Former Portland Trailblazers General Manager Kevin Prtichard will interview for the same job with the suddenly 'sexy' New Jersey Nets according to David Aldridge. Recently fired by the Blazers despite architecting a team that had risen to perennial playoff contender out West, Pritchard would be a fantastic hire for new owner, Russian billionaire playboy Mikhail Prokhorov.
Aldridge had this to say about Pritchard's accomplishments in Portland:
Other than the deep pockets of owner Paul Allen, it's hard to find anyone or anything else who had more to do with Portland's renaissance from its "Jail Blazers" days than Pritchard. He drafted forward LaMarcus Aldridge and traded for All-Star guard Brandon Roy on Draft night in 2006, acquired guard Rudy Fernandez and forward Nicolas Batum in Draft day trades, signed free agent guard Andre Miller last summer and picked up center Marcus Camby in a trade last season after the Blazers lost both Greg Oden and Joel Pryzbilla to season-ending injuries.
The Nets are believed to be going through a list of multiple candidates to replace Kiki Vandeweghe, who wasn't retained as GM following the Nets disastrous season a year ago. If Pritchard's interested, then I have a hard time seeing how Prokhorov doesn't give him the nod. Stay tuned.