re: Alexis Anjica to the Pelicans

@ESPNSteinLine: Interested to see what Ajinca can give New Orleans. Friends in France keep telling me he's not the same guy we last saw in the NBA

i like the move. He has to be better that Childress. He might be a lottery ticket and outplay the vet min salary.

Lots of bigs aggreagating in NOLA...seems like this sets up for a deal but maybe they just dont see jeff ready to play yet...

FYI: on black and blue report-dell basically said they are not bringing up pierre this year...want him to understand the pro game better...im assuming that is in reference to his defense and turnovers..

BOTTOM LINE OF THIS SIGNING:

Ajinca's agent, Mark Bartelstein also represents Jason Smith, Greg Stiemsma, and Lou Amundson. This is classic dealing in good faith. By signing Ajinca and Lou, the Pelicans have taken pre-emptive steps to solidify Jason Smith's re-signing next summer. From the onset, I thought Dell wanted to see how Smith improved this year and whether he'd be worth locking up longer term (next 3 years). Dell has been auditioning Smith and Smith's risen to the challenge posting career highs all over the place. Yea he's no star, but Smith will be an important piece for the Pels going forward. He's a guy you can build a grandiose bench unit with and be one of your top 7. Further, on the NBA rumor mill I've been hearing rumblings of many other teams interested in Smith for next summer or as a asset in a trade if that were to happen. Thus, we signed Ajinca so that Smith would be more likely to re-up next summer and for a less unreasonable rate. Classic agent tactics at play here.

Not about whether Ajinca is "good" or not. People who've seen him play recently have only good things to say. He just needs to not be abysmal

I have a feeling that this move is another step towards AD moving to C. With Anderson starting, you would need a stretch 4 or 5 on the second team to clear space for Evans.

It's hard to say how successful he'll be but he looks pretty athletic in that video. Hopefully he can help defensively.

He looks like he is worth a roster spot from that video.

Pelicans signed a porn star?

They are auditioning Smith to trade to a contender this season imo

all of y'all are dumb asses. this guy was signed so he can be fed to pierre. wtf...