Key Points
Bullet point summary by AI
- The Blazers' search for their next permanent head coach is complicated by owner Tom Dundon's reported unwillingness to invest appropriately in his organization.
- Portland's salary range is well below NBA norms, greatly limiting which candidates the team can seriously consider.
- Such salary restraints would require the Blazers to go way outside the box, from an unexperienced former All-Star to a former NCAA champion.
The Portland Trail Blazers are back in the postseason for the first time in five years, but the storylines aren't about Tiago Splitter's amazing turnaround job as interim head coach, nor Deni Avdija's 41-point outburst to secure the No. 7 seed in the Play-In Tournament. They are about how cheap Tom Dundon, the team's new owner, is.
According to Sean Highkin of the Rose Garden Report, the Blazers did not bring their two-way players to Sunday's first-round opener in San Antonio as a cost-cutting maneuver. Portland also asked support staff to check out of their Phoenix-area hotels early for last week's Play-In game, so as to avoid late fees. And as the cherry on top, Portland is hoping to hire its next coach for around $1.5 million in annual salary — a number well below NBA standards.
We don't want to enable or encourage this behavior, which is embarrassing and could yield catastrophic results for the development of a promising young team. That said, if the Blazers are going to cheap out, here are a few unheralded or unconventional head coaching candidates to monitor.
Rajon Rondo, former NBA player
Rajon Rondo was a four-time All-Star and a three-time assists champ as a player. He also won two titles: one under Doc Rivers in Boston, and another with LeBron James and Anthony Davis in Los Angeles in the infamous bubble playoffs of 2020.
Rondo was the quintessential point guard and he has been tabbed as a future coach since even before he officially retired in 2022. The former Kentucky product spent time working under Rivers in Milwaukee, brought in as a "guest coach" for the Bucks' 2024 training camp.
Frankly, there's a decent chance Rondo is too well-regarded to accept Portland's lowball offer. He can aim higher. Since he doesn't actually have tangible coaching experience, however, the Blazers could hope to get in at the ground floor. The track record for ex-players hired as coaches with negligible experience is mixed: The Steve Nash experiment did not pan out in Brooklyn, but JJ Redick has made a nice name for himself on the sidelines in L.A.
It's easy enough to envision Rondo, one of his generation's most brilliant floor generals, picking up on the schematics and building positive relationships in the clubhouse. The Blazers should probably just pay up and retain Splitter if ownership wants a former player, but Rondo is a fun hypothetical.
Kevin Ollie, former Brooklyn Nets interim head coach
A longtime NBA journeyman turned championship-winning UConn head coach after Jim Calhoun's retirement, Kevin Ollie has been on league radars for a while. The Huskies fired Ollie in 2018 due to NCAA violations, which included improper player benefits and undisclosed team activities. In 2021, he was hired to coach the AAU squad Overtime Elite, where he spent three years and shepherded future NBA talents like Amen and Ausar Thompson.
In 2023, Ollie joined the Nets as an assistant under Jacque Vaughn. When the latter was fired a year later, Ollie took over as interim head coach and led Brooklyn to an 11-17 record.
Ollie didn't exactly thrive as a head man in the NBA, but that was a tough setup in a dysfunctional organization. He's been out of the loop for a couple years now, but there's a chance for Portland to slide in with a lowball offer. The college-to-pros pipeline for coaches is historically very risky, but it's clear the Blazers don't want to spend on a more certified candidate. And Ollie, in all fairness, has plenty of accolades to his name, with a measure of NBA experience to boot.
Tim Legler, ESPN analyst
Tim Legler could follow the Redick route as a former player turned beloved and insightful media analyst. Legler has a bit more status on the media side of things; he has been at ESPN for decades now, becoming their best X's-and-O's guy and a staple on major national broadcasts. He knows his stuff. There's no doubt about it.
Odds are Legler makes more than $1.5 million on his ESPN contract, but could the allure of an NBA head coaching gig be enough to tempt him into a career change? There's a lot more pressure and responsbility in that life; suddenly, every decision Legler makes would be under the microscope. He'd also be tasked with managing the egos of 18-plus professional athletes.
This feels unlikely, bordering on malpractice, but Legler has enough stature as a true ball-knower — an elite analyst who can probably spin his understanding of scheme and personnel into a functional on-paper system — to at least get a look from Portland's management group. Again, it's unconventional, but Portland is boxing itself into a corner with those salary figures.
Ryan Richman, SeaHorses Mikawa head coach
Ryan Richman spent six years in the Wizards organization as an assistant coach and as the head coach of their G League affiliate in Capital City. He then took a job in Japan as head coach of SeaHorses Mikawa.
He is viewed as "a dark horse to show up in NBA head-coaching interviews, especially for rebuilding teams that want to think out of the box," per Eric Nehm and Fred Katz of The Athletic.
And look, it's not the least-inspired possibility. He's in his mid-30s with plenty of developmental pedigree and legitimate NBA experience. If he's getting other offers or interviews, one naturally wonders if Portland can actually afford him. But as a relative unknown compared to other popular candidates, Richman could fit the cheaper profile the Blazers are looking for. Maybe it's not a total disaster.
Lamar Skeeter, Charlotte Hornets assistant coach
Lamar Skeeter, 36, is another under-the-radar coaching candidate mentioned in The Athletic's report. He spent years under Quin Snyder and Will Hardy in Utah before joining Charles Lee as Charlotte's top assistant.
Generally, when young coaches rise up the ranks as quickly as Skeeter, it speaks to their player development chops and forward-thinking schematics. That is also a great coaching tree to come from if the goal is to help develop a younger team from "pleasant surprise" to perennial contender, even if the Jazz and Hornets are small-time enough to keep Skeeter from too high a price tag.
The Blazers won't be looking at established former head coaches or more decorated assistants. Skeeter probably falls in the sweet spot of available for cheap, but with enough real pedigree and upside to pay off (especially relative to cost). Portland should spend more, again. To be absolutely clear. But Skeeter feels like a decent option who might be attainable if new ownership is clamping down on the budget.
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