Yeah I’ve got no clue why you or reel got in ur feels about that discussion. I literally lead with “sorry Reel” because losing ur cornerstone is shitty. I am still surprised that he defends Demps doe
I thought he made some good moves
I thought he made some bad moves
I thought him trading for boogie was a good move. Who in the world saw an all Star with a relatively healthy career tear his Achilles a year later? Buddy now is making people wonder how much different his career would be had Nola kept him. But EVERYBODY was on board trading him for boogie at the time. I hope the revisionist historians don't try to act like they thought it was a bad idea now after the fact.
I thought him trading for jrue was a good move. Jrue, now, finally healthy is having a career year and the person he traded for on draft night. I also liked the deal he gave jrue. Jrue was unreal during the Portland sweep and I, like many of the other people who are now shiting on the pelicans thought they were on the cusp of turning the corner.
At the time, I thought him drafting Rivers was a good move to pair him with AD, unfortunately, Rivers is just now turning into a serviceable NBA player. Had doc not traded for him, he's probably out of the league.
Speaking of draft night, nerlins Noel career isn't necessarily flourishing either. He's been a lot better this season in OKC, but let's not any like he was second coming off David Robinson coming out of the draft.
At the time, I liked the trade for asik
I thought Dell fucked up getting into a bidding war with himself and resigning asik. But who saw the dude almost dying in year two of that deal to the point where he missed significant playing time over the course of two seasons
I thought Dell fucked up giving hill that contract. Again, outbid himself in search of a fix at SF.
I liked acquiring tyreke too, unfortunately, injuries
He kept Gordon and let aminu and kaman go. Gordon, finally got healthy his final year and took the first train smoking out, put his pride to the side and realized coming off the bench was better for him and what do you know, was fucking balling on Houston after being sidelined with injuries practically his entire Nola stint.
Aminu has created a nice role for himself in Portland. Imagine had he hit that corner 3 at the clip he's doing now when he was in Nola.
Oh, can't forget about Ryan Anderson. How he got him from Orlando was cool. He didn't over pay and let him walk. Good move
Dells biggest issue in my opinion was how he valued draft picks and depending on your approach to developing a team, if he hits on all his trades, you think he's a genius, but, as how everything played out, you think he was dumb for trading unknown for somewhat known.
As an organization, the day the pelicans were bought by the Benson's, they should've immediately developed an entity separate from the saints. What did they do instead? Share personnel. That's on them and may have cost them some of the bad luck with the weird injury bug, and by cost them I meant it may have fucked up recovery times but you can't prevent an injury no matter how good your team is. They finally make some moves in the right direction in that regard only for their Superstar player to want out not even a full season after making them.
So here it is for you man. Off the top of my head. I did what I said I didn't want to do. If you think this is me defending him, then I guess I am, but I won't be sad when they announce his firing