Handing the Lakers a title

Looks like that's what happened during the offseason

Griffin rambling about how good this team is going to be, meanwhile they are awful and the lakers and A.D are laughing possibly on there way to a ring

Tell me something I don't ******* know.

Please with your sunshine and optimism give me more reasons to burn my pelicans cap.

Lakers won’t even get past the Clippers. Someone please burn this thread.

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Originally Posted by Speakthetruth

Looks like that's what happened during the offseason

Griffin rambling about how good this team is going to be, meanwhile they are awful and the lakers and A.D are laughing possibly on there way to a ring

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What was the alternative? Wait another year for AD to walk and get nothing? That just delays it a year.

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Originally Posted by PELICANSFAN

What was the alternative? Wait another year for AD to walk and get nothing? That just delays it a year.

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The real issue was there was never a good enough team built with A.D a bunch of wasted years on a dude who is going to go down as one of the greatest big men in history. Jrue Holiday was his second option who is looking more like a guy who should be a number 3 on title team. Got to wonder what this team could of been with a better number 2

Could have made finals with Boogie and Rondo. Boogie got hurt and that changed everything. But we got Zion and we could be getting another good lotto pick in 2020 and we are loaded with assets. We will do fine. We are rebuilding. It’s good we got Ingram and Hayes has a bright future. AD is on his way to a title. Good for him. We will see what happens. I’m pretty sure they can be beaten.


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Originally Posted by pelicanchamp

Could have made finals with Boogie and Rondo. Boogie got hurt and that changed everything. But we got Zion and we could be getting another good lotto pick in 2020 and we are loaded with assets. We will do fine. We are rebuilding. It’s good we got Ingram and Hayes has a bright future. AD is on his way to a title. Good for him. We will see what happens. I’m pretty sure they can be beaten.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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The final nail in the coffin for this franchise was hiring Gentry. Any coach would have been better for the Boogie AD era. We bucthered it, and AD became disillusioned with the Pelicans as a result.

If we hadn’t landed that number one pick this year, this franchise would be in deep doo doo. We were handed a second chance, and seeing how we have managed that chance, we do not deserve it. Every day AD is more justified.

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Originally Posted by Speakthetruth

Looks like that's what happened during the offseason

Griffin rambling about how good this team is going to be, meanwhile they are awful and the lakers and A.D are laughing possibly on there way to a ring

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Delaying gratification for a little while never hurt anyone. It sucks now, but patience is a virtue.

We had no alternative but to trade AD, and we have a bright future because of it.

The draft this year was awesome. Didi Silva, NAW, Jaxson Hayes, Zion. That is an incredible draft. Plus we got Ingram and a ton of future picks. Ball and Hart are mehhhh right now, and it's yet to be seen how they fit into this puzzle.

We just really need a true point guard, and a legitimate coach to mold these young players into a competitive team. Gentry's "system" doesn't work, and he can't adapt. It's either shoot 40 3's a game and play no defense, or nothing.

We always knew the Lakers were going to be amazing this year and we wouldn't. We still know that further down the road, we now have the pieces and assets to be amazing for a long time and they don't.

We literally had discussions here talking about how they mortgaged their future for this one season or two and that it would look like they won the deal immediately but that we would win in the end.....as in when looking back a decade later.

It's so weird watching people lose that resolve and act like we didn't see this coming.

Looking at Laker home games and Pelicans home games. I cant even blame AD for wanting out. Laker games are packed out. Pelican crowds look like G league crowds.

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Originally Posted by HoustonPelicans

Looking at Laker home games and Pelicans home games. I cant even blame AD for wanting out. Laker games are packed out. Pelican crowds look like G league crowds.

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Well, winning actually helps.

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Originally Posted by Fedupfan

Well, winning actually helps.

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Memphis are 8-17 and still have packed crowds.

Don’t we get more draft picks if they win?

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Originally Posted by HoustonPelicans

Memphis are 8-17 and still have packed crowds.

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LOL dude stop lying the Memphis avg 15,000 lol pack house.

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Originally Posted by HoustonPelicans

Memphis are 8-17 and still have packed crowds.

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As in 3rd to last in the NBA in attendance?

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Originally Posted by PELICANSFAN

As in 3rd to last in the NBA in attendance?

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It's hard to trust those numbers when they have Pelicans at 22 and you could hear a pin drop in the arena, in some of our games. They've always said we had pretty good attendance numbers but it doesn't look like it at all.

Edit: They say our attendance is 16,222 out of a possible 17,791. Nobody who watches our games believes our arena is 91% full.

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Originally Posted by Pelicans_fan_504

LOL dude stop lying the Memphis avg 15,000 lol pack house.

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15,000 out of a possible 18,000. 83% packed my fault.

Also I'm so tired of hearing we failed to build around, in this day and age of the NBA you can't build around AD. AD is a great player but he is a number 2 on a championship team. His skill set is to limited, to when a championships your best player has to be a wing that can create their own shot and can create for other while handling the ball. That is not Ad's game but hopefully Zion can keep improving on the glimpse we saw in preseason of his ability to do just that.

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Originally Posted by HoustonPelicans

It's hard to trust those numbers when they have Pelicans at 22 and you could hear a pin drop in the arena, in some of our games. They've always said we had pretty good attendance numbers but it doesn't look like it at all.

Edit: They say our attendance is 16,222 out of a possible 17,791. Nobody who watches our games believes our arena is 91% full.

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Yeah lots of those tickets go empty. Sold to SeatGeek,TicketExchange etc. Plastered advertising all over arena. They made a mistake on the football side thinking 49ers fans would not buy those tickets. LOL.

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Originally Posted by Pelicans_fan_504

Also I'm so tired of hearing we failed to build around, in this day and age of the NBA you can't build around AD. AD is a great player but he is a number 2 on a championship team. His skill set is to limited, to when a championships your best player has to be a wing that can create their own shot and can create for other while handling the ball. That is not Ad's game but hopefully Zion can keep improving on the glimpse we saw in preseason of his ability to do just that.

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Not to defend AD within a thread like this, but this is flat out not true nor does it have any precedence.
Kobe, Lebron, KD etc won on stacked teams with fellow players who were the best players at their positions at the time in their conference and didn’t get over the hump until that was so. Quality players as starters and bench x coaching wins in this league.

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Originally Posted by Wowowowow

Not to defend AD within a thread like this, but this is flat out not true nor does it have any precedence.
Kobe, Lebron, KD etc won on stacked teams with fellow players who were the best players at their positions at the time in their conference and didn’t get over the hump until that was so. Quality players as starters and bench x coaching wins in this league.

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Every player you named is a wing that can handle the ball and create their own shot AD is not that.

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Originally Posted by Pelicans_fan_504

Every player you named is a wing that can handle the ball and create their own shot AD is not that.

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AD without the surrounding of quality players has been titleless just like Lebron first Cleveland tenure, KD pre Warriors, 05 Lakers and Kobe. Everything you described could be Paul George, James Harden, Damian Lillard etc.

Quality teams win championships. Specific skillset and styles is just a version of how a team chooses to win or lose at the hands of a inferior or superior team.

I feel like this thread was teleported directly in from like, early August or something.

We all knew this when the trade happened: everyone accepted that AD going to the Lakers could easily mean they win a ring this year or next. Not guaranteed, of course: the Clippers will be a real obstacle (and I still believe the Clippers will be a better playoff team even if they don't have the same regular season magic due to load management and stuff) and the Bucks still exist.

The idea was, and still is, that while sending AD to the Lakers may gift him a ring, the return we got from that trade lays the foundations for us to have shots at multiple rings down the line. He was walking anyway, he had to go, so send him where the return is best for our future. Stop worrying so much about other teams and worry about yourself.

Fire Gentry and Griffin

Didn't really hand them one, I mean they got Lebron before AD. And getting AD or other free agents was the plan. They were going to back one year or another to contending being in a big market. I'm not surprised to this team losing as we atleast thought the number 1 pick whos hurt would be here and no AD. The thing we probably see what AD impacted the most was a defense. Favors hurt and now we got a Rookie starting at C and 6'8 ish Ingram starting. With all that said, we still shouldn't suck this bad based on the talent alone, but I'm cool with the lottery. Gotta start from the bottom then so be it. Rather this than going down the same road that happened with Dell Demps.

And of course Gentry isn't the best coach moving forward to say the least. I wonder if he'd return as an assistant in the future lol

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Originally Posted by Speakthetruth

The real issue was there was never a good enough team built with A.D a bunch of wasted years on a dude who is going to go down as one of the greatest big men in history. Jrue Holiday was his second option who is looking more like a guy who should be a number 3 on title team. Got to wonder what this team could of been with a better number 2

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In fairness AD still doesn't look like a number 1. He's a number 2 right now right were he belongs.

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Originally Posted by Pelicans_fan_504

Also I'm so tired of hearing we failed to build around, in this day and age of the NBA you can't build around AD. AD is a great player but he is a number 2 on a championship team. His skill set is to limited, to when a championships your best player has to be a wing that can create their own shot and can create for other while handling the ball. That is not Ad's game but hopefully Zion can keep improving on the glimpse we saw in preseason of his ability to do just that.

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I just said this. We should have taken our time to find another player to be the 1 or 1A to Davis' 2 or 1B.

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Originally Posted by msusousaphone

We always knew the Lakers were going to be amazing this year and we wouldn't.

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This seems to be the point OP is missing. We didn't even take their draft pick for this year because we knew they'd be good this season. Maybe they win a title, maybe they don't but what the Lakers do this year never really was a bearing on our trade. Someone HAS to win a title. We took the best deal on the table and have a ton of future assets.

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Originally Posted by HoustonPelicans

It's hard to trust those numbers when they have Pelicans at 22 and you could hear a pin drop in the arena, in some of our games. They've always said we had pretty good attendance numbers but it doesn't look like it at all.

Edit: They say our attendance is 16,222 out of a possible 17,791. Nobody who watches our games believes our arena is 91% full.

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And you think Memphis does not report sold seats as well? I have seen only a few of their games, but I know you cannot believe they pack the house.

I still think Milwaukee has a better team than the Lakers overall.

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Originally Posted by da ThRONe

In fairness AD still doesn't look like a number 1. He's a number 2 right now right were he belongs.

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This is true. He has the skillset to be number 1, but I don't think he has that killer hyper-aggressive mindset to be a real number 1. I don't see it in his eyes or his play or his passion or the things he says, compared to the likes of Lebron, Curry, Harden, Durant, Kawai, Giannis, even Luka. And then you have guys with the #1-guy mindset who probably don't have the skillsets/domiance to be a #1 that leads their teams to a championship like Lilliard, Kyrie, Westbrook.

The only other guy I would put maybe into the category with AD as far as having the skillset but not the absolute killer mentality necessary would be Paul George.

My 2 cents.

Also, being in LA and watching lots of games, the Lakers are trying waaaaay harder right now in the regular season than the Clippers. Playoff time comes, it is possible the clippers will be much fresher and have less injuries. And, anything happens to either AD or Lebron for even a short stretch in the playoffs, you can chalk those games up as automatic losses. The clippers go without PG or KL for a bit, they can more than keep their heads above water with their team depth.

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Originally Posted by SoCal4Pels

This is true. He has the skillset to be number 1, but I don't think he has that killer hyper-aggressive mindset to be a real number 1. I don't see it in his eyes or his play or his passion or the things he says, compared to the likes of Lebron, Curry, Harden, Durant, Kawai, Giannis, even Luka. And then you have guys with the #1-guy mindset who probably don't have the skillsets/domiance to be a #1 that leads their teams to a championship like Lilliard, Kyrie, Westbrook.

The only other guy I would put maybe into the category with AD as far as having the skillset but not the absolute killer mentality necessary would be Paul George.

My 2 cents.

Also, being in LA and watching lots of games, the Lakers are trying waaaaay harder right now in the regular season than the Clippers. Playoff time comes, it is possible the clippers will be much fresher and have less injuries. And, anything happens to either AD or Lebron for even a short stretch in the playoffs, you can chalk those games up as automatic losses. The clippers go without PG or KL for a bit, they can more than keep their heads above water with their team depth.

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I don't know if he has the skill set. IMO the main problem that I've always had with him is he's the ultimate trash guy. Way too many of his made attempts are assisted. Which makes him the prefect number 2. But the number one guy (especially during the playoffs) has to be able to have the ball in their hands consistently and be able to create for themselves or teammates. It why perimeter are having so much value in the league.

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Originally Posted by da ThRONe

I don't know if he has the skill set. IMO the main problem that I've always had with him is he's the ultimate trash guy. Way too many of his made attempts are assisted. Which makes him the prefect number 2. But the number one guy (especially during the playoffs) has to be able to have the ball in their hands consistently and be able to create for themselves or teammates. It why perimeter are having so much value in the league.

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Never understood that idea that in order to be dominant, you can't have shots assisted.

Obviously you need to be able to generate some significant portion of your own shots, sure, but what is that portion?

Over the last two seasons, 61% of ADs 2pt makes have been assisted on. That percentage becomes about 65% if you go back three seasons.

Shaq from 2000-01 to 2003-04 was assisted on 64.2% of his 2pt attempts. Pretty much identical to the percentage of assisted shots AD gets.

Was Shaq ''the perfect number 2'' because ''way too many of his made attempts are assisted''? Obviously the league has changed over the years to become more and more focused on the perimeter, but does that make AD less valuable, or does it simply change the arrangement of talent that you need to have around someone like that?

Does someone have to be like 2017 Kawhi Leonard, who was only assisted on 12% of his 2pt makes, in order to qualify as a number one guy? Or does Kevin Durant qualify, despite being assisted on 50.4% of his 2pt makes during his Golden State years? If 50.4% is fine, but AD's 61% is too much, where's the cut-off? No more than 55% of your shots may be assisted, or you are suddenly Demoted into ''Number 2'' Status.

Not even really arguing here, we all know that KD's skills at generating his own shot are far superior to AD's. My question is just why we should bother looking at the ast% of these shots when deciding who is allowed to be a number 1 vs a number 2.

It's a fair point, as pretty much all the current superstars who have won championships or are title contenders can create their own shot.

But, yes, I think pretty much all '#1' big men not named Giannis (or possibly Dirk?), are probably going to have high levels of assisted baskets, since they are not going to be dribbling much. I haven't looked at Duncan, KG's, Malone's, Robinson's, or Olajuwon's numbers, but I would think a large % of their buckets are assisted.

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Originally Posted by SoCal4Pels

It's a fair point, as pretty much all the current superstars who have won championships or are title contenders can create their own shot.

But, yes, I think pretty much all '#1' big men not named Giannis (or possibly Dirk?), are probably going to have high levels of assisted baskets, since they are not going to be dribbling much. I haven't looked at Duncan, KG's, Malone's, Robinson's, or Olajuwon's numbers, but I would think a large % of their buckets are assisted.

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Career %age of assisted 2pt shots -
Duncan: 54.6%, reached his career high of 74% at age 38
Garnett: 67.6%, reached career high of 94.4% at age 39
K. Malone: 80.4% (only counts his final 4 years, as data prior to 2000 is not publicly available)
Dirk: 56.6%, reached career high of 81% at age 40
Giannis: 46.2%, career high of 62.1% came in his rookie year

So yeah, while the numbers aren't perfect here (cuts off a few early years for KG and Duncan, and cuts off the vast majority of Malone's career) it's a solid indicator.

Because it’s nonsense.

What wins in this league is the value of your team versus the value of your competition.

AD as a first option with a good to great supporting cast is a better team than Lebron with scrubs.

Then if AD has a better coach it’s no question.

Build the team and execute at a championship level. If that’s points assisted, fine.

Scorekeepers are much more generous with assists these days, also. Something to think about when comparing to 15-20 years ago.

One think we learned . They are not getting far if both are not healthy for playoffs. Don’t think Davis played in that loss to Pacers last night.

Lakers not getting title if they are playing healthy Bucks in June.

With Lebron missing his first game, Lakers got curb stomped by the Nuggets, at home, despite Davis scoring 32.

On a nice 3 game losing streak, but they dont play again until Xmas...of course.

Looks like Oakley might be right

Charles Oakley Says Anthony Davis Is No Franchise Player, 'He Ain't That Guy' https://t.co/2zOvRYUU1G

— TMZ Sports (@TMZ_Sports) December 21, 2019