re: Pels holding voluntary minicamp in Cali next week, entire roster will be in attendance

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Ingram having a bad attitude puts us on the path to resolution. It gives Willie a reason to bench him and Griff a reason to dump him for the best offer at the deadline or sooner.

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In reality, though, I don't really think that BI himself has a bad attitude. All indications are that he's always gotten along well with Willie and Griff, and the team has never said a single negative word about him. Guys like Jose look up to him as an older brother.

I think that this is 100% driven by his agent.

And it makes sense from that standpoint. Right now, BI's long-term value has been depressed by the fact that no other team wants to give up anything for BI and the Pels don't want to extend him at a number that they like.

That's just a bad narrative for BI's value. So it makes sense to change the narrative and for them to say something like:

"BI has given his heart and soul to New Orleans. He came to the city and showed his worth by winning MIP and becoming an all-star. But, after that, the team asked him to play roles that didn't fit his skillset, and they failed to surround him with the talent to enable him to shine. BI is a great player who could again by an all-star if the right pieces are put around him, and since the Pelicans aren't doing that, BI needs to go somewhere else. Either that, or the Pelicans need to extend him at a number that respects his talent."


TLDR: I don't know if BI's "bad attitude" is real or fake.

This has always been the smart play. Pels don’t have enough top end talent to play addition by subtraction.

They also went 4-1 in the 5 games before he went down. The 10-0 was impressive, but it was their softest part of the schedule. I do agree that Green and Sengun need to optimize better when both are on the floor. But even if that dynamic doesn’t work out, they have a ton of talent. Whitmore, Reed Sheppard, Amen, Jabari, etc. they are going to find a combination that works imo. They could also flip Green and/or another young player for another win now piece. Vanfleet and Brooks are useful vets and they can also get out of either contract pretty easily.

My bet is a couple weeks into regular season. If he gets traded.

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At this point, idk if we get anything more than some second round picks for him

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The Jazz don't want either Collins or Kessler. They could trade both for Ingram, and at worst open up a ton of cap space for next summer. Our roster at least makes some sense if we do that deal. I believe that trade is a 10 game swing, at least. I don't understand why we haven't pulled the trigger on that. Do we have to include picks?

Only hope is that Dejounte and Zion develop a nice 1-2 game that leaves CJ/BI/Trey wide open... problem is that as soon as Ingram touches the ball he's going to put it on the floor to position himself into a stupid long fadeaway 2

Hawkins for Kessler

MAKE IT frickING HAPPEN

Hawk will turn into Buddy Hield when we trade him