justin verrier, pelicans "best case/worst case"

I can't see us falling far this year assuming decent health, and if we do, i'd blame it on AD more than likely. If he's a top 3 player in the league that he and everyone else boasts he is, and Jrue and Niko are healthy most of the season, then it would most likely be his fault if we are merely a .500 team or worse. It's his job to elevate us to that next level, not Jrue, not Solo, not Payton, not Uncle Alroy. This league is driven by star players. If Harden can get a bunch of role players to be the 2nd best team in the league, and Lebron can get the shitty Cavs to the finals constantly, then AD should be able to get this team with Jrue and Niko to win 50 games and make some noise in the playoffs at least.

There is no conceivable circumstance i can see where he does not sign the extension.

I'd say this year will tell us more about AD the player, than if the Pels are good enough to keep AD long term. Maybe committing $40-50M a year to a guy that isn't elevating us to championship caliber team isn't worth it? Once his contract goes in place, our team is pretty much set b/c we will be a tax team, and we don't have much in assets to get much more help. If we aren't a top 5 team in the league in the next 2-3 years, then what's the point? Basically be what Memphis was for a few years with Conly/Gasol/ZBo? might as well start the rebuild with the assets you can get for AD.
That's worst case scenario if you ask me.

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Exactly. So if you arent better than Houston or GSW you suck.

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i think yall are discounting how vital it is that the pels at minimum place themselves in the GSW/HOU/BOS/TOR etc tier conversation. a team cannot be considered a "contender" if they go out 4-1 in the 2nd round (even to GSW).

in the article...he says a case can be made for the pels as 3rd best in the west. in my opinion, they'd better be

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If he wins the MVP and has a strong playoff performance he can hopefully get in the $20 million endorsement club like Harden and Westbrook and then it's not as easy to talk him into walking away from the Supermax.

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i've been thinking about this, and since its still the off season maybe we could speculate...

whats the type of endorsement/ad campaign/branding campaign that would be best for davis? westbrook and his energy drink commercials were pretty good, but he's got that angle working already (weird fashion). i'm talking about that kind of advertising where AD's personality drives the conversation...but what IS his personality. he seems like a really funny guy, but he's got no angle (yet). plus, and this is no jab at him at all, his quiet demeanor doesnt demaiond eyeballs like some others

i think its unlikely that davis will be made into a "character" in ads, and thats where the big bucks (ie: cliff paul/state farm) are

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i think its unlikely that davis will be made into a "character" in ads

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Isn't most of KD's money from his massive shoe deal? I think that's where a big chunk of new revenue for AD could come in if he can raise his profile by winning the MVP. I think he still has a year or 2 left on his current Nike deal, but Klutch is a power player so I'm sure they could talk Nike into an extension or risk losing him for sure when his contract is up.

There is no F'ing way AD walks away from a supermax, and no agent is going to talk him out of that either. Waaaaaay too much money on the table to roll the dice like that. The agents own a calculator, and best believe they can can figure out what they'll be losing in fees for a shot at an endorsement. No happening, amigo.

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and Klutch/Davis are not dumb either. so the Pels supermax Davis, what else can they build around him to make sure they compete for titles? are they going into the tax every year like Cleveland did or GS is doing? will Davis be happy making $50 and being on a 48 win team?

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and there it is, the unspoken truth about signing AD to that huge contract. the pels have ZERO functional depth on scale contracts...none, nada. yes they have their future picks but unless something drastically changes and they get generationally lucky, there’s no help coming there that they can point to now.

this will be a 4-man team for the life of that contract

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They need those 2 to both live up to their potential yet still remain cheap enough resign next year so that they can get them to their Early Bird Rights and have enough money to keep them long term closer to market value.

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the dell demps experience in one sentence

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Considering both are non shooters I do think there's a chance it could happen

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what are the chances that the Pels are good enough to keep Davis interested in staying and those guys (+ Mirotic) stay in the price range the Pels can afford?

seems like a narrow window there since those players will likely have to be key players on a 50+ win team

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what are the chances that the Pels are good enough to keep Davis interested in staying and those guys (+ Mirotic) stay in the price range the Pels can afford?

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I think Randle getting a 20% raise with the promise of a 75% raise the following year isn’t taking that big of a discount if he likes the fit.

Payton seems like he’d be harder to lockdown with the promise of Early Bird Rights but PG is a saturated position in the league and non shooters are not desired right now. Throw in the hometown team and I think it can happen. You’re talking about him taking a 1 year discount to stay in a situation where he’d be the starting PG on a championship caliber team he grew up cheering for. He’s got a Fleur de Bee tattoo, He’d at least think about it before saying no.