New Orleans Pelicans: Grades for Jrue Holiday trade to Milwaukee Bucks
The New Orleans Pelicans get a chest of draft assets from the Milwaukee Bucks
The Picks
The Pelicans obviously could have done better than a package based around Eric Bledsoe and George Hill when it comes to players.
The reason they went this route is because the Milwaukee Bucks offered up what essentially amounts to five first-round picks
The New Orleans Pelicans will not only get three first-round picks from the Bucks outright but will also have the chance to swap picks with them twice.
These picks are a calculated risk. On one hand, the next two upcoming drafts are loaded with potential and the Pelicans will have ample picks to find impact talent.
On the other, if the Bucks re-sign Giannis, all of these picks could end up in the high 20’s and will never be that valuable on their own.
But if the Bucks don’t retain Giannis and blow up the team, these picks could suddenly all be in the lottery and the Pelicans will control the draft for years to come.
One of the picks will be the 24th selection in this year’s draft, not a great pick but definitely a chance for the Pels to get an impact role player or to make another trade.
Personally, I am not a fan of this type of compensation because the draft is far too much of a crapshoot. The Pelicans are banking that with so many picks they will have the ammunition to make trades or move up in future drafts.
If nothing else, they will be able to add new young talent around Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram every season or use their picks to trade for a veteran.
But they could also end up like Boston, a team that has had more draft assets than any other but has yet to translate them into a title. They are a very good team and should be so consistently, but are also showing that having three picks in a draft isn’t necessarily a great thing.
The Celtics are trying to move up using their 14th pick and two late first-rounders and they may be successful. But they may not be.
Picks are always a risk, but with this many of them, the Pelicans will have plenty of chances in the draft and with trades. It would have been nice to get the picks from a team that is going to be bad for the next few seasons but if the Bucks end up losing Giannis, the Pels will look like geniuses.