Please assure me Gentry/Demps don't get a pass due to Cousin's injury

[tyler]

I just think how much better off this team would be long term had we taken our time and build via the draft. Even with the injuries we'd still have guys on their rookie or just starting their 2nd deals as opposed to having to max out Cousins coming off this injury or the cap we invested in Hill. And we are still basically in the same boat in term of success just capped out.

I mean our scouting team sucks... all the picks we've had so far except AD has been totally trash

[N.O.Bronco]

Has little to do with ownership constraints. Dell was given full rein to make moves, but chose to greatly overspend on marginal talent during the year that the cap rose significantly. He chose to invest stupid money in Hill, Asik and Ajinca just because there was available cap room. He is now paying for those poor decisions.

The two things can’t be decoupled.

Ownership stood with a Demps and signaled a mandate to get to the playoffs imminately. Benson made that known publicly during the transition. They found their superstar(and maybe their perceived second in Gordon) and they wanted to skip the line and start winning games right away. Which prompted the moves to trade in draft picks for guys on their more expensive second contracts, going into their third. Which immediately puts you at a much greater cost scale than had you stayed patient and built through the draft and made cost effective free agent moves in the interim.

Dell Demps did not execute that well, that is a fact. Injuries were also a major stumbling block.

But ownership set the stage for this path and have enabled Demps to continue being the man to walk it.

We are at a point where when you add Mirotic and Cousins next contract, staying out of the luxury is basically impossible if they want to go from marginal playoff team to actual contender. IMO, the only way you fill in that gap is by opening the purse strings or pulling off an all time great bargain bin offseason where you find a Covington and Dinwiddie in FA and strike gold on a Draymond Green or Malcolm Brogdon in the second round. Outside of that you basically either fill out the roster with more bottom tier players that wouldn’t get minutes on most contender squads and hope your front end can overcome that, or you become a full in lottery team and embrace it.

[PELICANSFAN]

The two things can’t be decoupled.

Ownership stood with a Demps and signaled a mandate to get to the playoffs imminately. Benson made that known publicly during the transition. They found their superstar(and maybe their perceived second in Gordon) and they wanted to skip the line and start winning games right away. Which prompted the moves to trade in draft picks for guys on their more expensive second contracts, going into their third. Which immediately puts you at a much greater cost scale than had you stayed patient and built through the draft and made cost effective free agent moves in the interim.

Dell Demps did not execute that well, that is a fact. Injuries were also a major stumbling block.

But ownership set the stage for this path and have enabled Demps to continue being the man to walk it.

We are at a point where when you add Mirotic and Cousins next contract, staying out of the luxury is basically impossible if they want to go from marginal playoff team to actual contender. IMO, the only way you fill in that gap is by opening the purse strings or pulling off an all time great bargain bin offseason where you find a Covington and Dinwiddie in FA and strike gold on a Draymond Green or Malcolm Brogdon in the second round. Outside of that you basically either fill out the roster with more bottom tier players that wouldn’t get minutes on most contender squads and hope your front end can overcome that, or you become a full in lottery team and embrace it.

I think they are aware they will have to go into the tax. It is a matter of when. It makes no sense to do it now. Maybe next year or the following year based on availability of players.

[specialman]

Both are very overrated and should have been fired by now. It’s obvious Dell trades all our #1 picks to give him another year each year and Gentry seems like a nice guy but he’s simply an assistant coach.

[AusPel]

I mean our scouting team sucks... all the picks we've had so far except AD has been totally trash

Rivers and Buddy?

Coz that's the only 2 1sts we've taken