Bayoubuzz

The Hornets stabilized their front office on Wednesday morning by hiring San Antonio Spurs vice president of basketball operations Dell Demps as their new general manager.

The Hornets needed a stable voice among the chaos of their offseason in their general manager after the draft, a new coach brought in, and with the impending sale of the team. Demps provides that along with Monty Williams, their new head coach. Both Demps and Williams are products of the Spurs' system, and Demps had experience with development as manager of D-League affiliate Austin Toros, owned by the Spurs.

Demps, 40, was weighing offers from both the Phoenix Suns and the Hornets.  Demps replaces Jeff Bower, who had served as the Hornets  general manager since 2005. Last Tuesday Bower was shown the door.

Demps was the only candidate to to be interviewed twice last week during the Las Vegas Summer League, which included a dinner and meeting with Williams. Demps was briefly a teammate of Williams with the Spurs in 1995-96.

Demps is considered to be a well-respected front-office executive, working the past years for the Spurs and learning under coach Gregg Popovich, GM R.C. Buford and former Spurs assistant general manager Sam Presi, now Oklahoma City Thunder GM.

"I know him and  have seen him work the past seven years in the different avenues of our careers," said Williams. "Guys like that who have come from successful programs is the type we love that comes from success. They bring good stuff that we didn't have."

Now the Hornets can turn their attention to keeping the face of the franchise Chris Paul happy. Now Demps is managing the good ship "Keep Paul!"

 

 

 

EXPRESS OUTLASTS  Z'S: German Duran’s three-run, pinch-hit homer in the bottom of the fifth erased a two-run deficit, and the Round Rock Express never trailed again en route to an 11-9 victory over the  Zephyrs in Pacific Coast League action Tuesday night at The Dell Diamond in Round Rock.

 

The Express (40-57) snapped a four-game losing streak and a four-game skid against the Zephyrs (46-48). The series is tied 1-1; New Orleans leads the season series 10-4.

 

Duran’s round-tripper was the first pinch-hit homer of the season for the Express, who scored four runs in the pivotal fifth inning. Wladimir Sutil started the rally with a one-out bunt single; Brian Esposito followed with a first-pitch single. That set the stage for Duran, who saw one pitch on the night and drilled it just inside the left-field foul pole for his first homer of the season. Collin DeLome followed with a triple and scored the eventual game-deciding run on a Brian Bogusevic two-out single.

 

T.J. Burton (1-3) picked up the victory in relief. After surrendering a 6-5 Express lead in the top of the fifth, Burton was the benefactor of the four-run rally in the bottom of the inning. He allowed two runs on two hits and a walk in one inning of work. Starter Polin Trinidad surrendered five runs on seven hits and three walks with no strikeouts over 4.0 innings.

 

Brad Thompson, Jonah Bayliss, Dan Meszaros and Roy Corcoran each pitched an inning to close the game. Only Meszaros allowed runs; he yielded two runs on one hits and three walks with a strikeout in the eighth. Corcoran recorded his sixth save, working around a two-out single in a scoreless ninth.

 

New Orleans starter Dan Whisler (1-3) took the loss, allowing nine runs on eight hits and five walks with one strikeout over 4.1 innings.

 

Round Rock scored four runs on three hits in the bottom of the first. Edwin Maysonet started the carnage with an RBI single. Drew Locke added an RBI single, and Esposito capped the frame with a two-run single. New Orleans chipped away at the deficit with a pair of runs on consecutive RBI fielder’s choices. Mark Saccomanno’s two-run homer in the fourth tied the game at 4-4, and Brett Carroll followed with a go-ahead solo homer.

Esposito was 3-for-3 with two intentional walks, reaching safely in all five plate appearances. Sutil came off the bench to go 2-for-3 with a pair of walks and two RBI. DeLome scored three runs, while Everidge scored twice.

 

Saccomanno, who played for the Express each of the past three seasons, was 3-for-4 with three RBI. Luna, Gookie Dawkins and Tim Torres all had two-hit nights for the Zephyrs

 

Round Rock and New Orleans continue the four-game series Wednesday with a 7:05 p.m. CDT first pitch at The Dell Diamond. Right-hander Sergio Perez (3-3, 5.29 ERA) starts on the mound for the Express, while right-hander Chris Volstad (1-0, 1.38 ERA) gets the nod for the Zephyrs.

SCOTT IMPRESSING: Former LSU running back rookie Charles Scott has moved up to No. 3 running  back for the Eagles going into training camp. He is expected to enter ca,mp behind only LeSean McCoy and former Saint Mike Bell. Bell is on a one-year contract and barring injury, Scott is the long-term big back com complement McCoy....

FOUR TIGERS SEC: Four LSU players have been named to the coaches preseason All-SEC team  as the league kicked off its media days  in Birmingham on Wednesday.

LSU cornerback Patrick Peterson and linebacker Kelvin Sheppard were selected to the first ream defense. Offensive tackle Joseph Barksdale was named to the second-team offense and defensive tackle Drake Narvis earned second-team honors.

The teams were announced before the SEC Media Days, in which more than 800 ,members of the ,media will gather with all 12 coaches and selected athletes over a three=day period. The Tigers, represented by coach Les Miles, Peterson, Sheppard and quarterback Jordan Jefferson, take their turn in the final rotation on Friday.
Bar brawls and NCAA investigations will be hot topics at the media days. Troubling events have made  headlines in the past two weeks. There was a bar brawl involving Tennessee players and there are potential NCAA troubles brewing at Florida and South Carolina.

SEC commissioner Mike Slive declined to discuss specific issues involving Florida and South  Carolina. He steered clear of another hot-button topic -- conference expansion --in his first interview since Nebraska and Colorado bolted the Big 12 for the Big Ten and the  Pac-10, respectively, and Boise State headed to the Mountain West. He was quiet in that movement. Oklahoma president David Boren said the SEC extended offers to his school and Texas A&M.

The league divided up $209 million among the 12 members last year after the SEC won its fourth straight national football title.

Contact Ed Staton at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or http://www.LouisianaSportsTalk.com

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