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Olshey said making the playoffs will also be a bargaining chip he can use when he hits the free agent market this summer. “It’s a completely different pitch going to recruit guys if you are a current playoff team that is only going to get better as opposed to, ‘Hey, if you come here, you can help us become a playoff team.’’’ “So to be honest,’’ Olshey said when weighing making the playoffs or finishing in the bottom 12, “there are clearly benefits to both.’’ Oregonian

Portland Trail Blazers, Free Agency, Trade, Neil Olshey 

In other words, he miscalculated just how close the Blazers were to being a playoff team. “Clearly, if we knew all of that going in, we probably would have made a bigger investment in the bench and taken away some of our flexibility, knowing that we aren’t that far away,’’ Olshey said. Oregonian

Portland Trail Blazers, Neil Olshey 

Which brings us back to Olshey, the man with a silver tongue, sharp eye and iron gut. He admits he misjudged how good the starters were. He acknowledges the bench needs to be upgraded. And, he admits, he probably won’t do anything about it this season. “Right now, this calls for some real patience and diligence. To not throw the baby out with the bath water because of a real successful first half of the season,’’ Olshey said. “I think the mission is still the same: The players we needed to play well are playing well and what we need to do is develop the guys on the bench, preserve our assets and our flexibility so we can go after guys and be really aggressive next summer.’’ Oregonian

Portland Trail Blazers, Neil Olshey 

CSNNW.com was able to reach Trail Blazers' General Manager, Neil Olshey regarding the matter. "Joel and Victor traveled to Boise with Jay Triano, had great attitudes and expressed their excitement to him about the opportunity to play", Olshey said. "I spoke with Joel this morning and he enjoyed the experience last night and was glad to be back on the floor playing basketball. "We will continue to utilize the Idaho Stampede whenever we feel the development of our players will be accelerated by the opportunity to play game minutes in a competitive setting." CSNNW.com

Portland Trail Blazers, Victor Claver, Neil Olshey, D-League, Joel Freeland 

A number of NBA GMs -- including the Celtics’ Danny Ainge, the Jazz’s Kevin O’Connor, Bulls’ Gar Forman, the Warriors Bob Myers and the Blazers Neil Olshey -- were in attendance. Overall, they are seeing the same phenomenon here that they are seeing everywhere. This is a down season, talent wise, in the NCAA. “If Cody Zeller, Shabazz Muhammad, Nerlens Noel and James McAdoo are your top four picks, it’s going to be an ugly, ugly draft.” Other than McAdoo, I couldn’t find a scout or GM convinced there was another first-round prospect here. If Kabongo plays, that could be two. But that explains, in part, why the field is so weak. ESPN.com

Boston Celtics, Chicago Bulls, Golden State Warriors, Portland Trail Blazers, Utah Jazz, Draft, Danny Ainge, Neil Olshey, James McAdoo, Myck Kabongo, Gar Forman, Bob Myers, Shabazz Muhammad, Nerlens Noel 

Chris Haynes: #Blazers GM Neil Olshey says he hopes someone internally steps up on bench. Says if not, he may address it at trade deadline or offseason. Twitter @ChrisBHaynes

Portland Trail Blazers, Trade, Neil Olshey 

The man who had risen from player development coach to assistant coach to director of player personnel to assistant general manager to director of basketball operations added a new title to his resume: general manager of the Portland Trail Blazers. "After nine years, I had done everything I felt like I could do there," Olshey said Wednesday before the Trail Blazers defeated the Lakers at the Rose Garden. "It would have been nice to enjoy the ride for the next period of time with the guys that we had acquired, but it was time for kind of a new challenge." Los Angeles Times

Portland Trail Blazers, Neil Olshey 

Allen "made me a very fair offer in the range that I was looking for with the caveat that if he gave it to me, I gave him my word that I wouldn't let the Clippers counter," said Olshey, who had been on a month-to-month contract with his previous employer. "Once I gave Mr. Allen my word, for me it was a fait accompli and I had made a decision to move on." Los Angeles Times

Portland Trail Blazers, Neil Olshey 

"He did a tremendous job changing the perception of the organization and changing the culture," one NBA executive said of Olshey's work with the Clippers, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly discuss a competitor. "He made the L.A. Clippers an organization that guys want to play for and that's no small task considering their history." Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Clippers, Portland Trail Blazers, Neil Olshey 

The Trail Blazers hired Chris McGowan as president on Monday. He replaces Larry Miller, who replaced Steve Patterson, who replaced Bob Whitsitt. Also, McGowan will work alongside general manager Neil Olshey, who replaced Rich Cho, who replaced Kevin Pritchard, who replaced Patterson, who replaced John Nash, who replaced Whitsitt. Point is, it hasn't felt easy to explain around here since Whitsitt left, has it? The hope here isn't that McGowan will walk on water, or help a basketball team that feels headed to another NBA Draft Lottery find a miracle way out of this mess. Rather, the hope is that McGowan can work closely enough with Olshey to end the convoluted decade of madness and again make the basketball, not the business (or some gobbled combination) feel like it's driving the bus again. Oregonian

Portland Trail Blazers, Kevin Pritchard, Larry Miller, Neil Olshey, Rich Cho, Steve Patterson, Bob Whitsitt, John Nash, Chris McGowan 

Ben Golliver: Blazers GM Neil Olshey on roster cuts: "We're going to take as long as possible. Some of it is strategic." Wants guys for Idaho Stampede Twitter @blazersedge

Portland Trail Blazers, Neil Olshey, Training Camp 

Chris Haynes: #Blazers GM Neil Olshey says he will not make decision on exercising options on Luke Babbitt, Nolan Smith, Elliot Williams until very end. Twitter @ChrisBHaynes

Portland Trail Blazers, Elliot Williams, Luke Babbitt, Neil Olshey, Nolan Smith 

Ben Golliver: Neil Olshey wins media day for being 1st GM in recent memory to essentially admit he can't trade his players because no 1 has heard of them. Twitter @blazersedge

Portland Trail Blazers, Neil Olshey 

Ben Golliver: Blazers GM Neil Olshey says owner Paul Allen has been watching September workouts on a webcam and will be at first day of training camp. Twitter @blazersedge

Portland Trail Blazers, Paul Allen, Neil Olshey, Training Camp 

Ben Golliver: Blazers GM Neil Olshey says he won't waive Elliot Williams & that he applied for Disabled Player Exception. Could be used later in the year Twitter @blazersedge

Portland Trail Blazers, Elliot Williams, Neil Olshey 

John Canzano: Twitter has suspended the user who was impersonating Neil Olshey (@NeilOlshey)... Blazers GM is not a Twitter guy. Twitter

Portland Trail Blazers, Neil Olshey 

John Canzano: Blazers GM Neil Olshey does not Tweet. @Neilolshey is an impersonator. Don't be fooled. Twitter

Portland Trail Blazers, Neil Olshey, Twitter 

John Canzano: NBA source tells me the league office has already investigated and had one Olshey impersonator removed from Twitter. Now there's a second. Twitter

Portland Trail Blazers, Neil Olshey, Twitter 

Griffin endorsed Gary Sacks, the Clippers' director of player personnel, to replace Neil Olshey as the team's general manager. Olshey left to take on the same role in Portland. "If he doesn't get the GM job I'll be shocked and definitely a little disappointed because he deserves it and I think everybody else thinks he deserves it," Griffin said. "I hope that it's going to be him." MSNBC.com

Los Angeles Clippers, Portland Trail Blazers, Blake Griffin, Neil Olshey, Gary Sacks 

Mike Tokito: Olshey said hiring Canales as assistant was "absolutely not a prerequisite to Terry being hired." Twitter

Portland Trail Blazers, Coaching, Neil Olshey, Kaleb Canales, Terry Stotts