Yeah it?s tending . James Dolan left MSG to come down here and see the game for a reason last Wednesday. Now we got the Zion comments
Knicks fans are already dreaming it in 2023
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/...e-playing-here
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Yeah it?s tending . James Dolan left MSG to come down here and see the game for a reason last Wednesday. Now we got the Zion comments
Knicks fans are already dreaming it in 2023
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/...e-playing-here
The correct answer is the only place I like and want to play at is the Smoothie King Center.
Zion did not quite say that.
On that note do you think Gayle needs to clean house again to keep Zion here long term?
The real question is, what are the Pels going to do about that?
Are we really doing this? It's going to be a long several years with Zion if you guys are going to get worked up over every interview. Look. Either we will be successful building a winner around him and he'll have no reason to look elsewhere, or we won't and we'll be doing the Chris Paul and Anthony Davis thing all over. Let's just focus on the Pelicans role in this and not let the outside noise get to us. :huh:
Ohhh, this isn?t anything. If Lonzo goes to the Knicks and we do terrible next season and New York goes to finals I would be concerned. But honestly, Zion will probably leave New Orleans or demand a trade if we don?t make serious progress very soon.
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Zion is one of those guys who feels the need to give a pleasant platitude to whoever or whatever he’s speaking about. If he was in the Forum, he’d probably say the same thing if asked how he liked playing there. The problem of course, is that it applies to how he likes playing in New Orleans as well.
It's not that. It's that we live in the social media era where comments like these are heightened to no end. Woj just said that his comments are "something to watch," big media accounts are posting it everywhere, Twitterverse are already Photoshopping him in a Knicks jersey. Like we're not going to escape this nonsense unless he signs that 3rd contract, which based off past history, it's much less likely that will happen.
It was hard to ignore his reaction when he was asked about the Garden. He has never beamed like that when he was asked about NOLA. So take that however you want.
You hated dealing with Laker fans, well Knick fans, who have been desperate for success for the past 20 years are a different entity. I, for one, am not looking forward to it unless we start winning basketball games, and management gets their head out of their asses.
ESPN likening to the idea of him in NY. This escalated quickly.
Zion is very clever, he intentionally got overly excited and smiled at the question. I think Zion said that as a clear warning shot. Get competent leadership or he is out. He is not going to wait 7 years like CP and AD. This whole give SVG and Griff time thing is dead. They need to be gone at season's end if not sooner.
Ding Ding Ding. The people saying we need to give the FO time aren’t living in the current NBA. This is a microwave generation. People need to do things automatically, or you need to replace them with people who can. That idea of “we will build organically” worked when players had less power (or none) and the FO could wait to make moves as they came open. These days a FO has to make things come open and then make the move (or perhaps have someone behind the scenes make things happen in order for things to come open). We have a limited window here. If Griff and Langdon can’t get it done by next year, there is no point in keeping them around.
I am a little curious why everyone thinks Zion will bolt after the third year of his rookie contract. Is it because of the amount of money he makes in endorsements where he can afford to take less with another team? Or has there been some change to the rules which allow for the player's initial team the ability to pay him much more than other teams?
On the Locked on Pelicans podcast, the guy who does it seemed to allude to there being a reason that Zion might not sign his extension but he never went into it.
I think a bit of why Zion could bypass that contract has to do with his endorsements. That doesn’t mean that he would go to NY or LA, because he has show he is marketable anywhere he goes, but he makes good money in endorsements, so money on that contract might not be enough reason for him to stay.
The other factor is, his body is built in a way that unless he can reconfigure his game, he won’t be this guy for 10-15 years, so if he wants to win a title (when he is at his peak), he can’t waste his time with a team parading out the talent that is currently being paraded out. If a competitive team has cap space, and they are a Zion away from winning it all (and he can see that 2 years out), then why resign with the Pels when he can go win a title while he is young and healthy?
I like how one comment has sent so many people off into a tizzy.
Listen, we all know when we draft a great player that the clock is on and that the media will take every possible opportunity to spin a narrative: that is how it works when you are a small market with no real winning history. Everyone knows that, it shouldn't surprise anyone that Zion making a relatively benign comment about another stadium (not even the franchise!) gets turned into a story.
This has been happening since before he played a single game and it will continue for as long as he's in New Orleans, whether that's 2 more years or 5 more years or 10 more years. And no, it doesn't matter how much success you have: Giannis was coming off deep play-off runs when the entire conversation was ''will he leave?!!?! Will he demand a trade!?!?!''
Zion may well ask for a trade at some point. It's possible, and it would be silly to pretend it's not something that could happen. But getting all wound up about it now when he has at least two more years on his deal and then he hits restricted free agency is kind of silly. It's like getting upset that your wife might eventually leave you on your honeymoon.
Nobody is upset about it (unless I am reading some posts incorrectly). Seems like a lot of level headed expectations are being shared, and a realization that this isn’t your grandfather’s NBA. No tizzy to be found.
I'm talking more generally. NBA Reddit and Pelicans Twitter, for example, have had their fair share of dramatic outbursts over it. And also the general media, which has latched onto the comments quite quickly.
This thread itself is pretty level headed about it, for the most part; I do think the whole ''Zion smiled as a veiled warning shot to the management'' is a bit tin-foil hat, but whatever.
We did "win now" under Dell Demps. You saw how much of a disaster that was. Everyone wants to rush the timeline, but won't like the results when we try to do that and then will blame the front office for that.
What is the timeline? Griff said we are a “Win Now team not later”Start when Griff said it in 2019.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/christo...rade-deadline/
Something to monitor. Kind of odd to be smiling like that after the way we lost. Was SVG this happy about playing at MSG?
https://sports.yahoo.com/zion-willia...010600345.html
Quote:
It's not just his words that should have the Pelicans worried. Check out that smile. Has Williamson ever smiled like that when talking about the Pelicans?
Williamson also trotted out the "mecca of basketball" trope like he's genuinely bought into the tired line about a city that hasn't claimed an NBA championship since 1973. And he raved about the atmosphere after playing in front of a 10% capacity crowd due to COVID-19 regulations. The announced attendance at MSG on Sunday was 1,981.
Then there's the change in tone and body language when he checked himself and said MSG was his favorite place to play "outside of New Orleans." OK, Zion.
Quote:
There's a lot of time between now and when Williamson has leverage or free agency to leave New Orleans. And Williamson is playing under new management after the franchise's failure to build around previous superstars. Williamson's eventual exit isn't written in stone.
But do Pelicans fans have reason to be worried? Absolutely.
I'm so over this BS.
If Zion wants to go to New York, let him. Screw it. Blow it up again.
You wanna drink the Kool Aid feel free. I'm not about to get my socks in a knot about a 1 minute post-game interview in which nothing out of the norm was actually said being blown up into news by desperate New Yorkers.
''Has Williamson ever smiled that when talking about the Pelicans?!'' yes, actually, he smiles like that all the time. Like, all the time. He seems quite shy in front of an interview camera and he regularly reacts with grins and almost bashful responses to questions. He's gotten better at it over time but go back and watch him in interviews say, a year ago, and you'll see it all the time.
''Do Pelicans fans have reason to be worried?'' No more reason than we did a week ago. Which is to say, some reason because as I already said small market teams with no history of winning always have to be on the lookout, but if you're going to get rattled by minor nothing-interview comments you must have nerves of spaghetti rather than steel.
im a pelican fan...not a player fan......i root for the team and the players who are on it and when those players are gone, they gone but im 100% pelicans...
Zion will eventually leave this franchise. Might be after 5 years, might be after 9. My bet, personally, is 8.
But that is 8 more years than they would have ever had him if not for the luck of random ping pong balls. Enjoy him the years he is here as opposed to fearing his loss and how the years without him will be. Margot Robbie decides to hook up with you for a random 3 day weekend - you dont spend those days worrying about whether she will be in your life a month from now or if she is come to her senses and find someone much better. You spend all those minutes with Margot Robbie and thank the lord she lost her mind for a weekend and got stuck with you
damn i was thinking we have him for six years.....we cant pretend like we didnt see zion looking disappointed when we got the number pick over new york......the dude confessed his love for playing in new york and at some point he has to make his professional dream come through....im not mad at him for that.......
im still going to die on the hill saying we should have drafted morant......ripped Memphis apart from their picks and young players so they could have got zion......i think jrue,,JA and ingram would have got us to the playoffs last season......trade jrue and had the picks from his trade.......would of had memphis pick in this past draft which would have been imo top 5 because if it was meant for zion to get hurt then he would have been hurt for memphis and lonzo would had have to carry the load for them and i dont think that team would have been good after trading with us for zion....our war chest would be memphis,,lakers,,bucks and whatever else picks that im missing and i dont think anyone would have been able to out bid us on a disgruntle star....
8 years is a lot of time. I probably won’t even be living in New Orleans by then.
It's not even a matter of declining any pick.
I swear to god some people tend to forget that when a rookie's contract is up they become restricted Free Agents, so they cannot just walk at 4 years. You have them for 7, regardless of what they want. Now, of course, if they demand out in year 6 you end up having to trade them anyway because you have to extract max value, we all know that, but they literally cannot just walk after the rookie deal.
LOL. The Dolan burner account is funny
Please stop talking about this. Makes the fans look bad and it aint even the fans https://t.co/84iG19T208
— James L. Dolan ➐ (@DolanBurner) April 19, 2021
The NBA's current CBA extends through the 2023-24 season, with a mutual opt-out available after the 2022-23 season.
In case you are interested...
https://fadeawayworld.net/2021/04/20...w-york-knicks/
It would be for someone (presumably) offered a max extension. Nerlens Noel famously turned down a less than max extension (though quite significant) and signed the QO.
Everything is unprecedented until it happens, and a 9 figure shoe deal is a good start if someone wanted to take the financial risk to turn down that extension.
It would also be interesting to find how many max level players missed the playoffs their first 3 or 4 years (and thereby might want out). Most guys that good - who would be a guaranteed max guy after their rookie deal, usually have played for winning teams and/or have a foundation in place that will lead to a lot of future winning.
What happens if Pels stink again next year and the extension is offered? Why would/should he sign it?