The New Orleans Pelicans' front office has faced its fair share of criticism this offseason. Many fans and members of the media have criticized Joe Dumars and his staff for not managing their assets effectively and for doing a poor job in their first offseason in control of the Pelicans.
No one has criticized the Pelicans harder than the tremendous Sam Quinn of CBS Sports did in his recent NBA front office rankings. According to Quinn, the Pelicans, out of all 30 NBA teams, have the 30th best front office. This is an incredible fall from grace for the Pelicans, as in Quinn's ranking back in February, he had them at 13th on his list.
While it may be hard for some to wrap their head around the idea of the Pelicans having a worse-run front office than the Sacramento Kings, who just gave Dennis Schröder a 3-year $45 million deal. The Chicago Bulls, whose front office seems to have committed to the play-in tournament and mediocrity, and the Dallas Mavericks, who traded Luka Doncic away last season. It's not entirely far-fetched to rank these teams ahead of the Pelicans.
The facts don't lie
Now, I'm going to make this clear: I don't agree with Quinn's ranking. I would probably rank Joe Dumars and the rest of the Pelicans' front office somewhere in the mid-20s. However, I'm just saying when looking at the points Quinn makes, his opinion isn't a ridiculous one.
The first thing mentioned in the Pelicans section of the articles is the past of both Dumars and his right-hand man, Troy Weaver, as front office leaders. Both Dumars and Weaver did poor jobs running the Detroit Pistons in separate eras. Dumars helped the Pistons win a title in 2004. However, from 2005 till the end of his tenure in 2014, the Pistons were a disaster because of how much Dumars struggled with evaluating and drafting talent.
And as far as Weaver goes, his inability to turn the Pistons into a winning team from 2020 to 2024 didn't appear to be his fault until they broke out into a playoff team in his first year not with the team. Both of these points are valid concerns, coming from Quinn.
Then he goes into detail about specific moves the two have made since taking over, including the shocking draft night deal that saw New Orleans trade away a 2026 unprotected first-round pick, as well as pick No. 23, to draft Derik Queen. This move at the time was puzzling, and even though I've come around on Queen, the decision remains questionable.
The part of Quinn's article that I disagree with is his criticism of the Jordan Poole trade and Dejounte Murray's comments on the Pivot podcast.
Starting with Poole, while I agree that the Pelicans have major holes defensively, I still believe trading away an aging veteran in CJ McCollum in exchange for a younger guard in Poole is a great move. Poole is coming off a career year and was one of the league's best three-point shooters last season.
Secondly, he mentions that during Dejounte Murray's appearance on the Pivot Podcast, he discusses how last season was his "worst experience in the NBA." This isn't relevant to anything in Dumars' control, as Murray was criticizing the Pels ownership and the previous front office, not the current regime.
Overall, Quinn raises a fair share of valid and invalid points in his reasoning for ranking the Pelicans' front office last. While I don't 100% agree with his opinion, I do hear where he is coming from.