“The same goes for the rising New Orleans Pelicans, who have three pricey stars and a surplus of talented young players who will be getting big raises soon—a major strain for a small-market team that’s allergic to paying the luxury tax. “New Orleans has to make a decision between Zion [Williamson] and [Brandon] Ingram,” said an Eastern Conference exec. “I think that happens this summer.””
I do think a lot depends on what occurs in the playoffs. If they get to 2nd round, they cannot break it up. If they get to 2nd round, they also must dip into luxury tax for first time ever to not only keep core together but to improve to reach next level. If they lose in first round, it’ll be interesting to see what they do. But as they currently sit in 5th seed this morning, I think we’re all satisfied. However, a first round exit might be difficult to get Lady Gayle to pull the trigger on missing out on those luxury tax payments from other teams.
Now let’s see them beat but not cover the spread against those god awful Wizards tonight!
by kingralek
9 Comments
CJ will be moved before BI.
I think it really depends on how we end the season. If we miss the playoffs, or fall to play-in, than I can see major changes. We wanted for a couple of years to see this core together, and we are seeing it. Without success, then yes major changes ahead.
But if we continue on our current path, and win a series or two (or 4!), than I don’t agree with breaking it up. Perhaps Trey gets his opportunity to start with another team (he deserves it). But bring everybody back as the window is open.
If we end the season with a playoff run, I just wouldn’t feel comfortable with Griff breaking it up. Everybody always wants something new. New coach, new players, etc. I would rather have a strong consistent core that competes year after year than major changes every off-season. I believe and hope we are only at the beginning of the BI/ZION partnership.
A lot of season yet to be played but they’re not wrong. We’ve had these stars for a while now whether they’ve been on the court together or not for a majority of it. Depending on how they finish out and perform in the big game will say a lot. They’re gonna have to decide if this is our championship combination worth paying for or if this is another dud to not waste money on.
They aren’t entirely wrong. If we end up first round exits or even worse as play in exits I could see them making big moves. But if they make it to the 2nd round or somehow farther than that I can’t see them moving on from this core, Gayle has said she is willing to dip into the tax if it results in championship runs and I believe it
Nah you just trade CJ it’s pretty simple
Honestly man, there are lots of players on this team that can really flourish in another place but we got at least 8-9 guys like that. I don’t think we have enough “roleplayers” but we got lots of guys who are young and got potential. Like I wouldn’t count Trey, Dyson, Hawkins, or even Herb as a roleplayer (Please do not understand this as I want trade Herb or Trey especially not Herb because he’s def not a type of player you get easily and his impact is through the roof). I don’t think they’ve got enough oppurtunity because of Zion, CJ, BI, JV and I don’t complain about that. I say you should make some sacrifices at some point to make the roster look more like a contender than it is rn. Like look at the Timberwolves, They got Anthony Edwards and build an incredible roster around him of couple of all-star level players like Towns and Gobert, really good roleplayers like McDaniels, Mike Conley, Naz Reid, Kyle Anderson etc. I think team should be looking for some win-now players instead of young and raw guys because I believe this teams championship window is open.
Sounds more like a rival executive’s pipe dream.
I hate saying the team is “allergic” to paying the tax. What team has this city has this city produced under Gayle that is worth paying the tax for? The teams paying the tax right now are either contenders or were contenders. There is no reason to believe that when this team proves it can contend that Gayle won’t approve going into the tax. That said, I think if things don’t go well this playoffs then Griff will absolutely consider trading BI or Zion. Neither has proven the can be a 1 or a 2 on a contender. Both have been way too inconsistent.
If the FO says let’s break up Zion and BI I am saying they will trade Zion. They look into Scoot last offseason and Portland wanted an All Star for him and didn’t want BI. CHA might have been more interested in BI, but CHA never seemed that interested in trading the pick knowing where they were in a rebuild.
Zion has a larger injury history of missing games, had a longer history of being in poor condition especially after getting injured, and has shown a lot less maturity.
I also think more centers can easily fit around BI if we moved Zion and started Trey. Since BI does shoot 3’s (I get it not enough) and mid ranges you could have a JV like center or even a rim running center around BI. BI is also a better more consistent defender than Zion. For Zion he really needs that stretch 5 who is also a very good defender to unlock Zion offensively and protect him defensively. A rim running 5 and even a JV 5 just doesn’t fit well next to Zion.
I would not be worried about paying BI and his new deal if we moved Zion we would bring back expiring money and would be able to stay affordable. It would come down could we get a legit PG to then take some of the ball handling duties from BI.