Blazers Assistant GM To Coach G League’s Rip City Remix

Portland Trail Blazers assistant general manager Sergi Oliva will spend the G League season as head coach of the Rip City Remix, per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

Olivia has been assistant GM with the Blazers since 2022-23. He will return to that role following the G League season, Wojnarowski reported.

The Remix are entering their second season of existence. They went 18-16 in their first under former coach Jim Moran.

Prior to joining the Blazers, Olivia served as an assistant coach under Quinn Snyder (now of the Atlanta Hawks) with the Utah Jazz.

Before that, Oliva spent six seasons with the Philadelphia 76ers, including a role as vice president of strategy. 

Per the Blazers media guide: “A native of Gelida, Catalonia, Oliva originally joined the 76ers in 2014 as a Basketball Operations Analyst. He holds multiple degrees from Polytechnic University of Catalonia, including a PhD in Computational Complexity and Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees in Computer Science. Before his work in the NBA, Oliva spent 12 years as a head coach at the youth and senior amateur levels in Catalonia.”

ESPN Sources: The Portland Trail Blazers are hiring assistant GM Sergi Oliva as head coach of franchise’s G League Rip City Remix. Oliva coached under Brett Brown w/ Sixers and Quin Snyder w/ Jazz. He will return to his front office role with Blazers following end of G League…

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 27, 2024

The Blazers are coming off a 21-61 season and are riding a three-year playoff drought. They haven’t gotten out of the first round since 2019, when they advanced to the Western Conference finals.

There’s a sense they could make more moves in the months ahead.

“The Blazers have multiple vets under contract through 2026 who could be enticing elsewhere (Deandre Ayton/Jerami Grant/Robert Williams) and younger players like Shaedon Sharpe and Toumani Camara who also intrigue,” wrote David Aldridge of The Athletic.

“Assuming Scoot Henderson, Anfernee Simons and Donovan Clingan and the 23-year-old Deni Avdija make up Portland’s core going forward, Portland could quickly become a prime seller and load up on future picks and young players.

“For now, though, the Blazers are at the bottom looking up in the Western Conference, and there’s no particular reason to believe they’ll be able to move up. And this is coming from someone who loves Clingan and thinks he can be a big-time player in the league.”