Forty years ago, the Detroit Pistons selected a 22-year-old guard from Natchitoches with the 18th pick of the NBA draft.
It was the beginning of a Hall of Fame career for Joe Dumars, who went on to win NBA titles as both a player and president of basketball operations in the Motor City.
Now Dumars, in his first season as New Orleans Pelicans executive vice president of basketball operations, gets a chance to try to duplicate that success as the main decision-maker, this time for the NBA team in the state he was born and raised.
His next moves come Wednesday with the NBA draft, where he'll add his first new, young pieces.
What Dumars did Tuesday and what he will do Wednesday and Thursday could go a long way in determining the future of a team coming off the second-worst season in franchise history.
“We have some good talent on the roster,” Dumars said. “When this team has been healthy, it’s been a formidable team. Unfortunately, last year it was just decimated with injuries, and I acknowledge that. But that doesn’t stop you from setting the bar higher and pushing harder to be better.”
The Pelicans have two first-round picks. They own the No. 7 overall pick after falling from No. 4 to No. 7 in the lottery. They added the No. 23 pick in a trade with the Indiana Pacers last week. Now they have the No. 40 pick as well.
The Pelicans should be able to get a quality player with their first pick. Draft analysts rave about the depth of this class. The Dallas Mavericks certainly will take Duke’s Cooper Flagg with the first overall pick, and the San Antonio Spurs almost certainly will choose Rutgers guard Dylan Harper second.
“There are three different tiers,” ESPN draft analyst Bobby Marks said Tuesday during a draft Q&A panel. “Where Cooper is. Where Dylan Harper is. And then there is a group of five or six players in that Tier 3, and it’s just a matter of what you like and who you think fits.”
Dumars and senior vice president of basketball operations Troy Weaver should have plenty of viable options at No. 7. With Olynyk now gone, Duke center Khaman Maluach seems like he could fill a need with both size and athleticism. Guards such as Ace Bailey of Rutgers or Jeremiah Fears of Oklahoma also could be available.
Dumars had this to say when asked about his draft philosophy when it comes to best player available vs. fulfilling a roster need:
“I don’t think you want to pass on a best player,” Dumars said. “But if all things are equal, then you go for the need. But if there is a gap between two players, you’ve got to take the best player. You need a certain amount of talent in this league, so you can’t pass on that talent. Talent in basketball has more impact. There are only five people out there on the court. So that talent gap can make a difference. That’s why you really want to take the best player.”
Finding that talent is why Dumars hired Weaver. Dumars describes Weaver as “elite” when it comes to evaluating young players.
That’s not just at the top of the draft. Back in 2008 when Weaver was in his first season with the Oklahoma City Thunder, they drafted Serge Ibaka with the No. 24 overall pick. Ibaka became a key piece on the Thunder team that reached the NBA Finals in 2012. The Pelicans hit on a first-round pick in the 20s last season, drafting center Yves Missi at No. 21. Missi flourished and was voted NBA All-Rookie second team.
NBA draft analyst Jay Bilas believes there could be some similar gems in this class at No. 23.
“It’s a pretty deep draft,” Bilas said during Tuesday’s panel. “Once you get past 8 or 9, there is a lot of reasonable disagreement. ‘I like this better or I like that better.’ There are a lot of things to like about these players.
"But how many times over the years have we had players outside the lottery who turned into All-Stars or truly great players? That’s sorta the humility of this process. You don’t know. You just have beliefs and try to gather as much intelligence as you can.”
The prediction here is the Pelicans take Maluach at No. 7 and Florida guard Walter Clayton at No. 23.
The upside for both of those players seems high, much like the upside looked 40 years ago for a Natchitoches native who starred at McNeese State before making his mark for the Pistons.
Now its up to that first-round pick from the 1985 draft to make his mark in New Orleans.