Blazers President Chris McGowan Executes Second Round Of Layoffs

Hours after a dramatic nationally-televised victory over the Miami Heat, Portland Trail Blazers president Chris McGowan executed his second round of layoffs since joining the organization in October on Friday. In a statement to Blazersedge, McGowan said that the layoffs would be the last of his current restructuring plan.

"We concluded our second and final round of staffing restructuring which unfortunately included the elimination of seven positions across our organization," McGowan said in the statement. "These decisions were made because I have determined that we are operating with more staff members than most NBA franchises. Additionally, it has been my goal to restructure the organization by removing layers and creating a more efficient operation.

"This restructuring has accomplished these goals and we are now getting more in line with where we need to be in regards to headcount. We believe that this round of restructuring completes our major realignments, but we remain committed to doing those things necessary for the successful operation of the Trail Blazers."

Back in December, McGowan announced the layoffs of three long-time front office executives and said further layoffs could be coming with those decisions being made by Feb. 15.

That first round of layoffs followed the resignation of former COO Sarah Mensah in November, the resignation of top lawyer, Mike Fennell in October, the resignation of former president Larry Miller in July 2012, and the resignation of Senior VP J.E. Isaac in June 2011.

-- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter