Trail Blazers GM Neil Olshey acknowledged that the organization has traditionally had difficulty landing upper-tier free agents, Jen Beyrle of The Oregonian relays. “It’s absolutely a hurdle. Whenever we get that first guy to come, it will be unprecedented when you look at the history,” said Olshey. “I think we’ve gotten good free agents. We’ve gotten guys but they’ve had the right sensibility and we knew that they would work in this market place and would fit with the team.” Olshey noted that last year’s free agent crop elected to join playoff teams, which hurt Portland’s recruiting efforts, but pointed to the team reaching the second round of the 2015/16 postseason as a boon heading into the offseason.
The executive isn’t letting frustrations of the past color his attitude this offseason, noting that the franchise will be extremely aggressive in the free agent market this summer, the team relayed (on Twitter). Here’s more from the Northwest Division:
- The Jazz have a workout scheduled on Saturday for Ryan Arcidiacono (Villanova), Nathan Boothe (Toledo), Michael Carrera (South Carolina), Vince Edwards (Purdue), Retin Obasohan (Alabama) and Malik Pope (San Diego State), the team announced.
- New Wolves coach/executive Tom Thibodeau has offered Travelle Gaines, who is Bulls swingman Jimmy Butler’s personal trainer, a post as the team’s strength and conditioning coach, Vincent Goodwill of CSNChicago tweets.
- The Timberwolves hold the No. 5 overall pick in this year’s NBA Draft and Jim Souhan of The Star Tribune makes the case for the team to select former Oklahoma shooting guard Buddy Hield. The scribe opines that Hield is the best available combination of talent, maturity and polish available where the team’s pick falls.