No takers? - Wolves at Pelicans GDT

[Monster]

I'll defend that Jrue Holiday trade for the Pels. They gave up a pick in what so far is a pretty bad draft for a PG that had just turned 23 and put up 17-8 and was an all star. He had missed a few games but the real injury problems didn't hit till he was in NO. I like Noel but he has played about as many games as Holiday has. That was a good trade that unfortunately didn't work out. The greater point is they didn't do enough to build around AD. That's absolutely true. They made some poor moves couldn't find enough solid players and under the radar moves. Look at all the money they sunk into centers that now are injured and quite frankly wouldn't be worth a whole lot even if they werehethy. They have had some bad luck but they haven't made their luck either overall. We've seen that plenty right? Ugh

[kekgeek]

And on Cousins: It's not an exaggeration to say he acts like that every single game. It's not once a week, every third game, or even every other game. He's been like that every single time I've seen him play. He makes Rasheed Wallace look like Ray Allen.

Was it the beginning of last year when he threw the fit and sat in the crowd?

I let a lot of stuff go when watching a game. I know I wouldn't like a lot of these guys if I met them in real life. But Cousin has been really annoying those two times I can remember. It's like he has less-than-zero self awareness or honesty or credibility or something? The flopping. The whining about such obvious easy calls. The theatrics along the way... yuck.

He has such a gravitational pull in the arena -- both good and bad -- I imagine it must weigh on teammates... and by many reports, it does. I don't see why Anthony Davis would want to stick around in that environment.

Even last night, as dominant as Cousins was, he was instrumental in a lot of bad things too... see his 8 TOs and -8 on the night.

What's amusing is when he he doesn't complain about a call. You think "well I guess he really thought he fouled that guy." Lol. Maybe he was more composed at those times but he didn't seem to complain one bit when he got called for a charge. He got one the other way later.

IMHO Cousins needs a legit alpha vet with him and he hasn't had one that's i can think of. I don't think it would fix him that much but it would help to have a real leader of the team and that guy would help the rest of the team deal with Cousin's ridiculousness.

Has there every been a time he didn't complain about a call?? :) Seriously, there isn't an alpha vet on the plant today or in the history of mankind that would have ANY impact whatsoever on Cousins. He's the biggest waste of talent I've ever seen in professional sports.

I agree with those who speculate that AD will ultimately leave New Orleans and Cousins will be a major contributor, if not the main contributor, to AD's departure. The Pelicans are another example of the different between good NBA organizations and bad ones. They had the good fortune to get the top overall pick the year AD was in the draft. They made the right and obvious consensus decision to draft him, but since then they've failed to take advantage of that good fortune by making smart not so obvious personnel decisions. Again, this Spurs are the model for how it's done. Years ago, they took advantage of having the top pick by taking Tim Duncan. But they ultimately built a perennial championship contender through a series of shrewd moves after that -- Drafting Manu near the bottom of the 2nd round, drafting Parker near the bottom of the 1st round, signing Danny Green, etc.

Yep they did terrible with Davis, Look at there draft picks since drafting Davis. They selected Austin Rivers that same year and ended up trading him a couple years later. Drafter Noel and traded him for Holiday. Drafted Buddy Hield and traded him away. No first round pick in 2015 or 2017. Also no 2nd round pick has hit.

They have also given big contracts to Asik, Soloman Hill and Etwan Moore.

They were forced to give middle of the road PG in Holiday big money because if they didn't resign him they would of had no money to get anyone else.

Hired a Run and Gun coach and there best two players talent wise are bigs

If I was them I would be looking to blow it up near the trade deadline. Trade Davis to the Celtics for Smart, Taytum, Morris and the LAL/Sac pick. Also trade Cousins to the Wizards for Mahimmi and Obrue.

Try and rebuild the team with youth.

Geek -- It will be interesting to see what the Pelicans do after this season. It's certainly possible they could end up in the playoffs. They have the talent. But if they don't, then I have to believe their front office will seriously consider blowing it up. But I'm not sure the Celtics would include Tatum along with those other assets in a deal for AD. Is AD the better talent of the two? Yes, and I think the Celtics would consider AD the better talent. But the Celtics front office loves Tatum. They had their sights set on him leading up to the draft and he was their target when they did the deal with the Sixers. And so far, Tatum has been really impressive. Moreover, as talented as AD is, he has a hard time staying healthy.

Fair on Tatum but if you can roll out a lineup of Irving/Brown/Hayward/Hortford/Davis I think you have to do it. Even how much you love Tatum, that is a championship caliber roster right there. That would be a young team that could be a team that could compete with the Warriors.

[kekgeek]

I'll defend that Jrue Holiday trade for the Pels. They gave up a pick in what so far is a pretty bad draft for a PG that had just turned 23 and put up 17-8 and was an all star. He had missed a few games but the real injury problems didn't hit till he was in NO. I like Noel but he has played about as many games as Holiday has. That was a good trade that unfortunately didn't work out. The greater point is they didn't do enough to build around AD. That's absolutely true. They made some poor moves couldn't find enough solid players and under the radar moves. Look at all the money they sunk into centers that now are injured and quite frankly wouldn't be worth a whole lot even if they werehethy. They have had some bad luck but they haven't made their luck either overall. We've seen that plenty right? Ugh

That is fair on the Holiday trade but they have not developed any young talent with Davis to grow with them. The Wolves at least have allowed 1st round picks to grow with there young players in Bazz, Kat, Patton, Gorgui since we selected Wiggins. Also we turned our assets into a top 15 player in the NBA in Lavine and Dunn. While its been 4 years since the Davis pick and they have zero young talent on there roster.

[KiwiMatt]

NOLA would be pretty stupid to trade AD. Why not trade Cousins instead? It's quite obvious that pairing isn't going to work especially with the lack of depth on the wing they've had to sacrifice.

Cousins and Asik to Cleveland for Love and Shumpert

Or maybe they could swap Tristan Thompson and Brooklyns 1st instead of Love.

[SameOldNudityDrew]

NOLA would be pretty stupid to trade AD. Why not trade Cousins instead? It's quite obvious that pairing isn't going to work especially with the lack of depth on the wing they've had to sacrifice.

Cousins and Asik to Cleveland for Love and Shumpert

Or maybe they could swap Tristan Thompson and Brooklyns 1st instead of Love.

Actually, stats show the two of them are working pretty damn well together (same as last year after the trade), and Cousins' plus-minus numbers are better than AD's so far this year. They're even better defensively with Cousins than AD on the floor so far this year. It's a small sample size, but I think the stats suggest the problem with that roster is the rest of it, not Cousins and AD.

[AbeVigodaLive]

NOLA would be pretty stupid to trade AD. Why not trade Cousins instead? It's quite obvious that pairing isn't going to work especially with the lack of depth on the wing they've had to sacrifice.

Cousins and Asik to Cleveland for Love and Shumpert

Or maybe they could swap Tristan Thompson and Brooklyns 1st instead of Love.

It's not about the Pelicans wanting to trade Davis. It's about Davis wanting to be traded. Eventually.

Then again, he is under contract for two more seasons, so they have him under their thumb for now.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

I think it became more difficult for them to build when AD refused to play more 5. In reality he should have been the anchor allowing them to go out and get some wings who can shoot and then he basically says he wants no part of that so they have to get an Asik to keep AD happy. The Pelicans have a lot to be blamed for, but I don't put it all on them.

[AbeVigodaLive]

I think it became more difficult for them to build when AD refused to play more 5. In reality he should have been the anchor allowing them to go out and get some wings who can shoot and then he basically says he wants no part of that so they have to get an Asik to keep AD happy. The Pelicans have a lot to be blamed for, but I don't put it all on them.

Good point. He's so valuable as a 5. It's similar to Paul George and Carmelo Anthony refusing to play the 4 in the past.

They're doing their teams a disservice, making any complaints about team success very disingenuous.