Why do the Pelicans suck so bad?

Prolly your mom..

Historically the Pelicans (and late-CP3 Hornets) were a cheap arse team that provided laughable amenities to its players -- locker room, food, transportation, etc.

Gayle finally spent some money on that stuff but they've got a pretty solid Oakland A's reputation among the players when it comes to ownership

Recently we've drafted guys who 'just want to play ball' like Herb, Trey, etc., but you can find plenty of podcasts where they're getting roasted by other current and former players for being 'stuck' on the Pels, which I'm sure wears on their attitudes

On the other hand, high-profile draft picks, free agents, and trade targets come here and almost visibly give less effort. CJ is the only exception I can recall..

Winning consistently cures all, but I've yet to see us do it during the Pelicans era

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Recently we've drafted guys who 'just want to play ball' like Herb, Trey, etc., but you can find plenty of podcasts where they're getting roasted by other current and former players for being 'stuck' on the Pels, which I'm sure wears on their attitudes

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At the end of the day, the players have to take some responsibility for us being arse. Injuries are a different story and would justifiably wear on your attitude, sure. This Pelicans team has talent when healthy. (Willie Green is a different story).

But if you had prime LeBron and Steph on the pelicans, we wouldnt go 41-41 because of ownership, coaching, and facilities. If Trey, Zion, Murray, etc want to be a playoff team next year (assuming somewhat healthy), its on them.

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But if you had prime LeBron and Steph on the pelicans, we wouldnt go 41-41 because of ownership, coaching, and facilities.

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If we had prime LeBron, he would force his way out to the Lakers, Knicks, etc, because we wouldn’t throw huge money at Rich Paul’s new clients.

It’s easy BAD MANAGEMENT and BAD COACHING!!!

Big city livin and a a voodoo woman named Phyllis

shite owner

shite FO

shite HC

shite roster who can’t stay healthy

Excited about draft lottery. If nola doesnt get 1st; trade the pick for Maxey and dish mc for 1 1st round and 1 2nd round guarantee before 2027


Mc should be approaching buyout. Great guard\leader. Just can’t bet on him staying in Nola another 6 months.

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What power do they have?

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the ability to be proactive with moves instead of reactive. Taking too long to trade players when the writing is on the wall and once we trade said players their value is diminished.

Taking years to surround more than 3 shooters next to Zion.

Wasting assets on big men year after year and guards (Graham)

Coddling Zion from the jump because they were scared of another AD situation.

Fence sitting as an org with moves that never move the needle. Never trading for a big time player or never trading one of our core pieces for a small rebuild. Just trading for 3rd/4th options on a team that’s not a legit threat in the western conference to begin with.

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Why do the Pelicans suck so bad? Is it because Nola is a small market? Is it because of Gale Benson? The coaches? The players? Do good players not want to play for The Pelicans? Like what's the deal?

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I've only been around for a few years but here's my opinion.

The Pels apparently decided, before I was around, that Zion and BI were going to be their "Batman and Robin". These were TWO bad choices...and it has taken waaay too long for the Pels to decide to remedy this situation.

BI is finally gone...and I assume Zion will soon depart...as soon as the Pels can get anything close...to a decent offer for him. (BTW: I'm not even sure the Pels can get "anything close to a decent offer" for Zion...but you just gotta go ahead & take whatever you can get...and move on)

Lots of other stuff going on in the past few years has contributed to the problem...but basically... it is just REALLY hard for a small market team to overcome such a horrible choice for their "Batman and Robin".