Pelicans 2014 Offseason Grades

The futility of trying to judge the Pelicans major moves in the 2013 offseason due to the major injuries the team sustained accentuates the extreme futility of trying to judge their 2014 offseason moves. But in the absence of any real news between the end of free agency and summer league and nothing of interest happening until the USA team scrimmages I thought it would be fun to review the media's grades to the Pelicans for their 2014 offseason. To say there is an extreme variance in opinion would be an understatement.
The most entertaining assessment was by Andrew Sharp with Grantland. Overall a great and insightful read. Witty and spot on he gave the Pelicans a B+ grade "Plus an alien with basketball superpowers:


http://grantland.com/the-triangle/yo...n-report-card/

On the other end of the spectrum this dude with Rant Sports doesn't seem to be aware the the Pelicans signed Omer Asik!!!
He's grading us on the Jimmer signing!!!

Oh and BTW he gave us a D+

"The Pelicans were able to nab Jimmer Fredette to a veteran minimum deal, and I actually believe he may be able to revitalize his career in New Orleans. He will certainly help boost their three-point efficiency, but that doesn’t solve their well established defensive woes. Overall it was unimpressive."

Grade: D+



http://www.rantsports.com/nba/2014/0...teams/#slide39

In between Alec Nathan, with yes, that Bleacher report, came in somewhere in between with a C:


http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2...rmance/page/20

Fansided Gerald Bourguet also straddled the middle awarding the Pelicans a C+ while bemoaning the loss of Brian Roberts and Jason Smith


http://fansided.com/2014/07/17/nba-f...-offseasons/2/

The most ludicrous grade was from real GM administrator who awarded the Pelicans a "D" and the Rockets an A- for the Omer Asik trade???


http://basketball.realgm.com/blog/23...şık/

Zach Harper with CBS Sports graded the Rockets with an A- and the Pelicans with a B for the Asik trade???

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/eye-on-...rst-round-pick

Ben Golliver with SI gave the Rockets an A and the Pelicans with a B for the Asik acquisition?

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/eye-on-...rst-round-pick

And David Fisher with "The Bird Writes" posted the best and fairest assessment of all:

http://www.thebirdwrites.com/2014/7/...son-assessment

I can go along with a B+ and I don't think David or I are "homers"

But what self respecting sports commentator could really believe Houston came out better than the Pelicans on the Asik deal? My impression is that the Rockets saw Omer as redundant and were trying to clear cap space so THEY GAVE him away to a divisional opponent. AND they didn't sign LBJ, Mello, Chandler or Bosh but did sign Ariza? I'd grade that as an F-

I always ask sim league this, but can cap space dribble a ball?

Somewhere down the line, members of the media became more enamored with cap space and draft picks than with players that can help a team win. To give the Rockets an A because they cleared cap space for a free agent signing that never happened is pretty absurd to me. And if the Pelicans' pick ends up being somewhere in the late teens, the swap for Asik was good value for New Orleans, but not so much for Houston.

Yes that's absurd to give the Rockets a better grade for acquiring a protected first round pick for a top notch defensive 7 foot center that can rebound with the best of them. Those players don't just grow on trees and I'm surprised more teams didn't offer more for him. If we were the Knicks or Lakers, we would of gotten an A+! I just don't see them acquiring a player in the middle of the draft that is on the same level as Asik. I mean yes they could get extremely lucky and add a really good player, but they could also end up with just a guy or worse. Houston should know that he's quite valuable by signing him to that crazy contract that pays him a hefty amount of Benjamins!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NOLa.

I always ask sim league this, but can cap space dribble a ball?

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no. but neither can Asik, or a simulated player for that matter

http://media.tumblr.com/951f07e96f2f...e4w1r80p9c.gif

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pelifan

no. but neither can Asik, or a simulated player for that matter

http://media.tumblr.com/951f07e96f2f...e4w1r80p9c.gif

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Cap space won't cause TOs either :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pelifan

no. but neither can Asik, or a simulated player for that matter

http://media.tumblr.com/951f07e96f2f...e4w1r80p9c.gif

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,I will HAVE THE OPTION. IF I HAD THE A[URL?]M GJ[/URL]

Considering the us are a mishmash of immigrants i don't know why someone should have a typical american name/surname to make his opinion a valid one. This apart from the fact that his analysis is dumb, which we can all agree about i think.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ludiculous

,I will HAVE THE OPTION. IF I HAD THE A[URL?]M GJ[/URL]

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Is this English?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SeaLegs

Is this English?

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Wow. Def pocket posted this haha. My bad yall

We got a proven center.. No worse than a B

Figured I'd add this one by Ryan Flannery with Double G Sports:

http://doublegsports.com/nba-free-ag...4-report-card/

Another D+
No mention of Salmons, Jimmer, Russ or Patric

I think there are things not to like about the Asik deal.
I don't think the Rockets came out poorly from it.
They didn't end up with the big name free agents they wanted but it allowed them to pursue and get a first round pick for it and dumped a guy who wasn't playing for them and $15 million they would have to pay him, even if it was a lesser cap hit.
I can see how people could think the Rockets got the better deal. I don't think that you can judge it based off of them not getting the free agents they wanted but judge it based off of the fact that it gave them the ability to do so. We always talk about swinging for the fences and what they did was a little risk high reward move. They lost nothing but Dwight insurance for the ability to be one of the favorites to win a title and a first round pick.
I still think that us getting anything below a C is absurd.
As I've said, I think that we should have gotten a decent SF instead of a C but other than that I don't I don't think we did poorly, especially after seeing how much so many of the free agents received this year.

Didn't see it anywhere, so I'm posting it here...

NBA graded the offseasons of every team, and even though I disagree with some of them, it's still worth the read.

http://www.nba.com/reportcard/offseason/2014/pelicans

I mean, OKC got a C+, while the Jazz got a B+... Go figure...

Lol @ the team having cohesion issues. Of course it does with all the roster turnover and injuries to high minute players. Even this season will have some of those problems, but hopefully a lot fewer than before.

I'll just touch on the Rockets deal. Both teams won. Asik was wasting on the Rockets bench. We got a real good center to fit this team, they got good compensation for a bench player. We forfeited building via the draft when we traded for Holiday the Asik trade was just sticking to the script.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by da ThRONe

I'll just touch on the Rockets deal. Both teams won. Asik was wasting on the Rockets bench. We got a real good center to fit this team, they got good compensation for a bench player. We forfeited building via the draft when we traded for Holiday the Asik trade was just sticking to the script.

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I'll always wonder where a lineup of:

Tyreke
Gordon
-SF-
Davis
Noel

could have taken us.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by da ThRONe

I'll just touch on the Rockets deal. Both teams won. Asik was wasting on the Rockets bench. We got a real good center to fit this team, they got good compensation for a bench player. We forfeited building via the draft when we traded for Holiday the Asik trade was just sticking to the script.

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I don't understand the people that think there has to be a winner in a trade. Why can both teams not come out with a good deal?