Kevin Pritchard: New GM

[OnFire]

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba--larry-bird-plans-to-promote-kevin-pritchard-to-pacers-gm.html;_ylt=AuroEciKJgsNhFYy3BLYlEG8vLYF

With so many decisions to make
this offseason, can't have enough
of a good braintrust on board.

I think it's a good call and looks like
it's the writing on the wall for David
Morway. He may end up taking one
of the jobs he interviewed for.

Your thoughts.

[Scoot McGroot]

I'm a little surprised. I thought Morway was Bird's right hand man, but either their preparing for the guaranteed eventuality of losing Morway, or Bird just trusts Pritchard's views a bit better.

[Boneman2]

I read a report that said Morway was closer to Simon than Bird. Supposedly Morway and Simon were initially opposed to bringing in Pritchard, but I guess Bird is the bottom line.

We had to act because Orlando was hot on his tail. I am glad Kevin turned them down.

Also, Best of luck to Morway. He is partially responsible for our cap flexibility, so best of luck to him.

[Moooose]

Surprised as well. Morway was successful in his short tenure as the GM, but since Larry said in an interview after being awarded the Exec of the Year, he's the one with the final say on ALL matters.
To me that created a stir as to what Morway's role really was, but nonetheless, even as an assistant to Larry, he did pretty well.

Gotta trust Larry on this. Pritchard is the more seasoned GM. People blame him for drafting Oden over Durant, but really, who would've thought that Oden will go down with injuries? I'd say Pritchard did well in his tenure in Portland. In his recent years as the GM there, there could've been a rift between him, the owner, and the other front office personnel.

[SmashMouthRod]

I like this move as Pritchard has a history of finding undrafted and lower round talents. Examples are Pendergraph; Dante Cunningham; Nic Batum; and Rudy Fernandez. All of these lower first or second round guys have started or had an impact off the bench. He made the Blazers a championship contender, If only injuries didn't factor in. The team needed a talent evaluator that will make every pick; acquisition; or trade count considering that the expectations are going to get higher for the team. My belief is that he fills this role better than Morway would or could going forward.

[8305]

Pritchard will make draft day more interesting. He was always pretty active and not afraid to make the moves necessary to get who he wanted.

[Scoot McGroot]

Apparently Morway is the man who killed the OJ Mayo/Josh McRoberts S&T right before the season started when he tried to force Brandon Rush into the deal as well, according to Wojnarowski of Yahoo. A simple McRoberts for Mayo deal was agreed upon and Morway allegedly killed the deal.

[Scoot McGroot]

And from Mike Wells from the Indystar:
A Poor Relationship is the Reason Bird Wants to Replace Morway

The Pacers had agreed to a sign-and-trade deal that would have sent Josh McRoberts to Memphis for Mayo because the Grizzlies were trying to shed salary. Sources say it was Morway that caused the deal to “fall apart” because he pushed the Grizzlies to take swingman Brandon Rush. Morway did a lot of talking to teams and some of the negotiating. Bird would then step in and make the final decision.

Bird was seething over the blown deal, according to sources. He had lost any remaining trust in Morway after that.

[Wizop]

feels like Mike Wells is the source on both stories. sounds believable. Morway always defended what seemed to be a slip up on the Mayo deal that wasn't. saying that was cya could be true.

[Scoot McGroot]

Yeah, poor move by Morway in this case. If we could have netted Mayo for McRoberts in a S&T before the season, we still would have moved Rush for Amundson later (in all likelihood), and probably would not have gone after Barbosa at the deadline, as we would have already had Mayo all year to fill that type of role. We still might have acquired a different veteran at the deadline using less cap space, though (ideally, it would have been a center or other big man).

[8305]

Don't know that this past season's outcome would have been remarkably different with Mayo all year vs Barbosa at the end. Mayo as I recall didn't kill it in the playoffs either. But, it would be interesting to have the rights to match offers for Mayo in this free agency period. It would have also been interesting to assess the wing tandem he and George might be.

But now, I can't imagine Indiana is an ideal destination for Mayo. Gotta think he will want to go where he can be a starter and that probably isn't here.

As for Bird and Morway too bad their partnership is ending this way. The work they've done has put this team in a pretty good spot. Reading between the lines Bird will have a level of trust with Pritchard that he never had with Morway and as result will be able to step away from the day to day grind.

[Shem]

I hope Pritchard has more success than he did in Portland.

[Boneman2]

It's not easy to overcome the 'jailblazers tag.. The media actually named us 'jailblazers II.

Kevin did a good job in Portland, and seemed to be an innovative gm. His pulse on league activity seemed very high, like he was in the discussion on trades he wasn't even involved in.

If certain injuries could have been avoided, Portland had a legit opportunity to win a championship under his guidance.

[Scoot McGroot]

I think the tough thing is that Pritchard came off as doing a great job in the midst of it all happening, but he disregarded ANY health or physical advice from the team doctors when drafting Oden and Brandon Roy.

Pritchard did his main work in spending his GM's money, though. Some of his most positively viewed draft decisions were made with draft picks that were purchased with cash (Rudy Fernandez, and to a lesser extend, Sergio Rodriguez).

Many of his deals were hailed as genius at the time, but haven't aged well for the Blazers. I think he tends to make moves for the sake of making moves, and he talks often. He's kind of the opposite of Larry Bird, in that Bird tends to talk and talk, and stand firm and only make moves that make sense both now, and in the future for the Pacers. He tends to make simple moves that have low levels of risk (like drafting a sure thing in Tyler Hansbrough as opposed to possibly make higher risk moves that could pay off down the road).

All in all, I'm very ok with Pritchard, as I think he'll work hand in hand with Bird. I see Pritch making a lot of draft day discussions on trades, and providing them to Bird for final say so. I don't see any deals being negotiated, and then sabotaged by Pritchard as they're about to go down (as apparently Morway was wont to do).

[Pacersike]

We should be really scared for getting Eric Gordon(trade) now.