re: POBO and GM

Assuming they really do a thorough, professional search, it's as safe as it gets.

To tie in to people bringing up owner 'basketball savvy,' think of it like this: the President is essentially that savvy acting as proxy for the owner of every decision dealing with on the court performance. It is what Loomis is to the Saints. Sometimes they have additional knowledge about player personnel scouting (like Zarren) sometimes they don't.

To the extent a President doesn't have the required in-depth personnel knowledge you would have a GM under him and then various positions down the line like Dir. of Player Personnel, Dir. of Scouting, etc. Like the Saints have Loomis, Ireland, etc.

ML had business responsibilities but not personnel. He was given basketball duties because of Bounty Gate and his basketball knowledge. Yes ML played college basketball.
It was not the organizational structure but Mr Benson's illnesses that allowed Dell to survive for 8 plus years.

What I'm saying is Demps was the de facto head of operations (POBO and GM) for the Pelicans since his hire. He just didn't have the title. Not saying that was a good move, or he did a great job, it's just the reality of the situation. I believe there are other NBA teams out there that combine POBO and GM. It's not necessarily a bad thing.

And Loomis having a title in the Pelicans organization -- as far as material impact -- is not necessarily a bad thing (or as bad as people here make it out to be). His title could have been 'Woozle-Wonder-Pony' for all it mattered. He was there because Benson didn't want to deal with the day-to-day operations of the Pelicans. Loomis just handed everything over to Demps (at least initially).

The more important point is that Demps was not the right man for either/both of those jobs; not that Loomis had some nominal involvement in the team. The latter is a complete red herring to the main issue: Demps didn't deliver.

If we had Michael Jordan as owner we’d be so awesome

I questioned the need for separate persons in another thread and it was left unanswered.

I don't see a need for two people.

While roles vary from team to team, POBO looks over everything from operations through the business end. From standpoint of an op decision effecting business (e.g. do we sign X player with his baggage), a POBO with a hand in eveything can better counsel ownership. I think POBOs are great for teams with more resources, so while I'd love to see Gayle increase the budget to hire a POBO, a lower revenue team like the Pelicans (with shared business team with the Saints) doesn't *need* a POBO over business. In that sense, a POBO would mostly be involved in operational decisions (scouting, development, etc) with a role largely duplicative of a GM. Instead of paying two smaller salaries to separate POBO and GM, pay a larger salary to one person, give both titles, and increase the odds of getting who you want.

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You are hung up on a title that doesn't matter in the business scheme Benson set up

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lol. you are hung up on "business scheme" while Loomis has a title that directly puts him in charge of the non-business side of the team. whether that means something or not to Gayle/Tom, it certainly sends a message to everyone else inside and outside the organization.

what do you not get about this:

the set up they have gone with for years has, at a minimum, created the perception that ownership just doesn't take their pro basketball franchise seriously

if Loomis was in this role with this same exact title, but was actually doing it full time, that would be okay

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You still don't get it. He will no longer have that title now, but do you think Gayle magically stops talking to him about the business side of the team? So, I guess you are saying you would have been fine as long as "POBO" was not behind his name.

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Yes.

42 laying this out 10 days ago

LINK

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these men, more so today than last year, are very much more than functionaries. They are the ownership-level figures.

The issue with the current structure is not so much one of internal function. I personally think the empire functions just fine. The issue is more a combination of:

Actual confusion externally about who is in charge
Willful ignorance externally about who is in charge
Faked ignorance externally about who is in charge
Mr. Loomis saying his basketball role was “greatly overstated”
Mr. Loomis objectively being Demps’ superior in Basketball Operations

These are issues of a very different kind, with different sources, but they all have one cure: clarity.

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we see Jeanie Buss is a CEO, Magic is the President of Basketball Operations, and Tim Harris is over business operations. Rob Pelinka, the general manager, reports to Magic. NBA insiders are not confused by this, right or wrong. Examination of this structure illustrates the problem. Is Loomis more like Magic, who works with Pelinka to the extent that working with Pelinka is equivalent to working with the pair in charge? Or is Loomis more like Jeanie Buss who is more over an oversight on the big picture and major moves?

Moreover, as the larger business itself has a non-traditional structure that includes and entire NFL franchise, and Loomis is also a part of that, the fog deepens.

Right or wrong, it causes avoidable problems of varying degree, and it’s worth fixing. The organization, however, cannot just change things on a whim for a couple of reasons. The structure has to respect

NBA Norms
NFL Norms
Actual internal operations, checks, and balances

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it’s not what Loomis, others on that level, or what the actual owner does or who they that is really the issue. It’s about the mismatch of expectations. A few real and a few cosmetic changes can go a long way toward making the Pelicans “unremarkable” in all the ways one wants to be unremarkable in the end.

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Anyone who thinks Loomis having any kind of role with the Pelicans going forward is a good thing, frankly, is an idiot when it comes to the NBA.

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Loomis will have an advisory role to Gayle regardless of his title. He and Lauscha (along with Bensel to an extent) are her trusted advisors.