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Cleveland Cavaliers: The Cavs promoted Mike Bratz to director of basketball operations on Tuesday

The Cavs also announced the hiring of Mark Warkentien as the director of player personnel.

Terms of their contracts were not disclosed.

Cavs general manager Jim Paxson says the moves allow the team to improve its talent scouting at the college level, in Europe and in the NBA.

Bratz joined Cleveland in 2000 as a college and minor-league scout. Most recently he was director of player personnel. His 24-year NBA career includes one season playing for the Cavs.

Warkentien spent 10 seasons with the Portland Trail Blazers, where he had several jobs, including director of player personnel, assistant general manager and director of scouting.

Portland Trail Blazers: The Blazers named Kevin Pritchard as their new director of player personnel.

Pritchard, 37, replaces Mark Warkentien, who left the team this summer after nine seasons and accepted a similar job with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Pritchard had been a scout with the San Antonio Spurs since early 2003. Before that, he spent three years with the ABA's Kansas City Knights, where he was the coach, general manager and personnel director.

Trail Blazers general manager John Nash said the team is excited by the hire.

"Kevin brings experience as a former player, both in the NBA and internationally, as a successful minor league coach and as an NBA scout. He is one of the rising young executives in the NBA," Nash said in a statement.

Pritchard played in the NBA for the Golden State Warriors, Boston Celtics, Philadelphia 76ers, Miami Heat and the Washington Bullets. He also played in Spain, Italy and Germany.

He is perhaps best known for his college career at Kansas, where he scored 13 points as the Jayhawks captured the 1988 NCAA championship with an 83-79 win over Oklahoma. He was an All Big-8 selection as a senior.

Los Angeles Lakers: The team signed Nate Johnson, an undrafted free agent from Nebraska.

The 6-foot-2 guard averaged a team-leading 13 points and 4.6 rebounds as a senior with the Cornhuskers last season. He played for the Lakers' summer league team, averaging 9.5 points, 2.2 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.33 steals in six games.

Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press