Ringer Article on Pels Future is a good read (1 Viewer)

[Domefan504]

Some excellent points here in this artice that I did not even realize. This Cousins situation is a pretty delicate situation. Financially we are strapped. It would be nice to get rid of the Hill contract.

The Pelicans Are One Player Away From Contention

New Orleans is in the same position Houston was in two years ago, after it had been eliminated by Golden State in 2015 and 2016. The Rockets had a superstar (James Harden) in his prime, and the only way for them to win a championship with Harden was to get through the Warriors. Every move Houston GM Daryl Morey has made over the past two seasons has been with Golden State in mind, and New Orleans has to adopt a similar mentality. The Pelicans have Davis under contract for only two more seasons, with a player option for 2020-21. They don’t want to end up like Toronto, getting better every year without actually getting any closer to beating the Goliath standing in their way.

It won’t be easy. The Pelicans won’t have much financial flexibility going forward: They already have $92.8 million on the books for next season, without counting Cousins, Rondo, or Clark. Bringing Cousins back would prevent them from doing much to upgrade their wing situation. A Twin Towers lineup with Cousins and Davis might force the Warriors to keep one of their centers in the starting lineup instead of Andre Iguodala, but the Pelicans would still have the same size issues on the perimeter. Mirotic wouldn’t be nearly as effective at the 3 on offense as he has been at the 4, and he certainly couldn’t keep up with Curry, Thompson, or Durant on defense. The Pelicans would have to run it back with the same undersized trio of Moore, Holiday, and Rondo guarding those guys, a scenario that doesn’t inspire much confidence.

The only tweak Gentry could make is something he rarely tried in this series: putting Davis on Durant. Even though Davis has the best combination of size and athleticism to match up with Durant, he’s also New Orleans’s primary rim protector, as well as its only frontcourt player who can even attempt to stay in front of Curry on the pick-and-roll. Having Davis chase Durant around the 3-point line would leave Cousins on Draymond Green. Cousins had to be hidden as much as possible on defense even when he was healthy; the Pelicans would have to hide him more, not less, after coming off of an Achilles injury.

Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images
Cousins has never been in particularly good shape in his nine-year career in the NBA, and he has a long history of resting on defense and not hustling back in transition. He won’t be able to cut any corners after suffering one of the most devastating injuries in basketball. Wesley Matthews, one of the hardest-working players in the NBA, was never the same after suffering the same injury in 2015. Cousins will have to dedicate himself to rehabilitation and transform his body, since any extra weight will make it even harder for him to regain the explosiveness that made him so dynamic.

Paradoxically enough, keeping Cousins could also prevent New Orleans from playing the offense necessary to punish Golden State’s small-ball lineups. He was third in the NBA in touches per game this season at 89.4, and it’s no coincidence that Davis’s offensive explosion began after his injury. Davis’s usage rate went from 25.2 in the 1,096 minutes he played with Cousins this season to 32.7 in the 1,635 minutes he played without him. The Pelicans need that version of Davis against the Warriors. He wasn’t able to dominate Golden State in the same way he did Portland, but there’s still plenty of room for him to improve.

It’s not as simple as just letting Cousins walk, though. This version of the Pelicans doesn’t have enough talent around Davis to compete with the Warriors, and they don’t have many other ways to upgrade their roster beyond moving Cousins. New Orleans GM Dell Demps would have to handle the situation delicately. Cousins is an unrestricted free agent who could just as easily leave for nothing in the offseason, and he’s a famously prickly personality who wouldn’t appreciate being shopped. Demps would need to convince Cousins to agree to a sign-and-trade, presumably to a capped-out team he would like to play for.

Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images
There’s one scenario that stands out: trading Cousins for Otto Porter Jr. and reuniting him with his former Kentucky teammate John Wall in Washington. The Wizards have never won 50 games in the Wall era, and they need to do something to shake up their team. Trading Cousins for Porter would require a lot of financial maneuvering: Washington is paying the luxury tax this season, which means it is hard-capped at $6 million over the apron if it acquires a player in a sign-and-trade. Porter is making $24.8 million this season, so the Wizards wouldn’t have to dump too much salary to make it work. They could use a future first-round pick to move Marcin Gortat or Ian Mahinmi into another team’s cap space, since both would be expendable after a Cousins trade.

 

[someone]

I would say Hill has been a major disappointment, but I didn't have very high hopes for him to begin with. Even still, he has been a disappointment.

I have thought a lot about how different this series would have been if Boogie was healthy. While I can see it going the same way or even worse, I feel like it also could've been a lot better.

For starters, as much as I appreciate Rondo not backing down from Draymond, it'd be a lot nicer to have a presence like Boogie to take over that role.

Additionally, Golden State would have to play a center when Boogie is on the floor. That changes their entire offense.

It should also free up AD a little bit and let us play at our pace (which won't be nearly as fast with Boogie on the floor).

But like the author said, we need a long athletic wing to cover Durant. Even if Boogie re-signs with us, it doesn't change that fact. Holiday has to be on Curry and Moore on Thompson.

I'm not sure how we find one though given the cap.