Portland Trail Blazers new GM Neil Olshey says that Coach Kaleb Canales will stay - NBA Update
Portland Trail Blazers newly appointed General Manager Neil Olshey made his first public appearance on Tuesday. Speaking to a press conference, Olshey said that they will not make any decision against the wishes of fans.
He said that they are trying to ‘re-tool’ not 'rebuild’, and that Portland coach Kaleb Canales will not have to look anywhere else.
“He’s the in-house favourite… At the end of the day, I don’t see anyone bringing more to the table than Kaleb Canales but we’re going to undergo a process to figure that out.” Neil said. “I don’t think there’s any deadline for
when we need to have someone in place [as head coach].”
Kaleb is considered as the most suitable coach to mentor a young roster. Moreover it is evident that they will not be competing for the championship any time soon so he can train the young squad.
Under Canales Portland won 8 of 23 games last season, but his biggest achievement was to win the confidence of disdained players.
The players were disheartened by the exit of Nate McMillan (previous coach) and the disparity took its toll on their performance. But Kaleb rekindled the fire in them and they went onto defeat Chicago Bulls deep into the regular
season.
Kaleb has earned the respect and confidence of the players and Olshey knows that. He himself left Los Angeles Clippers this week to take over the reins at Portland. Earlier this week LAC disclosed that an agreement in principal
has been reached between the franchise and Vice President of Basketball Operations Neil Olshey. The terms of the agreement were kept discreet.
However there were vibes indicating that he will walk away from the contract. It was learnt that Olshey made a trip to London. He met Portland Trail Blazers owner Paul Allen for the vacant GM position. He was working for the Clips
without a contract since last August.
Neil is acknowledged for assembling the most successful squad in the franchise history. Before the 66 games shortened season he put together Chris Paul, Caron Butler, Nick Young, Chauncey Billups, Reggie Evans and Kenyon Martin.
He also re-signed DeAndre Jordan.
He served as Clips’ VP for 2 consecutive years and made phenomenal improvements in the league. Hiring of Coach Vinny Del Negro and successful execution of Chris Paul trade are two of his greatest achievements.
After taking the job with Portland it can be hoped that he will bring similar pleasant changes for Blazers.
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