Portland Trail Blazers general manager Joe Cronin sat down with Robert Ohman and Aaron Mesh of Willamette Week to answer questions about his future with the Blazers and much more. The piece is the most in-depth interview published during Cronin’s tenure, and few details are spared (sans sensitive answers about future plans).
On new Blazers owner Tom Dundon and Cronin’s future in Portland:
WW: Have you met Tom Dundon yet?
Joe Cronin: Yes. With the league’s permission, we were able to connect a little
bit early on, after he acquired the team, and just have some introductions, some initial conversations. So that was good. And encouraging.
Have you pitched him on keeping your job?
No, I haven’t. Not that it doesn’t cross your mind, but it’s something I don’t particularly worry about. I’m so focused on just doing a great job, for as long as I have it, that that’s all I really lock in on.
On the difficulty of landing free agents in Portland:
Your predecessor, Neil Olshey, famously said that he didn’t think it was easy or even possible to get free agents to come to Portland. Was he right?To be determined. We haven’t spent much time in the free agent market yet during my tenure. We went young. We just didn’t have a lot of roster spots or cap space to play in the free agency market. But I’m confident in our ability in the future to do so. I think what we’re building is a well-respected organization, a team that others will want to play for. We saw it with Dame. I mean, of course he had massive ties to the city and organization already, but he also believed in what we were building. I don’t know if he would’ve come back if he didn’t believe in the roster.
On speculation surrounding the Yang Hansen pick:
There were people—John Hollinger was one of them—who were openly skeptical that drafting Yang Hansen was a purely basketball decision. How do you respond to those criticisms?I don’t care. I don’t care what they say. I really don’t. We’re consumed by building the best basketball team possible, and business decisions had nothing to do with drafting Hansen, from Jody [Allen] all the way down.
You can hear much more from Cronin through the link above. It’s an important peek into the viewpoints of the lead executive in charge of Portland’s decisions.
