Pelicans need to blow it up...Fears is the future. Reed/Capela/filler/1st Rounder for Trey Murphy III.
The thing is they can’t blow it because of the Queen trade. If anything, I think they may be dumb enough to make a “win now” move.
I feel like I don't know what we need right now, and the answer might very well be "nothing, as long as KD stays healthy". We are in the top 5 of the power rankings with the other four of our starters being age 22, 22, 23, and 27 respectively, and a very deep bench (especially once DFS returns). That diagnosis might change by the time December 15th rolls around, or it might not. You might think "point guard play", but I don't want to take the ball out of Amen's and Sengun's hands unless things take a bad turn in terms of winning/point differential. What I'd mostly be thinking about right now if I were Stone is stability, how can we afford to keep as much of this group together as for as long as possible. Longer-term, you start thinking about who's going to replace KD, but that's not this season as long as he, again, stays healthy.
Who the hell could possibly replace Durant. We haven't had anyone with his scoring ability since Harden left and he is another rare get. Shame Durant is so old already. Going to be REALLY hard to fill his shoes when he is gone. We need him to stay healthy and at the top of his game until he's like 42.
He's one of the all-time greats for sure. But there are players who fill a roughly similar role. Jayson Tatum and Laurie Markkanen jump to mind; they're not, and will never be (especially the latter) considered as good as KD for their career as a whole. But remember we're currently getting 37-year-old KD, not the version from 10-15 years ago. Can, say, Tatum, compete with this KD? Absolutely.
