A blatant robbery occurred on the night of Sunday, February 19th. It took place in the city of New Orleans, directly following the All-Star festivities on their very own turf. The All Star game’s MVP wasn’t the thief, but he sure did benefit from what took place. The thief in this scenario happens to be Dell Demps, the GM of the New Orleans Pelicans. The guy punked Kings GM Vlade Divac, by snatching his all-world big man for a Tyreke Evans return, a guy who’s likely to get waived immediately (Langston Galloway), a first round pick that gets worse because of this trade, a second round pick, and a 23-year-old rookie in Buddy Hield who Divac claims has “Steph Curry potential”. Yes, that claim is laughable, but the Sacramento Kings organization for the past 10 years has been just as comical. Here are my thoughts on what this trade means for the NBA as a whole.
For the Kings:
If I had a gun pointed at my head forcing me to find any sort of silver lining in this trade for the Kings, I guess I would have to say that they finally get the fresh start that they so badly need. They haven’t even reached 40 wins since Boogie’s arrival, and they clearly haven’t been able to build around the young star. Lets just hope they go all in with the rebuild and fire their entire staff.
For the Pelicans:
This move might have saved the career of a generational talent in Anthony Davis. The Pelicans’ big man has been an All-Star in 4 of his 5 seasons so far, and has been on pace for a career year this season, as he began the year with a 50 (!!!) point and 16 (!!!) rebound performance on opening night. Despite his constant production, the Pelicans has been unable up until now to provide him with even a worthy sidekick, let alone a championship roster. But that all changed following the All Star game in their very stadium. By snatching Cousins, the Pelicans have finally gotten Davis help that he has so desperately needed for his entire career. Both of these guys are young and relatively injury free, so the sky is the limit for them.
For the NBA:
As the trend for teams in the NBA has shifted towards guard play and 3-pt shooting the past few years, this New Orleans frontcourt is an absolute nightmare of a matchup for most teams. These guys are the 4th and 5th leading scorers in the league, in an NBA that “doesn’t have HOF bigs” This frontcourt, which features arguably the two best big men in the entire NBA, should terrify even the strongest of contenders. (Hint, hint, Golden State.) This frontcourt tandem has already been argued to be the best in NBA history on all sorts of sports talk shows, and they HAVEN’T EVEN SUITED UP TOGETHER YET. And if you think that New Orleans’ 3-pt shooting took too big of a hit from this move to compete, think again. Cousins and Davis have recently adopted the long ball for their repertoire, and have 95 and 27 made 3s on the year, respectively.
This move could play out two very different ways. Cousins could continue to throw his temper tantrums, be a chemistry nightmare with Anthony Davis, not resign in The Big Easy, and fail to make the playoffs yet again. Or, this move could solidify the New Orleans Pelicans as the home of the most exciting and dynamic frontcourts of all time. Anthony Davis has proven to be as consistent of a superstar as there is in professional sports, and I fully expect him to continue to do so. It all comes down to how well DeMarcus gels with the roster, along with how he controls himself and keeps his technical foul count down. Nonetheless, as an NBA fan, I’m ecstatic at the possibilities of this pairing, and I cant wait to see how this move plays out for years to come.There was a straight up robbery that took place on Sunday night, directly following the All-Star festivities in New Orleans. The All Star game’s MVP wasn’t the thief, but he sure did benefit from what took place. The thief in this scenario happens to be Dell Demps, the GM of the New Orleans Pelicans. The guy punked Kings GM Vlade Divac, by snatching his all-world big man for a Tyreke Evans return, a guy who’s likely to get waived immediately (Langston Galloway), a first round pick that gets worse because of this trade, a second round pick, and a 23-year-old rookie in Buddy Hield who Divac claims has “Steph Curry potential”. Yes, that claim is laughable, but the Sacramento Kings organization for the past 10 years has been just as comical. Here are my thoughts on what this trade means for the NBA as a whole.
For the Kings:
If I had a gun pointed at my head forcing me to find any sort of silver lining in this trade for the Kings, I guess I would have to say that they finally get the fresh start that they so badly need. They haven’t even reached 40 wins since Boogie’s arrival, and they clearly haven’t been able to build around the young star. Lets just hope they go all in with the rebuild and fire their entire staff.
For the Pelicans:
This move might have saved the career of a generational talent in Anthony Davis. The Pelicans’ big man has been an All-Star in 4 of his 5 seasons so far, and has been on pace for a career year this season, as he began the year with a 59 (!!!) point and 20 (!!!) rebound performance on opening night. Despite his constant production, the Pelicans has been unable up until now to provide him with even a worthy sidekick, let alone a championship roster. But that all changed following the All Star game in their very stadium. By snatching Cousins, the Pelicans have finally gotten Davis help that he has so desperately needed for his entire career. Both of these guys are young and relatively injury free, so the sky is the limit for them.
For the NBA:
As the trend for teams in the NBA has shifted towards guard play and 3-pt shooting the past few years, this New Orleans frontcourt is an absolute nightmare of a matchup for most teams. These guys are the 4th and 5th leading scorers in the league, in an NBA that “doesn’t have HOF bigs” This frontcourt, which features arguably the two best big men in the entire NBA, should terrify even the strongest of contenders. (Hint, hint, Golden State.) This frontcourt tandem has already been argued to be the best in NBA history on all sorts of sports talk shows, and they HAVEN’T EVEN SUITED UP TOGETHER YET. And if you think that New Orleans’ 3-pt shooting took too big of a hit from this move to compete, think again. Cousins and Davis have recently adopted the long ball for their repertoire, and have 95 and 27 made 3s on the year, respectively.
This move could play out two very different ways. Cousins could continue to throw his temper tantrums, be a chemistry nightmare with Anthony Davis, not resign in The Big Easy, and fail to make the playoffs yet again. Or, this move could solidify the New Orleans Pelicans as the home of the most exciting and dynamic frontcourts of all time. Anthony Davis has proven to be as consistent of a superstar as there is in professional sports, and I fully expect him to continue to do so. It all comes down to how well DeMarcus gels with the roster, along with how he controls himself and keeps his technical foul count down. Nonetheless, as an NBA fan, I’m ecstatic at the possibilities of this pairing, and I cant wait to see how this move plays out for years to come.
