A long-time member of the New Orleans Pelicans’ staff is leaving.
Pelicans general manager Bryson Graham is finalizing a deal to become senior vice-president of basketball operations for the Atlanta Hawks, a source confirmed. ESPN was the first to report.
Graham spent 15 seasons with the Pelicans, starting as an intern with the team in 2010 when he was hired by Dell Demps. Some of his early duties with the team included things like making coffee runs for the staff.
“I try to still have that same mentality,” Graham said in an interview last year. “There is nothing too small for me to do. The people that work here, everybody is busting their butt and working towards the same goal. Whatever needs to be done, let’s get it done.”
That mentality led to Graham's ascent. His first promotion took him from intern to video coordinator. Eventually he became an assistant general manager and last year was promoted to general manager by David Griffin, the Pelicans’ executive vice-president of basketball operations at the time.
Griffin was fired in April after the Pelicans finished the season 21-61.
Graham’s main role was helping the Pelicans find talent in the draft. Last year, the Pelicans got one of the steals of the draft when they selected center Yves Missi from Baylor. Many expected the 21st overall pick to be more of a project, but Missi ended up being chosen second-team on the NBA’s All-Rookie team.
Joe Dumars, hired in April as executive vice-president of basketball operations to replace Griffin, said in an interview last week that Graham would remain as general manager. But that changes with Graham heading to Atlanta.
Those duties for finding talent now belong to Troy Weaver.
When Joe Dumars was hired, his first hire was making Weaver his senior vice-president of basketball operations.
Weaver served as an adviser with the Washington Wizards this season. Prior to that, Weaver spent four seasons as general manager of the Detroit Pistons.
“Troy has a unique skillset,” Dumars said in an interview last week. “His ability to identify talent in this league is elite. You look at the Detroit team in the playoffs, those were predominantly guys that Troy drafted. Not only that, but Troy was in Oklahoma City when they had Harden and Durant and Westbrook and those guys. So he has a long track record of being able to identify players at an elite level.”
Although Dumars and Weaver both worked with the Pistons, their time in Detroit didn’t overlap.
“Hiring Troy was an easy decision for me,” Dumars said. ”Troy and I go way back. We have known each other forever but we had never worked together before. This was a great opportunity for us to work together for the first time.”
With Graham's departure, the top three executives from last season (Griffin, Graham and Swin Cash) are no longer with the team.