The Detroit Pistons lately introduced the finalization of their basketball management beneath President of Basketball Operations Trajan Langdon.
Michael Blackstone has been named Govt Vice President, Basketball Operations, Dennis Lindsey has been named Senior Vice President, Basketball Operations and George David has been promoted to Senior Vice President, Basketball Administration.
JR Holden returns to the Pistons, the place he served within the entrance workplace from 2016-2018, as Vice President, Participant Acquisition & Growth, Greg Smith has been named Vice President, Participant Well being & Care and Eric Tellem has been promoted to Vice President, Participant Personnel.
Moreover, former WNBA Champion Mistie Bass-Boyd joins the group as Govt Director, Participant Engagement & Basketball Operations, Marshall Smith joins the membership as Govt Director, Basketball Technique & Operations and Cory Schlesinger has joined the group as Govt Director, Sports activities Efficiency. Gianluca Pascucci has joined the staff as Senior Director, International Scouting, Dwane Casey continues with the group as Senior Advisor to Basketball Operations and Roderick “RJ” Hunter has joined the group as Govt Assistant to the President of Basketball Operations.
Blackstone involves Detroit after 5 years in New Orleans the place he most lately served as vp of basketball administration, helping in participant contracts and commerce negotiations, administration of the wage cap and directing the basketball operations workers, technique and implementation. Previous to becoming a member of the Pelicans, Blackstone frolicked as a managing companion with Work Unfiltered, a consulting and coaching agency which supplied negotiation, management, strategic planning and execution companies. He additionally served as an assistant basic supervisor for the Atlanta Hawks in the course of the 2015-16 season, spent two-plus years with Shapiro Negotiations Institute (SNI) as Govt Vice President/Sports activities Follow Director and labored with the Cleveland Cavaliers from 2010-13 because the staff’s government director of basketball operations.
Lindsey joins the Pistons with 28 years of entrance workplace and scouting expertise, together with most lately serving as Senior Advisor for the Dallas Mavericks in the course of the 2023-24 season. Lindsey spent 11 seasons with the Utah Jazz, together with two seasons as Govt Vice President of basketball operations, seven seasons as Normal Supervisor and two seasons as Senior Basketball Advisor. He additionally spent 5 seasons with San Antonio because the Spurs’ Vice President and Assistant Normal Supervisor. Lindsey started his NBA profession with the Houston Rockets as video coordinator/scout in 1996 earlier than being promoted to Director of Basketball Growth, and later, Director of Participant Personnel. In 2002, Lindsey was named the Rockets’ Vice President of Basketball Operations and Participant Personnel the place he served till 2007.
David transitions to Senior Vice President of Basketball Administration after serving as affiliate basic supervisor of the Pistons for the final two seasons and assistant basic supervisor in 2021. David returned to Detroit after spending six years at Wasserman Media Group as Senior Vice President of Basketball Operations the place he labored intently with quite a few high-profile NBA gamers represented by the company. In his first stint with Detroit, he served as assistant basic supervisor with Detroit from 2012-14, after promotions from Director of Participant Personnel (2007-12) and as Director of Scouting (2002-2007). David was first employed throughout the group as video coordinator in the course of the 1996-97 season.
Holden returns to Detroit for his second stint with group. Most lately, he served two seasons as basic supervisor of the Lengthy Island Nets, the NBA’s G League affiliate of the Brooklyn Nets, after three earlier seasons because the Nets’ director of professional personnel. Holden joined the Nets after spending the 2018-19 season as a university scout with the Philadelphia 76ers and 4 years with the Pistons as a university scout (2014-16) and the franchise’s director of worldwide scouting (2016-18). He performed professionally for 13 years (1998-2011), together with 9 years (2002-11) with CSKA Moscow, the place he was part of nine-straight Russian League championship groups. Holden performed collegiately at Bucknell College for 4 years the place he earned All-Patriot League First-Crew honors in every of his final two seasons. He was inducted into the Bucknell Corridor of Fame in 2008.
Greg Smith holds 20-plus years of athletic coaching expertise in skilled sports activities. Previous to becoming a member of Detroit, he co-founded Pivot Bodily Remedy, one the most important out-patient bodily remedy firms within the US with over 300 places. He served because the Head Athletic Coach of the Washington Capitals of the Nationwide Hockey League, a place he held from 1999 to 2017 after spending two seasons as Head Athletic Coach with the Mighty Geese of Anaheim.
Tellem was promoted to Vice President of Participant Personnel after most lately serving as Senior Director of Participant Personnel for the Pistons. Tellem joined the group in 2016 after serving as Toronto’s G League Basketball Operations Supervisor for Raptors 905.
Bass-Boyd joins the Pistons’ group after serving because the Director of Crew and Athlete NBA/Grassroots Advertising and marketing for Nike Basketball’s Sports activities Advertising and marketing arm. She additionally frolicked as an Assistant Product Line Supervisor with Nike Basketball Attire earlier than being promoted to Product Line Supervisor targeted on Girls’s Life-style Capsules and Collections in 2020. Bass-Boyd performed within the WNBA and internationally from 2006-18, successful a WNBA Championship with the Phoenix Mercury in 2014. She attended Duke College, serving to the Blue Devils to 2 Last 4 Appearances throughout her collegiate profession from 2002-06, and was named to the ACC All-Freshmen Crew. Throughout her collegiate profession, the Blue Devils girls’s basketball staff gained extra video games than some other four-year interval in class historical past.
Marshall Smith involves Detroit from the Los Angeles Clippers the place he most lately served as Director of Basketball Technique. He additionally labored as a Basketball Knowledge Analyst with the Clippers from 2018-23. Smith graduated from the College of Portland in 2018 with a Bachelor of Enterprise Administration with a spotlight in economics and math.
Schlesinger has over 15 years of sports activities efficiency teaching expertise, together with 4 on the NBA degree and 10 in collegiate athletics. He most lately served as Assistant Coach, Director of Basketball Well being and Efficiency for the lads’s basketball program at The College of Texas. Previous to becoming a member of Texas, Schlesinger was the Director of Efficiency/Head Power and Conditioning Coach with the NBA’s Phoenix Suns from 2019-23. He’s additionally held sports activities efficiency roles with Stanford College, College of Alabama at Birmingham, Santa Clara College and Campbell College.
Pascucci joins the Pistons with 22-plus years of entrance workplace expertise, together with most lately as a scout for the Chicago Bulls. Previous to his time in Chicago, he held entrance workplace positions with the Minnesota Timberwolves, Brooklyn Nets, and Houston Rockets. Pascucci is a local of Pesaro, Italy.
Casey, who transitioned from head coach to a job within the basketball entrance workplace in 2023, begins his seventh season with the franchise. The previous NBA Coach of the 12 months led the membership to a 41-41 (.500) file in the course of the 2018-19 season, setting a staff file for many 3-pointers in franchise historical past (993) and their first NBA playoff look since 2015-16 season. The Pistons averaged 107.0 factors per recreation that yr, probably the most since 1987-88, and Blake Griffin was named to the 2018-19 NBA All-Star staff and All-NBA Third Crew.
Hunter joins the Pistons with over 10 years of expertise, together with most lately because the Males’s Basketball Director of Operations for Duke College from 2017-2024. In his time with Duke males’s basketball, this system captured an ACC Match title in 2023, an ACC regular-season title in 2022 and reached the Last 4 that very same season. Previous to his time at Duke, Hunter labored for College of the Pacific, USF Girls’s Basketball and the Golden State Warriors. Hunter is a local of Little Rock, Ark., and obtained his bachelor’s diploma from the College of Arkansas and his grasp’s diploma from San Francisco.
