...Sad

It's always hard to replace a great one

John Elway
Dan Marino
Jim Kelly

The Blazers are in this same predicament

Cho was Brian Griese
Tony Weaver is Jay Fiedler

 

[BLAZER PROPHET]

Does it really matter who they get? Allen is still going to be ... well, himself.

This.

It seems that either/or Allen wants a 'yes' man or that Vulcan can't stand competition.

 

[e_blazer]

This.

It seems that either/or Allen wants a 'yes' man or that Vulcan can't stand competition.

Or, maybe, that this guy has a good reputation around the league so the Blazers brought him in for an interview.

 

[jlprk]

The word from Blazer management was that they hired Cho too fast. They hadn't learned that he wanted to blow up and rebuild the Blazers. Allen and assistants wanted an incremental improvement, gaining about one new major player per year. Pretty soon there was conflict so they fired him. Behind the scenes, he was not reticent at all.

 

[santeesioux]

They are also supposedly interested in Chris Mullin still. Man, he'd be much more exciting than Danny Ferry!

 

[Sinobas]

I see, our plan is to rip apart the Thunder managment. One by one, we'll hire their staff to fill our annual vacant GM position until there is nothing left but Sam Presti and a few interns.

 

[The_Lillard_King]

Man, Blazers can't win. Are they suppose to not look for a GM or keep one because they just hired them?

Not many liked Cho to begin with and he was freqently the punchline on this board (bith about how non articulate he is and how slow he moves), But as soon as he is fired then it's PA sucks and the Blazers shouldn't even hire a GM.

 

[Nikolokolus]

Man, Blazers can't win. Are they suppose to not look for a GM or keep one because they just hired them?

Not many liked Cho to begin with and he was freqently the punchline on this board (bith about how non articulate he is and how slow he moves), But as soon as he is fired then it's PA sucks and the Blazers shouldn't even hire a GM.

You make it sound like the people that didn't like Cho are the ones blasting the organization for firing him. I would say there are two distinct camps and a bunch of people in the muddy middle.

 

[jlprk]

You make it sound like the people that didn't like Cho are the ones blasting the organization for firing him. I would say there are two distinct camps and a bunch of people in the muddy middle.

Who was against Cho? I remember only minor ridicule of his incoherence (I and a few others did that), rhymes with his name, food you find in an oriental restaurant, and the fear that since he never played, he might evaluate talent too much by computer modeling and not by eyeball.

On the other hand, I don't begrudge Allen the right to make personnel changes. In fact I wish he'd make them more often. A coach shouldn't last 8 years unless he's one of the top-20 in NBA history.

 

[Nikolokolus]

Who was against Cho? I remember only minor ridicule of his incoherence (I and a few others did that), rhymes with his name, food you find in an oriental restaurant, and the fear that since he never played, he might evaluate talent too much by computer modeling and not by eyeball.

On the other hand, I don't begrudge Allen the right to make personnel changes. In fact I wish he'd make them more often. A coach shouldn't last 8 years unless he's one of the top-20 in NBA history.

So you're saying Nate is a top-20 all-time coach? Hmmm, interesting. I hadn't ever thought of him that way.

 

[jlprk]

So you're saying Nate is a top-20 all-time coach? Hmmm, interesting. I hadn't ever thought of him that way.

For someone who asked, I looked up the winning percentages for all coaches who have lasted 8 straight years with the same team. At the end of his contract, McMillan's 8 years will rank 23rd longest in history if you include the BAA and ABA, and 20th if you include only NBA.

http://sportstwo.com/threads/190092...irk-Nowitzki?p=2639421&viewfull=1#post2639421

Just think. If McMillan gets another 2 years to make it 10 years, he'll move up to 13th greatest coach in pro basketball history. Why stop there? Keep him 23 years and be #1.

 

[The_Lillard_King]

Who was against Cho? I remember only minor ridicule of his incoherence (I and a few others did that), rhymes with his name, food you find in an oriental restaurant, and the fear that since he never played, he might evaluate talent too much by computer modeling and not by eyeball.

On the other hand, I don't begrudge Allen the right to make personnel changes. In fact I wish he'd make them more often. A coach shouldn't last 8 years unless he's one of the top-20 in NBA history.

I remember the whole, he is too slow and deliberate to make a decision. Some pointed to a Canzano article about him ordering food being too a long process, by the time he figures out a trade the season is over . . . he overanalyzes and is afraid to make a move. Things like that. Don't really have time to check old threads but I do remember a lot of doggin on Cho. (I was trying to figure out if they were bitter about KP or just didn't like Cho.)