RealGM

Where will Lonzo Ball play next season?


My prediction is NOP keeps him so they can trade him once eligible.

I realize its lazy and obvious, but I think he wants the Knicks and the Knicks should want him. And I think the 3 parties have an illegal conversation and the Knicks draft a player for the Pels with one of their firsts and it becomes a S&T to keep the contract more reasonable for the Knicks.

The Chicago Bulls 4/100 million. They know Coby White is just 3rd guard.

Can someone explain to me, why NOP .. he doesn't want it ..? Looking from the outside ... looks like a good fit

Mike lorenzo wrote:Can someone explain to me, why NOP .. he doesn't want it ..? Looking from the outside ... looks like a good fit

He's young enough that he should still think he could become a star in this league. I dont the Pel's would ever be his team or if he'd be a primary focus there. If he can still get paid, might as well try and become bigger on a team where you'd be given the keys (somewhat) like the Knicks.

Pelicans will resign/match. Griffin isn’t letting an asset just walk out the door.

They may trade him later but his chance of just leaving is very little

Knicks, they can pay the most

Pelicans letting him walk would be incredibly stupid. Griff has made 0 moves that help those young players flourish into a good team.

Hiring a retread coach like SVG, trading for Adams and giving him an extension while ignoring how much of a bad fit he is. On top of that you traded Jrue Holiday and got 0 shooting out of it. Just picks that may not even be lottery level.

hoosierdaddy34 wrote:Pelicans will resign/match. Griffin isn’t letting an asset just walk out the door.

They may trade him later but his chance of just leaving is very little

Have to like the fit with Thibs in NY. He's playing so well though, Pelicans may not have a choice and match anything that's thrown at him.

Chicago will also have the money to make a big offer, so some of it will come down to where he wants to go, money aside. And whether a team is comfortable throwing 25 million at him, and hoping this improved play lasts, or even continues to go up.

All the talk is other teams wishing they had him. Pelicans have no intention of letting him leave, and he knows it’s a good spot for him any way.

hoosierdaddy34 wrote:Pelicans will resign/match. Griffin isn’t letting an asset just walk out the door.

They may trade him later but his chance of just leaving is very little

If they let Lonzo sign an offer sheet it'll have all the poison pills in the CBA. Hardly an asset.

BK_2020 wrote:

hoosierdaddy34 wrote:Pelicans will resign/match. Griffin isn’t letting an asset just walk out the door.

They may trade him later but his chance of just leaving is very little

If they let Lonzo sign an offer sheet it'll have all the poison pills in the CBA. Hardly an asset.

1. Is a poison pill really going to hurt a team like New Orleans with so many players on rookie contracts?

2. I believe if they trade him, the acquiring team only gets hit with the average of the seasons onto their books. So I don’t see how a poison pill negatively effects his trade value.

I expect that the Pelicans will re-sign or match him for anything less than 25 per.

I do not expect him to get paid anywhere close to that much. I'm expecting 20ish per, 4/80.

Smirk wrote:I expect that the Pelicans will re-sign or match him for anything less than 25 per.

I do not expect him to get paid anywhere close to that much. I'm expecting 20ish per, 4/80.

I'm confused by the notion that he's so good we'd match anything but a max basically but so low in demand that we are going to get him back on the cheap.

If he's that great a player, he will get higher offers. If he's not good enough to get good offers, why would the team match a significant overpay?

Compounding all of that is all the noise about him not wanting to be there. Tie up an unhappy player into a big long-term deal and that could cost the team in any number of ways down the road.

I'd simply decide where I valued him, make him that offer right away and if he's not interested let him know you'd open up options for him by being willing to work on a S&T if need be.

But one of the biggest mistakes poorly run franchises make is handing out big 2nd contracts so we "don't lose him for nothing".

$20-$25 mil a year on a longterm deal seems like a lot for his body of work to date. It's somewhat rare that paying young guys a luxury for potential works out and those numbers feel like that.

hoosierdaddy34 wrote:

BK_2020 wrote:

hoosierdaddy34 wrote:Pelicans will resign/match. Griffin isn’t letting an asset just walk out the door.

They may trade him later but his chance of just leaving is very little

If they let Lonzo sign an offer sheet it'll have all the poison pills in the CBA. Hardly an asset.

1. Is a poison pill really going to hurt a team like New Orleans with so many players on rookie contracts?

2. I believe if they trade him, the acquiring team only gets hit with the average of the seasons onto their books. So I don’t see how a poison pill negatively effects his trade value.

Zion will be on a max deal in year 3 of Balls new deal and Ingram will have 2 years left on his max deal at that time.

pacers33granger wrote:$20-$25 mil a year on a longterm deal seems like a lot for his body of work to date. It's somewhat rare that paying young guys a luxury for potential works out and those numbers feel like that.

Julius Randle is a unique situation where it all clicked in year 6 on team 3. But NY signed him to a 3 year deal for less than 20mm per year with a team option in year 3.

Terry Rozier is another guy who took a huge jump as an RFA, and he signed a 3 year deal for about 19mm per year.

Those are the kinds of deals where it’s worth taking a risk on a RFA. It’s an overpay based on past production (19-20mm per year is above average starter level) but a short term commitment so if your wrong, it doesn’t set you back. Problem is, you have to overpay to steal a RFA and if your a team like New Orelans you can forced to match a 4 year - 84mm fully guaranteed deal or higher or lose Lonzo for nothing.

Jody Smokz wrote:Pelicans letting him walk would be incredibly stupid. Griff has made 0 moves that help those young players flourish into a good team.

Hiring a retread coach like SVG, trading for Adams and giving him an extension while ignoring how much of a bad fit he is. On top of that you traded Jrue Holiday and got 0 shooting out of it. Just picks that may not even be lottery level.

hoosierdaddy34 wrote:Pelicans will resign/match. Griffin isn’t letting an asset just walk out the door.

They may trade him later but his chance of just leaving is very little

Everybody knows we’ve had the number 1 offense in the league since Stan put the ball in Zion’s hands in at the beginning of February right? Playing your second year power forward like a point guard was a pretty big coaching decision. We can all agree on that right?

The offensive rating when Steven Adams is on the floor is 116.4 which is over a full point better than the Pels total offensive rating (which is already top 8). When people say Steven is a bad fit they most always mean on offense and I really don’t understand that. He isn’t a great fit in the clutch but we are talking about 5 minutes at the end of games.

One other thing in terms of coaching, all of the young players have noticeably improved over the course of the year, especially Jaxon Hayes who was horrible to begin the season and who now is an above average backup, same for Kira and NAW.

Like Steven, Stan’s management in the clutch hasn’t been great but part of that is coaching a young team that hadn’t really established its hierarchy before this year.

Just some context because I keep hearing the same thing. Ps if I have to hear Bill Simmons talk about how Melli, a 15 percent 3 point shooter this year, was the ideal front court mate with Zion, im gonna hurl.

He's a 15m per year guy.

As a RFA with a name he's getting 25m per year, likely from the Knicks or Bulls.

NOP should be working on a sign and trade.

14 points, 5 assists and 8 3 pointers shot per game at a 39 percent clip. All of the other dudes that do that make the max. I’m ok with a 4/100 or a 5/110.

The Point Zion era Pels have an elite offense, full stop. The young guys have found some consistency and continuity around Kira, NAW, Hart, Zion, Hayes lineup since the all star break.

Replacing Bled with a bigger wing and playing some clutch minutes without Adams removes some of the defensive issues next year. Just making those moves and staying relatively healthy gets a 4 or 5 seed next year. I really believe that.