Olshey, Blake Discuss Draft

June 11, 2012, 7:46 pm

New General Manager Neil Olshey and Senior Director of NBA Scouting Ryan Blake joined Courtside Monday night to discuss the team's upcoming draft philosophy and when they will decide on a head coach.
Neil Olshey sat down first with Mike & Mike, and was frank when he said the roster was a work in progress. He acknowledged how the team has a good core with LaMarcus Aldridge, Wesley Matthews, and Nic Batum, but wanted to work out the younger players more to know what kind of commodities they are.

In regards to the upcoming NBA draft, Olshey said it's a chance to acquire raw talent and accelerate the growth of team. As far as trading picks, Olshey says the team is open to anything and has a lot of flexibility with the roster.

As far as the coaching search goes, Olshey says he wants to first fill the team out more before bringing someone in. Then, depending on the roster, the team will hire a coach who is most suitable to handle their style of play.


Later in the show, Senior Director of NBA Scouting Ryan Blake joined the program and broke down some of the prospects the Blazers could draft. Blake discusses the strengths and weaknesses of Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Andre Drummond, and Damian Lillard.

Blake noted how deep the draft is (Olshey made a similar comment), but noted how the draft order is a toss-up and all depends on teams falling in love with a specific player.