Are Pelicans Rookies Derik Queen & Jeremiah Fears Overhyped or Underrated? Let’s Talk Expectations!

Jeremiah Fears and Derek Queen. Two key important pieces for the Pelicans this season. And we got to talk about what we should expect out of these rookies this season. A year you’re going to need it. So y’all know what to do to 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 Pelic Scoop. I am your host without the most Jordan Kitchens. And ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I know you ain’t seen my face in a minute. No, you ain’t seen a video in a minute. And look, look, look, it ain’t I I would just took a break. All right. It was at that point in the offseason where you’re so far from the start of the season with training camp media day and anything and you’re so far removed from the summer league and um the draft and all this. So, you’re just you’re running out of topics to talk about. You’re running out of topics to talk about. I just felt like man, I was just sitting here just scraping scrap like you know what? But now we’re starting to ramp it back up. Training camp starts at the end of this month. So, and the season starts next month. So, we’re here. We’re here. So, we’re going to dive into we’re starting to do our little breakdowns and what we should expect. And so, this year, I really want to come out and give my expectations for players. I already talked about this in previous videos, but it’s been a minute. So, I want to give my expectations of what I should expect out of these guys this year. And it’s only right we start off with the one of I mean the the most well, one the most controversial player on the team. Well, outside of Zion Williamson, the second most controversial player on the team and then you got a 18-year-old and Jeremiah Fierce. I think he might be turning 19 soon. So, we’ll see about that. I’ll go look into that. But at the same time, these two guys, you’re going to need him. And not only in spending premium draft capital to get Derrick Queen, but also Jeremiah Fears is a top 10 pick and he just slowly gets put to the wayside a little bit because Derrick Queen is just he just attracts all this attention and he will. So, this season really is predicated to these boys going to have to sink or swim. And the reason why I’m I’m coming out so strong and saying that they need to be contributors off rip. Let me just read you the Pelicans bench quote unquote this season. So this is who I have labeled as bench players for the Pelicans this season. Jose Alvarado, Sadiq Bay, Jordan Hawkins, Looney, you know, either could be Looney or it could be Mei. We’ll see which way Willie Green wants to go. Does he want to, you know, do a type of platoon swap or whatever or is more like all right matchup base? We we will see. But I think Mei is the starter. But you know, a lot of people want me to come out the bench for Looney, but I’m not in that in that group. So, like I say, Looney, Carlo, Fierce, Queen, Mai Peavey, that’s your bench. So, off reading that, yes, Jeremiah Fierce, and Derek Queen will be in the mix. Now, how much off rip in the beginning? We shall see. You know, Willie Green’s not going to give them much off rip. Also, we got to preface Derek Queen probably won’t be back for like the first couple games or maybe like the first couple weeks of the season. You know, he’s dealing with that his wrist surgery. But listen, man, Derek Queen has been in the gym. I know people want to, oh, you sloppy summer league, blah, blah, and you know, I I feel like the summer league stuff is so overblown because not only was the Pelicans bad during the summer, like they were just bad. I They didn’t win a game. They did not win a game. Not only was the team bad, what the few bright spots was Queen and Fierce. You know, Trey Alexander was hit or miss every now and then. Uh Lester Kas got picked up by somebody else, but other than that, Queen had his ups and downs. fears had his ups and downs, but I just feel like Queen just gets micro puts on such a pedestal and a microscope. It’s like god damn like oh my goodness. But it’s not his fault. It’s not his fault. This is what Joe Dumas has brought upon this young man and he’s going to have to sink or swim. So off reading that bench, it’s a it’s a real far cry from where the bench used to be in the Pelicans 49 win season. But back then you also had Tyson Daniels and Trey Murphy predominantly coming off the bench that year. So you had two starters, one allNBA defensive player, probably should have won defensive player of the year coming off the bench. And Trey Murphy, who if you ask me is going to be a, you know, when it’s all said and done, probably be a three to four time all-star. So you had those guys coming off your bench. You don’t have that no more. You don’t have that luxury in a season where you have to make the playoffs. And I already told you, I’m going to say that in every damn video. You have to make the playoffs. So let’s just start our expectations there. That needs to be the floor is playoffs. It don’t matter how you get in. You can get in through the plan. I don’t give a damn how you get in at this point. You know, usually I don’t want to go. I would like to avoid the plan, but the Western Conference is a beast. Trust me, we’re going to do a Western Conference breakdown very soon. Probably sometime this week. We’re going to do a Western Conference breakdown so I can really, really, really, really show you guys that, hey, man, making it through the playin, it will not be all that bad this year. Now, years in the past, because it’s already, you’re already labeled to be a bottom feeder already. People have already written off the Pelicans team. That’s why. And I’m not I’m not condoning uh not I was about to call him David Griffin almost I almost disrespected you so crazy Polo Joe by calling you Griff. I almost you know it’s like I got a symbiot like I’m Venom or something almost like started twitching a little bit just thinking about Griff. I was like you know David no but Polo Joe he went ahead and did that and we got to live and die by it. So it is what it is. So you can keep sitting here crying like oh yeah it’s over and done brother for months. So we just got to deal with it is what it is. All right. I told you guys, you guys already know you’re a Pelicans fan. You already know this a toxic relationship. This should be nothing new to you. It shouldn’t be. But at this point, these are the soldiers you got and we got to go to war and a situation where it can get nuclear very fast. And I mean by nuclear, like Zion Williams will go down with an injury cuz I mean, I’m talking about the two rookies and what their impact should be on this season. We’re going to get to them, but I I can’t preface this enough. None of this matters if number one is not leading the charge. None of this matters. Jeremiah Fields doesn’t matter. Trey Murphy doesn’t matter. Um Derek Clean doesn’t matter. Herb Jones, none of them. None of them matter if number one is not driving the ship. No if and buts about it. This is the time where he has to be the guy. He has to be the the king that was promised. That’s the only way this team will not sink is if number one is the king that was promised. Simple as that. You’re looking at year seven. If it’s now, it’s never. This is the season. So, I can I just want to put that out there. I We can keep talking about all these uh oh, is Willie Green going to do this? Or is is Trey Mur? Who cares if number one’s not there? If number one’s not producing, if number one’s not on the court, if number one’s not playing over 65 games, you can kiss it goodbye. Mail it in. It’s over. Simple as that. And look, people might not want to hear that, but it’s the truth. It’s the truth. Your best player has to be the best player on the team for this team to do anything. If they want to be any type of life in the Western Conference, number one has to play. I’m not worried about like how’s he going to be on the court. We we we seen when he’s on the court, he’s he’s a baller. All right. No matter how you want to chop it up, he’s really good. That’s why they’ve been dealing with this BS for so long. But we can talk about Jeremiah Fears and talk about Derrick Queen, but I cannot preface this enough. It would not matter if number one’s not out there. So Jeremiah fears and I’m coming out and saying this on September 16th, 2025. All right, this this is where I want my base ground to be. And I I want to like to revisit these videos. So y’all hold me tight. We’re going to revisit this. That’s why I’m bringing out It takes a man to go out there and put his his what he’s expecting and not just wait till things play out and be like, “Oh yeah, you know, I said this and this.” No. So this is what I’m seeing before the season even start. Now my expectations for Jeremiah fears this season, I expect a lot of ups and downs. I expect some very highs and I expect some really, really lows. Right? All right, you’re talking about a turnoverprone young point guard. I mean, extremely young. All right, this dude is supposed to be going into his freshman year of college. All right, he reclassified a year early in high school. So, his senior year of high school was his freshman year of college. So, I’m expecting and he was dealing with turnover problems and shooting the three. Now, I’m expecting him and he had turnover problems in the summer league. So, I’m expecting Willie to give him a leash long enough to hang himself. basically like he’s going to put him out there and the first sign that Fierce will be struggling or he’s getting too many turnovers in the stretch, they’re going to yank him. They’re going to yank him. He’ll put Jose in, you know, maybe even run. I don’t know. Hawkins, even though Hawkins is not a ball handler, we seen that. But Willie still be giving him the ball like he can ball handle. I don’t know what the hell Willie got going on, but I just think he’s going to see very highs from from fears, but it’s going to be some lows. I mean, he’s really going to show how good of a coach Willie is that’s going to be able to keep his confidence and keep him engaged in. But Fierce feels like he has the right mindset and and the right makeup about him that he’s not going to just he he’s always been the youngest guy like he he knows that he’s he’s here for a reason. So, I’m not expecting him to like turtle up or you know willy first sign of adversity will you know willie yank him and he just you just never see the the kid that you was promised coming out of Oklahoma. I don’t think that at all. All right. I think he has the right from Chicago so he’s a tough son of a gun. He’s gonna be tough, but at the same time, will he be able to, you know, gain that trust from Willie? Not only just gain the trust, but gain enough trust where Willy’s actually inserting him as one of the first guys off the bench. Knock on wood, but we already know how the Pelicans going to go. Somebody’s going to get hurt. It’s it’s the nature of the beast. So, somebody gets hurt and he gets a start. I would like to see that. And I think Willie will give him an opportunity to go out there and do that. But, it’s up to him. And we just have to have time. We have to give him grace. We got to give him time. This kid is young. He’s super young and he’s a point guard. You know, it’s gonna take time for him to develop into a real NBA point guard. You know, you see the intangibles of what he can be, but he’s going to have to clean the turnovers up. He’s going to have to fix that tunnel vision where it’s Jeremiah Fear’s time. All right? It ain’t always Jeremiah Fierce time. We got a guy with a $100 million contract. We got another guy with a $200 million contract. Get them the ball. And you also got Jordan Pool who I’m pretty sure is not on a cheap deal. I don’t know exactly how much he’s being paid, but I highly doubt it’s cheap. So, we got those guys. Let’s get them the ball. All right. You can fit in when you get in. So, so that’s what my expectation for Fears is this season. I expect a lot of highs. I expect some lows. I expect a lot of lows, but it’s up to him to go out there and figure it out. But if I had to say anything, I think he will make the all all rookie team. I think he’ll get enough burn. I think he has enough character makeup. Even if the season does go bad, that means that’s more playing time for him. So, I think he’ll make one of the all rookie teams for sure. He’s either got to be first or second team. But, let’s talk about why he’s still probably watching this video. Derek Queen. Everybody’s expecting Derrick Queen to be probably one of the worst NBA players to ever suit up in the NBA. I mean, the conversations around Derrick Queen name is like, “How is this guy even a top 10 p?” Well, label as they they don’t even know how he made it to college. Like that that’s the that’s the way how people talk about Derek Queen. I don’t understand it at all. Um, you know, I was Derek Queen trooer. I still am a Derk Queen trooer. I mean, I I I want Derek Queen to succeed and there how much I want to succeed at this point. Like, that’s how much I’m rooting for Derek Queen at this point. But um just the conversations around his name uh this this guy they don’t even know how he’s an NBA basketball player. I mean people talk about Derek Queen like this kid is just he’s just some goofball sloth that just somehow tricked everybody into becoming a first round pick in the NBA draft. I mean they they talk about his defense like he is just absolute he does nothing. He adds no value offensively. He adds no value play. He he Derrick Queen just adds no value. That’s just that is that is literally the conversation around his name. I can’t fathom it, but it’s true. I’m not lying. Go look go look go look go search his name up. Derek Queen. They talk about Derek Queen like he’s a a legit abomable snowman like or not the Yeti like he’s a yeti or something. I I I cannot explain it. But what I’m expecting from Derek Queen, I’m expecting him to start off slow. I’m expecting that. All right. He’s coming from the wrist injury. He’s got to, you know, get his We’ll see. I I I seen him in the gym. they over there taking the the team posted a Kobe picture of him basically with a with a the cast on getting shots up. So, I expect Derrick Queen to start off slow and slowly get his way going. I mean, he’s a slow player, but I don’t think he’s um a human garbage can like how people talk about him like he’s just some some slouch. I don’t think Derek Queen’s a slouch. Super skilled. Go watch my videos in the past. I y’all know how I feel about Derek Queen. But what I’m expecting from Derek Queen, he’s going to have to make the all rookie team for this trade to work out. He’s going to have to play a lot this year. It’s going to have to show that he’s a top 10 pick. I’m not going to send it over top five. Whatever. H he’s got to be top 10. He’s a number 13 pick. He gave up a pick next year for him. He’s got to be top 10. All right. So, that’s why he has to be on all rookie team. That’s why I’m expecting him. I’m expecting to start out slow, but I’m expecting him to get his footing underneath him real fast cuz he’s a gamer. He’s a hooper. So, that’s my expectations. You guys let me know your expectations down below out of the rookies or you can talk about the team. We’re going to keep ramping up about the team. We’ll keep going. But right now, I just want to start off with the rookies before we really get into the meat and potatoes of what everybody wants to see. Y’all comment down below anything, man. I’ve been your host, the Mojo Jordan Kitchens, man. Thank you for sticking to the end of the video, man. Subscribe to my main channel down below in the description, and I’m signing out. Peace.

The Pelicans made bold moves in the draft—now it’s time to ask the real question: Are Derik Queen and Jeremiah Fears ready to deliver? Whether you’re all-in on the rookies or cautiously optimistic, this is the deep dive you need before tip-off. Let’s talk potential, pressure, and what it’ll take for these young guns to make their mark in New Orleans.
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