New Orleans Pelicans: Complete 2017 offseason grades
Overall
If it weren’t for the mistakes of the past few summers, the New Orleans Pelicans’ 2017 offseason would’ve stood out more. Given what limited room they had to work with, the front office did a commendable job of battening down the hatches for a hopeful return to the playoffs.
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The Pellies originally put themselves in a good position by trading for Cousins, which gave Davis some much-needed reassurance that it can put a title contender around him one day. Landing Rondo for only $3.3 million, adding a useful backup like Clark for $1.6 million and even extending Jrue Holiday for that hefty amount ensures NOLA won’t take a step backward in 2017-18.
However, giving a five-year deal to a relatively average and injury-prone point guard comes with inherent risk, especially with so much on the line in trying to keep Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins invested for the long-term. Yes, it probably made the Brow happy, and yes, the Pelicans few other options.
But the supporting cast outside of the team’s big names is as lackluster as ever, thanks in no small part to the $82 million over four years the Pelicans handed out to mediocre players like Solomon Hill and E’Twaun Moore last summer. And that’s without even mentioning the cap book blemishes that remain in Omer Asik and Alexis Ajinca.
Given what they had to work with, it was a relatively successful summer for the Pelicans. But after watching all of their fellow competitors for the West’s final playoff spots get better this summer, it’s hard not to judge the Pellies for their lack of movable assets/cap space to make the kind of blockbuster upgrade this promising core needs to start making real waves.
Final Grade: B-