Blazers’ Splitter on Dundon reports: ‘Trying to be a pro’

SAN ANTONIO — Portland Trail Blazers interim head coach Tiago Splitter says he is focusing 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 Trail 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 poker scheme with links to the mafia. Billups pleaded not guilty to charges of money laundering and wire fraud.

Splitter took over the morning after Billups’ arrest and has overseen a 42-40 record, the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference playoffs and the development of All-Star forward Deni Avdija, who was named a finalist for Most Improved Player.

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 head coach was far below a standard NBA head coaching salary, and further discussion was tabled until after the season, sources said.

“He got thrown in a difficult situation,” Avdija said after the Trail Blazers evened the series Tuesday night. “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.”

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 cost-cutting measures, the Trail Blazers did not bring any of their two-way players on the road for the playoffs, something that no other playoff team did.

NBA reporter Jake Fischer reported this week that Dundon had started speaking to 15 to 20 prospective candidates, including college coaches and NBA assistant coaches.

Sources told ESPN that one of the Trail Blazers’ other recent cost-cutting moves was cutting back on complimentary tickets to home playoff games for support staff.

Asked before Game 2 whether the awkward situation was affecting the team as it prepares for the playoffs, Splitter said he spoke to the players 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.”