David Griffin Needs To Be Fired

[MikeM]

They would be in the playoffs if they kept Jrue and traded for a competent stretch 5 like Daniel Theis (who could have been had for nothing).

[Roger Murdock]

I think that trade with the Hawks screwed them. Hunter or Garland would be perfect with the rest of their core.

[NO-KG-AI]

I'm super glad none of you are actually NBA owners...there's like no patience at all. Yes, New Orleans has underachieved this season but the squad is still very, very young and has plenty of time to grow together. Small market teams have to operate differently....its not like they can just go out and outspend everyone or stars are lining up to force trades to New Orleans.....ya gotta be patient. A couple of years ago Denver didn't have the best balanced roster but over time they've done a great job of building, NO can do the same thing.

I personally would've held on to Jrue but I understand them feeling like he didnt fit their timeline. If they wanted to really compete this season, they wouldn't have traded Jrue. I do agree the Adams deal was a big risk but putting a "defensive center" next to Zion was a priority, so I can at least understand why they thought it could work. I also don't understand the Lonzo thing...he seems like a perfect #3 guy for them to me.

Dude it’s ridiculous. Our best player is 20 years old, and we are a team full of young players. We should absolutely be better on defense, but it’s not surprising that a team full of young guys are bad defensively.

Also, people are going “I told you so” on Adams, but not a single person here thought the offense would work, and that he’s be bad defensively.

Either way, we’re struggling, but we’re extremely excited about our future and glad we were able to move a 16/5, one time all star who is already 30 for a slew of future picks with no protections. A bunch of fans from other teams being mad that we’re not good just don’t realize how awful and shallow our roster was around AD and Jrue. Wish Jrue the best, but he didn’t impact wins for us during or after AD, and we’d have never gotten more back for a non all star.

The only real bad flop is that Bledsoe and Adams are way worse defensively and not rubbing off good defensive habits on the young guys.

Our net rating is dead even, our SRS puts us 8th in the west, and our expected win loss puts us right at .500. This is a team that is primed to make a big leap forward with a few roster tweaks.

Book is out on SVG. Again, raise your hand if you thought we’d be 8th on offense with Adams and Bledsoe as the starters. We’re awful defensively, but I think the players, even the ones with good defensive reputations are inconsistent and lazy a lot. Part on the coaching, but the effort level needs to go way up.

[TwitterFingers]

These are the major moves he has made since being hired to run the Pelicans.

Traded the #4 overall pick (ended up being Deandre Hunter) for the 8th and 17th pick (Jaxson Hayes and NAW).
Hired SVG
Drafted Kira Lewis with the 13th pick
Traded Jrue for 3 1st round picks (2023, 2025, 2027) and two pick swaps (2024 and 2026) from the Bucks and Eric Bledsoe and his contract
Traded the 2023 1st round pick from the Jrue trade to OKC for Steven Adams, then gave Steven Adams an extension right away

A few major head-scratchers coming into this season. Loading up on bigs that cant shoot and cant protect the rim. Brandon Ingram being the only wing on the team with any kind of length. Then you got the whole Lonzo thing where early in the season it became public they were looking to trade him and arent interested in paying him in the summer. Then at the trade deadline Woj said both sides agreed it would be best if Lonzo would be playing somewhere else. Yet they dont trade him and now lets see what they do with him this summer.

Then you got the nonsense from SVG. Not even attempting Bledsoe to be a 6th man. Its like that thought hasnt ever crossed his mind once, even though Bledsoe has been horrible and is an awful fit with that starting lineup. Then the defense, I mean the worst team defending the 3 and the worst team defending 6 feet and in. Cant ask for a worse defense than that in today's game.

The Pels are a freaking mess right now. Youd think with Ingram being the only young guy off his rookie deal they would at least be in solid cap room, nope. Its actually quite amazing how bad of a job Griffin has done since taking over. Him and SVG need to go now, this team is a dumpster fire now.

Griffin took one of the easiest jobs in the NBA (all the assets that were just handed to him) and he has completely messed it up in just a year and a half.

You omitted the AD trade and I think Lewis will be good, but I agree Griff has done some stupid things. I don’t know if it’s fair to fire him at this stage tho.

[5paceman]

I think he's been very good! He put together a rounded roster and has made great deals imo. You say the Pelicans are a mess right now? I think they've been finding their way and how they can win. What do you expect from a team so young? They aren't built to win now, they are based around the youth of Ball/Ingram/Zion/Hayes going forward. And I like all of Hayes/Kira/NAW a lot.

[Basileus777]

Is trading Deandre Hunter for NAW and Hayes really that bad of a move? Both look to have a good future as far as I can tell. NAW had been on fire recently before getting hurt and Hayes is legit big man talent. I agree that the trade for Adams (and the extension) was a major headscratcher. The value he got for Jrue was as good as it gets.

Hunter is a far superior player than either NAW or Hayes.

Hayes is not a good NBA player. The dude looks like a chicken with his head cutoff the majority of time he is out there. Ya NAW has played better in his last 14 games, but that is still 14/4/2 on 53 TS%. Plus he isnt a great fit with either Lonzo or Ingram because NAW likes to dribble and run the PnR. It wasnt a good trade. Again I think if they were to try and trade Hayes and NAW for Hunter, they'd get laughed at. That to me shows they didnt do good in that trade.

And again when it comes to the Jrue trade.

Bledsoe
2024 pick swap
2025 1st
2026 pick swap
2027 1st
2023 1st which they flipped for Adams

Bledsoe is a negative value, Adams and his contract is a negative as well. Now again how valuable are those picks right now? Is a 1st round pick from the Bucks 4 years from now going to get them a good return in a trade? Im not sure how many teams are really hoping to grab a 2026 1st round pick swap from the Bucks. I get what Griffin was doing, he was taking the gamble that Giannis wouldnt resign and if he didnt that trade looks amazing. But right now they pretty much have to hope Giannis gets hurt or demands out for those picks to look appealing.

Even if all those picks turn out to be in the 20s, it's still a good deal. It's not like they gave up some incredible talent, it's Jrue Holiday, a fringe all-star in his 30s. He's not a player with all that much value to a rebuilding team.

The Adams trade is bad though, no argument there.

[Tor_Raps]

Hes fine. They have tons of draft picks while having 2 upcoming superstars who need a few years to develop. During that time, he needs to put the right supporting cast around them, which should begin this offseason. Still far too early to be this negative.

[WHITE_HOT_HEAT]

Always been an overrated crappy GM. Horrible decisions and has no idea how to construct teams. 25% of RGM could do better.

And.. he was responsible for Anthony Bennett.. Not Chris Grant..

[DaPessimist]

Young teams don't win in the NBA. I'm not sure what the expectation was for this season?

The only really bad move was trading and extending Adams. Fairly obvious he wouldn't be a great fit next to Zion.


This team could definitely use a veteran presence late in games and in the locker room.

[Atmanne]

Steve Adams was the only definitive bad move I saw from your list.

[jbk1234]

They should've dumped Bledsoe on OKC in the Adams trade, and if that wasn't an option with them giving up a 1st already, then they shouldn't have made it. Also, I hated the Adams extension. But, the Jrue trade was a no brainer.

I think Hayes and NAW are going to be fine though. I'd probably match Ball and attach a late first to Bledsoe.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-J327A using RealGM mobile app

[Duke4life831]

To be clear to everyone, I didnt start this thread because I thought the Pels would be a winning team in the Western Conference this year, I started this thread because the Pelicans are in a worse spot now, than they were last year.

People keep saying his moves haven't been bad.

Again if he called up the Hawks or the Cavs today and asked to trade Hayes/NAW for Hunter or Garland, he would get laughed at. No GM in the league would make either deal right now. That means that was a bad trade on his part.

Then with the Jrue trade, 2024 and 2026 pick swaps with the Bucks have very little value right now. What good does that do for the Pels? The 2025 and 2027 1st round picks are so far out and theyre from a team that has a top 3 player in the league locked up through all of those picks except for the 2027 one, which is again 6 years from now. How valuable is that pick in the next couple years, assuming they try and flip it in the next few years to help build around Zion.

Also you have to take in the massive negative which is Eric Bledsoe, he was part of that deal and is a big negative for the Pels. If you take away Bledsoe's and Adam's contracts, thats 35 million dollars they would have to work with this summer. So Bledsoe and the pick its going to take to shed that contract, or keeping him on and his contract restricting the moves they can make this summer, needs to be taken into consideration with the overall return for the Jrue trade.

And again the overall roster construction for this year is beyond poor. Again not a center on the roster that can shoot the ball, 2 bigs that arent mobile and the 3rd is a young big that has no defensive awareness. They also have had zero wings outside of Ingram all season long.

Again my complaint with Griffin and the Pels isnt that theyre struggling to win. My complaint is Griffin is making the team worse and is continually making bad move after bad move which isnt improving the team now, or upping their potential.

[Jkam31]

Read on Twitter

Just cause he tampered for AD doesn’t mean what was said is false

[5paceman]

Regarding Adams, they had money to be spent with so many young players, and his contract goes down $10M next season. For a young rebuilding team, I think a true workhorse/team center like Adams gives the team and guys like Hayes and Zion a baseline for the hard and less appreciated work that needs to be done.

[clyde21]

the Steven Adams trade (and the subsequent extension), not that Adams isn't a nice player, but it was like the LAST thing this team needed to put next to Zion at the moment, and it's not like it's helped them defensively at all.

it's a just a huge red flag for me because now I am not sure that Griffin understands modern NBA concepts or what he really has in Zion.

this guy inherited LeBron and lucked into Zion...possibly the two best talents we've seen in the NBA the last 2 decades...how many GMs can say this?

[Warriors Analyst]

What, the guy who wanted Anthony Bennett isn't any good at his job? Shocking.

That was Chris Grant.

Nope.

So when the Cavs front office sat down before the draft to cast their vote on who to take, the final tally was 9-1 in favor of Bennett. The one vote against taking him? Chris Grant.

You can blame Grant for not putting his foot down and overruling, but that's it.

I stand corrected. That's absolutely hilarious that 9 people all came to the conclusion that Bennett was the right pick.

[Duke4life831]

Regarding Adams, they had money to be spent with so many young players, and his contract goes down $10M next season. For a young rebuilding team, I think a true workhorse/team center like Adams gives the team and guys like Hayes and Zion a baseline for the hard and less appreciated work that needs to be done.

Between Adams and Bledsoe, theyre taking up 35 million in the cap next year. Take that away, they would be at 56 million dollars of cap taken up as a team. So they could be looking at around 60 million in cap room this summer. There is a ton of things a young team can do with that kind of cap room. They could sign multiple rotation guys that fit their roster around Zion and Ingram (like what the Hawks did with Galo and Bogdan). And having that much cap room and flexibility is always a good thing, you never know what kind of opportunities may come up. Also that flexibility becomes that much harder to create after this summer if they decide to match whatever offer Lonzo gets (or they let him walk for nothing).

[Duke4life831]

the Steven Adams trade (and the subsequent extension), not that Adams isn't a nice player, but it was like the LAST thing this team needed to put next to Zion at the moment, and it's not like it's helped them defensively at all.

it's a just a huge red flag for me because now I am not sure that Griffin understands modern NBA concepts or what he really has in Zion.

this guy inherited LeBron and lucked into Zion...possibly the two best talents we've seen in the NBA the last 2 decades...how many GMs can say this?

He seems very stuck on the idea of sticking Zion with a non floor spacing big.

Favors
Hayes
Adams
Willy

Are the 5s that Griff has acquired since drafting Zion. I think its pretty clear what kind of 5 he wants Zion playing next too.

[clyde21]

imagine this death line up for New Orleans

Jrue
Lonzo
Ingram
Hunter
Zion

[5paceman]

Regarding Adams, they had money to be spent with so many young players, and his contract goes down $10M next season. For a young rebuilding team, I think a true workhorse/team center like Adams gives the team and guys like Hayes and Zion a baseline for the hard and less appreciated work that needs to be done.

Between Adams and Bledsoe, theyre taking up 35 million in the cap next year. Take that away, they would be at 56 million dollars of cap taken up as a team. So they could be looking at around 60 million in cap room this summer. There is a ton of things a young team can do with that kind of cap room. They could sign multiple rotation guys that fit their roster around Zion and Ingram (like what the Hawks did with Galo and Bogdan). And having that much cap room and flexibility is always a good thing, you never know what kind of opportunities may come up. Also that flexibility becomes that much harder to create after this summer if they decide to match whatever offer Lonzo gets (or they let him walk for nothing).

Well things could happen that change that 35m. And I just don't know if a Galo and Bogdan helps them develop as a young team, seems more win now mode. Certainly gives you more firepower, but if you aren't competing anyway, I like defense for a rebuilding team. That side of the ball starts at the 5.