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."

---

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.' "

---

quote:

---

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

---

quote:

---

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

---

quote:

---

what?

---

quote:

---

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

---

quote:

---

now you're just full of shit

---

quote:

---

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

---

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

---

quote:

---

i'd take him over anyone else.

---

quote:

---

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

---

quote:

---

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

---

quote:

---

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

---

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.

---

quote:

---

and a top draft pick and salary cap space

---

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.

---