Rich Cho named new Portland GM

hello? is anyone here?

I think i just travelled back in time

[deleted for douche baggery]

Him leaving should not be underestimated. A tough loss. Him and Presti were doing everything together. I was shocked after reading this. It had to be expected somehow, but still...I was hoping he might stay. Let's hope the Thunder can keep their ways up without him.

A major steal for Portland. Let's hope he doesn't do too good a job for them. :)

I think Cho will not be so easily bamboozled by Presti like other GMs have been in the past.

I also think Portland really wanted Presti, but couldn't get him, so they took his right-hand man instead.

Portland seems intent on making the teams in our division weaker, whether it be trying to steal Paul Milsap (last year) and Wes Matthews (by front-loading their contracts so Utah would have trouble matching), or now by taking our assistant GM. I actually think it's a pretty good strategy on their part. Not only do gain a nice piece, you also make a division rival weaker.

@Greg
Works both ways, Sam knows how Rich works as well. And he has a couple of years on him as GM.

Daniel :
Cho is now in our division with a working knowledge of how we operate. Better yet, he has a working knowledge of how Presti operates. This could be a problem.

Something that hasn't been discussed much. I wonder how much impact this will have..

Damn, other teams keep taking our people. First Ron Adams, now Rich Cho. I don't like this.

Cho is now in our division with a working knowledge of how we operate. Better yet, he has a working knowledge of how Presti operates. This could be a problem.

The biggest difference between the Thunder and Blazers is Kevin Durant. Brandon Roy is good, but he's not Kevin Durant. Depending upon Roy's injuries, Westbrook may even become as good as Roy down the line. Not that I anticipate that, but it wouldn't shock me.

By comparison do the Thunder just need "to develop" or do they need a piece or two as well?

"It's probably not a championship-contender right now," said Cho, who was introduced Monday as the ninth general manager in Trail Blazers history. "It's probably one or two pieces away."

Not sure how Blazer fans will react to that.
Is it proper humility or something of an excuse? Will have to roll it around some more.

What are they missing? They are lacking a long-term clearcut PG but right now they have Miller.

They lack a small forward scorer but they gave up on several recently (Outlaw, Webster and Gomes.)

They lack a dominant interior scorer but almost everyone lacks that.

What will they prioritize getting and what will they give up to get it?

They had a better 3 pt game in 08-09. Do they prioritize that? They were really lacking in defensive rebounding this season and were only average the previous season. Weak on assists, weak on steals.

Yeah I guess they have stuff to do.

I hear Pritchard is available...and we just had a job opening...

He will soon have tough decisions w/respect to Oden.

I mistakenly put this in the other thread so I will just paste here:

It’s probably a good move for Cho; he’s a northwest guy and has a relationship with McMillan already.
I think Presti has been in the game long enough with San Antonio and now the Thunder that he has excellent connections and can replace Cho from within a group of people he knows. He still has Troy Weaver as assistant GM whom he plucked from Utah, and there are a slew of other support people in the organization. The bad part is that Cho is considered our “capologist”, and he was probably instrumental in some of the tricky moves that Presti pulled off (like the trade exception for Rashard Lewis that was used to get Kurt Thomas that was later swapped for two first round picks)and how cap holds and stuff affect the bottom line, but on the other hand, I suspect that Presti is extremely cerebral and that he is somewhat of a capologist himself. He seems very brainy.
Anyway, all the best for Cho. He was a good enough guy that he worked for three GM’s, Wally Walker, Rick Sund and Presti and they all loved him apparently.

Congrats Cho for going to a team with a great roster! Maybe even slightly better that OKC's if Oden is able to stay healthy ... if everyone can stay healthy for that matter. Miss you here in OKC!

Good for Rich. I hope it works out well for him.

I wonder if we will bring in someone new to replace his position, or if we will promote internally? I also wonder if the organization will continue to prioritize sabermetrics like Cho did?

...well, better Portland gets Cho than Presti

The only reason KP was 'ran out of town' was because of his 'weasel' of an agent, Warren Legarie. Pritchard chose not to part ways with him and thus got canned.

Very deserved and congratulations to Rich...though this is yet another stinging reminder of the signs of success that you don't enjoy seeing when your franchise is successful.