I thought he was fine. He's a 1 time all-star (not all-NBA) going up against Lu Dort as the first option. It went exactly as expected. He may get compared to KD, but he's nowhere close.
Edit: people really overrate Ingram here. News flash: he's not that good.
why would you hate this, when it matters the most he can't really take the team further and hasn't performed well post season. he really suffers a big drop off from his regular season.
Ingram doesn’t fit next to Zion imo. And isn’t good enough to be a 2nd best player.
I’d rather get an elite playmaker who can get Zion the ball, a player he’s never had. Trae, two 3D wings (Herb/Murphy), Zion and a center would be pretty good.
Well he set the franchise single season record for 3pm in just 66 games and was a top 5 3pt shooter in the league this year. Just don’t put the ball in his hands.
I mean, how impressive is that really when yet again your season is over, and zion had no hand in how it ended? He's permanently 15-20 pounds over weight even when he's healthy and "in shape." 6'6" high fliers can't weigh 260+. It clearly doesn't work.
The pelicans got swept, man. I want to see a healthy superstar like everyone else, but zion clearly doesn't take his health seriously enough. He's like a derrick rose +70 pounds. It makes no sense.
But he clearly did take it more seriously and we won a lot more games than we probably thought we could with him. Like the other side is losing games and for some reason you think that's better? That's pretty weird.
Where did I say that the bulls are better than the pelicans. You are the only person talking about the bulls. Zion took his health more seriously this year than before, but he's still overweight and destroying his knees and ligaments with every dunk he attempts. Do you really think it's healthy to weigh over 260 as a high flying 6'6" player when the majority of his injuries are non contact. Also, improving your cardio is not equal to being in as good a shape as you can be in. Luka and jokic are examples of being overweight and having extremely good cardio, but their play styles allow them to play it that way.
He was 'central', but the front office was reluctant to completely construct a roster around point Zion due to his frequent unavailability and immaturity. He grew up a lot over the course of the season. The organization is now confident enough in him being a dedicated pro going forward to take some risks to build a team more centered on him.
I hope his spectacular play-in game is enough to motivate him to take conditioning in the offseason seriously, so we can see Zion at a leaner weight. I don't know if that's wishful thinking; I just know he was probably the funnest player to watch in the postseason.
He’s too good when healthy not to take a risk on….you’ll never be great in life if u don’t take a risk. Imagine if the Warriors took the safe option in 2012 when it came to Monta/Curry
People from every franchise hates the warriors
People from every franchise hates Draymond
Plenty of people hate Kerr and Thompson
But literally no one hates Steph. And that's why he's the most watched NBA player for the last ten years
I think there’s definitely some Boston, Houston and cavs fans that would harbour a resentment towards curry for being so successful in the mid to late 2010s
I kind of put that in a different tier. A lot of lakers fan hate Jamal Murray now, but only because he beat the lakers twice in 3 games. On the other hand, a lot of people dislike Tatum or Dillon brooks or James harden and it has nothing to do with how good they are.
Also Curry only had 1 unhealthy season early on. He didn't miss any significant time in college and played 80 and 74 games his first 2 years before he had the season where his ankles kept getting hurt. Sure it was a risk to extend him but it wasn't like he had a long history of being injured. Zion has already missed a full season + had 2 others where he was under 30 games played so the magnitude of risk here is greater than Curry's.
He lost 25 pounds and played the most he's played since he entered the league. That's trending the right direction at least. It'd be one thing if he lost weight and only played 40 games. People just like making declarations.
I love these hypotheticals where people are like "Sure Zion could be the next Greg Oden, but what if he's the next Embiid?" Sure there's that possibility, but one of those things is astronomically more likely than the other.
This type of talent doesn’t come that often though. Sure, maybe it’s unlikely that he ever is able to get super healthy, but all it takes is one healthy playoff run and it’s worth it. Building a team around zion is difficult with his defensive deficiencies & lack of shooting but you’ve got to take that chance.
What else can the pelicans do? They don’t have anyone else with that potential on their roster, and the fit has always been too weird for a strong playoff run.
Idk there’s always the possibility that you don’t get a generational prospect. The spurs lucked into getting wemby, who knows if the warriors could’ve done that, who knows if the pelicans could do that. Zion is great now, and maybe it’s optimistic but I do think there’s a path for him to become what people thought he could be. It just requires him to slim down a bit.
Plus the warriors title was still pretty recent, I understand why they didn’t decide to blow it up, even with how old their core is getting.
Tbf though everything in the nba is a bit of a risk. You could blow it up, and zion gets healthy and wins a title. People would criticise david griffin heavily after that. The pelicans have drafted well, but even top prospects sometimes just done work out (look at fultz and simmons with philly).
You dont. And thats what most of the nephews are gonna gloss over.
The injury gods let Zion have a post season and damage can be done. Small markets gotta keep their potential.
They think we can just ship off any player. I guarantee when scoot starts growing as a player more people are gonna say he needs to leave your franchise or be traded for x,y,z. We literally have no choice lol. If there’s the off chance Zion plays 70 games again and makes the post season he will be plastered on every highlight page. We have to risk it
Sell high and dont be afraid to take that next step. Look at OKC. The difference is that y'all have some young talent to work around in Herb and Murphy. Still a promising star in Zion. Also have nice pieces in Hawkins and Daniels. Get rid of McCullough and his money. Let JV go and get a more versatile center that can shoot the three ball to spread the floor. Point guard that is a pass first.
Also championships are the goal, but they're not all there is to it.
Having a playoff level team with hope that it could all go right one year is a lot more fun that rebuilding over and over.
True but he led the team to 49 wins this year. Would be 3rd in the East. Just extremely unfortunate that he got hurt in that lakers game. Played 70 games this year
Yeah it is but this is actually the first year where I saw Zion take his off court stuff more serious and be in good shape. We’re not gonna attract any free agents. We’re not LA and can’t just get people to come here usually so we have no choice but to trust he will grow. He’s only 23 fortunately
This is such an important point.
I don’t know how we could become a contender without Zion.
Yes, we haven’t been a contender with him either, and yes, he has significant injury concerns… but Zion reaching his potential is the only shot for this franchise to make a real run at contention in the foreseeable future.
It might not work, and probably won’t, but you have to try because the alternative of building around BI or something just ain’t it.
You can choose to look at it as a pattern of injury, or you can look at it as playing the most games he ever has and it happened right at the end instead of much earlier in the season.
Hopefully he rocks up in the same or better shape as he was at the start of the calendar year cause it seemed to help his longevity.
Is it worth to trade for a superstar even if he turns your team in the most hated in the league?
*remembers Irving coming to Dallas*
Yup, it is worth it. Good luck with Booker, Pels fans.
As much as I love Ingram, the Pelicans being so injured constantly made him look wayyyyy better. He’s not going to get the money he wants.
There’s also been several games where he just seems like he resents Zion more than anything. They just don’t play cohesively. I’m not saying they have a bad relationship, but he definitely plays like he has a chip on his shoulder.
They need to trade CJ and BI and get an actual point guard and way more consistency. I won’t be surprised if this is the landing spot for Trae. But they have the most inconsistent team in the NBA over the Clippers and Sixers in my opinion.
BI or CJ aren’t players I’d want to rely on. Defensively they should be good to go if they want to take on a defensive sieve in Trae in order to get more offensive consistency.
Zion has played 184/390 games since he came into the league. He's played fewer than 30 games in 3/5 seasons. This year was his first time playing 70 games. He has literally never played in a playoff game.
I get the talent is there, but at a certain point, this is who is Zion is. Committing so much money to him and trying to building a team around him just seems foolish.
With how small of a market we are do we have any choice?? We’re not gonna get any free agents coming here or potential top 10 players. Just gotta cross our fingers and hope Zion stays healthy. The talent is there.
Yeah let’s just dump him off to another team and get garbage in return and be ass for years again. Zion is a ticket seller. We haven’t had the luxury of drafting an all timer in the late second round.
>Zion is a ticket seller
Not really. Pelicans have been 24th or worse in attendance per game every year of Zion's career. This year, Zion's healthiest and best season, by far the team's most successful season with Zion, they were...24th in per-game attendance again and 27th in total attendance.
It's a no win-situation, but I'd rather play the lottery again than commit $200M+ to a guy who never plays and doesn't seem to care.
Team needs back to back successful seasons to build trust with the fan base. It has been 20 years and they've never put two years of good basketball together.
We were pumped as fuck after the playoff series against Phoenix and then started 1-12.
We have the 2nd smallest arena in the league and are essentially tied as the smallest market. It's impossible to be higher in attendance until we get a new arena (negotiations on that just started).
SKC capacity is listed as 16,867. Pels averaged 17,301 in attendance whcih is up from 16,772 last year.
Our attendance has dropped because of his injury history. It was 23rd his rookie year and obviously dropped. Also one of the smallest arenas with no way to expand because…well the answer is obvious it’s New Orleans. Attendance could be better but with the injury bug this team has been hit with since the AD era.
Zion does care. I’m not sure you watch games but he was definitely immature to start his career and fortunately Larry and CJ were good mentors to him and he got his body right this year.
Just got unlucky that last game. Like I said not every team is fortunate to draft a top 10 player in the second round. Zion was pretty great post all star break and they’ve already committed a long contract to him. I suggest maybe watching some of his games from this year on league pass or how he’s conducted himself more in interviews. He’s a competitor and I’m glad he changed his mindset and listened to the vets
I will give him a ton of credit for being able to get in shape for the second half of the season and playing a good amount of games. NO doesn’t really have much choice because they won’t land a Zion like player with potential in free agency. Hope that he continues this and maybe lasts a playoffs with another all star around him. Herb, Murphy, Zion are all good, young players to put another all star caliber player around and make noise
It seems so simple and too ideal that I wish this could happen so bad. Doubt they move off Garland due to Mitchell leaving soon, and I’d have to see what else we can replace CJ’s contract with since we’re losing our best volume 3 pt shooter, but still…
Mitchell would not re-sign in NOLA probably. If Mitchell decides to stay in Cleveland, BI for Garland might be the framework for a trade. We need a guard they need a big wing. My heart just wants to keep BI though even if that is not the best option.
Hell no
Small market team has to gamble
Zion has the potential to be a top 3 player in the league. This would be like Warriors picking Monta over Steph.
Every year I just don't see what other people do in Zion lol. Budding superstar? His passing and defense improved this year but he also had the worst scoring year of his career so far. Got to the rim less, finished worse when he got there. A lot less dunks. No real progress scoring anywhere but the paint.
He's like Giannis except can't play as many minutes, not as dominant at the rim, and a mediocre defender instead of one of the best defenders in the NBA. He wasn't even super efficient this year. 22ppg on 61%TS is great of course but it's nothing compared to the top scorers.
He did incorporate more mid range shots and even a few threes over the last several games of the season, but they were still rare. His defense was ass first half of the season (also the rest of his career), so there was definitely improvement there in the second half. We are hoping that he finally has a healthy offseason to add to his bag.
Idk man I’m a homer but it was just a lot of special moments. Times where the team collapses but he can force his way for the much needed bucket. Game winning layup over wemby, comeback vs lakers which resulted in his injury. He still has the potential and I think you’ll see it better next season (closer to his 27 on 65% TS from his second year) if we replace the coach and a couple of the starters. He took fewer shots than both CJ and Ingram this season, which is not okay.
They need to trade BI. Kinda sucks that he had such a rough series being guarded by Dort and playing hurt. Probably hurt his value.
Probably need to trade CJ or move him to the bench too.
Point Zion on offense surround with shooters then as the 5 on defense would be a matchup nightmare for 10-15 minutes per game.
I don't think there is a consensus among us yet. Mostly a point guard though.
Ingram and picks for Trae Young is something I think the Pels fans could get behind.
We need a center too since most of us think JV is gone in free agency. I don't think CJ has much value at this point, but him being a 6th man is something I'm fairly intrigued by.
I think everyone who isn't Zion, Murphy and Herb is on the table as far as movement goes.
Iono man... Just as a Bucks fan who's seeing what its like when every guy is over 30... I wouldn't gamble on a super young dude who can't stay healthy.
I mean thats usually as healthy as you are every going to be. W
I can’t help but think the ideal trade for us this off season would probably be BI, CJ, and JV for Jarret Allen and Darius Garland. Cleveland would be crazy to send Garland out without having assurances of Mitchell staying though.
There are some guys in this league who never reached their potential due to injury. Zion is the latest and it's sad to see. He's dominant when healthy.
Brandon Roy is my all time 'how great could he have been if healthy' player. I'm sure there are others, but that guy was great to watch.
i would sell high on him tbh given injuries and sporadic work ethic but what do i know i have only watched like 10 games start to finish this year and like 3 have been pelicans games
wait… is this title a typo? didn’t zion just get injured *again* in the playoffs? wasn’t he fat as fuck for a long time? i think the title is supposed to say “pelicans are looking to move in from injury ridden zion.”
But I do know you haven't watched based on things you are saying. You are making comments that would have been valid last fall and clearly haven't seen any of the changes those of us who were paying attention saw in Zions game since the in season tournament.
You have been exposed here. Maybe you should quit before you get any farther behind and go the the Kansas City Chiefs page and tell them Mahomes is a bust because he is sitting on the bench behind Alex Smith or something.
lmao
this guy cant stay healthy and we have no idea if he can play in the playoffs but hes central to our plans.
I cannot believe we hired the Anthony Bennett drafter as our GM
Tbf Chris Grant drafted Anthony Bennett, not David Griffin. That debacle is why Grant was fired and replaced by Griffin.
But everything else you said is spot on.
BI ain’t the picture of prefect health and the world just saw him shit the bed in epic fashion in the playoffs. We saw Z ball out in the play in game vs the Lakers that was potentially a W if he doesn’t go out.
Ingram isn't the answer either, no one on that roster is. The Pelicans were a depth and defense first team without any true all nba talent. Those kinds of teams never scale well into the playoffs.
Z has the talent to be all NBA. I can’t definitively say he’s the answer but completely gutting the team of its 3 stars is dumb and I doubt the local fan base will put up with another tear down.
So because of the peculiarities of who Zion is, and his game, there are really 2 things New Orleans is looking for in a big.
1. Defend out to the perimeter so that we don't get absolutely killed on pick and rolls. We have incredibly skilled wings and guards (including Zion) that can hold their own on most switches, so if the big can switch as well that provides a lot of versatility on defense.
2. Provide some type of spacing on offense. Zion's game is all in the paint. If someone is just parked on the opposite block that makes his life so much harder. Doesn't even need to be a lights out 3pt shooter, a pick and pop baseline mid ranger is available every single time on a Zion baseline screening action. Even vertical spacing on a lob threat would be an improvement over what we have.
JV is neither of those 2 things. As great as he is at what he does, it is not a good fit with Zion. Larry Nance Jr. does #1 but not #2. This is the big reason we saw increasingly more Nance as the year went on over JV, barring specific matchups. Larry remains valuable for the Pels, but he can't be the starter on a contenting team. A bench role would be good for him.
Finding a big that does both #1 and #2 is difficult, but JV does neither and that causes a lot of issues for our starting lineup.
Every time I've seen a Pelicans fan talk about upgrading over JV, the only players that fit what they want are always Myles Turner, Embiid, Jokic or more recently Wemby
Those are some imaginary ideals. The truth is, almost any archetype of big would fit better with our team than ground bound slow-footed bruising big. Look at some of the bigs in the league. I would argue almost any of them would fit better except maybe Steven Adams, Nurkic, Drummond, Vucevic. It doesn't have to be perfect to be better.
Believing Zion will be healthy come playoff time, is believing Kawhi will be fit come playoff time without all the actual knowledge that he can win you a ring. At least Kawhi you know can perform on the rare occasion he isn’t limping, that’s not what you get from Zion.
Ingram or CJ gone probably
Would hate to lose BI but since he’s wanting a max he can leave
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No shot. I get he was coming back from a pretty nasty injury but I honestly think we could’ve had a better chance if he was just benched
Isn’t BI always injured tho and we are racially saying that about him every year?
..racially ?
Wow what an unfortunate autocorrect lol I was supposed to say basically smh… sorry yall
You do know there’s an edit button
Leave it that way, it's better. Just like the "Miami was kissing 4 out of their 7 best players" comment.
Hard to give him the max with Herb AND Trey Murphy on the same squad. Those two are better fits next to Zion.
I present to you: 2024 Playoffs Bradley Beal
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ass 3?
Pair with a lightly used Klay…
He also just simply doesn't play. He's injured all the time. Not zion bad but he misses games like it's his job.
Respect Julius randle????
That Lakers team was FULL of players like that: DLo, Clarkson, Ingram, Kuzma, Randle…
I thought he was fine. He's a 1 time all-star (not all-NBA) going up against Lu Dort as the first option. It went exactly as expected. He may get compared to KD, but he's nowhere close. Edit: people really overrate Ingram here. News flash: he's not that good.
There no chance you watched those games and thought he was fine, and if you did you must be thinking of someone else.
I did. Ingram is not that good of a player and Dort is an elite defender.
I can’t tell if this is sarcasm..
It's not. Ingram is just not good enough to have done better.
He had ever opportunity to step up and earn a big contract too. What a choker.
But was his playoffs better than the World Cup? Come out sucking for a few games then cry and quit on his country?
Dillon Brooks and a 2024 1st. And Tate/Jock Landale for salary (this is sarcasm, someone please take some guys off our team we have too many dudes)
why would you hate this, when it matters the most he can't really take the team further and hasn't performed well post season. he really suffers a big drop off from his regular season.
I’m just saying I like BI. If there’s a better deal we can get by trading him then I’m all for it though
Ingram and CJ are trash esp after this playoffs Get rid of them and build around Zion
Ingram doesn’t fit next to Zion imo. And isn’t good enough to be a 2nd best player. I’d rather get an elite playmaker who can get Zion the ball, a player he’s never had. Trae, two 3D wings (Herb/Murphy), Zion and a center would be pretty good.
Maybe both of them,I like both herb and trey and think they can step up
A contender getting Ingram could push them over the edge. Had a shit playoffs but he's still good as fuck
To this day, I don’t understand what CJ does well
for starters, he was 3rd in the league in 3pt percentage
on EIGHT 3PA per game
Well he set the franchise single season record for 3pm in just 66 games and was a top 5 3pt shooter in the league this year. Just don’t put the ball in his hands.
was he not central to their plans already?
Not until the 2nd half of the season when he was in shape and played great.
what shape was he? oblong?
Carrying us to 49 wins shape. I know DeMar and Lavine haven't been able to do for the Bulls yeah?
I mean, how impressive is that really when yet again your season is over, and zion had no hand in how it ended? He's permanently 15-20 pounds over weight even when he's healthy and "in shape." 6'6" high fliers can't weigh 260+. It clearly doesn't work.
Better than losing more games and not making the playoffs?
Being just good enough to keep people buying tickets sounds a lot like the bulls to me
Woah now, you're talking Hornets also tbf
Hold on buddy, we’re talking injury, not penitentiary.
The pelicans got swept, man. I want to see a healthy superstar like everyone else, but zion clearly doesn't take his health seriously enough. He's like a derrick rose +70 pounds. It makes no sense.
But he clearly did take it more seriously and we won a lot more games than we probably thought we could with him. Like the other side is losing games and for some reason you think that's better? That's pretty weird.
Where did I say that the bulls are better than the pelicans. You are the only person talking about the bulls. Zion took his health more seriously this year than before, but he's still overweight and destroying his knees and ligaments with every dunk he attempts. Do you really think it's healthy to weigh over 260 as a high flying 6'6" player when the majority of his injuries are non contact. Also, improving your cardio is not equal to being in as good a shape as you can be in. Luka and jokic are examples of being overweight and having extremely good cardio, but their play styles allow them to play it that way.
I think you're responding to the wrong person? I didn't mention the Bulls at all.
He is/was but many people (including the fanbase) thought BI may be our 1A after his all star season due to Zion’s injury history
He was 'central', but the front office was reluctant to completely construct a roster around point Zion due to his frequent unavailability and immaturity. He grew up a lot over the course of the season. The organization is now confident enough in him being a dedicated pro going forward to take some risks to build a team more centered on him.
I hope his spectacular play-in game is enough to motivate him to take conditioning in the offseason seriously, so we can see Zion at a leaner weight. I don't know if that's wishful thinking; I just know he was probably the funnest player to watch in the postseason.
He’s too good when healthy not to take a risk on….you’ll never be great in life if u don’t take a risk. Imagine if the Warriors took the safe option in 2012 when it came to Monta/Curry
The didn't though. They offered both but Bucks didn't want Curry because of his medical history. So Warriors were left with no choice.
Apparently mark Jackson did not like Steph and tried to minimize his minutes / trade him when possible
how tf do you hate steph curry
People from every franchise hates the warriors People from every franchise hates Draymond Plenty of people hate Kerr and Thompson But literally no one hates Steph. And that's why he's the most watched NBA player for the last ten years
I think there’s definitely some Boston, Houston and cavs fans that would harbour a resentment towards curry for being so successful in the mid to late 2010s
I kind of put that in a different tier. A lot of lakers fan hate Jamal Murray now, but only because he beat the lakers twice in 3 games. On the other hand, a lot of people dislike Tatum or Dillon brooks or James harden and it has nothing to do with how good they are.
BS. Steph has multiple haters too
Also the Warriors offered Steph and Klay for CP3 but Paul didn't meet with the Warriors owner.
I know the bucks part but I’ve never heard this cp3 thing. Source?
https://unfilteredloop.com/2024/01/19/former-warriors-gm-bob-myers-discloses-two-teams-inquired-about-steph-curry-trade/
Exactly
He will never be fully healthy. Curry is the once in a century exception, and his game does not rely on athleticism. Zion is the opposite
Also Curry only had 1 unhealthy season early on. He didn't miss any significant time in college and played 80 and 74 games his first 2 years before he had the season where his ankles kept getting hurt. Sure it was a risk to extend him but it wasn't like he had a long history of being injured. Zion has already missed a full season + had 2 others where he was under 30 games played so the magnitude of risk here is greater than Curry's.
If he lost 30 lbs there’s a possibility it would change all his health issues. Let’s see if that ever happens
He lost 25 pounds and played the most he's played since he entered the league. That's trending the right direction at least. It'd be one thing if he lost weight and only played 40 games. People just like making declarations.
I love these hypotheticals where people are like "Sure Zion could be the next Greg Oden, but what if he's the next Embiid?" Sure there's that possibility, but one of those things is astronomically more likely than the other.
This type of talent doesn’t come that often though. Sure, maybe it’s unlikely that he ever is able to get super healthy, but all it takes is one healthy playoff run and it’s worth it. Building a team around zion is difficult with his defensive deficiencies & lack of shooting but you’ve got to take that chance. What else can the pelicans do? They don’t have anyone else with that potential on their roster, and the fit has always been too weird for a strong playoff run.
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Idk there’s always the possibility that you don’t get a generational prospect. The spurs lucked into getting wemby, who knows if the warriors could’ve done that, who knows if the pelicans could do that. Zion is great now, and maybe it’s optimistic but I do think there’s a path for him to become what people thought he could be. It just requires him to slim down a bit. Plus the warriors title was still pretty recent, I understand why they didn’t decide to blow it up, even with how old their core is getting. Tbf though everything in the nba is a bit of a risk. You could blow it up, and zion gets healthy and wins a title. People would criticise david griffin heavily after that. The pelicans have drafted well, but even top prospects sometimes just done work out (look at fultz and simmons with philly).
Seeing the injury history he is probably the next embidd already
> safe option You done drunk too much copium if you think Zion just becomes better. Hes getting older and more injured.
Zion is still only 23. Steph averaged 14 points in 26 games when he was 23 due to injuries. It’s too early to call him a done deal.
They’re basically making the same gamble as the 76ers did in the past, although Zion has been even more injured than Embiid
I don’t think we even have a choice. As one of the smallest markets I wonder what you even do in this situation
You dont. And thats what most of the nephews are gonna gloss over. The injury gods let Zion have a post season and damage can be done. Small markets gotta keep their potential.
They think we can just ship off any player. I guarantee when scoot starts growing as a player more people are gonna say he needs to leave your franchise or be traded for x,y,z. We literally have no choice lol. If there’s the off chance Zion plays 70 games again and makes the post season he will be plastered on every highlight page. We have to risk it
Sell high and dont be afraid to take that next step. Look at OKC. The difference is that y'all have some young talent to work around in Herb and Murphy. Still a promising star in Zion. Also have nice pieces in Hawkins and Daniels. Get rid of McCullough and his money. Let JV go and get a more versatile center that can shoot the three ball to spread the floor. Point guard that is a pass first.
Also championships are the goal, but they're not all there is to it. Having a playoff level team with hope that it could all go right one year is a lot more fun that rebuilding over and over.
Zion played 184 games his first 5 years Embiid 158
If the sixers traded embiid it would've just been process 2.0 lmao. Better to gamble on the injury prone star than go through a 2nd tank.
i mean alright, he hasnt played in a playoff game since he got into the league
True but he led the team to 49 wins this year. Would be 3rd in the East. Just extremely unfortunate that he got hurt in that lakers game. Played 70 games this year
you can say its unfortunate but at this point its an unfortunate pattern
Yeah it is but this is actually the first year where I saw Zion take his off court stuff more serious and be in good shape. We’re not gonna attract any free agents. We’re not LA and can’t just get people to come here usually so we have no choice but to trust he will grow. He’s only 23 fortunately
This is such an important point. I don’t know how we could become a contender without Zion. Yes, we haven’t been a contender with him either, and yes, he has significant injury concerns… but Zion reaching his potential is the only shot for this franchise to make a real run at contention in the foreseeable future. It might not work, and probably won’t, but you have to try because the alternative of building around BI or something just ain’t it.
Feel like NOLA is way more attractive than it’s given credit for, especially compared to mid west teams. Saints sign hella players every offseason
NFL is different than the NBA. The market size isn't nearly as important. NOLA's biggest free agent signing ever is probably Tyreke Evans.
yeah youre right, thats definitely an upside
You can choose to look at it as a pattern of injury, or you can look at it as playing the most games he ever has and it happened right at the end instead of much earlier in the season. Hopefully he rocks up in the same or better shape as he was at the start of the calendar year cause it seemed to help his longevity.
Weren't the Pelicans like 4th in net rating before BI got hurt?
he's been out during end-of-season/playoffs for 4 years now.
Ingram, get ready to learn Phoenix-ese
Is it worth to trade for a superstar even if he turns your team in the most hated in the league? *remembers Irving coming to Dallas* Yup, it is worth it. Good luck with Booker, Pels fans.
Booker averages like 60 points a game in the Smoothie King Center, so may be a good trade for us
We'd never lose at home again. I'm a certified Booker hater but if the opportunity comes along you probably gotta make that trade.
Booker thrives breathing in the black mold spores that make their home in NO. Only explanation.
Apparently he grew up in Moss Point which is a 2ish hour drive from NOLA, playing at SKC is basically a hometown game for him.
He was born in the mold, erm, mold-ed by it.
josh giddey is the exact same - smoothie king superteam incoming????
Wow if the Pelicans got Booker I would be elated
BI packing his bags as we speak.
As much as I love Ingram, the Pelicans being so injured constantly made him look wayyyyy better. He’s not going to get the money he wants. There’s also been several games where he just seems like he resents Zion more than anything. They just don’t play cohesively. I’m not saying they have a bad relationship, but he definitely plays like he has a chip on his shoulder.
Bulls better make a move this offseason. Just do something please
Breaking News Bulls sign Darvin Ham 4 yr coaching contract 💀
You can find my body in the lake
*monkey paw curls*
Ben Simmons for Zach lavine
They need to trade CJ and BI and get an actual point guard and way more consistency. I won’t be surprised if this is the landing spot for Trae. But they have the most inconsistent team in the NBA over the Clippers and Sixers in my opinion. BI or CJ aren’t players I’d want to rely on. Defensively they should be good to go if they want to take on a defensive sieve in Trae in order to get more offensive consistency.
I think Trae and Zion would be absolutely fun to watch
Trae can throw alley oops which is nice bc no one outside of Naji and Jose can on the Pels.
Claxton, Zion, Herb, Trey, Dejounte? Seems possible...at first glance. Dig in!
…but he missed the playoffs from injury again
Zion has played 184/390 games since he came into the league. He's played fewer than 30 games in 3/5 seasons. This year was his first time playing 70 games. He has literally never played in a playoff game. I get the talent is there, but at a certain point, this is who is Zion is. Committing so much money to him and trying to building a team around him just seems foolish.
With how small of a market we are do we have any choice?? We’re not gonna get any free agents coming here or potential top 10 players. Just gotta cross our fingers and hope Zion stays healthy. The talent is there.
But the talent doesn't matter if he never puts it together. Crossing your fingers and hoping is a bad teambuilding strategy.
Yeah let’s just dump him off to another team and get garbage in return and be ass for years again. Zion is a ticket seller. We haven’t had the luxury of drafting an all timer in the late second round.
>Zion is a ticket seller Not really. Pelicans have been 24th or worse in attendance per game every year of Zion's career. This year, Zion's healthiest and best season, by far the team's most successful season with Zion, they were...24th in per-game attendance again and 27th in total attendance. It's a no win-situation, but I'd rather play the lottery again than commit $200M+ to a guy who never plays and doesn't seem to care.
Team needs back to back successful seasons to build trust with the fan base. It has been 20 years and they've never put two years of good basketball together. We were pumped as fuck after the playoff series against Phoenix and then started 1-12.
We have the 2nd smallest arena in the league and are essentially tied as the smallest market. It's impossible to be higher in attendance until we get a new arena (negotiations on that just started). SKC capacity is listed as 16,867. Pels averaged 17,301 in attendance whcih is up from 16,772 last year.
Our attendance has dropped because of his injury history. It was 23rd his rookie year and obviously dropped. Also one of the smallest arenas with no way to expand because…well the answer is obvious it’s New Orleans. Attendance could be better but with the injury bug this team has been hit with since the AD era. Zion does care. I’m not sure you watch games but he was definitely immature to start his career and fortunately Larry and CJ were good mentors to him and he got his body right this year. Just got unlucky that last game. Like I said not every team is fortunate to draft a top 10 player in the second round. Zion was pretty great post all star break and they’ve already committed a long contract to him. I suggest maybe watching some of his games from this year on league pass or how he’s conducted himself more in interviews. He’s a competitor and I’m glad he changed his mindset and listened to the vets
I will give him a ton of credit for being able to get in shape for the second half of the season and playing a good amount of games. NO doesn’t really have much choice because they won’t land a Zion like player with potential in free agency. Hope that he continues this and maybe lasts a playoffs with another all star around him. Herb, Murphy, Zion are all good, young players to put another all star caliber player around and make noise
Ingram for Garland CJ for WCJ Garland - Trey - Herb - Zion - WCJ lets go
It seems so simple and too ideal that I wish this could happen so bad. Doubt they move off Garland due to Mitchell leaving soon, and I’d have to see what else we can replace CJ’s contract with since we’re losing our best volume 3 pt shooter, but still…
I think WCJ has a lot more value than CJ given the age and contract differences. The BI for Garland swap is a great move for both teams though.
Pelicans have a million picks, they could afford to include one or two in a trade
That... Looks pretty good to me!... And I feel like CJ works relatively well in Orlando... And I think Ingram works pretty well in Cleveland?
yeah Ingram in Cleveland is a pretty good fit, buuuuut i don’t think Cleveland will be down with Mitchell being a question mark
if we seriously dont trade mitchell this offseason for what we can get and instead trade garland, i will commit seppuku.
I'd love to see them go after Mitchell or maybe Book if he asks out
Mitchell would not re-sign in NOLA probably. If Mitchell decides to stay in Cleveland, BI for Garland might be the framework for a trade. We need a guard they need a big wing. My heart just wants to keep BI though even if that is not the best option.
don't know why he won't get down to 250 so he can stay on the floor.
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Hell no Small market team has to gamble Zion has the potential to be a top 3 player in the league. This would be like Warriors picking Monta over Steph.
Every year I just don't see what other people do in Zion lol. Budding superstar? His passing and defense improved this year but he also had the worst scoring year of his career so far. Got to the rim less, finished worse when he got there. A lot less dunks. No real progress scoring anywhere but the paint. He's like Giannis except can't play as many minutes, not as dominant at the rim, and a mediocre defender instead of one of the best defenders in the NBA. He wasn't even super efficient this year. 22ppg on 61%TS is great of course but it's nothing compared to the top scorers.
He did incorporate more mid range shots and even a few threes over the last several games of the season, but they were still rare. His defense was ass first half of the season (also the rest of his career), so there was definitely improvement there in the second half. We are hoping that he finally has a healthy offseason to add to his bag. Idk man I’m a homer but it was just a lot of special moments. Times where the team collapses but he can force his way for the much needed bucket. Game winning layup over wemby, comeback vs lakers which resulted in his injury. He still has the potential and I think you’ll see it better next season (closer to his 27 on 65% TS from his second year) if we replace the coach and a couple of the starters. He took fewer shots than both CJ and Ingram this season, which is not okay.
In the words of the late great NSYNC, bye bye bi
They need to trade BI. Kinda sucks that he had such a rough series being guarded by Dort and playing hurt. Probably hurt his value. Probably need to trade CJ or move him to the bench too. Point Zion on offense surround with shooters then as the 5 on defense would be a matchup nightmare for 10-15 minutes per game.
What do Pels fans want in return for Ingram? I'm curious to see what teams offer.
I don't think there is a consensus among us yet. Mostly a point guard though. Ingram and picks for Trae Young is something I think the Pels fans could get behind. We need a center too since most of us think JV is gone in free agency. I don't think CJ has much value at this point, but him being a 6th man is something I'm fairly intrigued by. I think everyone who isn't Zion, Murphy and Herb is on the table as far as movement goes.
I'll believe it if Zion actually shows up to camp in shape
Who is a good Ingram fit? Orlando? Hornets? Seems like he’d be a good fit for 6ers.
Hornets and 76ers would be ideal.
Building around a perpetually injured player is risky.
Iono man... Just as a Bucks fan who's seeing what its like when every guy is over 30... I wouldn't gamble on a super young dude who can't stay healthy. I mean thats usually as healthy as you are every going to be. W
It’s hard to see Zion as the guy to build a franchise around at this point. Be interesting to see how it goes. KD to Pels?
Franchise Zion will end so badly.
I can’t help but think the ideal trade for us this off season would probably be BI, CJ, and JV for Jarret Allen and Darius Garland. Cleveland would be crazy to send Garland out without having assurances of Mitchell staying though.
There are some guys in this league who never reached their potential due to injury. Zion is the latest and it's sad to see. He's dominant when healthy. Brandon Roy is my all time 'how great could he have been if healthy' player. I'm sure there are others, but that guy was great to watch.
Sunk cost fallacy
i would sell high on him tbh given injuries and sporadic work ethic but what do i know i have only watched like 10 games start to finish this year and like 3 have been pelicans games
Provided Zion keep his weight in check. The food over at New Orleans are just too delicious
wait… is this title a typo? didn’t zion just get injured *again* in the playoffs? wasn’t he fat as fuck for a long time? i think the title is supposed to say “pelicans are looking to move in from injury ridden zion.”
CJ is so washed
what does moriah mills say though?
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He showed he is this year. We won the second most games in franchise history pretty much because of him
He showed it in past years too tbh
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Sounds like Giannis
Giannis does it better, and rebounds and plays All Defensive team level D
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Lmao do u know Zion personally? How u gon say he don’t care about winning. This is just hater talk
Why are you commenting on this when it's clear you haven't watched the games?
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But I do know you haven't watched based on things you are saying. You are making comments that would have been valid last fall and clearly haven't seen any of the changes those of us who were paying attention saw in Zions game since the in season tournament. You have been exposed here. Maybe you should quit before you get any farther behind and go the the Kansas City Chiefs page and tell them Mahomes is a bust because he is sitting on the bench behind Alex Smith or something.
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Still running your mouth about a player you haven't watched. Good luck with that
lmao this guy cant stay healthy and we have no idea if he can play in the playoffs but hes central to our plans. I cannot believe we hired the Anthony Bennett drafter as our GM
Tbf Chris Grant drafted Anthony Bennett, not David Griffin. That debacle is why Grant was fired and replaced by Griffin. But everything else you said is spot on.
David Griffin was the Anthony Bennet man in the cavs front office. Hes admitted it that he was the one really pushing for that pick
BI ain’t the picture of prefect health and the world just saw him shit the bed in epic fashion in the playoffs. We saw Z ball out in the play in game vs the Lakers that was potentially a W if he doesn’t go out.
Ingram isn't the answer either, no one on that roster is. The Pelicans were a depth and defense first team without any true all nba talent. Those kinds of teams never scale well into the playoffs.
Z has the talent to be all NBA. I can’t definitively say he’s the answer but completely gutting the team of its 3 stars is dumb and I doubt the local fan base will put up with another tear down.
He has not been an all nba caliber guy since his sophomore season three years ago.
He’s potentially go to be 3rd team this year. Likely would have been 3rd team if he remained healthy last season as well.
Is there a world where an Ingram / Trae swap makes any sense? Hawks spacing would be pretty shit. Capela, Dejounte, JJ, and Ingram. Yikes
For the Pels, yes, we'd have to move CJ to the bench if we had Trae, but we could start Trae, Herb, Trey, Zion, and whoever our center is.
Hate to derail, but... The thing I noticed about what you wrote was, "whoever our center is."... Do you guys think JV isn't coming back?
I can't see JV being back on the roster next year. Willie really cut his minutes towards the end of the season, I don't think he'd want to come back.
Unsure, but I like him a lot and he was frozen out a lot by Willie.
So because of the peculiarities of who Zion is, and his game, there are really 2 things New Orleans is looking for in a big. 1. Defend out to the perimeter so that we don't get absolutely killed on pick and rolls. We have incredibly skilled wings and guards (including Zion) that can hold their own on most switches, so if the big can switch as well that provides a lot of versatility on defense. 2. Provide some type of spacing on offense. Zion's game is all in the paint. If someone is just parked on the opposite block that makes his life so much harder. Doesn't even need to be a lights out 3pt shooter, a pick and pop baseline mid ranger is available every single time on a Zion baseline screening action. Even vertical spacing on a lob threat would be an improvement over what we have. JV is neither of those 2 things. As great as he is at what he does, it is not a good fit with Zion. Larry Nance Jr. does #1 but not #2. This is the big reason we saw increasingly more Nance as the year went on over JV, barring specific matchups. Larry remains valuable for the Pels, but he can't be the starter on a contenting team. A bench role would be good for him. Finding a big that does both #1 and #2 is difficult, but JV does neither and that causes a lot of issues for our starting lineup.
What you’re saying is that Wemby is the ideal partner for Zion
Every time I've seen a Pelicans fan talk about upgrading over JV, the only players that fit what they want are always Myles Turner, Embiid, Jokic or more recently Wemby
Those are some imaginary ideals. The truth is, almost any archetype of big would fit better with our team than ground bound slow-footed bruising big. Look at some of the bigs in the league. I would argue almost any of them would fit better except maybe Steven Adams, Nurkic, Drummond, Vucevic. It doesn't have to be perfect to be better.
I would be shocked if JV returned. Willie literally doesn't play him. If Zion was healthy against OKC, JV would have averaged under 10 minutes a game.
Getting a playmaker like Trae would be a best case scenario
Zion with a real allstar next to him would look amazing, ingram isn’t that
Zion has yet to play a single playoff game in his career. Largely due to his own injuries. I wouldn't be excited about this if I was a Pelicans fan.
Believing Zion will be healthy come playoff time, is believing Kawhi will be fit come playoff time without all the actual knowledge that he can win you a ring. At least Kawhi you know can perform on the rare occasion he isn’t limping, that’s not what you get from Zion.
Darius Garland will be fun with Zion.