re: Official Pelicans Free Agency Thread(Updated with transactions)

He must have meant Lewis. No such news about Nelson.

Sham Sports updated Pelicans Salary page

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No Jimmer details yet, but Young is added and he is contract is unguaranteed according to Deeks.

I was stoked to find out about the Fredette signing. Always been a fan of his play even though it didn't translate well for Sacramento, but there might be some value there for what they're paying him hopefully he's improved.

Pels among CBS's Matt Moore's offseason winner(kind of):

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New Orleans Pelicans: In short: Jimmer Fredette has not proven he can play so he and Austin Rivers will be buds. Darius Miller was a pretty solid re-sign just to see what he can do. Salmons, whatever, it's nothing worse than the standard veteran wing.

They are winners because they got Omer Asik. The key here, beyond Asik's considerable and necessary defensive impact, is twofold. One, Asik allows Anthony Davis to play power forward. That means a crunch with Ryan Anderson, but Davis is more important. Davis is thin-boned and has had injury issues the past two seasons. Playing center drags down his durability and carries a cost on the body. Asik absorbs that and allows Davis to save himself to be the omega playmaker on both ends.

Two, Asik is an expiring. Yes, the franchise cost is $15 million. But bigger than the $8 million cap hit that comes off the books is how that fits in. If Eric Gordon has a strong season and opts out, or if he's simply so unhappy in New Orleans (as he's seemed to be), and opts out of the last year at $15 million ... the Pelicans have less than $40 million on the books in the summer of 2016. They could make significant upgrades before signing Anthony Davis to the five-year max extension that fall. This is huge.

So yeah, the Pelicans lost perimeter shooting in Anthony Morrow and defense in Al-Farouq Aminu and rim protection in Jason Smith. But they've also kept their books open in case this formula they put together doesn't work. They have an escape hatch. So they're winners. The question is whether this experiment is really worth putting money behind to see if it works.

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Austin always getting played.

Smiht was a good shotblocker, not the best in defending big centers posting up

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Jerry Zgoda @JerryZgoda · 15h

Re: Anthony Bennett pulled from Toronto pro-am by agent...If anyone would know a Love trade nears, it's Jeff Schwartz, who reps both players

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The Cavs signed Wiggins less than a week ago meaning he can't be traded for more than 3 weeks. Either pulling Bennett isn't a sign of an imminent Love trade, or the Cavs are getting Love without giving up Wiggins. I'm not sure how I feel about that. On the one hand it would be the pinnacle of unfairness, Cleveland not only got 3 of the last 4 #1 picks, they got LeBron back and would be trading for Love without giving up a similar level player. On the other hand more talent in the East and less in the West is good for the Pelicans.

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I would think they would take the Bulls offer if Wiggins isn't in it.

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There's a lot of doubt on how genuine the Bulls offer is. Sounds like ownership doesn't like the prospect of paying $20 million for Love instead of $13 total of Gibson and Mirotic. Everything I've read says Love is holding firm to not opting in which increases the risk. Supposedly if he'd give on that Wiggins and Klay Thompson would have already been on the table. If Chicago isn't really interested and all GS will offer is Lee and Barnes because Love won't opt in, a garbage youth trade from Cleveland that doesn't include Wiggins still might be the best offer.

If that's actually what's happening waiting it out will only get you lower offers because the longer you wait the less time Love has left on his deal and the more risk the trading team takes on. Love might have the Timberwolves between a rock and a hard place if he absolutely refuses to opt in for anyone like CP3 did for us with the Clippers.

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Or would they still have gotten hung up on love not opting in?

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It sounds like that's been the hangup the whole time, so Wiggins may never have actually been on the table, at least not without a big * after his name. All the rumors say they might have traded him to GS before the draft if he would have opted in and put Thompson in play. For whatever reason he's very adamant on getting a 5 year deal after next year, even though waiting 2 years might result in a bigger payday with the new TV deal. I guess he has injury/durability concerns.

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According to reports from ESPN’s Marc Stein and Brian Windhorst, it seems the Cleveland Cavaliers and Minnesota Timberwolves are inching ever so closer to an inevitable deal that would land Kevin Love in Cleveland in exchange for a package of assets said to include top overall pick Andrew Wiggins and last year’s top overall pick Anthony Bennett.

Wiggins is not eligible to be traded until after August 23, 30 days after the signing of his rookie scale contract. Both teams can only agree to a deal in principle before then, however there is an increasing sense that the two other suitors for Love, Chicago and Golden State, have started to move on and pull back from the table.

There is also a belief that Minnesota and Cleveland are looking to expand the scope of their trade to include a third team, which is commonly believed to be Philadelphia, who could be offering Thaddeus Young to the mix in exchange for rookie scale players and draft picks.

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So you go from potential trade rape to Wiggins, Bennet and Thadeus Young? That might be the best return ever on a disgruntled star, 2 recent #1 picks and a decent starter.