Pelicans looking to get a top 5 pick?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MichaelMcNamara

This might be a reasonable objective philosophy to have. It is not Dell and Monty's philosophy, though. So we can all ponder about what we would do, but I personally find it more productive to try to think about what Dell will do. Dell will not take a step back for the next 2-3 years even if it might mean taking two steps forward in years 4-6. He just won't IMO

---

If Dell is trying to get a top 5 pick and move a core piece in the process then it is probably to secure another young veteran that he just has to have. That is what we should focus on in this thread if anything at all.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by PelicanFever

If Dell is trying to get a top 5 pick and move a core piece in the process then it is probably to secure another young veteran that he just has to have. That is what we should focus on in this thread if anything at all.

---

Exactly. If it is true, which I don't believe it is, then Team X said, "Well if you want Y player, I need a top 5 pick."

Then, Dell got to work. Its not to take Vonleh or Embiid so that those guys can blossom in 2018, long after he has been fired.

Quote:

---

If Dell is trying to get a top 5 pick and move a core piece in the process then it is probably to secure another young veteran that he just has to have

---

I only see 2 moves that make sense in targeting a top 5 pick. One is going after Kevin Love, it's always been presumed that all of this asset acquisition was a path to a bigger star player. Two would be a bluff to make someone else take a deal Demps is pushing. I found the phrasing of one of the accounts from another GM interesting, something along the lines of "The Pelicans are trying to jump up ahead of us to get guys we're targeting. Basically "You don't want to trade Gordon for Jeff Green, Danny? Good luck with Embid slipping to you."

Darkhorse - What if NJ said they would do Lopez for Gordon if we got them a high pick? Or Memphis wants to totally rebuild and says the same about Gasol, or Atlanta about Horford?

Could be some team out there willing to blow it up like Philly did last year that we don't even suspect.

If we have to give away ryno and gordon to take on lopez or horford i personally am not sure i would do it (especially in the first case). Gasol though, that's a whole different matter. I'd still like to keep ryno but yeah, can't have everything

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MichaelMcNamara

Darkhorse - What if NJ said they would do Lopez for Gordon if we got them a high pick? Or Memphis wants to totally rebuild and says the same about Gasol, or Atlanta about Horford?

Could be some team out there willing to blow it up like Philly did last year that we don't even suspect.

---

Thats crazy I looked up specifics on Horford today because I was thinking the same thing.

Tyreke
Jrue
Tucker
AD
Horford

I can dig it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MichaelMcNamara

Darkhorse - What if NJ said they would do Lopez for Gordon if we got them a high pick? Or Memphis wants to totally rebuild and says the same about Gasol, or Atlanta about Horford?

Could be some team out there willing to blow it up like Philly did last year that we don't even suspect.

---

Offloading Gordon, and a pick for an already established center would be great. Although I'm not sure which I'd choose from those 3 options. Lopez is great but what's his injury history like? i know he was out for most of this past season. Same for Horford, but isn't he also the older of the 3? Gasol I think might be my first choice but I'm not 100% sure. But of the 3 teams, Nets, Hawks, and Grizzlies... Which could use an expensive SG? Surely not the Nets because they got Joe Johnson. I'd think the Hawks would be fine since they got that Lou guy. So... damn I'm leaning toward the grizzlies again?

I dunno. I'd say of those 3 in that hypothetical situation, Gasol is most likely option.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by HornetGuru

Thats crazy I looked up specifics on Horford today because I was thinking the same thing.

Tyreke
Jrue
Tucker
AD
Horford

I can dig it.

---

we would likely be losing holiday in order to get a top pick

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by PelicanFever

we would likely be losing holiday in order to get a top pick

---

Or Reke.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by PelicanFever

we would likely be losing holiday in order to get a top pick

---

Maybe, but I think Dell gave up too much to get him, he would go another route, maybe packaging ryno and a future first or something of that matter.

presuming I would remain healthy, I would love to obtain the rights to re-use all the wasted breath contained on this thread..... no matter what happens, there has been an abundance of it....

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by JunkHead

Offloading Gordon, and a pick for an already established center would be great. Although I'm not sure which I'd choose from those 3 options. Lopez is great but what's his injury history like? i know he was out for most of this past season. Same for Horford, but isn't he also the older of the 3? Gasol I think might be my first choice but I'm not 100% sure. But of the 3 teams, Nets, Hawks, and Grizzlies... Which could use an expensive SG? Surely not the Nets because they got Joe Johnson. I'd think the Hawks would be fine since they got that Lou guy. So... damn I'm leaning toward the grizzlies again?

I dunno. I'd say of those 3 in that hypothetical situation, Gasol is most likely option.

---

After thinking about this for a few more minutes, I'd choose Gasol in this scenario. Memphis is in our division. Get gasol out of the picture and on this team and it will improve our record even more in theory. And yes, I quoted myself. I can do that. I'm an adult.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by JunkHead

After thinking about this for a few more minutes, I'd choose Gasol in this scenario. Memphis is in our division. Get gasol out of the picture and on this team and it will improve our record even more in theory. And yes, I quoted myself. I can do that. I'm an adult.

---

Gasol would be a perfect fit next to AD, they compliment each other so well

Gasol is a goliath, he's the 2nd best defensive center in the league IMO after Noah, he can bang, has low post offense and defense. Would love to have him.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ramsters60

presuming I would remain healthy, I would love to obtain the rights to re-use all the wasted breath contained on this thread..... no matter what happens, there has been an abundance of it....

---

not really wasted breath. More like wasted.... finger pulses?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MichaelMcNamara

not really wasted breath. More like wasted.... finger pulses?

---

Was thinking the same thing.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by HornetGuru

Gasol would be a perfect fit next to AD, they compliment each other so well

Gasol is a goliath, he's the 2nd best defensive center in the league IMO after Noah, he can bang, has low post offense and defense. Would love to have him.

---

And removing him from a team we have to play 4 times a year doesn't help either.:P

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MichaelMcNamara

not really wasted breath. More like wasted.... finger pulses?

---

One man's wasted finger pulses are another man's finger exercise.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MichaelMcNamara

This might be a reasonable objective philosophy to have. It is not Dell and Monty's philosophy, though. So we can all ponder about what we would do, but I personally find it more productive to try to think about what Dell will do. Dell will not take a step back for the next 2-3 years even if it might mean taking two steps forward in years 4-6. He just won't IMO

---

Maybe Dell doesn't view trading his backup PF (coming off a 22 game season) and either his overpriced SG, or his SG that clashed with his coach at times, as taking as significant a step backwards as you do.

If he can also get a SF and a C through additional offseason moves, say Hawes and Dunleavy, maybe he's thinking he can walk and chew gum; fill needs to make the team better next season, while also getting an ideal pairing in the front court for the next 15 years.

It doesn't have to be one or the other. It can be both at the same time. Dell, Monty, Loomis, and Benson realize this teams championship window is 3 years from now, not any sooner.

So long as trading assets we currently have doesn't halt or reverse progression, I think they'll make moves that are in the best long term strategic interests the team.

Memphis is keeping Randolph and Gasol and retooling, not rebuilding. We have a better chance of getting the #1 pick from Cleveland and drafting Jabari Parker, than getting the best player from our division rival!

If Dell thinks that guys like Hawes or Dunleavy can move the needle at a similar level as any of the core 4, then put me on the Fire Dell train.

And I think we have totally different ideas about how patient our coaches and front office are. You want to be a champion in 3 years, you better get into the playoffs ASAP, because history says you have to go through a few years of trials and tribulations.

Again, I am not saying the philosophy of what you are proposing is wrong objectively. I am saying that Dell does not see it that way, and is not going to take a step back with his job on the line. For better or worse.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by NMThreeMVP

Maybe Dell doesn't view trading his backup PF (coming off a 22 game season) and either his overpriced SG, or his SG that clashed with his coach at times, as taking as significant a step backwards as you do.

If he can also get a SF and a C through additional offseason moves, say Hawes and Dunleavy, maybe he's thinking he can walk and chew gum; fill needs to make the team better next season, while also getting an ideal pairing in the front court for the next 15 years.

It doesn't have to be one or the other. It can be both at the same time. Dell, Monty, Loomis, and Benson realize this teams championship window is 3 years from now, not any sooner.

So long as trading assets we currently have doesn't halt or reverse progression, I think they'll make moves that are in the best long term strategic interests the team.

---

All good points I would remove Benson's name from that list. Not sure he understands that we should be setting up for the future. Of course at his age I could understand why he wouldn't want to.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by JunkHead

And removing him from a team we have to play 4 times a year doesn't help either.:P

---

Another great point!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by NMThreeMVP

Memphis is keeping Randolph and Gasol and retooling, not rebuilding. We have a better chance of getting the #1 pick from Cleveland and drafting Jabari Parker, than getting the best player from our division rival!

---

Why? Because that is what they said in the media, so there is no chance? Wouldn't a smart FO see that they have kind of hit a wall and at least think about selling at peak value?

Likely? No. But its not beyond reason.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MichaelMcNamara

If Dell thinks that guys like Hawes or Dunleavy can move the needle at a similar level as any of the core 4, then put me on the Fire Dell train.

And I think we have totally different ideas about how patient our coaches and front office are. You want to be a champion in 3 years, you better get into the playoffs ASAP, because history says you have to go through a few years of trials and tribulations.

Again, I am not saying the philosophy of what you are proposing is wrong objectively. I am saying that Dell does not see it that way, and is not going to take a step back with his job on the line. For better or worse.

---

You confuse me sometimes with your logic. Anderson as a member of this core is so valuable it should be insanely obvious we can't just trade him yet you don't think he'll command big dollars on his next deal.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by da ThRONe

You confuse me sometimes with your logic. Anderson as a member of this core is so valuable it should be insanely obvious we can't just trade him yet you don't think he'll command big dollars on his next deal.

---

First of all, I am trying to think like Dell. And yes, Ryno helps this team far more than any rookie would over the next 2-3 years. Years 4-10, that rookie could help more, but there is no universe in which (if all are healthy) that a guy like Vonleh helps your team win more games than Ryno this year.

And specialty players just don't get huge contracts. I mean, Ginobli is probably a top 10-12 SG of all time, but because he was never viewed as a pure starting 2, he never got a max type contract.

Anderson is a guy who needs to be in a particular situation to have his max value for a team. You gotta put him in a drive and kick or post and kick offense with a rim protector behind him. Conventional players have perceived value amongst all 29 teams, so the market escalates.

The issue here is Dell's job security or lack thereof. Personally, I would move Gordon and Ryno to go get Embiid, or at least consider it. But if we step outside of ourselves and think like Dell, I don't know what evidence we can possibly point to that would suggest he would go that route.