January 27th - New Orleans Pelicans VS Washington Wizards - 5-10

Zion and BI turn in their best 1/2 game of the year. One of the best in the entire league. And all the talk is about trading for Beal.

Washington is definitely trying to raise his price playing him like that. Mission accomplished.

:hihi:

We would offer this years pick. It would be protected like top 4 with following year unprotected. I’m surprised guru that your not into trading for Beal in as many trades as you like to do. I think it will take like 5 first rounders so I’m hoping to get those by trading Lonzo, Redick, and Bledsoe. Yes they would all be late picks but look at the Nets and Harden. When a player wants out they usually get moved and a team can sell the fan base 5 picks. They can’t sell fans on if they lose a player for nothing. We got a little lucky with Davis and the lakers (being they got in top 4 of lottery that year). Most trade would look like Jrue to the Nets. If we can get Beal you go for it. If not then we can still go for the Cunningham sweepstakes.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by tdcreator

We would offer this years pick. It would be protected like top 4 with following year unprotected. I’m surprised guru that your not into trading for Beal in as many trades as you like to do. I think it will take like 5 first rounders so I’m hoping to get those by trading Lonzo, Redick, and Bledsoe. Yes they would all be late picks but look at the Nets and Harden. When a player wants out they usually get moved and a team can sell the fan base 5 picks. They can’t sell fans on if they lose a player for nothing. We got a little lucky with Davis and the lakers (being they got in top 4 of lottery that year). Most trade would look like Jrue to the Nets. If we can get Beal you go for it. If not then we can still go for the Cunningham sweepstakes.

---

I'd do the 2021 pick if it was top 6 protected, that might be a bit rich for them though. If I'm giving them access to the 2021 pick, which is a great draft even after the top 6, then they're not getting 5 picks.

I value Beal and I think we should make a push for him, but I don't value him as much as I value, for example, Harden or AD, and you're describing a haul on that level.

Omg.

Reporter: “Are you frustrated?”

Bradley Beal: “Is the sky blue?"

— Fred Katz (@FredKatz) January 28, 2021

Come on man. Trade for this guy. Get him outta there.

If the Pels were lucky enough to convince the Wizards to trade them Beal they would be contenders (maybe not win it all, but come close for the next 5 years or so)
Ingram, Zion, Adams, Beal and a PG can compete with any team. Who is that PG? NAW ? Kira ? Bledsoe ? Ball ? (ok not him ) someone not on the roster? Not sure.
As a small market team, a core of Ingram, Zion, and Beal is just about the best scenario anyone could hope for. If possible you make that happen no matter the cost.
The Pels timeline started ticking when Zion was picked, get a Beal now and maximize the opportunity.

That said, I am sure Beal will be traded to the Lakers for Kuzma and two fake seconds, ESPN demands to see Durant, Kyrie, and Harden vs LeBron, AD, and Beal !!!!!
That is what the people want (not us), Small markets be damned!!!

In my view, BI + Zion + Beal is all the offensive firepower a team needs, in terms of big scoring. All three of them are even good-to-very-good passers.

What you then need is defense and a primary ballhandler. You hope Kira can fill that primary ballhandler slot in time, and also provide shooting.

So really what we then need is defense at every position. Adams at the 5 is fine, but wings wings wings.

So that brings us to the eternal NBA problem: good defensive wings. *sigh*

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

In my view, BI + Zion + Beal is all the offensive firepower a team needs, in terms of big scoring. All three of them are even good-to-very-good passers.

What you then need is defense and a primary ballhandler. You hope Kira can fill that primary ballhandler slot in time, and also provide shooting.

So really what we then need is defense at every position. Adams at the 5 is fine, but wings wings wings.

So that brings us to the eternal NBA problem: good defensive wings. *sigh*

---

Funny enough that’s where Lonzo would actually fit this team, not the ball handling part, if I have Beal Ingram and Zion I want the offense being run through one of those 3 every single possession. Lonzo would fit perfectly as a 3 and D with that team, assuming his shooting goes back to how it was last year.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by HornetGuru

Funny enough that’s where Lonzo would actually fit this team, not the ball handling part, if I have Beal Ingram and Zion I want the offense being run through one of those 3 every single possession. Lonzo would fit perfectly as a 3 and D with that team, assuming his shooting goes back to how it was last year.

---

Which is a big assumption to make given that last year was the outlier of his career.

It also relies on him accepting and playing that role. Which thus far in his career, he's refused to do the majority of the time.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

Which is a big assumption to make given that last year was the outlier of his career.

It also relies on him accepting and playing that role. Which thus far in his career, he's refused to do the majority of the time.

---

I agree, I’m not saying those things will happen I’m just saying if they did he would be the perfect fit, nor do I see him accepting that role

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by HornetGuru

I agree, I’m not saying those things will happen I’m just saying if they did he would be the perfect fit, nor do I see him accepting that role

---

For real. Theoretically, Ball is a good and useful player. The reality doesn't reflect that.

It's why I'm kind of dreading trading him on a really small level. Not enough to make me avoid it, but I just know that once we trade him, in three or four years he'll be playing well and helping a team out in a kind of mini-Iguodala role (not as good as Iggy but that kind of thing) and people will be like ''OH GOD, I CAN'T BELIEVE WE LET HIM GO FOR XYZ, UGH'' and I just cannot be bothered to deal with that lmao

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

For real. Theoretically, Ball is a good and useful player. The reality doesn't reflect that.

It's why I'm kind of dreading trading him on a really small level. Not enough to make me avoid it, but I just know that once we trade him, in three or four years he'll be playing well and helping a team out in a kind of mini-Iguodala role (not as good as Iggy but that kind of thing) and people will be like ''OH GOD, I CAN'T BELIEVE WE LET HIM GO FOR XYZ, UGH'' and I just cannot be bothered to deal with that lmao

---

So are you willing to pay him 14MM to keep him? We have three options:

1. Trade him for what we can get now,
2. Pay him that 14MM tender
3. Let him walk at year's end.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by As I See It

So are you willing to pay him 14MM to keep him? We have three options:

1. Trade him for what we can get now,
2. Pay him that 14MM tender
3. Let him walk at year's end.

---

Oh absolutely not, make no confusion: I want him gone. I've been arguing to trade him for over a year lmao

There's just that little bit of me in the back of my head that cannot be bothered to deal with the inevitable Lonzo stans crying about him leaving when, in several years, he figures out how to be a positive.

Here is what Bradley Beal said last night about being Sad Brad meme’d after seemingly every game and how the last two-plus years of losing has affected him:

"I wanna win. This is why I stayed. I wanna win (here). I figure this is the place I can get it done.”

Full quote here: pic.twitter.com/pd7vvtTMCY

— Fred Katz (@FredKatz) January 28, 2021

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

Omg.

Reporter: “Are you frustrated?”

Bradley Beal: “Is the sky blue?"

— Fred Katz (@FredKatz) January 28, 2021

Come on man. Trade for this guy. Get him outta there.

---

Objectively, why would he want to come here?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by PELICANSFAN

Objectively, why would he want to come here?

---

Objectively, he doesn't get a say in the matter.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

Objectively, he doesn't get a say in the matter.

---

He absolutely has a say in the matter. Have you not followed the NBA and how stars direct themselves to other teams (latest - AD, Harden)? If the Wizards completely ignored his demands as far as what team he wanted to go to, he also could simply walk out the door after next season leaving the team that traded for him with nothing.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by PELICANSFAN

He absolutely has a say in the matter. Have you not followed the NBA and how stars direct themselves to other teams (latest - AD, Harden)? If the Wizards completely ignored his demands as far as what team he wanted to go to, he also could simply walk out the door after next season leaving the team that traded for him with nothing.

---

I said objectively. There is nothing he can do to prevent the trade happening from an objective standpoint.

When it comes to the personal politics, of course he could object to the trade or announce preferred destinations or sit out games or whatever, but none of that prevents the objective fact that he doesn't have a no trade clause so he goes wherever the Wizards send him.

Besides, have you seen the kind of way he's talked about and pledged himself to the Wizards? He's not going to do an AD and screw them by messing with them that way. If they decide to rebuild, he will work with them in more of a Jrue way imo.

Here's what so many people forget, and the Saints are a perfect example. When you only go to the playoffs once or twice every 5-6 years (Saints pre-2005), fans would be THRILLED to be a "playoff team for a long time", even if they never win a championship. At least its more enjoyable that way. Now, ONCE you've REACHED that level of always being a playoff team, like the Saints have, THEN the fans get more demanding, and rightfully so, but to say if we don't have a shot at a chip, then lets not even worry about the playoffs is crazy. In the end, this is ENTERTAINMENT. And its no fun if you never make the playoffs.

Another local example is Tulane football. They never went to three bowl games in a row in their HISTORY. And yet, some of the fans are pissed that Willie Fritz hasn't won a conference championship in his five years. For a school that had two winning seasons in 15 years before he arrived, isn't that asking a bit much?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by RobertM320

Here's what so many people forget, and the Saints are a perfect example. When you only go to the playoffs once or twice every 5-6 years (Saints pre-2005), fans would be THRILLED to be a "playoff team for a long time", even if they never win a championship. At least its more enjoyable that way. Now, ONCE you've REACHED that level of always being a playoff team, like the Saints have, THEN the fans get more demanding, and rightfully so, but to say if we don't have a shot at a chip, then lets not even worry about the playoffs is crazy. In the end, this is ENTERTAINMENT. And its no fun if you never make the playoffs.

Another local example is Tulane football. They never went to three bowl games in a row in their HISTORY. And yet, some of the fans are pissed that Willie Fritz hasn't won a conference championship in his five years. For a school that had two winning seasons in 15 years before he arrived, isn't that asking a bit much?

---

agree...

im a fan that love if we make the 8th seed every season...my thing is,,once you in the dance then you have a chance......i pay my money to make the playoffs and not for some stupid tanking...

one of my basketball joys were when we made the playoffs and getting to go to jazz fest then rushing to get to the playoff game.....those were the days lol....

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by 6warddude

agree...

im a fan that love if we make the 8th seed every season...my thing is,,once you in the dance then you have a chance......i pay my money to make the playoffs and not for some stupid tanking...

one of my basketball joys were when we made the playoffs and getting to go to jazz fest then rushing to get to the playoff game.....those were the days lol....

---

That's really not true. Seeds 5th through 8th are all participation awards.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Taker597

That's really not true. Seeds 5th through 8th are all participation awards.

---

Kindly remind me what The Heat's seeding was just last year.