Best Hypothetical Star Addition To This Team?

[Snakebites]

I get the feeling the “player who will contribute to the playoffs” is no longer part of the league worse Pelicans ask for Trey.

I do think there’s a reasonable case to be made that it actually makes sense for them to keep Trey though.

[MotownMadness]

They probably wouldn’t move Murphy. Dumars has never really been a tanker and already traded his pick.

[tmorgan]

I realize they have execs that haven’t been sensible at times, but it seems like the direction for NOLA is pretty clear.

Build around Fears and Queen. The former is a dynamic, athletic scoring PG that’s still working on his passing skills and defense — think Ja-lite, without being a total moron off the court. The latter is a smaller Jokic-(very) lite, with unimpressive athletic ability and defense but a very strong feel for the game as a playmaking big.

What do you put around those guys? Shooting and defense. Herb and Trey are good fits already, no real reason to move them. Queen will be a godawful defensive center, he needs to be a 4 and you live with the defense there. They need a strong defensive center, which probably isn’t Missi, but he’s fine for now. Zion needs to be gone. The bench is smaller stuff to work on.

It would be pretty dumb to trade Trey unless the offer is a Bane-level overpay. We don’t want to do that, I imagine.

[Canadafan]

Ya, Pelicans would be moronic to trade Trey.

After watching last night's game, if we're going to start Ausar and Duren with Cade, we need 2 high volume shooters to open things up for Cade to operate.
We already got Duncan. Im hoping Beasley comes back so SG always has a shooter out there.
Our most gettable upgrade to Tobias is PorterJr. As much as we all luv Unc, package him with Ivey (or preferably Levert) with 1sts and 2nds, and we are elite.

Either that or we go for the very gettable CJ McCollum and keep Tobias.
Levert+Ivey+Reed. CJ would very much help Cade as a playmaker and shotmaker.

Love our team but Cade is literally the only guy that can make tough shots. He needs help

[Laimbeer]

Ya, Pelicans would be moronic to trade Trey.

After watching last night's game, if we're going to start Ausar and Duren with Cade, we need 2 high volume shooters to open things up for Cade to operate.
We already got Duncan. Im hoping Beasley comes back so SG always has a shooter out there.
Our most gettable upgrade to Tobias is PorterJr. As much as we all luv Unc, package him with Ivey (or preferably Levert) with 1sts and 2nds, and we are elite.

Either that or we go for the very gettable CJ McCollum and keep Tobias.
Levert+Ivey+Reed. CJ would very much help Cade as a playmaker and shotmaker.

Love our team but Cade is literally the only guy that can make tough shots. He needs help

Agree and like both ideas. I do question how much in the way of picks has to be thrown in on MPJ. His contract really squeezes his value. CJ would be a better vet influence.

[Canadafan]

Ya, Pelicans would be moronic to trade Trey.

After watching last night's game, if we're going to start Ausar and Duren with Cade, we need 2 high volume shooters to open things up for Cade to operate.
We already got Duncan. Im hoping Beasley comes back so SG always has a shooter out there.
Our most gettable upgrade to Tobias is PorterJr. As much as we all luv Unc, package him with Ivey (or preferably Levert) with 1sts and 2nds, and we are elite.

Either that or we go for the very gettable CJ McCollum and keep Tobias.
Levert+Ivey+Reed. CJ would very much help Cade as a playmaker and shotmaker.

Love our team but Cade is literally the only guy that can make tough shots. He needs help

Agree and like both ideas. I do question how much in the way of picks has to be thrown in on MPJ. His contract really squeezes his value. CJ would be a better vet influence.

Yes for sure. CJ a better vet. Thats my only concern with Porter is maybe he wouldn't vibe with our guys. Seems different in comparison to them.
CJ could show a thing or 2 to Cade. Is a better playmaker than Ivey or Levert thats for sure. Much better shooter. And can catch fire amd get us a bucket.
Also allows us to keep tobias.
Tobias and CJ come off the books at end of year and then we can bring them back for cheaper.

[Menace2Sobriety]

I watch the Wizards often, you don’t want CJ. He’s our tank commander. Ivey should definitely NOT be included.

If we’re looking for a shooter, a low key addition would be Cory Kispert.

[bstein14]

CJ's been the worst defender in the league this year according to several advanced metrics.... not sure how much that changes when he goes from a bad situation to a good one but that would give me hesitation. MPJ has at least been bad, but not worst of the league bad on defense.

We have 5 guys who are top 40 in the league in defensive box +/-

#16 Holland
#17 Ausar
#19 Javonte Green
#25 Beef Stew
#39 Cade Cunningham
.
.
.
#140 Michael Porter Jr
.
.
.
DEAD LAST IN LEAGUE = CJ McCollum
4th worst in league = Zach LaVine
6th worst in league = Lauri Markkanen
8th worst in league = THJ
13th worst in league = Saddiq Bey
17th worst in league = Dennis Schroeder


Cade leading all NBA players (minimum 300 defensive stands) in opponents FG% allowed... he is letting guys make less than 41% of their shots against him which is just insanely good.

[DetroitSho]

Ya, Pelicans would be moronic to trade Trey.

After watching last night's game, if we're going to start Ausar and Duren with Cade, we need 2 high volume shooters to open things up for Cade to operate.
We already got Duncan. Im hoping Beasley comes back so SG always has a shooter out there.
Our most gettable upgrade to Tobias is PorterJr. As much as we all luv Unc, package him with Ivey (or preferably Levert) with 1sts and 2nds, and we are elite.

Either that or we go for the very gettable CJ McCollum and keep Tobias.
Levert+Ivey+Reed. CJ would very much help Cade as a playmaker and shotmaker.

Love our team but Cade is literally the only guy that can make tough shots. He needs help

Agree and like both ideas. I do question how much in the way of picks has to be thrown in on MPJ. His contract really squeezes his value. CJ would be a better vet influence.

Yes for sure. CJ a better vet. Thats my only concern with Porter is maybe he wouldn't vibe with our guys. Seems different in comparison to them.
CJ could show a thing or 2 to Cade. Is a better playmaker than Cade or Levert thats for sure. Much better shooter. And can catch fire amd get us a bucket.
Also allows us to keep tobias.
Tobias and CJ come off the books at end of year and then we can bring them back for cheaper.

How is CJ McCullom a better playmaker than Cade?

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[Canadafan]

Agree and like both ideas. I do question how much in the way of picks has to be thrown in on MPJ. His contract really squeezes his value. CJ would be a better vet influence.

Yes for sure. CJ a better vet. Thats my only concern with Porter is maybe he wouldn't vibe with our guys. Seems different in comparison to them.
CJ could show a thing or 2 to Cade. Is a better playmaker than Cade or Levert thats for sure. Much better shooter. And can catch fire amd get us a bucket.
Also allows us to keep tobias.
Tobias and CJ come off the books at end of year and then we can bring them back for cheaper.

How is CJ McCullom a better playmaker than Cade?

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Oh **** I meant Levert or Ivey yikes.

[Snakebites]

Reports indicate we'll be "agressive" on the trade market but also focused on internal growth rather than star trades.

That leaves some wiggle room for interpretation. The most restrictive interpretation would suggest we're only looking to add minor pieces- which would be odd given how deep this team already is. The least restrictive interpretation of that would still at the very least suggest we won't be trading for any of the star players in this poll, but it still leaves room to add a third/fourth option type guy depending on price.

EDIT: Misread that, it says we'll be "opportunistic" rather than aggressive. I think our offer of Levert/other salary filler plus maybe one pick is out there if an ideal move falls into our lap, but if not it seems we're perfectly comfortable riding with what we have.

[tmorgan]

I’d be down for MPJ at a reasonable price.

Tobias, (player), (pick).

That pick can be our first if the player is LeVert. If the player is Ivey, then no first. Something like that.

[bstein14]

Reports indicate we'll be "agressive" on the trade market but also focused on internal growth rather than star trades.

That leaves some wiggle room for interpretation. The most restrictive interpretation would suggest we're only looking to add minor pieces- which would be odd given how deep this team already is. The least restrictive interpretation of that would still at the very least suggest we won't be trading for any of the star players in this poll, but it still leaves room to add a third/fourth option type guy depending on price.

Reports are that we won't be aggressive... but we'll instead be "opportunistic" in the trade market. Seems unlikely we'd do a big trade and more likely we use our TPE to upgrade one rotation piece IMO.

Several teams out there likely desperate to get out of salary and out of the luxury tax and we can absorb some taking on a solid player. There's currently 13 teams in the luxury tax and I'd expect close to half of these teams will make a move to get out of the tax. We can take on $18.9 million more salary before we hit the luxury tax. https://www.spotrac.com/nba/tax

[tmorgan]

CJ's been the worst defender in the league this year according to several advanced metrics.... not sure how much that changes when he goes from a bad situation to a good one but that would give me hesitation. MPJ has at least been bad, but not worst of the league bad on defense.

We have 5 guys who are top 40 in the league in defensive box +/-

#16 Holland
#17 Ausar
#19 Javonte Green
#25 Beef Stew
#39 Cade Cunningham
.
.
.
#140 Michael Porter Jr
.
.
.
DEAD LAST IN LEAGUE = CJ McCollum
4th worst in league = Zach LaVine
6th worst in league = Lauri Markkanen
8th worst in league = THJ
13th worst in league = Saddiq Bey
17th worst in league = Dennis Schroeder


Cade leading all NBA players (minimum 300 defensive stands) in opponents FG% allowed... he is letting guys make less than 41% of their shots against him which is just insanely good.

I don’t know this statistic well enough to know how reliable it is, but… that looks about right. Those are our best defenders. Go Ron!

Is most of the top 10 OKC? I do think it’s somewhat teammate dependent.

[Snakebites]

Reports indicate we'll be "agressive" on the trade market but also focused on internal growth rather than star trades.

That leaves some wiggle room for interpretation. The most restrictive interpretation would suggest we're only looking to add minor pieces- which would be odd given how deep this team already is. The least restrictive interpretation of that would still at the very least suggest we won't be trading for any of the star players in this poll, but it still leaves room to add a third/fourth option type guy depending on price.

Reports are that we won't be aggressive... but we'll instead be "opportunistic" in the trade market. Seems unlikely we'd do a big trade and more likely we use our TPE to upgrade one rotation piece IMO.

Several teams out there likely desperate to get out of salary and out of the luxury tax and we can absorb some taking on a solid player. There's currently 13 teams in the luxury tax and I'd expect close to half of these teams will make a move to get out of the tax. We can take on $18.9 million more salary before we hit the luxury tax. https://www.spotrac.com/nba/tax

Yeah I misread that.

It absolutely makes sense that we don't want to committ big money and assets to an imperfect fit like AD, and guys who would be clear fits (the guys getting lots of votes in this poll) have not been reported to be available.

I'd be surprised if we add a starter before the deadline. TL has been very conservative with our assets so far and the team taking a leap doesn't really do anything to change that approach.

[bstein14]

I’d be down for MPJ at a reasonable price.

Tobias, (player), (pick).

That pick can be our first if the player is LeVert. If the player is Ivey, then no first. Something like that.

MPJ is scoring an efficient 25.6 PPG, space the floor, and would benefit playing alongside a very good defender like Ausar who can take the better forwards defensively.

I think you'd also run MPJ as the #1 option with the bench unit (sub him out early) and he's have guys like Stewart, Holland, and Green in there really covering for him as well so I think the fit could be there because we're so good defensively and he's so solid offensively.

I have thought for a while now, he could be our bargain Markkanen who can do almost as much on offense for a much lower price trade wise and contract wise. The other "bargain" 20 PPG scorer who can shoot the 3 ball and isn't horrible on defense is Jerami Grant, who our core knows well but he's a bit older now at 31 and soon to be 32 he's only a little more than a year younger than Tobias so its probably best to just keep Tobias at that point.

[catari11]

I would shocked if Trajan trades any of the team's main players including Tobias. He's shown too much loyalty and he's still the only reliable back to basket low post scorer. If TL can land a 3 and D guy for picks and Ivey that would be fine. However, I must admit I'm even a tad reluctant to part with Ivey who may surprise many in the 2nd half of the season as he increasingly adjusts to NBA game speed.

[Canadafan]

Several teams out there likely desperate to get out of salary and out of the luxury tax and we can absorb some taking on a solid player. There's currently 13 teams in the luxury tax and I'd expect close to half of these teams will make a move to get out of the tax. We can take on $18.9 million more salary before we hit the luxury tax. https://www.spotrac.com/nba/tax

Of those teams Clippers and Dallas have losing records.
And #5Dallas and down to #13 , we can get those teams entirely out of tax.

[Snakebites]

Several teams out there likely desperate to get out of salary and out of the luxury tax and we can absorb some taking on a solid player. There's currently 13 teams in the luxury tax and I'd expect close to half of these teams will make a move to get out of the tax. We can take on $18.9 million more salary before we hit the luxury tax. https://www.spotrac.com/nba/tax

Of those teams Clippers and Dallas have losing records.
And #5Dallas and down to #13 , we can get those teams entirely out of tax.

I can’t see us taking on anything non-expiring without a larger incentive than these teams have/are likely to give up. Unless it’s an actual productive player.

[DetroitSho]

I would shocked if Trajan trades any of the team's main players including Tobias. He's shown too much loyalty and he's still the only reliable back to basket low post scorer. If TL can land a 3 and D guy for picks and Ivey that would be fine. However, I must admit I'm even a tad reluctant to part with Ivey who may surprise many in the 2nd half of the season as he increasingly adjusts to NBA game speed.

Can you put an actual name to this? Because why would we be trading a core piece and a pick(s) for a 3 and D guy. Javonte Green is a 3 and D guy, would you trade Ivey and a pick for him?

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