Neil Olshey will man the front office for the foreseeable future.
The Portland Trail Blazers and their President of Basketball Operations Neil Olshey have agreed to a contract extension, per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
Sources: Portland President of Basketball Operations Neil Olshey has agreed to extension that’ll keep him under contract through 2021.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 29, 2017
Also per Woj, the Blazers picked up a two-year option on Olshey, and a third year was negotiated to be added on.
Olshey came to the Blazers in the summer of 2012. He had a deal in place with the LA Clippers, but negotiations didn’t make enough progress to lock him up.
Portland then stepped in with their offer, and Olshey became the team’s new GM.
Summer 2012 presented a turning point in Blazers history. The team took Damian Lillard with the No. 6 overall pick in the NBA Draft.
An unknown at the time coming out of Weber State was a step above the competition immediately in the league.
He outplayed his rookie class — which included Anthony Davis — en route to a unanimous Rookie of the Year.
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Dame has gone on to two All-Star appearances and two All-NBA nods (second and third team).
Without the selection by Olshey, Portland would not be the same team as they are right now. The culture Dame has instilled in the team would cease to exist.
(Olshey also took Meyers Leonard with the No. 11 overall pick. Even if you don’t like his game now, don’t write him off just yet.)
(Don’t forget about Will Barton in that same draft at pick 40. Straight-up steal.)
Later that summer Olshey brought in some Terry Stotts guy to be head coach. Under Stotts and Olshey, the team has appeared in the last four playoffs (out of five seasons total).
This includes the 2014 playoffs that saw the team win its first series in 14 years. That team, built around Dame and LaMarcus Aldridge, had several key role players that made them formidable.
A trade for Thomas Robinson coupled with signings of Mo Williams, Earl Watson and Dorell Wright bolstered the bench.
Following the departure of Aldridge in summer 2015, Olshey went back to work.
This time, he targeted proven vets — Al-Farouq Aminu, Ed Davis — on team-friendly deals to build around his rising star in Dame.
We also saw C.J. McCollum receive a bigger role, and this team clawed its way to the playoffs yet again.
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All this goes without mentioning moves like trading for Mason Plumlee, trading for Moe Harkless and sending Plumlee to Denver for Jusuf Nurkić (and a first-round pick later used to acquire Zach Collins).
Olshey has a small market to work with, so drawing big names isn’t likely.
But he’s become king of the small moves, and these led to starters like Harkless and Nurkić — all by just being the first team to take a flyer.