Everyone associated with the New Orleans Pelicans was ecstatic after winning the NBA Draft Lottery and the Zion Williamson sweepstakes. David Griffin’s reactions afterwards give a glimpse into how this luck can transform the franchise.
Looking at the definition of a generational talent, Zion Williamson is the first since Anthony Davis to meet that standard. David Griffin knows this, as does the rest of the hoops universe. That’s why the reactions from Griffin, Alvin Gentry, and the New Orleans Pelicans extended family were so exuberant.
After Griffin’s blood pressure returned to a somewhat normal level, he started giving interviews. In between shouts of congratulations and head rubs from Alvin Gentry, Griffin put out some very professional and mostly positive answers.
Griffin’s quotes were also some high-grade, professional-level, Crash Davis award winning executive speak. Everyone knew he was still high on adrenaline. Griffin knew every movement and word is being parsed by potential star players and the teams wanting to poach Jrue Holiday and Anthony Davis.
During ESPN’s NBA Draft Lottery broadcast show, Griffin opened with the story of Connie Halphen’s lucky angel. A nice story that incorporates fan outreach is always welcome. What Griffin really meant, and Connie very well knew, is that more than a barroom worth of prayers were answered when the Pelicans six percent dice roll landed on Zion.
His first quote, and Griffin is doing great. A nice, warm, and welcoming charm.
The follow-up question got to the business at hand, and what the first pick meant to New Orleans. Griffin replied, per the transcript on NBA.com featuring quotes pulled from ESPN’s coverage of the event:
"I think it’s just another positive event for us in what’s going to be we hope several that we stack together. I think Mrs. [Gayle] Benson and her ownership group have invested in this very heavily. My presence there and my desire to be there had everything to do with this community. So I’m really excited for our fan base. We’ve got a lot of work to do, but this is a good start."
Griffin is right, and stressed that first phrase. This is just one positive day of many this offseason. Hiring Griffin and Aaron Nelson had no effect on the ping pong balls, but the good juju is not to be questioned. Griffin knows he still has “a lot of work to do,” but acknowledges “this is a good start.”
The post-show media scrum provided a little more light into how Griffin will approach the New Orleans Pelicans’ new operational realities. All those trade scenarios built on trade assets were for naught. Having the Zion pick in the Pelicans’ pocket allows them to scoff at vapor assets like future picks and salary filler talent.
No one trades a star like Davis for mediocre talent and a light load of lesser trade assets. Landing Zion with their own pick allows Griffin to shop Davis as a one year rental for actual talent plus picks. Those could be lottery picks if Davis leaves that future team after just one season.
Still, picks have to turn into viable players eventually. Griffin cannot waste Zion’s potential. The franchise has already been accused of wasting the first half of Davis’ career. The sins of George Shinn soured Chris Paul on the city.
Any hypothetical about the Pelicans facing a future without an established star is now dead. New Orleans got the one rookie that carried NBA star power in high school. Griffin is determined to build the New Orleans Pelicans a proper long term organizational nest, and realizes he has been handed an unlikely early boost to anchor the franchise.
"I wasn’t good enough at math to figure out when eight went that that meant that we weren’t eight — that we moved up. So when I heard, I believe Rachel [Nichols] said that, it means I knew that much. But again, it’s just an incredible blessing for our organization. Mrs. Benson and our ownership group have done a remarkable job of just investing in the vision we have. And this will certainly jump-start that process."
That’s a man that knows he fell into a used car with a surprise trunk of cash and jewels. He did end with the word “process.” New Orleans will not suffer through any Philadelphia-type Process, however. The NBA Draft Lottery just showed that tanking is not what it used to be, as far as a team building process. Good scouting and player development is a recruitment tool in itself in the long term.
In the short, landing Zion speeds up any process that was going to take place. If Anthony Davis held firm in his trade demands, and the Pelicans landed at the expected seventh spot, there would have been a retooling period if not a total roster fire sale.
The New Orleans Pelicans draft scouting process just got easier as well. Zion with the first pick is a virtual lock, not that David Griffin has been planning for that scenario. Any Davis trade would net at least one pick, going by all the leaked offers. Again, per NBA.com Griffin told the post-show media:
"It’s funny, actually. We talked about it in the GM meeting today. I told some people that I’m friendly with that I’ve already seen it, we’re getting 2. So if Cleveland could get 1, I would have been OK. If Nick [Gilbert] could have pulled 1, I would have been fine. But I think ultimately we’ve talked about what it would look like for our team: If we were 1, if we 2 two, etc. But the reality is when your odds are what they were, you don’t spend a great deal of time focusing on things you don’t control. And we’re never going to do that organizationally either. So we just try to sort of model what we believe in, which is just focus on the things you can control day to day."
When asked about an early summer vacation, the scouting department was told it may be needed to find a late lottery gem and a second round project. Zion will not be risked much, if at all, during NBA Summer League play. The shoes he will wear need more of a tryout for the NBA than Zion.
One reporter did broach the idea of the New Orleans Pelicans passing on Zion. In fairness, the long-winded question did basically sum up to “please gush about Zion some more” by the end. Griffin replied:
"Yeah, I mean again, I said earlier I don’t want to talk a whole lot of specifics about individual players, but I look at this as a situation where he is a wholly and unique talent. And we feel what we’re going to build is going to be wholly and unique as well. Hopefully all of this sort of comes to a place where we all feel like we’re meant to be together. This is about fit as much as anything else. Certainly the elite talent and the special characteristics are there, but most important to us are special human beings. I think this draft was very deep in that area as well. I think every subsequent generational kid is growing more mindful of the fact that you’ve got to be a total person and this draft has those."
Basically, Zion certainly meets the star standard, and we hope to satisfy him better than the last regime did Davis. Griffin remembered he might be trading for another first round pick, so he just hit reply all on a verbal compliment to the draft class as a whole.
Finally, Griffin was asked if he would change his approach to Davis and Klutch Sports. Winning the draft lottery does give Griffin some leverage, and does make New Orleans more attractive. Landing the first pick changed the dynamics of the offseason for half the NBA. Yet Griffin insisted he has settled on a long term, core philosophy approach to building up the New Orleans Pelicans franchise.
"No more so than before. We have reason to believe that’s something that is attractive. And if I’m Anthony Davis, I’m skeptical obviously. He’s wanted to win this whole time and he felt compelled to try to win elsewhere. I think if you look at the totality of where this organization is and where we’re going, we feel very strongly that we’re going be the environment he wants to be part of. And if we’re not, that’s fine; we can deal with it from there. But I’m looking at this believing that there’s no reason he wouldn’t want to win with us, because that’s what we do. It’s who we are. And I think culturally we’re about all the same things."
Griffin is reminding Rich Paul that he has won championships and wants to have a championship culture. Griffin is skeptical of Davis. Griffin had less ammunition to build Cleveland’s championship roster. He knows that he now leads the franchise best suited to get Davis to the Finals.
Anthony Davis can make a choice, but it has to have meaning behind it. Davis has a great chance to win with the New Orleans Pelicans if he chooses to be here. Sign an extension to stay at least a couple more years, or get shipped to somewhere with worse food than New Orleans. David Griffin did not say that, but that’s how it was translated.