Portland Trail Blazers general manager Joe Cronin on Thursday defended Blazers owner Tom Dundon against reports criticizing the new owner for recent cost-cutting measures and characterizing him as cheap.
Since Dundon took the reins of the franchise on March 31, reports and speculation have flooded in about the ownership group’s inclination to save money and willingness to change the NBA status quo to do so. Among other examples, there have been reports about the team trimming its travel party during
road trips, leaving its two-way players at home during NBA Playoff road games, refusing to pay late-checkout fees at hotels for certain staffers, and allocating a below-standard budget for the team’s next head coach.
During exit interviews with media at the practice facility on Thursday, Cronin said the negative publicity surrounding the organization isn’t accurately portraying Dundon or his willingness to invest big money into the Trail Blazers.
“Seeing those reports and some of those things, for me it was somewhat disturbing because I’ve gotten the opportunity to know Tom Dundon really, really well these last 9-10 months, and it’s just not an accurate depiction of what his goals are,” Cronin said. “Yes, we’re going to run things more efficiently in terms of being economically responsible, in terms of having a disciplined less-is-more mentality. … But I’ve seen a lot of instances where he was willing to throw big money on the table in order to support this team, in order to put it on the floor, in order to make us a winner.”
Cronin said Dundon was open to making impactful, expensive moves during this past season’s NBA Trade Deadline. While the Blazers ultimately didn’t pull the trigger, Cronin said Dundon signed off on a trade in February that would’ve pushed the team into the luxury tax and close to the first-apron penalty.
“We would’ve got a nice young asset, and he would have had to write a check for $20 million because he would have inherited that tax bill, and he didn’t flinch,” Cronin said. “He was like, ‘Yep, do it.’ At that moment I said, ‘Okay, he’s about winning. He is gonna put money into this team whenever it’s necessary.’ … He’s gonna spend when it touches the players, and the players are always gonna be supported.”
Additionally, Cronin refuted reports that Dundon isn’t willing to spend the proper budget for the team’s next head coach. He said the Blazers have the budget to go hire the best coach available when it conducts its search this offseason.
“A lot of the reports on budget out there were a little misleading,” Cronin said. “I’ve talked to Tom a lot about this. We’re gonna pay the coach based on some sort of level of shared risk. If it’s a first-time coach that comes with a lot of risk and doesn’t have a market we have to necessarily compete in, it’ll be one number. If the coach we’re talking to is a 15-year vet and a future Hall of Famer, it’s gonna be a completely different number. And Tom isn’t going to flinch at either of those scenarios.”
Blazers acting head coach Tiago Splitter on Thursday acknowledged there’s been a lot of chatter surrounding Portland’s head coaching search and negotiations. He chalked up some of that noise to “exaggerations” and “clickbait.”
“I have a good relationship with Tom and with Joe,” Splitter said. “We just need some time now. I understand. It’s a new owner. He’s trying to figure out us as well, learn what we do and what we do wrong and good. And I guess he needs some time. That’s part of it.”
Splitter is a candidate to take the head coaching position permanently, but the Blazers plan to “cast a wide net” during the offseason search, Cronin said, adding there’s no set timeline for the decision. Splitter reiterated that he would like to win the job and remain in Portland.
“Of course, I told you guys I want to stay,” Splitter said. “But we’ve got to talk through some things and figure it out.”
One of stories that drew Dundon the most public ire was the fact the Blazers didn’t bring their two-way contract players on the road for Games 1 and 2 against the San Antonio Spurs in their first-round Playoff series, news first reported by The Rose Garden Report. However, Cronin claimed that mistake was his fault, not Dundon’s.
“It was more of a miscommunication on my end,” Cronin said. “We’ve talked about doing some traveling party reductions. Next year we’ll run a little lighter. I just assumed not including [the two-way players], and I didn’t check. … That was on me for not communicating properly.”
Cronin noted the team fixed the mistake by bringing two-way players Caleb Love, Jayson Kent and Chris Youngblood with the team to San Antonio for Game 5 on Tuesday.
You can watch the full video of Cronin’s presser below:
