FanShot

Kiki Vandeweghe In Play For Blazers

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Kiki Vandeweghe: The name has been bouncing around the periphery of the Blazers' GM search for awhile. Dwight Jaynes floated it all the way back on June 7th and then repeated it last week. Jason Quick now has official word that Vandeweghe is the third candidate being considered. Vandeweghe is no stranger to dirt, power struggles or public lashings. Back in February, the New York Post's Peter Vecsey wrote that Vandeweghe, serving as GM and interim coach of the New Jersey Nets, 1) lacked the respect of his players and 2) allegedly hatched a plan with assistant coach Del Harris and agent Warren LeGarie behind the back of President Rod Thorn, in which Harris would take over the reigns as coach so that Vandeweghe could resume his role as full-time GM. While the details and specifics of the back room drama were questioned and debated (Vandeweghe denied it), from that point forward Vandeweghe's days were numbered, according to Nets Are Scorching. Of course, Vandeweghe was just "hanging around the Nets offices" until his contract ran out in June, a dead man walking for more than a month after the decision was made not to retain him. Vecsey later wrote that LeGarie was behind Vandeweghe's earlier ouster in Denver as well. Remarkably, in an April 2010 poll on NJ.com, on the heels of a historically bad season, Vandeweghe pulled almost as many "stay" votes as "go" votes. In a late-breaking turn, David Aldridge reports that Kevin Pritchard is set to interview with the New Jersey Nets. Imagine the reaction if someone proposed a "Vandeweghe for Pritchard straight up" trade last fall. -- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter