David Stern: "Dell Demps is a lousy general manager"

[Tim Floyd]

“I didn’t do a great job of explaining it at the time,” Stern told the publication in the profile posted Wednesday (Oct. 24). “There was a trade that Dell Demps wanted us to approve and I said heck no, but he had told (Rockets GM) Daryl Morey and (then Lakers GM) Mitch Kupchak he had authority to do it and he didn’t. I said no. We just settled a lockout and you want me to approve a basketball trade?”

He continued: “(Demps) had agreed to (trade Paul to the Lakers for) Kevin Martin and Luis Scola or something, and I said we can do better than that.... And the next trade was (to the Clippers for) Eric Gordon and Al-Farouq Aminu and what we thought was a really great draft pick, the 10th pick, which turned out to be Austin Rivers. At least those three and someone else (center Chris Kaman).

“But Dell Demps is a lousy general manager and none of those players are currently with the team anymore, and he may lose Anthony Davis."

https://www.nola.com/pelicans/2018/1...l-manager.html

[Mythrol]

What's this, A hit piece on the Pels GM in the middle of our most successful start in almost a decade?

[da ThRONe]

Wow! This doesn't even seem like it could be true for a former Commissioner to talk down about a current GM. As much as I've taken exception to Demps moves calling him lousy just seems classless. I didn't agree with his vision but at least he had one.

[AusPel]

Wow

[Taker597]

Well, he was right. Luckily, Demps grew and learned to be a good GM. He made a lot of bad deals and move. After the Boogie... I would say it would be hard pressed to find a better GM.. I really believe that he learned to finally build a team.

[stormcenter]

Cousins move wasn't too hot either.......we got burned on that one too. I honestly don't think Cousins ever had any
intentions of staying here even before the injury.

[UNO Gracias]

Demps is still a mid tier GM. He has as many misses as he does hits.

[AusPel]

The only guy from the trade I'd still have on the team is Aminu. Stern needs to STFU

[Fraunpetri]

So, Boogie who was set for the supermax with a Godawful Sacramento team and was by all accounts going to take it, would have passed on a max deal with a Pelicans team that probably would have taken him to his first playoff series?

If Boogie doesn't get injured we would have had a different looking team but still would have gone after Niko, gotten him, and likely would have made the playoffs. We would have offered Boogie a max contract this season and there is little doubt to me that he would have taken it. What other even remotely decent team would have made a run? The Lakers and Mavs would have been the only suitors and I doubt he chooses them over us.

The injury makes you think we lost the trade but you do that trade 10 times out of 10 and Dell pulled it off. The fact that we rebounded and look as good as we do now speaks to Dell's ability to take advantage of the opportunities that presented themselves. You can dislike his direction or risks but don't think the Boogie trade wasn't a smart move in hindsight because of a freak injury.

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[AusPel]

So, Boogie who was set for the supermax with a Godawful Sacramento team and was by all accounts going to take it, would have passed on a max deal with a Pelicans team that probably would have taken him to his first playoff series?

If Boogie doesn't get injured we would have had a different looking team but still would have gone after Niko, gotten him, and likely would have made the playoffs. We would have offered Boogie a max contract this season and there is little doubt to me that he would have taken it. What other even remotely decent team would have made a run? The Lakers and Mavs would have been the only suitors and I doubt he chooses them over us.

The injury makes you think we lost the trade but you do that trade 10 times out of 10 and Dell pulled it off. The fact that we rebounded and look as good as we do now speaks to Dell's ability to take advantage of the opportunities that presented themselves. You can dislike his direction or risks but don't think the Boogie trade wasn't a smart move in hindsight because of a freak injury.

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No intelligent person would think the trade failed because Boogie went down, that's moon logic

[Taker597]

No intelligent person would think the trade failed because Boogie went down, that's moon logic

Even If we had hindsight. t Buddy Heild is a solid bench player. I don't think he has more value than Boogie gave us for a year and a half.

[6warddude]

i did like that lakers trade for cp3 because odom and scola was good at that time and it would have added depth to our team....the clippers trade got us AD so in hindsight stern was right about a better trade to tank lol...

now saying that bs about demps may lose AD is just them piling up the AD going somewhere else train smh....

[Fraunpetri]

Even If we had hindsight. t Buddy Heild is a solid bench player. I don't think he has more value than Boogie gave us for a year and a half.

I am glad you are not our GM.

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[6warddude]

also the pelicans are 3-0 beating a good clippers team and david stern calling demps a bad GM is the only pelican news we are hearing about lol....

[kinglio21093]

LMFAO.

"Gotta bring those Pels back to Earth!" - Media

[Taker597]

I am glad you are not our GM.

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Jamal Murray was always a better prospect. So, we are lucky we flipped a soon to be 25 year old prospect for Boogie. Never should of drafted him before Murray..

[wnelson]

the only question I have is why? not just why now but why ever? stern was good for the game but this is just small

[DarkHornet]

the only question I have is why? not just why now but why ever? stern was good for the game but this is just small

Agreed. What would motivate him to so publicly run down a GM like that? Because he was embarrassed by the result of the Chris Paul trade?

[JJackisangry]

Such a poorly timed shot at Demps. It’s obviously agenda driven (I wouldn’t be surprised if he was talked into this by the talking heads). If he had said this after the Asik and Hill deabacles, I would be inclined to agree. He has shown that he is capable of taking the next step now that the Pelicans have more pull with players. What it really boils down to is that David Stern is a colassal narcissist. ‘He saved the franchise’ in his own mind and Dell ruined everything that he worked so hard to accomplish here. It’s sour grapes from Stern now that Dell has managed to build a pretty good looking team- without the players Stern ‘brought in’

[Pelicanidae]

Paul Pierce obviously had him on the phone like "quick, please say something so that I'm not the biggest Pels hater in the world anymore"

[luckyman]

Wow! This doesn't even seem like it could be true for a former Commissioner to talk down about a current GM. As much as I've taken exception to Demps moves calling him lousy just seems classless. I didn't agree with his vision but at least he had one.

As someone who has to deal with people in the corporate world, it's not that strange.

I've learned that it's quite ok to be completely classless towards certain types of people, becuase there will be no repercussions. I've seen it too many times. Very strange and odd behavior, but I'm not shocked.

[Mythrol]

Almost too classy for me...

[luigi modelo]

Almost too classy for me...

for real!

[6warddude]

nice and nasty ...i like it lol

[Chris]

Damn. What a classless thing to say. Even ESPN is picking up this story...


David Stern: Pelicans GM Dell Demps a 'lousy general manager'