re: You have to Make the Playoffs or you Die

I guess I might as well play along.

Dump Tyreke for cash. Maybe swap seconds with a team if that's what it takes. Tyreke should get some looks once the FA period starts to settle down and teams are looking at their plan Plan B and Plan C.

Sign Nene on a two year deal to come off the bench at PF and get some action at C with AD at PF. If not Nene and want a stretch four, bring in Marvin Williams. He played himself into a decent contract after putting together a solid season. Put out offers to Hill and Arron Afflalo. Sign Felton to a cheapish deal with a team option.

Jrue/Felton/Frazier
Hield/Afflalo
Hill/QPon
AD/Nene/Diallo
Asik/Nene/Ajinca


Because of the money in Asik and Ajinca, you have to roll with them for one more season. They'll either suck (more likely to happen) or they'll play at a replacement level, which might be good enough considering you have AD. Either way, they'd get 20-25 minutes total as a combo. AD and Nene split time at C the rest of the game.

Felton and Afflalo bring a vet presence to a team that has rookies and players to develop for the first time in years. I'm a huge fan of Frazier, but just to play it safe, I'm bringing in Felton to show Frazier the ropes and to bring some experience to a team that looks to be playing in the playoffs next April.

Hield's floor IMO is 10 ppg. His ceiling is somewhere around 14-16 ppg. However, defensively, he is not able to play defensively at an NBA level. Afflalo will close games out in which the Pels have a lead. A closing lineup of Jrue, AA, Hill/Q, Nene and AD isn't that bad. Could shift Hill over to PF and AD to C if you don't trust Nene.

If you want to go the Williams route, the team would look like this:


Jrue/Felton/Frazier
Hield/Afflalo
Hill/QPon
AD/Williams/Diallo
Asik//Ajinca/

A stretch 4 lineup of Jrue, Hield, AA, Williams, and AD has a lot of potential.

The team with Nene will be big, perhaps too big, but they have good balance. Both teams rely on Asik recovering from a dreadful season. The Williams team has a bit more potential, though I think they're more likely to fail than the Nene team.

Thoughts?


ETA:Because I'm a Blazers fan I'm not imagining a world where we let Harkless go. If we were to swap Hill with Harkless, and use this team

Jrue/Felton/Frazier
Hield/Afflalo
Harkless/QPon
AD/Nene/Diallo
Asik/Nene/Ajinca

and a closing lineup of:
Jrue
AA
Qpon
Harkless
AD

This team would lock other teams up defensively and wouldn't rely on Asik logging many minutes at the C if you switch AD over in the 4th quarter of games.

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I guess we'll agree to disagree and we'll never know because that team won't be back together again next season. They couldn't get healthy once for three seasons. It is what it is.


ETA: We both are bias towards our own teams. I don't think the Blazers will fall off a cliff next year. Some do. I respect your what you say even if we don't see eye to eye.

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We refuse to see eye to eye because you refuse to acknowledge basic facts and accept consensus context from fans and non-fans alike.

You can't hand wave away the fact that most of our core never played together, was never consistently healthy and then say it was actually because the core was rotten to the bone and wouldn't make the playoffs even if they were healthier. Injuries didn't really matter.

Thats not me being biased, thats me arguing with someone who can't even get the basics right to have the proper foundation to even have an argument. Nor even be logically consistent within the arguments he is presenting.

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They had three years and never got to play significant time together and I'm the one that isn't grasping basics? Ok bud.

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Right, which completely conflicts with your argument that the core is rotten. Or are you walking back that one now too?

It seems like you are just trying to squeeze out some sort of exit strategy and trying to save face. So go on.

But just for clarities sake, you claimed the Pels are not playoff contenders, we are being basically delusional to suggest it. That our injuries aren't a factor(but now maybe they are to you suddenly?) and that the core is rotten in the way MM described the Kings, implying even at full health they can't make the playoffs. Which again, directly conflicts with history. As our health has pretty much correlated with how we have done the last 3 years and the healthiest season led to the playoffs.

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Right, which completely conflicts with your argument that the core is rotten. Or are you walking back that one now too?

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The CORE is Rotten BECAUSE of INJURIES.

Is it not that hard? The talent was there all along to make the playoffs. Banking on AD, Jrue, RA, and EG to play 70 games each just isn't plausible. Maybe rotten was the wrong word, but yeah, it was never going to happen. BTW, I factored in the FO too which I believe I detailed in one of my posts. SAC and NO the previous three years have done almost nothing to really push their teams.

"But what about the Evans signing?"

I said I didn't like the signing before because he's too ball dominant and it played out just like I thought. It made the Pels better sure but didn't help the team much at all. The Asik and Ajinca deals, failing to move RA, finding a role for Tyreke, never having a backup PG to Jrue (I liked Cole too bad it didn't work out) were all bad moves.

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But just for clarities sake, you claimed the Pels are not playoff contenders, we are being basically delusional to suggest it. That our injuries aren't a factor(but now maybe they are to you suddenly?) and that the core is rotten in the way MM described the Kings, implying even at full health they can't make the playoffs. Which again, directly conflicts with history. As our health has pretty much correlated with how we have done the last 3 years and the healthiest season led to the playoffs.

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This is what I said about the Pels

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As I've mentioned in this thread, you guys just don't have the depth. Portland's bench could start in NO. Crabbe or Henderson would be starting SG and Harkless would start at SF if we put them on the Pels roster last year

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Nowhere did I mention "delusional" or injuries aren't a factor. I'm looking at 3 years of work and they got into the Playoffs once. Just once. And if you want to crow about injuries, if not for a KD injury, AD would have never been to the playoffs. The Pels ceiling has always been playoffs. Injuries have always derailed it. The "core" is being blown up because of injuries. If the FO felt like they'd be healthy for just ONE run, they'd bring them back. Another disappointing season and Demps might be gone. You would think with such a guarantee as you make it sound like, he'd go with the obvious choice of bring back his playoff potential team.

Just because we disagree doesn't mean I said delusional or anything else you want to think I said. Fact is, INJURIES happen and that core was very injury prone. I'd bank on it happening again next year if you brought back the same team.

Yeah that goes hand in hand with my OP. I thought you guys would be back around 45 wins. Injuries happened. After three years it's not just injuries. It's just the roster makeup. I still stand by my OP and that post. Are you going to makeup something else again or are you going to contribute to this thread? I should've called you out on your bullshite the first time. I'm sorry I guess?

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Yeah that goes hand in hand with my OP. I thought you guys would be back around 45 wins. Injuries happened. After three years it's not just injuries. It's just the roster makeup. I still stand by my OP and that post. Are you going to makeup something else again or are you going to contribute to this thread? I should've called you out on your bullshite the first time. I'm sorry I guess?

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The posts are in direct contradiction with each other. So congrats on standing for a direct logical contradiction I guess?

Ok bud. The pels should've won 60 games but never did. Congrats on the lost potential.

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Ok bud. The pels should've won 60 games but never did. Congrats on the lost potential.

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Quit acting like a fricking idiot. It only makes you look like an actual idiot.

No one has said this team was injuries away from 60 wins. They are injuries away from being playoff contenders 2 of those 3 years.

When healthy, and comparing them against other healthy teams in the west, the Pelicans are in the conversation for the 6-8 seeds. Along with several other teams. No one has claimed much more then that. Especially not me but feel free to find those quotes.

I should learn by now that opposing fan base forums usually don't welcome criticism of their team unless it's in the "you're team is really good but..." Kind of way. Not like the "They could be good but..."



Eta: here you go, again. Just read my posts.

They need somebody to pair with Hield as a handcuff when he comes off the court. I'm not a Tyreke fan but IF he commits to being a 6th man much like Crawford did once he got older, you guys will be competitive. However, I wouldn't feel safe with Tyreke being the "key" to your success (obviously AD and Jrue's health is most important, to get over the hump, you'll need somebody else to emerge to take the pressure off of them.)


I even contributed to the question the OP asked. A not so sexy offseason and the Pels are playoff bound! Hip hip! Hooray! You can breathe now Nola.

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I should learn by now that opposing fan base forums usually don't welcome criticism of their team unless it's in the "you're team is really good but..." Kind of way. Not like the "They could be good but..."

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Don't give me that victimhood crap. I love having opposing fanbases opinions. That's why I mostly post on a basketball board that is a neutral site.

I am all for criticism. Just make it quality criticism and don't jump into threads with ridiculous inferences like the Pelicans fans talking about being in the playoff contention conversation are basically delusional. You still can't refrain from taking a passive aggressive attitude toward this board even as you are trying to claim you are the bigger person.

If there is one thing I have not been here or on PelicansReport it has been an irrational homer. Even healthy this is a flawed team IMO. But healthy this is definitely a playoff contender. But not much more.

I probably have more critical posts of this team then most of that forum combined. So it is a bit funny hearing you frame me as some irrational fanboy.