Blazers fire assistant coach over Aldridge reveal
Telling an Indiana television station that LaMarcus Aldridge would be leaving the Trail Blazers has cost a Portland assistant coach his job.
Portland president of basketball operations Neil Olshey told The Oregonian on Saturday that Kim Hughes has been fired for comments made last week.
“We can confirm Mr. Hughes is no longer with the team,” Olshey told the newspaper. “It is our policy to otherwise refrain from commenting on personnel matters.”
Hughes told WTHI of Terre Haute, Indiana, on June 27 that Aldridge wouldn’t be returning to Portland. It wasn’t until Saturday that Aldridge announced that he would be signing with the San Antonio Spurs.
“People don’t realize we just went young,” Hughes said in the interview, which was conducted while he was at a basketball camp held by Trail Blazers center Meyers Leonard. “We didn’t publicize it, but we lost LaMarcus Aldridge. It hasn’t been declared yet, but I’m sure he won’t come back. We will go young.”
The day before Hughes made those comments, Olshey had strongly denied reports that Aldridge was leaving the team, according to The Oregonian.
Hughes had been the Blazers’ big man coach for the past three seasons. He was with the Los Angeles Clippers from 2003 to ’10, including serving as the interim head coach in 2009-10, when he went 8-25. He also played for five seasons in the NBA with the Nets, Nuggets and Cavaliers.
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