re: Offseason Dell Demps Job Watch - Day 28ish - And now my watch is ended

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we are basically working without a POBO. Some teams do that

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Exactly. POBO isn't a gaping hole on this team b/c they need someone to have that title. The problem is a leadership one, not a title one. They can hire people and make up titles.

The question becomes, like I posed earlier, do we really think they will hire another exec to fulfill that role?

Maybe, they fire Demps and bring in a new voice. But I don't know why anyone thinks this group would (not should) bring in another exec to be above Demps and below Loomis. If they won't go after a bench coach or assistant GM to fill their staffs, why in the world are they getting another guy to manage their GM and report to Loomis?

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My first thought is how can he be meddlesome if we agree he's not really acting as a POBO

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Ownership can be the most meddlesome factor via unrealistic expectations, insufficient support, hiring the wrong guys, not holding people accountable, etc. James Dolan isn't POBO, but he's incompetent and has crippled his team for years. Again POBO is just a title. My main point:

Hiring a guy to take on that title won't really change much if ownership doesn't support that hire in a way that we haven't seen yet.

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why I think Dumars is our best chance to change direction

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I agree with this. They might be more inclined to listen to Dumars. OF course, what will Dumars be telling them in UFA?

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An empty SKC isn't good for the Pels and some of Benson's other business interests

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No doubt he's losing money annually on the Pels. Question is, if he was ready to force it to build a winner three years ago, why will he be patient now?

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agree. The problem is, even if you believe Benson/Loomis would hire a Ferry or Schlenk, will they give him the support (financial and otherwise) to build that type of culture? Because it won't work without ownership buying in and providing muscle behind the philosophy.

And I have serious doubts. Nothing they have done with the Saints or the Pels screams forward thinking. They seem to be a very insular group. With Benson's health an issue, Loomis is looking at being a de facto owner for quite a while. Who's got the stick and the willingness to demote him?

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I will say, and someone can correct me where I am wrong, but I distinctly remember reading at least a couple articles about Payton and Loomis being some of the first major tinkerers with the still in its infancy NFL analytics. I have always held that in the back of my mind as a silver lining that maybe we will get it right in some capacity eventually because Loomis does seem to at least be the type of mind that puts value in some of that sort of cutting edge stuff. And to his credit, unlike a lot of other GM's that dig in, he admitted errors and re-staffed his scouting department.

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like clockwork....... Dell gone tomorrow?

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Two more rookies left to sign and rookie camps starts up on Friday. Loomis still working the phones on rookie deals. Probably going to be a little longer.

Have they signed Reed yet?

Obviously, with revenue sharing, its very unlikely the Pelicans are losing money.

Possibly.

I've never seen a breakdown of how robust revenue sharing actually is. Absurd tax teams like Brooklyn help, but most teams avoid that.

Revenue comes from home games and local TV contracts (:gulp:). Now with this massive national contract, they should not be losing money. But Lowe had some interesting bits here about that, in particular the escrow fund

LINK

C'est le vie

frick these frickers. They can all frick off.

frick Dell Demps.

frick Mickey Loomis.

frick Tom Benson.

frick 'em all.

It means nothing really

The curious piece to the puzzle is still the end of year presser. Him not having it really shouldn't be a sign that he's in trouble either, I just don't understand why it didn't happen. It's usually not very illuminating, but maybe he drops a nugget like Gentry did about prioritizing a play making SF. Demps really couldn't carve an hour out of his schedule in the last month?