The New Orleans Pelicans Can’t Make the Same Mistakes as Cleveland
Cleveland’s Worst Mistakes
If the New Orleans Pelicans want to learn what not to do with Zion, then they should study the Cleveland Cavaliers first marriage to LeBron James.
The Cavaliers were so desperate to keep him they started screwing things up right away.
In 2004-5 they grabbed free agent dud Robert Traylor and then traded their first round pick for Sasha Pavlovic, which turned out to be even more disastrous than it originally appeared.
They had to make this trade because Cleveland traded a 2007 first round pick to Boston for Jiri Welsch, so had to take the lottery protections off the pick they traded for Pavlovic, who averaged 4.8 points per game for Cleveland.
So there are two first round picks down the drain. It gets worse.
In 2005 they picked up free agents Donyell Marshall and Alan Henderson, two guys at the ends of their careers. They had no first round draft pick.
In 2006-7 the Cavs picked up free agent bust Scot Pollard, then traded Luke Jackson who they had just drafted two years before, thus cementing the scheme of trading youth for veterans in an effort to win now.
The Cavaliers made the Finals for the first and only time in LeBron’s first tenure but were promptly swept by the Spurs. It would be their last Finals appearance until 2015 when LeBron returned.
This roster was arguably the worst to ever make a Finals appearance and LeBron’s back was getting sore from carrying so many lousy players.
In 2007-8 it got ugly. The Cavs traded for broke down Ben Wallace and Joe Smith and once again had no draft pick. More old guys for LeBron to hang out with!
Right about now LeBron starts taking longer holidays to Miami thinking, “you know, Miami DOES have better beaches than Cleveland.”
The Cavs were knocked out of the semi-finals for two straight seasons at this point before making trades for Antawn Jamison, Sebastian Telfair and a 37-year-old Shaquille O’Neal, who at that point was the size of a mini-van.
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This is when LeBron had enough. His spine was broken from carrying his terrible teams, who ended with one Finals appearance in his tenure.
He famously “took his talents to South Beach” and the rest is history.
Cleveland won 19 games the season after he left and were absolutely terrible until he returned.
This “plan” of adding old veterans to appease LeBron was an utter failure, and one the New Orleans Pelicans can’t repeat if they want to keep Zion in the Big Easy.