Pelicans’ Front Office Decisions Draw Scrutiny as Coaching, Rookie Storylines Emerge
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The New Orleans Pelicans filled their top basketball-operations post last spring without conducting an extensive search, awarding Joe Dumars what league insiders describe as one of the NBA’s most lucrative executive contracts, The Athletic’s John Hollinger reported. The deal came just two days after the club dismissed David Griffin and three days after the season ended, despite the franchise’s reputation for conservative spending.
Hollinger added that Dumars has been leaning heavily on senior vice president Troy Weaver for major roster calls. According to both Hollinger and previous reporting from HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto, Weaver led the offseason trades that brought in guard Jordan Poole and rookie center Derik Queen.
Several rival executives were puzzled by New Orleans’ decision to hire Weaver, given his uneven tenure running the Detroit Pistons and the absence of competing offers for a high-level role. Sources in Detroit told The Athletic that the Pelicans never contacted the Pistons to vet Weaver before finalizing his hire. Hollinger argued that owner Gayle Benson and Dumars, rather than Weaver, deserve the brunt of criticism for the club’s hands-off leadership approach.
Coaching Outlook
Interim head coach James Borrego’s best path to keeping the job beyond this season is to elevate an offense that ranked 27th when Willie Green was fired, Jake Fischer wrote in The Stein Line. Borrego’s offensive résumé includes guiding Charlotte to eighth in offensive rating in 2021-22, his last year with the Hornets.
Hollinger expressed doubt that Borrego will remain long term, framing this season as an audition that could lead to a search favoring a candidate with ties to Weaver, such as former Nets assistant Kevin Ollie. While Fischer has also heard Ollie linked to New Orleans, he characterized the coach’s standing with the franchise as unclear.
Fischer added that Orlando Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley would be on the Pelicans’ wish list if he ever became available. Despite offseason adjustments to his staff and early rumblings of friction with star forward Paolo Banchero, Mosley’s Magic have won seven of their past 10 games, with both losses coming by four points.
Rookie Micah Peavy Makes His Case
First-rounders Queen and Jeremiah Fears have received steady minutes early in the season, and second-round pick Micah Peavy is beginning to carve out a role as well, Rod Walker of NOLA.com observed. The 6’7” wing has appeared in each of the past seven contests and turned in a season-best showing Monday against Oklahoma City, scoring 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting with four assists and four rebounds.
“I thought he came out and gave us great energy,” Borrego said after the game. “Defensively, he really impacted that game.” Peavy, who prides himself on his defense, said he aims to become a “spark plug” off the bench in the mold of guard Jose Alvarado: “Do whatever it takes to be on the floor and make winning plays… especially with my defense.”
Source: Hoops Rumors
