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

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- Acquired Jrue Holiday from the Philadelphia 76ers for two first-round draft choices on July 12. The jury remains in deliberation on that one because of Holiday's injury, though sacrificing a pair of lottery picks may prove to be excessive.

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A center coming off a torn acl and probably the 12th pick(bench player)?

I'd say it's worth it.

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--Signed free-agent Anthony Morrow on July 18. Once Morrow got consistent minutes, he became a valuable asset and has unquestionably enhanced his prospects for a better contract should he opt out of the last year of his deal with the Pelicans. He's due to earn $1.15 million.

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He'll probably be back

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--Signed free agents Josh Childress and Lou Amundson on Nov. 12, two players who were available to anyone in the league – including the Pelicans – three months earlier. Childress was waived a month later, Amundson after seven weeks. These were both meaningless moves that at the time reeked of desperation as the team struggled with a slow start.

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Those were no more than depth signings. Both were journeymen not legit players.

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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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Shooting 39% from 3 and is a decent to good rebounder. His defense is not that bad either,Hardly pointless when he'll be a solid guy off the bench next year making 500K.

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-Waived Stiemsma and signed Ely on Monday, with an official explanation later in the day that Stiemsma's knees have been bothering him (he was not on the injury list on Monday morning and, according to his statistics page, hadn't missed a game with injury since Dec. 28 when he was still recovering from a left medial collateral ligament strain.

Stiemsma had his fifth DNP-coach's decision on Saturday night in Houston.

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.

It also plainly illustrates the need for a fresh, additional voice in personnel matters.

Just playing devil's advocate, there are a couple of folks out there with Louisiana, and New Orleans, connections who might be available for hire this summer: Joe Dumars and Avery Johnson.

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.

While Dumars has greatly struggled recently in Detroit, he did build a team that won the NBA title in 2003-04 then lost in the Finals the next year to the San Antonio Spurs. Dumars also won back-to-back championships with the Pistons as a player.

In 2006, Dumas was brought in as a motivational speaker for the Saints during training camp in Jackson, Miss.

Because of Johnson's ties to the Saints – he was given a Super Bowl ring in 2010 – Loomis also has a friendly relationship the St. Aug and Southern graduate who won a title as a player and coached the Dallas Mavericks to the NBA Finals in 2005-06.

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

Admitting a miscalculation, at this juncture, on an important a signing as Stiemsma, is embarrassing.

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So cutting a guy that won't even play the rest of the year is an "embarassing move"?

He was losing minutes to better players in withey/ajinca. It's obvious to anyone that watched him he blows.

This whole "article" was a long winded troll post

And

at dumars/johnson