New Orleans Pelicans’ General Manager Trajan Langdon is scouting virtually, talking to prospects and learning from the greats during the hiatus.
Like the rest of the New Orleans Pelicans, General Manager Trajan Langdon is doing his best to stay busy during the hiatus.
Langdon was a recent guest on the Pelicans Podcast, where he had a lot of interesting things to say about everything from scouting players to what he can learn from “The Last Dance.”
Langdon talked about how he and his staff are staying busy putting together their top-45 college prospect big board and how they are actually ahead of schedule.
They’ve started interviewing college players, which is tough without being able to travel, but video conferencing has allowed Langdon and his scouts to at least see the prospect’s faces.
Langdon said:
"“We’re looking at each other in a camera, which is definitely different, but it gives you a better perspective for the prospect than talking to him over a phone on a conference call. It’s good to see their faces, good for them to see ours.”"
This is uncharted territory for most scouts, who are used to having conference tournaments, March Madness and the Chicago combine to see players first hand in pressure-filled environments.
Since all three are cancelled, there is more uncertainty in this draft than ever before, which puts a lot of pressure on Langdon and his staff to do their homework.
The conversation then swung to the improvements in the G-League and how the New Orleans Pelicans look for players who have high character off the court.
Langdon then got into his opinions on “The Last Dance,” the Michael Jordan documentary that drew more than six million viewers on ESPN last Sunday.
Langdon grew up in Alaska with only TBS and WGN to watch games, so he is very familiar with Jordan from the perspective of a fan and a player.
But Langdon was watching the documentary from the perspective of a General Manager, so it was interesting what he was able to glean from the Bulls’ front office dysfunction.
Langdon said,
"“…I don’t know how many people knew into the depths that it actually went, and it was a day-to-day kind of battle between the (Bulls’) front office and the coaching and the players, and that’s always difficult. That’s why we talk about in our front office; it’s extremely important to have similar thinking from ownership to the front office to coaching staff to players, and if everybody is along the same lines of thinking, it makes it a lot easier to be successful.”"
Obviously the Bulls were able to overcome the myriad problems between players, coaches and the front office, but it’s a lot easier when everyone is on the same page.
Watching the Bulls’ reality show can be instruction in what not to do, as Langdon admitted that most teams wouldn’t be able to overcome this type of constant distraction.
With Langdon and former players like Swin Cash, the New Orleans Pelicans have one of the younger and more dynamic staffs in the NBA, but there is still plenty to learn.
Langdon was named the 2018-19 NBA G League Basketball Executive of the Year for the Nets and hopes to continue that success with the New Orleans Pelicans.
It’s going to be a long offseason, but Langdon and his staff have “a lot of hay in the barn now,” and will be ready when the NBA finally re-opens for business.
Thanks for reading and stay safe out there!