re: Simmons continues ragging on Pelicans...

I don't remember seeing Jennings in that Blue-White scrimmage the other day. Did see 3 Pelicans though, including Jrue, who started.

Oh yeah, Jennings didn't get invited b/c he wears under armour shoes and not Nike's, so he says.

frick Bill Simmons. Secondly, those people are the worst (funny, but not). And finally, we're going to be facking good. The game is moving to a combo guard style where they can "do it all" (play pg, shoot, drive, and play D on pretty much any guard)..we're full of speed, big at each position and our coach will demand defense which I believe our players will buy into. If Monty figured out how to put each player in his "spot" offensively, we'll be hell for other teams. I can't facking wait.

Also, fack Bill Simmons and I hope Jalen Rose gives him a Beatdown and dear God come on Greg Oden.

Simmons knows his stuff. There is no arguing that. The difference between him and other analysts is that he is a fan, not just an analyst.

He kills us for overpaying for Holliday and Evans. But then he turns around on draft night and gets all in a hissy fit because Boston won't overpay for Garnett, Pierce, and Doc Rivers.

He kills us because we gave away draft picks in 2014 for in his mind an overpaid player, because the 2014 draft is the best draft in the history of drafts. He then kills the Celtics for acquiring picks in the very same draft by dumping overpaid players.

So, Boston did the very thing that he is killing the Pelicans for not doing.

That is the kind of logic a fan uses.

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Whoever thinks that Gordon and Evans are movable contracts is totally delusional. We are stuck with both now (especially if their numbers take a dive this season)..

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I totally agree with that. Whoever said that Evans was signed to a movable deal is nuts. If Gordon was movable, he'd have been moved last season. They did not sign Evans to a deal, thinking to themselves, "Selves, if this doesn't work, we just trade him. No problem" The Pelicans are pot stuck on this group in the backcourt.

But, at some point, you have to pot stick yourself to someone. You can't just coast and suck and tank and draft and coast and suck and tank and draft. Again, when you do that, you are the Wizards. Simmons wants us to keep on sucking untill we get that gem in the lottery. Well, that happened last year. We got that gem, now its time to make a move.

Simmons is way off on this, and I actually like him.

Ya just read that article, he really tends to be a bit hypocritical. He always touts that four quarters does not equal a dollar theory; yet, he is slamming the Pels' for using that exact philosophy.

When you go into games you want to have the best players at each position, on the court, at all times.

Jrue is certainly a top 10 PG IMO. Meaning, that for at least 2/3's of the games, the Pels' will have the best PG on the floor. Comparativly, Brandon Jennings is just so inconsistent that he can't be rated better, being generous, than just average IMO. Meaning, you only have the best PG for 1/2 of the games.

Factored out over an entire season, the Pels' will have about 20 more games in which they will have the better Pg with Jrue, than they would have with Jennings. Not hard to see how that can easily lead to more victories.

For Tyreke: If you stretch your imagination a little, it is not hard to envision that the 6th man is quickly becoming its own position in the NBA. Following that logic, the same analysis about Jrue being a top 10 PG applies to Tyreke being a top 10 (likely top 5 IMO) 6th man in the league.

Noel and the 2014 Pick are all potential. To me Jrue-Tyreke have enough potential to call that a wash IMO. All of these players have the ability to be a top 5 player at their position, but there is no guarantee that any one of them will be. If I was forced to rank the chance that the players listed above would become top 5 palyer in the league at their positions it would be (1) Jrue (2) Tyreke (3) 2014 Draft Pick (4) Noel (1,000) Jennings. Looked at from that prospective, I don't see how a reasonable basketball mind could criticize the Pels' for there summer moves. In two Years they could very likely have three Top 5 Players at three positions in Jrue/Davis/Tyreke going into every game, and if not, then at least they tried. Which as a fan is all that I am really asking for.

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Whoever said that Evans was signed to a movable deal is nuts

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I said it. I am neither delusional nor nuts.

According to ShamSports, Evans salary per year over the contract:

11.8
11.3
10.7
10.2

Evans will be 26 and 27 in the last two years of his deal, not 33 and 34. They can find a taker if they need to move him or they can use Evans as a centerpiece in a move for a more attractive player.

Gordon's deal is a tougher nut, but Joe Johnson's absurd contract got dealt. It's the NBA, anyone can be moved.

Any contract is moveable. Please. Pretty sure I remember someone taking on Okafor's contract and what about Peja's? Everyone for a little awhile was ok taking on Deondre Jordan's terrible contract if we acquired Bledsoe. What about Danny Granger's contract? We took on Rashard Lewis $13.87 M contract and he did not even play but yeah Evans and Gordon contract are unmovable if they do not work in the system.

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They can find a taker if they need to move him or they can use Evans as a centerpiece in a move for a more attractive player.

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The Hawks got almost nothing in return in that trade. Just a bunch of journeymen. Same thing with the Bargnani trade. The Raptors got nothing in return. If or when Gordon or Evans get traded its going to be for some end of the bench guys or an old vet with an expiring. If you need me to rephrase, I will. They won't be moved for anything worthwhile and if they are traded for not much, that's the end of Dell. Moving those contracts just shows he made a mistake signing them in the 1st place..

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The Hawks got almost nothing in return in that trade.

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Cap space, which is what some seem to be concerned about with these signings. You can't say the contracts cap the team out and are unmoveable and then complain if they move them to open up cap space.

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Moving those contracts just shows he made a mistake signing them in the 1st place..

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Well duh. But he can move them to reshape the roster if it doesn't work. There's no guarantee any signings will work, but they have to spend $$ on someone. The Evans/Holiday deals are good bets. Sub max deals for quality young vets.

Like I said, I'm not thrilled with the Evans signing. It does raise questions of fit, but I can see the potential and I think his contract is fair for his talents.

And there is a scenario where the roster does work fairly well, but a better fit becomes available via trade. Evans, and Anderson, are valuable players with salaries that give the team a wealth of options when it comes to a trade