Portland general manager Vanja Černivec leaps into the Fire

And then, of course, there’s roster building.

But there may be a snag in general manager Vanja Černivec’s impending first season with the Fire. A new WNBA collective bargaining agreement is looking increasingly shaky as the October deadline looms.

“We don’t know what is going to happen, so there’s a lot of unknowns. For us, I think that it’s best to plan as if the negotiations are going to be done on time. So we’re planning for the expansion draft to go forward, similar to last year in December, and then free agency probably February, but if that doesn’t happen then, we’re just going to have to pivot and be ready for the unknown,” she said.

Černivec comes to the Fire from another start-up, the Golden State Valkyries, where she served as vice president of basketball operations, helping build the team ahead of its first year in the league.

With the Fire, she’ll not only be in charge of building a roster and hiring a coach and a staff, but she’ll also put together the basketball operations department. She said she values analytics, so that will be a focus.

In a coach, Černivec said she’ll look for someone who is going to be a “strong leader with a huge basketball IQ and will empower players to make decisions on their own.”

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At her introductory press conference on Tuesday, Černivec hit all the right notes.

“I’m incredibly excited to join this passionate team that doesn’t shy away from big, big, goals and I’m excited to start building this franchise from the ground up. I’ve learned throughout this process, the interview process as well, that this is not just about basketball, and it’s not just about launching this new franchise, but it’s also about reigniting the fire, connecting with the community here, which is super passionate about not only women’s basketball but women’s sports, building new bridges with our partners and inviting new fans that might have not joined our mission yet.”

Asked what her ideal roster what look like, Černivec said simply: “The one that can win the most games.”

One sign that there were no hard feelings with the Valkyries: Golden State GM Ohemaa Nyanin was in Portland for the press conference.

Černivec, 43, has also worked with the NBA internationally, notably through Basketball without Borders program, and was a scout for the Chicago Bulls from 2020 to 2022. She was also the GM of the London Lions in Europe.

Her appointment was first reported by a local media outlet, the Rose Garden Report, last weekend. The team made it official on Monday and introduced her to the media the next day at the Moda Center, where the Fire will play.

Černivec sat alongside Fire interim President Clare Hamill, who revealed that she might drop the “interim” at some point. She displayed her new Fire tattoo on her forearm.

“I’m definitely in it for the long haul, but I haven’t really had enough time to have a conversation about the word interim, but I think the tattoo kind of says it all,” Hamill said.

Hamill took over when the team’s previous president, Inky Son, abruptly parted ways with the team after only three months on the job. Hamill said the Fire is about “300 percent further along than they were six weeks ago” and is on track.

Hamill said the Fire have secured 13,000 season ticket deposits for next season, when they’ll begin play at the Moda Center.

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