Gotcha ya. He already lost, what, $30m losing the DPE. Doubt he gives up another ~$20m or whatever it is so long as the Pelicans are competent this season.

And I get why people would prefer to let Jrue walk to maintain flexibility, but let's say AD/DC + the likes of Solo, Moore, Diallo, and a few cheap FA guards win 42 games next season. How much financial flexibility do we really have after maxing Boogie? Does AD/DC carrying this team with adequate play from Moore/Diallo/Solo really tempt any big FAs? Look at next offseason's big FA names. None of them (Durant, Lebron, PG, Westbrook) are coming here. What's the point? Are Benson and, more importantly, Boogie and AD willing to play the long game and wait 2 full seasons before going after a semi-realistic big fish like Wall?

This post was edited on 6/23/17 at 11:16 pm

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Posted by THRILLHO

Metry, LA

Member since Apr 2006

49540 posts

Posted on 6/23/17 at 11:22 pm to THRILLHO

Sorry for the double post, but summed up:

I can visualize our future if we keep Jrue: roll out a Jrue/Moore/Solo/AD/DC type lineup, keep the other DC (solid backup), and use the MLE on a solid guard. From there, you pray that:
1) Solo can shoot 42%+ from corner 3's, maybe 38% overall. Not likely, but wouldn't be shocking.
2) We get good Jrue on offense. We've seen him kick arse over 20 game stretches, and we've seen him be atrocious over 20 game stretches. Who knows.
3) AD/DC frick the world up. This is likely to happen, but it will be much easier if 1 and 2 happen.

If we let Jrue walk and lose our MLE, I just don't see where we go in the future. We'll need some pretty expert FO moves and some serious luck. Besides winning the AD lotto, we haven't had much of either of those things.

This post was edited on 6/23/17 at 11:24 pm

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Posted by Whodatforlife21