Neil Olshey to Return

01 Jun 2012

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According to multiple sources breaking the news on Twitter:

#Clippers announce agreement in principle for Neil Olshey to remain as GM.

— Ken Berger (@KBergCBS) June 2, 2012

Clippers announce they’ve struck a new deal with free-agent GM Neil Olshey, who was on Portland’s list

— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) June 2, 2012

ClipperBlog’s DJ Foster has mentioned several times previously that the Los Angeles Clippers, as a team, were more prone to let the market determine the value of its assets rather than be proactive in retaining them. But after several days of angst over flirtations with Portland, fans of the Clippers can rest easy as the retention of Neil Olshey has been achieved.

Olshey has been an “at-will” employee since October 2011 and the terms of the new deal have not been disclosed. And, as much talk as there has been about creating a change in culture and building a title contending team, championship quality clubs are built on the stability of their front offices. The Clippers have taken a painstaking amount of time laying down that bedrock, but for the first time in years, it seems like the Clippers have a foundation in place. More to come as details are uncovered.

Timmythetooth

Good. I was getting tired of reading articles that the Clippers are still the Clippers of old. In some ways they still are but this is another great step in the right direction. I can finally start looking ahead to this summer and what trades/signings can be done. Plus I really like that Neil has a in with a lot of players in the league and has the ability to evaluate talent. I would love to see the Clippers try and find a way to draft Beal. It’s a long shot but that kid reminds me of EJ in so many ways. It would fit a major need on the Clippers. Neil should be working overtime to convince Ray Allen to sign. Good start to the summer. I’m feeling much better about the future despite the VDN still being here.
- clipporvida
  
  Ray Allen is done… He should work on developing players and/or getting the right assistant coaches in to do that since that’s his forte.. DJ, while I like others had high hopes for this kid it is apparent that he may not have the desire to develop his game..I hope he is the type to respond to negative criticism.. The whole player acquisition scenario will come into play when the free agent period begins.. Lets hope that this is the beginning of this franchise moving forward for next year and years to come..
http://barmapla.com FD

He needs to get a center and a shooting guard. I’m not an Olshey fan, but it shouldn’t be that hard to get 2 decent players.
Bongstradamus

THANK YOU JEEBUS!
griffin

Portland is butt hurt. I love it. Now they are saying the should go after Phil Jackson. Lol welcome back mr. Olshey we thought we lost u
- pdx fan
  
  haha, sucker…
griffin

Clippers first move this offseason is getting Blake griffin to sign a derrick rose contract. The same one.
- NRM
  
  Blake deserves less money. WHen he is MVP or at least the best player on the team he can make more money.
The Blakers

THANK THE LORD! this truly made my day
Clips4

Finally, about time!!!
http://clipperblog Apostolos

YES!!!! really great to have Olshey stickin around
Patrick

I smiled when reading this, I so thought the clippers were going to lose olshey. Sterling made a deal that makes sense for once…
Jgroove

One word: whew.

Blake next please.
Clips4

I have a feeling DeMote DeAndre is going to complain about Olshey’s new contract like there’s no tomorrow and how deluded we all are thinking Olshey is so great. DeMote needs recognize that without Olshey, we would not have CP3 (while keeping Bledsoe) and picked up Chauncey Billups off waivers, signed Caron Butler (albeit now an overpriced contract), signed Kenyon Martin, signed Reggie Evans, and traded for Nick Young.
Neiru

What a relief. I think keeping Vinny for an extra year was a move done to keep Paul and Blake. I also think they will try to surround VDN with better assistants. Knowing that Olshey is staying makes me feel more comfortable going into next season.
Mv22

Things have changed in clipper land. I know it is not popular, but Vdn is the right coach for this team at this time, olshey is the competent front office we’ve been missing and sterling has finally stepped into the background. An extension for griffin, Bledsoe emerging, tweak the roster a little and go into next season with some playoff experience and cp3 can lead this team into championship contention.
- Clips4
  
  I still don’t think VDN is the right coach for this team but he better be watching the offense of the Spurs and see how they run things. He also better be looking at the other teams and their defensive rotations and either hire a defensive coordinator or he himself gets better as a coach on both offense and defense. the Black Hole defense was basically a zone and worked well towards the end of the season but gave up the 3 point line to the point where Memphis even though they were not that great at shooting 3′s lit us up.
extra

wow that’s nice hope the clippers get a # 3 & 2 wing players that are young athletic strong great shooters and excellent defenders with unselfish intelligence
Cody

Alright Now Olshey can get to work I think Odom would be great for this team. He wants to play in LA his price tag is low after last year which is good for donald Clippers need a big that can stretch the floor. He could play the 3 and 4 behind Caron and Blake
- Clips4
  
  If we do go for Odom, I would rather he start over Caron. Odom is better at ball handling and slashing a little. Plus he is a better passer and playmaker.
- Benoit Benjamin
  
  Odom wants to be a laker or knick. this guy should be out of the league. he just wants to play for a big market for reasons outside of basketball.
Lasko

Does the package from Dallas include the Kardashians?
thom

Yea but lamar odom.hatef blake griffin and dirk nowitski no thanks dont want him break up chemistry
http://HitFix.com Jgroove

Lamar wants NY or Miami and he’s a headcase.
Tim

No on Lamar, and the drama, said it time and time again, no former lakes, but we’ll give Caron a free pass. Glad to see Olshey staying with the Clippers. Like I said before, with Sterling, Roeser, and Olshey, and watching what they’ve been up to as of late, its a comforting feeling, kinda like being a fan of the Steelers, having that knowledge that your front office is going to do whatever is best for the organization. At first people thought giving up EJ was a big deal, but we were getting CP3, but people worried about his knees, which at this point is completely a dead issue. Olshey, Roeser and DTS deserve huge credit for following through and closing that CP3 deal. Moving Cook to get Young did move Needle as Olshey astutely pointed out, and Swag delivered in the playoffs like a mother. Olshey said everything and the kitchen sink, just not the Bledsoe, and people were really scratching their heads on that one. The way that whole thing turned out with Bledsoe, kinda reminds me when they replaced Cowher with Tomlin and people were like, who is that? Bledsoe blew completely up, and Olshey can answer the question, who knew? All these trade ideas and scenarios are nice to chat about, and funny to discuss, but people, please stop thinking you know more than Neil with the deal, because if the Clips make a move for Howard, or even deal Griffin somewhere, or sign him for 5 yrs and the max, whatever they decide, at this point, you have to recognize that it was/is the best thing that could be done for the organization, although most of you will probably second guess until the cows come home. Honestly, lets recognize 1 thing, Chris Paul is the cornerstone of this franchise, and we need to surround Paul with the players who can take us to the championship, not the other way around.
- clipsy hustle
  
  Say it again tim. Didnt agree with certain moves, but lets give these guys a chance.
thom

Im.glad someone agree with me:) forget lamar odom man
DeMote DeAndre

Bummer.

Nobody can actually think that the high school intramural player turned second rate soap opera actor, who has never played or coached on any organized level except as an assistant coach in high school where he was mainly a PR guy for Jason Kapona, can possibly have the expertise to be a GM in the NBA. There is no basis for that at all, None

The Clipper President, Andy Roesser, clearly knows nothing about basketball, as evidenced by the horrible record the Clippers have had over all of his time being President.

He likely feels inferior about it when he’s around people who do know basketball (Jerry West etc) and so he wants to have clueless Olshey around so he (Roesser) won’t feel inferior in basketball expertise round him (Olshey).

Olshey did absolutely nothing to improve the Clippers while he was here. The good things that happed while he was here had nothing to do with him. All he did was damage the future so badly that the Clippers are now likely topped out as a first or second round playoff team (depending on who they meet in the first round each year).

The Clippers had a real chance at greatness in the future. Olshey blew most of it this last season, and the Clippers blew the rest of it by bringing Olshey back to run their future.

The foundation is as solid as quick sand.
- Kyle
  
  How can you possibly say that Olshey has done nothing to improve the Clippers?
  
  The good things that happened while he was here had nothing to do with him?
  
  What the hell are you talking about?
DemoteDunleavy

doesnt anyone here know how the market works? A negotiator like Olshey wanted to test the market to maximize his profits when it came time to make a deal. Why everyone thought the sky was falling is beyond me
- The Blakers
  
  we had a team option on oshley so he really couldn’t have tested the market had we just used it on him earlier, like we had with Del Negro
  - DemoteDunleavy
    
    I was under the impression Olshey was never under contract.
    - Jgroove
      
      That is correct. Oshey has always been a month to month employee. There was no “option.”
Tim

Howard and Thompkins > Griffin and Jordan
thom

Im very high on thomkin if he gets stronger this off season hes gonna be a star he hss post up game can shoot long range and can potentisl to be gooood defensive with his long arm
thom

Thomkins and leslie are both working hard in those nba.com video look for thomkin to made an impact!!!
Tim

Chris Paul was All-NBA point guard, and made the Defensive All-NBA team. The man has mastered his position. Extending Paul should be priority. I have transformed from a hardcore Clipper fan with love for the Cuttino Mobleys and Eric Piatkowski’s of the world, to someone who absolutely positively will do anything for the Clippers to win it all. I think DTS, Roeser and DTS are at that point, where, yeah Eric Gordon is nice, and we liked him and all, but if you can get a Chris Paul, then you go get Chris Paul. We have a lot of nice players on our roster, but if you can get a Dwight Howard, you have to go get Dwight Howard. Next season, I have no doubts that Howard will be All-NBA at center, and make the Defensive All-NBA team as well, just like Mr. Paul, Howard has mastered his position. We won’t have to wait a few season more to realize his full potential. We have nice original Clippers on the squad that we all know and love very much, but how bad do you want the title? The Clippers as an organization are at a point where, he need to do what we gotta do, and prove to the world just how bad we want a title. Some might say, if we were trying to prove that we would have gotten Nate, or Sloan or one of the Van Gundys, but if Mr. Paul said Del Negro, then thats a hell of an endorsement. I love the fact that the Clippers have someone in Olshey who can talk his way into the conversation, close the deal, and move on to the next order of business. Right now,its time for the Clippers to make some moves.
NRM

So its agreed, we don’t want Odom
- Clipporvida
  
  In the right frame of mind & cost(2.4 mil) you can take a chance on his effectiveness & leadership. Lamar could be worthwhile in the right environment.
- Bongstradamus
  
  No, it’s not agreed.
  
  We should not lowball Blake until he’s an MVP.
  
  Nor should we pass on adding a point forward like Lamar Odom when we are desperate for coverage at the 3 and backup 4 for someone who can shoot, rebound, and pass.
  
  We should wait to see if Lamar gets amnestied before chasing him. $10M is just too much.
  - Bongstradamus
    
    Or bought out.
DeMote DeAndre

Responding to . . .
“How can you possibly say that Olshey has done nothing to improve the Clippers?
The good things that happened while he was here had nothing to do with him?
What the hell are you talking about?”

1. Olshey had nothing to do with Blake Griffin being on the Clippers, and it is the presence of Griffin that was one of the two factors that brought Chris Paul.

2. Olshey had nothing to do with Chris Paul coming to the Clippers, other than overpaying for him by including the Minnesota Pick in the deal when it wasn’t necessary.

All of the media reports on the topic leading up to the trade said that New Orleans wanted either Eric Gordon or the Minnesota pick included in the deal. (Kaman and Aminu were set as part of the deal and the question was which of the other two pieces the Clippers would have to give New Orelans.) Olshey gave them both, because he is clueless, dumb and inexperienced and was shamelessly outmanuevered by Stern (who is the opposite of Olshey, in that Stern is smart and experienced). Stern added still another asking piece to the price. In addition to the Minnesota pick and Gordon, Stern said he now wanted Bledsoe also. Clueless Olshey fell for this old bargaining trick hook, line, and sinker and went crawling back to Stern on his hands and knees begging for another chance at giving New Orleans both Gordon and the Minnesota pick and being able to keep Bledsoe.

Stern laughed at him for being such a fool, and he took Gordan and the Minnesota pick from the clueless wonder.

3. In no way did Olshey influence Paul to come to the Clippers. Paul was left with no choice but to come to the Clippers. Paul had demanded New Orleans trade him. He and his CAA agents had said he wanted to go to either New York or LA so he could play in a major media market. That limited the trade possiblities to 4 teams: the Nets, The Knicks, The Lakers, the Clippers.

The Nets already had Deron Williams, so that eliminated them as a possiblity. The Knicks, where Paul really wanted to go the most, had no pieces to trade so that eliminated them. The CAA agents did work a deal to send Paul to the Lakers, but that was such a terrible deal for New Orleans that Stern intervened and said no. There was nothing else the Lakers could do that any other team would bite on and that they were willing to part with, so that eliminated them.

3 of the 4 teams Paul said he wanted to be traded to were elimnated as possiblities. That left only the Clippers. It wasn’t Paul’s first or even second choice of the four, but it was the only one that was a real possibility. There was no choice for Paul. He had to come to the Clippers.

Again, the only thing Olshey did was way overpay by sending the Minnesota pick and Gordon, when he only had to send Gordon.
- Clips4
  
  For being such a fool, Olshey looks brilliant. We give up Eric Gordon and Gordon only plays in 9 games this past season while we got 60/66 games from CP3 in the regular season and 11 games in the postseason for him. CP3 averaged more games than both Gordon and Kaman combined. Plus, that Minny pick ended up being the the 10th pick which isn’t bad. You forget that Olshey dumped Cook’s contract and turned him into Nick Young who contributed hugely to that game one comeback win against Memphis. Olshey also signed Kenyon Martin and Reggie Evans off the scrap heap and picked up Chauncey Billups off waivers after he was amnestied. You are a fool if you think Olshey did nothing this year to help the Clippers get better. It takes a GM to formulate the trade and pull it off.
DeMote DeAndre

It is not at all credible that Olshey signed DeAndre Jordan to his disastrous contract because Paul said that then signing was necessary for Paul to come to the Clippers.

1. As pointed out above, Paul had no choice but to come to the Clippers.

2. For more than a year before signing Jordan to his 4 year $42 million disaster contract, Olshey had been saying that the Clippers were going to keep Jordan. He repeatedly announced to the rest of the league that the Clippers were going to match any other offer given to the restricted free agent. He said this over and over again, long before Paul came onto the scene.

3. A year earlier, Olshey had announded that Jordan was going to be the Clippers future at center, and Olshey had Jordan installed at teh starting center position for almost all of the previous year. He then set out totrade Kaman in order to keep Jordan as the starting center. Even if the Paul trade hadn’t come about, Olshey was still going to trade Kaman. Everybody knew that, and again that was long before Paul came along.

It is true that shortly after the Paul trade and the Jordan signing, “sources” started reporting that Paul had said signing Jordan was a condition of his coming to the Clippers. But these “sources” often report rumors that are pro Olshey, and nobody should ever think there’s any truth to them, like when “sources” said Del Negro had lost control of the locker room and was about to be fired.

Then during the playoffs, the ABC announcer Jeff Van Gundy again recycled this old rumor from “sources”, probably again prompted to by Olshey puppets.

It does not at all stand up to even a surface examination.
- http://barmapla.com FD
  
  Yeah, good points. I remember announcing to everyone that they will match any contract. GS might as well make them pay more. I guess they are just sources and CP3 couldn’t have gone anywhere else.
  
  I expect Olshey to fail to get a good center or shooting guard, Paul will leave and BG will leave too. Then the Clippers will fail to make the playoffs until the get another rookie like BG in the draft.
DeMote DeAndre

In general, DeAndre Jordan has revealed himself to be so bad and his contract is such a disaster, that since Olshey was obviously so inept and clueless to give it to him, that bozo move alone disqualifies Olshey as being considered a competent GM.

Now the main question is what other bozo moves is he going to make.
http://www.newgamesall.com New Games

Clippers first move this offseason is getting Blake griffin to sign a derrick rose contract. The same one.
The Blakers

that feeling when you see a lot of new comments, only to find out they’re by demote…
http://barmapla.com FD

If Olshey can’t put together a team that has a real chance and a title, then Clippers have to do a sign and trade for CP3 and get some draft picks back.
- Lob Angelicious
  
  That has to be the dumbest idea ive ever heard on CB … Smh
kyle

First and foremost everybody is forgetting the Clippers can’t trade for Chris Paul if Baron Davis is still on the roster. Olshey was able to move him when many thought that wasn’t possible. And in doing so he was able to get something of value (Mo Williams) in return.

Olshey traded for the rights to Eric Bledsoe on draft day. He turned Brian Cook into Nick Young.

And you do realize the Clippers matched the offer the Warriors made by the way. Olshey didn’t draw that contract up himself. Mr Jerry West and company did.
- http://www.barmapla.com FD
  
  Why not? There’s still enough cap space.
extra

olshey deserves credit 4 eric bledsoe and i think trey tompkins will be a good help offensively he is tall and can stroke outside shot can b a mismatch needs playing time 2 prove it cp3 trade was good 4 last year but going into the future i don’t think he will b as effective without atheletic wing players that can shoot and defend olshey as a tough job but he as 2 invest on youth 4 long term success no room 4 bunch of veterans on their last leg
Lou

FD = Demote The same person, always posting negativism and trying to create a bad atmosphere among the loyal Clips Fans for years. Poor guy.
- http://barmapla.com FD
  
  No, just people who can see the truth. Have the admin check our posting IP’s if you’re so concerned we’re the same person.
  
  Ask yourself this, has anything we’ve said or predicted turned out to be untrue? Well DeAndre was actually a lot worse than DeMote and myself predicted. I think I said he was worth about $4mil before he was signed, he’s probably only worth about $750k.
  
  What’s wrong with predicting CP3 will walk because it will be impossible to add any new players. The only arguments I’ve seen people come up with is “be nice to CP3 and BG and they will stay”

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Neil Olshey to Return

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