SAN ANTONIO — Portland Trail Blazers interim head coach Tiago Splitter said he’s “just trying to be a pro” and focus on the team’s first playoff appearance in five years as reports swirled about new owner Tom Dundon talking to outside candidates to replace him.
“Just trying to be a pro,” Splitter said before the Blazers 106-103 win over the San Antonio Spurs in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series Tuesday night. “[I] try to focus on my locker room and my staff to stay and think about basketball. Same way when I got the job and all the stuff that was going on.”
Splitter was named Portland’s interim head coach after Chauncey Billups was arrested by the FBI as part of a federal investigation into a rigged high-stakes power scheme with links to the mafia. Billups pled not guilty to charges of money laundering and wire fraud.
Splitter took over the morning after the arrest and has led the team to a 42-40 record, the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference playoffs and presided over the development of All Star forward Deni Avdija, who was named a finalist for Most Improved Player this season.
Sources close to the situation told ESPN that Splitter was given a raise from his assistant coaching salary and discussed a longer-term contract during the season. The salary presented to him to continue on as the Trail Blazers head coach was far below a standard NBA head coaching salary and further discussion was tabled until after the season, sources said.
The Oregonian reported last week that Dundon wants to pay in the range of $1 million per year for a head coach. His goal, according to the report, is to run the organization more efficiently, just as he did when he bought the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes. On Sunday, the Rose Garden Report added that as part of the franchise’s new cost-cutting measures, the Blazers did not travel any of their two-way players to the playoffs, something that no other playoff team did.
NBA reporter Jake Fischer reported this week that Dundon had started speaking to 15-20 prospective candidates, including college coaches and NBA assistant coaches.
Sources told ESPN that one of the other cost-cutting moves that’s been recently enacted was cutting back on complimentary tickets to home playoff games for support staff.
Asked before Tuesday night’s Game 2 whether the awkward situation was affecting the team as it prepares for the playoffs, Splitter said he spoke to the team at the beginning of the play-in tournament and advised them “that it’s not a time to be in your social media now and reading everything that is out there or even on TV. A couple coaches that I had gave me that advice. I know it’s hard. Social media is part of our lives, but trying to just focus on basketball.”
The team seemed to have taken his advice as they authored an upset in Game 2 to even the series 1-1.
