The Trail Blazers yesterday announced they have parted ways with GM of Basketball Operations Rich Cho. Blazers Dir of College Scouting Chad Buchanan will serve as acting GM until the team hires a permanent replacement (Trail Blazers). In Portland, Jason Quick notes in a "stunning manner that has come to define" Paul Allen's "recent direction of the Blazers, Cho was fired 10 months into his three-year contract for what the team called a 'chemistry' issue between Cho and the owner." Blazers President Larry Miller said that he "had several meetings with Cho immediately after the season, during which they evaluated his job and discussed his shortcomings." Miller: "That's when it really started to heat up. I think -- and even Rich kind of felt -- that the chemistry and connection just wasn't there, again mainly with Paul." Miller added, "Because Paul is a fan, and because Paul is a student of basketball, he needs to have somebody who he can connect with around that, and talk to around basketball issues and players." Quick writes the move was "surprising, even for a franchise that has experienced more than its share of unexpected news in recent years." Cho was "believed to be exactly the type of executive Allen wanted on the heels of Allen's messy divorce" from former GM Kevin Pritchard, fired on NBA Draft day last June. But Miller said that he "feels he and Allen 'rushed' into their decision to hire Cho, and this time they will assess the needs and requirements of the job before embarking on what will be a search that is void of a timeline" (Portland OREGONIAN, 5/24). Buchanan said that he "does not consider this opportunity an audition for the GM job permanently, but would consider taking the job under the right circumstances" (Portland OREGONIAN, 5/24).
ON THE WRONG TRAIL: In Portland, John Canzano wrote after Allen parted ways with his second GM in less than a year, he "looks a little Al Davis-nutty, a little Jerry Jones-smothering." The Cho-Allen partnership "felt like a good fit," but instead it "ended up being further evidence that there's a systemic issue with the Blazers." It is a franchise "dreaming about everywhere, but headed nowhere until Allen learns to hire smart people and let them work -- or sells the thing to some other rich guy who already knows." Canzano: "The pattern here is disturbing and dysfunctional. The Blazers are going nowhere like this. And the temptation today is to wonder which young executive Allen will hire/fire next. ... What's clear is that his time as owner is marked with futility and underachievement and bizarre decisions" (OREGONLIVE.com, 5/23). CBSSPORTS.com's Ken Berger wrote under the header, "Buffoonery At Its Best In Portland." Cho was an "independent thinker who wanted what any GM in the NBA should have as long as his business card bears that title: autonomy." But the Blazers "do not believe in autonomy, unless your name is Paul Allen or you are employed by Allen’s Seattle-based Vulcan Inc." Berger: "The Blazers are no longer simply a joke. They are a league-wide embarrassment" (CBSSPORTS.com, 5/23). In Portland, Kerry Eggers writes, "There’s an irony to the Cho firing. Allen, reticent to the point of eccentricity by nature, letting an exec go because he’s not a good communicator? ... It would behoove Portland’s owner now to make himself available to the media to answer some questions about the Cho situation and the future of his franchise. I’m not holding my breath (PORTLAND TRIBUNE, 5/24).
