The Pelicans in an a addition-by-subtraction mode: they let go of Ryan Anderson (Rockets), Eric Gordon (Rockets), James Ennis (Grizzlies), Bryce Dejean-Jones passed away, traded Luke Babbit (Heat), I don't think they'll be retaining Norris Cole or Kendrick Perkins (I mean, he'll be with the Warriors, right?) and those all seem like positive steps for the Pelicans. Now if they could just get rid of Tyreke Evans, the summer would be complete. They wanted to surround Anthony Davis with veterans and they did that, now let's see if they try surrounding him with hungry youngsters instead.
They added E'Twaun Moore (4yrs/$34m), Langston Galloway (2yrs/$6m) and retained Tim Frazier (2yrs/$4.1m), while adding Buddy Hield (#6), Cheick Diallo (#33) on draft day. If the Pelicans were already a playoff team just looking to bolster their bench, these would all be great moves. The Pelicans need more than that but have had trouble matching the right veteran talent together, so the time has come to coach up these prospects and make it work. If everyone is reliably solid and Davis has a great year, the Pelicans might get back into the playoffs. They've got a ways to go but not impossible.
Starting five: PG Holiday, SG Hield, SF Evans, PF Davis, C Asik with Galloway, Moore, Frazier, Diallo, Pondexter, Ajinca off the bench (they're gonna regret waiving Jarnell Stokes).
I dunno, that's not a good looking lineup to me. The Pelicans are still paying for overreaching on vets to play with Davis, which has screwed their drafts over the last few years and forced them into bad deals (they still owe Asik $40m, I mean who is he? Timofey Mozgov?). I believe in Coach Gentry and I believe in Anthony Davis and I'm a big fan of Buddy Hield but even in a tank-fest West, I still don't see the Pelicans making the post-season. They need some surprise performances (think Hield for ROY and Galloway for Most Improved) and something in return for Tyreke in order to get near 8th in the West.
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