The Pelicans had the unfortunate distinction of finishing the 2015/16 campaign with their players missing a total of 351 games due to injury and illness, which was the most in the NBA in the past six years. “It’s been disappointing,” GM Dell Demps said of the seemingly never-ending string of physical maladies New Orleans endured this season. “We had a lot of high hopes coming into the season. And, obviously, not being at full strength has really … it’s been tough. It’s been tough on us. It’s been tough on the organization.“
New Orleans, which had been predicted by many to be a playoff contender this season, went just 30-52 on the campaign, which was a decrease of 15 wins from its 2014/15 showing. Demps is on the hot seat as a result and his position with the organization in doubt. The executive was originally scheduled to have his season-ending press conference on Monday, but it was abruptly rescheduled for an unspecified later date. The Pelicans have reportedly not made any final decision regarding Demps’ future with the team and evaluations of the rest of his staff are still ongoing, though current indications are that the executive will remain in his post for next season, according to Brett Dawson of The Advocate.
This brings me to the topic for today: Should the Pelicans retain Dell Demps as GM?
New Orleans has gone 203-273 while under Demps’ control, hardly an earth-shattering track record, but the Pelicans did appear to be a franchise on the rise before the season’s parade of injuries commenced. Do you believe the executive should be given another season to show results, considering how the team’s glut of injuries could not have been foreseen? Or have you viewed a large enough sample size of Demps to decide that he’s not the one to lead the Pelicans to the next level? Take to the comments section to share your thoughts and opinions on the subject, weigh in on what you believe Demps’ best and worst moves were as an executive, or simply to vent about New Orleans’ frustrating season. We look forward to what you have to say.
Time for a fresh approach there. Perhaps all those Dumars rumors are about to come true.
In theory, it wouldn’t be fair to Demps to fire him after such an injury-filled season. But it wasn’t fair to Monty Williams last year to fire him after making the playoffs.
They were hoping with a new coach they’d be in the top of the conference like the warriors, back when they were making the playoffs with mark Jackson, fired him and Kerr made the Warriors legendary, that was their hope. I think firing Monty was a bad move, and that maybe a new gm who will get the things needed for a championship contender, bc demps isn’t doing it.
Totally agreed. Firing Monty Williams, letting locker-room leader/granddad Kendrick Perkins go, signing the giant clodhoppers of Omer Asik, and not having ANY guard depth for the season…. the whole 2015 offseason was a flop.
One of the jobs of a good GM is to have a team that can manage through injuries and has depth to replace guys when they go down.
I realize this was a lot of injuries, but even with AD they didn’t have enough power to get over the hump.
But I don’t know that that’s Demps fault either
The Pelicans have three starters who should be primary ball handlers: Holiday, Evans, and to a lesser extent, Anthony Davis. This isn’t ideal, and it hasn’t been productive for them, especially with Holday’s constant health issues. One of the guards should be moved and not for another high-risk, low reward option (like Omer Asik at 10-mil a year, although that was a free agency gaffe). Demps has seemed content to let this nucleus stagnate, and while continuity is great, coming up short every year is not. Demps needs to move on, in my opinion.
Demps had 6 years to build a team that could compete for a championship but at least a playoff contender with Anthony Davis. His personel decisions are mistakes that he cannot escape and must be held accountable. It is time to move on and find a GM with experience to change the roster to fit AD talent.
Let’s not forget about the fact that demps traded for asik to begin with, before signing him to one of the worst contracts in the league. And let’s definitely not forget about his attempt to trade Chris Paul for a package that was so bad it had to be stopped by the NBA. If the trade hadn’t been stopped by the league then we wouldn’t even have AD.
Show Demps the door. 6 years wasted. He has given out bad contracts, has not drafted and developed anyone, CP3 and Dwest dragged this team to the playoffs in 2010 and if Kevin durant didn’t miss 67 games last year the Pelicans wouldn’t have made the playoffs in 2014-2015. Time for a change.