What's the problem with building slowly?

[BallSoHard]

In a league where fans call for coach's heads for losing, I wouldn't be ok with losing either

Exactly, people are already calling for his head and he's literally got next to nothing in terms of talent. Rolo or Vasquez in the running for your third best player?

[GESWhoseBack]

In a league where fans call for coach's heads for losing, I wouldn't be ok with losing either

But who could win with this team? Monty cost us a few victories i will admit that but we would still be a lottery team just much further away from an impact player.

[LoCo89]

But who could win with this team? Monty cost us a few victories i will admit that but we would still be a lottery team just much further away from an impact player.

Oh I don't disagree with you at all. One bad decision from Monty and you have all the great basketball minds on this board calling for a new coach. People forget he has to adjust to not having a top 5 player and having mediocre talent

[Big Fan]

Everybody wants to win. I understand that a team can hurt its long term prospects by trying to do too much too soon and bringing in high priced free agents or veterans in a trade. If its the wrong guy, then they used cap space and limited future flexibility for a guy who wont help the team win. So they may never get over the top because they have some marginal vets eating up the cap space they needed to add the last few pieces to the puzzle.

But I also think a franchise can hurt itself by being too cautious and too willing to accept losing while its players (allegedly) mature. Winning and losing in the NBA is a lot about character and effort. Winning creates winning attitudes. Losing for too long will create losing attitudes. Young promising players never get to see how a team of real professional winners takes care of business - so they keep losing -- look at Sacto, Portland, soon maybe Cleveland -- despite having pretty good talent.

I see the Hornets right at the crossroads. I think they should have been a little better W/L this year. They lost games because guys played lax defense. With the talent on board this team should not have been one of the league worst on defense. I don't think they have to contend next year, but unless they get hit by a rash of bad injuries, I think they have to be fighting for a .500 record come March, or the rebuilding project is not working.

If they have to use some cap space or trade a young guy to bring in some veteran talent and leadership, I am with that. That to me is a lot better than playing for a third consecutive top 5 lottery ticket. If you can do that and go to 40 wins next year, you still have room for improvement after that because AD, this year's pick, Rivers, and the other youngish players will still have a lot of room to improve.

[Imnos 2]

Going back to the original question, I have been thinking of this off and on all day. The question kept coming back to, "What is the point of rebuilding?" The only answer I can come up with at first is that your looking for a new core. Then my next question is "What do you do when you have your new core?"

Well this is where it gets interesting. You could continue to add young players and hope they pan out. But ultimately, that's hit or miss. Some guys pan out and some guys don't.

OR you could just start adding free agents. Quick fix guys. trying to make a splash. But you may start overpaying guys, (Peja) in order to get to the playoffs or something to that effect.

But I realized that the real answer to what's the point of rebuilding isn't what I was thinking. Its not a question of core. You can draft a young core of marginal players and be marginal going forward. The real answer to the point of rebuilding, is obtain a franchise player and to be always rebuilding. If we have learned anything from Belicheck, it is once you have your franchise player (Brady) you are always rebuilding. Great players will get average (Welker) to great talent (Moss) to excel. The Patriots are great at this (its not lost that it hasn't worked recently) and are a threat each and every year. They amass many talented players, not just one or two homerun hitters. They draft well and keep cycling in and out talent. Along the way they will draft very, very good players (Gronk) to add to their great mix. The closest team to do that in the NBA is the Spurs. You have your franchise players and you just shift in and out guys. Always staying a threat.

The Pelicans have their franchise player in Davis. Now around him we have players that could be good pieces on which to build. But I think our rebuilding should always be going on. Every year we should be swapping out 5 guys for 5 new guys. Add a young guy hear and veteran there. And over time that 5 will turn to 4 and then to 3. Then you have a great team. I think we should smartly add ONE big name free agent. Keep EG for one more year. Draft Burke and fill in the roster with a combo of cheap free agent skill players and D-leaguers and traded for players. Next season, we'll see.

[Snarly]

The key is to know when enough is enough. We obviously don't want the take the Cavs, Wiz, Cats, or Kings route in rebuilding. It's OK to want some young talented players via the draft to build around. But you also don't want to be there longer than you NEED to be. It's just not good business and it's not a good way to develop these kids you draft.

At some point, we'll have to move away from the lottery even if we don't feel like we have the ideal pieces to "contend." We're going to have to find other means of finding talent which Demps is talented at finding. We'd ideally want to make some kind of leap in year 3 which will be approaching this upcoming season.

This is why this upcoming draft will really be important. We can't afford a bust. We need to hit on ANY PLAYER who can and will help the team without all the unrealistic projections.

[Silverfoxx]

Everybody wants to win. I understand that a team can hurt its long term prospects by trying to do too much too soon and bringing in high priced free agents or veterans in a trade. If its the wrong guy, then they used cap space and limited future flexibility for a guy who wont help the team win. So they may never get over the top because they have some marginal vets eating up the cap space they needed to add the last few pieces to the puzzle.

But I also think a franchise can hurt itself by being too cautious and too willing to accept losing while its players (allegedly) mature. Winning and losing in the NBA is a lot about character and effort. Winning creates winning attitudes. Losing for too long will create losing attitudes. Young promising players never get to see how a team of real professional winners takes care of business - so they keep losing -- look at Sacto, Portland, soon maybe Cleveland -- despite having pretty good talent.

I see the Hornets right at the crossroads. I think they should have been a little better W/L this year. They lost games because guys played lax defense. With the talent on board this team should not have been one of the league worst on defense. I don't think they have to contend next year, but unless they get hit by a rash of bad injuries, I think they have to be fighting for a .500 record come March, or the rebuilding project is not working.

If they have to use some cap space or trade a young guy to bring in some veteran talent and leadership, I am with that. That to me is a lot better than playing for a third consecutive top 5 lottery ticket. If you can do that and go to 40 wins next year, you still have room for improvement after that because AD, this year's pick, Rivers, and the other youngish players will still have a lot of room to improve.

This is exactly what im saying. Whether fans know it or not, we are in a very critcal time right now. Its make or break or the franchise. We have to kill **** this offseason and start playing forreal now! Screw next draft, lets start bringing out the plan that we been playing. Everything will fall in place as long as we play to WIN. (Better effort on both sides of the floor, better coaching, playing through injuries that are minor, etc.)

No more excuses. Im sick of it. Lets get resepect back into our franchise and fans attendance. And we better with a name like the Pelicans.



I really wish Tom Thibadoux was our coach

[da ThRONe]

Can somebody explain the extreme sense of urgency with this team? Who are the players that we can't afford to lose?

[Ceedee M]

We're going to have to find other means of finding talent which Demps is talented at finding.

And we do not need a high pick every year. There were some really great players that came outside of the lottery. The Spurs and Pacers are really good at finding those types. I know the name Bower makes some people's butt itch, but if he drafted Collison and Thornton (eta and D West), then those were some good picks outside the lottery. It can be had. And I don't believe we need a team full of superstars. Just look at how the Grizz are playing, and do yall remember Detroit's championship run?

[Ceedee M]

I just looked up Marc Gasol and see that he was drafted 48th overall by the Lakers. Need I say more?

[JJackisangry]

Can somebody explain the extreme sense of urgency with this team? Who are the players that we can't afford to lose?

I think Benson plans on winning a title before he dies from boogyin too hard.

[RUFshreve]

I just think giving the rebuild one more year past this one will greatly benefit this team. Most say it will take AD 2-3 years and Rivers 3-4 to develope, so why not pick up more extremely talented players in a way we can keep them longer and cheaper? 3-4 years from now we can afford our core and the right players to put around them. I'm not talking about being in the lottery 3-4 years, just being in the lottery one more year after this and be competeing for a ring in 3-4 years. Patience seems key to me if we want to be above average. We'll obviously have a better record next year, so we won't be in the bottom five next seanson. We will have made progress while setting ourselves up to grab one more young stud and letting our superstar progress one more year before we start challenging for the playoffs. Then I feel we'll have a roster that can move up in the playoff standing every season instead of just hanging out in the 5th-8th spot like some teams. In three to four years I could see the Pelicans, Rockets, Thunder, and Warriors being the top four in the west. Then we'd actually be a title contender instead of a playoff team. That's what I want.

[cki3915]

In the NBA, you usually get a max of 4 years to rebuild before the coach and gm are wished well on their future endeavors.

Year 1: You're newly bad. You were either a playoff team the prior year or a borderline playoff team. This bad year gets youa high pick in the lottery. You sell everything you can sell on your roster. If the coach has been there a long time, he will be canned either mid year or at the end of the season, but in some cases, a new coach is brought in to fully oversee the start of badness.

Year 2: You are very young and very bad. You have a high draft pick that you are probably giving way too many minutes too, because your roster is a few borderline veterans and a bunch of 1st and 2nd year players. Everything that goes wrong is excused, because you have a lot of "potential" (whether you have potential or not). Plus, guys that arent used to so many minutes are playing much longer than they ever have, so usually injuries are an issue as well. Hoepfully, you have a slightly better record than year 1, so while you get another pretty high lottery pick, hopefully it is only higher then the prior year do to the ping pong balls and not your record.

Year 3: The excuses you had in year 2 do not apply. You must show significant improvement in all aspects of the game. People will start to talk about that high pick from 2 drafst ago..hopefgully its because he is a future all star and not a bust. You must finish at least .500 and be sniffing at the playoffs (or make the playoffs if you are in the Eastern Conference). If you do not, or in the cases of more petulant owners you miss the playoffs, coach will get fired.

Year 4: This is it. Playoffs or bust. If it looks like this is a non playoff year, then the cycle repeats, assets or traded and sold, coach and gm is canned, and the season is tanked, and year 4 becomes year 1 again.

This franchise has always seemed to come through the cycle well. They came in as a smelly expansion team, drafted Alonso and LJ and became a regular playoff team, even with having to turn Mourning into a tradeable assest and get stuff for him. Then, then stank for a few years, drafted Baron Davis and signed some other guys and became good again. That group fizzled out, we dumped everyone, got stinky again for a few years, drafted CP3 and did some other smart things roster wise and again we were a playoff team. CP3 wants to leave, everyone else is old and expensive, roster is blown up and we stink again. Now, we are coming off of year 2.

This coming season, we need to get to at least .500. Benson is not a petulant owner, so unless this year is a total disaster, Monty and Dell will be around for at least 2 more years, but in order for this to be a successful rebuild, this is the year for significant improvement. It's hard to make the playoffs in the west when you are sniffing .500, so the postseason is not a must, but they do need to in my opinion get to the 38-40 win range at least.

The good news: each time this team has gone through this, they have been successful. That's more than a lot of other franchises can say.

[Topdawg26]

I just feel that we have a young nucleus and we have to be patient and let it grow. I hate it when people come up with this video game trades idea and completely overhaul the roster without thinking about team chemistry and if these players actually would fit Monty's system long term. Just be patient and let it build. All I expect from this offseason is to get faster at PG (like what Monty and Dell said) and a couple of character veterans to teach the young players how handle in game pressure situations and the grind of a long season/postseason.