OT The Pelicans are making me sad

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Rastapopoulos

Rastapopoulos

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After Joe Dumars traded away their UNPROTECTED 2026 FIRST ROUNDER just to move up for DERIK QUEEN the Pels absolutely had to do well this year to prevent it becoming a super high pick. Well, despite having a healthy and slim Zion, they've started 0-6 and just got eviscerated by OKC without two of their "big three".
Of course they're going to start by firing their coach (possibly before tomorrow), but what if they just decide to burn it all down. Is Zion worth gambling on or is he just too big of a risk with too little reward? It seems like even the days when, when healthy, he was a walking super-efficient double-double might be over.

I wonder if they'll offer the job to Thibs. With a name like his, he must have some New Orleans lineage...
 
I guess it would depend on what the Pelicans asking price for Zion would be? I remember hearing on a “Locked on Pelicans” podcast that the Pels really liked Scoot though.
 
theprunetang said:
We honestly don't need Zion. Check out his and Deni's numbers this year. Zion is basically Deni without the ability to stretch the floor.
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Deni is a MUCH better defender. Thats one of the big issues with Zion. At his peak he is dominant scoring inside far beyond Deni but we would probably need even more defenders than we already have for that team to make sense. I don't think him and Dame could ever share the court either.

I suppose if the Pelicans got desperate and only wanted Grant or such maybe it would make sense to take a flyer on Zion. Their roster is totally devoid of talent so I doubt they get to dealing him for so little regardless of the losses this year.

Other teams would make more sense than the Blazers if Zion was available, so again I don't see any realistic chance of that happening.

With the Billups gambling issue this might not be the time the Blazers want to "Gamble" on a player with major off court issues either.
 
SharpesTriumph said:
With the Billups gambling issue this might not be the time the Blazers want to "Gamble" on a player with major off court issues either.
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This is a BIG deterrent for me. Also his lack of not missing huge chunks of seasons and after 6 seasons (granted he missed an entire season), his game really hasn't shown much improvement. Nor has his diet or off court behavior. He's played north of 65 games *once* in his career, and after this season has a guaranteed 86 million coming to him (barring there being clauses in his contract we don't know about).
 
julius said:
This is a BIG deterrent for me. Also his lack of not missing huge chunks of seasons and after 6 seasons (granted he missed an entire season), his game really hasn't shown much improvement. Nor has his diet or off court behavior. He's played north of 65 games *once* in his career, and after this season has a guaranteed 86 million coming to him (barring there being clauses in his contract we don't know about).
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I'm fairly certain his contract does in fact have clauses for how much is guaranteed the following season based on games played.

I'd still gamble on his talent, but that all depends on the price. I think we can get away with him on defense as a roamer, free safety type looking for blocks, because he'd be sharing the court with 4 plus defenders(in the starting lineup at least) in Jrue, Deni, Tou and Clingan. Maybe wear and tear is reduced by a slightly lighter load, with an offense that is more predicated on sharing the ball? Probably not, he's probably just injury prone.

As always, though, it comes down to the price. Shaedon as the centerpiece intrigue N.O. enough? We go Jrue/Tou/Deni/Zion/Clingan, Scoot/Thybulle/Grant/Murray/RW3 off the bench. And we worry about next year, and fitting Dame in in the off-season, after seeing what this year looked like.
 
julius said:
This is a BIG deterrent for me. Also his lack of not missing huge chunks of seasons and after 6 seasons (granted he missed an entire season), his game really hasn't shown much improvement. Nor has his diet or off court behavior. He's played north of 65 games *once* in his career, and after this season has a guaranteed 86 million coming to him (barring there being clauses in his contract we don't know about).
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Zion has a bunch of non guaranteed classes on his contract but the team would have to cut him ahead of time which is extremely unlikely so it makes those non guarantees have little actual practical value.
 
Blood in the water

Time to swoop in!

Zion — an all-nba talent in need of a change. Also can likely be had on the cheap

Alvarado — PG depth

Do it, Joe!
 
I like this style of ball they are playing. But I don't think it is a fit for every player. I am not sure Zion would fit. He needs the ball in his hands to do what he does best. That does not mean he could not help the team in crunch time.

I would trade for him, but I would not give up what they probably want for. him. I tried the ESPN trade machine, and it says we could trade Grant for him straight across. Which is weird to me because they are about 7 million apart in salary. But to be honest, I am not sure that would make this team better.
 
rotary111 said:
Comments like that are why I keep @SlyPokerDog on ignore.

Also, @BBert I'm afraid to ask the story behind "Weasles Ripped My Flesh?"
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It is a reference to both a Mothers of Invention album (featuring the classic song My Guitar Wants to Kill Your Mama) and a cover story in an old Man's Life magazine, and a metaphor for life and Blazers fandom.
 
Fez Hammersticks said:
Blood in the water

Time to swoop in!

Zion — an all-nba talent in need of a change. Also can likely be had on the cheap

Alvarado — PG depth

Do it, Joe!
Click to expand...

Also, a Latin man (a rarity in the NBA) to go with Splitter would be a great pairing.
 
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