Shams: Olshey being investigated for workplace misconduct

In my sleuthing this summer of McGowan's twitter account, I found that he had recently followed some executive headhunters that other NBA teams had used. Was wondering back then if Neil was on his way out.

If he does get ousted, you'd think replacements wouldn't be that far away.

My money's on Brent Barry. His interview during the coaching search can't have been accidental.

 

Defend Neil on this one peeps

 

Neil sounds like an asshole and a shitty person to work for but you can't fire someone for being a dick if you are trying to get out of paying them.

Dan tried to not come off as whining, but I think there's context missing in the lack of communication with him. We aren't talking about a high profile assistant. I've never worked in the NBA, but if you don't think a lot of NBA interactions end in getting ghosted or feeling however Dan did, I think you'd be mistaken.

I'd like for Neil to be gone but I don't think there was anything earth-shattering in this pod. The Blazers are doing their diligence to get of our Neil's contract...which honestly scares me more than anything in this situation. Unless NO got a significant pay raise, the fact they are willing to take a PR hit and risk turning a pivotal season for the team and Dame on saving a couple million is shocking and concerning to me.

 

These are exactly my feelings on this situation. If the motivation for this investigation is purely financial, I don't get it. We're still paying Andrew Nicholson this year to stay away from the team.

 

Let's be honest.... the team has been clown town ever since Paul died.

We're a ship without anyone at the helm.

 

another good reason to give him the axe

 

This makes it sound like the Neil Olshey "bombshell" is only one outside the franchise--the Vulcans probably knew for some time and were quietly getting their ducks in a row before it came out, if replacing Olshey became necessary.

I don't think this is just to get out of paying Olshey. Aren't they still paying Stotts? There was no dirty tricks campaign to get out of that. I don't see why Olshey is special in that regard, where the team must stop at nothing to avoid paying him after firing him.

 

I'm not sure why you think me or anyone tries to defend Neil. If you're not bashing Neil, then you're defending him is the logic of the die hard Neil bashers in here.

 

I don't think it's that complicated...they wouldn't have hired an investigative team if they didn't know what they had....it won't take long for this to be resolved. I think they brought in Brent Barry this summer as a contingency plan and for whatever reason, decided now is better than later...I think we'll never hear from Olshey again in the media...that bird has flown

 

I disagree. Olshey clawed for everything had getting into the NBA. You can't shit on the dudes journey here. He's a very smart guy and he's slowly but surely consolidated power over years of being with the franchise. He used PA's death and I'm sure help from Woj and other contacts to float his name and help him get a new contract and even more power after Paul died and Jody came aboard.

I know everyone here hate's Neil but for the most part I think he's been a pretty good GM. He just has weaknesses and one of them is not swinging for the fence. He is hit and miss with 1RP's, great with 2nd rounders, very good at making additions in season, but when it comes to not over-valuing your guys and knowing when to push your chips in he just can't get there. But if you have a "loyal superstar" and have become one of the longest tenured front office guys in the league, why takes any large risks?

The team needs a change...I just don't know who is in charge at this point and that almost scares me the most.

 

Vulcan is in charge and I'm pretty sure this whole investigation is their idea. They can fire him anytime but there's only one reason to break his contract and they've probably found it already.

 

I'm talking about the organization as a whole. Not just the GM. I don't think Jody knows what the heck is going on. We need ownership that is actually engaged. The way that Billups was hired and now this whole thing with Neil are just huge red flags that the team lacks leadership.

 

You come in and white knight for Neil whenever he is talked about.

 

I agree, I think this is a legit investigation most likely brought on after several complaints. I don't think they care about getting out of paying him the remainder of his contract. In my opinion it's more likely that they're angling to fire him for reasons other than performance or his mishandling in several ways of the Stott/Billups transition because they have been complicit in those things. If they can show that he is running his shop in a way contrary to the way their other businesses are run and a way that could embarrass Vulcan then they can justify firing him.

For those saying that a pattern of shouting at people, cussing them out, talking them down and other forms of abuse are just the way of the corporate world, I feel bad for you or the people you work with. I've worked for a few fortune 500 companies and seen four or five firings over this exact type of behavior. There was no sexual or racial component to any of it... the people fired were just fired for being verbally and mentally abusive to their subordinates.

 

I listened to the Dickau podcast. Maybe he was whining a little....maybe he wasn't. Hard to know without having been there day-to-day

no surprise at all that Olshey treated him poorly. Again, maybe Dickau crossed some line of the corporate flow chart by his email to the business manager. Maybe he was justified in trying to get some direction from the Blazers if Olshey was refusing to give him any. Shit obviously flows downhill in Olshey-world and Dickau was downhill

I've been waiting to see if anybody who has been there will come out in defense of Olshey. So far, the defense seems to be "well yeah, he's an asshole and a bully but that's not a crime"

and I think, as said in that tweet, it's very common knowledge that Dame was Chad Buchanan's pick and he had probably got Paul Allen on board with it before Olshey was hired. The Blazers had for sure been desperately looking for the PGOTF for years before drafting Dame

 

good point. Maybe they just didn't think it would get out.

 

Yep. And there will still be people saying Olshet gets all the credit because he was gm. Heard that argument a few times over the summer from the Neil fans here.

 

That Dickau pod was brutal. No excuse for any of that.

 

Summary?

 

The TLDR is that Neil is a dick. It's worth a listen. Basically Neil strung him along for summer league and the draft and then hired Stotts, who brought his own staff on. Dan sent an email to the business side of the team when he was just sitting there in limbo asking for coffee with the then McGowan role. Neil called him up and cursed him out and called him lazy. Talked a bunch of shit.