Cleveland, OH (92.3 The Fan) – When the news broke about Anthony Davis asking New Orleans for a trade, you knew there would be backlash from all angles. Some fans would whine about small market teams not getting a legitimate opportunity to keep their star players. Others, including New Orleans, would bring up tampering.
Let’s make one thing perfectly clear: the Pelicans have no one to blame but themselves. They can cry about potential tampering. They can kick and scream about Davis wanting out. They’ll continue to look at the league, hoping they find an issue with the demand. None of it will help and it shouldn’t. This isn’t an example of the NBA failing small market teams. This is an example of a small market team failing to build around its’ franchise player.
New Orleans has won 44 percent of its’ games since drafting Davis in 2012. They’ve averaged 36 wins per season going into this year. They’ve never finished with 50 or more wins and have only made the playoffs twice. The Pelicans failed.
They did trade for DeMarcus Cousins, who is the only All-Star that Davis played with in New Orleans. Last years’ team might’ve made a deeper run in the playoffs had Cousins stayed healthy, but no one thought they were legitimate contenders.
Jrue Holiday is a nice player, but he’ll never be the second-best player on a team with a legitimate chance to make a title run. The Pelicans let Cousins leave in free agency. They didn’t pull of a trade for Jimmy Butler, although they tried to according to multiple reports. This organization failed to build around one of the best basketball players on the planet.
Davis does want to go to Los Angeles, New York or Boston according to most reports. Does that have to do with the market size or his desire to play with another star? The Pelicans had seven seasons to draft well, build around Davis and create a winning culture. They’ve failed to do it.
Here’s who the Pelicans drafted since selecting Davis in 2012: Austin Rivers, Darius Miller, Nerlens Noel (traded to 76ers), Brandon Dawson (traded to Clippers), Buddy Hield, David Michineau (traded to Clippers), Diamond Stone (traded to Clippers), Dwayne Bacon (traded to Charlotte), Edmund Sumner (traded to Indiana) and Tony Carr, who plays overseas. They traded Hield to get Cousins, which made sense. Unfortunately for them, he’s the only good player they’ve drafted since taking Davis. Organizations who are in smaller markets have to build through the draft. San Antonio and Oklahoma City come to mind.
The Cavaliers are another example. If Dan Gilbert is going to bring winning basketball back to Cleveland, he’ll have to do it through the draft. Do you really think Davis would leave the Pelicans if he had a legitimate supporting cast? In the past 20 months, players like Butler, Kawhi Leonard, DeMar DeRozan, Paul George and Kyrie Irving have been traded. New Orleans had to land one of those players, especially after Cousins tore his Achilles last season. The Pelicans didn’t have enough young talent to make a deal work because they’ve drafted so poorly.
George ended up signing an extension with the small market Thunder. DeRozan landed in San Antonio. Irving was dealt to Boston and Butler was traded to Philadelphia for a ham sandwich with a side of cold fries.
When you’re an organization that doesn’t have a history of winning, it is your obligation to prove to your franchise player that you will do anything possible to win. It’s not up to the NBA to make sure your star stays happy. It’s up to the franchise.
There will always be exceptions. LeBron James probably would’ve left Cleveland last summer if Irving were still a member of the Cavaliers. The organization went into the luxury tax, made moves and did everything it could to build around James in his second-stint in Cleveland. It’s hard to blame them for James’ departure.
Could you say that about his first seven seasons? Does anyone remember the Amar’e Stoudemire trade that never was? The Cavaliers didn’t want to part with J.J. Hickson at the deadline, which nixed a potential deal for the All-Star forward. Would James have stayed in Cleveland if he got to play with Stoudemire? We’ll never know the answer to that question, but I bet Danny Ferry and the rest of the Cavaliers’ front office wished they had made the move. Ironically enough, Ferry is the special assistant to the general manager in New Orleans.
Davis isn’t a villain. He’s a player who desperately wants to win and turning down a 5-year, $240 million extension in the process. In a perfect world, he’d be able to sign that contract and be a perennial contender in New Orleans.
The NBA doesn’t need to change its’ rules. Small market teams need to look at history and learn from past mistakes. The key to keeping a star is bringing in other stars. The Pelicans didn’t draft well during Davis’ time in New Orleans, which not only hurt them on the court, but it hurt their chances of trading for premium talent.
Blame the Pelicans for Davis’ trade request. They have no one to blame but themselves.
