Another Fine Mess You Got Us Into!

Last week at the trade deadline we wrote about Anthony Davis (aka the Brow) and his desire to be traded. For nearly two weeks the Pelicans literally held the Lakers hostage for almost every player and draft pick until the year 2050. At the end of the day on Thursday, there was no deal and the Pelicans were widely hailed as smart for causing chaos and disenchantment with the Lakers by leaking trade proposals. Mass media sport shows and writers openly talked about how Magic and the Lakers got ‘Played by the Pelicans’. They talked about how genius they were to not give in and wait for the Celtics trove of assets in the off season and were roundly applauded for sticking it to Magic and Lebron. This whole fiasco reminds me of my favorite comedy group of all time, “Laurel and Hardy”. They were both bumbling idiots who thought they had outsmarted the system or the situation and in the end it would blow up in their face and there would be a muffled grumble of humiliation and Hardy would always say “Another fine mess you got me into”. Today the Pelicans are in a fine mess and may live to regret trying to outsmart the system.

Last week the Pelicans could have had Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart, Kyle Kouzma and Brandon Ingram in addition to two future unprotected 1st round picks. In addition, the Lakers offered to take on some bad contracts as well. One week later and the dust has settled and NoLa has a big problem: The Brow has publicly announced he will not play for the Celtics and if Danny and the boys trade over assets for him he will not re-sign with the team. To quote the great Homer Simpson: “ DOH”! To make matters worse, the other destination desired by AD was possibly the NY Knicks. However the Knicks just traded their only asset Kristaps Porzingas and now have lost a franchise record 17 games in a row. Even if we assume the Knicks land Zion Williamson with the 1st pick, there is no way they would trade him for the browed beast unless he agrees to the max extension. Let’s digress for a moment and look at WHY AD wanted out of NoLa. The organization is run by football people and is mediocre at best year in and year out. Why in the world would AD commit to the Knicks with a max extension so he can be surrounded by a bunch of B-list players for the rest of his prime? “DOH part two”!

Last night AD scored a whopping 3 points and sat most of the game in a bad loss against the Magic. AD sat on the bench pouting and his comments after the game were blunt. The team literally quit and there is complete dysfunction on this battered team. The star player wants out and is quitting on the team, the players on the team realize this and in turn are also quitting and your two main bargaining chips for trade assets will not be viable in 4 months time. A “DOH Trifecta”!!!!

A week ago Pelican management could have pulled the lever on a deal and had 3 young starters (Ball, Kouzma, Ingraham) on the floor and all under the age of 22. All of them are under rookie contracts and in addition, an up and coming bench player (Josh Hart) on the floor. When their contracts expire in two years they will all be restricted free agents, so essentially all these young players would be locked up for the next five years. In addition they would have multiple 1st round picks to trade for other parts or move up in draft position. For all the mockery of Magic and the Lakers, right now they are in the driver’s seat. Not only is their previous offer off the table, but depending on the play of some of these Laker young players down the stretch the deal could be off the table completely. Lebron James has a way of making everyone around him better and if these players start knocking down shots and playing better defense and put up better than expected numbers, don’t be surprised if Lakers stand pat and offer some smokes and a moon pie for AD.

A fine mess Pelican management got them in…DOH!!!!!

-BSB