Hornets Meet with Pritchard's Agent

[adsmm23]

http://www.nola.com/hornets/index.ss...eam_presi.html

[Puddinhead]

I want to wake up and find out we signed him.

[adsmm23]

Originally Posted by Puddinhead

I want to wake up and find out we signed him.

I was hoping that too, but I remember in one of the articles about it they said that the Hornets will interview several candidates before making a decision. Hopefully that doesn't mean it will be a long drawn out process like the Head Coach search was, but NOLA has an article today that has Webber saying he wants a GM names by next week.

http://www.nola.com/hornets/index.ss...m_presi_1.html

[adsmm23]

ESPN updated this article from yesterday, and these are some intersting things from it
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=5384519

Weber said the Hornets are holding off making any free agent signings or trades until the general manager is hired.

Other candidates the Hornets are considering include Denver Nuggets Vice President of Player Personnel Rex Chapman, Washington Wizards Vice President of Basketball Administration Tommy Sheppard, former Portland Trail Blazers Vice President of Basketball Operations Tom Penn, San Antonio Spurs Vice President of Basketball Operations Dell Demps and former Sacramento Kings Assistant General Manager Jason Levien.

The Hornets have received permission from the Spurs to interview Demps

The Hornets are not considering Joe Dumars, the Detroit Pistons' president of basketball operations, who is a Louisiana native.

Anyone know anything about Demps? It always looks good to come from an orginzationg such as the Spurs, so I'm wondering how much has he had to do with what is going on over there?

[superlaser]

I think Pritchard is a perfect fit. He did a fine job building a team in Portland (a place that's not exactly a premiere free agent destination, much like us), with his only major "failure" being the Oden pick, and I don't think many would argue that he made what seemed like the right pick at the time. He's been rumored as coveting CP3 for a while, which tells me that he already has a vision of how to build a team around him long term, something we desperately need. He's also worked with Monty Williams before, which is another plus. Hopefully, we'll be adding "Make it happen, Pritchard" to our list of catchphrases soon.

[adsmm23]

Originally Posted by superlaser

I think Pritchard is a perfect fit. He did a fine job building a team in Portland (a place that's not exactly a premiere free agent destination, much like us), with his only major "failure" being the Oden pick, and I don't think many would argue that he made what seemed like the right pick at the time. He's been rumored as coveting CP3 for a while, which tells me that he already has a vision of how to build a team around him long term, something we desperately need. He's also worked with Monty Williams before, which is another plus. Hopefully, we'll be adding "Make it happen, Pritchard" to our list of catchphrases soon.

Yeah I think it would be a great hire as well. And as far as the Oden pick goes, you can't put too much blame on him. I've seen many places that said pretty much every other GM in the NBA would have made that pick too. One of the articles also said Tom Penn, who was Pritchard's top aid in Portland could land the same job here, which I think would be a good hire as well.

[Xerxes]

I have to disagree that Pritchard is a perfect fit because he had a virtually unlimited budget in Portland thanks to Paul Allen. Obviously he would not get that in New Orleans. But I do think the tie with Monty is pretty important. We'll see.

[Puddinhead]

He spent less money than the Hornets over the last 4 years...

[SonOfNOLA]

Originally Posted by adsmm23

ESPN updated this article from yesterday, and these are some intersting things from it
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=5384519






Anyone know anything about Demps? It always looks good to come from an orginzationg such as the Spurs, so I'm wondering how much has he had to do with what is going on over there?

Although Penn, who recently joined ESPN as a salary-cap analyst, is considered a candidate to replace Bower, but he could also wind up with the Hornets as an aide to Pritchard again in New Orleans if the Hornets can strike a deal with Penn's Portland boss.

I found this interesting also in the article and a big plus. Tom Penn knows a lot about managing the salary cap and that was his job while he was in Portland. He did a good job explaining on the Sportscenter NBA Free Agent segments about which player would go to a certain team, the effects of having that player's contract, and how a team could make certain moves in order to fit that player's contract, particularly Amar'e going to the Knicks and how they could manage to get both Tony Parker and Carmelo through trades, one of 'em including David Lee to San Antonio in a sign&trade at the time.

Although Penn would be just an aide to Pritchard, we'd technically have a GM for both areas; Penn for the salary cap and Pritchard to make the big moves and that's a hell of an upgrade over Bower.

[Eman5805]

Originally Posted by GeauxSaints53

I have to disagree that Pritchard is a perfect fit because he had a virtually unlimited budget in Portland thanks to Paul Allen. Obviously he would not get that in New Orleans. But I do think the tie with Monty is pretty important. We'll see.

We've had the what, 4th highest payroll last season. Our problem isn't short changing on players. We do that elsewhere.

[SonOfNOLA]

Originally Posted by GeauxSaints53

I have to disagree that Pritchard is a perfect fit because he had a virtually unlimited budget in Portland thanks to Paul Allen. Obviously he would not get that in New Orleans. But I do think the tie with Monty is pretty important. We'll see.

Despite having an unlimited budget, I don't think there's one player on Portland's roster that anyone can say is making an undeserving salary or that Pritchard overpaid for.

[NOLA-B-504]

People say that Pritchard was good only because of Paul Allens wallet, But that's false because Portland since KP was the GM Portland has always been under the cap and far from the lux tax. If you think about it the Hornets have spent more on players than Portland has over the last few years. You can have all the money to spend but you have to have a GM that knows who to spend it on, just ask the Knicks and Thomas.