Assistant general manager Dennis Lindsey became the latest Spurs staff member to depart for different — if not altogether greener — pastures Tuesday, when he was formally announced as the new general manager of the Utah Jazz.
The introduction was made at a news conference in Salt Lake City.
Lindsey, the Spurs’ assistant general manager under R.C. Buford since his arrival in San Antonio following the 2007, will report to Kevin O’Connor, who remains with Utah after serving as general manager of the past 13 seasons. O’Connor will take the title of executive vice president of basketball operations as part of the Jazz’s front-office reorganization, but the day-to-day duties of running the team will fall to Lindsey.
A candidate for several jobs over the past few years, including this summer when he also interviewed for front-office openings in Orlando and Philadelphia, Lindsey told reporters in Utah he sees no need to overhaul a club that, along with the Spurs, has long been considered one of the most well-run small-market franchises in the NBA.
“I’m not trying to change the culture,” said Lindsey, who spent 11 years in various roles with the Houston Rockets before landing in San Antonio.
Lindsey’s departure creates yet another vacancy for the Spurs in what has been a summer of exodus. Since their playoff ouster to Oklahoma City in the Western Conference finals, the Spurs have also lost vice president of basketball operations Danny Ferry to the GM job in Atlanta, assistant coach Jacque Vaughn to the head coaching chair in Orlando and Don Newman, a longtime fixture on Gregg Popovich’s bench, to the lead assistant job in Washington.
