Joe Cronin, who has served as interim general manager of the Trail Blazers since December, will get the job on a permanent basis along with a four-year contract, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. The team has confirmed the news in a press release.
Cronin was given a chance to audition for the role when he replaced Neil Olshey, who was fired December 3 after an investigation involving workplace conduct. Portland’s ownership group considered opening up the job to other candidates, according to Wojnarowski, but eventually decided to stick with Cronin based on his “vision for the franchise and his ability to execute it.”
Cronin has a strong bond with first-year coach Chauncey Billups, Woj adds, which convinced management that they can work together effectively in trying to rebuild the franchise.
“Joe has shown in his short time as interim GM that he is more than ready to continue leading the front office,” said Trail Blazers chair Jody Allen. “We remain excited for the future of Trail Blazers basketball with Joe and Chauncey driving a cohesive plan to build an even more competitive and winning roster.”
The Blazers are coming a disappointing 27-55 season, but Cronin took the first steps in forging a path for the future. At the trade deadline, he sent long-time fan favorite CJ McCollum to the Pelicans and moved Norman Powell and Robert Covington to the Clippers. In return, Cronin picked up some draft capital and the flexibility to create cap space if Portland wants to be aggressive on the free agent market.
Cronin will have important decisions to make this summer, Wojnarowski notes, including possible extensions for Damian Lillard and Anfernee Simons, along with a potential new deal for Jusuf Nurkic. The Blazers will also have a lottery pick in next month’s draft and a $21MM trade exception.
Cronin joined the organization as a basketball operations intern in 2006. He has worked with four leadership teams and was promoted to assistant general manager in 2021.
“I would like to thank Jody and (Vice Chair Bert Kolde) for this opportunity and a long list of other incredible people that have put their faith and trust in me not only over the last six months, but the last 16 years,” Cronin said. “My focus has always been creating a championship team and culture that players, coaches, and staff want to be a part of. I look forward to continuing that focus with the vision that Chauncey, (president of basketball operations Dewayne Hankins) and I share while unifying our business and basketball operations on and off the court.”
He’s done a good job as an interim, makes sense.
Kind of hard to screw up selling your roster…
So many negative comments last year about not doing enough. Now so many negative comments about doing too much. You should reserve judgements until after the next offseason. They got unlucky with the Pelicams making the late season run, losing the premium draft pick, but otherwise, this is the first time in ages this team has the cap room and preferable contracts to make substantive moves… and they still have a committed superstar and another on the rise.
JerBear, I thought the Blazers did a good job putting players around Lillard and CJ McCollum in an effort to go for it. Didn’t work out so here we are.
You have to (continue to) blow it up unless you want to be average the next 3 years riding out Damian Lillard’s last effective years. All depends on your goal.
As age catches up soon, Lillard can’t play playoff hero ball and advance to the Conference Finals as he did at 26, 28 years old. Time to find another Lillard and McCollum in the draft and do another 10-year run.
… or Dame could continue to evolve his game like CP3 and let Ant do the acrobatics. He already improved so he can shoot from the half court.
Also, Portland has been exporting talent for awhile now, so the development program there is solid. They have alot of raw talent, a new defensive minded coach, a couple of guys that have a lot to prove. If they can pick-up a lock down defensive border all-star at the PF spot and get off to a good start next year, then others will want to join, vet mins etc. In two years they could be considered top 6 with a shot at Finals, that’d be a pretty good spot to be in to give Dame a legit shot to win it all and with lots of young talent on deck for the future. I think its the wrong move to sell-off the soul of the team at this moment.
Good points JerBear.
Exporting talent does not equate to importing talent. They added some draft slots but they will take more than two years to be a top 6 team even if they draft well. A tough goal to hold them to!
Lillard should last and get stats like Beal will. Simons must be durable. He is a shorter but more intense version of Shaedon Sharpe so Sharpe would be an interesting selection.
Now there’s a hot take
And that take gets more remote over time with no addressing!
Just got promoted to Assistant GM in 2021…. And now GM already…. Be careful what you ask for….
Even if the organization doesn’t care (because it was only about shedding salary), his TD performance was pathetic. He ended up with only a remote protected 1st (2025 MIL) for CJM (he should at least have the LAL pick if it ends up 5-10), and essentially nothing for Powell and RoCo. They gave up a better draft pick for Nance last summer than they got at the deadline for all their deals. Maybe he has something in mind with their possible cap space (though all talks about is resigning Simons and Nurkic).
The question now is the goal of ownership. Will they be content as also-rans and keep their one Megastar while not spending the necessary money to support him, all in an effort to be profitable, decent in the standings, and keep the majority of the average fans happy?
The Blazers did make a pretty good effort to put a contending team on the floor in the last year or two but it wasn’t quite enough, showing how difficult that endeavor can be.
But a team in this state with REAL winning aspirations would immediately trade that 32 year old mega star this summer and continue the process of building a winner again. It’ll rile the casual fan but absolutely be best for the future of the franchise.
Gary – I can’t rationalize their moves at the deadline as prioritizing either the average fan or the longer term future of the franchise. The focus might have been elsewhere, like prepping the team for a sale. Maybe clean up the balance sheet so they can re-sign franchise icon Lillard, and still show no luxury tax due in projections? No information, but now that the team has firmly passed to Paul Allen’s sister, it’s fair to ask whether she intends to keep her one of her brother’s vanity assets.
Nothing like being in the skybox sipping champagne enjoying what her brother enjoyed doing. But really, she’s been there all along. She built the Moda Center. She isn’t selling. This what she loves to do…
Cronin will “share his vision” of vague platitudes.
He did a favor to Mccollum in effect with a trade to a team needing his skills, but he does not claim credit, so IDK whether to give him any for it.
No favor to Powell but he was not a longtime vet.
Cronin and his Cronies