basketball operations

BASKETBALL
OPERATIONS
BASKETBALL OPERATIONS
Mickey Loomis - Executive Vice President
Mickey Loomis was named Executive Vice
President of the Hornets in June, 2012,
overseeing the basketball operations of
the club.
Loomis is also the Executive Vice
President/General Manager of the New
Orleans Saints, responsible for the club’s
entire football operations, entering his 11th
season in his current position and 13th
with the franchise. He is an NFL veteran
with over 25 years in the league, and, during his time in New Orleans
has been honored with the most prestigious awards presented to a
league executive. The most satisfying achievement of Loomis’ career,
however, has been molding the Saints’ roster into a team that has
produced many of the franchise’s finest moments over the last six
seasons, including the Super Bowl XLIV championship.
Loomis was promoted to General Manager in 2002 and earned
the additional title of Executive Vice President later that year. The
departments under his direction include coaching, player personnel
and scouting, salary cap management, contract negotiations, athletic
training, equipment, video and communications.
In 2006 - after being the lead in the hiring of Sean Payton, the signing of
Drew Brees and essentially rebuilding a team that would advance to the
NFC Championship – Loomis was voted the NFL Executive of the Year by
Pro Football Weekly/Pro Football Writers of America. He was also honored
by The Sporting News as the George Young Executive of the Year, an
award voted on annually by NFL front-office executives and owners.
Loomis has continued to build on the success of 2006, highlighted by
four postseason appearances, three division titles and the Super Bowl
victory. Over the past six years, he has brought aboard a collection of
20
players who have played a key role in New Orleans, posting a 67-37
overall record through a combination of draft picks and undrafted
free agents, as well as free agency and trade acquisitions. He’s also
presided over the club’s ability to retain their core players, re-signing
several significant contributors to long-term contracts.
While his responsibilities have grown during his tenure with the
Saints, Loomis has been a key figure in the highest management
circle of the organization since arriving in 2000. Loomis joined the
club as Director of Football Administration, a post he held until
2002, handling contract negotiations, managing the salary cap and
coordinating different areas of the football operations.
In 2005, Loomis helped steer the club through unprecedented
challenges for an NFL team. He calmly guided the staff and players
through a sudden evacuation from New Orleans in the wake of
Hurricane Katrina, in addition to several moves of the club’s base of
operations.
In 2003, Loomis oversaw the renovation of the Saints headquarters,
transforming the facility into one of the NFL’s top training complexes
with the addition of an indoor practice facility, a new weight room and
cafeteria.
Prior to arriving in New Orleans, Loomis spent 15 years with the
Seattle Seahawks, serving as executive vice president from 1992-98.
He joined the Seahawks in October of 1983 and was promoted to vice
president/finance in 1990 before being elevated to executive vice
president in 1992.
A native of Eugene, Ore., Loomis has a degree in accounting from the
University of Oregon and a Master’s Degree in Sports Administration
from Wichita State University. Married to Melanie, Loomis has four
children: Alex, Katherine, Sam and Lucy.
BASKETBALL OPERATIONS
Dell Demps - Sr. Vice President of Basketball Operations and General Manager
Dell Demps begins his third season with New Orleans after being named the seventh General Manager in Hornets history
on July 21, 2010. It is Demps’ first stint as General Manager of an NBA franchise. In Demps’ first season with the Hornets,
the team made the 2011 playoffs after missing the postseason the year prior. In his two seasons at the helm, Demps has
completely overhauled the roster he inherited in the summer of 2010 and has built a young nucleus of players, none of
whom are older than 25 years.
Demps, 42, joined the Hornets after five seasons with the San Antonio Spurs and three years as the General Manager
of the Spurs’ NBA Developmental League affiliate, the Austin Toros. Demps joined the Spurs at the start of the 2005-06
season as Director of Pro Player Personnel and was promoted to Vice President of Basketball Operations in 2010. With the
Spurs, Demps won an NBA Championship (2007). In each of the five seasons that he was with San Antonio, the team won
at least 50 games. Prior to joining the Spurs, Demps worked for the New York Knicks from 2003 to 2005 where he joined the organization as a scout
and was promoted to the Director of Pro Player Personnel. Demps also spent two seasons as an assistant coach with the Mobile Revelers in the NBA
Developmental League from 2001-2003 and, during the 2002-03 season, helped the team win the Developmental League Championship.
Demps attended the University of the Pacific where he was a four-year starter on their basketball team, earning All-Big West honors three times. As
a senior, he averaged 19.0 points and 5.8 rebounds and earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration. While playing professionally, each
summer, Demps returned to Pacific to take continue his education. After suffering a season-ending shoulder injury in 1998, he returned to school and
completed his MBA. Demps is currently a member of Pacific’s Eberhardt School of Business Advisory Board. He was also elected to the Pacific Athletics
Hall of Fame in 2003.
Demps had a 10-year basketball career where he played all over the world. He played for three seasons in the NBA with Golden State Warriors, San Antonio
Spurs and the Orlando Magic. In addition, he played professionally in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA), Philippines, France, Greece, Turkey,
Croatia and Venezuela.
Demps, a native of the San Francisco Bay Area and his wife, Anita, have three sons, Jourdan (21), Tre (19), and Riley (12). Jourdan attends the University
of Texas-San Antonio, Tre attends Northwestern University and Riley is a 6th grader at Isidore Newman School. Anita is a 1998 graduate of Pacific’s
McGeorge School of Law.
Demps in the NBA/NBA Developmental League Front Office
YearTitle
2001-02
2002-03
2003-04
2004-05
2005-06
2006-07
2007-08
2008-09
2009-10
2010-11
2011-12
2012-13
Assistant Coach-Mobile Revelers
Assistant Coach-Mobile Revelers
Scout-New York Knicks
Scout/Director of Pro Player Personnel-New York Knicks
Director of Pro Player Personnel-San Antonio Spurs
Director of Pro Player Personnel-San Antonio Spurs
Director of Pro Player Personnel-San Antonio Spurs/General Manager-Austin Toros (D-League)
Director of Pro Player Personnel-San Antonio Spurs/General Manager-Austin Toros (D-League)
Director of Pro Player Personnel-San Antonio Spurs/General Manager-Austin Toros (D-League)
Senior Vice President and General Manager-New Orleans Hornets
Senior Vice President and General Manager-New Orleans Hornets
Senior Vice President and General Manager-New Orleans Hornets
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BASKETBALL OPERATIONS
Monty Williams - Head Coach
On June 7, 2010, Monty Williams was appointed head coach of the New Orleans Hornets. Williams’ began his first stint as a
head coach with a successful season in 2010-11, leading the Hornets to a 46-36 record and the seventh seed in the 2011 NBA
playoffs. In post-season play, the Hornets pushed former NBA-champion Lakers to six games and Williams placed seventh in
coach of the year voting, after being named the NBA’s Western Conference Coach of the Month for January of 2011.
In his sophomore campaign, Williams managed 22 different players and 26 different starting lineups through an injuryplagued season where six players missed upwards of 15 games due to injury or illness. Through it all, Williams’ squad
increased its wins in every month from January to April, and closed out the regular season with a 6-1 stretch at the New
Orleans Arena.
Williams spent the previous five seasons as an assistant coach for the Portland Trail Blazers. At the date of his hiring, Williams became the youngest
head coach in the NBA at 38 years old.
Williams is one of the promising young coaches in the NBA. Trail Blazers Head Coach Nate McMillan charged Williams with running the team’s 2007 and
2008 entries into the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas. The two teams featured young Trail Blazers prospects Greg Oden, LaMarcus Aldridge, Jerryd
Bayless and Nicolas Batum.
During his time with the Trail Blazers, Williams spent a great deal of time working with Travis Outlaw and Martell Webster. He focused on consistency,
instilling intensity and purpose every day in practice, as well as in games. Before being traded to the Los Angeles Clippers in the 2009-10 season, Outlaw
increased his scoring and rebounding average twice in four seasons during Williams’ tenure. Webster and Williams both entered their first season with
the Trail Blazers in 2005-06. Like Outlaw, Webster saw numerous improvements in a number of statistical categories, including points, rebounds per
game, and field-goal percentage during Williams’ time in Portland.
Prior to joining the Trail Blazers, he won an NBA Championship as a coaching staff intern with the San Antonio Spurs in 2004-05, and, during the summer
of 2005, coached the Spurs’ Summer League entry in the Rocky Mountain Revue.
Selected by New York in the first round (24th overall) of the 1994 NBA Draft, Williams was a nine-year veteran of the NBA before chronic knee problems
forced him into retirement in 2003. Hailing from Notre Dame, Williams played for New York, San Antonio, Denver, Orlando and Philadelphia. His best season
was with the Spurs in 1996-97, when he averaged 9.0 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 65 games and shot 50.9% from the field. In 456 career
games, he averaged 6.3 points per game.
He was an honorable mention All-American at Notre Dame after averaging 22.4 points and 8.4 rebounds during his senior season. Williams was away from
basketball for two years during college (from 1990 to 1992) after being diagnosed with hypertropic cardiomyopathy, a rare condition of thickened muscle
between the chambers of the heart. He earned a degree from Notre Dame’s College of Arts and Letters, majoring in communications and theatre. In high
school, he was a 4.0 student at Potomac in Oxon Hill, Md.
Active in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and many other charities, he was involved with fellow NBA guard Charlie Ward in distributing shoes and athletic
equipment to impoverished communities in South Africa. In September of 2011, Williams went to South Africa as part of the NBA’s Basketball Without
Borders program. Since moving to New Orleans, Williams has been active in the community, focusing his time on prison ministry, spending time with senior
citizens and disadvantaged youth, as well as military families. He and his wife, Ingrid, are the parents of five children – Lael, Faith, Janna, Elijah and Micah.
Williams Year-by-Year NBA Head Coach
Williams Year-by-Year NBA Career
Year
W LPct.
Year
Title
GPPPGRPG
46
36
.561
21
45
.318
6781.453
1994-95
1995-96
1996-97
1997-98
1998-99
1999-00
2000-01
2001-02
2002-03
New York Knicks
New York Knicks
San Antonio Spurs
San Antonio Spurs
San Antonio Spurs
Denver Nuggets
Orlando Magic
Orlando Magic
Orlando Magic
Philadelphia 76ers
41
14
17
65
72
1
75
82
68
21
3.3
1.4
2.9
9.0
6.3
1.0
8.7
5.0
7.1
4.4
2.4
1.2
1.4
3.2
2.5
0.0
3.3
3.0
3.5
2.1
456
30
6.3
1.8
2.8
1.9
Team
2010-11
New Orleans Hornets
2011-12
New Orleans Hornets
Totals
Williams Year-by-Year NBA Assistant Coach
Year
Team
W L Pct.
*2004-05
2005-06
2006-07
2007-08
2008-09
2009-10
San Antonio Spurs
Portland Trail Blazers
Portland Trail Blazers
Portland Trail Blazers
Portland Trail Blazers
Portland Trail Blazers
59
21
32
41
54
50
Totals
* - Won NBA Championship
22
23
61
50
41
28
32
.720
.256
.390
.500
.659
.610
257235 .522
Career Average
Career Playoff Average
BASKETBALL OPERATIONS
Randy Ayers - Lead Assistant Coach
Randy Ayers begins his third season as an assistant coach for the Hornets and his second as the lead assistant coach.
Ayers joined the Hornets on August 4, 2010 as an assistant coach and was promoted to the lead assistant coach position
during the summer of 2011. Ayers, who holds a strong track record as an assistant and head coach on both the collegiate
and professional levels, has compiled an NBA head-coaching record of 21-31, all games coming during his time at the helm
of the Philadelphia 76ers in 2003-04. Ayers has experience as an NBA assistant head coach for three different teams, most
recently with the 76ers in 2009-10.
Ayers started as an assistant in Philadelphia in 1998, a position he held until he assumed the head job before the 2003-04
season. As the top assistant under Head Coach Larry Brown, Ayers helped guide Philadelphia to five-consecutive playoff
appearances, including a trip to the NBA Finals in 2001.
After his time there, Ayers coached for Orlando and Washington before returning to Philadelphia for the 2009-10 season. The Wizards allowed just 99.2
points per game in his first season with the team in 2007-08, having allowed 104.9 points per game in the preceding season.
Prior to joining the Wizards, Ayers was an assistant coach with Orlando. In his two seasons with the Magic, Ayers helped the team lower its opponents
scoring average from 101.8 points per game in 2004-05 to 96.0 points per game in 2005-06 and to 94.0 points per game in 2006-07.
Ayers also had three stops as a college coach, highlighted by his first head coaching job at The Ohio State University. In his eight seasons with Ohio State,
Ayers led the Buckeyes to earning two-consecutive No. 1 seeds in the NCAA tournament, while also winning National Coach of the Year accolades from
the Associated Press in 1991 and Big Ten Coach of the Year in 1991 and 1992. Ayers spent six years as an assistant coach at OSU, two years at the U.S.
Military Academy and two years as a graduate assistant at his alma mater, Miami University (Ohio).
Ayers and his wife, Carol, have two sons, Ryan and Cameron. Ryan played basketball at Notre Dame and graduated in 2009. Cameron completed his
sophomore season at Bucknell this spring, helping the Bison qualify for the 2012 NCAA Tournament.
Dave Hanners - Assistant Coach
Dave Hanners begins his second season with the Hornets as an assistant coach after spending the 2008-09 and 2009-10
seasons, as well as the first part of the 2010-11 season, on the Charlotte Bobcats’ bench.
Upon joining the Hornets, Hanners was reunited with Randy Ayers and Monty Williams. The trio was together in Philadelphia
when Hanners and Ayers were both assistant coaches under Head Coach Larry Brown from 2000-03 and Williams played his
final NBA season during the 2002-03 campaign.
Hanners’ time in Charlotte marked the fourth time he served as an assistant for Brown. In addition to Charlotte and
Philadelphia (2000-03), Hanners was also on Brown’s staff with the Detroit Pistons (2003-05) and New York Knicks (200506). Hanners, who spent the three seasons prior to his stint with the Bobcats on the Knicks’ bench, was an assistant coach
for Detroit’s 2003-04 NBA Championship team, as well as the 2000-01 76ers and 2004-05 Pistons teams that won Eastern
Conference titles. He also served as video coordinator and advance scout for the 2004 U.S. Olympic team that won a Bronze
Medal in Athens and was an assistant coach for the East squad at the 2001 NBA All-Star Weekend in Washington, D.C.
Prior to his NBA career, Hanners spent 11 seasons as an assistant coach at his alma mater, the University of North Carolina. During Hanners’ tenure under
Hall of Fame Coach Dean Smith and Bill Guthridge from 1989-2000, the Tar Heels won the 1993 NCAA Championship and four ACC titles, while appearing
in six Final Fours.
Hanners played guard at UNC under Smith from 1972-76. He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant for the Tar Heels from 1976-78, then spent
three seasons as an assistant coach at UNC-Wilmington, two seasons at Furman and four seasons at East Tennessee State before returning to UNC in
1989 as an assistant coach. Hanners also served as head coach of UNC’s junior varsity team three different times – 1976-78, 1994-96 and 1999-2000.
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BASKETBALL OPERATIONS
Bryan Gates - Assistant Coach
Bryan Gates begins his third season as an assistant coach with the Hornets following a one-year stint in the same position
with the Sacramento Kings. Gates joined the Sacramento staff following a highly-successful three-year stint as a head
coach in the NBA Development League with the Idaho Stampede.
While coaching the Stampede, Gates was a two-time recipient of the Dennis Johnson D-League Coach of the Year award
(2006-07, 2007-08), and compiled a record of 101-51 (.664 winning percentage, tied for highest in league history), including
winning the NBA Development League Championship in 2007-08. Gates was also an assistant coach in Idaho for five years,
beginning with the team’s inaugural season in the CBA in 1997-98.
Gates’ first NBDL experience came as an assistant to Head Coach Dennis Johnson with the Austin Toros during the 2005-06
season. He spent the four years prior to joining the D-League in the USBL, as head coach of the Oklahoma Storm. During this
time, Gates lead his squad to three Western Conference titles and was named Coach of the Year in 2004.
Gates has additional head coaching experience with the CBL’s Hickory Nutz in the summer of 2003, and the Beirut Blue Stars of Lebanon in 2004-05. He
lead the Nutz to a 23-0 record and a championship while being named Coach of the Year in his only season at the post, and guided the Blue Stars to a
2nd place league finish with a 24-7 record and a 4th place showing in the Dubai International Basketball Tournament.
Gates and his wife, Robin, live in New Orleans and are the proud parents of triplets Kendall, Preston and William.
Fred Vinson - Assistant Coach
Fred Vinson enters his third season as assistant coach with the Hornets, having joined the team on August 4, 2010. Vinson,
a Georgia Tech graduate, had previously worked for the Los Angeles Clippers as an assistant coach from 2007-10.
This summer, Vinson spent a month in Venezuela with the Venezuelan National Team during its Olympic-qualifier preparation
to continue the development and monitor the progress of third-year guard Greivis Vasquez.
While an assistant for the L.A. Clippers, Vinson also served as the Director of Player Programs, mentoring younger players
to ease their transition in life in the NBA.
Born on Jan. 28, 1971, Vinson played parts of the 1994-95 and 1999-2000 seasons with the Atlanta Hawks and Seattle
SuperSonics, tallying career averages of 1.3 points and 5.2 minutes per game. Vinson also averaged 3.3 points per game for
the Clippers during the 2005-06 NBA preseason.
Vinson was also a member of the 2002-03 CBA champion Yakima Sun Kings, coached by former Portland Trail Blazer coach Bill Bayno. He also played for
SLUC Nancy, in Nancy, France during the 2003-04 season.
Vinson is happily married to his wife, Muthithar, and has three sons: Fred Jr., Corey and Chris.
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BASKETBALL OPERATIONS
Tim Connelly - Assistant General Manager
On August 11, 2010, Tim Connelly was named assistant general manager of the New Orleans Hornets. He begins his third
year with the Hornets following 10 years with the Washington Wizards where he rose to director of player personnel. In
Washington, Connelly’s role included overseeing scouting, player evaluations, salary cap and database management, as
well as assisting the vice president of player personnel with all front office duties.
Including a four-year stint as a scout for the Wizards, Connelly’s travels have taken him across five continents to identify
the top talent in the basketball world. The Baltimore product began working for the Wizards as an intern in the basketball
operations department in 1996, and after his graduation from DC’s Catholic University in 1999, Connelly was named to
the Wizards staff as assistant video coordinator. In 2000, Connelly became a full-time scout for Washington, and later
assumed the head scouting role.
Connelly’s service to the game of basketball has spanned the globe in recent years. He currently serves on the board of GEN Basketball Academy, a
Sarajevo-based academy funded by NATO, and has assisted with its youth camps. Connelly also went to Moscow, Russia in September as part of the
NBA’s “Basketball Without Borders” program. Connelly’s first experience with the program was in the summer of 2006 in South Africa, and that same
summer he was involved with the Seed Academy in Dakar, Senegal. Additionally, in the summer of 2007, Connelly visited Dublin, Ireland to help raise
youth awareness of cultural diversity and integration through the sport of basketball, as well as work with the Irish federation on future basketballrelated initiatives. More recently, with his brother Pat, Connelly visited England in his personal efforts to aid the globalization of basketball.
A graduate of Towson Catholic High School, Connelly has aspirations to further his involvement in grassroots basketball programs in his hometown of
Baltimore. One of seven children, each of Connelly’s four brothers -- Joe, Pat, Daniel and Kevin -- played basketball at Towson Catholic, the nationallyrecognized basketball powerhouse in Baltimore. Joe is currently an assistant coach with the Wizards; Pat is the Wizards’ director of player personnel,
while Daniel works in player development and international scouting.
Gerald Madkins - Vice President of Player Personnel
Gerald Madkins enters his third season with the Hornets as Vice President of Player Personnel, having joined the Hornets
on August 11, 2010. Madkins arrived in the Crescent City after two seasons as the Director of Scouting for the Houston
Rockets. During his time in Houston, the Rockets went to the Western Conference semifinals in 2009 and acquired Trevor
Ariza, Kevin Martin, Chase Budinger and Brad Miller.
In his role with the Rockets, Madkins was responsible for scouting colleges and developmental leagues, in addition to
being the Director of Player Personnel for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers (Houston’s NBA D-League affiliate). Madkins was
previously the Director of West Coast College Scouting for the Seattle SuperSonics in 2007-08 and as a scout for the
New York Knicks from 2003-07. Prior to working in the NBA, Madkins was an assistant coach at UCLA from 2001-03 and at
California State University in 2000-01.
Born April 18, 1969, Madkins attended UCLA where he played from 1987-88 and 1989-92, which included winning a Pac-10 championship as a senior
captain in 1992. The Merced, Calif. native averaged 7.6 points, 3.3 assists and 2.2 rebounds during his four-year career.
Following his career at UCLA, Madkins played professionally for eight years in the NBA, the Continental Basketball Association (Grand Rapids, Rockford),
the Spanish Basketball League (Joventut Badelona) and the French Basketball League (Pitch Cholet). He was named the 1993 CBA Rookie of the Year.
In parts of three seasons (48 games played) in the NBA, Madkins averaged 1.7 points, and 1.4 assists per game with the Cleveland Cavaliers (1993-95,
29 games) and Golden State Warriors (1997-98, 19 games).
Gerald and his wife, Julee, are the proud parents of three children, Christopher (17), Brandon (15) and Olivia (8).
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BASKETBALL OPERATIONS
Jon Ishop - Director of Sports Medicine/Head Athletic Trainer
Jon Ishop begins his third season as the director of sports medicine/head athletic trainer after eight seasons with the
Houston Texans as an assistant athletic trainer. Ishop oversees the health care, prevention and rehabilitation of injuries,
as well as daily training room operations. He will also oversee team travel logistics for the third season. A certified athletic
trainer, Ishop is also an NASM Performance Enhancement Specialist, Graston Technique Certified, kinesiotape practitioner
and a Licensed Massage Therapist.
Ishop received his Bachelor of Science degree in kinesiology at the University of Texas at Austin in 1998 and his master’s
degree in sports administration from the University of Houston in 2001.
Ishop and wife, Kedra, have two sons, Aedan and Zachary.
Carlos Daniel - Assistant Coach/Director of Player Performance
Carlos Daniel enters his third season with the Hornets after serving on the strength and conditioning staff of the San
Antonio Spurs for the 2009-10 season. Prior to San Antonio, Daniel was the Performance Trainer and Basketball Director
for the Forza Fitness and Performance Club in Denver. Daniel is ISSA, NASE and CSCS certified trainer and is a NASM
performance enhancement specialist in addition to holding an M.S. in human exercise science.
This summer, Daniel accompanied Anthony Davis during the U.S. Men’s Basketball Team’s exhibition schedule and to the
2012 London Olympics, working with Davis to physically prepare for his debut NBA season.
During the 2006-07 season, Daniel was an assistant coach at the University of Northern Colorado. A 1998 graduate of
Washington State University, Daniel was a standout basketball player for the Cougars, garnering First Team Pac-10 AllAcademic honors each of his four seasons and capturing First Team Arthur Ashe Academic All-American honors twice.
The Boulder, Colo. native finished in WSU’s top 10 in blocks (second), rebounds (sixth), field goal percentage (seventh), minutes played (eighth), points
(ninth) and field goals (ninth). He garnered First Team All-Pac 10 honors his senior season after averaging 16.1 points and 10.1 rebounds per game. The
WSU graduate went on to play professionally in the CBA, IBL, as well as internationally in Japan, Israel, Australia and France. Daniel last played in 2004-05
with the Yakima Sun Kings and was selected to the CBA All-Star Game.
Carlos has a son, Michael, who will be attending Incarnate Word University in San Antonio on a basketball scholarship this fall.
David Jovanovic - Equipment Manager
David Jovanovic, a Hornets employee since their inaugural season in 1988, returns for his 25th season with the club in
2012-13.
His responsibilities as equipment manager consist of ordering and maintaining all of the team’s equipment and maintaining
the Hornets locker room. At home games, he ensures the Hornets, as well as their opponents, have everything they need
for game preparation. In addition, he travels with the team to all preseason, regular season and playoff games and can be
found in his usual seat at the end of the bench.
“Big Shot,” as he is known by the players and staff (coined by former Hornet Rex Chapman), also directs the team’s extensive
ball boy program.
Along with his daily responsibilities with the team, he has also assisted with the original 1988 CBA tryouts for the Hornets,
the 1991 and 2008 NBA All-Star Games, training camp for the 1995 U.S. Women’s Basketball Team that competed in Atlanta for the Summer Olympics, an
exhibition game with the 1994 USA Men’s Basketball Team that competed in the World Championships in Toronto as well as numerous NCAA Tournament
Regionals and ACC Tournaments.
A native of Arlington, Va., Jovanovic attended Belmont Abbey College in Belmont, N.C., and earned his bachelor’s degree in mathematics in 1988. He and his
wife of 21 years, MaryEllen, have two daughters, Grace (18), who will be attending Southeastern Louisiana University this fall, and Abigail (16). In addition
to the NBA, the avid sports fan loves the NFL and NASCAR, but his favorite off-court activity is spending time with his family in Slidell.
26
BASKETBALL OPERATIONS
Kevin Hanson - Player Development Coach
Following three seasons with the San Antonio Spurs, Kevin Hanson begins his second season as a Player Development
Coach with the Hornets.
He joined the Spurs in the summer of 2008 as an assistant video coordinator and was named the Spurs’ Player Development
Assistant in the summer of 2010. Hanson also served as an assistant coach for the Spurs’ summer league team during his
last two years with San Antonio.
Born and raised in Huntington Beach, Calif., he led Ocean View to a CIF Championship. He played four seasons at University
of San Diego, earning a bachelor’s degree in Communication and a minor in Sociology. After college, he spent five seasons
playing professionally in Argentina and Germany.
Bryson Graham - Video Coordinator/Player Development Coach
Bryson Graham begins his third season with the Hornets, his first in the roll of video coordinator, after serving as the team’s player
development director/basketball operations associate last season and as a front office intern in 2010-11.
Prior to joining the Hornets, Graham was a graduate assistant for the Texas A&M men’s basketball team following a three- year playing
career with the Aggies. Graham was part of the Aggies men’s basketball teams that advanced to the Sweet Sixteen in 2006-07 and the
second round of the NCAA Tournament in 2007-08 and 2008-09, graduating in 2009 with a degree in human resource development with
a minor in business. Before his time in College Station, Graham attended junior college and played basketball at Lon Morris College in
Jacksonville, Texas and spent the previous season playing prep school basketball at Maine Central Institute in Pittsfield, Maine.
Born and raised in San Antonio, Texas, Graham graduated from Ronald Reagan High School in 2004. He was selected to the Big 12 AllAcademic Team three consecutive seasons between 2007 and 2009 and was also part of the Big 12 Winter Chick-fil-A Community of
Champions.
BASKETBALL OPERSTIONS STAFF
Mark Armour
David Booth
Chucky Brown
John Carideo
Marc Chasanoff
Randy Greenup
Athletic Training Assistant
Scout - North
Scout - South
Scout - East Coast
Basketball Operations
Associate/Assistant Video
Coordinator
Director of Team Security
Darel Johnson
Kory Johnson
Shane Kupperman
Terrance “Doc” Martin
Cullen Nigrini
Jimmy Polk
Scout - Midwest
Assistant
Equipment Manager
Basketball Operations
Coordinator/Coordinator of
Statistical Analysis
Player Programs Director
Physical Therapist/
Rehabilitation Specialist
Director of Player Contracts
and Basketball Administration
27