The front office carousel has been spinning quickly since the end of the regular season, as seven teams have come up with someone new in charge of player personnel. The Pacers, Clippers, Magic, Trail Blazers, Hawks, Warriors and Jazz have all undergone front-office reshufflings, and the Sixers appear poised to do so as well. There could have been even more movement. The Knicks removed the interim tag from GM Glen Grunwald's title, while the Wizards ended doubts that Ernie Grunfeld would return by extending his contract. There were rumors that the Bucks could make a change, with GM John Hammond a candidate for Portland's opening, and a report cited Kings GM Geoff Petrie was also in the running for the Blazers job.
With the offseason nearing its completion, here's a look at what each new front office executive has done this summer. We'll leave out Dennis Lindsey of the Jazz, who took over the GM role from Kevin O'Connor just a month ago, after most of the player movement had already taken place.
- Pacers: Donnie Walsh replaced Larry Bird as president of basketball operations on June 27th, the same day Kevin Pritchard took over as GM for David Morway. The Walsh-Pritchard team, with Walsh having the final say, was able to keep a couple of the cornerstones of the team built by the previous regime, re-signing restricted free agents Roy Hibbert to a maximum contract and George Hill for five years and $40MM. Both deals were finalized on July 13th. The most significant changes new management undertook were the signing of Gerald Green to a three-year, $10.5MM deal and the trade of Darren Collison for Ian Mahinmi, who got a new four-year, $16MM contract.
- Clippers: GM Neil Olshey agreed to stay on with the team on June 1st, but abruptly reversed course and bolted for Portland three days later. That left team president Andy Roeser, coach Vinny Del Negro and director of player personnel Gary Sacks to jointly run the team's basketball operations in his stead. The team promoted Sacks to vice president of basketball operations exactly three months later, putting him solely in charge. The triumvirate of Roeser, Del Negro and Sacks had a busy summer, beginning June 29th with the acquisition of Lamar Odom in a four-team trade that sent away Mo Williams. They gave Blake Griffin a five-year maximum contract extension on July 11th. They inked Jamal Crawford the same day, and re-signed Chauncey Billups on the 13th. The team amnestied Ryan Gomes on July 17th, the day before Grant Hill came aboard.
- Magic: Orlando parted ways with Otis Smith on May 21st and hired Rob Hennigan as his replacement on June 20th. Hennigan oversaw the biggest move of the summer, pulling off the Dwight Howard blockbuster on August 10th, giving the team cap room and draft picks in the future. Hennigan also sent Ryan Anderson away to the Hornets in a sign-and-trade on July 11th, but made a long-term commitment to one veteran holdover, signing Jameer Nelson on July 16th to a three-year, $25.2MM contract. The new GM also inherited a coaching vacancy, and filled it with Jacque Vaughn on July 30th.
- Blazers: Olshey jumped from the Clippers on June 4th, replacing interim GM Chad Buchanan. The June 28th draft was his first major test, and Olshey spent the Blazers' pair of lottery picks on Damian Lillard, who went sixth overall, and Meyers Leonard, the 11th overall selection. Restricted free agent Roy Hibbert agreed to sign a maximum-salary offer sheet on July 1st, but when it became clear the Pacers would match, the deal fell through, and the signing never took place. Olshey signed one of his own big men instead, inking J.J. Hickson on July 13th to a one-year, $4MM deal, several days after failing to tender Hickson a qualifying offer of approximately the same value, thus making him an unrestricted free agent. The Blazers did make a qualifying offer to Nicolas Batum, but still had more trouble retaining him than they had with Hickson, getting in a bitter tug-of-war with the Timberwolves until July 20th, when they finally matched the four-year, $46.122MM offer sheet Batum signed with Minnesota. Olshey also sent Raymond Felton packing on July 16th in a sign-and-trade with the Knicks.
- Hawks: Danny Ferry became president of basketball operations and GM for the Hawks on June 25th, replacing former GM Rick Sund. It didn't take Ferry long to make his mark, as he agreed to trade Joe Johnson to the Nets on July 2nd, the same day he OK'd a swap of Marvin Williams for Devin Harris with the Jazz. Both moves were finalized on July 11th, and they gave the Hawks cap space and flexibility for the future. With an eye toward the present, Ferry used the mid-level exception to sign Lou Williams to a three-year, $15.675MM contract on July 12th, and traded for Kyle Korver on July 16th.
- Warriors: The team promoted assistant GM Bob Myers to GM on April 24th, replacing Larry Riley, who was reassigned as Golden State's director of scouting. He addressed the team's need for a new starting small forward through the draft, taking Harrison Barnes with the seventh overall pick, and spent free agency tinkering with the bench. He finalized a three-way trade on July 11th that brought in backup guard Jarrett Jack from the Hornets and sent Dorell Wright, the incumbent starter at the three, to the Sixers. Myers added more depth on August 1st, the day he finalized identical two-year, $8MM deals for Carl Landry and Brandon Rush.