Pelicans GM Search -- Griffin hired as team architect moving forward

[Jamaaliver]

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David Griffin, Danny Ferry reportedly among candidates for Pelicans GM job

This coming offseason will set the tone in New Orleans for years to come. Maybe the next decade.

The Pelicans are going to trade Anthony Davis, and 25-year-old franchise cornerstone, top 10 NBA players do not become available often.

The new GM in New Orleans is going to set that tone.

Who is that going to be? The top contenders:

• Danny Ferry - the interim GM for New Orleans right now (taking over after Dell Demps was fired), has experience in the big chair. He retooled the Hawks roster into a 60-win team without bottoming out and tanking, although the team could not sustain that level of play. He was fired under less than ideal circumstances (to put it kindly).
  
  
• David Griffin, the former Suns and Cavaliers GM, is the biggest name on the board. He told NBC Sports a couple of months ago he’s only taking a job that is a good fit.
  “As I look at it now, the thing that would attract me to an opportunity is just the opportunity to be in lockstep with ownership,” Griffin said. “To have ownership, the coach, and the front office all on the same page moving forward and sharing a vision…
  
  
  
• Gersson Rosas is the right-hand man of Daryl Morey who was briefly the GM of the Mavericks (there was a misunderstanding there and he returned to Houston) and he has been in the running for the openings with the Pistons, Sixers, and other jobs. He is highly respected around the league.
  
  
• Trajan Langdon is the assistant GM of the Nets, a team that has had a very impressive rebuild.

Whoever gets the GM job, a big part of it will be managing Benson and Loomis. For example, there are reports the Pelicans’ brass refuses to trade Davis to the Lakers. What matters in New Orleans is the return, not who gets Davis. It’s the GM’s job to help the owner and her advisors to see past any frustrations with the process.

NBC Sports

[GopherIt!]

we got griffey

[SmokeyPaw]

Congrats on the Trajan Landon hire. He headed their scouting operation and they've done a great job finding young talent in the draft(levert,allen,kurocs), trades (russel), and waivers (harris dinwiddie).

[Jamaaliver]

Pelicans primed for success with Griffin at helm

With Dell Demps replaced as general manager by David Griffin, the mastermind behind LeBron James’ success in Cleveland, the Pelicans have proven, competent leadership in place to help guide Zion into becoming the next face of the NBA. Griffin received the biggest gift that any NBA front office could ask for in winning the NBA Draft lottery with the seventh best odds and winning the Zion Williamson sweepstakes. Then, he completed the biggest trade in NBA history sending Anthony Davis to the Lakers and came out on the winning side with Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart and multiple future draft picks and swaps including the fourth pick in the 2019 NBA Draft that was traded in exchange for Jaxson Hayes (eighth pick) and Nickell Alexander-Walker (17th pick). In the trade that sent the fourth pick to the Hawks for Hayes and Alexander-Walker, Griffin was also able to unload Solomon Hill’s horrendous 4-year, 48-million-dollar deal and clear cap space before free agency began.

During free agency, Griffin continued to prove that he is the right man to lead the Pelicans into a new decade with the signing of 3-point specialist JJ Redick and the trade for Utah Jazz big man Derrick Favors. The magnitude of the Redick signing is twofold: in one sense, Redick brings elite outside shooting which will be necessary for spacing in a Zion Williamson based offense, and in the other sense, the Redick signing shows that New Orleans can attract big-name free agents to a small market NBA team. The combination of a competent front office and the chance to play next to the NBA’s next potential star has made New Orleans a plausible venue for future max-salary free agents.

Furthermore, the clear vision for the future of the Pelicans as a team with elite young talent and a veteran leader in former All-Star and first-team all-defense Jrue Holiday has invigorated a city whose primary focus has been the Saints while the Pelicans have always been the “little brother” of the city. From the streets of the French Quarter to the banks of the Mississippi River, the Zion effect has been in full swing. Basketball is fun again in NOLA, and David Griffin and Zion Williamson are in a large part the reason why.

The last part of the puzzle, however, is to be able to win on a consistent basis and make deep playoff runs not only to entice potential free agents but also to keep fans and players like Zion, Zo and Brandon Ingram happy and engaged. While the last piece of the puzzle is undetermined, David Griffin has without a doubt resurrected the Pelicans from a boring, irrelevant, small market team after the Anthony Davis trade request to a fun, fast-paced, athletic, young team with playoff hopes going into this year. In New Orleans style and in the words of Zion Williamson, “Let’s Dance.”

The Observer