Anthony Davis Never Had the Squad Zion Williamson Already Has in NOLA

Five months ago, the New Orleans Pelicans were in disarray.

Franchise cornerstone Anthony Davis had requested a trade. The Pelicans refused to comply ahead of the trade deadline, which created an awkward situation for the final few months of the regular season.china nfl nike jerseys

That’s all in the past now. Davis is headed to the Los Angeles Lakers, while No. 1 pick overall Zion Williamson will take his place as the Pelicans’ new cornerstone.buy nfl jerseys wholesale

After struggling to build around Davis during his seven seasons in New Orleans, can the Pelicans get it right this time with Zion?nike official nfl jerseys

If the past few months are any indication, it seems as though they’ve learned some valuable lessons.sale nfl jerseys hi-res-d26e2d862754b1ea38cd823c2ccf3caa_crop_north

In mid-February, the Pelicans fired longtime general manager Dell Demps. Two months later, they hired David Griffin to take personalized nfl jersey over as their executive vice president of basketball operations, which began a cascade of organizational changes.

Griffin urged team owner Gayle Benson to invest millions in the team’s practice facility, according to Andrew Lopez of the Times-Picayune. The Pelicans brought in Phoenix Suns longtime athletic trainer Aaron Nelson, hired Brooklyn Nets assistant general manager Trajan Langdon as their GM and brought in Swin Cash as their vice president of basketball operations/team development.

And then they won the 2019 NBA draft lottery, giving them the rights to Williamson.cheapest nfl jerseys online

They’ll now have to avoid the same mistakes they made around Davis over the past half-decade.nfl authentic jerseys wholesale

The Pelicans had plenty of opportunities to build around Davis, but they were undone by injuries, overpays (Omer Asik, Alexis Ajinca, Solomon Hill) and a failure to establish a winning and sustainable culture. nfl jerseys store

During Davis’ tenure, the Pelicans traded away most of their draft picks. The only two who saw the floor were Austin Rivers (No. 10, 2012) and Buddy Hield (No. 6, 2016), who combined to start a paltry 70 games in New Orleans. china cheap nfl jerseys

Demps gave Davis plenty of high-upside teammates such as Tyreke Evans, Jrue Holiday, Al-Farouq Aminu, Eric Gordon and Ryan Anderson, but he too often surrounded them with mediocre role players like Brian Roberts, Lou Amundson, Luke Babbit, Norris Cole, Roger Mason and Anthony Morrow.

Griffin won’t make that mistake, as he emphasized after selecting Williamson.cheap nfl womens jerseys

“So again, I want to keep reiterating the human part of this is at least as big as the on-court part. And all of you have very high on-court expectations. Look, this is not somebody who’s supposed to be the savior of this franchise. That’s not what this is. This is a 19-year-old kid who’s going to spend this year learning how to play winning NBA basketball.” where to buy official nfl jerseys

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