Should The Pelicans Trade Zion Williamson?

With the 1st overall pick in this years draft the New Orleans Pelicans will select Zion Williamson to pair up with Anthony Davis. Davis has came out saying that he still wants to be traded from New Orleans even though he will play with Zion. Zion is still only 18 years old and will be 19 for his rookie season, so why should Anthony Davis (26) want to play with a guy whose just entering the league?

Anthony Davis is entering his prime and doesn't want his prime to be wasted. We've seen many players waste their primes with subpar teams and never win anything meaningful. Zion is going to be a great player one day and will be a top player in the league, but this year he is just a rookie and there's only so much that a rookie can do.

Zion Williamson, Anthony Davis, and Jrue Holiday can be a very good big 3 next year in the Western Conference, but a rookie in your big 3 can only go so far. Anthony Davis is in the final year of his contract, the Pelicans must act fast now if they want to keep him long-term. Zion Williamson's value is the hottest in basketball right now, everyone will be willing to overpay for him. Teams would be willing to trade their future, or even their best players for him. If you can pull of a superstar player to pair with Davis, then it could convince Davis to stay on the team.

Another huge reason why the Pelican's would trade Zion is that he could refuse to play for them. Although this hasn't happened in a longtime, this is still an option for Zion. Zion reportedly looked like he got hit by a truck after it was announced that the Pelicans would have the 1st overall pick. If Zion is truly disappointed in going to New Orleans and refuses to play this could be an option they are forced to go with. Realistically the Pelicans could trade Zion for future picks and young talent, and trade Davis for picks and young talent. This would make the Pelicans having the brightest future in the league and give the fans hope even if they are losing all of their players.

The Pelicans should only trade Zion Williamson if they truly think they can trade for someone who will make them a contender and can resign Anthony Davis. If that doesn't happen then they should keep Zion. Anthony Davis is one foot out the door with New Orleans, with the organization trying to convince him not to leave.

Anthony David Trade Rumor! New Teams In the Mix

Anthony Davis does not appear like he'll be playing in Los Angeles next season as expected.
The Pelicans are still "not interested" in sending the 26 year old star to the Lakers, who will hold the fourth pick in the 2019 NBA Draft after they jumped up in the lottery earlier this week, ESPN's Brian Windhorst reported Wednesday during an appearance on "The Jump." Los Angeles pursued a deal for Davis before the deadline.

The Pelicans surprisingly secured the No. 1 spot in the draft and are widely expected to select former Duke star Zion Williamson.
Windhorst reported:
"From what I understand, the Pelicans are not interested in making a deal with the Los Angeles Lakers. Maybe had they gotten the Zion pick things would be different. I think the Lakers are actually still out of position, even getting the 4th pick."
Davis, a six-time All-Star, told the Pelicans he did not plan to re-sign when he could opt out of his contract after 2019-20 and asked the team to move him in late January. The Lakers made multiple offers for him, according to several reports, but no deal was ultimately reached.

Los Angeles, the Celtics, the Knicks and others will all reportedly explore trading for Davis this summer and New Orleans is expected to once again consider moving him.
New Orleans' new vice president of basketball operations David Griffin, however, believes the team can convince Davis to re-evaluate his decision

There are a lot reasons for him to believe that this will be different," Griffin told NBA TV on Tuesday. "What it starts with is just us doing what we say we're going to do, one step at a time. Over time, I think he's going to see there is a trust level that he should have in us.
"I believe strongly he has always wanted to be part of the market, but, understandably, the kid wants to win."Davis averaged 25.9 points and 12 rebounds in 56 games in 2018-19. The Pelicans finished with a 33-49 record and missed the playoffs for the third time in four seasons.

NBA Conspiracy Theories

With the NBA lottery just happening there are a few conspiracies that could explain why the balls fell the way they do. Now I'm not saying any of these theories are true, but they are fun to mention and think about.

Conspiracy 1: The Pelicans Owner is more of a football owner and with her husband dying it has to be thought that maybe she would sell the team. The last time that franchise was up for sale it was extremely difficult to sell it. Anthony Davis wants to leave, which would devalue the franchise. What would be the only thing that could help raise the franchise's value? Zion Williamson. What if the NBA rigged the draft so the Pelican's would get the first overall pick, so the Pelican's could sell the team.

Conspiracy 2: The New York Knicks had the worst record in the NBA last season, if they obtained the 1st overall pick it would've encourage more teams to tank to be the worst seeing the Knicks could get the 1st overall. If all the worst teams in the league got unfavorable picks it would tell the worst teams in the league that they could still tank and do well. This theory is that Adam Silver made sure all the worst teams got awful picks tonight so next season we can begin to see a more competitive atmosphere around the league with less tanking happening.

Conspiracy 3: LeBron James not being in the playoffs has hurt the rating this season the lottery was rigged so that the Lakers could get an asset to bring in someone of value to trade for someone to play with LeBron. LeBron could get a good teammate in a trade now to help him get to the playoffs. This will help drive the TV ratings back up and help the league out in general.

These are all just theories and none of them could be true.

NBA Draft Predicitons

With the Top 3 picks being announced, the next question is what do the top teams do with their picks? The Pelicans secured the 1st overall pick, with Memphis in 2nd, the Knicks having the 3rd, and the Lakers having the 4th pick.

New Orleans Pelicans got the First Overall pick, which means they will take Zion Williamson. This means that New Orleans will now try to convince Anthony Davis to stay with them. They have a chance of winning a lot of games next year and becoming a great team. Jrue Holiday, Zion Williamson, and Anthony Davis could become a really reliable and good big 3 in New Orleans for years to come. With the Warriors Dynasty looking to end soon and the Rockets having an unclear future, there is room for a new powerhouse in the Western Conference. Tonight just put the Pelicans in a position to succeed for years to come. Shans has reported that Davis still wants to be trade but they will still try to convince Davis to stay. If they do trade Davis the rebuild in New Orleans will be quick.

Memphis Grizzlies got the 2nd overall pick, which means they will most likely take Ja Morant. With the Grizzlies already having a point guard in Mike Conley, this will mean that the Grizzlies will have two options here. They could keep Conley around and have him mentor Morant for a year, or go full rebuild mode and trade Conley. If they do trade Conley they could go into full rebuild mode and build a new team around Jaren Jackson Jr and Morant. The best option for them would be to trade Conley.

With the 3rd overall pick the New York Knicks will be selecting RJ Barrett. Before the college season began Barrett was the consensus first overall pick and was the best player in this class. This season at Duke has put him in the shadow of Zion, but RJ still has potential to become a great player. Knicks fan all over the world are disappointed in this years lottery with them dropping to 3rd but RJ is a player who fans could get behind. His Godfather is Hall Of Fame Point Guard Steve Nash and Barrett is a great player who could potentially lead the Knicks into the playoffs. Marc Spears reported that a "source said the former Duke star (Zion Williamson) was rooting to go to New York, but now is going to New Orleans." Although this doesn't mean much now, it is refreshing to hear a player was rooting to come to New York.

The 4th overall pick went to the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers are in a win-now mentality with LeBron James on the team. I would be very surprised if they do decide to actually pick this year at 4th. Instead the Lakers will trade this pick away and try to gain some form of asset that will help them win. The Lakers already have young promising talent, they don't need anymore. Los Angeles needs a player who already has shown what he can do and can help them make the playoffs next year.

The eye test vs Numbers?

Sports are a thing that no one can pin down. Many people clam that one method or another could solve all your problems. There is the eye test verse the numbers.  What is the the best way to move forward?

With eye test is more gut and experience. Players, coaches or anyone around the game knows a little about the sport. They would make their judgments on their concept of good basketball. The pros of this method could use past experinces to build good habits for the team to improve on. Keeping up with tradtion or improving tradtion. many good things come from this method becasue it is easly built upon. You would be able to build around a player based on style over his stat line. It doesn’t always show the truth of the situation. The cons of this method is very basic. You must trust human intuition over the facts sometimes and it is hard to do that when you may not see improvement fast enough. Also the people aren’t always willing to admit they are wrong.

If going by numbers is your thing then you have a good chance that you will win ally of games. The whole system is made to prove that you will always be in the game. Numbers tell you that your players with only one or two skills a roster spot because the roster  is looking for that one stat line. Players like P.J Tucker have had a spot on Houston Rockets because the his rebounding and second chance points. The cons of the system is very basic as well. The flaw is the numbers can make a player like Russel WestBrook who are called stats padders. They stuff there numbers and seem more important then they are. The issue arises that the player could get good stats but hurt the team and numbers won’t show it. And when this happens players are harder to improve the game if they believe they are already plastering there best ball with a stat line. Improvement is Harder to put in place.

Overall the two systems have clear pros and cons. The flaws in each can bring a team down for many years if not addressed in time. The pros on each also are vast and can make a team hard to beat. The real conclusion for me at least is the eye test is best way to take you team but with a hint of the numbers to support your clam to show that you are improving beyond the win lose  bracket.

no more Irving!

The Boston Celtics have just lost to the Sixers in the second round of the playoffs. the series was one sided Sixers by the last two games the sixers won. What does that mean for the team moving forward?

I believe this team that they have will break up now. many player have been unhappy with the way the team is going for them. the main play everyone is Kyrie Irving and were he would go. There has been speculation that Kyrie isn't going to stay. His possibilities are every where now because he does give a real location were he would want to play.The next player on the list is Terry Rozier is a young talent who has been trying to prove himself for a big payday or a bigger role were he can lead. The only thing that can change that for Terry is the Celtics matching a offer. But can they do it and trade him for Antony Davis? that would be the only way they match the offer Terry would this off season. The rest of the young core does feel the team no longer wants them to lead the franchise.

The Celtics are in trouble and they will feel the pain. This team was destroyed by the trade deadline. The GM came out saying everyone was a trade piece. This caused to much on the roster to try to win. At the end of the day this team will change alot in the next couple years. 

The Warriors Problem

The Golden State Warriors are facing much adversity in these playoffs this season. So far Demarcus Cousins has suffered an injury that has him out currently, with a chance of him returning during this post season. The fact that Kevin Durant might leave during the offseason isn't helping, and that if the Warriors won't offer Klay Thompson a max contract he will leave for the Clippers has created a distraction. However, with all of this the Warriors could easily win this playoffs. The biggest problem facing them this offseason is Stephen Curry. 

Stephen Curry has been a shell of himself this series against the Rockets. Curry is responsible for them losing game 3, as he missed a huge layup and missed dunk to end the game. Curry can't hit a wide open shot, and is constantly missing layups. Stephen Curry keeps getting wide open 3 point catch and shoot shots, and he keeps missing them. Curry will cut to the rim and miss the wide open layup. When he is being defended, Austin Rivers has been an excellent defender on him. Rivers has been making Curry turn the ball over and making him take contested shots. 

Stephen Curry should take a page out of Dwayne Wade's book from the LeBron Miami Heat teams. Kevin Durant is getting the MVP chants and has risen to another level, while Curry has taken a step back. Curry needs to realize that for this post season it is Kevin Durants team and he is the 2nd best player. This isn't like the last few years were they have been considered equals or no matter how well Kevin Durant plays this is Curry's team. This year it is Durant's team and Curry needs to realize that before it is too late. 

Now with Kevin Durants injury the Warriors might not need to worry about this issue anymore. Stephen Curry might not need to adjust his game, but take his game up another level. If Durant is hurt and out for the rest of the playoffs then this would be Curry's best, and possibly last change, for him to win a Finals MVP.