How the Pelicans can fix their roster

I have finally found the move the Pelicans need to make to properly build around Anthony Davis. The best part? I don't even think it will be that hard to pull off.

With the cap jump this year everyone has space to sign free agents to enormous contracts so everyone is getting paid hella skrilla and those that don't get those big name free agents will spend the money on role players because, well, not all GMs are that great at their jobs. Players like Kent Bazemore are commanding almost 20 million dollars a year to play as a 3rd or 4th option in a 3-and-D role. With that said, it leaves the Pelicans in a position where they would have to overpay to bring any player worthwhile, so instead of doing that I say they stand pat. Maybe try to sign Marvin Williams and just fill the roster with summer league players from there, conserve cap space.

Now that I've got what I think the Pelicans should do in their offseason out of the way I'm going to be moving on to the main course of this article.

THE TRADE:

The trade is a pretty simple one. The Pelicans send Tyreke Evans as well the 2017 first round pick and the 76ers 2017 second round draft pick back to the 76ers in exchange for Nerlens Noel and Timothe Luwawu.

If you don't know who Luwawu is don't worry because I'm here to help. Timothe was the 24th overall selection in the 2016 draft where the Philidelphia 76ers snagged him.

"Ok, your thinking, what makes this guy so great, he wasn't even a lottery pick?" well I'll tell you. Timothe is going to be an all-around monster at the wing, he is a 6'7" man of a player with an almost 7' wingspan that possesses excellent lateral quickness giving him the ability to defend multiple positions (something the Pelicans need). He can also spot up from the 3-point line as he showed up last year where he shot 37% from long range, not only did Timothe shoot well last year but he did it against men, playing 31 minutes per game in a professional basketball league (this ain't college boy).

Just so you know, this is the part where I'm going to swoon over Timothe Luwawu so if you don't want to read this just skip to the end of the paragraph.

After watching Timothe play a couple games his most obvious comparison would be a worse shooting Klay Thompson. I understand that those are large shoes to fill and I personally don't expect to be anywhere near that good. However, Luwawu fits the prototypical 3-and-D wing player mold that is so coveted in todays NBA. While I don't expect Timothe Luwawu to ever be as great a shooter as Klay, I do think he'll end up being better on the defensive end. Luwawu is not only 2 inches taller than Klay Thompson but he also has an almost 6'11" wingspan that is 3 inches longer than Thompsons. All of Timothe's measurables combined with his great lateral quickness will make him a defensive menace that, once he bulks up, will be able to easily switch onto 1, 2 and 3 positions and posibly even smaller power forwards.

Now that I've swooned enough about Timothe Luwawu it's time to talk about Nerlens Noel and what he brings to the table. We all know Noel, he was the pick that Dell Demps traded for Jrue Holiday and if you're like me that means you've been following his career closely, watching to see how he'd pan out these past few years. Let me tell you Noel has turned out to be exactly what I would want for the Pelicans at the C/PF. If the Pelicans acquire Nerlens they will be free to switch him and AD between the two big men position almost interchangeably. Davis and Noel complement each other perfectly. Having AD lets Noel play to his strengths as a rim protector, which frees up AD do what he's best at and just roam, cause havoc in passing lanes, and blocking shots. Both can run the floor in transition and finish well making Gentry's fast pace offense actually work without giving up tons of points on the defensive end.

"Well all of this sounds good, but why would the 76ers accept a trade like this?" I'll tell you why. Not only were the 6ers actively shopping Noel a couple weeks ago but they still have 10 forwards/centers on their team and no decent point guards or ball handlers outside of their #1 draft pick this year Ben Simmons. Tyreke as I'm sure you all know likes to have the ball in his hands and is a very good slashing player and with only 1 year on his contract it can't hurt the 76ers to give him a test run to see if he meshes well, the opportunity to move a player that they already are looking at moving combine with the incoming draft picks and a trial with Evans, I believe will be more than enough to entice them to give up Luwawu and Noel.





What do you thin about this trade? let me know in the poll below and let me here how you want to rebuild. Also, I am new to writing and look forward to any feedback positive or negative.