Pelicans’ trade designed to put bodies in empty seats

    We’ve heard the company line.
   In April, when a 27-win season ended, Pelicans executive vice president Mickey Loomis said he was “absolutely sure” general manager Dell Demps and head coach Monty Williams were the right men for the job.
    Both received contract extensions before the 2012-13 season. Even though both have been in New Orleans since 2010, Loomis said he considered the coming season to be the second year of a building project.
    But, on draft night, Demps gambled to accelerate that process. He dealt the draft’s best pure talent, center Nerlens Noel and a first-round pick in 2014 to Philadelphia, for 23-year-old Eastern Conference All-Star point guard Jrue Holiday. I like the deal.
    Noel may be the next great center in the NBA, but he is the definition of a project. He weighs barely over 200 pounds. And he’s rehabbing a knee injury that makes Christmas Day the likely starting point for his rookie campaign.
    So, the Pelicans went for proven production over immense potential.
    There’s another reason why the deal for Holiday was made. The club – and certainly the tight-lipped Demps – would never admit it, but that reason is empty seats. Last season, New Orleans was 29th in NBA attendance. The club averaged 13,803 customers a game. The numbers say the then-Hornets played to 85 percent of arena capacity.
    The eyeballs at the game said something far different. Plenty of those sold seats went unoccupied.
    It would not be unfair to say there was very little buzz in the building. Only winning truly sells tickets.
    When the Hornets returned in 2007-08, they filled the building in the second half of the season. They won 56 games and the Southwest Division title.
    Days before Hurricane Katrina, the Saints played the Ravens in a preseason game at the Superdome. Less than 30,000 were actually there. Saints’ season tickets, a real commodity in the Payton/Brees era, were easy to acquire at the end of the Jim Haslett/Aaron Brooks era.
    Meantime, Jrue Holiday will help the Pelicans win now. He improved from 4.5 to 8.0 assists a game. His scoring average went from 13.5 to 17.7. Holiday also gives the Pelicans improvement defensively at the point guard position.
    And, by acquiring another scorer, there is less of a need for Eric Gordon. Perhaps in dealing Gordon, the Pelicans can find a way to recoup a 2014 first-round pick. The Pelicans will keep that pick dealt to Cleveland if it is 1 through 5 in the lottery.
    Even with Holiday, and with or without Gordon, the Pelicans are likely back in the lottery next season. It took only 38 wins (Milwaukee) to make the playoffs in the East. But in the West, Houston had to win 45 games to capture the eighth seed.
    So when you hear this summer about the Pelicans continuing to build their roster for the long haul, remember this. More empty seats will test the patience of owner Tom Benson.
    He’s being incredibly patient, for now.
    Ed Daniels is sports director of ABC26 WGNO. He can be reached at edaniels@clarionherald.org.