Four candidates stood out in the Pistons‘ first round of interviews as they look for a new president of basketball operations, sources tell Vincent Goodwill and Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports.
Pelicans general manager Trajan Langdon, former Knicks GM and current ESPN analyst Scott Perry, Mavericks advisor Dennis Lindsey, and Magic senior advisor John Hammond were all impressive in their meetings with the firm that’s conducting the initial search, according to the authors’ sources. They are considered frontrunners to meet with owner Tom Gores, who hopes to hire someone in advance of the draft.
Goodwill and Fischer suggest that Detroit might be waiting to see if Timberwolves president Tim Connelly becomes available before making a final decision, echoing a report from Shams Charania of The Athletic earlier this week. Connelly’s contract includes an opt-out clause at the end of the season, and he may be tempted to leave Minnesota, given the franchise’s unstable ownership situation.
Whoever takes over the Pistons’ front office will determine whether general manager Troy Weaver and head coach Monty Williams will remain with the team. There are several other important decisions upcoming this offseason, including a possible rookie scale extension for Cade Cunningham and how to spend up to $64MM in cap room.
Several of the top candidates have previous ties to the Pistons organization, the authors note. When Langdon was a player, his agent was Arn Tellem, who now serves as the team’s vice chairman. Perry is a Detroit native who got his first executive job with the Pistons in 2000 and served as vice president of basketball operations from 2008-12. Hammond was formerly an assistant coach and assistant general manager in Detroit.
I bet Connolly is willing to leave something he just built with the next face of the NBA to go to Detroit, makes a ton of sense
Stranger things have happened. Did you know that the guy who built the Nuggets championship roster left the Nuggets to go to the run the lowly T-Wolves? He drafted Jokic, Porter and Murray, signed KCP and Jeff Green and made the trade for Aaron Gordon.
It is not because someone talks a lot that they are going to be the face of the nba but then again some people think Kobe was better than TD, so maybe…
Connelly left DEN for MIN based on $$, and did so despite DEN looking like it was much closer to a championship. Perfectly legitimate reasons, but, alone, it means nobody should be surprised if he does so again. Based on what Gores paid Monty Williams, I imagine whatever Connelly’s offered, it will, if accepted, make him the highest paid TP in the league.
It’s also notable that Connelly is only free to sign with DET because he has an out in his contract in the event the Team A-Rod wasn’t running things. That’s not a typical provision, and one should assume it’s in there for a reason. His. Perhaps relying on Team Rod’s original money partner (not part of the Team at this point), which financed his MIN contract, to continue to spread $$ around like party favours. They have that reputation. Taylor, to say the least, does not.
John Hammond makes a lot of sense for the Pistons. He worked for the Pistons under Joe Dumars and was there when they won the championship in 2004. He left to take over in Milwaukee and took an intern by the name of Jon Horst with him. My only concern is his age. He’s 69 years old. How much longer does he want to keep doing this?
John Hammond can right this ship, with Scott Perry under him in an assistant role