Kushner right on the mark here!

I agree 100% Glad someone in media telling it like it is. The fans are being ripped off!

https://www.nola.com/sports/pelicans...fd023089f.html

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So fans have a right to bristle. After sitting in the arena, it’s immensely fair to feel misled and bamboozled by what’s transpired.

In retrospect, we probably should’ve seen this for the house of cards it is.

Asking Holiday to morph into an alpha star was a stretch. Leaning on a variety of young players arriving from a losing environment to suddenly be able to win nightly is awkward.

And dismissing the fragility of an oft-injured franchise and a 6-foot-6, 285-pound phenom whose physique is the most unique in the NBA, because of an accomplished new training staff was probably naive.

But, we in the media bought it. So did the fans and television networks.

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New Orleans has lost six straight games. The stark truth is they’re a flawed team, playing in a flawed style, under flawed directives.

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He certainly summarized my feelings sitting in the arena nicely. I’d only add that David Griffin better start showing his face again and get in front of this train wreck with fans or I’m done with this deal. His silence is inexcusable after all the selling he did over the summer.

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Originally Posted by new city champ

He certainly summarized my feelings sitting in the arena nicely. I’d only add that David Griffin better start showing his face again and get in front of this train wreck with fans or I’m done with this deal. His silence is inexcusable after all the selling he did over the summer.

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I as a person who complained about Griffins loose lips during the off-season, I also have to come to his aid when he’s silent.

That “Griffin needs to show his face and explain what’s going on” to me feels like a nursing job for fare weather fans. We all see what’s going on. We are losing. Our main attraction and star player’s hurt. What do you want the guy to say? Everything that we already know just put on record to give fickle fans a peace of mind that the guy upstairs is taking full blame? For what? Why?

Was Griffin wrong about Jrue and proclaiming the benchmark goal of MVP as obtainable? To me...yes. Always felt there was an ulterior motive in it which I personally felt was wrong. Many would say he was lowering pressure on his “19 year old phenom”. It’s true but it also exposes the true nature of the admiration of Jrue. You play with karma and it will come back. But I also personally believed in a true motive. He flat out told us what he enjoys and wants. He doesn’t want one player obtaining the amount of influence over a franchise which made his time in Cleveland miserable. His “touch by the hands of God” spiel to me was a walk back after understanding...yea folks, you go as far as your star player goes in this league.

Pressure has never exposed anything great. Pressure has only brought greatness out and propelled it. If you have to lower expectations for a player that just signed a 80 million dollar shoe contract, there’s an insecurity there or there’s an agenda there. I never bought Griffins reasonings. That’s what I think fans and media bought.

I’m personally glad that the faux force of trying to be Pop and the Spurs is gone and the pedestal has been kicked out from under him and we can now NATUTALLY focus on building the best team around a formula that consistently works in this league: building around a star who deserves a brunt of the credit because that’s the true difference in this league.

I don't know why it's a surprise. "Bamboozled" seems like a cheap shot and something that is their own fault. Marketing is going to market. Injuries are injuries. No Zion, no Favors, players that haven't played together. Very young players. What exactly did you expect?

Get one more good draft pick and run it back next year, shipping off or not resigning those that don't fit this year. It's an evaluation and maturation year. With the injuries that's what it was always going to be. And yeah, maybe it was too much to ask Holiday to be the alpha, which he surely isn't. It was worth a shot though.

While I understand the thoughts and agree with much that was written, it sounds to me that Kushner is more mad that he fell for the promise and was wrong.

Sensational journalism and a sad way for local media to stoke the flames, falsely, against a local franchise when they should be supportive.

At least David Griffin is in charge and will continue to slowly build this team the right way and not cave to the weird cries to go back to the "win now" approach.

Marketing's job is to sell tickets and to start a season, teams are always hopeful. In a few seasons, when we are winning because the people in charge didn't listen to this drivel, no one will remember this season. The same thing happened with the Saints. In 2014 to 2016, it felt like the ticket craze was offer. I was having to sell the games I couldn't go to for what I bought then for and sometimes less. Once they started winning, everyone was cool.

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Originally Posted by msusousaphone

Sensational journalism and a sad way for local media to stoke the flames, falsely, against a local franchise when they should be supportive.

At least David Griffin is in charge and will continue to slowly build this team the right way and not cave to the weird cries to go back to the "win now" approach.

Marketing's job is to sell tickets and to start a season, teams are always hopeful. In a few seasons, when we are winning because the people in charge didn't listen to this drivel, no one will remember this season. The same thing happened with the Saints. In 2014 to 2016, it felt like the ticket craze was offer. I was having to sell the games I couldn't go to for what I bought then for and sometimes less. Once they started winning, everyone was cool.

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Comparing apples to oranges now. Quit making excuses .

Our season so far

https://media2.giphy.com/media/qz0M7JmH8YqGI/giphy.gif

I thought we’d be better even with a few injuries but I think patience is the key. We all wanted to make the playoffs but if what comes out of losing this year is another young stud or 2 and potentially a great core of young players. I’m good with that and we could turn into golden state or philly in a year or 2.

Quick follow up...

If the #WontBowDown Pelicans finish as poorly as they’ve started this season, it’s hard for me to see Gentry and his staff surviving past 2020.

Also 2020 @nba mock draft:
NOLA - Deni Avdija - F - Israel https://t.co/05yGDg6NQN

— Fletcher Mackel (@FletcherWDSU) December 4, 2019

Many thought including some on this forum(I can bump posts) thought we would be close to playoff team this year.

I do agree with Fletch when you get Zion back it will be restricted minutes, no back to backs.

Start the tank!

Kushner is right, Griff hasn’t proven anything to us yet. He sold us a bill of goods, and the fans who bought it with their $$$ deserve better. The talent is there. We are young, but we have solid talent where Zion should be a great bonus, but not someone we should need to lean on in order to get to the playoffs. We are using way to many excuses when the obvious one is we are being led by a poor coach. That’s it. Injuries can’t be blamed for everything.

Simply put, if we don’t make the playoffs this season Gentry needs to be gone, and if we miss the playoffs next season, Griff should get gone too. We aren’t looking for Demps part Deux.

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Originally Posted by 13 - 3

Quick follow up...

If the #WontBowDown Pelicans finish as poorly as they’ve started this season, it’s hard for me to see Gentry and his staff surviving past 2020.

Also 2020 @nba mock draft:
NOLA - Deni Avdija - F - Israel https://t.co/05yGDg6NQN

— Fletcher Mackel (@FletcherWDSU) December 4, 2019

Many thought including some on this forum(I can bump posts) thought we would be close to playoff team this year.

I do agree with Fletch when you get Zion back it will be restricted minutes, no back to backs.

Start the tank!

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Could always bet the house that Fletcher is going to pick a foreign player in his "mock draft." Not sure if he thinks it makes him look smart to pick someone that most of the everyday fans have never heard of.

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Originally Posted by PELICANSFAN

Could always bet the house that Fletcher is going to pick a foreign player in his "mock draft." Not sure if he thinks it makes him look smart to pick someone that most of the everyday fans have never heard of.

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I never heard of this Luka guy till Dallas drafted him. Looks like a perfect replacement for Dirk.

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Originally Posted by PELICANSFAN

Could always bet the house that Fletcher is going to pick a foreign player in his "mock draft." Not sure if he thinks it makes him look smart to pick someone that most of the everyday fans have never heard of.

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I mean, in fairness, pretty much everyone who pays attention to the draft is familiar with Avdija, and most analysts consider him a top 10 kind of guy, so it might not be Fletch trying to look smart. It's Fletch, so it probably is, but not necessarily.

That said, I'm not as hot on Avdija as some, so for me it really depends where we pick and what we're doing with regards to Favors and Ball. If we let Ball go (trade, for example) and Moore's contract expires, we'll be in need of a point guard, in which case Avdija isn't the solution. If we move Favors and don't get another C back, then we'll need another big, in which case Avdija doesn't help either. On the other hand, if we keep Ball and Favors, then stocking up on another wing is probably the best bet, and in this draft that's either Isaac Okoro or Avdija depending on what exact skills you're after.

cry me a river yal. Geez, you didn't HAVE to drink the preseason kool-aid. Everybody talks up clubs in the off-season in every sport.

I have no idea why folks thought we'd be in the playoffs this year in the western conference. Just be happy ingram can play, pull for lonzo to figure it all out and wait for a high draft choice

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Originally Posted by fullcourtpress

cry me a river yal. Geez, you didn't HAVE to drink the preseason kool-aid. Everybody talks up clubs in the off-season in every sport.

I have no idea why folks thought we'd be in the playoffs this year in the western conference. Just be happy ingram can play, pull for lonzo to figure it all out and wait for a high draft choice

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How would you like to be on the sales staff right now?

This was the No. 1 thing the Pels sales staff thought Zion would eliminate this year. https://t.co/Rgw4n4Zq1L

— Scott Kushner (@ScottDKushner) December 4, 2019

I think that’s extremely fair.

And I believe the franchise did what is well within their right, which is excite their fan base and try to harness the energy of good PR.

But when it doesn’t work out...there is added blowback. Part of the deal. https://t.co/HVsgpy8Xgk

— Scott Kushner (@ScottDKushner) December 5, 2019

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

I mean, in fairness, pretty much everyone who pays attention to the draft is familiar with Avdija, and most analysts consider him a top 10 kind of guy, so it might not be Fletch trying to look smart. It's Fletch, so it probably is, but not necessarily.

That said, I'm not as hot on Avdija as some, so for me it really depends where we pick and what we're doing with regards to Favors and Ball. If we let Ball go (trade, for example) and Moore's contract expires, we'll be in need of a point guard, in which case Avdija isn't the solution. If we move Favors and don't get another C back, then we'll need another big, in which case Avdija doesn't help either. On the other hand, if we keep Ball and Favors, then stocking up on another wing is probably the best bet, and in this draft that's either Isaac Okoro or Avdija depending on what exact skills you're after.

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He "picks" a foreigner every year and consistently pats himself on the back for "picking" Dragic as one of his 20 or 30 selections that year.

To everyone clinging to the idea of this being planned as a rebuilding season, that was before we signed Reddick. That was before we acquired Favors. That was before we decided to keep Jrue Holiday. That was before we went after Nelson, JB and co. That was before we drafted Zion. I’ll be the 1st to admit that Gentry has had horrible luck. In fact, that lack of luck will cost him his job. That doesn’t mean he is an adequate coach.

You can’t tell me that we went out of our way to get Favors and Reddick (both highly coveted older vets) because we planned on a rebuild. Does that mean we should have lit the league on fire? Hell no. We are still a fairly young team and have plenty of room to grow. Is it acceptable that we are 8 games under 500 this early in the season? God no. So many of those losses were preventable if we had either taken care of the ball or had some successful plays down the stretch. The players look lost. That is on Alvin

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Originally Posted by JJackisangry

To everyone clinging to the idea of this being planned as a rebuilding season, that was before we signed Reddick. That was before we acquired Favors. That was before we decided to keep Jrue Holiday. That was before we went after Nelson, JB and co. That was before we drafted Zion. I’ll be the 1st to admit that Gentry has had horrible luck. In fact, that lack of luck will cost him his job. That doesn’t mean he is an adequate coach.

You can’t tell me that we went out of our way to get Favors and Reddick (both highly coveted older vets) because we planned on a rebuild. Does that mean we should have lit the league on fire? Hell no. We are still a fairly young team and have plenty of room to grow. Is it acceptable that we are 8 games under 500 this early in the season? God no. So many of those losses were preventable if we had either taken care of the ball or had some successful plays down the stretch. The players look lost. That is on Alvin

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Why yes! Grif said multiple times in offseason. “Win Now” team!

https://www.forbes.com/sites/christo...rade-deadline/

Some moves need to happen soon!

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Originally Posted by 13 - 3

Why yes! Grif said multiple times in offseason. “Win Now” team!

https://www.forbes.com/sites/christo...rade-deadline/

Some moves need to happen soon!

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It’s not even so much “win now” as much as it is “compete now.” I’m sure Griffin would take decent basketball and some tough growing pains, but we have played terrible basketball and are literally getting by on talent. That is how we have kept things close enough to often mask our shortcomings on offense. How many times do we watch the games and think “wow, {insert team here} makes it look so easy. Why do we make it look so difficult?” We definitely need to work on our defense big time as well, but it’s foolish to look at the score line and say “110 points?! Offense isn’t the problem!” Our pace has made suckers of too many. Outrageous lulls, untimely turnovers and the hideous basketball to boot

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Originally Posted by JJackisangry

It’s not even so much “win now” as much as it is “compete now.” I’m sure Griffin would take decent basketball and some tough growing pains, but we have played terrible basketball and are literally getting by on talent. That is how we have kept things close enough to often mask our shortcomings on offense. How many times do we watch the games and think “wow, {insert team here} makes it look so easy. Why do we make it look so difficult?” We definitely need to work on our defense big time as well, but it’s foolish to look at the score line and say “110 points?! Offense isn’t the problem!” Our pace has made suckers of too many. Outrageous lulls, untimely turnovers and the hideous basketball to boot

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I have been saying this. The offense is terrible to watch. It’s only high cause they chuck more. People like to look at stats as a way to judge something. How about looking at the actual on court product. This team goes 8–10 possessions without scoring and sometimes 4-5 straight turnovers. Nothing efficient whatsoever about this offense.

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Originally Posted by Wowowowow

I as a person who complained about Griffins loose lips during the off-season, I also have to come to his aid when he’s silent.

That “Griffin needs to show his face and explain what’s going on” to me feels like a nursing job for fare weather fans. We all see what’s going on. We are losing. Our main attraction and star player’s hurt. What do you want the guy to say? Everything that we already know just put on record to give fickle fans a peace of mind that the guy upstairs is taking full blame? For what? Why?

Was Griffin wrong about Jrue and proclaiming the benchmark goal of MVP as obtainable? To me...yes. Always felt there was an ulterior motive in it which I personally felt was wrong. Many would say he was lowering pressure on his “19 year old phenom”. It’s true but it also exposes the true nature of the admiration of Jrue. You play with karma and it will come back. But I also personally believed in a true motive. He flat out told us what he enjoys and wants. He doesn’t want one player obtaining the amount of influence over a franchise which made his time in Cleveland miserable. His “touch by the hands of God” spiel to me was a walk back after understanding...yea folks, you go as far as your star player goes in this league.

Pressure has never exposed anything great. Pressure has only brought greatness out and propelled it. If you have to lower expectations for a player that just signed a 80 million dollar shoe contract, there’s an insecurity there or there’s an agenda there. I never bought Griffins reasonings. That’s what I think fans and media bought.

I’m personally glad that the faux force of trying to be Pop and the Spurs is gone and the pedestal has been kicked out from under him and we can now NATUTALLY focus on building the best team around a formula that consistently works in this league: building around a star who deserves a brunt of the credit because that’s the true difference in this league.

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No, its not hand holding for fair weather fans, it's basic customer service. Griff was adamant that this was not a "rebuilding" year. As others have noted, he went out and signed established vets like Redick and Favors and held on to Jrue with the idea that this team could be competitive in the West from the jump. Now, it's all turned to ashes. I promise if you if I had been hammering away with my investors about what a great year we were going to have and how we'd come out of the blocks fast and look at all these great moves we made and then it all went belly up in the first six weeks of the year, I'd be out there explaining myself to anyone who would listen and telling them what my plan was and why they should stick with me. It's not enough to shrug it off and say "everybody knows" what happened. As a leader you've got to be out front not hiding in your office otherwise people lose confidence that you know what you're doing. And for those thousands of fans who invested their time and their treasure in Griffin's vision for this season, the very he least he owes them is his take on what the problems are and how he plans to fix them Even if he just wants to put it all off on injuries, ok say that--though that begs the question: what happened to all this investment you supposedly made in injury prevention? Why hasn't that paid off?

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Originally Posted by new city champ

No, its not hand holding for fair weather fans, it's basic customer service. Griff was adamant that this was not a "rebuilding" year. As others have noted, he went out and signed established vets like Redick and Favors and held on to Jrue with the idea that this team could be competitive in the West from the jump. Now, it's all turned to ashes. I promise if you if I had been hammering away with my investors about what a great year we were going to have and how we'd come out of the blocks fast and look at all these great moves we made and then it all went belly up in the first six weeks of the year, I'd be out there explaining myself to anyone who would listen and telling them what my plan was and why they should stick with me. It's not enough to shrug it off and say "everybody knows" what happened. As a leader you've got to be out front not hiding in your office otherwise people lose confidence that you know what you're doing. And for those thousands of fans who invested their time and their treasure in Griffin's vision for this season, the very he least he owes them is his take on what the problems are and how he plans to fix them Even if he just wants to put it all off on injuries, ok say that--though that begs the question: what happened to all this investment you supposedly made in injury prevention? Why hasn't that paid off?

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Griffin should definitely be vocal and reach out to the fans in some way as you have rightly said. If you were going to sell everyone on the quick success of the team, you need to explain how you plan on fixing the shipwreck; even if it’s meaningless words. Sometimes the fans just want communication. Throw them a bone and let them know that despite the struggles, we haven’t deviated from the plan and will continue to grow as a team. Silence speaks volumes really.

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Originally Posted by PELICANSFAN

He "picks" a foreigner every year and consistently pats himself on the back for "picking" Dragic as one of his 20 or 30 selections that year.

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Yeah like I said, it's Fletch so it probably is him being stupid, but that's not necessarily the case.

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Originally Posted by UNO Gracias

Kushner is right, Griff hasn’t proven anything to us yet. He sold us a bill of goods, and the fans who bought it with their $$$ deserve better. The talent is there. We are young, but we have solid talent where Zion should be a great bonus, but not someone we should need to lean on in order to get to the playoffs. We are using way to many excuses when the obvious one is we are being led by a poor coach. That’s it. Injuries can’t be blamed for everything.

Simply put, if we don’t make the playoffs this season Gentry needs to be gone, and if we miss the playoffs next season, Griff should get gone too. We aren’t looking for Demps part Deux.

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Griff has done an amazing job. Giving him one year or 2 years would be horrible. I love the blend of youth and experience which is alot better than what Demps had done. Gentry Was a holdover and not necessarily his picking but that is the only iffy decision but I understand why they kept Gentry.

If Griff can’t get rid of Gentry this year (if we put up another clunker) then he isn’t really the Team President that can get things done. Sure upgrading facilities, bringing in a new training staff, and bringing in solid fringe players is one thing (two of those things are long overdue), but if you can’t put a winner on the court, then you have no business managing this teams day to day affairs.

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Originally Posted by UNO Gracias

Kushner is right, Griff hasn’t proven anything to us yet. He sold us a bill of goods, and the fans who bought it with their $$$ deserve better. The talent is there. We are young, but we have solid talent where Zion should be a great bonus, but not someone we should need to lean on in order to get to the playoffs. We are using way to many excuses when the obvious one is we are being led by a poor coach. That’s it. Injuries can’t be blamed for everything.

Simply put, if we don’t make the playoffs this season Gentry needs to be gone, and if we miss the playoffs next season, Griff should get gone too. We aren’t looking for Demps part Deux.

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Griffin gets more than 100 games with Zion my man. He is likely here for the full five.

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Originally Posted by ColoradoCajun

Griffin gets more than 100 games with Zion my man. He is likely here for the full five.

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And he will get more than 100 games with Zion. This is an NBA GM, not a US President. You don’t have to wait out the length of his term to get rid of him, if he isn’t winning get on up from under that guy.