After Declaring That The Pelicans Having Playoff Expectations Is "Short Sighted", There's A Strong Chance Joe Dumars Has No Idea What He's Doing

Layne Murdoch Jr.. Getty Images.

Back in June at the NBA Draft, the Pelicans shocked the basketball world when they decided to say "yes" to this trade

so they could move up and select Maryland center Derik Queen (who then tore a ligament in his wrist a month later because the Pelicans are cursed). When the commissioner announced the trade, everyone watching the Draft needed a second to process what the hell had happened. When we saw the tweet come across our timelines, I think most people were under the impression that Shams got hacked. An unprotected 2026 1st? Given the conference in which the Pelicans play in, why the hell would Joe Dumars do that? None of it made sense at the time.

In fact, not even the Hawks themselves believed that the Pelicans were agreeing to that trade price

Call me crazy, but that's not exactly a great sign when the team you're trading with cannot believe you'd actually put that 20216 unprotected 1st on the table. You can trade a 1st, that's whatever. Just put protections on it! Make it top 3 or top 5 protected, my guess is the Hawks still do the trade anyway! 

But since he didn't, one would think that now puts a decent amount of pressure on the Pelicans as they enter this season, considering they no longer own their own pick. It's in their best interest to avoid the Lottery if possible, or at the very worst, be at the end of the Lottery, which would require you to be somewhere close to .500 basketball. That feels like a pretty normal expectation right?

"OK guys, since we don't control our first round pick and we're all back healthy, our goal should be to make the playoffs"

feels like a very normal thing to expect. That is why it's not surprising at all that Joe Dumars, the man responsible for this trade, doesn't see it that way at all

OK, I've seen Dumars has already been getting crushed this morning for this quote, and to me it's not that simple. In fact, I actually somewhat agree with his overall premise.

Unless you completely overhaul your roster with star talent, winning in the NBA is a multi-step process. When you're a team like the Pelicans who are mostly building from within and have a bunch of young players, there are stages as you go up the NBA mountain. First and foremost is exactly what Joe Dumars said. You have to build a culture, you have to play hard, and you have to compete. Not just once in a while, you need to bring it every single night. Consistency is key. That's your foundation. It's no different than what we see with any young team that takes a step forward and overachieves. Chances are that team plays hard as hell. 

Once that's established, then the talent and development come into play, which is where you enter the next stage of expectations. Maybe that's The Play In, maybe that's being a 6 seed etc. Then, as the years go by and your talent develops, in theory, you make it deeper and deeper in the playoffs until you reach contention. I think both the Spurs and Blazers are great examples of this. The previous two seasons have been about establishing playing hard and competing, and now this year, both are expected to take a step forward in terms of win totals, and for the Spurs, to actually make the Play In/playoffs. So that part of Dumars' quote I actually agree with.

But here's the thing. When you make that type of trade, things shift. The context around your situation changes. Whether you may like it or not, everything gets slightly sped up. In looking at their roster, Zion is in Year 5. Jordan Poole is in Year 6, Herb Jones is in Year 4, Kevon Looney is in Year 10, Trey Murphy is in Year 4, Jose Alvarado is in Year 4, and Dejounte Murray (when he's back from his achilles) will be in Year 8. While "young", this is still a team that has rotation players who are well-established in the NBA. You combine that with the reality of their 2026 1st round pick, and yeah, the expectation should be making the playoffs or at the very least the Play In.

The fact that he called those expectations "short-sighted" is where Dumars lost me. How can that be short-sighted, but the trade wasn't? I would also argue that making the playoffs is something that will only help the long-term future of your core. Even if you get swept, those playoff reps matter. Especially when you could be punting on a high lottery pick, that means the guys you do have will need to get comfortable quickly in those high-leverage situations. To me, that's the opposite of "short-sighted".

I wonder how much of that quote from Dumars is because maybe deep down he knows he fucked up, and now he's trying to spinzone things as best he can. 

"Expectations? Ha! Why would we have those! We don't even care about the pick!"

Sadly, I'm not sure it accomplished what Dumars may have been hoping. If anything, it makes you feel like nobody running the Pelicans has any fucking idea what they're doing.