Randy Pfund, one of three finalists for the Trail Blazers general manager position last summer, said he would still be interested in the job. Pfund, the former general manager of the Miami Heat, said he has not been contacted by the Blazers, who announced Monday that they had fired Rich Cho after only 10 months on the job. But Pfund said if the team did reach out to him he would consider the job. “I'm sure if there was interest, I would certainly look into it … assuming those guys haven't lost my number,'' Pfund said with a chuckle. “We'll see if anything develops.'' Pfund has not been in the NBA since resigning from the Heat in 2008 after 13 seasons, one of which included the 2006 NBA Championship. On Sunday, he was in Europe, where he has been conducting basketball camps. “I'm in Europe, but I heard the news, and I felt bad for Rich,'' Pfund said. “But other than that, I haven't put that much thought into it.'' Pfund and Danny Ferry were finalists for the job last summer before Cho emerged as a darkhorse. Ferry received two interviews, including one in Seattle with owner Paul Allen, while Pfund interviewed in Portland with Blazers president Larry Miller and head coach Nate McMillan. He said the unexpected nature of Cho's firing doesn't diminish the appeal of the Blazers general manager job. “Obviously, I would probably try to do a little research to find out what happened there,'' Pfund said. “But just like my own situation in Miami, there's always a lot of things that lead to a person moving on, or a team deciding to move on. I found that spending time to try and figure out or view a situation from a negative nature is not productive. I tend to work more from the positive side of things.'' Pfund, 59, said his interview with the Blazers was broad and dealt mostly in generalities. “It was more of a get-to-know you interview,'' Pfund said. “I talked to Larry, Nate, saw the facilities. We talked general concepts, how to get a team to advance in the playoffs, how to use the draft and free agency. We didn't talk much specifically.'' The Blazers have yet to set the criteria for the vacant position, as Miller awaits a meeting with owner Paul Allen, who has been out of the country. Whether the Blazers go for a young, up-and-comer like Cho, or target an experienced veteran like Pfund remains to be seen. The only certainty is that Miller says the Blazers will take their time. In the meantime, Chad Buchanan, the team's director of college scouting, will act as interim general manager. Known as a personable and ego-less general manager, Pfund was part of the Heat executive team that acquired Shaquille O’Neal, Gary Payton, Antoine Walker, Alonzo Mourning, and Jason Williams. He also drafted Dwyane Wade and Michael Beasley and identified unheralded talents in Udonis Haslem and Bruce Bowen. “But I don't know what they want,'' Pfund said. “It sounds like they have a couple capable young guys, so I don't know if they are looking for a Randy Pfund kind of guy. But as I said before, there's only a certain number of jobs that would interest me.'' One of which is Portland. --Jason Quick http://www.oregonlive.com/blazers/index.ssf/2011/05/trail_blazers_general_manager.html
He was a lot more qualified than Cho was in the first place. I think that's why he didn't get the job in the first place. A more alarming issue is Nate was interviewing him? What the fuck is a coach interviewing a GM for? This organization is a clusterfuck
I liked how Miller and Nate were talking about "how to get a team to advance in the playoffs"...with Pfund's championship ring and Miller and Nate's record, that must've been a fun question.
Wow. Randy Pfund is the NBA equivalent of sloppy seconds. I guess this is what it's come to for our front office.
I don't think that's alarming. If I was interviewing for a management job, I would want to meet the people who would report to me. Especially if I thought I might not have carte blanche to fire them at my whim. You can read it as McMillan interviewing Pfund, but the reality might be the opposite. barfo
I would hope that everybody is in on the interview...just to make sure "we all get along" and don't have the chemistry issues they had with Cho. I would be okay with Pfund. At least he has a championship on his resume.
Being considered by the Blazers as less desirable than the guy they just fired sort of puts his chances at getting the job now pretty low. Whomever they hire will just be an errand boy like Cho was, a seat-filler until Nate moves into the job in the next year or 2.
As much as fans don't like the way ownership deals with management or GM positions, the truth is there will be many people interested in a GM position with the Blazers. Sounds like Pfund never made it past a screening interview last time, so I doubt the Blazers have much interest in him. I don't think it makes sense even bringing in a GM until after the draft.
The Blazers missed out on a lot of good candidates when they hired Nash. Wallace and Hammond and Stefanski all passed on the opportunity, and it was frustrating at the time. At the time, though, it appeared that the Blazers were going to be doing a tear-down... and it made sense that few GMs would want to do that (be blamed with missing the playoffs for the first time in forever, etc.). Now, though? I can't see it as a more appealing spot, given the way Pritchard and Cho fell out of favor so fast. Yes, there will be individuals interested in the Blazers' GM job, but it will be retreads or second-tier young candidates, rather than top-quality guys. *sigh* Ed O.
