David Aldridge of NBA.com reports that the Portland Trail Blazers will hire none of the candidates whom they have already interviewed for their open GM position and are now targeting veterans GMs, possibly including Dallas Mavericks GM Donnie Nelson.
The Blazers continue to keep their GM search under tight wraps, having told all of the candidates they'd already interviewed over the summer that they were going in another direction and would be looking for executives who'd been in the GM chair for a long time. And the names that many outside of Portland (no one in the 503 is talking, of course) have attached to the job are Utah's Kevin O'Connor and Sacramento's Geoff Petrie. And O'Connor's and Petrie's track records would make them top candidates anywhere.
Last week, though, front-office types began to believe the Blazers might also be doing due diligence on Mavericks GM Donnie Nelson, who helped turn the Mavs from an offense-dominant team that his father, Don, coached to initial success, into a championship team that emphasized defense under coach Rick Carlisle.
Portland president Larry Miller declined comment this weekend, but there's no concrete evidence that the Blazers have asked for permission to speak with Nelson.
The Mavericks eliminated the Blazers in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs and went on to win the 2011 NBA Finals. They are owned by billionaire Mark Cuban.
-- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter