Is David Griffin sabotaging the Pelicans?
This may seem conspiratorial, but is it possible Griffin is such a "company man" to the league that he's sabotaging our team in order to push our young stars towards bigger markets?
When he was hired I was excited because everyone spoke so highly of him, but I keep thinking back to an interview (I think it may have been the summer league before Zion's rookie year) where he referenced the Lakers winning a championship, and it was a weird red flag. I ignored it but the Lakers proceeded to win a title, and here we are in near disarray. I've rationalized Griffin so long, but the more I think about it I'm having trouble justifying Griffin's "vision." Here's why:
1. the Jrue Holiday trade - have we ever had a worse or more botched trade? What's the vision exactly? We traded a passionate 2 way player that fit the team for an apathetic 30 year old underachiever who takes up an embarrassing percentage of salary cap. Was that really the most we could get for Jrue Holiday?
2. Trading Eric Bledsoe - I'm seeing fans suggesting that we may have to attach a young player or draft pick in order to entice a team to take Bled off our books. It's like being painted into a corner.
3. Lonzo Ball - the thought of losing Lonzo (and Josh Hart) without getting anything in return makes me wonder why we made Zo's potential trade public last year. To say we're trading Zo than not do it was not healthy for the locker room nor does it help your chances at retaining him. Now it's the worst of all options by letting him walk in free agency for nothing in return when at least if you traded him you could've gotten a good player in return.
4. Steven Adams & Disregard to the Salary Cap - I like Steven Adams as a player who can rebound the ball well, but 30 million-dollar salary is insane. Not to mention Hernangomez his backup had a higher PER and very similar, if not better, numbers for vastly less money. Granted I'm glad to have a backup center who can perform that well but could that money be spent better elsewhere? What compounds it is players like Andre Drummond were available and stylistically provide better rebounding and defense.
5. Suppressing Young Talent - Jaxson Hayes and Nickiel Alexander-Walker were stars of the summer league before their rookie year. Both of their per 36 minute numbers are better than the veterans starting ahead of them especially when you consider salary. Griffin says that you can't just hand these young players the job without hard work and effort, so it sounds like he's worried about entitlement. At the same time this argument becomes completely completely null and void when the veteran you're starting for 70 games is nearly sleepwalking through all of them. That's the definition of entitlement. What's that communicate? "If I play like that, I'll get the job." Meanwhile when Hayes would play it was like an instant spark plug defensively and pure energy.
This is without even mentioning the botched head coaching carousel. Can anyone rationalize Griffin's moves so far? Does he really have New Orleans best interest as his top priority? Is it time we consider letting Trajon Langdon do his job? I really worry that there's so much on the line because if Griffin fails then New Orleans will be livid at losing another young Superstar, and I'm not sure what reasons he's given us thus far to believe he won't. Would I be wrong to suggest moving on from Griffin before he can do any more damage? That the stakes are just too high.
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Originally Posted by luckyman
