PORTLAND, Ore. (September 20, 2022) – Today, Portland Trail Blazers general manager Joe Cronin announced the following additions to the basketball operations staff:
Jonah Herscu joins the Trail Blazers as an Assistant Coach after spending the past three seasons with the Sacramento Kings. Herscu began with Sacramento as an advance scout in 2019 before being named an assistant coach in 2021. Prior to the Kings, Herscu spent three seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers as an advance scout and player development assistant (2018-19), and assistant video coordinator (2016-18). He arrives in Portland with 14 seasons of experience in the NBA, NBA G League, and WNBA.
David Adkins has joined the Trail Blazers coaching staff as Director of Player Development, bringing over 29 years of coaching and player development expertise with him to Portland. Adkins spent the 2021-22 season in Los Angeles as a player development coach for the Clippers and the top assistant for the team’s G League affiliate, the Agua Caliente Clippers. Before that, Adkins worked for seven seasons with the Washington Wizards as an assistant coach and director of player development.
Tina Thompson enters her first season as a scout for the Trail Blazers after serving as the head coach of the Virginia Cavaliers women’s basketball team from 2018-2022. Thompson’s storied playing career culminated in her induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2018. She is a four-time WNBA Champion with the Houston Comets, a nine-time WNBA All-Star and an eight-time All-WNBA honoree. Internationally, Thompson earned championships in the Russian National League, EuroLeague and Romanian National League while also earning gold medals with Team USA at the 2004 and 2008 Olympics. As a part of the 25th anniversary of the WNBA in 2021, the USC alum was named to The W25, commemorating the top 25 WNBA players of all time.
Dale Boyd begins in his first season as the Assistant Strength Coach in 2022-23. Boyd spent the 2021-22 season as the assistant strength and conditioning coach and sports scientist for Overtime Elite after previously holding an internship with P3 in Atlanta in 2021. Boyd enjoyed a stint in the NBA G League as the head strength and conditioning coach for the Austin Spurs in 2020-21 and returns to the state of Oregon, where he was the assistant strength and conditioning coach for the Oregon Men’s Basketball program during the 2019-20 season.
Swenge Lomani started with the Trail Blazers in March 2022 as an International Scout. A French native, he grew up playing basketball and played in the minor leagues in France. Lomani became an agent at the age of 21 and spent the next 13 years helping to advise and develop young players on and off the court in both basketball and football.
Jason Luhnow enters his first season as a full-time Assistant Video Coordinator after joining the Trail Blazers as a video intern in January of 2022. Luhnow played basketball at Lake Oswego High School before becoming a standout player at Lewis and Clark College. Post-graduation, Luhnow played for the Woodville Warriors of the National Basketball League One division in Australia.
Nico Mathieu enters the 2022-23 season as an International Scout for the Trail Blazers after most recently serving as a consultant for the San Antonio Spurs since 2018. The French native began his scouting career working independently for several French clubs starting in 2014. In 2017, Mathieu became a scout for Châlons-Reims of the LNB Pro A, the top-tier division of French Basketball and then transitioned to scouting for ASVEL's Academy which produced French Champion U21 (2021 & 2022), French U17 Cup (2022) and French Champion U18 (2022) teams. In 2018, along with consulting for the Spurs, he scouted for JL Bourg, also of the LNB Pro A division in France.
Jacob Mooallem joins the Trail Blazers in his first season as the team’s Analytics Coach. Mooallem spent the past two seasons as an assistant coach for the New Zealand Breakers of the National Basketball League and previously worked as a video scout at DraftExpress, working closely with current Trail Blazers assistant general manager, Mike Schmitz. The West Palm Beach, Fla. native served as head video manager at Indiana University, graduating in 2020.
Katherine Overman enters her first season as a Sr. Data Scientist for Portland with research and development. Overman earned her Ph.D. in Physics at Emory University in 2022, where she did her research modeling animal behavior patterns, specifically with fruit flies. Prior to that, she graduated from Augusta University, with a double major in Math and Physics.
Juanita Samborski is joining the Trail Blazers as a Software Developer with research and development. Samborski has extensive experience as a freelance developer, creating functional, intuitive user interfaces for clients in a variety of fields. She graduated from the University of Washington with a certificate in Full Stack Development, after graduating from Texas Tech University with a Bachelor of Arts.
Ikenna Smart joined the Trail Blazers in January of 2022 as an Assistant Video Coordinator. Smart most recently worked with the Alabama men’s basketball program as a graduate assistant from 2020-2022 where he supported the defensive coordinator and analytics team while assisting with player development. Smart played college basketball for Wake Forest in 2018-2019 as a graduate transfer and earned a master’s degree in Liberal Studies with a concentration in Global Studies. Before transferring to Wake Forest, Smart spent four seasons at University of Buffalo.
Micah Smith joins the team as Assistant Athletic Trainer after most recently serving one season as the head athletic trainer for the Wisconsin Herd of the NBA G League. He is a Certified Athletic Trainer (ATC) in addition to holding credentials as a Corrective Exercise Specialist (CES) and Performance Enhancement Specialist (PES). Smith holds a Master of Science in Health Care Administration from LeTourneau and a Master of Science in Sports Rehabilitation and Sports Psychology from California University of Pennsylvania.
Trevor Smith is joining the team as a Software Engineer and will work with the research and development group in architecting tools and data processes, helping develop our internal systems for supporting workflows and decision-making. Smith is an experienced full-stack developer, having worked in a few roles in multiple fields - latest supporting non-profits at Field Day. He is a graduate of University of Oregon, with additional certifications from immersion software engineering programs.
Taylor Walden joined the Trail Blazers as Manager of Performance Science in March 2022. Walden brings a decade of experience tracking and analyzing performance data to Portland’s health and performance staff. She most recently worked as a Player Health Operations Manager at the NBA’s league office since 2017. Prior to that, Walden spent five years working for the United States Olympic Committee in various sports medicine roles. A native of Southern California, Walden is a graduate of Pace University where she played soccer.