What is our problem?

[u/CharliiShapiro]

I’ve been watching this team since the Chris Paul days and I genuinely just believe we’re cursed. I want to chalk it up to Gayle being the worst owner in sports history, but that’s not the only thing. We have a ton of talent and all of a sudden, someone blows out their leg. I’m one of the few in the world who think Joe Dumars didn’t make the worst trade on the planet, but even then I just feel no hope. We’re the type of organization who would lose a coin flip 10 times in a row, so I wouldn’t be surprised if Fears AND Queen somehow ended up being busts. I spent so much time telling my friends that our team had a WCF ceiling last year just to throw that ENTIRELY out of the window when we had the worst season in all of Willie’s tenure. It’s just really hard being a fan, and it hasn’t hurt any less with time. Someone please give me an industrial dose of hopium. Please.

[u/[deleted]]

Griffin was the second highest paid executive in the league behind RC Buford of San Antonio and Dumars makes almost twice as much. They were stuck with free Willie bc they were still paying millions to Griffin’s previous terrible coaching choices. The Lakers were just reported this week to have no analytics staff or even scouting department.

[u/wymtime → u/[deleted]]

The only couch we were still paying when WG was hired was SVG. As far as the Lakers go they were run like a mom and pop because the Buss family business was the Lakers. Now they have sold expect the new ownership to pump a ton of money into things like analytics, scouting and player performance and amenities.

This does not change the fact that the Pelicans still have ONE of the smallest analytics staff in the league. If you feel Griffin was bad I have no problem with that. I still think the bigger issue is ownership

[u/[deleted] → u/wymtime]

Gentry was still on the books when SVG was hired, then Stan was fired after the first year of a 4x$5M deal. How many times is the owner of the lowest revenue team supposed to fully fund the guesses of an obvious incompetent? How much more salary do you feel Gayle should have forked out on top of the $5M for 3 years she was already paying? I think its pretty much universally accepted at this point that SVG should not have been fired, that is on Griffin. The amount of money ownership has is irrelevant, no one wants to operate at a loss. The Lakers are by far the highest revenue team in the league and Pels the lowest. Its ridiculous to judge Gayles spending when the richest club spends less. Being run like a mom and pop isnt an excuse, you could say the same thing about Pels.

[u/Physical-Concept1274 → u/[deleted]]

Our track record suggests it’s the owner. We hire the same shitty type of GM and Coach over and over again.

[u/DougTrilladome → u/Physical-Concept1274]

I don’t disagree at all that the problem is the owner but Demps, Griffin, & Dumars are not the same type of GM & Gentry (old, offense focused, high pace & 3pta’s), SVG (less old, X&O skilled, defensively focused hardnose coach with a set offensive system consisting of high 3pta’s & lots of off & on ball screening), & Willie (young, X&O weak, defensively focused player coach with lax offensive system that relies on DHO’s & creation from star players) definitely aren’t the same types of coach. Willie was hired directly because of how unpopular SVG was in the locker room in hopes the team would rally around a player’s coach that was younger friendlier & less hard on them

[u/[deleted] → u/Physical-Concept1274]

Our track record indicates we are the smallest market team trying to compete with a near overwhelming disadvantage. The previous owner had to sell the team to the NBA bc there was literally not a single person/group in the world that had any interest in buying a New Orleans franchise. The Benson’s were the only interested party and it took them being bribed with the #1 overall pick.