The Portland Trail Blazers’ offseason of change continued Friday afternoon.
It continues to be an offseason of change for the Portland Trail Blazers. Not only are they conducting a large-scale head coaching search and pondering options on how to push this roster to the next level, but members of the front office are also in shuffle. This is a tricky situation for new ownership to manage, but that’s part of the business of the NBA.
On Friday afternoon, it was announced that Mike Schmitz, the Blazers’ assistant GM last season, is joining the Dallas Mavericks alongside Masai Ujiri, who was recently hired by Dallas.
This is a big deal for the Blazers, especially in the world of scouting, prospects and the NBA Draft, because Schmitz was originally brought into Portland because of his eye for talent. He built DraftExpress and was widely considered one of the best evaluators of talent in the world before getting hired by an NBA team at a very high rank because of it.
So, if nothing else, this will be a big blow to the Portland scouting department, especially for a team that needs to continue hitting on draft picks as it incrementally improves.
The Blazers will now lean on other members of the staff and likely bring in others to replace Schmitz. And although Portland is looking to push forward this upcoming season and be better, Friday was a negative step backward, losing someone as talented as Schmitz.
Regardless, this franchise is still headed in the right direction, and new majority owner Tom Dundon appears eager to expedite the competitiveness of this roster. The next few months will be pivotal for Portland.