Pelicans Hire Langdon

[Lipoli390]

After landing the top PBO target, David Griffin, the Pelicans just hired Langdon. That's how you build a first-class NBA front office organization. You hire a top candidate as your PBO. And then your new PBO builds a top-notch organization around him, starting with the GM as his #2 and continuing with assistant GMs and scouts. So far Rosas has said all the right things, albeit just platitudes. And he's apparently interviewing head coach candidates. But meanwhile, we have the same GM, the same assistant GMs and the same scouts who've been presiding for years over an organization steeped in failure that became a laughingstock last fall.

[TAFKASP]

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

This applies equally to the Wolves organization and too many of it's fans.

[crazy-canuck [enjin:18955461]]

It would have been kind of awkward to hire the guy as your gm just after rosas beat him out for pobo.

[bleedspeed]

Whenever I see a need leader come in at work. The first thing I look at is how many people he/she brought with. If he/she didn't bring in anyone they likely wouldn't last 18 months.

In the case of the Wolves. I would be patient. If nothing happens after the draft then I would start to get worried.

[Lipoli390]

It would have been kind of awkward to hire the guy as your gm just after rosas beat him out for pobo.

Langdon was interviewed for the Pelicans' PBO position but was beat out by Griffin, the guy who just hired him. I guess awkward's OK for the Pelicans. Actually, my issue isn't that the Wolves failed to hire Langdon as the Wolves GM under Rosas. My concern is that Rosas hasn't hired anyone yet to replace any of the existing front office executives or scouts. It's not enough for an organization as unsuccessful for as long as the Wolves to simply change the one person at the top of the basketball department. I'm not ready to press the panic button, but the fact that Rosas hasn't brought in anyone new into the front office with the draft approaching is about a month is not a good sign.

[Lipoli390]

Whenever I see a need leader come in at work. The first thing I look at is how many people he/she brought with. If he/she didn't bring in anyone they likely wouldn't last 18 months.

In the case of the Wolves. I would be patient. If nothing happens after the draft then I would start to get worried.

Waiting until after the draft for significant changes in the front office isn't acceptable given the importance of this draft to the cap-strapped Wolves.

[bleedspeed]

I think the draft is all on Rosas this year. He will be draft based on what he learned with Rockets and not on what he learns from the people here now. That would be my thought process.

[Monster]

It would have been kind of awkward to hire the guy as your gm just after rosas beat him out for pobo.

Langdon was interviewed for the Pelicans' PBO position but was beat out by Griffin, the guy who just hired him. I guess awkward's OK for the Pelicans. Actually, my issue isn't that the Wolves failed to hire Langdon as the Wolves GM under Rosas. My concern is that Rosas hasn't hired anyone yet to replace any of the existing front office executives or scouts. It's not enough for an organization as unsuccessful for as long as the Wolves to simply change the one person at the top of the basketball department. I'm not ready to press the panic button, but the fact that Rosas hasn't brought in anyone new into the front office with the draft approaching is about a month is not a good sign.

2 things to consider.

1. Griffin is an experienced NBA Executive. This isn't his first job. So it's interesting Langdon jumped to being a number 2 in a different organization. Meanwhile the Clippers kept EVERYONE people wanted. I suppose jumping to a team that just landed the number 1 overall picka Dan either has AD on their roster or all the stuff you can get in a trade sounds pretty damn good. For all the stuff the Nets have done they may not have a superstar player on their roster yet. The Pelicans could have 2 plus some other good pieces.

2. The Pelicans have their head coach and Alvin Gentry is a good one. Meanwhile the Wolves don't have that position settled. I'd put more importance on having that figured out than the GM role. You need to know who your coach is before you start drafting guys. It's not just about fit but it matters.

[Lipoli390]

It would have been kind of awkward to hire the guy as your gm just after rosas beat him out for pobo.

Langdon was interviewed for the Pelicans' PBO position but was beat out by Griffin, the guy who just hired him. I guess awkward's OK for the Pelicans. Actually, my issue isn't that the Wolves failed to hire Langdon as the Wolves GM under Rosas. My concern is that Rosas hasn't hired anyone yet to replace any of the existing front office executives or scouts. It's not enough for an organization as unsuccessful for as long as the Wolves to simply change the one person at the top of the basketball department. I'm not ready to press the panic button, but the fact that Rosas hasn't brought in anyone new into the front office with the draft approaching is about a month is not a good sign.

2 things to consider.

1. Griffin is an experienced NBA Executive. This isn't his first job. So it's interesting Langdon jumped to being a number 2 in a different organization. Meanwhile the Clippers kept EVERYONE people wanted. I suppose jumping to a team that just landed the number 1 overall picka Dan either has AD on their roster or all the stuff you can get in a trade sounds pretty damn good. For all the stuff the Nets have done they may not have a superstar player on their roster yet. The Pelicans could have 2 plus some other good pieces.

2. The Pelicans have their head coach and Alvin Gentry is a good one. Meanwhile the Wolves don't have that position settled. I'd put more importance on having that figured out than the GM role. You need to know who your coach is before you start drafting guys. It's not just about fit but it matters.

All good points, Monster. I agree it's important, as PBO, to know who your head coach is before the draft. But it's also really important to have an excellent team of executives and scouts under you and have them in place well before the draft as well. If not, you're at a disadvantage to the teams - like the Pelicans - that do.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

I'm 100% on the fence about Rosas as he was not one of my top two choices for POBO, however, I am ecstatic that he beat out Chauncey Billups as well as any other country club connections for the job. He's worked in a competent NBA front office for almost 20 years and he definitely speaks the part despite us all knowing how little the latter means in all actuality. Basically, I think he's at least qualified for the job, which is more than I can say about practically every other job holder within the Wolves organization.

With all of that said, I agree with the road he's taking as he approaches his first draft for the Wolves. It is way too late in the draft process to clean house, interview and hire new personnel to replace them, and then make good, informed decisions entering draft night. And while I genuinely think Minnesota's scouting department and front office as a whole is subpar -- to say the least -- they aren't the kind of dumpster fire that would require a clean sweep in the month of May with the draft being in late June. I feel like that would be a tremendous headache leading to new problems and a lot of scrambling within management positions, which could certainly lead to a blown 2019 NBA Draft for Minnesota's finest.

I think [and hope] that Rosas is taking the time and utilizing his patience to evaluate who and what he has currently in place and will methodically make necessary changes as he sees fit. In my mind, there has to be some competent minds worth keeping around because the decision to draft Josh Okogie at 20 last year was a good one from where I sit and scooping up Keita Bates-Diop in the second round could turn out to be quite valuable.

Anyways, I think Rosas will hold his cards for this draft and then begin to shift individuals in and out of the front office later in the summer.