At the time, it was the most important day of Tiago Splitter’s coaching career. The Portland Trail Blazers were playing the opening round of the Play-In Tournament against the Phoenix Suns. Win, and the Blazers were in the playoffs.
But instead of worrying about defensive strategy, or his rotation, Splitter was worried about the team masseuse. By order of new owner Tom Dundon, all members of the Blazers’ traveling party — with the exception of players and coaches — had to check out of their hotel at 12:30 p.m. in an effort to avoid late-checkout fees.
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Splitter, the team’s interim head coach, had just heard an earful from the masseuse, who had nowhere to provide treatment for the players ahead of that night’s game. And she wasn’t the only one complaining. Splitter eventually called a confidant, and vented his frustration.
“I told (Splitter) he can’t be focused on this while he is about to coach his most important game,” the person Splitter called told The Athletic. “And he was like, ‘But what if the masseuse decides that she doesn’t want to do a good job because she’s angry and then she doesn’t do a good job on Deni (Avdija)? Then it affects me, too.’”
Led by Avdija, the Blazers went on to beat Phoenix that night and advance to the NBA playoffs for the first time in five years, but a precedent had been set and since reinforced: When it comes to everything outside the locker room, the Blazers will be cheap. And they will not follow the widely accepted norms of the NBA.
To wit: The Blazers are the only NBA team in the playoffs who are not traveling their two-way players, a move to save on hotels and food first reported by The Rose Garden Report. Also, the team’s traveling party of support staff was trimmed — the award-winning team photographer and digital reporter did not travel with the team for its playoff series in San Antonio. And as Splitter has done an admirable job as interim coach — he was thrust into the position before the season’s second game when Chauncey Billups was arrested by the FBI in a gambling probe — Dundon has conducted a phone-book’s worth of interviews with college and pro coaches, breaching the etiquette that sitting NBA coaches are usually afforded.
“If this is the start of his ownership, you’re going to have a wild ride back there,” said a league source who has had several interactions with Dundon and was granted anonymity to speak freely about an NBA owner.
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For Dundon, a billionaire who made his money in the sub-prime auto loan business, this rollout of his business plan is familiar: When he bought the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes in 2017, he made several cost-cutting moves, including firing the team’s broadcasters and skimping on the salaries of coach Rod Brind’Amour and his staff. Yet, in the wake of those moves, the Hurricanes have become one of the NHL’s elite teams.
Armed with the confidence that his approach works, Dundon sent out an edict to Blazers managers shortly after he and his investment team took over on March 31 after 81 percent of the $4.25 billion sale closed.
“The directive was ‘Why are we wasting money? Let’s think about this prudently,’” a team source told The Athletic. “Essentially he was saying, ‘Let’s make things like (the traveling party) be about who needed to be there, not it-would-be-nice-if-they-come.’”
The bargain-budget approach is a culture shock in Portland, where for 38 years the Blazers were owned by one of the richest men on the planet: Paul Allen (and then his sister, Jody after his death in 2018). Allen famously lavished his players with rich contracts and with perks that few, if any other NBA owner provided. While players practiced, their cars were washed and detailed in the parking lot. They were feted to lunches on his 413-foot private yacht, the Octopus, from which they were given helicopter tours over the Golden Gate Bridge. And for years, the Blazers flew to road games on Allen’s private Boeing-757 jet, Blazer One, complete with satellite television, a wet bar and a master bedroom.
Now, if there is a corner to be cut, Dundon is already around it, even if the optics are poor for the franchise. What should be a celebratory time for an upstart team that has finally escaped the shadows of tanking has instead been a time of collective cringe and fear within the organization.
And it appears, Dundon does not care.
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“I think he thinks this is just the beginning,” a team source said. “I think he thinks this is just what taking over franchises is, where you have to change things. He said he went through a lot of rough times in Carolina … but ultimately all people care about now is winning. So what I think is accurate is him being cheap as it relates to stuff that in his mind does not impact player performance.”
If Dundon has learned anything in the first three weeks of being an NBA owner, it should be that this isn’t the NHL. The NBA is like a high school, filled with gossip and rumors.
As a result, Dundon’s attempt at a covert search for coaching and general manager candidates has been exposed on a nearly daily basis. His contact with St. Louis University coach Josh Schertz at the Final Four, and later with Iowa coach Ben McCollum, have leaked.
League sources — granted anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the coaching search — also say former NBA coach Michael Malone was contacted before he took the University of North Carolina job, as well as former Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau, who is no longer a candidate. And before he took control of the Blazers, Dundon spoke to former Toronto executive Masai Ujiri.
“This isn’t Russian hockey players who don’t speak English,” a league source said. “In the NBA, everyone talks to everyone else. He says he didn’t make job offers … but it’s the narrative that is circulating … and it’s wrong. It’s bad business.”
Added the Blazers source: “This is what Tom is good at — talking to 100 people and getting data. What he is learning quickly is that unlike hockey — where nobody cares — in basketball if you talk to 100 people, 70 will tell people.”
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Equally damaging is the perception that his coaching search mirrors his frugal approach to what he considers the non-essential components of the franchise.
However, multiple sources said the focus of Dundon’s coaching search hasn’t been price.
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“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. He’s talked to everybody, and of course, some coaches he talks to would be less expensive than others. The goal is to find the best person.”
The optics of looking for a coach — and general manager — while the team is currently in the playoffs is a practice generally frowned upon, and has given some in the industry pause about whether Portland is a desirable job.
“The amount of disrespect (toward Splitter) that’s going on is beyond description,” a league source said. “It’s like, every day a new name is coming up. It’s the most vicious thing I’ve encountered in 30-plus years.”
Reports have said the Blazers have tried to low-ball offers to college coaches, as well as an offer to Splitter with a modest raise from his current salary of $850,000 as interim. However, multiple sources said Dundon has not made an offer to Splitter.
“Tiago is going to be the leading candidate,” a team source said. “People ask: Why don’t we just give Tiago the job? That would be the easy thing to do. But ownership wouldn’t be doing the team or the fan base justice if other people weren’t interviewed. Let’s have a process.”
But now that interview process comes with extra questions. From the candidates. Will Dundon pay market value for their services? Will he pay for resources that enhance winning? Will he help create a healthy morale throughout the organization?
“He’s already established that he’s very cheap,” the league source said. “And I know he doesn’t love Oregon, and is concerned that it is a state that can’t draw free agents. Well, with all due respect, you’re not helping the cause of drawing free agents when you treat everyone like s— there.”
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The biggest transgression was leaving two-way players Caleb Love, Chris Youngblood and Jayson Kent in Portland for the playoffs. What is unclear is whether the omission of the three players was an order, or done by general manager Joe Cronin in response to Dundon’s edict to slash expenses. Cronin did not return messages for this story.
“It was a bad look; a horrible look,” the team source said. “I think he told the guys, ‘Don’t waste money … and my guess is (the front office) took that really far.”
If Dundon has made one thing clear in his first month as owner, it’s this: He cares more about winning than he does people’s opinion. He vows he will spend on the roster — a source said he is already committed to dipping into the salary tax next season to land a star player — and has been matter of fact about his disdain for frills, his popularity be damned.
When asked at his introductory news conference whether he cared if he was liked, he said “on the list of things I care about, it’s lower.”
His first month has shown just how low.
“I ought to tell you, I don’t think he gives a rat’s ass what is said about him,” the league source said. “Most owners care. They insulate themselves because they care very much about their image and profile. He doesn’t give a f—. He doesn’t even flinch with this stuff.”
The team source says that indifference is one of Dundon’s “superpowers” — he isn’t easily influenced by the sway of public opinion.
“He is unapologetic,” the team source said. “All he cares about is what is good for the team and what makes the team win. Which means he is going to be OK making tough decisions.”
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So if that means taking a public-relations hit for requiring the support staff to check out of the hotel to escape paying late-check out fees? A source said the team ran the numbers and estimated it will save $1 million in the next year. That’s $1 million that could go to bettering the players’ experience.
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As for the fans? When they arrive at the Moda Center for Friday’s Game 3 against San Antonio, there will not be the customary free T-shirt waiting on the seats. When team president Dewayne Hankins announced the no-shirt decision, fans were up in arms, chalking it up to another cheapskate move by the new owner.
On the contrary, Dundon was thinking about the players and how he could create a competitive advantage.
“Tom’s point of view was how do we get even more home-court advantage?” a team source said. “So he wanted to experiment a little bit with something that could create noise, and where 19,000 are waving something when the Spurs are shooting free throws. That’s better than a T-shirt.”
Time will tell if Dundon’s approach will be better than to what this once-proud franchise had become accustomed. But everyone agrees, it has been an uneven start.
“His heart is in the right place,” the team source said. “He is going to build this thing into a winner, I know it. And I know three years from now, or five years from now, people are going to love it.
“But over the next 12 months, they are going to hate it.”