Source: https://hoopshype.com/lists/pelicans-rumors-zion-williamson-brandon-ingram-cj-mccollum-trades-free-agency/
#Brandon Ingram
> Scotto: Let me ask you this: Do you know ballpark-wise what Ingram and his camp would be looking for in an extension as he enters his final season at $36 million?
> Guillory: I think they’d certainly be wanting to swim somewhere near those max waters. He’s still a guy in his mid-20s who is going to be a really good scorer in this league for a long time, a playmaker, and a guy who’s had success with this team as the No. 1 option at times when Zion’s been out. I think there are teams around the league who’d be interested in paying him, if not the max, all the way up to the max for the potential he brings as a wing scorer, can make plays off the dribble, is a versatile defender, and is a good locker room guy. I think he’s going to have value on the open market. Does it make sense to pay him and Trey Murphy if you’re going to maximize Zion? I’ve been banging my head against the wall, trying to figure out what’s the good Ingram trade. I keep coming back to Cleveland and Atlanta — and I think Miami is another interesting one. Maybe Brooklyn. I’m not sure any of these trades make them better.
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#CJ McCollum
> Scotto: This is what I’ve been told regarding CJ McCollum’s future. While he’s not untouchable, he’s viewed as the grown-up in the room for a young Pelicans squad, providing stability on the court and a good locker room presence for the team. I think that’s going to be a guy whose name you’ll hear come up in trade talks, but for those reasons I mentioned, I don’t know if they will move him.
> Guillory: I agree with everything you said as far as how much they value him on and off the court. His maturity and perspective, having those previous playoff runs in Portland under his belt and being a President of the NBPA. A guy who they really respect as a voice in that locker room. He’s also a guy, when you mention putting the right pieces around Zion, he broke the franchise record for threes in a season.
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#Jonas Valanciunas and Naji Marshall
> Scotto: There’s a sense Jonas Valanciunas won’t return as a Pelican this offseason in free agency, I’m told. Valanciunas essentially split center minutes with Larry Nance Jr. this season and was benched often to close games. When Zion is healthy and playing, Valanciunas occupies the paint and clogs driving lanes for Zion. While he’s still a double-double threat, he’s not an ideal fit for this roster, and his near double-double production will likely be more valued by other teams on the unrestricted free-agent market.
> Guillory: I’d be pretty surprised if he was back because of how they were treating his spot in the rotation late in the season. There were a few times when they didn’t play him in the second half and prioritized having space around Zion, and I think they’ll want that in a center of the future next to Zion moving forward. There are a lot of valuable traits Valanciunas brings. He shows up every night and played all 82 games and was a really good paint scorer in games where Zion didn’t play.
> Guillory: I think Naji Marshall is going to be an interesting character going into the offseason. They’re pretty much sold that he’s leaving because they’ve got all these other financial situations going on. He’s going to try and get paid this summer after coming in as an undrafted free agent and former two-way guy. He really proved a lot this season as a defender and played well in that first-round series. He had some teams sniffing around, seeing how much value he had during the trade deadline. There were some people at the playoff games scouting him.
by UnbiasedNBAFan_
16 Comments
Pass. Trade him.
Happy for JV to leave
I can’t handle cj anymore tbh. Why cant nance be the vet presence
We should get off Larry instead of Jonas and get a starting 5 who is taller than 6’7 🤦 and not an idiot (Jaxson). Ik he prob won’t accept the role but depending on how much money teams are offering him out there, I think he would be best as the 6th man coming off the bench and feasting against other benches or leading the offense while Zion is out with one of either BI/CJ depending on who stays.
Jonas is a good player and creates easy offensive opportunities. He struggles when guards leave their man and swipe on him and get turnovers or when our guards throw shitty, lazy entry passes.
Ik people like CJ for his maturity in the locker room but he doesn’t show maturity on the court. He has horrible ball handling and decision making. I’ve never seen a player turnover the ball bringing it up near half court or get backcourt violations like he does. Whenever the game/half is going to end and clock is running down, it’s more likely than not he turns it over or doesn’t even get a shot off. He takes momentum killing 3s early into shot clocks. He doesn’t get to the foul line b/c his only drive move is the floater off window leaning away that he kept bricking.
Yes, he brings high volume 3PA on good efficiency but he also brings trash pick and roll defense and horrible off-ball ball watching. He’s undersized as a 2 and is aging. We have TM3 and Hawkins to take 15 3PA a game if we want on way cheaper salary, younger, and bigger too.
I think everyone in this sub underestimates how much this organization values players who love Jesus like CJ.
Imo it’s a significant part of the reason why he is unlikely to be traded.
CJs personality won’t mean shit if he keeps letting people by him on defense. We need to take the Timberwolves blueprint and establish a defensive culture
Don’t care ,CJ has to go ,BI stays here ,not for the max ,he’s 26 no way i’m letting him go over cj ,that’s what good organization do …
+ we’re sure to get nothing out of a BI trade
Die mad, CJ haters
Love JV and CJ but they have to go. Pels need to take a long look in the mirror and then a long look at these playoffs and realize the league is being dominated by versatile wings that play both ways and SPACING. If you’re going to build around Z, who will not take a 3, then please grab a 5 that can shoot. They don’t have to be a great defender but someone that can guard in space at least a little (Kleber, Lopez, Turner, etc). If the rest of the defense is sound and everyone is on a string and strong at the point of attack, then the offense will make up for it and make everyone’s life a little easier
If Griff serious about wanting to be a contender all he needs to do is look at the final 8 teams and ask how many would realistically be looking to start CJ. Indiana the only one it’s even an argument and if they had Mathurin even they wouldn’t want him. We need to be tryna use his great 3 point shooting numbers to flip him to a team like Orlando who is desperate for shooters so maybe they could buy into him
None of this is particularly surprising. CJ doesn’t have much value to other teams either, so to move him you’d be attaching lots of picks.
Ingram is interesting. He was terrible against OKC with some of the worst body language on the squad. But I don’t think trading him for pennies on the dollar is worth it. Would we be able to package him and something else for a guy like Garland? I think that could be interesting. But if it’s us bringing back Murray and Capela from Atlanta, I’d hold off on that and just try to resign BI.
You can still look to move him at the deadline or later. But you absolutely can not allow BI to walk next offseason for nothing. That would be an absolute death blow to this version of the Pelicans.
Have no idea what we will do about our center position. There just aren’t a lot of guys available out there who feel like a tangible upgrade from JV.
We just got swept by the youngest team in the league yet people around this organization are still using youth in year 5 of this core as an excuse on roster construction. That is serious loser mentality.
I think these CJ quotes are GM-speak for “we don’t want to attach assets to get rid of this guy”
It boggles the mind how they talk about benching JV because of spacing for Zion to bring in …. Larry Nance
I know this is a dead horse but honestly
Jonas – all he did was put his head down, work and get double double after double double. EVEN after not playing most 4th QuArters
CJ is clearly a case of wanting to get off a good player a year early with great compensation instead of a year late worth nothing of value.