Elfrid Payton

[cjr3888]

Payton
Holiday
Randle
Mirotic
Davis

Not a bad starting five. Just need some quality depth on the bench with a shooter and veteran point guard to mentor Elfrid.

[MetryCajun]

The Pels will have a good competitive team, but elfrid for Rondo and Randall for Boogie does not make them better. What Boogie signed for is ridiculous and shows the NBA has a major problem on its hands. It is hard to make fans sit through a 82 game schedule and 4 playoff rounds when you already know who will be the last 4 teams standing.
As for Elfrid, this is now his make or break year. If he can consistently link up with Davis and improve his defense he can reestablish himself as a starting NBA point guard. If not, he will become a journeyman.

[Cajunsmike]

Yep, slap in the face of Davis after he wore his jersey in the all-star game!

AD lobbied for Randle to join Pels. I wonder if that was AD's preference. Randle is a better fit for the faster pace they were successful at late in the year and playoffs. Boogie got upset that they did not offer him max so he left. He first said they did not make him an offer. He amended that to see they did not make a serious offer. I presume anything but the max was not a serious offer in his eyes.

[Cajunsmike]

Mike, I'm not certain how many analysts have spoken on Elfrid's defense, but he had problems with screens because of his lack of strength coming into the league. He has gotten stronger, but he is no match for quick guards off the dribble, I've seen enough of his games.

He has one of the elite defenders in the league with him in the backcourt now in Jrue Holiday. He will also have two pretty good defenders down low to help him out in Randle and Davis. Randle was the one guy on last year's Lakers team who played defense well. Elfrid will have lots of pressure on him to perform as the other four starters return and they added Randle.

[Cajunsmike]

The Pels will have a good competitive team, but elfrid for Rondo and Randall for Boogie does not make them better. What Boogie signed for is ridiculous and shows the NBA has a major problem on its hands. It is hard to make fans sit through a 82 game schedule and 4 playoff rounds when you already know who will be the last 4 teams standing.
As for Elfrid, this is now his make or break year. If he can consistently link up with Davis and improve his defense he can reestablish himself as a starting NBA point guard. If not, he will become a journeyman.

I agree Cousins is a better player than Randle. However, Randle may be a better fit for the style of play they employed at the end of last season. As far as the last four teams standing goes, I agree that is an issue for the NBA and 26 other teams. Personally, I don't think the Lakers are one of those four teams if injuries are not involved. Houston and GS in the East with Boston/Philly in the East. I am not sure that the Pels are not better than the current Lakers. I think SA forces Leonard to sit out this year rather than trading him to the Lakers. With Leonard, the Lakers may push Houston.

[zephyr]

why does everyone here think he was a good defender. i love elfrid, but he is a below average defender (for a starter at least)

And what tells you he is a below average defender?

[zephyr]

Pelicans just got a lot worse, Lakers can now trade with SanAntonio and still be loaded.

Not really. There is no way S.A. is going to ship Leonard for a bunch of guys on one year contracts especially when the Lakers are not making Ball, Kuzma or Ingram available and the Lakers don't really have to trade for him because of his intent to join next season.

[ManAboutTown]

The Pelicans got better AFTER the cousins injury and it had everything to do with Dru Holiday playing off of the ball and Rondo distributing. Adding Mirotic also helped spacing and cleared the paint for AD.

Boogie is a problem waiting to happen. Pels are better off and I think they (including AD) know it.

[zephyr]

The Pelicans got better AFTER the cousins injury and it had everything to do with Dru Holiday playing off of the ball and Rondo distributing. Adding Mirotic also helped spacing and cleared the paint for AD.

Boogie is a problem waiting to happen. Pels are better off and I think they (including AD) know it.

You know, honestly, I said this when they made the trade for Cousins nearly two years ago. I know people said I was nuts but he does NOT fit the system Gentry wants to run which is a hybrid of the Warriors. I personally don't think we have the best personnel for that system but last year, we seemed to play better without Cousins and were playing pretty damned well in the playoffs.

Before his injury, Cousins would take the ball up the court which made Rondo positionless and he was barely playing. The problem is that Cousins had one of the highest usage rates in the league last year and the ball stayed glued to his hands, often for too long. This system requires ball movement and player movement and we didn't have it. We took lots of poor shots because of it and really played at a slower pace which was not optimal for the makeup of the team.

Cousins goes down and while the number of wins were not really better without him the style of play and effectiveness were much better. The problem with this whole scenario is I wished we would have done a sign and trade with him to at least get something for him. We essentially gave up two lottery picks to get him for 65 games. That's some fumbling right there.

[zephyr]

Yep, slap in the face of Davis after he wore his jersey in the all-star game!

Not really. According to Boogie, the Pels didn't even offer him and I somewhat believe him since he had to make contact with GS just to talk to them. I would have hoped the Pels offered mid level exception or sign and trade but apparently, we didn't do anything once we got Randle who fits our system better.