The Pelicans are in a GREAT position for an immediate turnaround

[JC28]

They need patience and to look to the future. As gifted as Zion is physically he'll still need a couple of seasons in the NBA to develop his game.

Anything other than young, promising talent on rookie deals and draft picks (preferably future picks that have a reasonable shot of being lottery picks). Everything else is just fluff. Chances are that any player traded to the Pels now won't be their in 3-4 seasons when it will really matter.

[Optms]

Honestly the count down to Zion demanding a trade has already begun. This is a disaster waiting to happen. New Orleans is a trash organization and so is David Griffin.

Everything appears to be bright now but soon reality will dawn when they can't pair him with even a passable all-star 6 years in.

[CobraCommander]

If the Pelicans trade Davis and get the garbage back you suggest...Jalen Brown and Al Horford? If they dont get Tatum, Brown, Rozier and the a pair of Kyrie 3 exclusives back...then the got murked in the deal....

[Arteezy]

The Pelicans are in bad shape actually, unless they trade AD to exactly where he wants to go, otherwise they get a cheap offer just to save face in saying they didn't cave to LA. Which will most likely happen.

Either way, without AD the Pelicans aren't seeing the playoffs for at least two-three seasons. There is no one they can get in a trade that puts them ahead of any team that made the playoffs this year.

People are delusional if they think Zion will be effective in the West this early. He's at least four years away from being a factor.

This guy knows what he is talking about. Not making the playoffs and a star player being a nonfactor are Lakers brand as of lately

[coldfish]

NO just pulls a Toronto and rolls the dice on keeping a player that says he doesn't want to be there.

Keep AD, sign some good players with their capspace, watch the team dominate, offer AD a supermax and see if he is willing to lose 10's of millions to leave a really good team.

Not very hard.

. . . and call me delusional but I think Zion is going to be a good player right off the bat. He isn't going to be able to carry a team but he will murder people off ball. He needs someone else to carry the team though. He also needs some height next to him. He needs . . . AD.

[pipfan]

Simple

Draft Zion
Trade AD to NY for Barrett, Robinson, Knox, 2 Dallas picks, FrankN

Trade Holiday for a mid-late lottery pick, maybe the Bulls for Dunn/Felicio/#7

[northcyde]

Why would Jimmy Butler agree to a contract for one less year than he can get in Philly?

Do you understand how S&Ts work now?

You talk like all players take the 5 year deal. There have been plenty of players who have gone elsewhere and taken less years, mainly because they can negotiate a player option after year 3, to get into free agency again . . if they want to.

[Duke4life831]

Usually these threads tend to be filled with exaggerated returns, but I feel like this is the complete opposite. Trade AD for Jaylen Brown, 1 year of Al Horford and Im guessing a sign and trade for Rozier. I get the 2 first round picks tossed in, but those are mid 1st round picks, they aren't the greatest assets. That just seems like a horrible return for AD. Or trading AD for a maxed out Jimmy Butler, who will probably try and tear that locker room apart. Then the Cousins thing?

These really don't feel like great returns for AD. To me this kind of feels like the worst case scenario for returns for AD. A Celtics deal should revolve around both Brown and Tatum, not 1 year of Horford. Tatum and Brown are enticing because they're both two way players that can spread the floor.

If Ingram gets all positives from the doctors, Ingram packaged with the 4th pick plus probably Kuzma is a pretty enticing package. Ingram's 2nd half of the season last year was pretty impressive with 20/6/3 on 51% shooting. Say Zion/Ingram/Garland as your core young 3 with Kuzma off the bench, then whatever solid young role players you can get for Holiday looks really good.

[northcyde]

So don't take the best offer available for AD and focus instead on getting role players?

Some of you don't know NBA history.

In 2008, everyone thought that Memphis got fleeced by the Lakers, when they traded their best player ( Pau Gasol . . . who at the time was an All-Star caliber player ) for ( Stephen A Smith voice ) Kwaaame Brown, Javaris Crittendon, Aaron McKie, and a 2008 and 2010 1st round pick. Oh . . and they also got a young player by the name of Marc Gasol.

Paul would be the final piece that the Lakers needed to win their back to back championships in 2009 and 2010, while Marc would be an integral part of the "Grit and Grind" Grizzlies teams between 2010 - 2015.

When a star player wants to leave, or a team decides to trade the player, you're more than likely not going to get equal value for that player. It's more important that you get something that you can work with, whether it's an immediate starter level player, or future assets.

[SlowPaced]

Any trade with the Celtics should include Jayson Tatum. No question about it. The Sixers deal is just terrible.

AD is worth much more than the proposals here, and Pels can't afford to mess it up.

[CycklopsGT]

Why doesn't pelicans trade Zion? They can get quite a good return for that.

Because that's the type of thing only the Knicks are dumb enough to do.

[Antinomy]

Honestly the count down to Zion demanding a trade has already begun. This is a disaster waiting to happen. New Orleans is a trash organization and so is David Griffin.

Everything appears to be bright now but soon reality will dawn when they can't pair him with even a passable all-star 6 years in.

Exactly. I got tired of trying to explain that to few numbskulls on here. Awful organization that is almost guaranteed to waste any good player’s prime.

Maybe the “small market” whiners will change their tune when New Orleans misses the playoffs the next 4 years in a row & end up top 5 in the lottery again.

[Antinomy]

Do you want the Pelicans to ruin a third all time great’s career and see him demand a trade in 6 years? Because this is how you do it.

At what point does Davis start getting some blame. He’s had some pretty good teams around him. Other stars have done much more with less.

Pelicans have one 50 win season in the last 15 years since CP3 was drafted. They have yet to win 50 games with AD on the roster. They’ve developed zero other players & have made zero good signings. They still don’t know which position to play Davis at. And they have yet to put a rotation caliber SF on their roster.

They clearly have no idea what they’re doing.

[lordjeff05]

Do you want the Pelicans to ruin a third all time great’s career and see him demand a trade in 6 years? Because this is how you do it.

At what point does Davis start getting some blame. He’s had some pretty good teams around him. Other stars have done much more with less.

Pelicans have one 50 win season in the last 15 years since CP3 was drafted. They have yet to win 50 games with AD on the roster. They’ve developed zero other players & have made zero good signings. They still don’t know which position to play Davis at. And they have yet to put a rotation caliber SF on their roster.

They clearly have no idea what they’re doing.

First of all, the “they” has changed both from an ownership and management perspective. Using what Dell did as a barometer for what Griffin will do doesn’t make sense.

Secondly, although there were multiple bad moves there were plenty of good moves too, including the Holiday and Mirotic trades. Also, even though it didn’t work out the Boogie trade was a good move.

[Optms]

Honestly the count down to Zion demanding a trade has already begun. This is a disaster waiting to happen. New Orleans is a trash organization and so is David Griffin.

Everything appears to be bright now but soon reality will dawn when they can't pair him with even a passable all-star 6 years in.

Exactly. I got tired of trying to explain that to few numbskulls on here. Awful organization that is almost guaranteed to waste any good player’s prime.

Maybe the “small market” whiners will change their tune when New Orleans misses the playoffs the next 4 years in a row & end up top 5 in the lottery again.

Well, they AD for a full 7 years. Granted Dell Demps was trash but Griffin isn't any better and is only employed because he is fresh off of riding Lebron James' coattails (Like so many other coaching staff, players, etc).

They're already at a huge disadvantage with Free agency because no one is going there. No matter how great Zion becomes. So they're both fighting incompetence: A complacent owner who is just happy to have a team and geographic location.

[Smirk]

The Pelicans are in bad shape actually, unless they trade AD to exactly where he wants to go, otherwise they get a cheap offer just to save face in saying they didn't cave to LA. Which will most likely happen.

What crazy world do you people live in? Do you really believe this stuff? Yeesh

[Smirk]

Do you want the Pelicans to ruin a third all time great’s career and see him demand a trade in 6 years? Because this is how you do it.

At what point does Davis start getting some blame. He’s had some pretty good teams around him. Other stars have done much more with less.

Pelicans have one 50 win season in the last 15 years since CP3 was drafted. They have yet to win 50 games with AD on the roster. They’ve developed zero other players & have made zero good signings. They still don’t know which position to play Davis at. And they have yet to put a rotation caliber SF on their roster.

They clearly have no idea what they’re doing.

You’re clueless. It’s not the same organization. It isn’t even really the same ownership. It’s not the same Front Office.

Maybe get educated so you know what you’re talking about.