NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) – Saints general manager Mickey Loomis was asked about his role with the Pelicans recently at the Senior Bowl in Mobile.
“It is something Mr. Benson has asked me to do,” said Loomis. “But, again it is overblown to the exact hands on work that I do.”
Here’s my suggestion to Loomis. Get active quickly. Tell General Manager Dell Demps that he isn’t making any more trades before the deadline. Tell Demps that the entire organization, top to bottom, will be evaluated at the end of the year.
It is the right thing to do. Tell Dell Demps any proposed trades, including one for Jahlil Okafor, ain’t gonna happen. No more mortgaging the future.
Under Demps’ leadership (almost seven years), the Pelicans have won two playoff games. And, when they did make the playoffs under head coach Monty Williams, Demps survived; Williams was fired.
Demps’ resume is loaded with bad decisions. Firing Williams was only one of many. How about trading two first round picks to Philadelphia for Jrue Holiday, who was injured.
How about trading a first round pick for Omer Asik, who is now relegated, and rightly so, to the Pelicans bench. That Asik wasn’t good enough wasn’t obvious to the Pelicans, who signed him to a contract extension. Asik, including this season, is owed more than $43 million over the next four years.
Alexis Ajinca, a fringe backup center (at best), is owed about $15 million over three years.
Now, the Pelicans want to reportedly trade yet another first round pick for Okafor.
No thanks.
The best thing for the Pelicans is to do nothing the rest of the season.
In his interview last month with reporters at the Senior Bowl, Loomis said this about basketball operations.
“We’ve got Dell as the general manager, and Alvin (Gentry) as the head coach, and they do a great job with their staffs over there.”
Loomis was trying to be polite and supportive. But, let’s face it. The Pelicans are bad basketball. They are on their way to their second consecutive 50-loss season. And, they already mortgaged much of their future.
For a small market team, the NBA draft should be your building cornerstone. Not trades for players that other teams do not want.
The best thing that could happen, in hopes of keeping Anthony Davis in a Pelicans uniform, is the following: Be bad the rest of the year and hope for luck in the lottery.
Get younger and get better. And in the meantime, tell Dell Demps, who wants to make yet another bad deal, to stand down.
