Blazers owner Tom Dundon breaks silence on laying off 70 Portland employees

The Portland Trail Blazers made the NBA Playoffs this year, but the focus hasn’t been on the court in quite some time. New Blazers owner Tom Dundon has cut costs significantly, including laying off 70 employees. Still without a full-time coach, this is impacting the on-court product as well as those behind the scenes. Dundon spoke with Bill Oram of Oregon Live about the layoffs.

“People are happier when they’re busy and productive,” Dundon said. “That is the way I think things should be done. And more people just creates more problems, usually. I think Portland just had too many people. … This was mostly on the business side. … The business I’m going to run like you run every other business.”

Dundon is the owner of the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes, who are two wins away from a Stanley Cup Final appearance. They have one of the highest-paid coaches in the league, Rod Brind’Amour, and have made the postseason in nine consecutive seasons. He said comparing the Blazers to the Hurricanes is how he landed on the layoffs.

“They have twice as many people as we have in Carolina, and my experience is that less layers gives people more accountability and they do a better job. Then you know that you’re getting a great job done and you don’t end up in the situation where many companies end up, which is everyone’s looking around for somebody else to do it, complaining about what’s fair and not fair,” Dundon said

If Dundon follows the path that he paved with the Hurricanes, this may be worth it for the Blazers. But he is not off to a great start in his NBA tenure. Whether it is not allowing two-way players to travel or not having t-shirts on the chairs for home games, there is room to improve for the new owner.

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