September 23, 2004

The Portland Trail Blazers announced today that they have set their scouting staff for the 2004-05 season.

Joining the Trail Blazers basketball operations department are John Gabriel (NBA scout), Jason Filippi (International scout) Chad Buchanan (Domestic scout), Michael Born (Domestic scout) and Pat Zipfel (Western Conference advance scout ). Jim Sleeper (Eastern Conference advance scout) begins his second year with the Trail Blazers. Tates Locke, who has served as a Trail Blazer scout for several seasons, has been promoted to Special Assistant to the General Manager while Brad Weinrich, formerly the Scouting Services Coordinator, was named Basketball Operations Manager.

“We realigned our scouting department this off-season,” said Trail Blazers Director of Player Personnel Kevin Pritchard. “The most important thing was to add some young, hungry scouts (Filippi, Buchanan and Born) that will pair with two very experienced and knowledgeable basketball veterans in John Gabriel and Tates Locke. Each member of the scouting staff brings something differ- ent to the Trail Blazers and this very diverse staff will be extremely aggressive in their pursuit of the very best basketball talent in the world.”


TRAIL BLAZERS SCOUTING STAFF BIOS

JOHN GABRIEL John was with the Orlando Magic from the team’s inception in 1989 until this summer…Served most recently as a team adviser and regional scout for the Magic…Became Orlando’s general manager in 1996 and was named NBA Executive of the Year in 2000…Signed free agent superstars, Tracy McGrady and Grant Hill in 2001…was responsible for building the Magic roster that went to the 1995 NBA Finals, when the organization had only been in existence in the NBA for six years...Led Orlando to a berth in the NBA Playoffs for three straight seasons (2001, 2002, 2003)...Held several positions with the Magic including vice president of basketball oper- ations, director of player personnel, director of scouting and assistant coach...Has spent countless hours on the road, evaluating prospects in the NBA, minor leagues, college, and international levels over the past 15 years.

JASON FILIPPI
After a brief stint as Director of Media Relations for Progresso Castelmaggiore Basketball Club in Italy (2nd Division), he created a European Scouting Service in 1999 specifically designed for NBA teams along with his brother Adam (who also now scouts in the NBA)…Has consulted for 14 different NBA teams as well as several top European teams over the last five years... Has scouted games in more than 20 different European countries and has attended major basketball events in the USA, South America, Africa and Japan…Worked as a basketball journalist and did color commentary for a local TV station in Bologna covering both of cities’ pro basketball teams…Was co- host of the popular basketball show “Basket Time” on regional Italian TV from 1995 through 1997…Worked as a sports agent from 1997 through 1999 continuing to develop his worldwide basketball network of contacts.

MICHAEL BORN
Michael served two seasons as assistant coach of the NBDL’s Huntsville Flight…Prior to joining the Flight, he worked as an associate head coach for the ABA Champion Kansas City Knights during the 2001-02 season in which the squad tallied a 34-5 mark…Was Head Coach/Director of Player Personnel of the IBA’s Des Moines Dragons in 2000-01, leading the Dragons to a 34-15 record and a spot in the league championship game…From 1997 to 2000, he served as the Dragon’s Head Assistant Coach/Director of Player Personnel helping Des Moines to back-to-back Eastern Conference Finals appearances and an IBA Championship…Spent two seasons as the head assistant basket- ball coach at Grand View College in Des Moines and served as the camp director for Michael Born Basketball Camps for the past 13 years.

CHAD BUCHANAN
Chad was an assistant at Drake University under Dr. Tom Davis in 2003-04…Was assistant coach/director of player personnel for the ABA’s Kansas City Knights in 2002-03…Spent five seasons as an assistant coach at Simpson College (IA), his alma mater where he was a two-sport athlete (basketball and baseball)...Was a graduate assistant under Davis at Iowa from 1995-97.

PAT ZIPFEL
Pat spent the 2003-04 season as head coach of the ABA's Jersey Squires...Led the Squires into the ABA quarterfinals where they were defeated by the Kansas City Knights...Spent three seasons as an advance scout for the L.A. Clippers…Was head basketball coach and athletic director at Centenary College (NJ) ...Also held coaching positions at Bucks County Community College (PA) and at The Citadel.