New Orleans Pelicans: Grading the Pels’ offseason so far
The New Orleans Pelicans have had a busy offseason that gets inconsistent grades.
The New Orleans Pelicans offseason started when they fired head coach Alvin Gentry and eventually hired Stan Van Gundy.
Van Gundy was not my first choice but he is a solid coach, mentor and citizen who should be able to milk some improvement out of this young team, especially defensively.
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I would give the Van Gundy hiring a solid B+ for a grade, especially considering some of the more attractive options were already hired or wanted to be somewhere else, while New Orleans was SVG’s first and only choice.
Then the offseason started in earnest with the Jrue Holiday trade, draft and free agency, where the Pels did some exciting and smart things, while also making some moves that will have people scratching their heads in confusion.
It has been a mixed offseason so far, but one that has had plenty of action.
New Orleans Pelicans: offseason grades for trades
Offseason Trades: A
The Pelicans made it clear they were shopping Jrue Holiday and it seemed like half of the league was interested.
The Pelicans had a lot of choices of packages from different teams but clearly had the goal of adding players to positions of need while also collecting as much draft capital as possible.
They ended up getting Eric Bledsoe and George Hill initially, but Hill left in what became a four-team trade that also netted Steven Adams.
If you are counting, the Pelicans ended up getting Bledsoe (who will replace most of what Holiday did), Adams (who is a marked improvement over Derrick Favors on both ends), three draft picks and two pick swaps.
That is about as good a haul as you could ever expect for a 30-year-old point guard making $27 million a year. This trade not only kept the Pelicans relevant this season but set them up for the future as well.
Some fans wanted to go for the Denver package or see what the Nets were offering but in the end, the Bucks gave up the most picks and if Giannis Antetokounmpo ends up leaving, those picks are going to be very valuable indeed.
Well done, Griff.