Pelicans Starting Center Debate: Yves Missi’s Upside vs Kevon Looney’s Championship Experience!

Pelicans Starting Center Debate: Yves Missi’s Upside vs Kevon Looney’s Championship Experience!

With the addition of NBA champion Cavon Looney to this Pelicans front court, I’ve seen a lot of Pelican fans talk about who should be the starting center this season. Cavon Looney or Eve Mei. So, we going to break this down right now in the Pelican Scoop. Q my music. This is the Pelican Scoop with Jordan Kitchens, breaking down everything under the sun about your New Orleans Pelicans. Smash that like button, leave a comment, and subscribe to stay on top of your Pel’s content. Now, Running Point, here’s Jordan. What is good, YouTube? Welcome back to another edition of the Pelican Scoop. I am your host of the most Jordan Kitchens. And ladies and gentlemen, dog days of the summertime, baby. So, we going to just talk about anything and everything under the sun cuz one thing is hot and these Pelican Streets is dry. I mean, dry. Can Can we get somebody to get arrested or something? Can uh can can Zion start the fight club back up? Zion, I apologize, man. You know, I see that. I I truly miss the fight club and and your little shenanigans, but honestly, for Zion at this point of his, like I say, at this point of his career, but you know, his PR and just how his public perception, you know, no news is good news. You know, just just just stay out the way until the season start. That’s just, you know, I see a lot of people talk about, oh, should Zion uh be posting workouts and all this, and honestly, I feel like Zion will be damned if he posted a workout and damned if he don’t at this point. Like, regardless of the fact, your public perception is just not the best at the moment. Outside of I’m talking about like outside of Pelican. I mean, it’s a lot of pel rightfully so. You have a you have a reason to feel your type of way cuz trust me, he’s giving you every reason in the world for to feel some type of way about him. So, hey, man, as long as he just shows up in shape, that’s all I care about. That’s all I care about. but scavenging around and you know doing my little research before I make my videos and trying to figure out you know what the hell is out there to talk about man you know it’s it’s it’s August now and you know media day until September you know I’m kind of I’m just itching and I’m itching right and I’ve seen a lot of people have this type of debate about you know now that we have Kavon Looney here in the front court NBA champion I’m not sitting acting like Kavon Looney is just some you know goatated player but he’s still a a very solid vet you know a respected Hold on let me make sure I I emphasize is a respected around the league veteran. Like he’s respected, especially in his community in Golden State. And I get it. What does a good guy have to do with being a good basketball player? Cuz that’s how, you know, David Griffin tried to sit here and gaslight us like, “Oh, I got all these good guys in here.” Well, god damn it, are they good at basketball? But I think Kavon Looney is going to bring some aspects that this team lacked last year, especially setting screens cuz nobody can set a damn screen on this team. um and rebounding cuz we got out rebounding, we got taken to the cleaners, we got taken to the back of the woodshed every game, especially by teams with huge centers like how Steven Adams and Sang Goon for the Rockets were doing us last year. But the million-dollar question is that is Eve Mei going to be able to hold on to a starting job this season? Will there be a way where that Willie Green just, you know, me, let’s just see what you look like off the bench. You know, does Looney fit better with Zion in the starting lineup? Like, I don’t know. I’m really not too up on Looney’s passing ability, you I know he sets screens and I know he’s a great rebound. He’s a glass cleaner. Obviously, if you come from Golden State system, you got to have some type of sensibility to pass and feel for the game. So, I definitely believe he has that cuz they do a lot of back door cuts and, you know, flares, a whole bunch of shenanigans that the Golden State Warriors do that I feel like Looney can bring that type of aspect. So, I feel like he does have it in his game. I’m not sure he has that type of point center type of mentality where he’s just, but we can see, you know, this also opportunity for Looney to step out and show what he has in his game. his first time not in the Steve Kirk Golden State system. I can’t tell you what Willie Green system is. It’s kind of like um hey bro, just go out there and figure it out. But it might be a sense where Looney can’t go out there and figure it out. Now, I’m not saying Mei needs to be coming off the bench, but I feel like Mei didn’t do himself any favors with his summer league performance. He had every opportunity in the summer league to show that you know what he’s been. He showed like he’s he worked on these things, but he just he just do we’re not working. And I mean, I remember on one summer league game, go back and watch my summer league game. I reviewed pretty much every game except the last one cuz at that point, who cared? They didn’t win a game. But I did review pretty much every summer league game. And I’m just like, man, it’s like it’s not like he’s missing, you know, mid-range shots and missing uh, you know, like he’s shooting a ball. He shot like one three and that went airballed it. But at the same time, like he missing layups. The main problem with him last year was like he he couldn’t go up to the rack a little stronger. You go up a little, you know, you bring the ball out so far, you know, you don’t don’t bring it down, just bring it right, you know, little things that a big man’s supposed to do that me obviously cuz he’s just started playing basketball and he’s another super young. I don’t think Misi can buy a beer at the moment, but still has a lot of growth in his game. Like you can see it, but is he ever going to get there? Right? Cuz at a certain point, it’s not no more about, oh, potential, potential, potential. It’s like, oh, this is what you are. This is this is just what you are. Like this is the type of player you are. So Mei is a big year for Mei. Big year. And I’m not riding him off like he’s No, Mi even if he’s not a starting caliber big. He’s still a rotational piece that can come on, you know, give you high energy, give you good I mean he had one moment in the summer league where dude tried to like dunk on him after the whistle. I think it might have been an OKC game. It me just like swatted a shot like just absolutely met Buddy at the rim and just I’m like, “Oh yeah.” And he was like talking at like, “But you trying to come in here and try me like that?” So I like to see that part of his game. himself. But I do feel that in a sense that Willie Green is going to tinker with the lineups. Like I feel like yeah, there might be some games that Me is going to come out and start. There might be some games Looney starts, you know, depending on the matchup. Like if the team likes to go small or, you know, they like to be running gun, I don’t know which team’s going to be like that this year. We got to see how all that turns out. I mean, we’re talking the middle of summertime. These are all hypotheticals at the end of the day. But still, could this be like a matchup based platoon going on? Like, all right, well, you know, or like, you know, this is a bigger team. They have guys that like to attack the paint. So, we’re gonna have Mei, you know, Mei start this game, you know, protect the rim and whatnot. Or like this team, they’re a little bit smaller. You know, they’re not really attacking the rim. And also, you know, having Derek Queen in the mix, too. So, it’s going to be interesting to see what type of lineups and how Willy’s going to try and utilize these guys. So, let’s check this out real quick. So, Mei rookie year stats you see on the screen. He averaged nine points. He had eight rebounds, 1.4 four assists, zero steals, 1.3 blocks on 26 minutes a game, 54% from the field, uh 62% from the free throw line. So, you see the potential he gives you. He was a walking double double and at certain points of the season, he was leading it for rookie of the year. I know it sounds Yeah, he was leading. He was the leading candidate to get rookie of the year. So, it’s there. You see the skeleton, you see the exoskeleton, you see what it can be if you add the meat and potatoes to the body, right? if he gets his body a little bit bigger, if he gets his um finishing. I mean, honestly, you just got to call it what it is. Just finishing. It’s got to be It’s got to I mean, hopefully from the summer league up until training camp and whatnot, he’s been in the gym working on finishing layups, hooks around the basket because there was just no way, Jose, that I feel confident with me going into the season. The way how he was just missing and smoking layups in the summer league, especially because there’s going to be times where we just dump you the ball off. In my opinion, I think he needs to be dunking it more. I mean, bro, you’re you’re not 7 foot4. Be like 6’11, 610 jumping out the gym. Just go ahead and just go put somebody in the rim. All right? Stop trying to be having a soft touch. You’re not Zion. That’s not your game. Okay? Yeah, you you got a little touch. You know, you you catch you’re not really catching the ball like how you’re supposed to catch the ball. So, just go ahead once they touch your hands. Go ahead and try and dunk on somebody. I rather that. All right. Stop with the layup. So, that’s what Mei gives you. Cavon Looney on the other hand, he’s not gonna really give you that type of scoring aspect, but he’s gonna give you the the dirty work. All right, the rebounding. And honestly, if you ask me, there’s no way that Kavon Looney signed to the Pelicans this off seasonason and didn’t expect to have a bigger role than he was in Golden State. You know, he’s slowly slowly getting out the rotation. Kind of really was out the rotation last year. So, you know, he’s coming not only to give a leadership aspect and show him how winning supposed to look, but also he’s coming here to have a little bit of bigger role to try and revitalize, you know, his career and whatnot. Not saying Looney’s playing his way out the league, but you go from being a starting center on the championship roster to not even playing no more to Jackson, what’s his name? Trace Jackson Davis or whatever is the the center for the Warriors and Post, the the white guy that can shoot the threes. Those guys beating you out the rotation. So, he’s not coming to New Orleans to just be sitting on the bench and be like a Garrett Temple clapping it up, you know, you know, being Willie Green’s teach a pet. Like, he’s not coming here to be that. I think Looney really came here to to play and I think he will play. Now, it just depends on, if you ask me right now, I think it will be matchup based. Do I think Eve Misi will start the season as a starting center? Yes. But do I feel like there’s going to be certain games where, you know, Willie might tinker it and start Looney? Ah, I can definitely see that. I can definitely see that and I think that’s how it will go until Mei just takes the job by the reins and be like, “No, I’m the starting center, right? As long if Mi comes out here and blocking shot because we’re not asking Mi to be over here. Oh yeah, Mei, we got to get you 15 20 point.” We’re not asking you to do that. get you every finish lobs. You know, if it off the glass, offensive rebounds, put backs, do all that. You know, if you block a shot and do we just need it out there 10 points, couple a block or two and nine to 10 rebounds. That’s all I’m asking for. And make your layups. All right, that’s it. We’re not asking you to come out here and be Joel Embiid. No, no, no, no, no, no. Catch lobs, finish layups, catch the ball, dunk it, block. It’s all you got to do and run the floor. You know what I’m saying? Like that’s all me has to do. So until he comes out here and proves himself cuz he had that in the summer league and he didn’t do it. He didn’t take the opportunity. I’m not going to lie. He didn’t try. He tried. It just it just looked bad. Okay. He tried to do it. It just it just didn’t come all the way together. But also he talked about, you know, none of the guys really came out there and bought some league. They didn’t win a damn game. So I’m not going to act like the team was here and he just wasn’t beating them. The whole everybody, you know, all right, we ain’t even talk about as in the past. But he had the opportunity. So until Meisi comes in here and just takes the job out of the range, it’s like, you know what, you ain’t bitching me, Willie. I’m the starting center. Like, there is no questions that Mei’s in or out the lineup. So, we shall see. So, y’all let me know down in the comments what do you guys think how this front court rotation is going to be. You know, maybe Derek Queen in the center mix. I don’t know. We shall see. We got say he comes back from his injury. But, it’s dog days, ladies and gentlemen. But we going to find our way through. We see the light at the end of the tunnel. We just making our way through, man. We just getting these reps in. So, when the season start, we we off and running, man. So, appreciate y’all for 2,000. Appreciate you even for staying to the end of the video. If you stayed, drop a like. Why not, man? Show some love so we can keep this bad boy rolling. But I’ve been your host, the most Jordan Kitchens, and I’m signing out. Peace.

The Pelicans have a big decision to make at center — and fans are fired up!
Will they roll with Yves Missi, the high-upside young talent coming off a strong rookie season? Or lean on Kevon Looney, a proven NBA champion with leadership and playoff experience?
In this video, Jordan Kitchens break down the strengths, weaknesses, and fit of both players in the Pelicans’ system.
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