re: What's even the point of a rebuild?

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We are small market team and need to hold on to any generational talent that we can

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This

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Rebuild gives a sense of hope. Especially long as Dell and Gentry aren’t apart of it at least.

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IMO there is no way you sell a rebuild to fans unless these two are gone. Dell because no one should believe he will magically figure out how to build a roster and Alvin simple because a new GM should have complete control of building the team back up.

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They also had two bigger stars leave.

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They TRADED Harden before he was a star. Durant left, that's true. Getting 2 out of 3 superstars to stay is a pretty solid batting average, though.

If the franchise shows that they can consistently win they will be able to sign/retain guys. Maybe it won't ever be at the level of the Lakers or Celtics, but those aren't the only two teams that have won championships.

This feeling sorry for ourselves crap is lame. The Pelicans organization and the product they've put on the court are the biggest reasons AD will likely leave. The team is not doomed by geography like so many have been saying recently. Is the road a little harder? Sure. But it's not closed completely

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They TRADED Harden because they could not afford to keep him.

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They could afford him, the owners were/are just cheap asses and from operating within that self constraint they wrongly chose Ibaka over Harden.

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They could afford him, the owners were/are just cheap asses and from operating within that self constraint they wrongly chose Ibaka over Harden.

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This. They could have signed him long term, they just chose poorly between him and Ibaka. They didn't properly evaluate their own talent

I’m sure that was part of the consideration. I do think if they thought there was a chance Harden would become close to the player he is today they would have either tried to make it work or at the very least, not taken a deal that had Kevin Martin as the centerpiece.

Anywho, that’s really beside the point. Counting Harden as someone who “left” when he was given no choice to stay is pretty silly.

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This franchise can lose AD and, with the right moves, be better over the next 7 years than they were the last 7 years. Easily, in fact, especially if they start that process now

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This X 100

We have 1 first round draft pick currently on the roster since 2012, and that is AD. Before we do anything to rebuild, Dell and Alvin need to go. Then once we rebuild and Trade AD we will get an extra draft pick and players and hopefully have 2-3 young players to build around + 3-4 1st round draft picks to add over 2-3 years. That is a solid 7 core then you fill in with a few vets and you have a solid 10 man rotation

To say CP3 was the best point guard in the league at the time of his trade, the Pels got absolutely nothing in that trade. AD is the best big man in Basketball. If the Pels trade him, they must get a lot in return. However, the point of a rebuild or a retool is the fact that every year it feels like the Pels have the same problems. Excluding the last 2 months of the season last year and Demarcus Cousins, the last 7 years have felt the exact same. We constantly are asking the same questions. When will we be healthy? How can we get help for AD? Who should we trade for? It doesn’t feel like the Pels have gotten better. And most teams seem to have a promising present or future and right now the Pels have neither