Could the hiring of David Griffin as the Pelicans‘ new head of basketball operations change how Anthony Davis views his situation in New Orleans? That’s the question Joe Vardon explores in his latest article for The Athletic, noting that the former Cavaliers GM earned LeBron James‘ respect in Cleveland and oversaw a Cavs roster that featured three Rich Paul clients.
While there has been no indication yet that Davis is willing to change his mind on his desire to get out of New Orleans, Griffin is likely to make a “direct appeal” to the All-Star big man in an effort to get him to reconsider, Vardon writes. Ultimately, Vardon expects Griffin to have to move Davis, but the veteran exec figures to enter the situation with an open mind.
Within his article on Griffin, who will be formally introduced by the Pelicans today, Vardon adds that the team’s new executive VP of basketball operations will be given permission to hire a new general manager. According to Vardon, former Cavs executive Trent Redden is a strong candidate to fill that role. Redden caught on with the Clippers as an assistant GM in 2017 after being let go by Cleveland along with Griffin.
Here are a few more front office notes from around the NBA:
- In addition to reaching out to Clippers GM Michael Winger and Rockets executive VP of basketball operations Gersson Rosas, the Timberwolves also contacted Nuggets assistant GM Calvin Booth about their president of basketball operations job, writes Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic. Krawczynski takes a closer look at those candidates, observing that the initial list should reassure Wolves fans that owner Glen Taylor won’t just “revert to his buddies” during the search process.
- In an article for ESPN.com, Kevin Arnovitz makes the case for why the Lakers need to hire an outside to run their front office following Magic Johnson‘s departure from his president of basketball operations role.
- ESPN’s Brian Windhorst identifies Jon Horst (Bucks), Masai Ujiri (Raptors), Sean Marks (Nets), Daryl Morey (Rockets), and Tim Connelly (Nuggets) as strong candidates for this year’s Executive of the Year award. We made our picks for Executive of the Year on Monday.
Lmao David Griffin is not going to be the reason AD stays in NO, just trade him already
HR should do a piece on this trend of everyone having a prominent “something-something of basketball ops” in addition to a GM.
For instance in Bas.Ref. there is only one line available for “executive” which generally meant the GM. But Griffin will probably be making the decisions.
The new GM = Asst. something-something of Basketball Ops ?
That’s definitely the trend in baseball anyway.
With Glen Taylor in charge of the search for a President of Basketball Operations, his track record of basketball hires for the Timberpuppies should caution everyone to expect Taylor to revert to another BOZO !
But he also hired Flip Saunders and these reports indicate some form of competence. But I’m an optimist. ♂️