re: Zach Lowe: Pels one of the Winners of Free Agency/Offseason

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The Pelicans are notable for showing some restraint for the first time since drafting Anthony Davis. I wrote a few months back that New Orleans had essentially followed the failed rush-job title contender strategy the Cavaliers employed during LeBron James’s first spell in Cleveland. They drafted their savior and got way out in front of themselves, overpaying free agents and flipping first-rounders for vets.

Fortunately for the Pels, Davis is locked into a long-term deal that gives them plenty of time to fix their mistakes, and that’s what they’ve set about doing this summer. They let Ryan Anderson and Eric Gordon walk and they signed a few of what in this financial climate can be considered economy contracts. Solomon Hill (four years, $48 million), E’twaun Moore (four years, $34 million) and Langston Galloway (two years, $10 million) aren’t bad players, but perhaps most importantly, they’re not hamstringingly expensive. Hill, Moore and Galloway will provide competence at a fair rate, which isn’t unimportant for a team that finished last season trotting out lineups laden with D-Leaguers. If everything breaks right, the Pels will head into the summer of 2017 coming off a decent season with some $30 million in cap space to spend on a fertile free agent class.

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