Pels Off season thread

[Fedupfan]

This notion about small market just doesn't cut. The Saints are literally across the street in the same exact market and small market isnt even ever mentioned and players banging at the door to get in. Its the winning culture that is the speedbump. When we become a consistent winner this will all change...just like it did with the Saints.

In this case, we have another 30 years.

[pelafanatic]

"New Orleans
I’ve already written about the Pelicans, so I don’t want to dwell too much on the same stuff, but there’s an “improving the deal” angle here as well. Namely, the Pelicans stuffed Wesley Iwundu’s small, fungible contract into the sign-and-trade for Devonte’ Graham and turned it into a three-way deal with Memphis; by doing so, the Pels created a $17 million trade exception for Steven Adams that could prove quite useful.

We don’t know what it will yield yet, or if it will yield anything at all, but it’s a potentially large chip. Notably, given its position relative to the tax and distaste for paying it, New Orleans likely can pay Josh Hart and still take advantage of the trade exception.

That said, the bigger picture in the Big Easy remains slightly baffling, especially compared to the default alternative of re-signing Lonzo Ball and Hart. Before the draft, the Pelicans gave up a first-round selection and a pick swap in a trade with Memphis just to generate cap room they didn’t use. That deal saved the Pels $21 million this year … but New Orleans’ roster also is $5 million more expensive than it would have been had they just kept Ball and Iwundu instead of acquiring Graham, Tomas Satoransky and Garrett Temple.

In the absence of the Memphis salary dump, in other words, the Pels still had enough room below the tax line to retain Hart and Ball and possibly use a piece of their midlevel exception on top of it and still stay below the tax line. (Random oddity: Even after dumping all that salary, New Orleans has not used its MLE.) The Memphis trade potentially opened up some max cap room possibilities next year but only if they let their one legitimate center (Jonas Valanciunas) walk as a free agent.

Instead, New Orleans gave up significant draft equity for a Plan A of overpaying Kyle Lowry, never got close to succeeding, then pivoted to surrendering two firsts and two pick swaps for unneeded cap room, a slight downgrade at point guard and a slight upgrade at center. The $17 million trade exception looms (although it likely would cost another draft pick to weaponize), and the Pels might be better this year regardless (Zion!), but this was a puzzling offseason."

Hollinger's write up on the Pels. So tired of the Lonzo nonsense. Also "slight upgrade at center" from a guy who watched the majority of Memphis games is hilarious. Just a straight lie.

[pelafanatic]

The really annoying thing for me next season when the Pelicans improve is the inevitable "They got bailed out by Zion after a terrible offseason" when this roster is specifically built now to maximize Zion's strengths.

[Taker597]

"New Orleans
I?ve already written about the Pelicans, so I don?t want to dwell too much on the same stuff, but there?s an ?improving the deal? angle here as well. Namely, the Pelicans stuffed Wesley Iwundu?s small, fungible contract into the sign-and-trade for Devonte? Graham and turned it into a three-way deal with Memphis; by doing so, the Pels created a $17 million trade exception for Steven Adams that could prove quite useful.

We don?t know what it will yield yet, or if it will yield anything at all, but it?s a potentially large chip. Notably, given its position relative to the tax and distaste for paying it, New Orleans likely can pay Josh Hart and still take advantage of the trade exception.

That said, the bigger picture in the Big Easy remains slightly baffling, especially compared to the default alternative of re-signing Lonzo Ball and Hart. Before the draft, the Pelicans gave up a first-round selection and a pick swap in a trade with Memphis just to generate cap room they didn?t use. That deal saved the Pels $21 million this year ? but New Orleans? roster also is $5 million more expensive than it would have been had they just kept Ball and Iwundu instead of acquiring Graham, Tomas Satoransky and Garrett Temple.

In the absence of the Memphis salary dump, in other words, the Pels still had enough room below the tax line to retain Hart and Ball and possibly use a piece of their midlevel exception on top of it and still stay below the tax line. (Random oddity: Even after dumping all that salary, New Orleans has not used its MLE.) The Memphis trade potentially opened up some max cap room possibilities next year but only if they let their one legitimate center (Jonas Valanciunas) walk as a free agent.

Instead, New Orleans gave up significant draft equity for a Plan A of overpaying Kyle Lowry, never got close to succeeding, then pivoted to surrendering two firsts and two pick swaps for unneeded cap room, a slight downgrade at point guard and a slight upgrade at center. The $17 million trade exception looms (although it likely would cost another draft pick to weaponize), and the Pels might be better this year regardless (Zion!), but this was a puzzling offseason."

Hollinger's write up on the Pels. So tired of the Lonzo nonsense. Also "slight upgrade at center" from a guy who watched the majority of Memphis games is hilarious. Just a straight lie.

I mean... He's right till the Pelicans prove him wrong and start winning games. Every move is a bad move till you start winning.

[6warddude]

every convo about the pels are laced with lonzo lonzo lonzo lol...as if we let an all star go to chicago....and if lonzo dont ball out in chicago to justify the talking heads slurping this dude like they're doing,, they will not give us positive views and find something negative to harp on....

[pelafanatic]

Every move is a bad move till you start winning.

This makes literally zero sense

[pelafanatic]

Like this is what Hollinger said about the Celtics, who had a very similar offseason to the Pels but instead of Devonte Graham and Jonas Valanciunas, they got Dennis Schroder and Al Horford:
"Boston Celtics

Everyone is focused on the Dennis Schr?der contract (a bargain at one year for $5.9 million), and that was indeed a nice windfall for the Celtics. But set that one aside for a minute, since it was a bit of late and unexpected opportunism when the market turned on Schr?der.

I think Boston’s offseason was a win even before that. Turing Kemba Walker into Al Horford had a cost, especially it turns out they could have taken the greatest center of all time with the 16th pick that was sent out in that trade. But the Celtics both executed a needed reconfiguration of their roster to add another quality big and cut millions from what loomed as a luxury-tax bill this year and next. Instead, the Celtics can actually operate as a cap room team in 2022-23.

From there, Boston made the grown-up decision to trade for Josh Richardson rather than get into a bidding war to retain Evan Fournier and somehow received a draft pick while dumping Tristan Thompson’s salary. (Seriously, can somebody explain to me how the Celtics got a second, and the Kings, who surrendered Delon Wright and only got back Thompson, ended up with nothing?)

Putting a bird on it all was the Celtics’ all-Portlandia coaching staff, led by newly hired head coach Ime Udoka, a Rose City native who hired four other assistants from the Portland area. (Can we get player development coach Carrie Brownstein while we’re at it? Can they have Matt Groening draw up their plays?)

Things still could get weird here: Udoka has the former coach looking over his shoulder, and Boston may yet need to surrender draft capital to throw another contract overboard (Kris Dunn and Bruno Fernando shouldn’t unpack just yet). Big picture, however, the Celtics’ roster makes a lot more sense than it did a year ago, and its cap situation is much cleaner."

Someone explain to me how what the Celtics did made them "winners" but what the Pels have done, so far, has made them "losers"

[pelafanatic]

Should also be noted that the Celtics came away with 0 picks inside the top 40 this season, while the Pels added 2

[donato]

Who cares? Why get upset over something you can't control? We like our team and follow it closer than these particular writers. Let's go win some games.

[pelafanatic]

Who cares? Why get upset over something you can't control? We like our team and follow it closer than these particular writers. Let's go win some games.

It matters when you're trying to convince players to come here in FA or you're trying to get a fan base to buy in.

[PELSGIRL]

Yeah, we have to win games and maintain a winning culture. That's why the Saints are where they are now. We haven't won a Superbowl in a min yet we're still winning football games, making the playoffs and the culture there is great. If the Pels can do that then yes we will see more people wanting to come here.

Btw, it would be nice to win another Superbowl.

[bradael]

Hollinger's write up on the Pels. So tired of the Lonzo nonsense. Also "slight upgrade at center" from a guy who watched the majority of Memphis games is hilarious. Just a straight lie.

It's basically an answer in search of a problem. Everyone is just giddy on fantasizing about Zion asking to be traded to their team in a year or two.

[RobertM320]

You can?t compare the sports on markets. Saints play games maybe once or twice a week and they get support from other states as well. You can make preparations for the weekend to go see them. The Pelicans often play 3 to 4 games a week and obviously a smaller market won?t be able to keep up with that. NTM the Saints have a winning culture. Pels don?t. Small market matters here

Saints didn't always have a winning culture. From 1967-2006, almost 40 years, no free agent would have chosen NO as their first choice. Sean Payton and Mickey Loomis built that culture. Pels could do the same with the right front office and coach. Do we have that at this time, I have no idea.

[Taker597]

This makes literally zero sense

When you been a losing team for ten years and had to trade away 3 franchise players... It make plenty of sense. It's how the media portrays bad franchise that stay bad. Just don't take it personally and understand it goes away when we start winning.

[hornetsrebirth]

This notion about small market just doesn't cut. The Saints are literally across the street in the same exact market and small market isnt even ever mentioned and players banging at the door to get in. Its the winning culture that is the speedbump. When we become a consistent winner this will all change...just like it did with the Saints.

The Saints situation is different than the Pelicans for a lot of reasons. The Saints are native New Orleans with over 50 years of history vs the Pelicans who came here as transplants 20 years ago under a different name. Also football is more geared to small towns, rural areas, the south... the Saints fan base is much larger than New Orleans and makes them one of the bigger market teams in the NFL.

I definitely agree that a culture of winning will make the Pelicans a more attractive free agency destination, but also KD and Kyrie didn't go to the Nets because of that organization's winning culture.

[RobertM320]

The Saints situation is different than the Pelicans for a lot of reasons. The Saints are native New Orleans with over 50 years of history vs the Pelicans who came here as transplants 20 years ago under a different name. Also football is more geared to small towns, rural areas, the south... the Saints fan base is much larger than New Orleans and makes them one of the bigger market teams in the NFL.

I definitely agree that a culture of winning will make the Pelicans a more attractive free agency destination, but also KD and Kyrie didn't go to the Nets because of that organization's winning culture.

Dude, you could include the entire Gulf Coast to Pensacola and the Saints market still isn't one of the "bigger market teams" in the NFL. If you take the ENTIRE population of LA and MS, and half of AL, you've got a little over 10M. Maybe half of those at most would be considered "Saints fans", so 5M. Chicago has 10M people just in their metro area. ATL has 6M just in their metro area. And we won't even talk about the northeast.

[luigi modelo]

Redick really is a supreme ************ .... https://www.yahoo.com/sports/j-j-red...210059592.html

[wnelson]

kinda hope we retain hart and try to do something at the deadline to get a buddy hield among others that will be available.

this offseason is not ideal so far but i think we have a really great squad. if naw and naji grow their game this season and bi and zion jive well with adams then we may have something special. really this all depends on how the defense plays and i think this coach will inspire defense better than svg could teach defense.

[wnelson]

Redick really is a supreme ************ .... https://www.yahoo.com/sports/j-j-red...210059592.html

"i loved the city of new orleans but hate david griffin" also jj im sure

[wnelson]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/knicks-di...144601039.html interesting

[AusPel]

Like this is what Hollinger said about the Celtics, who had a very similar offseason to the Pels but instead of Devonte Graham and Jonas Valanciunas, they got Dennis Schroder and Al Horford:
"Boston Celtics

Everyone is focused on the Dennis Schr?der contract (a bargain at one year for $5.9 million), and that was indeed a nice windfall for the Celtics. But set that one aside for a minute, since it was a bit of late and unexpected opportunism when the market turned on Schr?der.

I think Boston’s offseason was a win even before that. Turing Kemba Walker into Al Horford had a cost, especially it turns out they could have taken the greatest center of all time with the 16th pick that was sent out in that trade. But the Celtics both executed a needed reconfiguration of their roster to add another quality big and cut millions from what loomed as a luxury-tax bill this year and next. Instead, the Celtics can actually operate as a cap room team in 2022-23.

From there, Boston made the grown-up decision to trade for Josh Richardson rather than get into a bidding war to retain Evan Fournier and somehow received a draft pick while dumping Tristan Thompson’s salary. (Seriously, can somebody explain to me how the Celtics got a second, and the Kings, who surrendered Delon Wright and only got back Thompson, ended up with nothing?)

Putting a bird on it all was the Celtics’ all-Portlandia coaching staff, led by newly hired head coach Ime Udoka, a Rose City native who hired four other assistants from the Portland area. (Can we get player development coach Carrie Brownstein while we’re at it? Can they have Matt Groening draw up their plays?)

Things still could get weird here: Udoka has the former coach looking over his shoulder, and Boston may yet need to surrender draft capital to throw another contract overboard (Kris Dunn and Bruno Fernando shouldn’t unpack just yet). Big picture, however, the Celtics’ roster makes a lot more sense than it did a year ago, and its cap situation is much cleaner."

Someone explain to me how what the Celtics did made them "winners" but what the Pels have done, so far, has made them "losers"

I have the Athletic and the amount of mistakes Holllinger makes in his articles is incredible

The only good thing he's done lately is pump Sengun

[luigi modelo]

"i loved the city of new orleans but hate david griffin" also jj im sure

right!?

[Pelicanidae]

I have the Athletic and the amount of mistakes Holllinger makes in his articles is incredible

Hollinger has been a joke for a good while now. Just consistently terrible takes and opinions.

[13 - 3]

Did y ‘all hear this story on Jason Kidd? Good thing we did not hire him

https://www.barstoolsports.com/blog/...s-fans-nervous

I read the new Giannis biography that is coming out tomorrow. My biggest takeaway is that Jason Kidd should not be be allowed to be around other people let alone coach an NBA team. The worst story is his response to a team loss on the day before Christmas Eve. pic.twitter.com/SYdwfX3t9t

— Dr. Elliot Kupferberg's Water Bottle (@FakeTJHawke) August 9, 2021

[Pelicanidae]

Did y ‘all hear this story on Jason Kidd? Good thing we did not hire him

https://www.barstoolsports.com/blog/...s-fans-nervous

I read the new Giannis biography that is coming out tomorrow. My biggest takeaway is that Jason Kidd should not be be allowed to be around other people let alone coach an NBA team. The worst story is his response to a team loss on the day before Christmas Eve. pic.twitter.com/SYdwfX3t9t

— Dr. Elliot Kupferberg's Water Bottle (@FakeTJHawke) August 9, 2021

Yeah, stories about him being basically nuts and also an unlikable jerk have been circulating since he was still with the Bucks. Glad to see it all coming out for everyone to see in very prominent fashion, though.

Reminds me of when some people argued that we should have hired Mark Jackson as HC after Gentry and I had fun explaining Mark Jackson's long history of being nuts and insane to them as well. Mark ''your team mate is possessed by a demon'' Jackson.