re: Jimmy Smith (Times Pic) bringing the heat on Demps

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good article by Smith I can't help but agree with most of what he wrote.

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At least you have an excuse for being shortsighted on this.

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it apparently took the New Orleans Pelicans 80 games to realize their embarrassing mistake.

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This is revisionist history. Anyone know the names of the other guys available when we signed Stiemsma? Guys like Amundson and Cole Aldrich who haven't even spent the full season on NBA rosters. Ajinca was headed to Europe. It wasn't a mistake to sign Stiemsma, it's just the type of guy you get when you are scraping the bottom of the barrel. We knew going into the season that this was going to be a weakness.

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Signed forward Luke Babbitt on Feb. 4. Babbitt has not been a difference-maker and cannot play defense. This was a pointless move.

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Actually he's been a decent floor spacer that has made other players more efficient. It was not pointless at all. Another scraping the bottom of the barrel move out of desperation due to injury for sure, but many blogs have documented that it actually helped Tyreke quite a bit. I think Smith has done a fairly good job this year, but this piece either isn't very well thought out, or is intentionally disparaging. Funny how BSS and TBW have been writing well thought out pieces for months on why Stiemsma is bad, and Smith waits until he's cut to write a sensationalist piece calling him a mistake. I think he probably just knee jerked, because my initial reaction was "Did the blogs get Stiemsma cut?" and then when I saw he was injured, the simplest explanation of him not being available the last 2 games seemed to fit better than Demps slapping Stiemsma in the face on his way out.

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If, 80 games into a season, a team cuts an offseason free-agent signee and replaces him with a nomadic journeyman who has compiled an undistinguished NBA resume over the last 12 years, only one conclusion can be drawn: Someone made a serious miscalculation last summer.

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OR a player that everyone thought would be here as a one year stop gap when he signed was not going to be healthy for the remaining 2 games and a team that is desperately thin needed to replace him with a warm body. If Stiemsma was healthy and this happened then maybe you have a case. And if Stiemsma was cut because he was deemed a mistake, or if he was cut to prevent his resigning because Monty's usage of Stiemsma was seen as the mistake, then I think that's a good thing, not a bad thing. Mistakes will be made, but recognizing them and cutting your losses is an important ability for GMs.

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Dumars, the former McNeese State guard who is close with Saints/Pelicans executive vice president of basketball operations Mickey Loomis, stepped down as the Pistons' president of basketball operations on Monday.

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Interesting. I've said for a while I'd love for Demps to have a senior advisor. I'm not sure I want anyone that thinks Josh Smith is your savior calling the shots, but his experience and access could be valuable to Demps. Let Dumars be VP of basketball ops and let Loomis be a little more hands off so he can focus on the Saints.

Best part of the article:

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Johnson could be an option as a basketball ops hire; he probably does not want to coach.

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Too bad it sounds like he's just pulling stuff out of his arse.