re: Does Griffin have something up his sleeve that is bigger than we expect?

I think Griffin is more focused on building the foundations that he wants for the organization over looking to strike a big deal right now. There are more front office hires/shuffling coming. Gotta get that part done and move one thing at a time.

I still don't think Davis is likely to return. But with how adamant he has been about still wanting to be traded, why even waste the time on a meeting? That alone should be a reason for optimism. What's Griffin got to lose by trying and publicly saying everything?

He better be careful what he wishes for.

I have a feeling he is going to be in a big city, still not making endorsement money, getting yelled at by fans for him underperforming based on what they gave up for him.

You meet for two reasons.

One, AD is better than any trade return you get on him.

Two, making a big pitch for him and letting the belief be there that we will sit on him if trade offers aren’t good enough encourages teams to bid high rather than lowball us.


Chances of keeping AD aren’t high but I wouldn’t want to write them off completely.

I’d also want the implicit admission by AD and Klutch that this is all about market size and not winning or organizational quality. Us making such a big improvement push and doing all the right things helps perception while implicitly making AD look like a lying little bitch for continuing to claim it was about winning and not about money / exposure.

I think the other big things is being setup to win next season. Say AD comes back, replace Randle with Zion, add in another mid tier guy like Moore, resign Payton. How many more wins does this team have? Do they have fewer wins?

For as good as the franchise has done the past 40 days, they've still won 0 games.

Now, the Pels are setup better for the long-term. But if AD wants to win NEXT season, yeah, maybe it isn't here.

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but two of his preferred destinations are also ran horribly and then seemingly

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he wants visibility. winning is a far cry from what he's truly looking for.

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Right. Why even take a meeting with Griff if you’re hell bent on leaving? The door is cracked even if it’s only slightly cracked

But I still understand the skepticism from AD of staying in Nola. You’ve spent 7 years with a franchise & know how they operate. Hard to change your perception when you’ve got 7 years of examples of how an organization shouldn’t be run

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I think any honest reading of AD's feelings right now is simple, he wants to win, and he wants to win in what he perceives as a glamour market. Maximizing money is important, but it isn't an overriding concern.

If faced with a tradeoff, winning or being in a glamour market, he clearly prefers the glamour market. Evidenced by his willingness to go to even more dysfunctional organizations that just so happen to be in glamour markets.

Which puts the Pelicans in a pretty difficult spot to persuade him. You're unlikely to convince him to both shift his priorities AND make the case that the organization he has grown distant from is where to do that. I think there is no downside to meeting with him, but I also think the probability of it working is probably below 30%. And that is likely being generous IMO.

we see all the pros and cons bc we are more emotionally detached. But it’s hard think about situations clearly when you’re emotionally involved and/or when you’ve got your mind made up about something. That’s just human nature

I think that’s the key. The appearance of what could be in NY or LA. Having his cake and eating it too. Competing for championships in big markets. That type of dopamine hit is an insanely strong motivator


So you’re right there are appearances of greener pastures, but how many moving parts do there need to be before AD thinks he has a better chance in nola?

I just find his choices interesting to say the least.

The Lakers and Knicks are two of the bigger dumpster fires right now in huge markets.

Why no Boston, Chicago, or other markets in play?

And don’t say it is because Chicago’s front office and ownership sucks. His top two choices are owned by Dolan and the Buss family, both of which are worse than Reisendorf.

A change I can understand. Focusing only on the Lakers and Knicks defeats the claim of wanting to win.