New Orleans Pelicans: 5 moments in team history that deserve a documentary

5. The 2019 Off-Season

What a place to start, huh?

Let’s all be real for a second. We don’t know what will be the eventual outcome of the 2019 off-season for the Pelicans, we don’t.

But, we can agree that this point in the franchise history could be the foundation from which a championship-contending team could be built. Look at who is on the roster. Look at who is on the roster.

David Griffin, Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations for the Pelicans, has championship pedigree. Griffin, who served as general manager, was instrumental in bringing the first title to the championship-starved Cleveland Cavaliers for the first time in 52 years.

Sure, LeBron James was at the center of it all, but it’s been proven (considering the six finals losses) that James needs specific pieces around him in order to fully execute to the best of his abilities. That’s exactly what Griff did, going out and adding Kevin Love, firing Mike Brown and David Blatt, re-signing Tristan Thompson, adding J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert, hiring Tyronn Lue and more.

While at times the roster in Cleveland looked like a collection of misfits around The King, it didn’t prove to end that way en route to the first ever 3-1 series comeback in NBA Finals history and pure dominance on behalf of the Cavs. Griff knows what he’s doing.

Griffin has since made the move to New Orleans, and after heading south, he’s done plenty to completely overhaul and restructure the Pelicans roster.

The former video coordinator for the Phoenix Suns squeezed each and every drop he could out of the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Anthony Davis. Griff was aggressive and demanded as much as possible from the second-star-needy Lakers. After plenty of deliberation, the Pels acquired Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart, and four future first-round picks.

Assuming Ingram (now an All-Star), Ball (a possible max-contract worthy point guard down the road) and Hart (a good defender and key glue-guy off the bench) will stick around and the draft capital can be used effectively, it could be safe to say the Pels won the deal in the long-term. So far, one of those draft picks, by way of trade, turned into three selections in the 2019 draft — Jaxson Hayes, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Didi Louzada.

Not only did Griffin finesse his way into acquiring nearly all of the Lakers roster as it was constructed, he dove headfirst into free agency and acquired sharpshooter J.J. Redick and rebounding machine and rim-protector Derrick Favors. Griffin, by and large, put together a completely new roster in one off-season. A completely new roster that may still have a chance at the playoffs after starting the 2019-2020 season 6-22.

Oh, forgot to mention. The Pelicans had the first overall pick in 2019. Zion Williamson has turned out to be a solid choice.