Some felt the New Orleans Pelicans would sneak into the NBA playoffs in the 22-team Disney World bubble system this summer. Instead, they fell flat, going just 2-6 in the eight seeding games and seeing their season end.
Obviously, the future is pretty bright in New Orleans. Zion Williamson looks like a stud (if he can just stay healthy), and assuming the Pelicans re-sign Brandon Ingram this offseason, they will have a pretty terrific one-two punch there.
But it also seems pretty evident that New Orleans has other moves it needs to make in order to move up a notch in the rugged Western Conference.
The change that most people will probably point to is at head coach, where Alvin Gentry seems to be on borrowed time. The Pels have thoroughly underwhelmed throughout his five-year tenure at the helm, going just 175-225 with only one playoff appearance. What's more, they only won 40 games once.
So, yeah. Gentry may very well end up getting the boot, but bringing in a new coach is not going to instantly solve all of the Pelicans' issues. They need to make roster adjustments.
In order to really carve out a clear path for the future, New Orleans may have to bite the bullet on one player in particular: Jrue Holiday.
Holiday is due to earn $26.2 million next season and has a $27.1 million player option for 2021-22. It's unclear if he would pick up that option, but regardless, do the Pelicans really want to keep spending big money on him now and then also spending big to re-sign him? Or would it be wise to trade him now, recoup some decent value and continue building for the long run?
Look: Holiday is a good player. In 61 games in this bizarre 2019-20 campaign, he averaged 19.1 points, 6.7 assists, 4.8 rebounds and 1.6 steals per game. Yes, his efficiency was pretty meh (true shooting percentage of 53.7 percent), but his ability to play both ends of the floor and guard multiple positions is what makes him so valuable.
Remember: a year ago, Holiday posted 21.2 points per game, so he isn't just some solid role player. He is legitimately good.
But he is 30 years old and isn't really a true star. For that reason, New Orleans would probably be better off finding a taker for him now rather than potentially losing him for nothing next offseason.
It is very apparent that this Pels squad is not a contender as currently constructed. Even if Williamson and Ingram take big steps next season, the Pelicans still need more. David Aldridge of The Athletic also reported on Friday that people told him Lonzo Ball “looked checked out” in Orlando, so I'm not even sure we can peg him as a clear-cut member of the core at this point.
New Orleans badly needs backcourt help, and it needs more shooters to supplement Williamson and adequately space the floor. I would also venture to say that the Pelicans could use some more beef up front, but Jaxson Hayes looked pretty good when he was on the court this season. So maybe the Pelicans can hitch their wagon to a Zion-Hayes frontcourt.
Regardless, it's blatantly obvious that in order to compete with the big boys of the West, New Orleans needs to add more talent, and it probably isn't going to do that by luring big-name free agents. Maybe the glow of Williamson will make the Pelicans a more attractive destination, but more than likely, they will have to rely on drafting and shrewd trades to further build their roster.
Last June, New Orleans blew it up by sending superstar Anthony Davis to the Los Angeles Lakers for a group of young talent that included Ingram, Ball and Josh Hart. So, if the Pelicans can do that with Davis, they should have no qualms about moving Holiday.
Yes, Davis didn't really leave the Pelicans with much of a choice, but if they were able to eat a Davis trade, a Holiday deal should not feel too painful. In fact, Holiday was already in trade rumors before this past deadline.
New Orleans can ask for a young guard as a central part of the package in return for Holiday while also adding another draft pick. That would allow the franchise to continue adding young and talented pieces around Williamson to ensure that he will have players to grow with heading into the future.
Let's face it: it's not like the Pelicans have a ton of other options. They aren't going to bring in any big-name free agents, and outside of Holiday, they don't really have any other truly attractive veteran trade chips on their roster.
Holiday is a very good player, and trading him may make the club worse in the short term, but the Pelicans shouldn't be worrying about winning big in 2021. They should be making arrangements for the long haul, and a 30-year-old Holiday probably isn't part of those plans.
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