Around 3 p.m. Tuesday, the

during a meet-and-greet with team staff.

The affection did not stop there.

Roughly one hour later, in an introductory news conference at the Rose Garden, Olshey heaped praise on Canales and labeled him the frontrunner to become the Blazers' permanent head coach. Olshey made clear he has put together a short-list of coaching candidates and plans to conduct a search -- but there's no doubt this unnamed list of candidates is swimming upstream.

"If you're asking me to handicap it, I'd say (Canales is) the in-house favorite right now," Olshey said of the Blazers' coaching situation. "Kaleb has set the bar pretty high for anybody else that would want to compete for the coaching job here."

Hiring a coach is not at the top of Olshey's agenda. He was scheduled to fly to Chicago Wednesday morning to meet his new management team at the NBA predraft camp, and then he planned to reach out to other GMs to begin offseason maneuvering. Olshey said he most likely will wait until after the NBA Draft on June 28 to name a new coach, but hopes to have someone in place before the start of free agency on July 1.

There is a host of talented coaching options on the market, ranging from the experienced and once-successful (Jerry Sloan, Stan Van Gundy, Mike D'Antoni) to the up-and-coming (Brian Shaw, Mike Malone) to the recycled (Flip Saunders, Mike Dunleavy). But there is only one Kaleb Canales, and Olshey appears enamored with the 33 year-old's potential.

Canales

when he was fired on March 15 and guided the Blazers to an 8-15 record to conclude the season. Canales led the Blazers to wins at Chicago and Dallas and against Memphis, but the team lost nine of its final 10 and ended with a seven-game losing streak.

But over the final few weeks of the season,

. It's Canales' player-coach relationship and his ability to build trust, more than a win-loss record with a rag-tag roster, that seems to intrigue Olshey.

"I love Kaleb," Olshey said. "I think all you need to know about Kaleb Canales is where he started and where he is today. And when you look at the pop that the organization got on the floor and in the locker room and with the player confidence when he took the reins, that says an awful lot about that guy."

Behind the scenes, Canales has lobbied President Larry Miller hard to get a shot at the permanent job. Team insiders say owner Paul Allen loves Canales' work ethic, upbeat attitude and potential. Olshey's support could be a clincher.

When asked what characteristics he looks for in an NBA coach, Olshey mentioned "passion" and wanting "guys that want to be in the gym ... guys that want to make players better." Asked what style of play he wants the Blazers to feature, he talked about defense, "taking care of the basketball" and showcasing an offense with "creativity" and "flow."

Does Olshey think Canales is the person to deliver all of that? It sure seemed like it on Tuesday.

"I'm not going to say we're not going to open up the search," Olshey said. "From a due diligence standpoint, we owe that to the organization just to see what's out there, see if there's guys that fit into what we're trying to put together. But at the end of the day, I don't see anyone bringing more to the table than Kaleb Canales."

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