Portland has not asked for permission to speak to Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak about their front office vacancy, team spokesman John Black said before Game 4 on Saturday night.

Kupchak, who has served as a Lakers executive for 25 years, has a multi-season contract with the team.

Nicolas Batum, who will be a restricted free agent this summer, will not delay free agency negotiations to help the Trail Blazers, who hope to spend their cap space prior to re-signing him.

“The first good offer we get, we're going with that,” Batum’s agent, Bouna Ndiaye, said. “We're not waiting for anything.”

The Trail Blazers are expected to have as much as $15-20 million in cap space, while Batum could command as much as $10-11 million per year from another team.

The Blazers have identified an additional two or three general manager candidates.

Jeff Bower and David Morway have already interviewed for the position, while interim GM Chad Buchanan is also still being considered.

“We’ve had a couple of candidates in front of Paul, and the goal is to get a couple of more in front of him in the near future — hopefully in the next couple of weeks,” Larry Miller said. “At that point, there’s a pretty good chance we will be ready to have someone named.”

Portland doesn't have a timeline for reaching a decision.

“It would be great if we could make it happen in the next two weeks,” he says, “but we want to make sure we get the right person. If it takes a little longer, that’s fine.”

One source says the Blazers are having their candidates take a written psychological test to establish leadership qualities.

“I’ll just say it’s pretty extensive,” Miller says. “We try to do as much due diligence as possible.”

The NBPA is asking an arbitrator to clarify free agent Bird rights in how it impacts players through waivers.

The NBA contends that a team that claims a player through waivers loses Bird rights.

If the union is successful in their argument, the Knicks could sign both Jeremy Lin and Steve Novak without using their $5 million midlevel exception.

The case also impacts J.J. Hickson with the Blazers and Chauncey Billups of the Clippers.

The Knicks could re-sign J.R. Smith using their mid-level if the arbitrator rules in the favor of the union.

“I think we feel very strongly about the case,” said Novak’s agent, Mark Bartelstein, adding, “I don’t think the players association would go through the exercise if they didn’t feel strongly about the merits.”

The Blazers' front office traveled to Europe last week to visit former first-round draft picks Joel Freeland and Victor Claver.

Both players expressed a desire to make the leap to the NBA next season.

"We'd really like to bring them both over," Blazers interim general manager Chad Buchanan said. "We're going to be aggressive to get them signed and get them in a Blazers uniform next season. Any deal will have to make sense for Joel, for Victor and for the Blazers and our offseason plans. But if we had a choice, we'd like to get them both signed."

Freeland is one of the top frontcourt players in the Spanish ACB League.

"Joel has put in his time over there and gotten better," Buchanan said. "He's ready for a new challenge. I would definitely say that he's a priority for us."

Freeland has two more seasons left on a five-year deal.

"The NBA is a dream for him," Freeland's agent, Rafa Calvo, said. "That's the top of the mountain for any basketball player. But it's something that has to come at the right time with the right conditions. It's a big jump for my client in all respects. It's not all about money. He has to go to a situation where his basketball can keep growing ... where he's going to have a very important role. He's not going to go to a team to watch games on the bench, where there are three players in front of him."

LaMarcus Aldridge is set to undergo right hip surgery and hopes to return in time to compete for an Olympic roster spot.

Aldridge has yet to notifiy USA basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo of his summer plans.

“In our minds, he's (Aldridge) on our unavailable list,” Colangelo said. “We haven't heard from anybody telling us he's going to try and play. I got to hear from somebody. An agent, a doctor, somebody. As of now, we're going in thinking he's unavailable.”

U.S. training camp is set to begin on July 6.

“We're going to go with healthy players,” Colangelo said. “He (Aldridge) hasn't even had his surgery yet. If he's going to be back in time and plans on playing, I need to know.”

Greg Oden missed his rookie season due to microfracture surgery and didn't have a veteran role model to guide him during his transition to the NBA.

"For starters, Portland isn't a great city to live in if you're a young, African American male with a lot of money," Oden said. "But that's especially true if you don't have anybody to guide you. Since I was hurt the entire season, I was on my own a bunch and didn't have veteran teammates around to help me adapt to the NBA lifestyle."

Oden played 61 games in his second season, showing glimpses of his potential dominance at the center position but not doing so as consistently as he had in high school and college.

Oden also had his cousin from the Air Force move in with him, which led to an issue with alcohol.

"If you know anything about guys in the Air Force," Oden explained, "it's that they drink a ton. My cousin got wrapped up in the NBA lifestyle and threw parties at my house all the time. So I got wrapped up in it too. When I played well, I'd drink to celebrate. And when I played poorly, I'd drink to forget. That second year in Portland I pretty much became an alcoholic."

Oden plans to sit out the entire 12-13 season to rehab his knee to hopefully sign a contract with an NBA team in 2013.

Jeff Bower has been identified as the mystery general manager candidate for the Blazers that met last week with Paul Allen.

Bower was with the Hornets from 1995 until 2010, spending the last five seasons as GM.

Portland will interview David Morway on Wednesday, but a source says Allen will not take part at this time.

Chad Buchanan, interim GM for the Blazers, also remains a candidate.

David Morway will meet with the Blazers on Wednesday in Indianapolis to discuss their general manager vacancy.

Morway is currently the general manager of the Pacers, but Larry Bird has generally had final say on personnel matters.

Paul Allen conducted a face-to-face interview with an unnamed candidate for Portland's general manager vacancy, team president Larry Miller said.

Miller would disclose the name of the candidate.

“I think it went pretty well,’’ Miller said.

The Blazers expect at least three candidates to interview with Allen before a decision is reached.

“I think we have some really viable candidates right now, candidates who seem like they would be a good fit, would bring the kind of experience we are looking for,’’ Miller said. “So I’m optimistic we are making some progress.’’

Miller has personally interviewed Noah Croom and Steve Kerr.