Griff in Review

[As I See It]

Let's see...

Julius Randle:

During his one season with the Pelicans the former Lottery Pick was playing the best basketball of his career to that point.
He was 24 years old at the time, so he fit nicely into the team's new timeline.
Enjoyed being here...wanted to continue. Said so.
We all know how talented players seem to flock to New Orleans, huh?
Ended up signing for virtually the same money we coughed up for Derick Favors
Had to forfeit draft picks (assets) for the privilege to have a 'nothing-burger' (Favors) on the team.

End Game: Favors is a serviceable reserve player in Utah; Randle is destined to be an All Star playing in the Big Apple.

Christian Wood:

During his abbreviated time with the Pelicans, Wood was playing the best basketball of his career.
He was 23 years old at the time so he fit nicely into the team's timeline.
Enjoyed being here...wanted to continue. Said so.
We all know how talented players seem to flock to New Orleans, huh?
Ended up signing a one year deal with Detroit for 1.5MM,
Pelicans ended up coughing up 4MM per for the privilege of having Nikolo Melli on the roster (2 years).

End Game: The now 25 year old Wood is on track for stardom (if not more) in Houston; The now 30 year old Melli may never again play a meaningful minute in the NBA.

Bottom Line: This exercise isn't really about whether we should or shouldn't have signed Randle and/or Wood. It's an exercise to show how inept the current FO is at talent evaluation. Remember, we also signed 34 year old, JJ Redick to 2 year 26.5MM contract.

[AusPel]

I don't really see the point. I've been very clear elsewhere that I actually think Griff has been more or less fine so far, some hits and some misses, some moves that we need to wait a while to judge, etc. But explaining that point of view hasn't stopped anyone from their apocalyptic takes, so at that point you either have to choose between banging your head up the brick wall of angry fans or just being blas? over it, and I've chosen the latter.

Agreed that medicore GMing leads to a medicore product on court with mediocre future prospects

[6warddude]

He's already ********ed the rebuild, we need to pray for a top 6 guy. He'll probably just draft a ********ty centre anyway

are there a bennett or mosgov in the upcoming draft thats mock to go top 10 lol...

[As I See It]

are there a bennett or mosgov in the upcoming draft thats mock to go top 10 lol...

...or Hayes?

[MichaelMcNamara]

McNamara always ahead of the curve.

Was "too early" to critique just a few short months ago..now it's fair game. How interesting

[HornetGuru]

This pessimism on here is amazing. Hey guys the Pelicans are taking GM applications since all of you think you would do a much better job than Griff lol. Hindsight is always 20/20.

[HornetGuru]

McNamara always ahead of the curve.

Was "too early" to critique just a few short months ago..now it's fair game. How interesting

What’s your address? I’ll mail you your trophy.

[HornetGuru]

If we keep Randle or Wood do we even land Zion?

[Pelicanidae]

McNamara always ahead of the curve.

Was "too early" to critique just a few short months ago..now it's fair game. How interesting

Yes, well done, you have realised how linear time works.

If you are too early for something and then wait for more time to pass, it's not early anymore.

Congratulations on figuring this out at the ripe young age of whatever you are.

[AusPel]

If we keep Randle or Wood do we even land Zion?

I've nary given a second though to these two guys since they left. Neither moves the needle much. It's what he's done with the draft capital and usage of cap space since that is the issue

[6warddude]

If we keep Randle or Wood do we even land Zion?

question is, how good is griff to build around zion....

[As I See It]

question is, how good is griff to build around zion....

Good enough to bring in Favors and Melli!!!

[AusPel]

Good enough to bring in Favors and Melli!!!

Lol Melli is little more than a minimum guy. Favors didn't do any long term damage either

You seem to have a lot of rage towards inconsequential, short term Griffin moves

[Pelifan]

Griffin hasn't screwed this team the way his predecessor did. The only real mistake was trading out of 4 for 2 players, that while they still have potential, probably aren't going to amount to Hunter who looks like a solid starter in the league at the very least and probably on the development path to be a max contract guy.

If the Pelicans had one asset/player to feel good about long term outside of Zion and Ingram we'd be saying that the FO has done an amazing job.

And yes it's STILL too early.

[As I See It]

Lol Melli is little more than a minimum guy. Favors didn't do any long term damage either

You seem to have a lot of rage towards inconsequential, short term Griffin moves

It's not the players individually...it's the the talent evaluation overall. As you've said, there's the no-brainer, Zion, and (fill in the blank)?

[13 - 3]

Good enough to bring in Favors and Melli!!!

Favors went back to Utah.

[13 - 3]

Anything off the Pistons roster that excites anyone? Or all washed up?

[Pelicanidae]

Griffin hasn't screwed this team the way his predecessor did. The only real mistake was trading out of 4 for 2 players, that while they still have potential, probably aren't going to amount to Hunter who looks like a solid starter in the league at the very least and probably on the development path to be a max contract guy.

If the Pelicans had one asset/player to feel good about long term outside of Zion and Ingram we'd be saying that the FO has done an amazing job.

And yes it's STILL too early.

K-k-k-k-kira

[AusPel]

It's not the players individually...it's the the talent evaluation overall. As you've said, there's the no-brainer, Zion, and (fill in the blank)?

I have no issue with kicking the tyres on Melli, a highly regarded shooter from Europe at minimal cost. Exactly the type of guy you want around Zion, skillset wise. A poor man's Mirotic and everyone is now clamouring to have Miro back.

And I have no problem with getting a single year out of Favors, an elite rim protector at a minimal acquisition cost, to ascertain the fit with Zion, who was injured a lot of his first season don't forget. Neither of these are terrible Griffin moves nor have any bearing on the Pelicans future or lack there of

[HornetGuru]

McNamara always ahead of the curve.

Was "too early" to critique just a few short months ago..now it's fair game. How interesting

Btw weren’t you the one who was arguing with me saying jaylon brown sucked?

[13 - 3]

Btw weren’t you the one who was arguing with me saying jaylon brown sucked?

How would he know if he works 100 hours a week at his restaurant during a pandemic?

[As I See It]

This is how a GM builds a winner...

1. Win a lottery
2. Execute a trade that dates back to your predecessor
3. Get a treasure trove (?) for Jrue
4. Select Kira
5. Get Favors on one year rental (Cost: two 2nd rounders)
6. Recruit H'Gomez
7. Recruit JJ
8. Overpay for Adams
9. Recruit Melli
10. Trade out of 4 for JAX and NAW
11. Pass on Wood
12. Pass on Randle
13. Stash DiDi
14. Pass on Elfrid
15. ETC

[JJackisangry]

He has gotten great hauls for talent. He has made some poor moves as well imo. JJ was a good signing. He killed it his first year and he can be used in a trade or we can let him expire.

Letting Wood go was a huge mistake. We can argue about how and why it happened, but you could tell from his short time with us that the guy is a winner.

Making the Adams trade without a plan to move Bledsoe was another moronic move. Now we are stuck with an unsettled player that is on big money for 3 years.

One thing that bothers me is how allergic we are to giving youth a chance. Jax has been frozen out. NAW keeps getting randomly benched. Kira had to make SVG look like an idiot to get playing time. This is a project. Not a finished product. We have to treat it like so. Winning now is great, but Griffin and co. have proven time and time again that they are out of their depth as things stand. Crawl before you can walk

[AusPel]

The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world Jax was a top 10 NBA pick after 1 year of College.

He needed a Economics/Engineering double degree tenure followed by honours, before he should have even been considered for a higher level of Basketball

Poor man's Hasheem Thabeet

[Eman5805]

Look at his numbers. He has improved.

But it's a straw you don't need to grasp at to find blame for Griffin.