New Orleans Pelicans: Future Flexibility in Question
By Owen Sanborn
Austin Rivers and the New Orleans Pelicans never seemed to get off on the right foot. He would show flashes of his unquestioned talent every now and then, before ultimately resorting back to his inefficient ways.
Those close to the Pelicans knew Rivers’ future with the team was a bit dicey after his name was floated around in trade rumors last summer and they neglected to accept his $3.1 million team option for next season.
As has been rumored all of last week, New Orleans was recruited as a third team into the Jeff Green trade between Boston and Memphis. The prize for their involvement is a future second-round pick, wingman Quincy Pondexter, his 23 percent shooting from behind the arc this season and his four-year, $14 million contract.
The cost of doing business was the chipper personality of rookie guard Russ Smith and the aforementioned Rivers.
This trade — along with the string of others that Dell Demps has made in recent years — is another example of the Pelicans mortgaging their future (and salary cap flexibility depending upon how high the cap escalates in the upcoming years) in favor of winning now.
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The eighth seed in the Western Conference is very much in New Orleans’ sight — at least for the time being — and owner Tom Benson has been adamant on making the postseason or changes will be made.
Rivers, for all of his inconsistencies and frustrations, is still young and may eventually turn into a useful asset as time goes on. Turning down his relatively cost efficient option for next season really says a lot about how the Pelicans viewed him as a player. They will essentially be replacing Rivers’ potential salary with Pondexter, who is slated to make between $3 million and $4 million per season through 2017-18.
Pondexter’s addition takes $3 million worth of flexibility away from them during this upcoming summer, which a big deal considering they don’t have much flexibility in the first place.
New Orleans will dish out a guaranteed $40 million to five players (Anthony Davis, Jrue Holiday, Tyreke Evans, Ryan Anderson and Pondexter) in 2015-16.
That $40 million does not include Eric Gordon, who has to decide whether or not to accept a player option of about $15.5 million for 2015-16. In other words, the Pelicans will be slated to pay $56 million to 6 players next season.
Omer Asik, sweaty and gangly as ever, will become a free agent this summer and judging by the market for other big men, he will most likely earn a raise on his $8.3 million cap hit this season. He is actually earning around $15 million in salary, but that’s a story for another time.
With nearly every team having cap space nowadays, one has to think that somebody in the association will try and throw an eight figure salary at Asik.
I assume New Orleans will go after his services hard after giving up a protected 2015 first-round pick to the Rockets (top three and No. 20-30 protected, so barring any miracles, that pick is most likely going to Houston) so let’s just account Asik onto the books for 2015-16 at a generous $11 million.
That would leave the Pelicans at $67 million for seven players and they would be over the projected 2015-16 cap of $66.5 according to Grantland’s Zach Lowe. Had New Orleans decided to hold onto Rivers this season and let him walk next summer, they would at least have around $3 million or so to play around with if they so choose.
Instead, they decided to roll with Quincy Pondexter and hope that he finds his shooting stroke somewhere along Bourbon Street.
Of course, the Pelicans could neglect to resign Asik next summer and thus open up some cap room, but I would be hard pressed to see that happening. Having Asik allows Davis to slide down to the power forward position where he better fits in physically.
Davis, despite his lanky greatness, is not best-suited to go against the likes of a Marc Gasol or Dwight Howard; he would get overpowered by other centers in the league right now.
Asik’s big body takes some of the physical burden away from Davis which keeps him fresh throughout the grind of an 82 game season. The Portland Trail Blazers have done the same thing for LaMarcus Aldridge by having Robin Lopez and Chris Kaman on the roster (coincidentally both former members of the New Orleans Hornets).
At the end of the day, this all goes back to the ownership’s playoff or bust mindset in regards to this season. GM Dell Demps and coach Monty Williams appear to be fighting for their jobs and they could care less about the future ramifications these recent transactions have.
A general manager with nothing to lose is always a dangerous proposition in the world of sports because they are capable of making roster moves with the idea of now in mind without the foresight to look ahead.
Look, any team with Anthony Davis playing out his mind is capable of being a future juggernaut. Plus the nucleus is still certainly young with Jrue Holiday and Tyreke Evans randomly sprinkling brilliance throughout the season so far. New Orleans certainly has nice pieces, they are just missing the spoils of having any depth.
Their cap strapped way of doing business has left them to take gambles on minimum salary players like a Jimmer Fredette or a Dante Cunningham. Although both have been pleasant surprises at times this season, living that way in today’s NBA won’t get you too far.
Anthony Davis makes the future bright for the Pelicans, but it may also be limited.