{"id":600108,"date":"2026-04-22T18:57:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T18:57:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/600108\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T18:57:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T18:57:12","slug":"tiago-splitter-just-trying-to-be-a-pro-as-trail-blazers-pursue-other-coach-candidates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/600108\/","title":{"rendered":"Tiago Splitter \u2018just trying to be a pro\u2019 as Trail Blazers pursue other coach candidates"},"content":{"rendered":"

Portland Trail Blazers interim head coach Tiago Splitter is focused on the NBA playoffs despite reports that new team owner Tom Dundon has been in contact with other candidates about potentially taking over the position.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just trying to be a pro,\u201d Splitter told reporters before Portland\u2019s 106-103 win over the San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday night in Game 2 that evened their first-round playoff series at 1-1. \u201cTry to focus on my locker room and my staff and try to stay and think about basketball. Same way when I got the job and all the stuff that was going on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Splitter, 41, was elevated to interim head coach<\/a> in October, after Chauncey Billups was arrested as part of a sweeping federal investigation<\/a> into illegal gambling activities. Federal prosecutors accused Billups, who was just days into his fifth season as the Trail Blazers\u2019 head coach, of allegedly conspiring to rig high-stakes poker games backed by the Mafia.<\/p>\n

Billups pleaded not guilty<\/a> to charges of money laundering and wire fraud in November. In his absence, Splitter guided a Trail Blazers team that missed the playoffs last season to a 42-40 record and a playoff berth.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe got thrown in a difficult situation,\u201d said forward Deni Avdija, who has emerged as an All-Star and finalist for the NBA Most Improved Player award under Splitter. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t easy for him to just all of a sudden take the head job. But I think he\u2019s done phenomenal. He\u2019s getting the best out of everybody.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s believing in each and single one of his players, and we love playing for him. He\u2019s a winner. He\u2019s a competitor. He knows how it is to win a championship. He\u2019s passionate, and he got all the tools to be a great coach, and that\u2019s what he\u2019s doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Splitter was also asked about Dundon\u2019s aggressive cost-cutting measures since completing his acquisition of the team last month, which, according to\u00a0The Athletic\u00a0<\/a>and other news outlets, include not allowing two-way players to travel with the team on the road for playoff games, no free T-shirts for fans in Portland and team staffers checking out of hotels early to avoid late fees.<\/p>\n

Splitter addressed the team before Tuesday\u2019s Play-In Tournament victory over the Phoenix Suns.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mentioned that it\u2019s not the time to be on your social media and reading everything that is going on out there, or even on TV,\u201d Splitter said. \u201cA couple of coaches that I\u2019ve had gave that advice to me. I know it\u2019s hard. Social media is part of our lives. But try to just focus on basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to The Athletic\u2019s Jason Quick, Splitter expressed concern behind closed doors that his staff\u2019s early checkout times might hamper their ability to assist the team properly.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told (Splitter) he can\u2019t be focused on this while he is about to coach his most important game,\u201d a confidant whom Splitter called, who was granted anonymity to speak freely. \u201cAnd he was like, \u2018But what if the masseuse decides that she doesn\u2019t want to do a good job because she\u2019s angry, and then she doesn\u2019t do a good job on Deni? Then it affects me, too.\u2019\u2009\u201d<\/p>\n

Dundon, as\u00a0The Athletic reported, has discussed the head-coach position with several college coaches, including St. Louis University\u2019s Josh Schertz and Iowa\u2019s Ben McCollum. Former NBA championship-winning coach Michael Malone was also contacted before he chose to take the job at North Carolina.<\/p>\n

Though a team source denied that Dundon is not looking to spend heavily on a new coach, Splitter or otherwise, the practice of actively looking for a new coach while one is still working, especially in the playoffs, is frowned upon in league circles.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe amount of disrespect (toward Splitter) that\u2019s going on is beyond description,\u201d a league source said. \u201cIt\u2019s like, every day, a new name is coming up. It\u2019s the most vicious thing I\u2019ve encountered in 30-plus years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Game 3 is at 10:30 p.m. ET (7:30 p.m. PT) Friday at the Moda Center in Portland.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Jared Weiss contributed to this story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Portland Trail Blazers interim head coach Tiago Splitter is focused on the NBA playoffs despite reports that new…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":600109,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,6406,99],"class_list":["post-600108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-portland-trail-blazers","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=600108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600108\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/600109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=600108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=600108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=600108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}