Thoughts on Next Year

[As I See It]

What has NAW done to even make you think he is the man going forward? The book is still out on him. How are you going to move Jrue without taking on salary?

LMAO

I'll play

So what makes you think # 2 is the man going forward? To this point in his career, # 2 has shown nothing (that's a three year sample...only one under Gentry). At best, he has become static as a player. But you want to give him a fourth year in which his value to the team will, in all likelihood, become nil. Now that's maximizing the assets on your roster, huh?

Put succinctly, # 2 is like a Hollywood Stage set. He's only a façade of what a real, championship, point guard is. So, if you are trying to build a Lamborghini (championship), you don't use VW parts.

[PELICANSFAN]

LMAO

I'll play

So what makes you think # 2 is the man going forward? To this point in his career, # 2 has shown nothing (that's a three year sample...only one under Gentry). At best, he has become static as a player. But you want to give him a fourth year in which his value to the team will, in all likelihood, become nil. Now that's maximizing the assets on your roster, huh?

Put succinctly, # 2 is like a Hollywood Stage set. He's only a façade of what a real, championship, point guard is. So, if you are trying to build a Lamborghini (championship), you don't use VW parts.

You are playing, but not answering questions. You just continue to get upset with anyone who asks a question or disagrees with you. What has NAW done that makes you think he is the man going forward. Also, can you honestly say that you would be more comfortable with NAW taking Ball's minutes?

[HartOfaPelican]

You keep Zo and NAW but you actually play NAW instead of Frank.

Bye Gentry.

Bye Favors, Kendrick, Frank.

Trade Jrue. I remember everyone giving me crap last year when I said to trade him. ESPECIALLY the all knowing Guy with a hulk avatar. Good to see everyone hop on board with this a year late.

Get a starting C that can spread the floor.

[As I See It]

You are playing, but not answering questions. You just continue to get upset with anyone who asks a question or disagrees with you. What has NAW done that makes you think he is the man going forward. Also, can you honestly say that you would be more comfortable with NAW taking Ball's minutes?

I'm not upset with you at all...I'm humored.

First off, where did I say that I thought NAW was the man going forward. LOL

But, yes yes yes....I would be more comfortable grooming (and taking our knocks) with a rookie point guard who shows a positive skillset than losing with a three year veteran who's only positive has been "positively horrific'. I can almost deal with physical errors...mental errors are totally unacceptable three years into a career given the minutes he's played. NOTE: If your eyes betray you, take a peek at his numbers.

[PELICANSFAN]

I'm not upset with you at all...I'm humored.

First off, where did I say that I thought NAW was the man going forward. LOL

But, yes yes yes....I would be more comfortable grooming (and taking our knocks) with a rookie point guard who shows a positive skillset than losing with a three year veteran who's only positive has been "positively horrific'. I can almost deal with physical errors...mental errors are totally unacceptable three years into a career given the minutes he's played. NOTE: If your eyes betray you, take a peek at his numbers.

So you think NAW's skillset exceeds that of Ball? Your eyes do not see all the mistakes NAW does as well? Ball's defense is light years better than NAW, but he does have more experience. He is less than a year older than NAW as well. So far, Ball has been the much better shooter as well, but the hope is NAW gets better with time. Ball is not in the top half or even 2/3s of the NBA as a starting PG at this point in his career. it is up to Griffin and hopefully our next head coach to decide if he can become at least a top half of the NBA PG before he is due for a new contract. If not, we need to deal him and try to get some value (although this offseason would be likely be selling low).

[Funcrusher]

1. Fire Gentry
2. Trade Jrue (hopefully to OKC for Paul)
3. Let Favors walk
4. Resign Ingram
5. Dump Miller's contract
6. Keep Kenny; let the other scrubs walk
7. Get a Floor spacing big; via draft or in free agency

[As I See It]

So you think NAW's skillset exceeds that of Ball? Your eyes do not see all the mistakes NAW does as well? Ball's defense is light years better than NAW, but he does have more experience. He is less than a year older than NAW as well. So far, Ball has been the much better shooter as well, but the hope is NAW gets better with time. Ball is not in the top half or even 2/3s of the NBA as a starting PG at this point in his career. it is up to Griffin and hopefully our next head coach to decide if he can become at least a top half of the NBA PG before he is due for a new contract. If not, we need to deal him and try to get some value (although this offseason would be likely be selling low).

1. If you are going to move him, it's now or never (his value will be less at mid-year).
2. Selling low? Your value is what your value is.
3. Rookie minutes (and mop up minutes) vs starter minutes are two different animals. You can't draw anything by comparison as NAW was playing most of his minutes with 2nd and third teamers.
4. As you said, # 2 isn't top half or top 2/3's of league PG three years in (thanks for that admission). Probably most telling statement
5. If NAW isn't the shooter that # 2 is, don't cut him...SHOOT HIM (NAW, if pressed, would probably tell you the same thing).

[Pelicanidae]

You know who I'd like to throw into the pot as a potential ''trade for this guy'' target?

Monte Morris, from the Nuggets.

He's 25, he's a backup PG for them, and he's really good in that role. He only plays about 20 minutes a game, so his numbers are kind of low, but his per36s are a very respectable 14/4/5. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that he would be the dream PG of the future, that's not the case, but he would be a really nice low cost guy who could fill the PG role for now, and still have value being moved to the bench when we figure out who the real PG of the future is.

Career 82%FT shooter, second best AST/TO ratio in the NBA this year, sub 8% in TOV percentage both of the last two years (basically what I'm saying is that he doesn't throw the ball away like an idiot all the time), 37% 3pt shooter this year, 41% last year. Drives basically as often as Lonzo does (5.5 times per game compared to Lonzo's 5.8) despite averaging basically 10 minutes less per game played.

Contract is signed through next year, and is less than $2m a year so even if we ended up having to triple or quadruple his deal to re-sign him, he probably wouldn't be super expensive, and that would mean that when we do figure out who will be the PG going forward, we could move him to the bench without feeling like we were paying through the nose for a backup.

Not sure how realistic it is, but I want to just put it out there. The main issue is that there's every chance the Nuggets also love him long term for all the above reasons, and really value his contract being super small, and decide to just hold on to him.

[msusousaphone]

At this time last season (and by that, I mean at the end of the season, not actually August), we would have given almost anything to be in the position we are currently in. Warts and all. Had someone even so much as slightly touched the fantasy of sitting this pretty, we'd have laughed them off the board.

So we landed Zion. His rookie season wasn't what we expected. But we still have Zion.

Then we all started salivating at the thought of trading AD for an all-star, we pass up on the Celtics, most of us throw a tantrum, then we are all put in our places as BI becomes an all-star. A lot of you haven't had your share of crow on that whiff, yet, btw. But man, a young all-star and Zion.

We also got Ball and Hart. I love Hart. He's the type of guy you want on your team. Ball is controversial and rightfully so. He is just so streaky. But you guys act like he's some eight year vet. Look at Giannis and Middleton. Those guys turned it on in year five. That's typical. They come into the league so young, it takes years to develop. Stop acting like this is the year we were supposed to win. It never was. Sorry you got scammed by PR hype.

But the most laughable statement is that we didn't develop players. That is simply mind boggling. Looking at Hart's plau. Lonzo's shot. BI going for MIP......and we didn't develop players?! What the what?

Oi.

I mean, I get that we got our hopes up and we're still going through the stages of grief. But meh.

I totally missed on how important experience would be in the bubble. I think I mentioned it once but I didn't get that it would be THAT important that the Spurs and Portland would turn it on this hard. But that's it. This was a great experience for us to show the guys what they need to do. Because most of the development happens in the offseason. This was a good lesson. And I didn't even mention the treasure trove of assets we're sitting on.

At the end of the season last year, we thought this franchise was toast. Now we're still looking at one of the brightest young rosters paired with almost the greatest trove of assets. The future is bright. I'm bummed about the elimination but still feeling great about the franchise. I'm not an Alvin fan, but development absolutely did happen and we're still another two to five seasons from being contenders.

[msusousaphone]

If you want to have a laugh to cheer things up, go back about 15 months and check out the posts where the board discusses the Lakers players. Then look at how improved those players are. Then think about the comments of how little development went on. Lol

[Pelicanidae]

If you want to have a laugh to cheer things up, go back about 15 months and check out the posts where the board discusses the Lakers players. Then look at how improved those players are. Then think about the comments of how little development went on. Lol

Glad to have been wrong about Ingram.

Sad to have been right about Lonzo.

[Pelicanidae]

At this time last season (and by that, I mean at the end of the season, not actually August), we would have given almost anything to be in the position we are currently in. Warts and all. Had someone even so much as slightly touched the fantasy of sitting this pretty, we'd have laughed them off the board.

Stop acting like this is the year we were supposed to win. It never was. Sorry you got scammed by PR hype.

What has me annoyed isn't the position we're in, it's how we got here.

It's not that we didn't win 45 games and make a deep playoff run: that's fine, we're in year one of a rebuild. The problem is not that we're a 30 win team, even.

The problem is that the team quit. It wasn't that we played hard and just clearly were years away; it's that the team barely bothered to mentally check in to a bunch of games. That was true early in the season, and it came back in the bubble. Missing the playoffs isn't an issue, you expect that with a team this young and inexperienced. Missing the playoffs because we just couldn't be bothered to put effort in on the floor though? That's a different issue, and that's annoying.

[PELICANSFAN]

You know who I'd like to throw into the pot as a potential ''trade for this guy'' target?

Monte Morris, from the Nuggets.

He's 25, he's a backup PG for them, and he's really good in that role. He only plays about 20 minutes a game, so his numbers are kind of low, but his per36s are a very respectable 14/4/5. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that he would be the dream PG of the future, that's not the case, but he would be a really nice low cost guy who could fill the PG role for now, and still have value being moved to the bench when we figure out who the real PG of the future is.

Career 82%FT shooter, second best AST/TO ratio in the NBA this year, sub 8% in TOV percentage both of the last two years (basically what I'm saying is that he doesn't throw the ball away like an idiot all the time), 37% 3pt shooter this year, 41% last year. Drives basically as often as Lonzo does (5.5 times per game compared to Lonzo's 5.8) despite averaging basically 10 minutes less per game played.

Contract is signed through next year, and is less than $2m a year so even if we ended up having to triple or quadruple his deal to re-sign him, he probably wouldn't be super expensive, and that would mean that when we do figure out who will be the PG going forward, we could move him to the bench without feeling like we were paying through the nose for a backup.

Not sure how realistic it is, but I want to just put it out there. The main issue is that there's every chance the Nuggets also love him long term for all the above reasons, and really value his contract being super small, and decide to just hold on to him.

Good backup player for his salary. Watching him, he can be streaky, but when he gets hot, he does well. He does not add much on the defensive end, but could be an upgrade over Jackson for sure.

[Taker597]

Atleast we aren't the Knicks. The porzingis trade looking pretty bad.

[da ThRONe]

At this time last season (and by that, I mean at the end of the season, not actually August), we would have given almost anything to be in the position we are currently in. Warts and all. Had someone even so much as slightly touched the fantasy of sitting this pretty, we'd have laughed them off the board.

So we landed Zion. His rookie season wasn't what we expected. But we still have Zion.

Then we all started salivating at the thought of trading AD for an all-star, we pass up on the Celtics, most of us throw a tantrum, then we are all put in our places as BI becomes an all-star. A lot of you haven't had your share of crow on that whiff, yet, btw. But man, a young all-star and Zion.

We also got Ball and Hart. I love Hart. He's the type of guy you want on your team. Ball is controversial and rightfully so. He is just so streaky. But you guys act like he's some eight year vet. Look at Giannis and Middleton. Those guys turned it on in year five. That's typical. They come into the league so young, it takes years to develop. Stop acting like this is the year we were supposed to win. It never was. Sorry you got scammed by PR hype.

But the most laughable statement is that we didn't develop players. That is simply mind boggling. Looking at Hart's plau. Lonzo's shot. BI going for MIP......and we didn't develop players?! What the what?

Oi.

I mean, I get that we got our hopes up and we're still going through the stages of grief. But meh.

I totally missed on how important experience would be in the bubble. I think I mentioned it once but I didn't get that it would be THAT important that the Spurs and Portland would turn it on this hard. But that's it. This was a great experience for us to show the guys what they need to do. Because most of the development happens in the offseason. This was a good lesson. And I didn't even mention the treasure trove of assets we're sitting on.

At the end of the season last year, we thought this franchise was toast. Now we're still looking at one of the brightest young rosters paired with almost the greatest trove of assets. The future is bright. I'm bummed about the elimination but still feeling great about the franchise. I'm not an Alvin fan, but development absolutely did happen and we're still another two to five seasons from being contenders.

This is true if we are trying to be a treadmill team with no hope of sustaining a team capable of multi-year deep playoffs runs. We are not setup to be great just pretty solid. We've been pretty solid before and it falls apart because those top 15-20 players rarely stay on small market teams that can't get to or in some chances get over the hump. We are not positioned to add any significant talent in the next couple of years.

[pelafanatic]

This is true if we are trying to be a treadmill team with no hope of sustaining a team capable of multi-year deep playoffs runs. We are not setup to be great just pretty solid. We've been pretty solid before and it falls apart because those top 15-20 players rarely stay on small market teams that can't get to or in some chances get over the hump. We are not positioned to add any significant talent in the next couple of years.

What? How do you think significant talent is added by most teams outside of LA? We have the most draft picks in the NBA over the next half decade, as well as guys like Hart, Hayes, NAW who would be nice fillers. We also have Jrue who, if Griff so chooses, can fetch even more assets on the open market. This is just cynical for the sake of it.

[pelafanatic]

Giannis picked 15th
Middleton 39th
Siakam 27th
Butler 30th
Brogdon 36th
Kawhi 15th
PG 10th
Jokic 41st
SGA 11th
Mitchell 13th
Gobert 27th
Booker 13th

Don't fall for the trap. You don't need top 5 picks to add top talent. Over half of the playoff teams are led by players who were drafted outside of the top 10. The Pels already have two stars, and will now have more bites at the apple than anyone in basketball to find a third.

[UNO Gracias]

I am not sold in NAW, nor am I sure how anyone can be. There is a lot of room for improvement with him, and while it’s an indictment of poor coaching, it’s also an indictment of poor practice on the players part that he didn’t see the floor. It’s not like we benched him to hide him from other teams trying to steal him in Free Agency, I mean heck, Frank was getting NAW’s minutes for a reason.

[luckyman]

Team needs some lengthy beef in the middle but not the "running in mud" beef.

Udoka Azubuike or Nick Richards would be nice in the 2nd round.

[Biasvasospasm]

I mean heck, Frank was getting NAW’s minutes for a reason.

Definitely not sold on NAW. The turnovers and shot selection are frustrating.

I do think he does stuff on the court (rebounds, movement off-ball, steals, off-ball defense, etc.) that good players do. I think if he is in a role he is ready for at this point where he's an off-ball player, I think he could be useful.

I have no idea why Frank gets minutes, NAW's or otherwise. I just don't see it with him. I think he is a bad player and I don't see a path forward where he is useful. The team clearly believes in him, though, which concerns me.

[pelafanatic]

While I'm not sold on NAW, it's pretty easy to see why he struggled. I was listening to an interview of Gary Trent Jr. who basically described how impossible it is for a guy to get spot minutes and try to gain any sort of a rhythm. That's why I think I'm so quick to basically ignore what NAW's 2020 season.

It's pretty easy to look at the box scores and see how much better he shot when he got extended run. He's also the only guard on this team that drove consistently other than Jrue, for better or worse. I simply can't say he's trash until he plays consistently. His length, quickness, and coordination is just too intriguing to be written off so soon. I also can't imagine a situation in which there's 10 guys better than him again next year, considering everything we've heard about his work ethic.

[AusPel]

Giannis picked 15th
Middleton 39th
Siakam 27th
Butler 30th
Brogdon 36th
Kawhi 15th
PG 10th
Jokic 41st
SGA 11th
Mitchell 13th
Gobert 27th
Booker 13th

Don't fall for the trap. You don't need top 5 picks to add top talent. Over half of the playoff teams are led by players who were drafted outside of the top 10. The Pels already have two stars, and will now have more bites at the apple than anyone in basketball to find a third.

OKC has more capital

[Pelicanidae]

Good backup player for his salary. Watching him, he can be streaky, but when he gets hot, he does well. He does not add much on the defensive end, but could be an upgrade over Jackson for sure.

Yeah for sure, he's not like some silver bullet who would just fix the team, but I think he has the talent to start at least temporarily, and would be perfect to transition to the bench as a backup once we have the ''real'' PG of the future on the roster. Smart player who would solve a ton of our problems.

[pelafanatic]

OKC has more capital

OKC is such an interesting team from a team building perspective. If they can get something for Chris Paul this offseason, I'll like their direction. Based on their current roster, I'm not really sure how they break out of that fringe contending group. If they tore it down after this season, I'd be terrified. I think they rushed it though.

We know the Pels have cornerstones in Zion and BI. The Thunder have SGA and then literally nothing else in terms of youth. Dort, Diallo, and Bazely may be ok role players at somepoint, but they're not even replacement level yet.

[da ThRONe]

Giannis picked 15th
Middleton 39th
Siakam 27th
Butler 30th
Brogdon 36th
Kawhi 15th
PG 10th
Jokic 41st
SGA 11th
Mitchell 13th
Gobert 27th
Booker 13th

Don't fall for the trap. You don't need top 5 picks to add top talent. Over half of the playoff teams are led by players who were drafted outside of the top 10. The Pels already have two stars, and will now have more bites at the apple than anyone in basketball to find a third.

What about Griffin draft history makes you think he can find a diamond in the rough?

Sure is it possible to find a Kawhi or Giannis at the bottom of lottery, but it's not likely and Griffin has done nothing to make me think he has that ability.