Shams: Blazers opening investigation into Olshey for workplace misconduct

[Moonbeam]

Not a big fan of the snitch society being built.

I'm not a fan of toxic work environments created by bosses whose way of assuming authority comes through bullying. There's a difference between having high standards for your staff and bullying. We don't know yet how much water these accusations hold, but if Olshey is creating an awful environment, he deserves to be called out for it.

[Case2012]

What I would do to see him in a press conference again...

[monopoman]

What I would do to see him in a press conference again...

If he intends on defending himself he might hold a press conference about it. If he just resigns or gets fired based on this stuff we might never see him address it.

[Case2012]

I highly doubt he'll address it publicly, given his loathsome distaste for journalists. It would be incredibly entertaining watching him field questions about his attitude though, his reactions would be priceless.

[soobias]

are they investigating the 2016 contracts ?

[Matt800]

Not a big fan of the snitch society being built.

I'm not a fan of toxic work environments created by bosses whose way of assuming authority comes through bullying. There's a difference between having high standards for your staff and bullying. We don't know yet how much water these accusations hold, but if Olshey is creating an awful environment, he deserves to be called out for it.

Yeah it is one thing to lie and slander someone. It is another to tell the truth about things they have done. It might have been better to report on it after the investigation, to go with the spirit of innocent until proven guilty. But who knows, maybe the people involved felt it was appropriate to approach this publicly for some reason.

[Dame Lizard]

Not a big fan of the snitch society being built.

I'm not a fan of toxic work environments created by bosses whose way of assuming authority comes through bullying. There's a difference between having high standards for your staff and bullying. We don't know yet how much water these accusations hold, but if Olshey is creating an awful environment, he deserves to be called out for it.

Preach it. 100% agree.

[Wizenheimer]

Yeah it is one thing to lie and slander someone. It is another to tell the truth about things they have done. It might have been better to report on it after the investigation, to go with the spirit of innocent until proven guilty. But who knows, maybe the people involved felt it was appropriate to approach this publicly for some reason.

problem is there will not be any trial with rules of evidence. There is unlikely to be video, and probably not emails. It will just be witness statements, and if you read the rather vague reports, it seems there are a lot of employees, past and current, alleging similar experiences. It may be a case of he-he-she-he-she-he-he-said/he-said. Enough weight on that first side of the scale might overwhelm the other side

besides all that, my cynical side is whispering that this investigation might be an attempt by the Vulcans to fire Olshey 'with cause' so they can terminate the balance of his contract

maybe that's not giving the Vulcans enough credit for good faith, but they haven't exactly been on the side of angels any time in the past

[PDXKnight]

Yeah it is one thing to lie and slander someone. It is another to tell the truth about things they have done. It might have been better to report on it after the investigation, to go with the spirit of innocent until proven guilty. But who knows, maybe the people involved felt it was appropriate to approach this publicly for some reason.

problem is there will not be any trial with rules of evidence. There is unlikely to be video, and probably not emails. It will just be witness statements, and if you read the rather vague reports, it seems there are a lot of employees, past and current, alleging similar experiences. It may be a case of he-he-she-he-she-he-he-said/he-said. Enough weight on that first side of the scale might overwhelm the other side

besides all that, my cynical side is whispering that this investigation might be an attempt by the Vulcans to fire Olshey 'with cause' so they can terminate the balance of his contract

maybe that's not giving the Vulcans enough credit for good faith, but they haven't exactly been on the side of angels any time in the past

It’s ironic, for how much money the vulcans operate with they do indeed seem petty enough to try to get out of a likely minuscule (to an nba franchise) 15 million or so

[Wizenheimer]

It’s ironic, for how much money the vulcans operate with they do indeed seem petty enough to try to get out of a likely minuscule (to an nba franchise) 15 million or so

who knows the motivations for the investigation

again, my cynical side it's possible the Vulcans want Oshey gone for some reason and are ticked-off that Olshey essentially gave himself an extension

[Tim Lehrbach]

It was understood that Olshey was a jerk from the first day he walked in the door. Being a jerk isn't against the law, but protecting a bully or harasser exposes an organization to possible civil penalties. My cynical side says the Blazers are concerned about their liability.

[Wizenheimer]

my cynical side it's possible the Vulcans want Oshey gone for some reason and are ticked-off that Olshey essentially gave himself an extension

My cynical side says the Blazers are concerned about their liability.

do two cynical sides make a whole?....or a hole?

[monopoman]

It was understood that Olshey was a jerk from the first day he walked in the door. Being a jerk isn't against the law, but protecting a bully or harasser exposes an organization to possible civil penalties. My cynical side says the Blazers are concerned about their liability.

It is kind of odd that bullying seems to be the last thing that doesn't really get a guy immediately kicked out of a corporation. If he starts throwing around racial slurs or hitting on aggressively every female within 5 feet of him that would get him on his ass quick. But being a total ass hat and belittling people is completely allowed and many organizations don't do jack **** about it.

The one exception seems to be schools where bullying is being put under heavy scrutiny and schools are doing more to combat it now than ever before.

[Moonbeam]

Has anybody involved with the Blazers come out publicly in support of Olshey?

[Soulyss]

Not a big fan of the snitch society being built.

I'm not a fan of toxic work environments created by bosses whose way of assuming authority comes through bullying. There's a difference between having high standards for your staff and bullying. We don't know yet how much water these accusations hold, but if Olshey is creating an awful environment, he deserves to be called out for it.

Well said Moonbeam. As a leader of a relatively large group of people, I'll simply state that if the behavior that is being discussed is true, Olshey should be fired. That sort of ahem.. "Leadership Style" is dead/dying. It puts corporations at risk for litigation, drives productive talent out of the team, and gives an employee a bad reputation that can stick well beyond the problem being remediated. This is doubly true for a business as visible and public as the Blazers.

Have no doubt, there will be a set of people loyal to Olshey who will come out after saying it was unjustified, etc.. Every time I've seen someone get punted for this sort of behavior it happens. Don't buy it. If it's as toxic as it sounds he's lost the right to lead that org.

I have been one of the least "Fire Olshey" people on this board, but if even HALF of what is being alleged is true then this should end up being a pretty easy decision.

[Soulyss]

Has anybody involved with the Blazers come out publicly in support of Olshey?

No one is going to touch this publicly until well after the decision is made, even Billips:

“Obviously, all I know is what everybody read, what everybody else knows from what they read about the report, the investigation. That’s all I know. There’s nothing else that I can really say more about that.”

He's not laying his first HC job on the line with a public endorsement.

[Soulyss]

It was understood that Olshey was a jerk from the first day he walked in the door. Being a jerk isn't against the law, but protecting a bully or harasser exposes an organization to possible civil penalties. My cynical side says the Blazers are concerned about their liability.

Tim, You are spot on. They are concerned about their liability. They likely have multiple, credible, HR complaints... I would guess they probably have a "public" incident of sorts so you can't write it off as two different POV's.

This is simply the wheels of Corporate HR churning, probably with a dose of convenient timing given Olshey's performance issues which haven't been quite fireable, but haven't been great either.

[Blazinaway]

for me he can't be gone soon enough

[Wizenheimer]

"The investigation into Portland Trail Blazers president of basketball operations and general manager Neil Olshey has been extended, league sources told Yahoo Sports.

Previously expected to wrap up shortly, the investigation could last a few weeks before a ruling on Olshey’s future is determined, sources said

Employees of the practice facility were interviewed on Thursday and Friday.

O’Melveny & Myers — the firm enlisted to investigate the claims — extended its investigation to interviewing individuals outside of personnel at the practice facility and including former and current employees, sources said."

https://sports.yahoo.com/sources-trail-blazers-gm-neil-olshey-investigation-extended-expanded-233635363.html

not sure what that means, but it seems to indicate they found more than they thought they would

might also be a tactic to increase pressure on Olshey to re-sign.

[cynical mode on] I'm more and more convinced this is a battle about the balance of Olshey's contract [/cynical mode off]

[DusterBuster]

Not a big fan of the snitch society being built.

I'm not a fan of toxic work environments created by bosses whose way of assuming authority comes through bullying. There's a difference between having high standards for your staff and bullying. We don't know yet how much water these accusations hold, but if Olshey is creating an awful environment, he deserves to be called out for it.

Well said Moonbeam. As a leader of a relatively large group of people, I'll simply state that if the behavior that is being discussed is true, Olshey should be fired. That sort of ahem.. "Leadership Style" is dead/dying. It puts corporations at risk for litigation, drives productive talent out of the team, and gives an employee a bad reputation that can stick well beyond the problem being remediated. This is doubly true for a business as visible and public as the Blazers.

Have no doubt, there will be a set of people loyal to Olshey who will come out after saying it was unjustified, etc.. Every time I've seen someone get punted for this sort of behavior it happens. Don't buy it. If it's as toxic as it sounds he's lost the right to lead that org.

I have been one of the least "Fire Olshey" people on this board, but if even HALF of what is being alleged is true then this should end up being a pretty easy decision.

Quick had an article about this in the Atlantic and you're pretty much spot on with the quotes he got from former employees who worked with Olshey. Some who are OK with his style of management and his temper and see it as a good thing, others who think it's toxic.

As more and more of information has leaked, it's sounding like there probably hasn't been anything super fireable from what's he's done. He most definitely is a grade A a-hole to work with and that likely can lead to somewhat of a toxic work environment for some people, but it doesn't sound like (from what we know so far) that there's full on harassment or anything happening that would lead to immediate dismissal.

So yeah, hard to see what the investigation is really looking into and why it's apparently been extended. Could be a bit of a pressure campaign to get Olshey to step down because the team just isn't happy with his performance anymore and that his personality is the kind of personality you only put up with if the team is successful, otherwise it's not worth the trouble.