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The New Orleans Pelicans are in a transitional period with this new front office, but they seem to be idling, as there hasn't been much done this offseason despite a losing record last year.
The Athletic's David Aldridge made an NBA offseason ranking for the past couple of months of decision-making around the league, and the Pelicans came in dead last, mostly due to their inactivity. Aldridge was complimentary of Jamahl Mosley as a coach, but acknowledged that the team was more than a coach away.
So far, the biggest move that New Orleans has made was signing DeAndre Jordan to a two-year deal. That's a veteran who is a great leader and popular among the fanbase. He will likely not see the court much, but even that move drew criticism because of how the cap management was handled with his contract.
There was some belief that the Pelicans were going to make a splash during the draft, whether it be moving into the top 10, trading Trey Murphy or both. In the end, they ended up doing neither. Instead, they walked away with Jaron Pierre Jr. at No. 58 overall, a developmental scoring guard who will mostly star for the Laketown Squadron this season.
Aside from that, everyone else that they have picked up have up are guys fighting for a roster spot or a two-way contract as opposed to getting real playing time in the rotation.
New Orleans has continued down this path that is split between the future in Jeremiah Fears/Derik Queen and the core that has been running the show for the past few years. They're trying to commit to winning now while also keeping space open to develop young talent, which can be hard.
On top of that, they're doing that balancing act with bad contracts and limited draft capital this offseason. A positive view of this offseason would have to say that it is just in complete while the Pelicans wait for the bigger moves to fall into place.
Right now, the perception is that New Orleans is trying to move off the contracts of Jordan Poole and Jordan Hawkins to open up space for a scorer they have more trust in. They've been interested in Bennedict Mathurin for a while, and look to be pursuing him hard, though they don't yet have the money to sign him.
Mathurin won't make this offseason an "A+," but it might move them out of the complete bottom spot in the league.
Continue reading...
The Athletic's David Aldridge made an NBA offseason ranking for the past couple of months of decision-making around the league, and the Pelicans came in dead last, mostly due to their inactivity. Aldridge was complimentary of Jamahl Mosley as a coach, but acknowledged that the team was more than a coach away.
So far, the biggest move that New Orleans has made was signing DeAndre Jordan to a two-year deal. That's a veteran who is a great leader and popular among the fanbase. He will likely not see the court much, but even that move drew criticism because of how the cap management was handled with his contract.
There was some belief that the Pelicans were going to make a splash during the draft, whether it be moving into the top 10, trading Trey Murphy or both. In the end, they ended up doing neither. Instead, they walked away with Jaron Pierre Jr. at No. 58 overall, a developmental scoring guard who will mostly star for the Laketown Squadron this season.
Aside from that, everyone else that they have picked up have up are guys fighting for a roster spot or a two-way contract as opposed to getting real playing time in the rotation.
New Orleans has continued down this path that is split between the future in Jeremiah Fears/Derik Queen and the core that has been running the show for the past few years. They're trying to commit to winning now while also keeping space open to develop young talent, which can be hard.
On top of that, they're doing that balancing act with bad contracts and limited draft capital this offseason. A positive view of this offseason would have to say that it is just in complete while the Pelicans wait for the bigger moves to fall into place.
Right now, the perception is that New Orleans is trying to move off the contracts of Jordan Poole and Jordan Hawkins to open up space for a scorer they have more trust in. They've been interested in Bennedict Mathurin for a while, and look to be pursuing him hard, though they don't yet have the money to sign him.
Mathurin won't make this offseason an "A+," but it might move them out of the complete bottom spot in the league.
Continue reading...
