THE Portland Trail Blazers have made big management changes in recent years after general manager Joe Cronin replaced Neil Olshey in 2022.
Among Cronin’s new hires is assistant general manager Mike Schmitz, who is one of the youngest top executives in the NBA.
The Athletic published a list of 40 young NBA professionals under 40, and Schmitz was among that esteemed group.
Here’s what Mike Vornukov of The Athletic wrote about him:
Schmitz might be the only member of the NBA front office who took on a smaller public profile by joining a teamHe spent nearly a decade as part of the duo that helped grow DraftExpress from an independent site to one that led to Yahoo! and then ESPN. He went straight from television to the Blazers, where he’s a vital part of their recruiting operation.
“I’ve always loved his talent,” Blazers general manager Joe Cronin said. said in 2022“His motor was always super impressive. Every game in the world, constantly in the gym. And it’s really important to have that love and passion for the game. Scouting can be really tough sometimes. There’s a lot of travel, long days, and he had this energy that I found really intriguing.”
Schmitz, 34, is a key piece in helping the Blazers get through this rebuild and back into Western Conference contention.
