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Hersey Hawkins named Director of Player Development for the Portland Trailblazers

Da Coach

Da Coach

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Happy to call Hawk a friend..

Portland got a good guy- and if anybody can straighten the JailBlazers out- Hawk can!
 
One thing many people may not know about Portland is that their VP of Basketball Operations is a Peorian (Notre Dame HS graduate, I believe). Tom Penn worked as an attorney and sports agent in the mid-late 1990's and represented around 25 professional players overseas (including Bayo Akinkunle and JJ Anderson). He even was spotlighted in a 1999 FoxSports 2-hour documentry called "Over There" about a team of American players traveling overseas looking for a team to sign them (I still have it on VHS!). Tom was originally hired by Dick Versace in Vacouver/Memphis as a lower level assistant GM. He took the job in Portland about 3 years ago and is now considered one foremost experts on the NBA salary cap.

Tom is doing so well that he was a top candidate for the Timberwolves GM job with another NBA team this past year, but turned it down because it wasn't the right situation.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4175419

Portland offered him the promotion to VP of Bball Ops when he turned the job down. Tom will almost surely be a GM within the next year or two. It will be great to have Peorians as a manager in the MLB and a GM in the NBA someday soon!
 
Darn it, I was hoping he would be the new Bradley AD. Couldn't be happier for the Hawk. A class act and a great guy who I'm proud to call a friend.
GO TRAILBLAZERS.
 
Chico said:
Darn it, I was hoping he would be the new Bradley AD. Couldn't be happier for the Hawk. A class act and a great guy who I'm proud to call a friend.
GO TRAILBLAZERS.
Click to expand...


Kevin Bacon....6 degrees of seperation.

I Know the Hawk but not personally so I can't call him a "friend"...but I DO know Chico and am proud to call HIM a friend so......:)
 
Does anyone know how much mileage in recruiting, if any, BU gets from their NBA connections with HH, JL, POB, and Dick Versace?

I would think being introduced to HH, DV, or POB would be pretty impressive to potential recruits who covet future careers in the NBA or NBA D-League and would benefit from exposure to these guys.
 
AZ BU Fan said:
Does anyone know how much mileage in recruiting, if any, BU gets from their NBA connections with HH, JL, POB, and Dick Versace?

I would think being introduced to HH, DV, or POB would be pretty impressive to potential recruits who covet future careers in the NBA or NBA D-League and would benefit from exposure to these guys.
Click to expand...

I would hope some.

All Deron Williams does is call a recruit and he has Illinois on his list.
 
AZ BU Fan said:
I would think being introduced to HH, DV, or POB would be pretty impressive to potential recruits who covet future careers in the NBA or NBA D-League and would benefit from exposure to these guys.
Click to expand...

Maybe. Maybe not. I doubt many high school kids even know who these guys are, though.
 
PTownHawkeye said:
One thing many people may not know about Portland is that their VP of Basketball Operations is a Peorian (Notre Dame HS graduate, I believe). Tom Penn worked as an attorney and sports agent in the mid-late 1990's and represented around 25 professional players overseas (including Bayo Akinkunle and JJ Anderson). He even was spotlighted in a 1999 FoxSports 2-hour documentry called "Over There" about a team of American players traveling overseas looking for a team to sign them (I still have it on VHS!). Tom was originally hired by Dick Versace in Vacouver/Memphis as a lower level assistant GM. He took the job in Portland about 3 years ago and is now considered one foremost experts on the NBA salary cap.

Tom is doing so well that he was a top candidate for the Timberwolves GM job with another NBA team this past year, but turned it down because it wasn't the right situation.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4175419

Portland offered him the promotion to VP of Bball Ops when he turned the job down. Tom will almost surely be a GM within the next year or two. It will be great to have Peorians as a manager in the MLB and a GM in the NBA someday soon!
Click to expand...


Peorian Tom Penn is now part owner of the newest Major League Soccer franchise...
the MLS' LAFC...
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2014/10/30/mls-announces-bulky-22-member-ownership-group-for-new-lafc/
 
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