Pelicans GM Search -- Griffin hired as team architect moving forward
Posted: Tue Mar 26, 2019 2:36 pm
NBC SportsDavid 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.