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Leveraging a Sign and Trade of Dante Cunningham
The New Orleans Pelicans have not acquired a new player other than Darius Miller, likely on a minimum deal. Part of this is the slower pace of the offseason, and part of it is the Pelicans’ lack of assets while hunting for a certain kind of player of value. I wrote about nonguaranteed contracts last […]
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Longer Hours
The New Orleans Pelicans made their first and only move of the 2017 NBA offseason in the initial hours of the moratorium, and things have been silent since. The Pelicans are not alone in this, as the number of transactions across the NBA is lower than last offseason. What’s the hold up? Around the NBA, […]
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The Power of Nothing
The New Orleans Pelicans have made just one significant move this offseason, and that is signing Jrue Holiday to a 5-year deal. There needs to be more to help to shore up the playoff chances for the team, and to make a good show to help keep the stars they have and potentially entice another […]
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Jrue Holiday Signs 5-Year Deal With Pelicans
The New Orleans Pelicans signed Jrue Holiday to a 5-year deal. The fifth year is a player option, and the deal is worth between $126m and $150m total, depending on incentives being met. Holiday just turned 27, is a one-time All-Star, and has 8 years of service in the NBA. He was drafted 17th overall, […]
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Navigating Negotiations
The New Orleans Pelicans and Jrue Holiday are engaged in public and private negotiations on Jrue’s next contract. Negotiations are a game, which means they are often improperly analyzed, particularly in a market that is not free and inefficient. Let’s look at this negotiation and negotiations in more generality to see what we can learn, […]
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Processing the Pelicans Process
Last season I spent some time early on pondering just what Dell Demps meant when he said the year would be about the process for the New Orleans Pelicans. I thought. I thought and thought and thought. I watched the games, looked at the play, checked the data and the stats, and I thought. Then, […]
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Passing and The Two-Man Game
The New Orleans Pelicans is a team whose core is zagging when the NBA as a whole is zigging. We saw the Grizzlies and, to some extent, the Pacers have success with this kind of model. Those teams, however, never reached the promised land or even competed in a championship series. That is not to […]
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2017-Finals-Inspired Thoughts for the Pelicans
The New Orleans Pelicans, like 27 other teams, are watching the 2017 NBA Finals from the comfort of their living rooms, literally or figuratively. The Finals are in many ways a repeat of the last 2 seasons. In an age where parity is almost achieved, other than the super teams, realistic expectations of titles dwindle, […]
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Let ’em Have It?
The New Orleans Pelicans are part of the 2017 NBA Draft Lottery this year, and they keep their pick if they end up with one of the top 3 selections. If not, the pick goes to Sacramento. Convention wisdom says that we should all hope the Pelicans end up with the top-3 pick. The pros […]
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When Public Declarations of Support Are About The Public
In the middle of another NBA post-season missing the New Orleans franchise as a participant, the topic of the week has been the job status of Pelicans head coach Alvin Gentry and, to a lesser extent, GM Dell Demps. Many have expressed discomfort with ownership’s lack of any outwardly stated commitment to the leaders of […]
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Progress Towards an Identity
I wrote a while back that the Pelicans were in dire need of an identity. This idea resonated with many, and it was of course lampooned by those who are just slower to process the obvious who came around the same point a year later. Well, here we are a year after that, and identity […]
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Pelicans Prepare for a Big Choice
The New Orleans Pelicans have been under the gun since it was clear that Anthony Davis was going to be what was hoped prior to the 2012 NBA Draft. The first attempts to build a roster showed promise, but they fizzled from a combination of bad luck and risk. New hope emerged for a Davis-filled […]
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New Orleans Pelicans Announce D-League Franchise
On Friday the New Orleans Pelicans announced the formation of a D-League (soon to be G-League, but I refuse to call it that) franchise. A lot of details are still yet to be determined, but the team will be based in the Gulf South region, owned by the Pelicans, and being play in the 2018-2019 […]
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The Wisdom of Solomon?
When the New Orleans Pelicans signed Solomon Hill, I told myself: Read up. When I had time to read up, I told myself: This guy is going to do most of his work off the box score. When I watched the games for those off-the-box things: I didn’t see them. Every team has its under-the-microscope […]
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I’ll Die on Boogie Hill
The New Orleans Pelicans acquired DeMarcus Cousins in a trade, and now I’ve had some time to think about it. There’s been a good deal of flap about the trade just because of its nature, but the team’s up-and-down record since then along with how much Cousins played in those wins has added flappiness to […]
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Casspi and the Cap
The New Orleans Pelicans traded for DeMarcus Cousins, and many minds were lost. As detailed in the post here once the trade was confirmed to us, Everything changes. Everything. It’s a new team, led by Davis, Cousins, and Holiday, in that order. Everything else is fodder. The Cousins acquisition was seismic, and with that comes […]
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Pace is Good and Pace is Bad
It’s been one game since the Fire-Ice combo took the court for the first time. It resulted in a 30 point loss to the Moreyball Rockets, so now it’s time to make sweeping conclusions. Just kidding. Sort of. The Pelicans posted a poor offensive rating in their first game Anno Boogie, but I came away […]
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Boogie and the Brow: Offense
New Orleans’s anemic offense may have just found its solution – by adding DeMarcus Cousins (referred to in this article as “Boogie”), the Pels have instantly gone from a bottom of the barrel offense to one featuring the two most talented scoring bigs in the NBA. It is a drastic change for a team whose […]
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New Orleans Pelicans Trade for DeMarcus Cousins
The New Orleans Pelicans will land DeMarcus Cousins in trade, per multiple reports came out after the conclusion of the 2017 NBA All-Star Game. Reports of discussions built before and during the game. This will be fleshed out in the coming days, but here’s the primer. The Trade New Orleans Pelicans Receive: DeMarcus Cousins Omri […]
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In the NO Podcast Ep 276: DeMarcus Cousins and a Big Three?
Holy crap. We’re recording a pod, talking about that terrible Lay-up line – er – All-Star Game, and suddenly a blockbuster trade falls on us. Boogie and Casspi for Hield, Evans, Galloway, a 1st, and a 2nd. Holy crap. We talk about it. And what else the team may do. Holy crap. Want it on […]