[rvan14Participant]

 After pairing the 2 best big men in the game, New Orleans can push themselves into the playoffs. Demps can earn himself GM of the year if he can dump Asik and get back a floor spacer. 

Go after Lou Williams or Courtney Lee?

 

 

[SeattleSuperChronicsParticipant]

Get rid of Asik for a Middleton type player

[cjwParticipant]

 Thats not how it works 

[BallerScriptParticipant]

 By this do you mean trade an injury prone player who takes up space on a bad contract for a borderline allstar or for a second round pick OP

[SwatLakeCityParticipant]

 Not this year. I believe now that they have their 2nd star it is a step in the right direction, but they need one more year to reach that step of making the playoffs. Yes they are only 2 and 1/2 games out of the 8th spot but they got there thanks to the team that they had before Cousins. They already had a floor spacer in Hield and Holiday. They have now traded one in Hield, and got another one in return with Casspi but they still need one more and maybe even some on the bench. I think the Pelicans will be close just like they are now to the playoffs, but this trade for Cousins was just made too late in the season for the Pelicans to have a shot at making the Playoffs this year. 

I think the Nuggets will just close the gap and gain some ground on the 7th place Thunder. They too got a lot better by trading Nurkic for Plumlee. They already were pretty good without Plumlee. This year the race for that final playoff spot are filled with teams that were originally "broken" or "rebuilding" and the team (s) that are close to getting it will just re-group, and close the gap that seperates 7th from 8th. The rebuilding teams have a better shot at getting that 8th spot than the broken teams do. To explain my point further, I am going to go back before the Cousins trade was made and tell you who I believe the "broken" and "rebuilding" teams are:

Rebuilding: Nuggets, Blazers

Broken: Kings, Pelicans, Mavs, and Wolves

The Blazers made the playoffs last year without Aldridge and finished 5th and then actually beat out the Clippers in the first round, before bowing out to the eventual WCF champion Warriors. They didn’t loose seemingly anybody in the offseason. The reason they are struggling this year is because the injury bug has hit that team very strongly, and the rest of the league has figured out how to exploit the weakness that the Blazers in their small backcourt of Lillard and McCollum. The Nuggets have a very real shot at making the playoffs this year because they have a very good 3 pt shooting team, and the rapid improvement of Jokic. Also Mudiay and Murray have really developed as quite the backcourt tandem. They realized the change of the NBA with the 3pt shot and have embraced it, and have found their two stars and found pretty good role player in Mudiay, Murray and Jokic. This is why I believe the Nuggets will make the playoffs, and will now just close ground on the 7th place Thunder making the gap between the 8th and 9th spots even more insurmountable than it already is.

The Kings were already a broken team before they moved Cousins, and are now starting from the ground up, and will therefore fall to where the Lakers and Suns are at who are just tanking. The Mavs have a very good coach, but a very old team with D-will, Nowitski, and Wesley Matthews. They have the start of what could be good team with Harrison Barnes, but it won’t be enough to make the playoffs or even get close. They need that second star that they will get in this draft. The Wolves have a very young team. They have all the pieces to make a very serious run at that 8th spot, but they need the veteran leadership to finally make it over the hump. (Just like the Jazz did before they got Hill, Diaw and Johnson in the offseason)

And now to the Pelicans. They have one star in Davis, they have some talent around him in Hield, and Holiday, but they need that second star and then some floor spacers and/or veteran leadership in order to make it over the hump. They got the second star in Cousins but in doing so they lost some floor spacing with Hield. They gained some back with Casspi but ultimately I think it will be too late. I think they can be quite a challenging team for the Nuggets and Blazers but I think they are too far behind the Nuggets and the Nuggets are just too good and will work on closing the massive gap that seperates the 7th and 8th spots.

So after the trade the Pelicans have gone from a "broken" team to a "rebuilding" team but its a little too late for them to challenge the Nuggets who are just going to gain ground on the Thunder, and consequentially widen the gap between 8th and 9th place. I think the Pelicans just made it interesting, but too little to late to make a push for that 8th and final playoff spot. But they do have a very real shot and making the playoffs next year if they keep adding pieces to the puzzle in the offseason.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[r377Participant]

Not so sure why this got negged.

Team chemistry takes a while to build, this is not 2K on your playstation.

Since getting Cousins the Pelicans are 2-5 and now 4.5 games behind 8th seed Denver

[publius2481Participant]

 The problem is the Pelicans do not have extra assets to acquire either of them. One thing I think they could do is trade Terrance Jones and try and get a second round pick for him. He has had a nice rebound season and I imagine plenty of teams would want him. NO no longer needs him because of Cousins. A pair of second rounders (so attaching their own and one acquired for Jones) might get you Lee; the Knicks might want to dump his salary. I imagine the Lakers will hold out for a late first rounder for Williams, as he has a very affordable contract for next year.

[OhCanada-Participant]

 They have a third of thier salary invested in Solo Hill, Twaun Moore and Omer Asik. That Asik contract will haunt them. Its likely unmoveable or else they would have unloaded it on the Kings in with more picks. 

Next year they will have about $15 Mil in cap space but Holiday is an unrestricted free agent. It will be interesting to how they close this season but also how they retool for next year. If they want to improve its gonna have to be guys lile Frazier, Moore, Hill and Cunningham that take thier games to another level and that just doesnt seem likely. 

 

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