The New Orleans Pelicans Have Boxed Themselves Into A Corner

The New Orleans Pelicans Have Boxed Themselves Into A Corner

What is up fellow sickos? I’m Dan Valley coming at you with another 2025 2026 NBA season look ahead. We’re on to the New Orleans Pelicans which means I am joined by Schmidt Dua of the Ino Substack, the Ino podcast. The links to both of those things can be found in our podcast and YouTube description of this episode. Follow him on the social machines at Fear the Brown spelled exactly as it sounds. Schmidt, how the heck are you doing? Thanks so much for coming back. Dan, I’m doing well. I love that this has become an annual tradition and I genuinely look forward it forward to it before the season starts. But I’m doing well. How are you? Uh I’m doing well. I am going to say I’m a little I don’t know if it’s sick and tired or just exhausted from I feel like each season we enter this with the Pelicans as being one of the most confusing teams or toughest teams to pin down both in terms of their short-term priorities and direction and potential and then also big picture stuff. Uh, it’s going to be another one of the, for me at least, it’s just going to be another one of those seasons. And so I have to start by asking you, what do you just make of their direction following everything that happened this off season? I think if we’re being truthful, there is no real direction here. Um, I I I mean that genuinely because on one front, they have a very public and vocal commitment to Zion Williamson. And when you do that, you have to try to be a good team and you have to try to win because that player is very good despite, you know, everything else that comes with Zion. On another hand, they are investing heavily in young players and rookies that they’ve very much like and are excited to have in their building. And so, you know, we just saw the Warriors try this two timeline sort of thing. And it didn’t work out well for them. And I don’t anticipate it really working out um for the Pelicans in that I don’t think they can thread the needle of being competitive and developing the young players. I think they have to pick a direction. What I do think is that if they reach a point where they’re like, “We have to move Zion Williamson and we’re just going to lean into the youth movement.” That’s not something they’re going to be upset about. which I guess is fine, but when you trade for Derek Queen by giving up an unprotected pick in 2026, that complicates the whole like, oh, we’re going to go lean into a a longer term approach. And you had a fantastic piece on in the on the in the no substack about like all the events surrounding that trade. We’re two months removed from the situation now. Have your thoughts or intel on that changed at all? No, I wish I wish my thoughts had changed. I wish the intel was changed. Um, you know, it’s uh it was a very tough situation in the draft. Uh, in that I think they made a poor trade. Um, I think they didn’t properly assess the risk uh associated with that trade. Uh, however, you know, their belief is that they did the homework with regards to Queen extensively. Um Troy Weaver spent a lot of time while he was in Washington watching um Queen while he was in Maryland. Troy Weaver’s son was a graduate assistant um on that staff. So they have uh a very good idea um in their opinion of of what kind of player Queen is and they’re betting on that upside and and they believe that they got a top five player um in this draft and he would be a top five player in the next draft. So they’re just taking out an advance and getting this player in now. Um, and so obviously I think the the majority of the basketball world doesn’t agree with the expenditure to go get Queen, you know, with with regards to that unprotected first round pick the following year, which is the best of uh New Orleans and Milwaukee. So there’s there’s two futures kind of tied to that pick. And I and frankly, I don’t think the team anticipated to there to be such a big backlash um with regards to the trade. I think they thought that this would be a fairly standard trade and you know there’d be people would have opinions on both sides of it but you know that’s how trades work. But I think the basketball universe kind of collectively coming together and reacting in a way that was so strong it was like oh my gosh like what what is going on? Um, I think that caught them off guard and, you know, so they’re going to have to deal with the the consequences of that this this coming year, whether, you know, if they’re trying to be a good team, hopefully they make the playoffs and that’s not a good pick they’re giving up. But if they’re not a good team, then, hey, that’s that’s the the route they chose. Yeah. And we hammered them on this podcast like everybody else. I’m not even trying to relitigate just so much as I’m still trying to wrap my head around like what would need to happen with Derek Queen for this trade to be worth it because it could be the Luca Donic trade like the Mavericks could have won the championship this season after making that trade and they still would have lost the trade because it’s why not get a bigger hall or why is this the asset you gave up and I I know they like Jeremiah Fears but I kind of land well if you thought Derek Queen was a top five player and he was available when you had another high draft pick why not use it on him and so I just like how good would Derek Queen need to be out he’s dealing with a wrist injury too so like that’s going to be another variable in this but I don’t even know how good that he could be right out of the gate for people’s imp I guess the team itself could just be better than expected and if you wind up giving the the 17th pick or something is a lot different than we just sent like the ninth pick out. Yeah, look I want to be very clear. Um, people should get used to separating the outcome from the process with regards to this trade. Like I think Derrick Queen could become an MVP and I would still say the process of what they did was wrong because they could have reached the same pick. They could have drafted Derrick Queen for a much cheaper price. all they had to do is put protections on it or, you know, try to introduce a different pick or just do any kind of thing that protected them on the backside because I think if you were to take this exact pick that they traded and you were to shop it around the league and you’d be like, “All right, we’re trying to trade this pick.” The value that they could have gotten back would have been greater than the the right to jump from 21 to 13, which is what what they did. Um, so with regards to that, it’s like, yes, it was an overpay. You know, it’s like going to a sandwich shop and you spend $100 on a sandwich and you’re like, man, this was this actually was an amazing sandwich, but it’s like, why’d you spend $100 on that sandwich, right? Um, could have got it for six. But what I think is that there is a world and and at the same time it’s not fair to judge Derrick Queen by this trade either because I think a lot of people are going to uh place a lot of expectations on him or just tie like the management’s decision making to his career which I think are two separate things. Like again, he can become an MVP, he can become an all-star, he can become a really good player in general, and you know, like at 13, if if the Pelicans just had the 13th pick and they selected Queen, I think that’s a perfectly fine selection. I don’t think that’s a reach. I think, you know, if if they hadn’t arrived at 13 the way they did, no one would be talking about this, right? And so, um, yeah, so I don’t think, you know, his career or his like I guess next season or next couple seasons really change how this trade is going to be viewed. But I do think there’s going to be some like bad faith actors who like if Queen has a strong uh career to start or he has a really bad career to start, they’re going to like talk about the trade in a certain light. And and I just don’t think I just don’t think those two things are particularly relevant given all the information that was available at draft time. No, we need to do a better job everybody of just detaching. It’s the same thing with contracts where if there’s a good player but they sign a contract that you don’t deem a good value or that they’re overpaid and people all of a sudden can’t admit that they’re still like a valuable player that’s just overpaid for sure. Um so moving aside from the actual trade and then also now this wrist injury he’s dealing with, what are like sort of your early impressions of Derek Queen? I was uh a big fan watching him throughout the season um in college. He was just one of those players who every time he stepped out on the court, it’s like, “Oh my god, he’s doing something incredibly fun at his size that a lot of players just typically don’t do.” He also just produced in terms of like points, rebounds, like assists, and he had a really good impact on that Maryland team. And obviously, you know, he um hit that gamewinner. Um why am I blinking uh who it was against? Anyways, he came up big in moments that mattered against that team and he was a very fun watch. However, it he came he comes with a lot of we’re going to frame it as improvement areas. Um because we don’t know uh what it’s ultimately going to look like, but a big improvement area for him is conditioning. Um, and the conditioning allowing him to run that motor uh hotter than than it’s been in terms of getting back in transition or simply getting down in stance and guarding someone or making a rotation. Um, you know, going after uh making making multiple contests on a single defensive action, things of that nature. I think he’s gets really excited and really involved when the plays are going through him on the offensive end. And you you kind of see that a lot with young players like, okay, like they have the ball, they feel engaged, they’re doing things, but in the NBA, the system is not going to be built built around that player. And so, it’s going to be imperative for him to find ways to contribute um and contribute with a ton of effort when inevitably the ball’s going through Zion Williamson or Jordan P or or Trey Murphy or whoever, right? Or even Jeremiah Fierce, who is his his um rookie classmate. the my impressions of him are just based entirely off summer league and I go entirely off vibes during summer. I don’t care about the efficiency. I by and large don’t care about the turnovers. I’m excited about the stuff that as just a big man with his size that it looks like he can do with a live dribble. Even if there’s room for the handle improvement, even if there’s room for the processing speed on his passes, I think that he’s going to end up being a really really good offensive player in the NBA. And if there’s, you know, if he has, if he’s able to expand out to the three-point line consistently, that’s going to make him even more dangerous. I’m curious about the conditioning stuff just because I know everyone was not happy with the transition defense or defense overall in summer league. But as like an actual player, I am super intrigued by him. I’m also though just curious like what do you make of his fit with Zion Williamson? And it’s not to say, you already mentioned this at the top, that the Pelicans view Zion as the entire future of the organization necessarily. I go back and forth on like there feels like I don’t want to say redundancies but problem areas and then I go back and look at all like the other bigs that Zion has played alongside his career and then part of me is can’t bring myself to care. Yeah, I I I think you’re spot on um with that assessment that I think Zion is so talented that he finds a way to make it work and not just make it work, like excel with any any kind of big and and frankly I think we haven’t really seen Zion with a true stretch big, so we can’t know that for for sure what that looks like. But I think Zion to this date has been at his best when he’s paired with a big that can rebound the crap out of the ball. like just someone that inhales rebounds because that is a weakness for Zion and that is a strength for Derek Queen. He was one of the leading rebounders in all of summer league despite being out of shape. You know, he I think he averaged a double double um in the short time he had before his wrist got injured. Um and it was mindboggling watching him. You’re like, “Oh my god, this dude’s like not moving on the court.” And you look up and it’s like, “All right, he fell into 15 and 13.” Like how, you know, it’s like, so that that’s the level of of talent that you’re working with. Um, so I think offensively it’s going to be just fine. Zion has had no issues with the spacing with regards to those bigs. And what’s going to inevitably happen is I think it’s going to be it’s going to force other teams to play bigger. Um, uh, and it’s going to be tougher to guard Zion with smaller players because when they run actions involving those two, you’re going to have to switch it. And that’s a lot of physicality that you have to deal with. Um because both players love love love just banging around in the paint and and it’s not from standstill positions like they’re posting up. They like they’re driving um and throwing their shoulders around, you know, and so it’s going to be tough for a lot of teams to deal with. Uh and I don’t think we’re going to see it for 30 minutes tonight, but it’d be nice to to kind of introduce that ear early early on and grow into it. If if Zion is your future, which I think is more of a marketing scheme than than anything else. Um, if Zion is your future and those are guys you invest in heavily, then it it is like an organizational responsibility to play them together and go through the trials and tribulations of figuring out if they work or not. Because ultimately what you’re doing is these are bets on extreme right tail outcomes. The right tail outcome that Zion’s going to stay healthy and produce at the level that he’s capable of. the right tail outcome that uh Derek Queen is a top five player in in both of these drafts. Uh the right tail outcome that Queen is I mean sorry Fears is someone that is also a top five player because that is a valuation they had on him. And so it’s like cool if all of these ceilings hit. Yeah. This this this could end up being incredible and and now you’re locked into a core that is frightening to match up again. But I it’s it’s the floor is just as low. like it is if not lower. The floor is just as low with this grouping. What I also find fascinating about this is because they’re at least incentivized. I won’t even say internally, it just seems again the trade the read is that they think they’re going to be pretty good. What type of role do you expect when he’s healthy Derrick Queen to have on this team out of the gate during his rookie season knowing that there’s at least a modeiccom of immediate expectations in the building? Well, it’s super tough because there is a whole Willie Green factor that is going to come into play here. Green Willie Green doesn’t always want to play his young players. Is that No. Uh surprising, especially if they don’t play defense. Um which is like look, Green is in a tough situation heading into this season. He is entering the final year of his contract. And didn’t he just get an extension in 2024, too? So, was it just like we tacked on a year? I thought that was the reporting. Yeah, they had some like option. Well, the the extension I think the report came out in 24. The extension like happened like in the past before that report came out and it was just like a delayed like oh by the way he got extended, but it was one of those things where when they made the playoffs it like triggered like additional years and things of that nature. And so like he has one year left and and there is another option actually at the end of at the end of this year. So they could technically pick up that option and have it two years left. But to my knowledge, that option has not been picked up. And so he’s heading uh into the season as a lame duck. Um to my understanding, and I’ll stand by this reporting, he has been mandated uh by Gail Benson to Joe Dumar that you have to keep him around for now. Um for now is is is is key because I can see a world where things don’t start off great in the middle of the season and and Willy’s gone. And so I think Willie is probably aware at this point he’s coaching for his job. And if he’s coaching for his job, is he going to play the rookies? I don’t know. Because coaching for your job could also mean listening to your bosses and playing the rookies because they’re telling you to play the rookies. So he is in a very I think he’s in a no-win situation because he has the expectations of delivering wins and being a competitive team, especially because they don’t have their pick this year. and he’s been handed these two rookies that are not the style of players that he typically enjoys playing. You know, the the rookies that he’s given a lot of minutes to at the gate are like the Dyson Daniels and Herb Jones of the world where he’s like, “I’m going to throw you out there and I know you’re going to be great defensively and we’ll figure out the rest.” um where it’s it’s now these are two very very very talented offensively talented rookies that you know typically Willie Green’s approach on offense holistically has been we’re just going to let our stars cook. Um and that’s not uncommon in the NBA like that’s a lot of times that’s what it boils down to. but he’s going to be tasked to bring more out of the roster offensively, which I think has fallen short um with regards to the talent that’s been on the team in years past. And so, yeah, if he can’t deliver on that, I can just see a you know, you’re three weeks into the season and the seats getting really really hot. Jeremiah Fears early impressions of him maybe extending beyond I mean like that dude just has a lot of onball thrust like that was clearly evident and I come in with very little prior on these guys so seeing him in summer league was like almost revoly for me and um they should hang a banner for him playing in every summer league game no other uh pick did that right so I was not a Jeremiah Fears guy coming out of the draft but I think he’s going to end up being fine as a finisher around the rim and some of the shots he can get off are incredible and just again that on ball speed is insane. Yeah, look, I think the theme with Fears and Queen is that they’ve taken these talent plays on dudes who aren’t traditionally like in terms of like their size and position and role uh successful NBA players like right now like they’re not in in like in vogue like like teams are moving away from the small guard who can’t really shoot. Teams are moving away from that positionless big who doesn’t really play defense at either position. So like they want versatility. They want size, they want mobility, and these two players are very much bucking that trend of like, no, we’re going to we believe that these players are going to be so good um that they’re going to contribute. And with Fears, I I’m actually pretty optimistic with him. Um I think there are two traits that are really inspiring to me. Um one of which we didn’t see too much in summer league, but uh the first trait is he gets to the free throw line like a menace and he shoots really, really well. And I think that is a prerequisite if you want to be a star in this league. But it’s a prerequisite if you’re a small guard. You have to live at the line. You have to find a way to uh score points that inevitably doesn’t involve you shooting a bunch of tough shots over sevenfooters with insane wings fans. Um the the the second thing is which was more prevalent in college than than it is than it was in summer league is that he was extremely good in the floater/midrange area. And it was more so like 17 ft and in rather than like the long two. He would get two feet in the paint. his drive threat would be so potent that, you know, he’d have defenses backpedaling and he was able to play in such a shifty manner that he would able to get a good like 8-footer or 9 foot or 10 foot shot like in the paint. Um, and he converted on those at a a relatively high rate for how young he was. And so I think those are two promising markers of the the deep ball eventually coming around. And if that comes around, he’s going to be a very very good player. If that doesn’t come around, it’s going to be tough. Um, I think there’s pathways to being someone who stays in the league for a very long time. You look at Dennis Schroeder, he’s not a a fantastic uh shooter by any means, but you know, he gets to the rim, he scores, teams are still giving him money. Um, shout out Kings, bro. Like, good job. Um, but, you know, that that’s more the prototype you’re looking for at that point. But what’s going to happen is that that three ball I think will eventually make or break his career. And and look, we look at Dear Fox. I think Fox is a bigger and a better athlete than than Fears, but just in terms of like their downhill presence. What really unlocked Fox’s career in my opinion was not him making threes, but shooting a ton. And when you are on the ball so much, you have to have like a little bit of I’m you go under, I’m just going to pull the trigger. and you’re gonna do it seven, eight times a game because when you do that, you will have nights where you hit five and you’re just gonna be unguardable like for that game. What do you have any like kind of strong or any impressions at all about what you think his ceiling might be as a playmaker or the ability to develop some chemistry with with Zion who again is best on the ball but like if you have someone like Jeremiah Fears like I would assume the idea would be to run some stuff with the two of them together. Yeah, I think that is honestly I think I have more questions about that fit than the queen fit with Zion. Um I’ve seen Zion make it work with with bigs with regards to guards who can’t shoot. They can Zion is not the most willing pick and roll player as a role man. Um and he doesn’t because he just doesn’t view himself in that role. And so I think, look, this is completely me psychoanalyzing, but it’s not uh it’s not reporting. It is a complete guess. But I think if Zion thinks he’s better than the guard that he’s playing with, like that’s not something he wants to do because Zion’s like, “I’m the best guard.” You know, but if he was playing with like Steph Curry, he’d be like, “Yeah, cool.” Like I I’ll go step some screens for you, man. Yeah. Exactly. Um, but so with Fears, I think Fears is going to have to learn the set screens. Number one, if you want to play with Zion and you’re a small, you have to learn a set screens because that is a favorable switch waiting to happen. If there is a center that’s on Zion and you run an inverted pick and roll and then now you got a mismatch on two ways u with someone as small as Fears, like then you can really like work a twoman game. Um, but with regards to playmaking, I think a lot of Fears’s playmaking is going to be derived from his ability to penetrate and to score. So, if at the next level he is an automatic paint touch, then he will be able to expand on his player making. Do I think he’s going to be some genius level like playmaker? No. But like, can he get to like six, seven assists a game just off of gravity um and just driving kick stuff? Yeah, I think so. around him. That’s like the lowhanging fruit is if he kicks out like he Yeah. And I think I think he’s actually a better interior passer than than um he is, you know, a pure driving kick guy. Uh and I think like he’s actually pretty underrated cuz he gets again he gets two feet in the paint. he’ll go up with like a little pump fake or he has a lot of shiftiness in a way that’s like you know again this is a terrible comp because this guy’s the MVP of the league but like you know Shaos Alexander has a very herkyjerky catch you offbalance style and you see that trait in a lot of again guys who live at the free throw line fears has a herkyjerky I’mma catch you off balance use he has that change of pace that a lot of like speedy young guards don’t have um So, he utilizes that a to get the line, but b to to make interior passes. And so, if you were a big man playing with him, he’ll hit you on those pocket passes or uh throw a lob to you because of he’ll get those two feet in the paint, the defense will come at him and then he’ll throw a pump fake and get someone in the air and then that’s either free throws or an easy dish, you know, someone underneath and it’s a dunk. So, um with that regard, I can see it working with Zion. Um but the shot’s going to have to come. I think that’s that’s that’s really what it comes down to. The shot’s going to have to come. The Trey Murphy hype train is soaring. Uh I went back and watched some stuff with him because I we’re like so far removed from the season, I feel like I forget about players that I I thought I had a good feel for. Uh the drives popped. The ability to finish like at the rim like on looks that he created for himself sort of popped. What popped for you the most from him last year when he was healthy? The big thing I think you kind of touched upon it, but like I guess holistically was this idea of like cool there’s no Dejante, there’s no BI this is this is my team and and with Zion of course and so and you know what’s funny is Zion even kind of I think there’s a postgame press conference he was like yeah like me and Trey are the guys now and he embraced that additional responsibility and offensively he delivered in a way that his efficiency didn’t really dip because I think the concern with guys who typically take on a greater offensive load, especially in non-winning situations, is that they’re getting a bunch of filler or garbage volume up and the efficiency is middling. And so it’s like, yeah, they might be scoring 20 something points a game, but they’re doing on like league average or worse true shooting. And that never really happened with Trey. I’ve talked about this concept with Trey for a while is that there’s kind of this or again we talk about organizational responsibility but there is an organizational responsibility is when you have such an efficient weapon on your team is to find the threshold where that efficiency drops and they just really haven’t pushed those boundaries yet in my opinion. Last year we kind of got a taste of what that could look like. Um, but yeah, I think there’s just so much growth uh still left where it’s like we haven’t really hit the points of, okay, he’s taking too many shots and they’re not good, you know? I think it’s just cool, he’s getting a shot. Great, great. Love it. So, what is like the area of growth specifically that like you’re still kind of waiting to see if they is it just raw volume in general? Is it something with his own shot creation, passing? What What is it? To be honest, it’s more help from the coaching staff. It’s it’s it’s drawing up because, you know, it’s a lot of it’s like he’s had to create for himself and and and and just read and react off of what’s going on in terms of flow, but they don’t draw like you you spend 15 seconds watching Golden State and you’re like, “Oh yeah, they just threw like seven threes for for Steph.” Or like when Klay was still on the team, it’s like they had these set plays that you can always, you know, like when they needed a three from Clay, this is what they were going to do. Um and they that just doesn’t exist conceptually on the Pelicans. They have like one thing that they do. they run this little ghost screen at the top of the key and you know like Trey Flair’s out and like maybe he gets his maybe he gets it from the ball handler, maybe he doesn’t, but like that is it. There’s no creativity with regards to the offense. I don’t think he’s been fully weaponized um in terms of I I just don’t think the Pelicans offensively like work in terms of pick your poison. And so like I would love for him to be truly put in a position where the defense has to choose between you know some Zion Williamson action happening here or helping off of Trey Murphy there or vice versa. And then that is when I think you will see not only the Pelicans succeed a lot but like Trey of course be a big beneficiary because their number team’s number one priority is going to be stop Zion every single time. That’s going to be stop the guy that shoots 60% from the field. Have you become exhausted by the Trey T trade Murphy the Trey Murphy trade hypotheticals that seems like he’s been identified as that next player that’s not going to be moved but that everyone’s going to cycle through the rumor mill of the intel very much feels like it’s just coming from another team where it’s like yeah they’ve made they’re interested in so and so they’ve they’ve requested like I just find that he just seems like the next player that that’s going to be that other teams are circling that’s just not going to be moved and I feel like Herb Jones might have been that player too at one Everyone wants talented multi-positional wings, especially with in Trey’s case that can shoot 50, 40, 90. Everybody wants those. And I think just covering a team like New Orleans, you just get used to, oh yeah, New Orleans sucks. Like, where can we send their best players? And so, um, it’s part of the business. And I I think for anybody uh that listens to this um if a team wants to acquire Trey Murphy, think Desmond Bane type Hall, if not more. Um he’s younger. The Pelicans view him as a pillar. Again, publicly it’s Zion, but I’ll tell you internally it’s very much Herb and Trey are like the foundational pillars. So just putting that out there. What would you So I I get what you’re saying about the Zion stuff and it maybe be more of a marketing ploy. We’ve seen what Joe Dumar has said really building him up and then talking about challenging him. What would you do like what would you do with Zion if you were running this team? Is that before the draft day trade or after this draft day trade? The Pelicans as they lay right now. How what would your be your approach to this? cuz my approach would have been just rip the band-aid off prior to that and commit to being bad this season. Um, that would have been my my approach. But now that they’ve position themselves in such a way that they’re not going to have the liberty of uh falling into their own pick this next coming year, I I would say the approach needs to be go very strongly in the other direction. you have now made this enormous bet on Zion Williamson that this guy is going to be healthy and good for the majority of the season enough to drag you into a playoff consideration um playing consideration. I I think it’s delusional to think if they’re going to be anything more than that. Um but you should make the trades that make this team projected to be more than just playoff consideration. just go all in at at this point. Like I I don’t think you you wrote something where you made the case for them to double down and trade for Walker Kesler, right? If I remember reading that that you did. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And look, it doesn’t have to look Kesler is not this exciting name, right? My my transcendent rim protector though. Transc That’s my big thing is like I’m not a believer in the center uh position uh the talent they have in the center position on the Pelicans. I I think it’ll be one of the worst center rotations in the league. Um and so solidifying the rebounder and rim protector, which I think if you look at the Pelicans projected starting lineups outside the center positions, there is zero plus rebounders. Um you know, and if if fears is your future, like again, he’s a small guard. You want the guy that to pair him with that is going to block everything and rebound everything. Like that’s just how to make it work with a small guard. See Chris Paul and Tyson Chandler and you know see Darius Garland and what’s going on in Cleveland. Like anytime you have a small guard that’s just what you got to do. Um but yeah, so Kesler was just like cool just you get him. He you know he’s extension eligible or I think he’s going to be restricted free agent next year. um pay him, you have your your defense pretty much set for the next five years or however long you know you give him that money for. Zion can absolutely work for him. You’d probably be the best offensive rebounding team in the league and you’d probably with with with Kesler and Herb, you’d probably be a top 10 defense like forever. Um and so that was my pitch with Kesler. It doesn’t have to be him. Just go get somebody some some multiple somebodyies. I think they’re close. I think they have like seven players by my count that are can be positive NBA level contributors. If you can bump that number up to nine, I feel a lot better about this team, especially if if there’s some injuries down the road. I think when they won 48 uh a couple years ago, it was because they had a ton of players who could just step in when someone got hurt. So, like Dyson could step into a starting role, Naji could step into a starting role, Larry was there, and it was these defensive-minded dudes who um again, competent NBA players that you can trust. Be like, “All right, they’re not the most exciting guys, but they’re not going to mess things up and they’re going to play very, very hard.” And so, I think that’s just the Pelicans are not far from being a team where I could I could see myself be like, “Yeah, like this team could actually compete for, you know, the fifth or or fourth seed and and, you know, things could be very exciting.” But they’re not at that point yet. Through the lens of this coming season, I totally understand that. I’m just wondering if you gave Troy Weaver andor Joe Dumar’s truth serum. Is the hope actually that Zion Williamson is this long-term tent pole for them still? Or is it more about the hope of just again because what they did investing in these youngsters, is it Zion, we’re going to be good enough this year, Zion will be really good and he will have trade value after that season so that we can lead into more of a wholesale overhaul. Again, that’s what I find fascinating about this team is it just feels like there’s waring agendas. You could call it two timelines, but it feels like waring agendas at play. No, I think if you gave him Truth Serum, I think they would truthfully tell you that everybody’s job is easier if Zion is that guy. Everyone wants Zion to be that guy. I mean, look, they from a business standpoint, you’re going to you’re going to sell out this the stadium. You’re going to get sponsorship deals. You’re going to get all that, you know, associated merchandising stuff. Um, from a winning standpoint, when you have a superstar, this roster construction is so much easier. You don’t have to worry about, oh, how do I go get the guy? You just have to worry about how do I fit pieces around this guy. Um, so I, yeah, I do think that everybody would love, okay, from here on out, Zion’s just a guy that plays 70 games and he’s a top 15 player in the league and he’s going to make all NBAs and he’s going to start all-star games. Everybody would love that, dude. Adam Silver would be like, oh, I can get these guys back on national television, you know? Um you can get the back on highlights. That’s what Yeah, exactly. And then, you know, you could like just have crazy divisional matchups where with WBY and Cooper and Jaw and and KD now, you know, like uh Shenun. But there there’s a lot of star power in this division. And you know, it’s like that meme with the the the the three dragons and the fourth one’s just kind of derpy. Um right now the Pelicans are that derpy dragon. And I think I think you know there’s a world where they can realize their actual uh dragon form, but it’s going to take some time. Uh I’m just already on record multiple times as saying I’ll I’m going down with the Zion ship on the court. I just his peak Zion is just the odds of you finding that in someone you’ve already drafted or anytime soon is I’ll go down with the ship on it. which is why I just also why I didn’t love their off seasonason because it’s just like Derek Queen and Jeremiah Fears might work with him but I would have preferred to have doubled and tripled down on guys that I feel better about like oh I know these guys are going to work and that we’re not because one of Joe Dunar’s uh justifications I think in one of his recent interviews was these guys we can bring them along slowly um like they don’t need to shoulder too much u I didn’t see or hear the interview I remember like reading a recap of it and if that’s the justification I don’t I don’t know what the like I just don’t know what that says about what is your investment in Zion to that point. Uh but I’m I’m going down I’m I’m sinking or swimming with Zion. Like I just I know he hasn’t been healthy enough, but Pete Zion is just one of the most prolific basketball players in the league, bar none. I it would have been exciting. You know, you you you think about what they traded away. They traded away next year’s Pacers pick which is 2024 or which is top four protected. Uh just that’s a that in and of itself is a potentially absurd thing that they traded away. Um, and then you know their own unprotected pick. So, and then you have CJ McCullum’s expiring contract and Kelly Olin’s expiring contract. If you took all of those things, put them together and you’re like, “All right, I have $43 million in expiring salary and those two super valuable picks that I’m trading.” What could they have gotten if they were like actually big game hunting or like, you know, if they were trying to build the most competitive team around Zyl? And that’s a question we’ll just never have the answer to. But I do think there is a a road not traveled where that’s the route they went down and they’re like, “All right, we’re going all in on this this current core. Like, we believe in Trey Murphy. We believe in Herb Jones and we’re just going to go and make some crazy noise.” And I think, you know, I think there is a world where where that team was going to be very very formidable and and at least the people in New Orleans, they wouldn’t have cared that you traded those picks. they would have been like, we’re a playoff team and we’re super excited to go attend these games and this is finally an exciting time in Pelicans basketball where it’s like, you know, they’re just going for it. You mentioned the center rotation before. What were your rookie year thoughts on Eve Eve me and what’s to come for him? I thought there was It was interesting because I think he’s both ahead of schedule and really really far away. Um I I didn’t I didn’t think that he would even be able to play the minute load that he played with the Pelicans because of all the injuries and um still look like he had pathways to contributing. Um I thought he was just going to be completely lost where I think he stands to improve a lot. Um, which worries me because historically these are not things that you see guys really improve over time is again defensive rebounding is a big big issue with him and Zion together. Those units were I think like zeroth percentile on defensive. I’m not even joking. Like I swear it was like bottom five percentile when it comes to def like you go to cleaning the glass. It’s like the deepest shade of blue you will see. Yep. 13th percentile in defensive rebounding with those two on the floor. Okay. Yeah. There you go. Yeah. not great. Um, yeah, so it’s it’s it’s it’s a struggle there. And I think Eve also his his uh style of like contributing offensively, he doesn’t have the best hands and he doesn’t really catch the ball well in traffic. And so it’s difficult for him to operate in those short roll spaces, which I think is so important because inevitably like Zion or somebody’s going to get doubled off the ball. And if he gets thrown a pocket pass, it just takes a step too long for him to do something with it. And by then like the defense has converged and he doesn’t have the physicality to score um over that. And so he is someone who will if he can get stronger um and just become a better finisher at the rim. I think he was uh very below average finishing at the rim. He will have ways to contribute. I just am I think he’s more of a high energy bench big than he is someone that’s going to be a long-term starter and um like great rim protector. I think if you look at a lot of like advanced rim protection metrics, he was bottom three in in in those. Um, and so again, a lot of it’s just this constant changing of lineups around him with bad defensive talent. Like you can only do so much when, you know, the perimeter players you have to work with are um, you know, Alfred Peyton found off the the, you know, the the retirement heap, you know, the uh, Brandon Boston Jr., Jeremiah Robinson, Earl, like you know, those guys are not in the league anymore like for this season. and um they played a ton of minutes for the Pelicans and so it’s it’s really tough when you have a rotating door of guys just just going in and out and you can’t build any kind of defensive chemistry. I will give Mi a lot of grace um in that especially being a rookie big man it’s a tough tough responsibility but it’s just that again he impact wise it was so bad with him the onoffs were so bad with him that it doesn’t give me much hope moving forward that this guy will be a positive contributor I think he can get to be a rotation level guy who again off the b off the bench like you play in 10 15 minutes a game he can come in and change the energy of a game but you know the starting center in the Western Conference. That’s a tough ask. The finishing stuff bothers me. Like his rim percentage actually increased with Zion on the court, which just lends further merit to Zion can play with any type of big really. But even if you say he gets better hands, it feels like maybe in some lineups he won’t be. But there’s always going to be traffic when you’re looking at the Pelicans like supplementary spacing right now. And I don’t know how they create like he can be table set but I just don’t know how much easier his looks at the rim can get until they again in some of the lineups but like even on some of like the better looks he had it just didn’t I don’t know even what it was like what is like like do you have any I do you have any theories behind like well why is this dude like so below average finishing relative to other bigs? Uh I just think it’s simple as touch. I just don’t think he he has the touch around the rim, especially if there’s someone between him and the rim. But there was like, again, there’s plenty of times, I don’t know like what the genesis of it is with regards to his hands, but there’s plenty of times where he’s throwing like the most pitcher perfect lob or he’s going for a dunk and he just whiffs it. Um, and so maybe it’s a grip strength thing. Maybe that’s something he needs to train or maybe there’s some sort of um more neurological thing that they need to work on with with, you know, like like mind hand connection or whatever it is. um they should employ people that that can work on this stuff and they that make a lot of money, but um and I think they and I’m not saying they don’t, they do. To be very clear, they do. Uh but yeah, that’s something they’re going to have to figure out uh over time. Can you explain the bet on Jordan Pool to me? Troy Weaver knows him and like done. Let’s move on. Um I mean I I think I think there is there is some some more merit to it. I think they just think that he has more burst and wiggle than CJ. Um, and that he has more he has his best basketball is ahead of him in in their opinion and and he was in a situation in Washington where he was the primary advantage creator on a team that did not care for winning and his play numbers kind of reflected that and now you’re going to task him to be someone that is more of a secondary guy playing against a bent defense with Zion out there. Um, there is a world where he has the best year of his career. I I can I can see it. But I think they just thought like we need we need someone that is capable of breaking down a defense off the dribble, getting to the rim, and that is younger than C.J. McCollum. I think that’s really what it came down to. That’s always been an understated part of his game, too, is he’s always been a really good finisher at the rim for someone at his position. And if he’s hitting off the dribble threes like he did last year in Washington, that adds like a whole new element to the like who is the last like be like who’s the last best off the dribble three-point shooter that the Pelicans have had and like Brandon Ingram really shouldn’t count. I guess T Murphy has a chance to graduate into that role. But yeah, I mean it was it was CJ like CJ when he would have cuz he scored 50 with the Pelicans I think a couple times. He said definitely 40 multiple times. 50 once. Um, and anytime he had a big explosive scoring night, it was CJ just going crazy off the dribble. Like that’s what it was. Anything on the Deonte Murray timeline? They haven’t sent a firm uh update on him, but he’s been posting videos of himself dunking and doing, you know, one zero basketball drills. Uh, so I think that’s promising. I would not expect him to return prior to Christmas. um you know, even if if this calendar year, but it doesn’t seem like there’s been any setbacks, which is promising. Who gets whose role gets impacted the most if and when he does return when you’re looking at Jordan P and Jeremiah Fears specifically? It would. What does it say about Murray’s role on this team that they have both of these players on the ro? Yeah. No, I think it’s a great question because that is, you know, if you’re Willie Green, do are you going to bring one of those two guys off the bench u with regards to P or or Murray? And I think that’s going to be a tough decision because historically he doesn’t like to bench his vets, but who he does like to bench is Trey Murphy, and I don’t think he can get away with that this year. Um, I just I just don’t think there’s any world he can get away with that if he’s still, you know, the head coach of the Pelicans by the time DeSante Murray comes back. The other thing is that, you know, when when they acquired Jordan Pool, like Dumar kind of said something along the lines of like he’s willing to do whatever like is needed. So, I wonder if there’s some sort of like implication there that if they need him to come off the bench, he will because CJ McCullum very much was not willing to come off the bench for the Pelicans. And that is a conversation they had with McCullum. Um, and McCollum was, you know, I think he wasn’t wrong for this because he was like, “Look, I’ve been like the most reliable guy in terms of like actually showing up to stuff and not being heard and being available and been like like the role model of like every, you know, all these kind of I’ve been like the most professional guy like I’m not going to come off the bench and and yeah, Willie Green was like, “Okay, like I guess you’re not going to come off the bench, Trey. It is, you Um, and I I don’t think that’s fair to Trey Murphy, but um, I can see why also like McCullum being the president of the players union, I guess, former now there’s a new one, right? Um, but uh, McCullum being the president of the players union knows very much that, okay, anytime he’s going to get into his next contract talks, if he’s a guy that’s coming off the bench, like those contract talks are going to be meaningfully different um, than if he’s still a starter uh, in this league. even though you know any team that’s going to be competitive is going to bring him off the bench. So I think there is some some smart politicking by CJ to ensure he wouldn’t come off the bench. And I think there is a world where they’re like cool pull you’re going to be the guy that comes off the bench which again that’s just setting yourself up for tough conversations unnecessarily in my opinion like the way your roster is constructed. You should proactively seek to solve these problems before they even become them. Um so that’s that’s would be my approach on it. The secondary wing rotation on this team feels like it could be rough because after Herb and after Trey, there’s not a lot of bankable bodies. You have Sadique Bay coming back from the ACL injury. Uh is Jaylen McDaniels going to make this roster? Are they going to pull the mic push the mic api button? Like what is this like not that there’s the solution like what is the secondary wing rotation or beyond Sadi Bay who I’m assuming is the third most important wing on this team. Like what is the what happens here? Pray thoughts and prayers. Um they they I do think they believe in Peavey a good bit. Uh again, this is a Troy Weaver selection. Um and defensively he’ll get Willie Green’s attention maybe like play. Will he will and I think they need more PB types on the team who are not going to need the ball. Um they’re going to be low usage offensive players and they’re just going to go out there and play hard. They need more of that the guy with the dog mentality. Um and so I I do think Pave is going to get run. Uh, I think he’s going to get his opportunities. The beyond that, you’re right. It’s it’s very thin and very sparse. And that’s where I’m just like going back to our conversation earlier. I’m like, if they can just get like two more dudes that are just kind of slide in that, you know, like all right, they can function like rotationally. Um, you know, that that would be really beneficial for them. I there was, you know, there’s been a number of free agents that have gone for like around the minimum that I’m like, you know, this this guy could have like helped the Pelicans. Wait, what did air Coffee sign for? He didn’t even get a he had a training camp deal with the Bucks. Wow. There must be something going on there like with with him as a person uh or just like in the locker or something. Because like I I it’s hard not to see like that guy be being like, “Oh, yeah, like you’re our Discord calls him negative Tatum because of his onoff split.” Oh, okay. Yeah, maybe that’s it, right? He’s just like a very negative player. Okay. Yeah, I I didn’t look at those onoffs. Um but uh yeah, so I don’t know. I’m I’m like very much trying to get Justin Champi out of Washington because of how many wings they have. This would be a good Justin Champagne, too. That would be a good Troy Weaver move. That would be a good I don’t Well, I would like it. So, I I’m not sure if it would be a good Troy Raper, but I’m in favor of it. So, I’m not sure. It depends on what what the class is, right? If it’s an unprotected first round pick 2031 first round pick. Yeah. Um Yeah. What’s Kelly Uber up to these days? Bring him back to New Orleans. Uh yeah, I don’t know. I mean, I just think like, yeah, if they had just like two more wings or I think the most ideal solution in my opinion is they just again the attach these picks to Dejonte and they find a way to break that salary apart into multiple playable guys. Um, preferably one at the center position and one at the the wing position, but it doesn’t have to be done all at once. You just go get one and then whatever that remainder salary is, you can work with at the deadline or or something later. But like I think that would be the most ideal solution. But, uh, require trading more picks. That’s what I was going to ask because what do you think their appetite is for making whether it’s one way or the other like reacting to what’s happening in the middle of the season and either getting better or either selling off certain talent, especially when we know that they’re not going to spend a ton of money either? Like, do you think that this front office is going to be willing to look at the results and then like react? Um, could they even be maybe like what you’re saying is like be proactive and maybe try and go do that now before you even see what’s happening. What is going to be their appetite for making transactions, especially after witnessing the reaction to the transactions they made over the off season? I I honestly think that this will be a change from David Griffin’s time. I think Griff would have just like let the roster sit for a little bit and, you know, either try to find I think I think Griff tried to win the deal a lot. Um, and and so if it wasn’t a crazy like win for him in terms of a deal, like he would just let that roster sit until it absolutely could not sit any longer and then they would be forced to make a move or I think with with Joe and Troy, I would not be surprised if like December 15th comes around, you’re like, “Oh, they’re making a move.” Like, you know, it’s like like, “Oh, they what?” Willie Green, like James Bgo’s the head coach and they’re going to go after this guy. like, you know, I I think this group will be way more willing to fiddle uh with this roster, especially because most of these guys predate them and so there’s not that same attachment um to to to the moves, right? They like to them, Dejant is just a guy on the roster, not someone they move Dyson Daniels and their other picks, you know what I mean? Like so I I would think that I would I would expect them to be more active. Do you have any like strong feelings on the the only two younger players we haven’t mentioned are Carlo Makovich or Jordan Hawkins who seems like he’s eventually going to get the ceremonial salary dump from this team, right? Like that’s where we’re headed. Yeah. You know, Hawkins I think there’s a really really good case for him to be made that they should not pick up his fourth year team option. I think the deadline’s coming up on that soon in the next month or so. Um, and the case is that that’s a $7 million option. And there’s a ton of guys this summer that signed for $6 million and under that are just way better than him. I mean, DLO, um, uh, Laravia, um, you know, those guys in Brooklyn, uh, that that got those 12.5 million dollar deals. Um, Sharp and and Zair and all that kind of stuff. um t there’s his skill set as a shooter, as a movement shooter theoretical because he’s not been a good shooter since in in the league. Um a ton of those guys went for the minimum this this summer and and last summer, you know, you you have uh Gary Trent who is just a better player than him and he’s going for the minimum. Um you know, Tim Hardaway Junior didn’t get a great, you know what I mean? Like it’s like that archetype of player, I think they should just make that bet in free agency and not commit $7 million to him. Um, unless they’re just very much like, we need the $7 million in expiring salary to match this trade. Um, that’s that’s what it is. But yeah, I would hate for it to be, oh, we got to send another second round pick to get this guy off the roster because we’re trying to do some other moves and no one but wants him. Carlo is super intriguing. I just struggle to see where he’s going to get minutes now that Queen’s on the roster. I think that’s that’s that’s like every bit of investment that could have gone to Carlo, which I’m not saying is is the right thing to do. I’m personally not the biggest believer in him, but like if you were to be like, “All right, this guy’s a an interesting athletic big who can shoot and do some uh hub style stuff um at the top of the key, like we’re going to give him, you know, 10 minutes a game or something.” All those minutes should go to Queen in my opinion now. like like there should be no conversation about who gets those minutes cuz if Zion’s healthy and Mi’s healthy and and Looney’s healthy um there’s not going to be minutes to go around because I do think there will be well something we haven’t talked about is I do think there will be a fair amount of small ball being played with no bigs on the court and it’s it’s like Sadique Bay is the center or who you know center. Um, my final question here before getting into the lightning round, what is their defensive ceiling if you’re leaving this roster alone? I actually think they’re going to be I mean, they were dead last per cleaning the glass. So, I think they’re going to be better just by virtue of if you make more of your shots at the rim, you can get your defense set and they were one of the worst teams uh defending after missing shots at the rim. But like in a vacuum, they’re not making any more major changes. What is the defensive ceiling of this roster? If you told me Looney is the starter, I would say they have a top 15 defensive feeling, if not top 10, because Willie Green is actually good at making the team perform better than expected on than on defense. I don’t think Zion, if Zion’s in shape, um it’s not fair to call him a bad defender anymore. Uh I do think that that is a narrative people need to catch up on in terms of when this guy’s in shape, he makes the rotations. He’s actually very much committed to defensive event generation. Um, Herb and Trey, I think you’ll see a big bounce back from them. Uh, Trey’s like impact matrix took a huge hit because again, I think a lot of those are highly sensitive to the quality of teammates that you play with and the quality of teammates that he played with were just abysmal last year. Um, and so I don’t think I think you’ll see a bounce back from them. And then P. Um, honestly, I just don’t see him functionally different than CJ. And Willie Green made a ton of lineups work defensively that featured CJ, uh, Ingram and Valenunis, and they were a top six defense in back-to-back years when most of them were healthy. So, I do think if Looney is the starter, I feel like they can be adequate on on defense. Mostly because Looney will get rebounds. That’s the big one. you get like if you’re decent, if you’re I mean average, you know, defensive rebounding league, I feel so much better about them because I do think they will generate a ton of steals and turnovers. Are you ready to enter the lightning round cookie cutter portion of the podcast? So, we’ve talked a little bit about various needs they have, but when you’re looking at the roster today, what do you view as its single biggest need? The center position. They need a legitimate starting center who can play 35 minutes a game and compete with all the other strong centers in in the NBA. Who can rebound the ball? I you know, I get it. But like after you gave up like to go get Derek Queen, it’s just that’s weird to say. I I think Queen is like at his peak, I think Queen will function as like a hybrid four five and I think you will see him work like he did it in Maryland all the time. um you know he he played the four and he played very well um off of his his uh front court partner and so he is someone that like you press the small like I guess queen at the center button in like lineups that you need to juice but like over the duration of the game you start him with a you know center and and I think he’ll have the necessary playmaking and stuff to get it. Same thing with Zion like I’m just that stuff I’m not that concerned with. What is something about this team that’s flying under the radar that you think deserves more of a spotlight? I think this is actually probably not all that interesting to basketball fans. Um, the thing that’s that’s flying under the radar is that they are doing really poorly on sales and sponsorships. And so they have a lease coming up uh for the stadium in 2029. And that is something that they have said over over and over again that they will address to after they’re done with the Saint Side stuff. And on the Saint side stuff, they just agreed to one on the Superdome, even though it’s not been like signed, sealed, and delivered yet. Um, and so there’s this very um quickly approaching deadline on to do something with the Smoothie King Center, and they did this assessment study on the Smoothie King Center. Shout out Christian Clark for his incredible reporting on this subject uh while he was in New Orleans. And they found a ton of stuff in this Woody King Center that is just past its like life expectancy and and those are like critical systems that are past their life expectancy because this is a building that was been around since 2002 2003. Um so you know mo most of functions in there that were built to last 10 15 years most and we’re well well past that. So there’s no real clarity on what’s going to happen with regards to a stadium. There’s not real room for renovations in that building because it’s built like a coffin almost like it’s just there’s just there you can’t there’s no room to expand. Um so from the business side of things, I think there’s a lot of key decisions coming up culminated with the fact that they’ve lost money on their um RSN deal transfer transferring from BS to to Gray. Um and they’re not doing so well in sales and sponsorships. So I just think that that is going to be a big underlying story um this season and like the next couple of seasons. And I just until there is a more clear directive from ownership or the state or whoever on what’s what’s going to happen here. Everyone’s healthy. What’s You’re building a 10-man rotation for this team. What who’s in it? My starters, everyone’s healthy. Oh, wow. Uh, starters I would go Bante, Trey, Herb, Zion, Looney. Bench I would go Jose Pool Bay. So I need two more now. Mei Mi can get in there. And I think that 10th guy I would give I would toggle between Queen, Carlo, and Peavey depending on what they needed. But I don’t I really don’t feel good about that. Tai, did you have fears in there? No. He said everyone’s healthy. I can’t crack him into the guard rotation if there if my goal is to win as many games as possible. Uh Jose is playing. He is he is an onoff god and and that’s I mean it’s you know like that’s that’s again you’re talking about like waring agendas that’s going to be a big one this this year. You know Willy’s guy and Jose Alvarado has a very close relationship there versus management’s guy and fears who’s going to get those minutes because you can’t play those two together. You shouldn’t. This question is of course matchup dependent, but what do you think will become their go-to crunchtime unit? I think it’s going to be the small ball unit of of Pool, Herb, Trey, Zion, and Bay. I think their go-to configuration will be closing with no real big on the on the on the court. I think that makes that I mean that lineup could be devastating offensively and like you said, if it’s Peak Zion, you probably get enough defense out of it. I would think it’s just the rebounding. So, they have to live off turnovers. Is there a weirdo lineup that you want Willie Green to try this season? Pretty much anything featuring Zion and Queen to be honest with you. Like I just go just go humongous, right? Just go um I’m trying to think how you can go Trey, Herb, Bay, Zion, and there you go. Queen. There you go. Done. That would be I guess I mean Queen for Re. Yeah, honestly I’d watch it. Aside from Zion, I don’t know what the creation looks like, but that’s where you give Trey Murphy some extra license and just run like handoffs with Queen and stuff, right? Like let let Queen cook a little bit with that. And yeah, and and honestly like Yeah, it’ll be a lot of point Zion. It’ll be But I really do think you could let Queen cook with like if if you want to set something up around Zion and Queen probably to Yeah. If if Herb is shooting the ball like he’s done in uh not last season. Yeah. Is there anything before I get some predictions from you that we haven’t discussed that you think uh needs Warren’s conversation before before we move on? No, I think we touched on on the main stuff here for sure. So, how many games do you see this team winning and where do you see them landing in the Western Conference? Factoring in the totality of everything, injury risk, potential trades, development, all that. Yeah, I saw the Vegas overunder was like 31 and a half and I was like, man, that’s really fair. I think I think I’m going to stick with that. Um, I think that’s that’s ultimately where they end up uh factoring everything. But I do think it’s more likely they exceed that than it is likely that they’re just an absolutely terrible team like bottom three level team. Uh, most in for two reasons. One, they I think to be a bottom three level team, you actually have to intentionally try to reach those lower win totals and that’s not something they’re going to be doing at this junction. And then the other thing is there is this hidden like okay what if there is a panic trade where they go just go get a dude um or somebody you know or multiple somebody’s in in the middle of the season might not be enough to bring him to the playoffs but I think it’s enough to take them out of the bottom tier of teams um in in the league. I already see myself getting suckered into hitting the over even though I basically said after everything happened I was like oh this will be the first year I don’t hit the Pelicans over and get heartbroken um by it. So, is there a team in the West, presumably a playoff team, non Oklahoma City Thunder division, that you find is a if we’re putting them in the Pelicans, into a playoff series with them that you find a particularly compelling matchup or maybe a team that this team matches up better with better than people would expect. Who are we putting in the playoffs first of all? Well, I mean there’s the Thunder, the Nuggets, the Rockets. Uh I mean, the Clippers are are the Grizzlies in the playoffs. That’s what I’m saying. Like so so you got the Clippers and then I I guess you put the Lakers in there, LeBron and Luca, right? Yeah. Um Golden State like even if you were to pick the Spurs or a lot of people just have them penciled in for a playoff spot this year. I would say of those teams probably they match up the best against Golden State just because there’s no interior protection on that team. Um the teams that I would look for the Pelicans to match up better against are the ones that have bad center rotations and they don’t rebound well. And I think I think those are the ones where But you know what’s funny is Zion’s teams play Minnesota better than they have any business playing Minnesota. And I think part of it is just like he just takes that Rudy matchup personally and he just goes and scores over and over and he loves he loves playing against Ant. I think those two are very close um and they view each other as high level competitors. Um, so if I had to pick a legitimate good team, um, rather than like, oh, I don’t know about the Warriors, I would pick Minnesota. All right. Yeah, that’s fair. I don’t really have a good answer for the Pelicans. I I would find them semi intriguing. If they’re going to play Queen and Zion together against Houston would be an interesting matchup for me. Um, Houston scares me because they have so many guys that will turn you over and the Pelicans lack of ball handling. It’s just like, man, it just like it’s Houston always comes in and you just you recognize, okay, like outside of like the main couple guys in the Pelicans, like they just don’t have anyone equipped to deal with a higher level of physicality and and the MADA teams are just like, we’re going to beat you up. We’re just going to the the the Terror Twins are going to come after you and snatch every single possession that they possibly can. And you know, meanwhile, like if Reed Shepard’s in the rotation, he’s going to be running around causing chaos. And um Houston, it’s like you would think that they might match up against just because people are like, “Oh, Seno is not a good rim protector.” I just think Houston’s just Houston’s a good team. Houston’s a really good team. And there’s the whole don’t want to play Luca or LeBron thing, but like the Lakers centers rotation isn’t just like solved because they have DeAndre Haydon. Yeah. Now, that would be like that would be a team that I think that New Orleans could really exploit in the paint, especially depending on what version of DeAndre Aton you get, right? This was great as always. Thank you for giving me so much of your time. You’re just able to tell our listeners, viewers where they can find you and all the great work that you do. Yeah, you can find me uh on Substack at inthenow.substack.com. Um, all of our uh podcasts uh get uploaded on YouTube under that same channel, but I write on the Substack as well. And then you can find me on uh the various social medias primarily on blue sky um at fear of the brown. Links to all that stuff will be in the podcast YouTube description. Love in the know when you do podcast. You Jeremy Mason whole crew do a great job. Thanks so much for coming on again and as you know by now I’ll be pestering you down the line. Love it. Thank you Dan. [Music]

Dan is joined by Shamit Dua (@fearthebrown) from the @inthenopod for a deep dive into the 2025-26 New Orleans Pelicans. SUBSCRIBE TO IN THE N.O ON SUBSTACK: https://intheno.substack.com/podcast. CHAPTERS BELOW.

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CHAPTERS⤵️
0:00 – INTRO
0:53 – The Pelicans’ direction
8:01 – Expectations for Derik Queen
16:46 – Expectations for Jeremiah Fears
23:39 – Continued development of Trey Murphy
28:04 – Future of Zion Williamson
36:07 – Continued development of Yves Missi
40:54 – Impact of Jordan Poole
42:28 – Dejounte Murray timeline
45:16 – Secondary wing rotation
48:10 – Will the Pelicans make more trades?
49:51 – Jordan Hawkins and Karlo Matkovic
52:11 – Defensive ceiling
54:07 – Biggest needs, under-the-radar storylines
57:15 – Top-10 rotation
58:39 – Go-to crunch-time unit
59:11 – Weirdo lineups we want to see
1:00:08 – PREDICTIONS

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