Derik Queen’s Breakout Performance FORCES Pelicans to Reconsider Their Entire Zion Williamson Era
Rookie Derek Queen has emerged for the Pelicans. And with Jordan Pool and Kaida Zion Williamson struggling, does that mean it’s a changing of the guard here in New Orleans? It’s the Friday episode of Locked On Pelicans. Let’s go. You are Locked On Pelicans, your daily New Orleans Pelicans podcast, part of the Locked Onet. Your team every day. Welcome to another edition of Locked On Pelicans, the daily podcast covering everything you want to know about the New Orleans Pelicans and the NBA, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. I’m your host Jake Madison, Nola Jake on Twitter here. I’m joined by Dylan Sanders from Pelicans Roundtable as he’s been joining me on Fridays here. Dylan, what’s going on man? Uh, you know, finally having some fun. There’s two wins in a row. It feels great. The vibes are up. There’s things to celebrate. we could talk about the good future like positivity. It’s it’s it was needed. I’m a I’m a positive person and I’m a very positive person. I think as my audience knows and it hurts to have been so negative for someone. I mean again warranted. Uh but it feels great to be good and positive and happy again. I I agree. It’s just nice to have these moments in a long season. And that’s going to kind of lead into one of the big things that I want to talk about today here in a minute. And that is are things though actually different? Right. Cool. This is nice for a moment, but like has the bleeding stopped? Does the trajectory feel different with the emergence of Derek Quain who’s put together two back-to-back games, particularly in the fourth quarter, essentially won them for New Orleans. We’re going to talk about that. We’ll get into Jordan Pool’s struggles, Zion Williamson, and Trey Murphy. Basically everything with this team in today’s episode of Locked on Pelicans. Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you’re going to get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Head to fanduel.com to get started. And of course, thank you for making Lockdown Pelicans your first listen today and every day. We are here Monday through Friday, the number one Pelicans podcast covering everything you want to know. So, please subscribe wherever you get your podcast. Join us on YouTube as well and the GF Coast Sports and Entertainment Network. Become an everydayer means you listen Monday through Friday. If you’re an everydayer, let me know in the comments down below. All right, Dylan, you mentioned it. We’re kind of happy right now. When you were on last week, it was like it’s time to fire Willie Green. It’s time for big changes. this team does not look good. Two wins in a row will kind of do that. But I I threw this out there on my show on the show yesterday. You beat the Charlotte Hornets who played who started three rookies, I think played four rookies, significant minutes, and you beat a really bad Dallas Mavericks team. I would not say that these are the most confidence inspiring wins from where we were a week ago. How different do you think things actually are with this team right now? Uh the I guess the short answer is probably not much, but I think you start to see more avenues for the future open up around Derek Queen because nothing changes. You’re two and six. You beat two teams that don’t look great. The Mavericks look horrendous, horrible. They couldn’t score 100 points on the Pelicans. Like that’s I think that’s as as bad of a sign as you can get. But you see the Derek Queen of it all. I think is where it all gets. Like this is a guy Willie Green called him an offensive hub. That is a a great compliment to pay a 20-year-old and someone that sees the the game as well. He does. You see teams like the Rockets, the Kings, and dare I say the Nuggets with these modern bigs that can move the ball around and you can build around, you can build an offense around them. And to have that option after years of having a star player that’s either not playing or, you know, the stuff around him is not really working. It It’s great to see someone in a sign and someone that fans even can now after two games be like, “Yeah, let’s build around this guy. Let’s let’s tear it all down and build it back up in the image of Derek Queen.” Yeah. Look, it makes you feel a little bit better about the future. And I said this yesterday that when you get wins like this and you you see the vision and the type of player that Derrick Queen can become, you go from feeling like, oh, New Orleans is going to be trash for years and there’s nothing they can do to un, you know, undo the mistake of the trade on draft night. Look, it’s still a bad trade, but you’ve got to kind of separate that from Derek Queen the player. You can see a way out of this. You can see a vision for the future. And it’s something that I’ve repeatedly said on the show, and that’s look, you just don’t have your pick next year, but after that, you own all your future picks. It’s not like the future of this franchise has been destroyed. You might need to trust the front office in management to get them there. And maybe you don’t. That’s a discussion for maybe later in the show, but at least you can kind of see the vision, see the future with Derek Queen. And I think that’s a really important thing. I also think it’s Oh, sorry. Go ahead. I was going to say I one thing I wanted I wanted to mention with the trade because I do think that this is we’ve talked about it but we’ve talked about it before on me and you doing this together. It’s not fair to him. But what I love from Derek Queen is that this is the peak of the star player. We’ve seen like the the interviews. We’ve seen the attitude. He’s not shying away from the trade. You know, it is very it is very easy for a player to be like uh that is a management decision I’m not going to talk about. I’m going to talk about my thing on the court. He has said multiple times in multiple interviews, I’m not here to prove them right. I’m gonna show them why they did that. It was the smart move in the moment. They know that and y’all are going to see why they did that. And I think that is a great sign of someone to build on a a great confident uh young player is great to see for this team. Yeah, you’ve got to have that confidence and thick skin at the NBA level, otherwise it can tear you apart. And the second you lose some of that confidence, things can kind of go wrong. You know, you mentioned Willie Green talking about him as an offensive hub and I wanted to get into some of the numbers with him here. While I think Queen has played well, particularly in the two fourth quarters, it is a very small sample size and I don’t think his offense has been like tremendous in terms of the team. When I went to go pull the impact numbers, the onoff stats essentially expecting by the way Jose Alvarado to be like by far number one in terms of like they’re significantly better with Jose Alvarado on the court than off. He’s actually number two. And Dererick Queen was number one, which actually surprised me by a decent bit because Dererick Queen’s kind of running away with this. They’re essentially 19 points per 100 possessions better with Derrick Queen on than off. For José Alvarado, it’s 12 points per 100 possessions. That’s a significant jump, but it’s mainly on the defensive side is where you’re seeing Derek Queen’s impact. The offense isn’t actually that much better than just average with him out there on the court. So, I still think it’s like a ways to go before you even see the full potential of Derek Queen. You see the glimpses of it now, but you’ve also got to be careful to develop him at the right pace. And if it’s like startard him and just run your offense through him, that’s going to probably lead to some bad things. And does that potentially stunt his growth? Yeah, I I I completely agree with you. And I think that the defensive part of it is the is like a shocker. It’s because it was one of the big big things circled around. was like, “Okay, he can be this offensive guy, but he’s unathletic. He’s slow. He’s not going to be able to defend. He looks great. He He started out of his career defending Victor Womenyama and doing a good job against it.” And he’s rode that that confidence from there. Yeah. You know, one, you’ve seen him grab key defensive rebounds, so terminating possessions for the opponent. This is a team that has been one of the worst rebounding teams out there in the league. So, that’s huge, right? Defensive rebounding is defense. I think people forget about that. The the other part is he forces turnovers. Like he’s got some natural instincts on when to get his arms in the passing lanes and what to do. And that’s been really encouraging to see from him. Seven steals in the last two games. They’re they’re averaging like basically like the turnover percentage it just skyrockets for opponents when Derek Queen’s on the court. But also he’s contesting shots too. And he might not be a natural shot blocker, but are you forcing misses? teams are shooting 8% worse in terms of E field goal percentage. So it’s counting for threes and free throws and all that. With Derrick Queen on the court then off the court for New Orleans. He’s just forcing misses. And if you combine that with better defensive rebounding, that leads to good things when it comes to a defense. And that means easy offense for New Orleans, too. So I love to see this from him. Uh I I have per cleaning the glass, which is a that’s what I’m using here. Oh, yeah. That’s a good I I have I’m looking at his steel rates compared to other bigs and the names that he’s next to are Ysef Nerkage, Josh Manat, Nicole Yokic, Jared Vanderbilt, Jared Allen, Zion Williamson. Those are great people to be with in terms of like steals and and for like you mentioned forcing turnovers. It’s great to great to see. Yeah. So like let’s get into this kind of coming up next, right? He’s emerged. We’ve already felt very good about Jeremiah fears and like what he’s going to look like and you can see two cornerstone pieces around with the struggles of someone like Jordan Pool Zion Williamson not quite looking like himself. Does that mean maybe they need to kind of pivot directions here? Let’s talk about that coming up here next in today’s episode of Locked On Pelicans. Today’s episode of Lockdown Pelicans is brought to you by Door Dash. 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So, the next time someone goes off for 50, which has happened a bunch so far this year, use promo code NBA50 the next day to get 50% off on Door Dash with Dash Pass, plus your shot at the Bagdrop. Dash Pass members only. 50% off up to $10 the next day after a 50point game with promo code. Terms apply. No purchase necessary. Ends April 13th. Open to US residents 21 or older. Visit door-inyourbag.com for full details. Door Dashinyourbag all season long. And thank you for making Locked on Pelicans your first listen today and every day. We are here Monday through Friday, the number one Pelicans podcast covering everything you want to know about this team. We are part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. For your second listen, it’s the Saint Squad Show with this guy Dylan Sanders up there getting just the local experts covering everything you want to know about the black and gold, the postgame, the immediate reaction. Dylan, you got everything going on over there. Yeah, it is. Uh, you know, it is I think as as bad as it’s been over here, it’s worse over there. And if you need if you need some like-minded voices, we got Lance Moore over there. If you want to hear some fun talk, have some fun with some bad bad football. We’re having we’re having a blast over there. Yeah, it’s uh it’s needed in times like this. And of course, the state squad show is part of the lockdown podcast network. Your team every day. So, we were just talking about Derrick. Look, he’s looked good. It’s as simple as that. You see the vision. It’s still a little bit blurry. He’s still very raw. He’s got a long way to go, but it makes you just feel better. It It just gives you some hope, I think, for the future, the direction of this team. Someone who’s not played well, who missed the game against the Dallas Mavericks, has been Jordan P. You know, you and I have talked about this. You and I have talked about this like off camerara, too. A lot of what I thought their move of bringing him in other than just getting an extra year of a guy under contract in exchange for CJ McCullum was well if Zion Williamson goes down you have someone that can kind of be an offensive guy for you and that’s something that New Orleans was lacking. He has not been that like nice guy really like Jordan Pool cat lover is kind of fun but his numbers when we talk those impact on off numbers they are he’s he’s the polar opposite of Derrick Queen they’re minus 19.4 points per 100 possessions worse with him on the court than off the court. I don’t want to say it’s been a disaster but if you look at every lineup he’s been in, he basically tanks every single one. And this was supposed to kind of be the savior of the guy. Look, it’s eight games. It’s still a small sample size. Those numbers can really fluctuate tremendously. But the Jordan Pool experiment has not gone the way that this team would have hoped. Yeah. Not really anybody. Like, you know, it’s funny to be on Twitter that Jordan Pool has a lot of fans, you know, I respect that, but even they are like, “Okay, well, he needs to be a little bit better.” And I think that is I think it’s true. He it it maybe it’s like a mental thing. You definitely did expect to see him benched so early to the season and pic I don’t think it’s gone over well with him and and rightfully so like he feels like he deserves to be in a better spot in this league but the the product on the court has not been what anyone needed. His shotmaking is great when it goes in but whenever it’s not going in it looks like oh that is just a wasted possession and it’s not going in a lot of the times right now. No, he’s shooting 34% from three on, you know, pretty strong volume, right? Like that’s not what you can have happen here for a team that is offensively limited with especially without Zion Williamson. And so if that’s going to be the case, like they kind of had to drop him, right? You know, 34% on 8.4 shot attempts is is not good and that’s going to hurt the team. He’s also just not being like, you know, he’s not drawing guys to the ball. They’re kind of daring him to shoot. The shot selection has seemed a little bit off here. You know, when you factor in that Zion has not looked particularly great either, you know, and then the injury’s already kind of creeping up. Does this somewhat signal like the direction the team needs to go in? They’ve been kind of straddling this two timelines approach. You have your young guys in Derek Queen, Jeremiah Fears. You’re trying to win now behind Zion Williamson, Jordan P. You can’t really do both of those. Well, no team has done that. you know, are are we getting enough early results in this to kind of say like they need to pick maybe the youth in the development direction more so than what they were maybe trying to do before? Well, it is uh it is a strikingly similar approach to what’s happening across the street in the other front office. And it’s just it’s just you need to to to go all in. And I think right now the fan base is in a spot where you can it it seems crazy you could move a Zion Williamson. could move some of these places and pieces and the fans are going to be okay with it. Like there’s not going to be a revolt. It’s like, all right, you see the the youth movement taking over and you see Jeremiah Fierce, you see, you see Derek Queen. Uh yeah, don’t say don’t say Jordan Pool there. I heard that Derek Queen and you see it’s funny because they built this timeline, this team to be like, oh, everyone’s 26. It’s they’re all going to enter their primes at the same at the at the same time, but those are all the players that you’re like, man, you need to steal a little bit more from. And it’s the young guys giving giving the uh the energy, the bench players giving the energy. Your Sadique Beige or Jose Alvarados. It’s not it’s not the people that need to be. And Jordan P is one of those that it it’s just it hasn’t been what it needs to be. Yeah. When you when again look at the impact numbers and I think these stats are something that I I regularly go to throughout the season and like they are consistent. Jose Alvarado, you’ve seen him be as key I think as Derek Queen over these last two wins. He’s been phenomenal, I think, particularly in the fourth quarters, too. Every year, this is what he does. We know what kind of player he is where he’s a winning player who makes winning plays. And that’s why despite being undersized, I’ve kind of just like stopped doubting him in a sense. But like Zion Williamson’s essentially just been a net neutral for New Orleans. Kind of same thing for Trey Murphy. He’s shown some signs. He hasn’t done, you know, kind of been the guy. And it makes you wonder if the Pelicans have found something and do you just need to go all in on that? And you made a really good point because the team is very aware of kind of like somewhat aware I should say of like the perception around them. And you know the easiest way to get a fan base excited is with like young players. It’s just make people feel like they’re getting in on the ground floor of something special. Go back to the beginning of the Zion Williamson era. Like hope that day, right? It was like not even not even the draft, the lottery day. Yeah. Yeah. you get people kind of, you know, everyone wants to be in on something early, right? Like it’s like the hipster idea of like, I liked him before they were popular or something like that. You do that with young guys that you can build around who are also exciting. Fears is a pretty exciting player to watch. Derek Queen looks like he’s going to be an exciting player to watch. I still caution that a little bit, right? It’s just been two games before that. Fear, you know, has been a little bit rocky. Queen had had some moments, but then there were other times when it was like, “Oh, that dude’s a foul machine.” You know, maybe you’ve just got to kind of go through that. But if you kind of in that second game, that fir that first game, those first six minutes he played in the first half were bad. They were really bad. And so it was great to see him get that chance and then ride will really ride the ride the hot hand the rest of the way. But these guys are rookies. They It’s fun to talk about. It’s fun to talk, but you see you see on the court, they’re raw. They make a lot of mistakes and that’s fine, but it’s it’s less fun whenever there’s competing timelines. You don’t want to give all these minutes. Yeah. Well, that’s the thing, right? Like that’s where I think eventually this team is going to need to decide what they do. I’ve been like screaming this. The everydayers are probably sick of hearing from it, but you see why, you know, when you see Queen playing like this and you had Willie Green who basically didn’t play him against the Thunder at all, right? They were down 30 the majority of the game and Queen only got the final seven minutes and and Willie Green was like, “Yeah, there’s not really enough minutes for him.” And it’s like cuz they’re trying to win and rookies don’t tend to contribute to winning. So, how do you manage these two timelines that do kind of conflict with one another? And I I think if we if you want the fan base to feel optimistic again or that the Pelicans can get this right because the future isn’t like dead and buried when everyone’s like they mortgaged the future for Derrick Queen. No, they haven’t. They mortgaged a year, you know, they refinanced their home a little bit, but it’s not like all of a sudden like you’re completely underwater here. But you do need to show confident, you know, people that you can get this correct. And if you’re burying a promising rookie on the bench, I think that creates confusion in fans and people being like, “Oh, they’re going to screw this all up, so does it actually matter in the first place?” Which is traditionally what the Pelicans have done. Yeah, it is. It is. Yeah, it’s it’s it’s tough because you want to see winning basketball and it would great to see winning basketball with this core, but it’s just it I don’t know if it’s happening. It just hasn’t happened. There’s only so many years where you could be like, “All right, this is the time where they’re going to take the jump.” Let’s end this before we’ll get into it. We’ll I’ll tease it to go into the next segment, too. Like, does this make you seeing the emergence or queen more or less likely in your opinion to trade Zion Williamson? I and I I don’t want to overreact, but 100% more likely. Well, especially when you factor in the injury, right? Like I this again, you’re like you’re winning games without Zion and it is the the youth movement. It’s Derek Queen closing out games. The Blizzard the finisher. Uh it’s it’s fun to see it’s just fun to see so a positive moment in the in the bright spot for the future. And I think it it’s just when you think like, oh yeah, this team has Zion, but he’s out. It’s the headache of being like, “Oh, okay. He’s out again.” They say 7 to 10 days. Disregard 7 to 10 days. You know, it’s going to be more than seven to 10 days. Like, you have no idea when it’s going to happen. I feel like if there was ever a time to do it, this is the season to finally do it. All right, let’s get into that coming up here next in today’s episode of Locked On Pelicans because I think that’s kind of like the crux of this. Let’s talk about that more coming up here in just a moment. Today’s episode of Locked On Pelicans is brought to you by FanDuel. 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And thank you for making Lockdown Pelicans your first listen today and every day. We are here Monday through Friday, the number one Pelicans podcast covering everything you want to know about this Pelicans team. So subscribe wherever you get your podcast. Join us on YouTube and the Gulf Coast Sports and Entertainment Network and become an everydayer, meaning you missing uh missing. I don’t even know what I’m saying there. Listen, there we go. Monday through Friday to lock on Pelicans. If you’re an everyday, let me know in the comments down below. Make lockdown fantasy basketball your second listen today. Dylan’s winning his league cuz he listens to it. I’m doing doing good enough in my league because I needed some fantasy advice on who to pick up. Uh Josh Lloyd’s the GOAT. Make lockdown fantasy basketball your second listen today. So, we we were talking about it in the last segment, Dylan, of like the youth movement here makes it feel like maybe it’s a bit of a changing of the guard around this team. And, you know, one of the reasons that makes me say that, right, that maybe, you know, you said it makes you by far more likely to trade Zion Williamson or to want to trade him is, you know, some of the changes the front office wanted to make like haven’t worked, right? like they went in all in on Zion and they’re 0 and6 with Zion or 0 and five with Zion, whatever it is. Zion hasn’t looked particularly good and like it’s just more of the same. He’s out injured with a hamstring injury which is like the worst thing that he could have happen here. The Jordan Pool move has not worked out like they thought it was. You at least seem like you’ve struck gold with these two rookies. So, just lean into that more. Is that essentially kind of your thinking behind it? Yeah. And honestly, I it’s also a thing of if you just move Zion, I would be open to seeing what this team looks like with the other pieces if you build around because again they like Jordan Pull and Trey Murphy, they’re still young. Like Herb Jones still looks like he could be a guy. Yeah. Yeah. There is a there is a a realistic timeline where two or three years down the road you have like a young a very young Jeremiah Fierce and Dererick Wayne, but they are still like a playin team because you have like and a playoff team because you have like the veterans that are now like the older Trey Murphy and then the pieces that you get from moving to Zion because at least Trey Murphy, Herb Jones and all them are like more reliable to like you’ll know they’ll be there but it it’s hard to still just focus on the center point and I I mentioned this uh I saw someone mention this earlier. What I really love about Derek Queen and I think a big thing that helps me move Zion with that is the fact that he had that injury and it did not slow him down at all. He he did not this time. He got back the second he was able to. He looked he got back earlier than what we were expecting truthfully. And and he looks and he was in great shape. He stayed in shape ready to play as soon as he was able to. I love I it’s a great sign to see and something that changes because if that if that were to happen before who knows when you’d see look he’s he’s closed out two fourth quarters playing all the minutes in them 12 minutes in both fourth quarters right like when was the last time you saw Zion Williamson do something like that and that’s partially the team doesn’t let him do that so keep that in mind with it too right so I don’t know it just shows there’s something there I don’t think Zion’s value is particularly high I can tell you they they were somewhat actively trying to move him this off season and just didn’t get enough good offers to do it. But does this mean maybe you can take a not good offer when cool look at what we got here instead? Right. And I wonder if that’s kind of a factor into all of this. But it definitely feels like we are getting closer to a decision, a resolution on the Zion Williamson era and that it very well, if it doesn’t come by the trade deadline this year, will come at the end of this season. I I would agree. It feels like it’s time I if you know again we are two two games into the breakout Derek Queen era. If it keeps happening, I would be shocked if there is not a move made at at some point. Yeah. Whether whether it’s a trade deadline or in the offseason, it feels like we’re we’re you see that the end kind of coming in some capacity. Do you agree? Do you disagree? Let us know in the comments down below. That’s going to do it for this episode of Locked On Pelicans. He’s my guest, Dylan Sanders. Uh, Pelicans Roundtable, Dilly Dilly Sanders, is that what it is on Twitter. There we go. Nailed it. Um, so catch his work there as well. He’ll be regularly on the show. As always, I’m your host, Jake Madison. Nola Jake on Twitter. This is the Lock Pelics podcast. Butterlock Podcast Network. Your team every day. Enjoy the weekend, y’all.
Rookie Derik Queen’s breakout performances have the New Orleans Pelicans reconsidering their entire franchise direction. After leading fourth-quarter comebacks in consecutive wins, the 20-year-old center is forcing difficult questions about Zion Williamson’s future in New Orleans.
Jake Madison and Dylan Sanders analyze Queen’s stunning statistical impact—plus-19 points per 100 possessions with elite defensive metrics—while dissecting Jordan Poole’s disastrous minus-19.4 on-off rating. The discussion examines whether the Pelicans should abandon their win-now timeline built around Williamson, Trey Murphy, and Herb Jones to embrace a youth movement featuring Queen and fellow rookie Jeremiah Fears. Key topics include Queen’s defensive instincts that rival established stars, the failed CJ McCollum-for-Poole trade, and why the franchise’s competing timelines are creating roster construction chaos.
Discover why both hosts believe trading Zion Williamson has become significantly more realistic after just two games of Queen’s emergence.
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50 comments
Always pushing some over the top narrative. Haven't been able to watch this show lately. Queen wasn't even that good last game. He looks okay. Nothing that you could make any kind of decision over. Hope he turns out great, along with Fears. So far they don't look like anything more than rookies that might be able to play in the league if they improve.
The ball movement is lacking with # 1 in the lineup.
In order to be somewhat effective, the ball has got to be in Zion's hands and everybody in the gym knows what he's going to do when it is. Never mind the Sports Center highlight plays he occasional creates, having the ball on his hands 20-25 feet away from the rim makes playing defense against the Pelicans easy…a real cakewalk.
The same people who complained about BI's iso-ball habits are blinded by Zion's supposed promise. But truth is, he's worse than BI ever was and is a turnover or blocked shot away on every possession from starting a fastbreak going the other way.
DEFENSE!!!! DEFENSE!!! DEFENSE!!!
Change the MF Guard !!!! Fears + Queen is the future and the present
Fire Jake
Queen's quiet confidence in interviews even before the draft told me he believes he'll "cook all these mf'rs" if given the chance.
Also props to Jake for relentlessly covering for WG for 4 straight years when it was obvious by season two he was trash.
Queen could be finals MVP and these transaction nerds still gon be mad about the trade 😂. F those picks tired of always waiting for next year. You got your 2026 draft pick in 2025. It’s done move forward.
LOVE THE SHIRT JAKE!!! Think Blue baby!!
That’s a really underrated point about how DQ responded to the injury.
The defense for queen is only a shocker to guys that don't watch ball and simply gaze at highlights and box scores.
Nice to hear some excitement about a professional rookie player, in New Orleans sports.
Maybe next year Dylan will have a guy or two to be excited about.
We beat the Mavs and Hornets WITHOUT Zion and Murray so stop with the excuses. #WeWon
Its amazing how two wins changed your mind about Willie Green….LMAO hilarious at this point.
What's Murray's timeline to return? What should we expect, from him once he is healthy?
I agree with trading Zion- after years of backing him- but more because of Fears. Watch what Fears does do a defense— it’s the exact same impact as Zion, but w a bit more versatility since he’s gonna add a reliable 3 soon. They’re automatic paint touches who collapse the paint, and take + make shots from all kind of crazy angles w/in 6’. The roster is built for Fears already (aside from Dejounte). Keep Murphy and Herb, they’re ideal next to him. Queen performing is gravy. But Fears has clearly shown enough already that he’s gonna be A Guy, and it doesn’t seem like it’s going to take particularly long for him to get there. He’s the reason we turn the page.
Here’s what I think we should do now:
BKN: Zion (who wants to be there), Duncan Robinson? (For the $), 1 mid-first pick?
DET: MPJ, Hawkins
NOP: Tobias Harris (expiring contract), 2 picks (1 lottery, and another in the 20-40 range)
I agree w y’all— Queen trade was an overpay. Just take it for it what it is and move on. Congratulations to ATL, who cares, the pick is gone, we move on.
It is better for everyone to just Cut Zion Williamson. No one is going to take a trade for that salary.
FIRE WILLIE GREEN!! Pels about to go on another 6 game losing streak. 2 close wins but not a very good team at all!! Willie Green is not an NBA Head Coach!!!
Let me answer that for you. No, isn't doesn't mean the changing of the guard. It's them finally finding a co star to play with Zion. Imagine the queen and zion line b ups. Imagine when Zion comes out Queen comes in. Queen is not here to replace Zion, but to team up with him.
Derik "The Blizzard" Queen has a nice ring to it !!
Is there somewhere I could listen to positive optimistic Pelicans basketball? We 8 games in and talking about trading everyone. I’m tried hearing about draft picks and trades, we are in the midst of the season let’s see how it develops.
Imagine being a player and hearing this from your local media
idk jake. I feel your frustration, but there’s a lot of basketball left to play. go easy bro
Every dayer comment
They won despite willie green and not because of willie green
Fire WILLIE 2 GAMES PLEASE..ZION ON THE TRADE TABLE. LETS GET A DOMINANT CENTER LIKE THE JOKER. DUMARS IS BUILDING AROUND FEARS & QUEEN. I SEEN ENOUGH FROM ZION. ALWAYS HURT!!! EVEN AFTER HIS WEIGHT LOST. TIME TO MOVE ON . DUDE HAS ONE MOVE DUNKS , CANT SHOOT AND ONLY 6'6. ZION IS NO LEBRON, AT LEAST LEBRON CAN PULL UP FROM 3 AND HIT EM. ZION CANNOT. BEY SCORES MORE POINTS THEN ZION.
Let’s be real this team no where near better without Zion that’s 1… 2 Willie green can’t coach when Zion on the court the offense is not ran the same with all the off ball movement when Zion playing Willie lives off Zion iso ball that’s a coach thing not a Z thing cause Zion is a good passer.. Playing Z And Queen Together actually opens up more easy buckets for Z and everybody else because when Queen has the ball at the top of the key and they run actions with Zion Trey/poole in them with Queen all focus turns to Zion which means the defense becomes unbalanced
Hi Jake
Our bench bringing the energy but our starting five not being as productive has been the problem for some years now
Every dayer
Trade Zion Now!!
They need to make it work with both of them somehow if Gayle wants to win a championship. Zion’s efficiency and Queen’s play making off the bench could be a huge difference in turning this thing around. However if Queen starts putting up triple doubles, Zion may need to come off the bench. They can call it load management to ease his mind. 😂
We aren't going anywhere this year anyway . Play both the rookies and let them get better . Zion ? I am done. Get rid of him. If you can find a sucker to give you a 1st round pick grab it.
The problem is Zion is not a true power forward, Zion as point guard is the best thing for his career and the team. They can play Fears, Poole, and Murray at the 2 guard, Trey should be at the Sf position not Power forward, they have Queen to play Power forward. The center position is alright for now.
I was afraid that we may have wasted a draft pick. I'm so happy that he is proving me wrong. Go D.Q.
I know that we won't get many wins this year, I just hope that they compete in every game. Keep fighting!
The over reactions this channel has is crazy. 😂
Derek Queen is such an interesting piece- High IQ Big and he is still a puppy- Jokic was still training horses at queens age.
Keep Zion and play him on the wing
Jake my guy your heavy on the negative and very selective
Confidence for you as a former athlete and coach myself sometimes with a new team meaning new people these type of wins help you grow and play harder for another
As a wizards fan, y’all gotta give Poole some time. CJ looks completely washed, JP will find his rhythm and you’ll see it was still a good trade for y’all
Poole is not winning player. He's an overpaid bench player.
Queen is good but not an elite game changing player, Zion is.
My question is. Let’s say they traded Zion right, do you think people will come to the Smoothie King center after that happens? As a fan, I can’t do another rebuild. If so , I’m out.
Pump the brakes on moving Zion. Not buying tickets to see Queen.. Definitely watching on tv BUT that’s it. How about talking about how the team would look when Zion gets back?!
Mannn Stop With The Reaching
Hell with Zion the NBA is a 3pt league we need a big who can shoot it. They don’t give Zion all his fouls, so I’d rather trade him
BOTH ( Saints/Pels) franchises need to replace their current staffs with new age group that mot only utilize A.I but drive to blend with Quantum COMPUTING 🏆Thus eliminating non-sensical salary cap moves holding on to players soon eligible for AARP . While using these new tools fortm draft strategy, offensive, defensive strategy
We should move Zion to the 3. Queen to the 4 and Missi at the 5.
It's not a bad trade man
Jake, please clarify current thinking: was trading to pick Queen a mistake or not?
🤣🤣…..these podcasts are straight clickbait bro. Derrick Queen over Zion is straight laughable. Expectations so low that 2 wins against peasant teams give rise to these convos