After taking over as the Trail Blazers‘ interim head coach following Chauncey Billups‘ arrest one game into the season, Tiago Splitter led the team to a 42-39 record, a play-in victory, and the franchise’s first playoff berth since 2021.
However, Splitter’s future in Portland beyond this season remains up in the air, with one recent report suggesting that new team owner Tom Dundon has held exploratory discussions with approximately 20 college and international coaches. Amid rumors that the Blazers are considering head coaching alternatives, Splitter said on Tuesday that he’s “just trying to be a pro,” according to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne.
“(I) try to focus on my locker room and my staff to stay and think about basketball,” Splitter said. “Same way when I got the job and all the stuff (with Billups) that was going on.”
According to Shelburne, sources close to the situation say that Splitter received a raise when he was elevated from his assistant coaching job earlier in the season and had discussions with the team later in the season about a possible longer-term contract. However, the salary the Blazers were prepared to offer was “far below” a standard rate for an NBA head coach and the two sides decided to table those talks until after the season, Shelburne adds.
Dundon didn’t officially take over as the Blazers’ controlling owner until the end of March, but he reached an agreement to buy the team last August, so it’s safe to assume he would’ve been privy to those negotiations even if they happened before the sale closed.
Since Dundon formally assumed control of the team three-plus weeks ago, there have been several reports about the cost-cutting measures he has taken throughout the organization, as we detailed in a pair of stories earlier this week. Sources tell Shelburne that another one of those cost-cutting measures involved reducing the number of complimentary tickets to home playoff games for support staffers.
Reports that Dundon isn’t willing to pay more than $1.5MM annually for a head coach have received some push-back, with one source telling The Athletic this week that the Blazers owner is focused on finding the “best person” for the job. Still, as Sean Highkin of Rose Garden Report tweets, it’s hard to envision what more Splitter could do to prove he deserves to stick around.
“He got thrown in a difficult situation,” Blazers star Deni Avdija said on Tuesday after Splitter guided the Blazers to a comeback victory in Game 2 to even the series at one game apiece as it returns to Portland. “It wasn’t easy for him to just all of a sudden take the head job. But I think he’s done phenomenal. He’s getting the best out of everybody. He’s believing in each and single one of his players, and we love playing for him. He’s a winner, he’s a competitor. He knows how it is to win a championship. He’s passionate, and he got all the tools to be a great coach, and that’s what he’s doing.”
If Kerr is leaving, maybe Tiago wouldn’t mind moving down the coast about 600 miles.
i was thinking the same thing. Portland owner would be crazy to replace him.
Dude paid 4 billion. He can do what he wants. It’s not like he doesn’t have a track record. All of this was verifiable, before awarding him the franchise, so the board of governors clearly don’t give af.
Splitter might get a chance in Chicago, now the Billy’s gone. Who knows?
Please Portland don’t hire Doc Rivers.
Doc Rivers would never take this job if the owner is that cheap. Doc is tryna get that chicken.
I doubt Splitter would come to Chicago. It’s highly unlikely. He’s in a better position in Portland imo
He may not have a choice but to look at potential opportunities elsewhere. By all accounts, this team owner is looking everywhere except directly in front of him, in order to find a new coach.
Plus, 1.5 mil to coach an NBA team?! That man is tweakin’.
lol ok that’s fair. I don’t know much about the blazers owner. But that makes sense
Of course he is considering Splitter. What a silly comment to suggest otherwise. And the likewise silly narrative about salary: “Of all the things reported on Tom, the one thing that is not true is the coaching thing, that he is trying to get someone for $1 million to 1.5 million,” a team source said. “It’s just not true.
What do you know about who the team owner is considering? The issue isn’t about if he is considering Splitter, goof. The issue is if Splitter would even consider doing the job at a price below the average. Because, based on the teM owner’s history and based on what is being reported (You know, by ACTUAL reporters) that is what he would have to do, if he were even offered the job.
“Dude paid 4 billion. He can do what he wants”
And we get to rip him for being a cheapskate and wonder if he’s cheaping out on the head coach, is he cheaping out on scouting, analytics, training, etc. That’s how this works. I do agree that the board of Governors may have dropped the ball here, time will tell. If he does cheap out and Portland returns to the basement, there will be relocation speculation, which fuels conspiracy theories that this was the plan all along, to move them out of Portland by purposely tanking them in the region.
I don’t know why you’re quoting me, as though I’m in support of the team owner’s frugality.
Regardless, He CAN do what he wants because it’s his team. I would hope that he spends a bit to maintain industry standards, but , apparently, his mantra has previously yielded results.
Maybe in 10 years, the Wall Street Journey writes an op-ed piece about how he “bucked the trend” of excessive spending.
The Board of Gouvernors would welcome a non-spender with open Arms. He is an insurance to keep the Blazers out of contention and make them them a likeable opponent in trades and bidding wars.
Splitter will definitely have a job somewhere next season.
Basketball fans are getting introduced to the Dundon experience. He’s done this for years in the NHL. If you want a good comparison think of Dan Gilbert not wanting to pay coaches and GMs like what happened with Lue.
In Carolina, Don Waddell resigned as GM after building a team that made the playoffs 6 straight seasons at that point and 2 Eastern Conference Finals including the year he resigned. It was over money. 4 days later, Columbus hires him, makes him president/GM there with a raise.
Rod Brind’Amour has been their coach since 2018. If you aren’t a hockey fan, he is essentially Mr Carolina Hurricane. Was a player for them 10 years, captain of their Stanley Cup team, top 5 in most franchise stat categories. And he’s been arguably their best coach in franchise history. He is also a top 5-10 coach in the league. He was hired for $600k. He got a raise to like $1.8 mil in 2021, which is lower than coaches who have never even coached in the NHL are making. In 2024 he had drawn out negotiations in the playoffs and Dundon “rewarded” him with a raise to $2mil. If he wasn’t so loyal to the franchise there would be teams lining up to pay him more than twice that.
I could keep going with drawn out negotiations for guys like Aho, Necas, etc. All of this to say is he is going to pay as little as he can get away with.
I think it’s a disservice to the fan base to approve a sale to a guy who has this type of track record. It’s only the beginning, he’s going to mess up everything with this approach, collective bargaining will be a disaster. Maybe they are secretly trying to lose local support to move the franchise to a larger market because of the incoming Seattle team… it looks grim
Agreed. Losing the Portland franchise would be losing the classic basketball feeling, in the NBA, for me. I feel that is what they are doing because they see more opportunities, financially, in bigger potential markets but you lose some of the soul of basketball in doing so. Suddenly, Bill Walton, Jack Ramsay, and the rest of those Portland icons’ footprints start to fade and that old NBA gets further and further out of reach.
I actually kinda think Carolina has gotten off easy on the Dundon experience. Not sure Portland will be so lucky.
Dundon is at least not as bad as Tepper in terms of asking us in SC to give funding for an arena or practice facility located in NC pretending they are the “Team of the Carolinas”.
With Seattle virtually certain to get a team on the floor in the next couple of years there is nothing that would cause the NBA to willfully eliminate a great historic rivalry by moving the Trailblazers. Atlanta, Memphis, New Orleans and arguably one or two other franchises struggle to put rear ends in seats. If there is a relocation (doubtful) those are the most likely suspects.
If Memphis is going to move it would be stupid to move them anywhere but Nashville. The city is growing, has supported 2 pro teams well, is likely to get a baseball team, and it would allow Memphis fans to still go to games.
Why is it unlikely? They moved Seattle, thus eliminating the very historic rivalry that you’re talking about.
Dundon’s sounding like a complete buffoon! It’s so tactless to go around shopping for desperate D list coaches while your team is still in the playoffs! This isn’t the NHL, you wanted in the big leagues so act like you can afford it! You already have an international coach, just pay the man a fair wage lol..move over Donald Sterling, someone’s coming for your title as worst nba owner ever..what’s next? dundon saying players should bring their own ball since they can afford it?? lol
Does the owner get royalties every time Law
And order comes on?
Way to murder my own joke SMH