Why did the pelicans give away a 2026 unprotected pick?

[HotelVitale]

Was Weaver really that bad?

Hayes
Cade
Duran
Ivey
Ausar
Only one really bad pick there. The whole core was drafted and built by him.

It's stupid to knock him because the prospects didn't stay healthy until he was gone, but it's also a little stupid to evaluate him totally based on that. Those were all basically consensus BPA guys, give or take a pick or two.

I think DET fans didn't like Weaver's personality and his lack of vision for the team (or environment for developing talented guys). He also made a couple rough smaller moves, and didn't leave the team with much light at the end of the tunnel.

Well, the guy did hire a coach who led them on a 33 game losing streak and couldn't seem to string two complete sentences together. I mean, Langdon cleaned up his BS in one offseason.

Like I said he didn’t have a vision for how to steer the team. He seemed fine keeping them in basement rebuild mode, trying out new players etc for years without end.

That said I’m skeptical about them trying to win now with their core and role players. Hard for me to see how that ends better than this kind of high treadmill zone (esp since their role players hugely outplayed expectations this year). But guess there are still plenty more moves to make.

[Invictus88]

As long-standing Pistons fans, myself & others on our board are experts on both Dumars & Troy Weaver.

This trade has WEAVER written all over it.

The blame still lies with Dumars, as he hired Weaver as GM. But this is a Weaver move through & through.

.

Weaver wasn't around when they drafted Darko acquired Josh Smith or Charlie Villanueva. He wasn't around when they fritters away draft pick after pick post Tayshaun Prince.

Both are awful. Dumars absolutely does not get a free pass on this. Both take the blame.

[kg01]

Atlanta should tank next year with a good chance of getting 2 top 5 picks on a stacked draft.

The Spurs own the Hawks pick. They're not tanking.

That would be kinda ridiculous anyway. This ain't 2k.

Plus sending out a first for an expiring Porzingis says they aren’t tanking. Mann’s contract isn’t good value, but it’s not so bad to the point where you should be throwing away picks.

I dunno man. His contract is bad and he is not good. Didn't fit well with what they needed from him. I think they wanted to just cut their losses and move on from that terrible trade. Sacrificed a pick to do it.

[Invictus88]

It's stupid to knock him because the prospects didn't stay healthy until he was gone, but it's also a little stupid to evaluate him totally based on that. Those were all basically consensus BPA guys, give or take a pick or two.

I think DET fans didn't like Weaver's personality and his lack of vision for the team (or environment for developing talented guys). He also made a couple rough smaller moves, and didn't leave the team with much light at the end of the tunnel.

Well, the guy did hire a coach who led them on a 33 game losing streak and couldn't seem to string two complete sentences together. I mean, Langdon cleaned up his BS in one offseason.

Like I said he didn’t have a vision for how to steer the team. He seemed fine keeping them in basement rebuild mode, trying out new players etc for years without end.

That said I’m skeptical about them trying to win now with their core and role players. Hard for me to see how that ends better than this kind of high treadmill zone (esp since their role players hugely outplayed expectations this year). But guess there are still plenty more moves to make.

Players under Weaver didn't really develop. When he left folks were calling to trade away both Ivey and Duren. Cade played in a straightjacket with guys all over him because nobody on the team could space the floor. They start Killian Hayes over Ivey for the first half of the season on their way to their gigantic losing streak.

Trajan comes in and in a single offseason brings in spacing help in the form of Harris, Beasley and THJ for what are now deemed to be reasonable contracts. He hires Fred Vinson as a shooting coach. Cade blossoms into an all-nba player. The team beats their previous win total by 30+ games. We are now talking about extending both Ivey and Duren.

Running a team is more than drafting players.

And really they haven't made any "win-now" moves yet. They still have all of their young guys and all of their draft picks and are one of 2 teams under the cap.

[ReggiesKnicks]

Atlanta should tank next year with a good chance of getting 2 top 5 picks on a stacked draft.

The Spurs own the Hawks pick. They're not tanking.

That would be kinda ridiculous anyway. This ain't 2k.

Plus sending out a first for an expiring Porzingis says they aren’t tanking. Mann’s contract isn’t good value, but it’s not so bad to the point where you should be throwing away picks.

Atlanta didn't throw away a 1st. They traded a 1st for a 21/8/2 big man who shoots 40% from 3P and is a good defender.

[ropjhk]

It's not just an unprotected pick. It's the best between the Pels and Bucks, two teams that have the potential to end up in the lottery.

[iggymcfrack]

How is every trade so ridiculously one-sided this offseason? Are half these GMs on ketamine or something?

[iggymcfrack]

It's not just an unprotected pick. It's the best between the Pels and Bucks, two teams that have the potential to end up in the lottery.

OMFG, I didn’t realize that. That’s even worse! Imagine if Giannis gets hurt. It’s honestly possible that the Bucks and the Pelicans each have the worst record in their respective conferences!

[og15]

Now there be added pressure on Queen to perform next season too which is very unfair on the kid

Devastated for Pels fans tbh

He's going to care about their draft pick? Why?

If Queen struggles in his rookie season, he will cop a lot of flak and criticism from inpatient fans and the media, from that perspective I am worried about tha element of the trade, especially in this toxic era of Social Media.

Many people are toxic, that is certainly true

[Pointgod]

Not saying it's a good trade but people are obsessing over it being the 13th pick. The trade was for Derik Queen, that's what we shold evaluate. Lots of people had him as a top-7 or so guy and the Pels clearly believed that. They thought he was super valuable and worth an overpay on draft position for—and youre not trading for draft position. It seems like that was the price they hd to pay to get him and they thought he was worth it.

Sure but is the upside of Queen that high to trade an additional unprotected pick? New Orleans could outright miss the playoffs and Milwaukee might be in the play-in. I really like Queen as well but you can look at what the Grizzlies gave up to move to 11 and Joe Dumars really really got taken to the cleaners here

[Van_Trump]

Found this old gem from Bill Simmons:

https://www.espn.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/060224

[Wingy]

Plus sending out a first for an expiring Porzingis says they aren’t tanking. Mann’s contract isn’t good value, but it’s not so bad to the point where you should be throwing away picks.

I dunno man. His contract is bad and he is not good. Didn't fit well with what they needed from him. I think they wanted to just cut their losses and move on from that terrible trade. Sacrificed a pick to do it.

I haven’t seen him in awhile to be fair, so has he become completely washed or something?

He’s the ~61, 62nd highest paid guard in the league, and he’ll be pushed farther down the list after FA this summer, and that will continue as more vet guys get extended, and rookies get their first extensions.

So seems like he’s paid as one of the higher end bench guards in the league. Maybe he’s not that (I know he lost his starting job with LAC), but has he fallen so far that he’s not even close to that? That’s how many are making it seem.

He’d have to be a middling bench guard to make it a negative value contract (but not horrible), and he’d have to have sunk even further I feel like to get the level of anti-hype I’ve been seeing.

[Dan Z]

Not saying it's a good trade but people are obsessing over it being the 13th pick. The trade was for Derik Queen, that's what we shold evaluate. Lots of people had him as a top-7 or so guy and the Pels clearly believed that. They thought he was super valuable and worth an overpay on draft position for—and youre not trading for draft position. It seems like that was the price they hd to pay to get him and they thought he was worth it.

Sure but is the upside of Queen that high to trade an additional unprotected pick? New Orleans could outright miss the playoffs and Milwaukee might be in the play-in. I really like Queen as well but you can look at what the Grizzlies gave up to move to 11 and Joe Dumars really really got taken to the cleaners here

I'd like to add...what if New Orleans put protections on the 2026 pick? Does Atlanta still do this trade? I think so (depending on the protections of course...top 8? Less? More?).

I have no idea why Dumars didn't do that.

[facothomas22]

The Pelicans front Office is pushing hard towards being the worst Front Office in the NBA, which is crazy considering Nico Harrison is the still Mavericks GM and the Kings Front Office has been terrible for years.

[HotelVitale]

Not saying it's a good trade but people are obsessing over it being the 13th pick. The trade was for Derik Queen, that's what we shold evaluate. Lots of people had him as a top-7 or so guy and the Pels clearly believed that. They thought he was super valuable and worth an overpay on draft position for—and youre not trading for draft position. It seems like that was the price they hd to pay to get him and they thought he was worth it.

Sure but is the upside of Queen that high to trade an additional unprotected pick? New Orleans could outright miss the playoffs and Milwaukee might be in the play-in. I really like Queen as well but you can look at what the Grizzlies gave up to move to 11 and Joe Dumars really really got taken to the cleaners here

Yeah I understand why everyone is calling it bad value. Objectively it is for sure.

Just saying that people are overlooking that the trade is specifically for Queen, who’s got plenty of supporters and whom almost no one thinks he doesn’t have vague stat potential. The concerns about him are about if his speed and athleticism can keep up but it’s easy to see him playing a Sengun-y role in the best outcome. He was a few little traits away from being a top-7 prospect, and I think the Pells might’ve valued him as that still and started calling frantically once he dropped past like 9.

[MagicMamba88]

[Upperclass]

They picked 2 of the worst possible front office executives to turn around a team with talent.. they now have far less talent

[Saints14]

It’s funny how little value Weaver seems to put on shooting in prospects. When he was with OKC they went on a run of drafting athletic non-shooters like Roberson, Diallo and Bazley. In Detroit he picked Ivey, Duren and Thompson and failed to put shooting around Cade. Now the big question around NOPs lotto picks is their shot. You gotta think to some extent he’s gotten unlucky that none of these guys have really developed a shot. But man, that’s a really important skill to consistently have a blind spot for

[Geaux_Hawks]

Why do the pelicans help Atlanta all the time?

Superior bird

[fuller4379]

Because they know that Zion Williamson is going to be healthy all season and lead them to the promised land.