NBA.com article on Mickey Loomis and the Hornets

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Posted by wope

on 11/12 at 10:27 am

quote:
What's a football guy doing running an NBA team?

"Believe me," Mickey Loomis said about a half-dozen times Friday, "I'm no NBA expert."

But Loomis, who helped build the New Orleans Saints into a Super Bowl winner as that team's general manager, now finds himself in the position of having to green light decisions for the Hornets as well as the team's director of basketball operations. New owner Tom Benson named Loomis to that post last June. Benson, of course, also owns the Saints, and he added the Hornets to his portfolio in April, to the tune of $338 million.

With two pro franchises to run, Benson streamlined his management teams, giving Loomis and Saints president Dennis Laucha decision-making authority over the Hornets as well. The teams are also merging some of their sales and marketing staffs.

Dell Demps is still the Hornets' GM, responsible for personnel and coaching decisions. But he and Coach Monty Williams now have to work with Loomis and Laucha before sending recommendations up to Benson for final approval.

"When you buy something you want to have people in place who are going to carry your message," Loomis said by telephone Friday. " ... I'm here to help Monty, and help Dell as much as I can, a sounding board for different ideas. I'm reporting to the owner, advising him. I'm here to help. But I'm not going to take away from my day job. We've got some work to do."

Full article (towards the bottom): LINK

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Posted by TigerinATL

on 11/12 at 10:48 am to wope

quote:
I'm here to help Monty, and help Dell as much as I can, a sounding board for different ideas. I'm reporting to the owner, advising him. I'm here to help. But I'm not going to take away from my day job. We've got some work to do."

..."I love the head coach we've got, Monty Williams, and Dell as well," Loomis said. "We've got two great young guys -- and I mean young in terms of their experience. I like them a lot ... what was important to me was the philosophy, and what they believed in in terms of creating a successful environment. There were a lot of similarities in what Dell and Monty believed in and what I believed in."

...Loomis says he has tried not to be very visible around the Hornets' players and has not had much contact with them ("I know how that is when you get somebody else in the mix"), preferring to work behind the scenes with Demps. But Loomis was the primary point person behind Williams' contract extension, that takes him out now through the 2015-16 season.

..."He's picked up the NBA pretty quick," Demps said. "It's been a really good relationship. When his suspension ended, I said to him, 'Now don't forget about us. We want you still coming around.' "

LINK

Sounds like Loomis is comfortable with the Demps/Monty combo and is happy to let them do their thing. There is already speculation that resigning Gordon could cost Demps his job, but the GM talent pool is VERY shallow and Loomis doesn't sound the least bit interested in micromanaging the Hornets now that he's able to do his day job again.

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Posted by Chad504boy

on 11/12 at 10:49 am to wope

It wouldn't be New Orleans without some added Red Tape for Hornets Management. *just a joke*

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Posted by geauxtigers87

on 11/12 at 11:08 am to TigerinATL

quote:
There is already speculation that resigning Gordon could cost Demps his job

what?

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Posted by saintsfan92612

on 11/12 at 11:11 am to TigerinATL

quote:
There is already speculation that resigning Gordon could cost Demps his job

where is this speculation.

If he didn't re-sign him, there may have been some speculation.

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Posted by TigerinATL

on 11/12 at 11:11 am to geauxtigers87

quote:
what?

Let me clarify, fan speculation. Sorry

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Posted by Elleshoe

on 11/12 at 11:19 am to TigerinATL

quote:
There is already speculation that resigning Gordon could cost Demps his job,

now you're just full of shit

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Posted by quail man

on 11/12 at 11:22 am to Elleshoe

you're back? welcome, sir

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Posted by TigerinATL

on 11/12 at 11:37 am to Elleshoe

quote:
now you're just full of shit

I assure you that I am not. I do think it's a stupid stance but I have seen it elsewhere in the Hornets blogosphere. Still, my point was even if that was a fireable offense, it's not like there are many better candidates to replace Demps with.

This post was edited on 11/12 at 11:39 am

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Posted by mm2316

on 11/12 at 11:38 am to wope

quote:
Loomis does have some familiarity with basketball, having played at Northwest Christian University in Eugene, Oregon (now an NAIA school), from 1975-78.

I did not know that. I tried searching for a picture of him playing or a team photo, but no luck.

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Posted by quail man

on 11/12 at 11:43 am to TigerinATL

Demps played the Gordon shite as best as he could. he made the move he felt at the time he had to with the information he had present. it is what it is, and I'm sure he got approval to do what he had to do from Loomis, etc. he's made some amazing moves and trades the past few years. i'd take him over anyone else.

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Posted by TigerinATL

on 11/12 at 11:49 am to quail man

quote:
Demps played the Gordon shite as best as he could. he made the move he felt at the time he had to with the information he had presen

The comments were probably made by the very same idiots that said we should have traded CP3 instead of Collison, as if that's something you consider for even a split second. Teams like the Hornets don't usually get to turn cap space into a star player, so you take your slim chances with the star player in the hand rather than hoping you can be the team that lands the 2 or 3 star players available through FA or Trade every season.

quote:
i'd take him over anyone else.

The GM candidate pool is so thin that pretty much every recent GM job has been filled by some descendent of the Pop/Buford Spurs tree. So if the Hornets were to get a new GM, they'd basically be looking for a lesser version of Demps.

This post was edited on 11/12 at 11:50 am

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Posted by 42

on 11/12 at 12:08 pm to TigerinATL

Since we are speculating here, or repeating it, I would offer up for consideration that the Gordon match / lack of S&T was a brass decision rather than a management decision. Was it more short-sighted or taking the long-view? Did it seem like a good idea with just a little data or a good idea given the body of work?

Larry Coon said today on the Hornets247 podcast, and this is a near-quote, that the Clippers didn't mind tossing Gordon in because they thought he'd command a high salary and that his injury history would make him not worth it. Key word: Clippers.

So, let's not just bring up one theory and attack it . . . put a few out there and see which ones stand up the best, because they all have holes when there is imperfect information and an `inefficient market' of that information. Who knows, maybe a new theory will form.

Again, part of that is me speculating, but part is a quote from Larry Coon who said he was told this about the Aminu trade.

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Posted by saintsfan92612

on 11/12 at 12:37 pm to 42

all I know is when the Suns offered the Max to Gordon, Demps had to match it.

We could no longer sign and trade him at that point. Our choice was sign him or let him go.

If we let him go we essentially gave up Paul for Austin Rivers and Aminu. Now, Aminu has certainly improved this past offseason and is playing great.

You could argue that a sign and trade should have been aggressively pursued prior to the max contract being offered, though.

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Posted by SlowFlowPro

on 11/12 at 12:42 pm to saintsfan92612

quote:
If we let him go we essentially gave up Paul for Austin Rivers and Aminu.

and a top draft pick and salary cap space

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Posted by TigerinATL

on 11/12 at 12:42 pm to 42

quote:
I would offer up for consideration that the Gordon match / lack of S&T was a brass decision rather than a management decision.

I would agree that Loomis/Lauscha/Benson signed off and maybe even demanded keeping Gordon. I'm not sure how good the source is but in one of the recent podcasts I think Michael said he heard Demps didn't even return calls to Phoenix and Houston about trading Gordon and the plan all along was to match.

quote:
Did it seem like a good idea with just a little data or a good idea given the body of work?

The team doctors have said there is no structural damage. If Demps wanted to unload Gordon for expirings I'm pretty sure someone would take a chance on Gordon's potential until he gets diagnosed with something career threatening. Right now Demps is playing the odds, and the odds are better that Gordon becomes a star for the Hornets than Jared Dudley and 2012 Cap Space become a star for the Hornets.

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Posted by mm2316

on 11/12 at 12:43 pm to 42

quote:
the Clippers didn't mind tossing Gordon in because they thought he'd command a high salary and that his injury history would make him not worth it. Key word: Clippers.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I remember the trade almost being called off (if not called off before being revived) because the Clippers did not want to include Gordon. From that statement, it makes it look like the opposite.

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Posted by TigerinATL

on 11/12 at 12:46 pm to SlowFlowPro

quote:
and a top draft pick and salary cap space

Getting Davis alone was enough to make the CP3 trade a win. Making future decisions based on justifying the return of a past deal can often lead to bad decision making. The question to ask when matching was "are the Hornets better with Gordon or cap space", not "did we get a good deal for CP3?"

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Posted by TigerinATL

on 11/12 at 12:51 pm to mm2316

quote:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I remember the trade almost being called off (if not called off before being revived) because the Clippers did not want to include Gordon. From that statement, it makes it look like the opposite.

While I do remember confusion as to whether or not Gordon was included in the deal, from what I remember the deal "fell apart" not over no Gordon but over no Bledsoe as a 5th asset in the deal. The GM of the Clippers said after the fact he only had preapproval from Sterling to move 4 assets, one of which was Gordon. Part of why the deal didn't happen the first time was Demps seemed to want more to feel it was comparable to what the Lakers/Rockets were offering and the Clippers had no intention of budging at all.

This post was edited on 11/12 at 12:52 pm

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Posted by saintsfan92612

on 11/12 at 12:51 pm to TigerinATL

I personally think we're better when Gordon plays then when cap space plays, but I am still waiting for the day this season.

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