April 28th - New Orleans Pelicans @ Denver Nuggets - 27-34

[Freyfamilyreuni]

So what does Review Decision: INC mean?

[13 - 3]

Pels could have had CP3. If they kept Jrue. There was a path where Lonzo, JJ, other matching salary, and a pick went out for CP3 and basically you had this top heavy team with CP3, Jrue, Ingram, and Zion. Then, you would have had to give Jrue a big extension like Milwaukee did. And the team would have probably been really, really good. But would point Zion have emerged? Would Ingram have gotten more playmaking opportunities? Would they have flexibility to build the right roster around Zion as CP3 and then Jrue started to decline and were either overpaid or gone?

Honestly, I would have loved to see it. Much more than what we have now. But Griff keeps talking about building a SUSTAINABLE winner, and that path would have gone against his long term vision. But it sure would have been fun this year, especially if we stayed healthy

Yep

[Pelicanidae]

Oh. And this foul on Ingram with 36.1 to go should’ve been called an offensive foul on Campazzo according to the L2M.

Campazzo initiates the contact, not Ingram who was trying to run Facu into the trap waiting at half court where Lonzo was.

Facu made the two FTs that followed. https://t.co/9GyE20rCNI pic.twitter.com/OdlAyFzlpb

— Andrew Lopez (@_Andrew_Lopez) April 29, 2021

[Pelicanidae]

Yep

Yep, whether you think it's a good sustainable idea long term or not, nobody can deny that CP3/Jrue/Ingram/Zion would be a pretty murderous top 4 and CP3/Jrue would provide a huge amount of perimeter D that we just don't have on the roster right now with any combination. Put any semi-competent big man in the middle and you'd probably have a top 5 offense and a defense somewhere around the 15th spot as long as your bench had some semblance of life.

A team that has a top tier offense and a relatively middling defense this year? The Nuggets, who are a top seed in the West and - prior to Murray's injury - had an outside shot at the finals.

[luckyman]

So what does Review Decision: INC mean?

Incorrect call.

[Freyfamilyreuni]

Incorrect call.

Ah, thanks.

[Funcrusher]

Pels could have had CP3. If they kept Jrue. There was a path where Lonzo, JJ, other matching salary, and a pick went out for CP3 and basically you had this top heavy team with CP3, Jrue, Ingram, and Zion. Then, you would have had to give Jrue a big extension like Milwaukee did. And the team would have probably been really, really good. But would point Zion have emerged? Would Ingram have gotten more playmaking opportunities? Would they have flexibility to build the right roster around Zion as CP3 and then Jrue started to decline and were either overpaid or gone?

Honestly, I would have loved to see it. Much more than what we have now. But Griff keeps talking about building a SUSTAINABLE winner, and that path would have gone against his long term vision. But it sure would have been fun this year, especially if we stayed healthy

Honestly, if we had gone after CP3 (which, we should have), I would probably still want to trade Jrue for picks + depth. Don't think it really makes a difference in getting CP or not, but I would rather have a three headed monster of CP-Zion-Ingram with depth supporting them than a really top heavy squad like you mentioned. In any case, either scenario would be insurmountably better than where we are now.

[Pelicanidae]

Honestly, if we had gone after CP3 (which, we should have), I would probably still want to trade Jrue for picks + depth. Don't think it really makes a difference in getting CP or not, but I would rather have a three headed monster of CP-Zion-Ingram with depth supporting them than a really top heavy squad like you mentioned. In any case, either scenario would be insurmountably better than where we are now.

I don't really buy that. Talent wins in the NBA, and as we've seen from the actual Jrue trade, the raw on-court talent we got back was not particularly high calibre. The value was in the picks, and if you're trading for CP3 you're going all in - you're not collecting up picks for 5 years from now. He's not got 5 years left at this level.

In the situation where we're trading for CP3 and trying to win, keeping Jrue is the clearly superior choice imo. And we also learned recently that Jrue requested a trade; does he request that trade if we go all in for CP3 and then maybe cash out the rest of the war chest to add some depth? Almost certainly not.

[MichaelMcNamara]

Honestly, if we had gone after CP3 (which, we should have), I would probably still want to trade Jrue for picks + depth. Don't think it really makes a difference in getting CP or not, but I would rather have a three headed monster of CP-Zion-Ingram with depth supporting them than a really top heavy squad like you mentioned. In any case, either scenario would be insurmountably better than where we are now.

Then CP3 wouldnt have wanted to be here. He made it very clear he wanted to be here if and only if Jrue was here and we were contending

[new city champ]

The L2M report says Jokic fouled Zion at the end of the game last night. pic.twitter.com/4pyAoG7MC6

? Andrew Lopez (@_Andrew_Lopez) April 29, 2021

also, just in case anyone missed it.

Final take, looking at the play in super slo-mo one thing I missed is that Zion does not catch Brandon's pass cleanly. It hits him in the bread basket and he has to pause a split second to secure the ball and gather before making a move to the rim. This gave Jokic time to pivot back to Zion and line up his swipe. It also look like Zion doesn't really get full explosion on take off. Jokic contacts the ball around the bottom of the backboard and cleans out Zion's off arm on the follow through. Clear foul, but he does get a lot of ball along with the arm. If you look at it a split second before Zion makes his move, it looks like Jokic is dead in the water, a sure two-points and possibly an and-one. #Pelslife