As the Sixers attempt to find a resolution for James Harden’s discontent this fall, they will have assistance from a well-known executive looking to reboot his NBA career.
Neil Olshey — former President of Basketball Operations for the Portland Trailblazers and General Manager of the Clippers — has been hired as a consultant to the Sixers’ basketball operations staff, a team spokesperson told PHLY. His term as a consultant is open-ended, and he will report to Sixers president Daryl Morey and GM Elton Brand during his time with the team.
“I am grateful to Daryl and Elton for this opportunity to consult for a storied franchise like the 76ers,” Olshey said in a statement. “I’m thrilled to support a strong front office and contribute to the overall success of the team in any way I can.”
Olshey first joined the team in early June of this year, consulting with Philadelphia through the draft and free agency periods. He is expected to continue operating out of the Pacific Northwest. With his background in talent evaluation, Olshey will provide scouting for the Sixers that will be focused on the college level, though that could evolve over time or change based on team needs.
Jumping from soap opera acting into basketball around the turn of the century — the rare All My Children to front office pipeline — Olshey worked his way up the ladder, moving from high school hoops to independent player development and eventually an NBA gig with the Clippers.
Olshey worked several different jobs for L.A. before jumping ship to Portland for a run as GM and POBO from 2012-2021, where his front office selected several noteworthy players with first-round picks, headlined by future Hall of Famer Damian Lillard1, C.J. McCollum2, and Anfernee Simons. The Blazers were also able to find some NBA contributors in round two, including Will Barton and Gary Trent Jr., and the franchise appeared in eight consecutive postseasons from 2013-2021.
Unfortunately, the Blazers were unable to put together a team with real title equity during Lillard’s time in Portland, failing to capitalize on Lillard’s run of individual brilliance. Portland’s first-round draftees were somewhat uninspiring outside of that group, and other picks were moved for “win-now” vets who didn’t leave a lasting impact. While Olshey was able to find talent in the back half of the draft, keeping them was another story. Barton, for example, had his best years as a member of the Nuggets after being traded, and second-round steal Pat Connaughton went on to play a more prominent role for the Milwaukee Bucks.
The Sixers believe his Portland tenure features numerous examples of how he can provide value to the franchise, and as a consultant, it’s fair to say his history of talent identification looms larger than any other factor. But his time running the Blazers ended in unceremonious fashion, raising questions about his fitness for a leadership position in an NBA front office.
Olshey was hit with a barrage of allegations regarding his workplace management and relationships in November 2021, when he was put under investigation for what was characterized initially as, “workplace misconduct.” About a month after that investigation began, the findings were summarized as follows by The Athletic:
Dozens of coaches, front office members and team staffers were interviewed as part of the probe — Blazers players were given an opportunity to speak with investigators but all of them declined. The firm concluded Olshey often confronted staffers and cursed toward them, sources said. According to individuals with knowledge of the probe, Olshey allegedly made an inappropriate comment toward a female staff member, which was cited during the investigation.
A Blazers spokesperson told The Athletic: “Out of consideration for the privacy of the people impacted by this investigation, we don’t have any additional comment at this time.”
Sam Amick, The Athletic
These conclusions, combined with Portland’s stasis on the floor, led to his exit in December 2021. His departure is said to have been resolved to the mutual satisfaction of the team and Olshey.
On their end, the Sixers are aware of the circumstances surrounding Olshey’s departure from the Blazers, with a team source saying they felt comfortable moving forward with Olshey in the consultant role. Their hope has been buoyed by what Olshey has done with his time away from a front office gig, which included extensive executive coaching, and early reviews have been positive for his help navigating the offseason.
His relationships with Daryl Morey and Sixers GM Elton Brand didn’t hurt, either. Brand played seven years with the Clippers that overlapped with Olshey, as Olshey moved from an assistant coach role to a front office position during Brand’s time there. And there was plenty of familiarity between Morey and Olshey from their days as competing executives, with Morey endorsing Olshey in a statement provided to PHLY.
“I’ve had a strong working relationship with Neil for nearly two decades,” Daryl Morey said. “I have always admired his approach to talent evaluation and think he’s been one of the very best in that area. I’m happy he’s consulting for our group. He’s already proven to be a valuable resource.”
As a consultant working for the power players in the front office, Olshey is positioned to offer some wisdom in the talent evaluation process without being thrust back into a leadership position, a soft reintegration after the rocky end in Portland.
The Sixers have gone through some big changes in the scouting department over the last couple of years, most notably when longtime draft guru Vince Rozman took a VP job with the Thunder last summer. An experienced evaluator like Olshey should bring value to the Sixers as they try to sustain the program without owning any premium picks. If he finds even one diamond in the rough for Philly before moving on, keeping him on retainer will have been worth it for the Sixers, who need to maximize every resource they have to improve the roster around Joel Embiid.
For Olshey, the appeal is obvious. This opportunity gives him a chance to get back in the NBA game and work for a team lingering outside the top group of contenders. If Olshey can help the Sixers do what the Blazers were never able to, it will give his profile a boost as he looks to get back in the mix for top NBA jobs down the road. Having spent some time away, Olshey now has a chance to prove he learned from his missteps as an executive and a leader.
Whether the partnership produces anything of note remains to be seen. But with Philadelphia managing another nasty standoff between a star player and the organization, it won’t hurt Morey and Brand to have a friendly voice with a lot of management experience one phone call away.
- Olshey joined the Blazers shortly before the 2012 draft, and dissenters will point out that most organizational scouting work was done prior to his arrival. ↩︎
- Insiders in Portland have insisted that Olshey was too reluctant to entertain McCollum trades to improve the team around Lillard because Olshey viewed McCollum as his big find after coming in late for the Lillard draft. Whether that’s actually true is up for you to decide — Lillard thanked Olshey by name in his goodbye letter to Portland that he published in late September. ↩︎
