Portland Trail Blazers: Neil Olshey’s contract extension shows belief in his plan

Portland Trail Blazers general manager Neil Olshey has agreed to a contract extension through 2021. The deal is a vote of confidence in Olshey’s plan to build a Western Conference contender.

ESPN‘s Adrian Wojnarowski reported on Tuesday that the Portland Trail Blazers and general manager Neil Olshey have agreed to a contract extension. Olshey’s contract was going to expire after the 2017-18 season. Instead, the Blazers will pick up his two option years (2018-19 and 2019-20) then tack on another season. Olshey is now under contract through the 2020-21 season.

I stated earlier in the offseason that Olshey seemed like a man that knew what he wanted to do. At his April exit interview, he spoke for nearly an hour about the team and what he envisions for their future.

It seems that team owner Paul Allen saw the same thing. In May, the Blazers denied permission to the Atlanta Hawks to speak with Olshey about filling their vacant GM position. Former Golden State Warriors assistant GM Travis Schlenk ended up getting the job.

Olshey has been the Blazers GM since 2012 after two seasons with the Los Angeles Clippers. He was responsible for drafting the dynamic backcourt duo of Damian Lillard (his first pick as GM) and C.J. McCollum. The Blazers have a 223-187 record under Olshey and are currently on a four-year playoff streak.

With his new contract, Olshey will be able to see out the rest of the Lillard and McCollum era. Both players are also under contract through 2020-21.

Despite the new deal, Olshey has his work cut out for him. The conference around him has gotten more competitive, but he did not have the money to make a major signing. The contracts of Lillard, McCollum, Evan Turner, Maurice Harkless and Meyers Leonard took up too much of the team’s cap space.

Instead, Olshey spent the summer focused on drafting and shedding salary. The Trail Blazers converted three first round draft picks into two selections. Portland picked Caleb Swanigan and Zach Collins, two big men with major upside. The team also waived Festus Ezeli and traded away Allen Crabbe and Tim Quarterman to clear salary.

Now, about a month out from training camp, the Blazers have one of the NBA’s best backcourts and a potential cornerstone center in Jusuf Nurkic. These three alone could be enough to help the Blazers make the playoffs for a fifth consecutive season.

But there are still some challenges ahead. The Blazers have a shaky bench and a logjam at power forward. With this contract extension, Neil Olshey has the piece of mind to figure out real solutions to these problems.

Olshey stated in his exit interview that he joined the Blazers because the organization saw “profit as a byproduct of winning.” He particularly appreciates that Allen allows him to take chances. Olshey is likely afforded that latitude because he seems to have an idea of the culture he wants to develop, even if his ideas don’t always work out.

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Neil Olshey’s contract extension is a vote of confidence from the Portland Trail Blazers organization. With four consecutive playoff appearances and three cornerstone players under contract, Paul Allen feels that things are trending up. We’ll find out if the new contract is money well spent when basketball tips off again this fall.