The Hidden Shark of the NBA

In July, the NBA turns on their “gambler” mentality. That comes in the form of free agent signings, scouting of young players, to even the rare offseason trade. The highlight of July is the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, Nevada. This is the first time in Summer League history all 32 teams came together and competed at the same site. Still, that is not the only big festivity in July for Sin City. The World Series of Poker, still considered the biggest yearly card game spectacle on the planet, has its biggest event in July. This year’s $10,000 Main Event tournament saw a field of 7,874 players, the second highest player count in the event’s history.

In poker, the best quietly view from the shadows, watching how their opponents play and waiting for their chance to take advantage of that knowledge. Instead of firing every bullet out of the gate, they purposefully wait patiently, even if that means watching big pot after big pot happen without their involvement. Many of the best poker players, or “sharks” in the world are known for this strategy. It’s a strategy that has come to light in the current NBA. Enter New Orleans Pelicans’ GM Dell Demps.

Demps is now entering his eighth season as the General Manager of the Pelicans. Right from being hired in 2010, Demps had a tall task on his shoulders. But even in his beginnings, Demps found ways to show his promise, with his aggressive style of betting on rotation players. In August of 2010, his first full month on the job, Demps’ first Free Agency decision became making a pair of deals that turned Darren Collison, James Posey and Julian Wright into Trevor Ariza and Marco Bellineli. Those players were immediate helps to New Orleans’ playoff chances in 2010.

Demps continued his strong dealings early on in 2012, when the Pels decided on trading a decent role player in Gustavo Ayon for Orlando Magic’s sharpshooting forward Ryan Anderson. Ayon had a limited NBA career after the deal, while Anderson played a major role alongside Davis on one of New Orleans’ most competitive teams. This became Demps’ M.O. Making the most out of small contracts and using them on players that filled a very specific role. Whether it was signing defensive stoppers like Tony Allen, sharpshooters like Anderson and Luke Babbitt or slashers like Tyreke Evans. His goal became finding the most bang for a low price. Just like a poker player finding their style, Demps created his image to stand by in the NBA GM circle.

However, like many players learning the craft, his original approach saw lots of failures, along with his success. His ability to get rotation talent was strong. However, his overall gameplay as a GM was weak. While Anderson put up fantastic numbers and helped give Davis the space he needed inside, it did not exactly translate to playoff success over three seasons. He never became more than just a good rotation piece.

The biggest light on his struggles outside of small, “diamond in the rough” signings was the debacle that was the Chris Paul Trade. In the trade Demps accepted, Paul would have netted the Pelicans just two one-dimensional role players. It was the first time Dell had been tasked with making a big move. Like a rookie poker player, he got scared and tried to make a marginal move that netted the Pelicans something semi-competitive, instead of keeping his composure and calculating the decision long-term. Luckily, David Stern decided to halt that trade and likely saved New Orleans and Demps years of set backs.

Other failures include their constant struggles to find help for superstar Anthony Davis. Whether it was by signing role player after role player, or the massive contract of Omer Asik, whose one-dimensional play style ended up being a casualty of the up-tempo change in the league. These aggressive, panicky style of decisions in Free Agency have garnished plenty of negative reviews for Dell. While his smaller signings were his bread and butter, he continued to fail in significantly moving the needle for the franchise.

Growing pains show in the game of being an NBA GM. Younger Dell has been known to play the Free Agency game aggressive. However, these past few years saw a much calmer and careful approach. An approach that saw him assessing the situation on when to go in aggressive and when to play slow and steady, each time with a calm demeanor. One that could be a sign of things to come for the Pelicans.

This new approach evolved for Demps. The new strategy became turning his small, sneaky one-dimensional signings into bigger gains that brought the team more flexible potential on the court. The first highlight of this new kind of thinking is the acquisition of Jrue Holiday from the Philadelphia 76ers.

There were plenty of questions after the deal became official. New Orleans’ sixth overall selection in the 2013, which ended up being Nerlens Noel, along with another first round pick went to Philadelphia for Jrue Holiday and the 42nd pick in Pierre Jackson. Even for an All-Star Player, that was a hefty price. “Aggressive Demps backfiring” became the rave yet again. For the Pelicans and Holiday’s sake, things turned out pretty okay. It became a point of pride for Demps, in his new addition to his managing game. When other GM’s would fold and wait, Demps shoved his chips all into the middle of the table, to make his move and acquire a desperate need.

New Orleans’ most recent needle-changing move came in the Pels’ trade for DeMarcus Cousins. Dell turned a decent shot-creating rookie in Buddy Hield, a tough fitting slasher in Tyreke Evans, sharpshooting Langston Galloway and a few draft picks into an All-Star Player. Again, quite a price for Cousins, but one the league saw more as a calculated move on Demps’ part. Boogie was not just a rebounding, defensive monster inside the paint. Cousins stretched the floor, ran the pick-and-roll and got on the offensive glass as well. He had the capability to do even more with Davis than anyone Anthony played with prior to the trade.

The trading of first-round picks became a “go-to” move for Demps. When he got his chips in play, they were put in front of the table as a move to get talent. Sure, the Pelicans dumped two high first round picks for the second time in four years for an All-Star player. However, it was an “all-in” move no other NBA GM was willing to make. In Demps’ case, it was different. Still, that doesn’t mean it is the only move Dell learned to make. He also learned how to turn around a bad hand and make the most of it.

Unfortunately for New Orleans, Cousins went down with a devastating Achilles injury halfway through the 2017–2018 campaign. That signaled the panic button being hit by many by the Bayou. Many could have seen New Orleans decide upon a “Next Season” approach, after an All-Star player on their team was lost for the rest of the season. Set up a big contract for Boogie in the offseason and plan for a push in the 2018–2019 campaign.

However, Demps’ continued to show his new style of management, similar to how the best poker players play when short stacked. Many feared he would play crazy with short supplies, shoving his assets in on any player and, in a panic, destroy the Pelicans’ future. However, he turned what little chips he had left on the table into a calculated and beneficial move no one saw coming.

Demps went to his bread and butter, sending yet another Pelicans’ first round pick (the third first-round pick traded in two seasons), the massively poor Omer Asik contract, Jameer Nelson’s veteran presence and Tony Allen’s defense-first mentality into Nikola Mirotic. Mirotic was a player showing a vast array of skills in his time on the Chicago Bulls. The questions circulated if he would actually help get the Pelicans into the playoffs or if the move would leave the team just shy of the eighth seed. Something that would prove quite meaningless in the long haul. However that move, along with the signing of another free agent with veteran presence in Emeka Okafor, ended up turning a fringe playoff team into a true force to be reckoned with.

The Pelicans finished the season 21–11 after the Mirotic trade, all 11 of those losses coming against fellow playoff teams. This also included a 10-game win streak from February through March and a five-game win streak to end the season. That ended up catapulting the Pelicans to the Sixth-Seed in the Western Conference and set a duel with a dangerous Portland Trail-Blazers Squad. After sweeping that series and putting up a valiant fight against the eventual NBA Champions, the Pelicans finally tasted playoff success. That includes Demps, who many had on the hot seat before the season began.

However, once the time for Vegas came less than a month ago, another speed bump surfaced. Cousins, who the Pelicans made efforts to re-sign during the season, decided to leave for a deal with the Warriors. Another key for the team, veteran and all-around point guard Rajon Rondo, also left the Pelicans in the offseason, signing with the Lakers. Two of the stars of the Pels’ squad had officially left, leaving major holes to be filled.

However, like a true poker shark noticing the changing tide, Demps continued to stay calm and adjusted his thinking. Before Cousins announced his move, the Pelicans announced the signing of former Laker big Julius Randle, along with the signing of guard Elfriid Payton. There was no panic in these decisions. No rush to sign a player to an enormous deal that may not fit. No Solomon Hill syndrome to desperately fill a role. These were calculated, calm and smart decisions on discount deals. Randle only took a two-year, $18 million deal. Payton’s deal is less than $3 million. That is the evolution of Dell Demps’ decision making. It no longer just became about the cards he held in his hand, but analysing the whole table and making the best decision out of what he had access to.

It’s taken eight full seasons to start to see the evolved shark Demps has become in Free Agency waters. Just like poker pros, information matters. Being able to attempt different strategies and see what succeeds and what fails has given the Pelicans a new lease in future negotiations. The trust New Orleans has given Dell through the tough years seems to have paid off.

What makes the best poker players in the game so successful is knowing when to avoid a bad situation and when to get aggressive. It’s something Demps has clearly worked on over the years. Which kind of players to target and what things to look for, as far as team chemistry and fit around Anthony Davis. New Orleans went from a duo of Davis and Boogie into a trio of bigs in Davis, Mirotic and Randle. These three bigs all have adaptable skill sets that fit in plenty of different situations on the court. The Pelicans are starting to build a deep roster of players, capable of competing in what is considered one of the toughest conferences seen in recent NBA history. In a pool of NBA sharks running the league’s 30 teams, Dell Demps is proving to be an under-the-radar shark, well hidden under the bigger names, that might just become the talk of the table in the future of professional basketball.