Portland Trail Blazers ‘Suspend’ GM Search


Portland’s tumultous front-office is putting its search for a new general manager on hold, reports The Oregonian: “With the NBA lockout heading to the courtroom and the 2011-12 season seemingly one step away from Armageddon, the Trail Blazers have decided to suspend their search for a new general manager, an NBA source familiar with the team’s plans told The Oregonian. The Blazers already had slowed their search in recent weeks, as the NBA and its players dug into intense negotiations designed to salvage the season. And when the players shot down the NBA’s most recent offer Monday and elected to dissolve their union, the Blazers decided it was most appropriate to halt their search, in part to protect jobs. After all, the salary of a new GM — possibly millions of dollars a year — would be equal to the costs of countless other jobs in the organization. ‘To go out and spend a bunch of money on a high-paying GM job doesn’t make sense right now,’ the source said. ‘With what has happened the last week or so, it made a lot of sense to put the search on pause.'”