We consistently failed to provide the depth particularly at the wings that was necessary to be a consistent winner. He and Jrue were also in roles that probably wouldn’t have lead to titles. I don’t think AD was ever good enough to be the best player nor Jrue the second best on a title team. It was a frustrating era defined mostly by missed opportunities and misused resources.
My first ever game was when they played the Heat in 2018 and we got the win in overtime. I wanna say he dropped like 45 and I had floor seats. That’s what made me a Pelicans fan. So needless to say I hated how he just gave up on the city, at least that’s how I see it.
The way he left sucked, but he was so much more available than Zion and he really carried some godawful teams. Dell Demps was the king of the vet min signing and filled out so many teams with randoms while missing on virtually every draft pick. There was one year where we had a fucking Tim Frazier flight deck in the SKC.
that’s all folks
Best player ever to grace the franchise. Fans didn’t do him right after leaving knowing the franchise fucked him over on pairing him with someone of worth. Them AD/Jrue days were lit and some of the best basketball games we’ve ever had. And he made sure they got a crazy return on the trade too but people mad at a shirt.
We failed him more than he failed us, but he was so bitchy about it that I still feel justified disliking him lol
Street Clothes.
For what it’s worth, it was objectively better than the era after.
I’d go as far as saying they would’ve went 7 games with anyone in the WCF if boogie was healthy
I feel like saying they would’ve made the finals would be blasphemous with that terrorizing Warriors squad
They built a team with 2 sticks of chewed bubble gum, a really cool twig they found in the park across the street from their facility, and some twine that was already undoing itself.
Sure the way he left the team SUCKS, but I get his frustration. Him and Jrue got their chips like 1/2 years removed from our team…what does that say about the org?
We as a city have abandonment issues while simultaneously never providing enough tools to actually get something done. People don’t like the way he left cause it points out how the org at the time failed to do their job. Though instead of being upset with the org they called out the player.
In my opinion the only former player that deserves the hate from us is Eric Gordon. AD stuck it out, EG knew it was shit from the jump and didn’t try. (Though again how can I blame him, i’d be pissed off too if I got traded to a garbo org as well.)
Fuck him
Could write a long essay(and probably did multiple times years ago)
I think though that to sum it up in a few bullet points
1.) AD, along with Zion, is a major cautionary tale for the Pels and any small market about the downsides of thinking you are getting a generational superstar to build around, and then rushing to accelerate your timeline and win now. So much of the AD drama and roster issues could have simply been avoided with a little patience.
Almost from the moment we drafted him it was a race to project future AD and Eric Gordon and acquire talent based on that future projection. When it turned out, as often does, that your projection is wrong, suddenly you have given up meaningful draft assets, loaded up on contracts and reduced cap flexibility,, taking yourself out of the ability to get 1-3 more top 5 picks with a more slow rebuild, and have put yourself onto a path dependency of winning now and depleting more and more assets to cover up the problems of your rushed rebuild.
2.) Had we done #1, it would have been clear by year 1 Gordon isn’t the next great SG, and by year 3 or so that AD was not the alpha every game superstar that can lead you to a chip. He is injury prone and needs a more stable leader to take on that role, and his allergy to playing center could have spared us getting backed into the corner of Ryno, Asik, and moves made anticipating AD would grow into our full time 5 but instead saw us dumpster diving for centers to appease AD’s timidness and work around the mess of a misfit, injury prone roster we had created.
3.) Like CP3 I don’t fully blame AD for wanting out, but unlike AD I also think he always carried himself like he was too good for New Orleans and I think that infected his time here. But I also think that had things been done different that wasn’t an insurmountable problem. Lots of young people who come up like AD did as this generational talent get a big head and want their market to match their perceived star, but winning has a way of alleviating that a lot.
Shit I’d bounce too, if you give me an overpaid Asik and Solomon Hill for most my prime years.
That Portland playoff series win has carried me through some dark Pelicans times.
F AD for the way he left and how he shit on the fans on the way out but it’s no comparison. AD >>>>> Zion. Those teams were actually good basketball teams that were mismanaged by Dell.
The way AD left left a terrible taste in my mouth that I’ve never gotten over wearing the “that’s all folks” shirt the last game of the year. Like seriously fuck him for that.
His personality was ass. He said he wanted to retire a pelican in like year 2 or 3, then that became “we’ll see what happens”, then “I demand a trade”, then “that’s all folks”. Just clearly did whatever his agent told him to say when it was obviously alway cap. Ik we reached a few playoffs, but that era of Pels basketball was boring af too.
I have no problem with a player wanting to leave the pels. I wish for once an all star would willingly stay here but I get it. We suck. But just have some frickin dignity. I never jumped on the fuck CP train cuz he played his heart out and embraced the city while he was here. The team simply was between owners and every team in the nba wanted him. I didn’t get the vibe from CP that he thought he was better than New Orleans; he just thought it might be better for him to move on. AD thought he was better than New Orleans
Everyone leaves nola to excel. AD and Jru won championships. Look at NAW and Dyson on Hawks. Look at Ingram. Look at Naji. It’s crazy.
It was some bad luck with AD and Cousins injuries. But team is to blame and AD is to blame. Blood on everyone’s hands.
It’s actually crazy we even won the Lotto with AD and Zion.
Overall GM, coaching, owner, free agents, trades, etc. Has been a failure.
Day to day Davis. I’ll never forgive this bum for how he treated us in the end.
19 comments
who?
Carried by cousins
We consistently failed to provide the depth particularly at the wings that was necessary to be a consistent winner. He and Jrue were also in roles that probably wouldn’t have lead to titles. I don’t think AD was ever good enough to be the best player nor Jrue the second best on a title team. It was a frustrating era defined mostly by missed opportunities and misused resources.
My first ever game was when they played the Heat in 2018 and we got the win in overtime. I wanna say he dropped like 45 and I had floor seats. That’s what made me a Pelicans fan. So needless to say I hated how he just gave up on the city, at least that’s how I see it.
The way he left sucked, but he was so much more available than Zion and he really carried some godawful teams. Dell Demps was the king of the vet min signing and filled out so many teams with randoms while missing on virtually every draft pick. There was one year where we had a fucking Tim Frazier flight deck in the SKC.
that’s all folks
Best player ever to grace the franchise. Fans didn’t do him right after leaving knowing the franchise fucked him over on pairing him with someone of worth. Them AD/Jrue days were lit and some of the best basketball games we’ve ever had. And he made sure they got a crazy return on the trade too but people mad at a shirt.
We failed him more than he failed us, but he was so bitchy about it that I still feel justified disliking him lol
Street Clothes.
For what it’s worth, it was objectively better than the era after.
I’d go as far as saying they would’ve went 7 games with anyone in the WCF if boogie was healthy
I feel like saying they would’ve made the finals would be blasphemous with that terrorizing Warriors squad
They built a team with 2 sticks of chewed bubble gum, a really cool twig they found in the park across the street from their facility, and some twine that was already undoing itself.
Sure the way he left the team SUCKS, but I get his frustration. Him and Jrue got their chips like 1/2 years removed from our team…what does that say about the org?
We as a city have abandonment issues while simultaneously never providing enough tools to actually get something done. People don’t like the way he left cause it points out how the org at the time failed to do their job. Though instead of being upset with the org they called out the player.
In my opinion the only former player that deserves the hate from us is Eric Gordon. AD stuck it out, EG knew it was shit from the jump and didn’t try. (Though again how can I blame him, i’d be pissed off too if I got traded to a garbo org as well.)
Fuck him
Could write a long essay(and probably did multiple times years ago)
I think though that to sum it up in a few bullet points
1.) AD, along with Zion, is a major cautionary tale for the Pels and any small market about the downsides of thinking you are getting a generational superstar to build around, and then rushing to accelerate your timeline and win now. So much of the AD drama and roster issues could have simply been avoided with a little patience.
Almost from the moment we drafted him it was a race to project future AD and Eric Gordon and acquire talent based on that future projection. When it turned out, as often does, that your projection is wrong, suddenly you have given up meaningful draft assets, loaded up on contracts and reduced cap flexibility,, taking yourself out of the ability to get 1-3 more top 5 picks with a more slow rebuild, and have put yourself onto a path dependency of winning now and depleting more and more assets to cover up the problems of your rushed rebuild.
2.) Had we done #1, it would have been clear by year 1 Gordon isn’t the next great SG, and by year 3 or so that AD was not the alpha every game superstar that can lead you to a chip. He is injury prone and needs a more stable leader to take on that role, and his allergy to playing center could have spared us getting backed into the corner of Ryno, Asik, and moves made anticipating AD would grow into our full time 5 but instead saw us dumpster diving for centers to appease AD’s timidness and work around the mess of a misfit, injury prone roster we had created.
3.) Like CP3 I don’t fully blame AD for wanting out, but unlike AD I also think he always carried himself like he was too good for New Orleans and I think that infected his time here. But I also think that had things been done different that wasn’t an insurmountable problem. Lots of young people who come up like AD did as this generational talent get a big head and want their market to match their perceived star, but winning has a way of alleviating that a lot.
Shit I’d bounce too, if you give me an overpaid Asik and Solomon Hill for most my prime years.
That Portland playoff series win has carried me through some dark Pelicans times.
F AD for the way he left and how he shit on the fans on the way out but it’s no comparison. AD >>>>> Zion. Those teams were actually good basketball teams that were mismanaged by Dell.
The way AD left left a terrible taste in my mouth that I’ve never gotten over wearing the “that’s all folks” shirt the last game of the year. Like seriously fuck him for that.
His personality was ass. He said he wanted to retire a pelican in like year 2 or 3, then that became “we’ll see what happens”, then “I demand a trade”, then “that’s all folks”. Just clearly did whatever his agent told him to say when it was obviously alway cap. Ik we reached a few playoffs, but that era of Pels basketball was boring af too.
I have no problem with a player wanting to leave the pels. I wish for once an all star would willingly stay here but I get it. We suck. But just have some frickin dignity. I never jumped on the fuck CP train cuz he played his heart out and embraced the city while he was here. The team simply was between owners and every team in the nba wanted him. I didn’t get the vibe from CP that he thought he was better than New Orleans; he just thought it might be better for him to move on. AD thought he was better than New Orleans
Everyone leaves nola to excel. AD and Jru won championships. Look at NAW and Dyson on Hawks. Look at Ingram. Look at Naji. It’s crazy.
It was some bad luck with AD and Cousins injuries. But team is to blame and AD is to blame. Blood on everyone’s hands.
It’s actually crazy we even won the Lotto with AD and Zion.
Overall GM, coaching, owner, free agents, trades, etc. Has been a failure.
Day to day Davis. I’ll never forgive this bum for how he treated us in the end.