re: Official 2018 Pelicans Offseason Thread

The buzzer beater!!!

Yea my question was really in the context of “is a bench player worth $7-9 mil when we still need a starting SF, starting PG, and a back up big?”


I see the skill set & fit in New Orleans. And I know organizations like the Pelicans have to gamble on the Rodney Hoods of the world because chance of landing Kawhi or Butler in FA is slim to say the least. I just wonder if there isn’t better risks out there

I'm just not on board with paying Hood MLE money or possibly more right now, for more than 1 year.

I'd rather try to get Bembry or Oubre using the trade exception, and then trade for Beverley.

I dont' think it's crazy to think that. He might be a great fit, or he might be a terrible fit. I'd tend to lean more that he'd be a good fit, but i'm not giving him a multiple year deal to find out. I'll pay him whatever he wants for one year to find out. I think he's realized what can happen if you go to a team you don't fit on. He comes here and fits, we'll keep him, or he'll get the opportunity to make money somewhere else.
if he works out for us at the SF, and we want to move forward with him, then getting a PG like Kemba would be the main target going forward.

The biggest thing I dislike about Hood is I think he's a crappy defender. I think Utah masked a lot of his deficiencies there and that's why they were willing to give him up. That being said, if Payton can turn the corner on the defensive side b/c he has the potential to be a really good defender, then we can mask Hood's deficiencies as well. Whole lot easier to play D on the perimeter when AD gets to roam the paint.

If Solo can get back to his preinjury self, and stay above 35% from 3, and we could get Kemba, then I like the lineup of Kemba/Jrue/Solo/Niko/AD with Payton/Moore/Hood/Miller/Randle coming off the bench. That's a good scoring lineup off the bench.


and it doesn't matter who starts, Niko or Randle. All three will play 30 minutes. I would think it will vary team by team which one is utilized more during crunch time.

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The biggest thing I dislike about Hood is I think he's a crappy defender. I think Utah masked a lot of his deficiencies there and that's why they were willing to give him up.

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Teddy, I agree with this, but as a counterpoint, I think we could do the same in our system. If we have Jrue, Payton, Randle, and AD around him those are all solid defenders. We could then hide Hood on the worst offensive player on the end. I also think Erman could work him a lot to improve. He's too athletic not to be an average defender in my opinion.

By doing so you allow a second unit of whomever the PG is, Moore, Hill, Niko, and possibly Diallo or another vet big. In that case your bench has a plus defender in Hill (when healthy) and two other defenders who can hold their own in Moore and Niko. Hill could be a ball handler with that unit, a role I thought he was pretty decent at his first year here.

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The biggest thing I dislike about Hood is I think he's a crappy defender.

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Well there is a reason why he's available.Two way 3s are signing max deals. On the flip Hill gives you nothing offensively

Im with Crew, people are remembering him from his short stint in CLE. There was a point in UTA when he was on a lot of "breakout" lists. I think he fits with the theme of guys that could really thrive in our system, like Randle and Payton

We keep saying, "if we can get a kemba", "go get Beverly", "trade for Middleton", "dennis schroder" ... Let's come back down to planet earth and explore things that may actually be possible

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If we have Jrue, Payton, Randle, and AD around him those are all solid defenders.

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Despite the hype out of college, payton has been a very poor defender

This write up by a magic website sheds some light on payton defensively LINK

Edited to correct the link

Here is the address without a hyperlink.
LINK

Eta: well that didn't seem to work. If you type "elfrid payton defense" into Google its one of the first articles. "Deconstructing elfrid paytons disastrous defense"

I'm not goign to say he's a good defender, b/c the numbers throughout his NBA career have not been good, but he has all the physical tools to be an excellent defender. I am the first to say that having the smarts to be a good defender outweigh the physical tools. Bruce Bowen doesn't have the physical tools to be the best defender, but he was smart, quick enough, and had a great big man patrolling the paint.
We'll find out how smart, or how stupid Payton really is playing with Jrue/Solo/Niko/AD.

I watch those videos and the optimism in me says that i could just as easily blame the screener for not communicating, or simply not being good enough. So Payton jumps a pick and forces Schroeder left, leaving him one on one with Vucevic. Schroeder gets an easy layup. Nothing really wrong with that play if your funneling him to AD. I'll take my chances every time if it's Schroeder trying to get to the rim on AD.

Barnes is probably the most realistic target that fits. But you have to wait for Dallas to become sellers first.