New Orleans Pelicans: 3 Strategies to Learn from the Denver Nuggets

The New Orleans Pelicans can learn that blockbuster trades aren’t always the best ones

Recently we’ve written about the New Orleans Pelicans making a big splash for a marquee star, like Myles Turner, but what impresses me a lot about the Denver Nuggets is their ability to swing smart trades without giving up future assets. These moves make the Nuggets a contender based on strong rotation play.

I think the New Orleans Pelicans should follow this strategy. When Denver makes trades, they always make them with the future outlook in mind. That’s why for the Nuggets they often keep their assets and look for a cheaper key contributor to add their team, so they can continue building their future.

I look at the deals the Nuggets do make for players like Will Barton, Trey Lyles, and recently Jerami Grant, and I see smart trades. In each of the deals for the players I named, the Nuggets never gave opposing teams any real assets and still got players to help them contend.

This is a smart route for the New Orleans Pelicans as a small market team. It’s unlikely that big-name star will stay in New Orleans, so why not add to the excellent core already in place with some key contributing pieces. This way David Griffin will still have plenty of assets to build the Pelicans down the line to continue retooling when necessary.