Pelicans to meet with Tyreke Evans (offer has been made)

[PelicanFever]

Just off the top of my head his professionalism and leadership. The Kings need both of those qualities far more than they need basketball talent.

i thought that you thought that vet leadership was overrated??...it does help develop young guys

[Smow-]

Please explain this one

I'm not putting more than a dollar on it, but they may just be desperate enought to try lol. With all the craziness that's that franchise has gone through in the past two seasons, I don't find it that unbelievable anymore.

[The Pelican Fan]

I would keep Lopez rather than dump him to overpay Evans. I am not convinced Evans at the 3 works well enough to overpay. Lopez is a big body and still young (just turned 25). Dalembert is 32 and a shell of his former self.

Lopez is okay but the dude doesn't rebound enough for his current pay imo. I would take Dalembert over him easy.

[PolishFan]

Can you imagine:

Jrue
Reke
Iggy
Davis
Dalembert

What a roster turnaround Wow

go 76ers!!!

[PELICANSFAN]

Bynum is done. He has little future left in this league.

Really? I don't think so. He is only 25. Unless the knee is beyond repair, he will play some role. I would take him at a reasonable salary.

[Spaniard]

And just for good measure, Bynum is meeting with the Mavs first. So you could be looking at the starting centers in our division as:

Dwight Howard, Adrew Bynum, Marc Gasol and Tim Duncan. We need to play this carefully.

[RaisingTheBar]

Lopez is okay but the dude doesn't rebound enough for his current pay imo. I would take Dalembert over him easy.

1. Lopez is on one of the best contracts for a starting center in the NBA.
2. He played 26mpg last year and got like 6rpg IIRC, he pretty much played half of every game.

[GeauxPelicans]

Tim Duncan, Dwight Howard and Marc Gasol just in our division alone. It's a risky proposition for sure. You have to be able to match up. This is all good and great for the regular season, but if we don't have a big come playoff time, we're going to be hurting.

Shoot, without the Bynum/Okafor mismatch the last time we were in the playoffs, I think we take out the Lakers.

Doesn't seem to be effecting the Heat? It's all about elite wing players and 3 point shooters (which we will need to add).

[kaitos]

Starting C??

Lopez a starting C?? maybe the a bottom Five team

[Smow-]

Doesn't seem to be effecting the Heat? It's all about elite wing players and 3 point shooters (which we will need to add).

We don't have Lebron, and we don't play in the EC. So no, it wound not effect them like it effects us.

[Mr. West]

Starting C??

Lopez a starting C?? maybe the a bottom Five team

Starting means tops 30 at his position, and I think that description fits Lopez well. He defended pretty well, will do even better without having to make up for Vasquez and his inability to get around screens. Blocks shots and had a limited, but reliable post game. He needs to rebound, but I don't think top 30 is a stretch at all.

[Purple Haze]

Starting means tops 30 at his position, and I think that description fits Lopez well. He defended pretty well, will do even better without having to make up for Vasquez and his inability to get around screens. Blocks shots and had a limited, but reliable post game. He needs to rebound, but I don't think top 30 is a stretch at all.

That's a good point. Just because you're not a GREAT C doesn't mean you're not starting material. Especially at C, the worst position of depth in the league.

[GeauxPelicans]

We don't have Lebron, and we don't play in the EC. So no, it wound not effect them like it effects us.

U think Lopez is going to make a difference against Howard, Pekovic, etc? Davis can handle Marc Gasol and Duncan (only because he's old now), so I'm not worried about them. He's awful at rebounding the ball, and if we have to get rid of him to land Evans (whom I'm very nervous about) and Iggy it has to be done. If we get rid of him to only land Evans, I'll be upset mainly because I'm very iffy about Evans.

Just to be clear, I don't hate Lopez but I don't consider him a difference maker here. Anderson/Davis will be the front court to close out games and they will eat up 70% of the front out minutes anyway.

[JJackisangry]

Upgrading Lopez significantly is not going to be very easy. There just arent very many cost friendly big men on the market that are much better than him.

[Smow-]

U think Lopez is going to make a difference against Howard, Pekovic, etc? Davis can handle Marc Gasol and Duncan (only because he's old now), so I'm not worried about them. He's awful at rebounding the ball, and if we have to get rid of him to land Evans (whom I'm very nervous about) and Iggy it has to be done. If we get rid of him to only land Evans, I'll be upset mainly because I'm very iffy about Evans.

That's my point. Lopez can't do much against those you listed. Saying Davis can handle Gasol is a huge stretch because he struggled against Duncan last year. In fact we had to put Lopez on Duncan most of the time. Evans has nothing to do this this. Hibbert exposed the Heat's lack of size. They're so talented elsewhere they can do without it, but we aren't as fortunate.

[DroopyDawg]

TBH... I think Jason Smith fits the personnel that we're trying to get better than Lopez, but we do need a C with some weight that can bang with the bigs. But Smitty can get up and down the floor, and is nice in the pick and roll/pop game. And he'll swing at some shots in the paint too.

[JrueDat]

Upgrading Lopez significantly is not going to be very easy. There just arent very many cost friendly big men on the market that are much better than him.

Agreed. This is why Greg Oden is going to get over-payed.

[RaisingTheBar]

Upgrading Lopez significantly is not going to be very easy. There just arent very many cost friendly big men on the market that are much better than him.

Agreed. This is why Greg Oden is going to get over-payed.

Yup.

[GeauxPelicans]

That's my point. Lopez can't do much against those you listed. Saying Davis can handle Gasol is a huge stretch because he struggled against Duncan last year. In fact we had to put Lopez on Duncan most of the time. Evans has nothing to do this this. Hibbert exposed the Heat's lack of size. They're so talented elsewhere they can do without it, but we aren't as fortunate.

Davis may have problems this year, but I don't expect us to win a championship this year. I'm saying 2-3 years down the road, Davis shouldn't have a problem playing C against anyone other than the true monsters down low and there aren't many of them around anymore. People keep forgetting, they also have to match up with Anderson/Davis on the offensive side of the ball.

[Pelicans78]

Really? I don't think so. He is only 25. Unless the knee is beyond repair, he will play some role. I would take him at a reasonable salary.

His knee is beyond repair from what I've heard.

[CarnbY]

[Pelicans78]

1. Lopez is on one of the best contracts for a starting center in the NBA.
2. He played 26mpg last year and got like 6rpg IIRC, he pretty much played half of every game.

He's still a below average rebounder for his position. His rebounding rate was paltry. Plus, he's not a good defender either. He is very efficient offensively for his position.

[Smow-]

TBH... I think Jason Smith fits the personnel that we're trying to get better than Lopez, but we do need a C with some weight that can bang with the bigs. But Smitty can get up and down the floor, and is nice in the pick and roll/pop game. And he'll swing at some shots in the paint too.

Funny you mention that because I was thinking of our possible bench and we could actually have a pretty entertaining one with him as the center.

Roberts
Rivers
Aminu
Anderson
Smith

All that you said about Smith fits perfectly into that lineup offensively. We can finnaly have the Aminu-Anderson 3-4 offensive swap in which Anderson can play as the sharp-shoring 3 while Aminu can focus on being a running, dunking,rebounding 4. Roberts or Rivers can interchangeably bring up the ball or play off it.

Boy I actually got excited about our bench lol

But Iggy,Evans, and a burly center is needs to happen for this. Smith may become our worst-case starter.

[RaisingTheBar]

He's still a below average rebounder for his position. His rebounding rate was paltry. Plus, he's not a good defender either. He is very efficient offensively for his position.

He is a below average rebounder I will agree.

Is he laterally quick? No. But he is a decent defender and is a great help defender.

If the FO is OK with not landing Evans or Iggy (Unless they can dump Gordon's contract), trade for Asik and call it a day.

[cgrand]

yes!