The last time the Portland Trail Blazers had an opening in the front office, the franchise looked to the Oklahoma City Thunder, plucking Sam Presti's No. 2 man in Rich Cho to become Portland's GM. That didn't work out: Cho lasted only 10 months, and didn't get to run a single draft for the Blazers. Two months after canning Cho, the Blazers are again picking up the search, and they are picking through the Thunder again. Yahoo!'s Adrian Wojnarowski reports that the Blazers have interviewed Troy Weaver, the Thunder's assistant general manager.
Blazers Reportedly Interview Thunder Assistant GM Troy Weaver
Wojnarowski also reports that Chad Buchanan, the Blazers’ director of scouting who has served as interim GM since Cho’s dismissal, has withdrawn his candidacy for the permanent position. And yes, permanent in conjunction with this job is amusing.
The Blazers have an interesting set of decisions to make once the NBA lockout ends. Greg Oden is a restricted free agent; if he doesn't sign the $8.8 million qualifying offer extended to him by the Blazers on June 30, he can try to find a long-term agreement with Portland or another team; if it's the latter, the Blazers will be forced to decide whether to match. There's also the matter of Brandon Roy, who fought to come back from double knee surgery this season, struggled, but finished the season with the type of fourth-quarter performance in Game 4 of the Blazers' playoff series against the Mavericks that makes you fall in love all over again. It's hard to imagine much of a market for Roy, but given the size of his contract and his injuries, you'd have to imagine a one-time amnesty program could look mighty tempting.
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