Pelicans reportedly interested in ex-Pistons GM Joe Dumars
"The love for all things Louisiana by Pelicans owner Tom Benson and his wife, Gayle, is well-known. That could be why the hot rumor circulating around the league right now is that if Benson decides the team is not meeting expectations and makes changes, he will bring in two Louisiana natives as replacements—former Detroit Pistons GM Joe Dumars and former Nets/Mavericks head coach Avery Johnson."
It didn’t take long for Dumars’ name to rise from the ashes, now did it? I actually buy everything about this rumor — both the possibility that New Orleans cleans house if they fail to seriously contend for a playoff spot and the idea of hiring Dumars and Johnson.
This isn’t the first time Dumars has been linked to Johnson. The former Mavs and Nets coach was reportedly a top target of Dumars after the Pistons fired Michael Curry in 2009.
That was the same era in which Drew Sharp of the Detroit Free Press wrote that then-owner Karen Davidson was unwilling to pay for Johnson with the team still paying off Flip Saunders and Curry.
But the idea of Dumars getting a second chance in New Orleans is interesting. The Pelicans have a superstar in the making with Anthony Daivs and they’ve got a talented point guard in Jrue Holiday.
Dumars spent his last six years in Detroit doing EVERYTHING HUMANLY POSSIBLE to acquire anybody resembling a star player.
In New Orleans, he’d inherit a star and a very good player in Davis and Holiday. I think he’d be in better position there than he was in (post-2008) Detroit. With the Pistons, he made his name building the team into a contender. His demise came when he had to figure out how to re-tool and later rebuild the team.
The Pelicans are waiting to be built, and that’s what Dumars does well.
Ironically, I just met Dumars last month. I was covering the Tampa Bay Bucs game against the New Orleans Saints in Tampa on Dec. 28, and who did I see in the Raymond James Stadium press box behind me? None other than Joe Dumars.
We both grabbed coffee before the game and talked. He’s a really nice guy, seemed to care about a nobody newspaper reporter’s conversation about being home for the holidays. Anyways, he told me he was in Tampa because he’s close friends with Saints’ GM Mickey Loomis.
Tom Benson, the man who owns the Pelicans, also owns the Saints.
I have nothing more than that. Dumars is close to a guy highly involved Benson’s NFL team. That’s something, especially considering the guy owns the NBA team that may or may not need a new GM in a few months.
It could also mean Dumars was just enjoying an (awful, awful) NFL game during a hellish Michigan winter. Either way, I think Dumars will get a second chance running a team. He was too good early in his management career to not get another shot, but who knows if it comes with the Pelicans.
The Pistons will take on these Pelicans tomorrow night at The Palace, so maybe a win inches New Orleans closer to all of this Dumars hysteria. Or maybe not.