quote:
If you have a superstar you pay them, otherwise you stockpile guys on rookie contracts and mid-level exception type contracts (around 6m a year). Otherwise you have a bunch of medicore talent and will have a medicore team.

until what? you acquire mediocre young players on cheap contracts, maybe slide into the lower end of the playoffs, and then face a decision when those young guys need to be extended about whether you'll start all over again and tank or sign them to bigger contracts?

the NBA is about acquiring talent for value. you CAN most certainly do this through the draft. but if the opportunity arises to trade for a player who is good and get him on the cheap, you do it. if you can sign a player to a valuable deal, you do it (which costs even less). you have to take these risks unless you're a destination spot for FAs

the spurs hit on 2 amazing euros and got great value years and years ago. they lucked into the #1 pick with a top-15 player all time. these are rare, outlier events, as best seen by the spurs being the only team that's ever achieved success in the modern NBA by using this method

OKC had another rare/outlier run with the draft. i'll even give you chicago. that's 3 teams, or 10% of the league

you look at successful teams in a similar market position to Nola, and they have to take risks. memphis took a HUGE one when they acquired randolph. they gave a big arse deal to conley before he had emerged. those are riskier moves than what nola has done

indiana has done pretty well in the draft, but they also signed west, hill, etc. also, they have had a "dead weight" max contract for 2 years with granger's contract. that was a mistake in hindsight. they're also not nearly as good as that playoff series against miami, b/c hibbert played out of his mind.

you have to look at the pieces acquired and assess if it's a good value

is holiday worth $11M/year? yes, easily. that's a good deal for him without question. was he worth trading the #6 pick in a weak draft and likely a 8-12 pick in a good draft? almost assuredly

is evans worth $11M/year? yes.

the biggest albatross potentially is gordon's deal, in hindsight