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"I was never good enough as a player," said Olshey. "But I always stayed around the game, working camps and working clinics. Then when I moved to Los Angeles, I started working at Artesia High with coach Wayne Marino.

"Things just kept moving along after that. I met Jason when he was in eighth grade, and I worked with him almost every day right through his college career at UCLA. When he was deciding whether or not to go pro after his freshman year, I worked him out to get him ready for the NBA teams to see him. Jason went back to school, but some people noticed what we were doing, and I was referred to (SFX President) Arn Tellem, who hired me to take over the workout for all their basketball clients. During the five or six years we did that, (former Clippers coach and GM) Mike Dunleavy became aware of me, and when he said he was looking for a player development guy for his staff, I jumped at the opportunity."

As proud as he is of his accomplishments, Olshey also is humble when it comes to taking credit for the Clippers' change in organizational philosophy.

"It's really everybody and everything," he said. "It's (owner Donald) Sterling taking money out of his own pocket to build a practice facility that's second to none in the NBA, which changed the perception. We try to get every visiting team to practice here when they play the Lakers, so we can get guys into the building and they can see what's it's like. Chris Paul, Caron Butler and Chauncey Billups have all been (to our facility) before they joined us and they knew what we had here. Having a practice facility like this dispels all the myths (about ownership not wanting to spend money). If someone puts out this kind of money for a place that generates no revenue, you know they're committed. It's important that people know that.

"It's also the commitment to make deals that might be questioned at the time — like trading Baron Davis at the deadline last season, and a few other moves. But when we drafted Blake, it was like getting a Faberge Egg — you do everything you can to take care of it. So, we felt that it was better to get the right type of players around Blake, even if it looked like we were making some questionable moves. We always had a plan, and right now we're executing it. Bringing in Chris, Chauncey, Caron and having DeAndre Jordan and Mo already here with Blake gives us a good team on the floor and in the locker room. But if there hadn't been a noticeable change in the culture, I don't think Chris OKs the deal to come here. It was hard to give up (Eric) Gordon, but we feel Chris is the final element."

"Neil has done a fantastic job ever since he came to our organization," said Clippers president Andy Roeser. He has fantastic knowledge of not only the players in the league today, but of those in the pipeline to get to the NBA. That gives us a great deal of confidence as an organization. He's a hard worker, he knows how to identify the right deal and then go out and get it done.

"He's done a heck of a job putting this team together and we're all very proud of him."

Joe McDonnell, Fox Sports West

bigball123 wrote:Neil should win GMOTY.

mkwest wrote:One thing that I used to wonder is why teams were working out in our facility during the playoffs when they were playing against the Lakers. It turns out that it was free publicity for any upcoming free-agents. I seem to recall that the Jazz held practices there one year, and probably the Hornets last year. It was a savvy move by Olshey. It shows visiting teams/players that times were indeed changing and that the organziation was committed to spending money. I'm not saying that everything hinges on the facility, but Paul and Caron wouldn't have wanted to be here if the team was still practicing at the Spectrum Club in South Bay.