Mickey Loomis will be out of a job for the first half of the NFL season, but the Saints general manager may keep himself busy running the NBA's New Orleans Hornets. Saints owner Tom Benson, who is in the middle of acquiring the Hornets, is restructuring the top management positions in his empire and that is likely to lead to Loomis overseeing basketball operations for the Hornets, according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune. Loomis has been suspended for the first eight games of the 2012 season for failing to disclose and shut down the team's so-called bounty program that was in operation from 2009-'11. Benson, 84, told the Times-Picayune he also plans to give Dennis Lauscha, Saints executive vice president and chief financial officer, similar powers with the Hornets, and elevate his granddaughter, Rita Benson LeBlanc to vice-chairwoman of the board. "We've got a good team going, we really do," said Benson. Source: USA Today
