Trail Blazers take interim tag off GM Cronin with four-year contract

The Trail Blazers have given a “clear vote of confidence” to Joe Cronin, who yesterday received a four-year contract that takes the interim tag off of his GM title, according to Aaron Fentress of the Portland OREGONIAN. Cronin has been in that position since Neil Olshey was fired in December, and he has been “entrusted by chair Jody Allen to overhaul the team.” By making several big moves this season, including trading G CJ McCollum to the Pelicans, Cronin helped the Blazers “dip below the $136.6 million luxury tax threshold this season and avoid the repeater tax, something he has touted repeatedly.” That tax kicks in when a team “is over the tax threshold in three out of four seasons;” the Blazers had been above the tax in two of the last three years. Cronin first joined the organization as a Dir of Player Personnel in ‘14 and later became Assistant GM under Olshey (Portland OREGONIAN, 5/11).