Zion is heading to the New Orleans Pelicans

erikthredd

The Pelicans just won the NBA draft.Now do they convince AD to stay and team him with Jrue Holiday & Zion or do they go out and get a boatload of young players & picks while moving AD elsewhere?

Danny Ainge needs to go do a sign & trade with Kyrie for Zion. Holiday,AD & Kyrie would be a solid core and Zion ends up in Boston.

Coinstartled

I have to look up to see who AD is.

erikthredd

@Coinstartled Pelicans center Anthony Davis,the guy that hired Lebron's agent then tried forcing a trade to the Lakers just before the trade deadline in February. Instead of getting to go play with Lebron the whole thing blew up in his face and the NO's front office made Magic look like a fool after he offered literally every player on the roster in different trade offers for Davis.

Unknown

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Hallco

@Coinstartled said:
I have to look up to see who AD is.

Adrian Dantley?

galaxy27

@MLBdays said:

At least we can be rest assured that the lottery wasn't orchestrated to benefit the popular destination.....Manhattan. In a world of cutting corners and "inside jobs" our NBA draft lottery yielded a verdict no one could scream was on the take .... the N.O. Pelicans..... a franchise that in all likelihood will curtail Zion's annual income by many many millions vs. the alternative Knicks....

not to mention Memphis getting the second pick. the Pelicans & Grizzlies getting the top two? it's safe to say that any conspiracy theories have officially been debunked after last night's results.

if you don't like LeBron, then what has transpired the past few days has to leave you chuckling. first, i guarantee you no one cringed harder at that Kawhi shot against the Sixers than LeBron did. from everything i have read, LBJ has been secretly courting him to join the Lake Show after this season. if the Raptors had lost game 7 against Philly, the odds of Kawhi bolting from Toronto would have no doubt increased. but now the dude may take Justin Trudeau's place as Prime Minister of Canada after that implausible game-winner. and if they happen to make it past the Bucks into the Finals? the likelihood of him staying up north only gets better.

second, last night's draft lottery. the Pelicans landing the top spot was dripping with karma. not too long ago the Lakers were trying to set them back 5 or so more years by offering up a group of young guys who weren't going to take LeBron anywhere, while stripping New Orleans of the best player the franchise has ever seen in the process. AD still may jet, but at least the arrival of Zion will give them a considerable bargaining chip.

third, the Lakers landing the 4th pick was karma of the opposite kind. i followed college basketball this past season more than i normally do, and heading into the draft there are three guys considered to be can't-miss prospects: Zion, Ja Morant, and RJ Barrett. one......two.....three. so as far as i'm concerned, having the 4th pick is like having the 10th or 15th: sure, you might still end up with a star, but you'd feel a lot better if you were able to draft one of the aforementioned guys. and the Lakers can't. i expect them to move that pick in a package (sucker) deal.

and finally, the ongoing coaching fiasco in LA. two guys turned the gig down, and they ended up hiring Frank Vogel (really?)......who is essentially going to be a table-setter for Jason Kidd........who was also added to the staff to play the role of peon for a couple of seasons before he takes the reins. make sense? cool, i don't understand either.

so if you're wondering what LBJ is doing with his unforeseen vacation time, i bet it includes a lot of drinking cuz things aren't exactly going according to plan.

Coinstartled

@Hallco said:

@Coinstartled said:
I have to look up to see who AD is.

Adrian Dantley?

My first thought.

Hallco

@Coinstartled said:

@Hallco said:

@Coinstartled said:
I have to look up to see who AD is.

Adrian Dantley?

My first thought.

I figured it might be with your Detroit sports connection!

erikthredd

So the Kings had to give their 1st round pick to either the Celtics or 76ers because of a previous trade made between the Kings & Sixers a few years back,Philly then dealt the pick to Boston in the 2017 draft when they moved up from 3 to 1 but the pick was protected first overall. Last night if the pick landed 1st overall the Sixers would keep it and would then give Boston their own 1st rounder instead,if it landed anywhere between picks 2-30 it goes to the Celtics.
So explanation aside,the lottery plays out and the Kings pick stays at 14 and belongs to the Celtics but someone in the Sacramento organization felt like trolling the 76ers for the hell of it.
This was an absolute EPIC troll job.

https://twitter.com/SacramentoKings/status/1128466777615286273

craig44

i dont really follow the nba lately. how good is zion? is he considered cant miss? i know he is 6'9" but can he handle the ball?

galaxy27

@erikthredd said:

This was an absolute EPIC troll job.

https://twitter.com/SacramentoKings/status/1128466777615286273

one of the best i have ever seen

Hallco

@craig44 said:
i dont really follow the nba lately. how good is zion? is he considered cant miss? i know he is 6'9" but can he handle the ball?

Best thing to do is look for some of his game highlights on Youtube. He has been a beast up to this point. Does he have flaws...sure, but he has shown the sport things that we haven't seen in a long time. A game changer, potentially can play all 5 positions and can jump out of the building. The human element can always challenge "can't miss" predictions, but he's the real deal talent wise! Go watch some videos!

erikthredd

@craig44 said:
i dont really follow the nba lately. how good is zion? is he considered cant miss? i know he is 6'9" but can he handle the ball?

He's considered the best player coming into the league since Lebron in 2003. He's 6-7 280lbs but can handle the ball like a guard and he can jump through the roof. We all thought Lebron was a freak of nature coming into the NBA,and he was,this kid is too.

galaxy27

@craig44 said:

i dont really follow the nba lately. how good is zion? is he considered cant miss? i know he is 6'9" but can he handle the ball?

one of the most insanely athletic physical specimens since LeBron. like Eric said, 6'7", 280-285 with a handle.......and Coach K is on record saying his vertical reached 45".

craig44

wow, he carries a lot of weight. he may not age well playing a sport with as much joint impact as basketball has. you never know though.

erikthredd

Maybe. Shaq played into 19 seasons and that was while carrying a good 40-50 more pounds than Zion has now. Those weren't all 80 game seasons but still it was a very lengthy career.

craig44

@erikthredd said:
Maybe. Shaq played into 19 seasons and that was while carrying a good 40-50 more pounds than Zion has now. Those weren't all 80 game seasons but still it was a very lengthy career.

very true about Shaq. he was a big boy. I do believe that after age 30 or 31, Shaq was not the same player he had been. He is definitely an outlier though. very few NBA guys are lugging around close to 300 pounds. in fact, at that weight, Zion would be the second heaviest player in the NBA.

If he weighs this much at 18-19 years old, he will have to make fitness a major priority in his life moving forward as males tend to get heavier as they age. it would be too bad to see him turn into a Vin Baker or Shawn Kemp type.

erikthredd

I honestly don't think this will be that big of an issue once he gets with NBA trainers. Maybe near the back end of his career like many other players before.
IIRC Baker also had a drinking problem while dealing with depression for a good part of his career and Kemp had a drug/drinking problem as well.

bronco2078

@craig44 said:
wow, he carries a lot of weight. he may not age well playing a sport with as much joint impact as basketball has. you never know though.

never mind his talent does he have a shoe?

hammer1

@galaxy27 said:

@craig44 said:

i dont really follow the nba lately. how good is zion? is he considered cant miss? i know he is 6'9" but can he handle the ball?

one of the most insanely athletic physical specimens since LeBron. like Eric said, 6'7", 280-285 with a handle.......and Coach K is on record saying his vertical reached 45".

considered a good as pick as LeBron was.

craig44

I definitely didnt mean to insinuate anything about drugs/alcohol with Zion. was just comparing him to those two players body types that ballooned at the end.

I would hope an NBA trainer would get him to drop 30-35 pounds. playing over 100 NBA games a season, if you include preseason and playoffs is extremely rigorous. shedding extra weight would definitely help him extend his career.

Think of it this way. he already weighs more than Aaron Donald at 19 years old. pretty startling.

erikthredd

@craig44 said:
I definitely didnt mean to insinuate anything about drugs/alcohol with Zion. was just comparing him to those two players body types that ballooned at the end.

I would hope an NBA trainer would get him to drop 30-35 pounds. playing over 100 NBA games a season, if you include preseason and playoffs is extremely rigorous. shedding extra weight would definitely help him extend his career.

Think of it this way. he already weighs more than Aaron Donald at 19 years old. pretty startling.

I know you weren't comparing him to those two,I just pointed out that their scenarios were a lot more than just getting heavier the older they got. We won't know with Zion until actually happens.

fergie23

To me he is a tweener. Doesn't handle the ball or shoot well enough to be a guard. Doesn't shoot well enough to be a small forward and is too short for power forward or center. I think he will have some amazing games and incredible highlights but unless he develops a jumper he is going to have trouble scoring consistently. He doesn't see the court or pass the ball that well and he has never had to finish against the insane length of NBA players.

His raw athleticism is unbelievable but if guys play 5 feet off him on the perimeter what will he do? I think he will end up getting hurt. Maybe end up like a Blake Griffin where early in his career he was all about highlight dunks and injuries and then later found a mid-range game.

Robb

erikthredd

I watched at least 20 Duke games this season just to watch him play and saw no flaws with his passing at all. He'll never be the primary ballhandler so this shouldn't be an issue at the NBA level.
He wasn't a great shooter in college but he had no problem at all hitting threes when they left him out there. I do think at the NBA level he'll definitely need to put in work on his three just because its a longer shot than the NCAA but its not like the guy needs to be a .40% shoo

I think he'll be able to post up anyone in the NBA right now. He'll have 30-40lbs on some of the best big men in basketball like Giannis,Embiid & Gobert. If he's not overpowering you to the basket he can just go up over you. He's got the hangtime to able to create all kinds of different angles on his shot if needed and his follow up leaping ability (second jump) is Vince Carter-esque. He'll make a living at the line just from having the ability to double pump shots under the basket drawing the foul and likely "and ones." Put him in the pick & roll and he'll have no problem blowing by bigger players or backing down smaller ones. The last NCAA player to dominate in the paint like he did this past season was Shaq back in the early 90's.
We all watched him take it right at 7-6 Tacko Fall,who was considered one of the best NCAA shot blocking defenders, in the tournament and he proceeded to put Tacko on the bench with early foul trouble while finishing with 30+points including multiple threes and the game winning putback right in Tacko's face.
The tweener label makes no sense when the current NBA these days are full of tweener types while the Power Forward position is lone gone. Its basically your bigs,wings & primary ballhandler now. Teams are trying to fill their starting lineup with multiple 6-7/6-8 players with long wingspans that can switch on D without getting exposed.

I think the only major flaws he has heading into the NBA is working on his three from NBA distance and getting with his team's trainers to manage his weight going forward. He'll have a learning curve as every NBA rookie does but he'll be able to get by right away with his athleticism & size alone.

craig44

Good analysis eric. Good to hear from someone who has seen so many of Zions games.

erikthredd

I'm not a Duke fan by any means but back when the Kings pick that Boston owns looked like it would be a top 5 pick I started watching Duke games because they have 3 players that were projected to go in the top 5 of the draft.
Zion,RJ Barrett(who looks like a younger version of James Harden) and Cam Reddish(who is mostly a potential type player) were all high ranked players coming out of high school so I watched most of their games on a free online streaming site.
Barrett was considered the consensus #1 pick in the preseason but Zion's play blew right by him in most draft projections.
Unfortunately the Celtics have no shot at any of the three now after the Kings played much better than expected this season and the lottery did them no favors.

thisistheshow

I would sum it up as, If Zion decides to put in the time to become a deadly jump shooter, he can be all time great. But if not, we will see...

SanctionII

I am looking forward to the day when all of the hype about the next GOAT basketball player is centered around a 13-14 year old 8th grader:

1. who is 6' 10" tall;

2. who is 270 lbs of of muscle with 0.0001% body fat;

3. who has a 54" standing vertical leap and an 8" wingspan;

4. who plays on an All Star team circuit against the best D-1 Senior high school prospects and is far better than any of them;

5. who has a complete and fully developed skill set (i.e. a player with the combined skills of James, Durant, Hakeem the Dream, Curry, Harden, Jabbar, Jordan, Bird, Magic, Russell and Wilt; and the motor and stamina of Hondo);

6. who has shoe companies that are salivating to sign him to a contract;

7. who has filed a lawsuit against the NBA challenging the CBA that prohibits the league from drafting players whose class has not yet graduated from high school and who has won favorable court rulings;

8. who has not decided if after completing 8th grade he will enroll in a high school for the following year or if instead he will turn pro and go play overseas; and

9. who is kid white (thus the next "Great White Hope" and the next "Bird") that has a social media following of 50 million basketball players aged 5-13 around the globe;

10. who has a social media Avatar of Jimmy Chitwood; and

11. who is a rapper with a stage name of "J.C. Slam" and with a #1 song that is an updated version of that great 1970's song "Basketball Jones" [Basketball Jones,.......................he's got a Basketball Jones, .................. he's got a Basketball Jones ,.............. Oh Baby,................... Ooooie,..................Ooooooooooooo!!!!!!)

The above would be fun to watch as this hoops soap opera unfolds

Tomi

@craig44 said:
wow, he carries a lot of weight. he may not age well playing a sport with as much joint impact as basketball has. you never know though.

Aaron Judge comes to mind

hammer1

@SanctionII said:
I am looking forward to the day when all of the hype about the next GOAT basketball player is centered around a 13-14 year old 8th grader:

1. who is 6' 10" tall;

2. who is 270 lbs of of muscle with 0.0001% body fat;

3. who has a 54" standing vertical leap and an 8" wingspan;

4. who plays on an All Star team circuit against the best D-1 Senior high school prospects and is far better than any of them;

5. who has a complete and fully developed skill set (i.e. a player with the combined skills of James, Durant, Hakeem the Dream, Curry, Harden, Jabbar, Jordan, Bird, Magic, Russell and Wilt; and the motor and stamina of Hondo);

6. who has shoe companies that are salivating to sign him to a contract;

7. who has filed a lawsuit against the NBA challenging the CBA that prohibits the league from drafting players whose class has not yet graduated from high school and who has won favorable court rulings;

8. who has not decided if after completing 8th grade he will enroll in a high school for the following year or if instead he will turn pro and go play overseas; and

9. who is kid white (thus the next "Great White Hope" and the next "Bird") that has a social media following of 50 million basketball players aged 5-13 around the globe;

10. who has a social media Avatar of Jimmy Chitwood; and

11. who is a rapper with a stage name of "J.C. Slam" and with a #1 song that is an updated version of that great 1970's song "Basketball Jones" [Basketball Jones,.......................he's got a Basketball Jones, .................. he's got a Basketball Jones ,.............. Oh Baby,................... Ooooie,..................Ooooooooooooo!!!!!!)

The above would be fun to watch as this hoops soap opera unfolds

sanction we may have to sanction you.

SanctionII

hammer1:

Sanction me for what?

My hypothectical is just that. Though it is unlikely that it would ever happen, it sure would be fun and entertaining if it did happen (imagine the potential for a new reality show centered this hypothetical 8th grader).

If it did happen the basketball world, the sports media and pop culture would be unable to ignore it. How it would play out on and off the court would be most interesting; in part because "Youth Must Be Served" and society pines away for and demands to be presented with "The Next Big Thing".

hammer1

tongue in cheek doesn't always show through in typed messages.

fergie23

I watched over a dozen Duke games. Currently he is a one-directional driver, has no shot, and was an indifferent passer. He was a man among boys in college but that won't be the case in the NBA. Giannis has no outside shot but is 6-11 with a smooth handle so he can score. Ben Simmons is 6-10 with no outside shot and can't score. Can Zion learn to shoot? Probably, but will he? Not many NBA offenses are built around a 6-7 post up player.

In the end none of it matters because he is going to get hurt too much. I don't see his joints holding up to the rigors of the NBA. I hope I am wrong because he is the new human highlight reel and I would love to see him stay healthy and excel. I do think his first season will be exciting. He probably is going to average 25+ per game and play 80-82 games and make me look like a fool for doubting his transition to the NBA game.

Robb

erikthredd

@SanctionII said:
11. who is a rapper with a stage name of "J.C. Slam" and with a #1 song that is an updated version of that great 1970's song "Basketball Jones" [Basketball Jones,.......................he's got a Basketball Jones, .................. he's got a Basketball Jones ,.............. Oh Baby,................... Ooooie,..................Ooooooooooooo!!!!!!)

Ha! I got your Basketball Jones right here...Bobby Jones
I bought a large lot of 80's 5x7 Nike Poster Cards over the weekend and they just got delivered with this Bobby Jones near the top of the pile.

SanctionII

Bobby Jones was a bad mamma jamma on the court back in the day.

He could flat out play.

thisistheshow

@SanctionII said:
Bobby Jones was a bad mamma jamma on the court back in the day.

He could flat out play.

He made the Basketball HOF this year, in case anyone reading this doesn't know.