The league wide skepticism on the Pelicans started when Joe Dumars was named the head of basketball operations and only grew when Troy Weaver was brought into the fold. When the Pelicans traveled up to Chicago for the NBA Draft Combine a month prior, the league had already placed a target on their back. ”Man they were killing them up there,” one agent told me, referring to rival front offices. “They think they (the Pelicans) got F—in idiots in charge. It got so bad, I just felt sorry.” Teams were already jockeying for the privilege to conduct the first trade with the Pelicans as more than one executive jokingly expressed to me that the Pelicans are going to be their first call.