I don't disagree with your second point. But are you saying Payton, and Rubio are better defensively? I'd take Jrue over Rubio in a 7 game series if the objective was stopping Curry, Westbrook or CP3. And unless you're talking about Gary Payton, I'm not sure I agree with Payton being better than Jrue. Avery Bradley isn't really a PG. Wall is debatable as a defensive upgrade, but clearly an overall upgrade. Beverly is better defensively, but Jrue -even with all his faults- is much better offensively than Beverly.
Hopefully Dell has the kind of relationship with Jrue, his family and his agent that will allow him to let Jrue test the market and come back to the Pelicans with his best offer. If the expectation is that the Pelicans will max Jrue at 12:01 on day one, and anything less is an insult, we're going to be in trouble.