Pelicans young core, NBA playoff race & West standings | Pelicans Podcast 2/2/2024

Pelicans young core, NBA playoff race & West standings | Pelicans Podcast 2/2/2024

Welcome in to the New Orleans Pelicans podcast the official podcast of your New Orleans Pelicans a podcast dedicated to everything you need to know about the squad hear from players coaches broadcasters and those who cover the NBA on a daily basis it’s time to flock up the New Orleans Pelicans podcast starts right

Now hello everyone and welcome once again to another edition of the New Orleans Pelicans podcast the official podcast of your New Orleans Pelicans what a win a needed win especially if you ask Ty graini voice in the pels in Houston just a couple of days ago

Inbound it to Yona short Corner left got to go with three with two got to go get it to Jose buzzer beating good oh goodness left wing I mean there was two10 of a second on the shot clock when he let it go Jose Jose Jose Jose oh this

Is how head coach Willie Green sounded afterwards you know it was similar in the fact that they they’re a tough team and they play tough and they’re Scrappy they force us to have 17 turnovers I thought we just continued offensively with our force and our Pace got down the

Floor quickly made quick decisions didn’t allow their physicality to disrupt us offensively and and then defensively incredible job uh by all of our guys holding them to 40% from the field and um 29 from three so you know solid effort on both ends of the floor

If you watched it if you listened to it obviously yonas valent Tunis a massive night on that night here’s yonas we all got to do our jobs you know it’s not you know it’s not IND individual sport it’s a team sport so we all got to know our

Spots our our job to do and and and we got to do it no matter who’s playing you know who’s not and it’s always good Jim iik canha for New Orleans pelicans.com when you hear the phrase Dagger from Todd graffan and it’s actually a positive reference to something the

Pelicans did yes definitely better in that uh instance instead of him threatening to use a dagger on himself so very good to hear him voice that word and at the end of a win against the rockets in case he missed it shame on you but if you didn’t here it is one

Minute to go he just they’re going to run in double team na going to the rack leave it for Jonas two hand dunk and one dagger time all right so there you go look there’s Todd making the call there you got to hear dagger there’s the dunk

You you love all that how big was that win yeah I think to me it kind of restored order in terms of the direction that the team was heading I mean they were on a three-game losing streak you can kind of couch that a little bit by

Saying yeah that they did lose to three of the best teams in the league I don’t think necessarily it was just that they lost it was the fact that they had you know two 24 Point losses on the weekend and then they had the game against

Boston that they had a lead and weren’t able to finish that game so to be able to come back and and get a win um you know lower tier teams Houston’s not a lower tier team they’re kind of in the middle but those are the kind of

Opponents I think over the rest of the season that they need to consistently beat teams like that and I get it it wasn’t pretty towards the end and once again it was one of those things where you had to find a way to close things out and again it’s it’s a learning

Process with this team but the fact that you did it you did and you wound up the month of January 8 and7 and that is something that we’ve talked about I brought up at the beginning of the month I love the fact that even coach talked

About it this is what he had to say on finishing eight and seven we we knew we had a tough month ahead of us uh we still got a few tough games coming up but it’s really a credit to our staff and our players um for continuing to

Just stick with it and continuing to put in the extra work um when no one’s looking and you know we’ll take it with all all the tough teams that we had you know we’ll take eight eight and seven now we we know we could have been better

Um and we’ll try to continue to improve but you know like you said it it’s good to come out of this month uh with with a winning record all right so Jim there it is your crystal ball AKA The Magic eightball that we bought at the store

Down the street um rubbit give it a good uh twisty turn up and down shake it left to right 12 games in the month of February as we’re now on February 2nd how many games do the pels need to win to make you comfortable I think I’m

Going to go with eight and four I think seven and five probably is all right um as long as they can keep adding to the distance between 500 and themselves right now I think that would be helpful but given the Slate of opponents that they have I think you’re looking at a

Month where you don’t want to go six and six or five- seven or like that if if you if they do that I think we’ll definitely look back at February as disappointing and they probably they’re in seventh place right now they’ll probably drop a spot or two if they

Don’t at least go a little bit over 500 in this month that’s the thing that’s crazy about it right so you get closer to the allar break here what you say 30 some OD games left 34 34 games left that’s crazy it it feels like you need

Some do feel like that many in terms what I mean by that is you say that but everyone means so much doesn’t it and by the time we get to the all-star break there’s seven games between now and then so some quick math that means there’s only 27 games left

At the All-Star break people always think of the All-Star break as the halfway point but it’s really the 2/3 point and I mean literally for the Pelicans they will have played 55 with 27 left so yeah it’s it’s deep into the season by that point what do you make of

The separation Jim of one through four to where now it really sort of looks like those four teams Minnesota OKC one game back Clippers two games back Denver a game and a half back in fourth I know that doesn’t make sense but that’s how it is with the Ty and all

That and then the next closest team is Sacramento six back there there there’s a separation there right between those first four so again I things can change you don’t know what happens health will be a big thing for those teams but it sure seems like right now I could

Probably say hey that series that you swept from Sacramento how big does that look now right because they’re just a game above you if you’re to pels Phoenix one game above you in six and you got Dallas below you how big is that getting that win that you can get back and forth

In that Series going right so it looks like to me and there’s the dreaded Lakers but it’s Sacramento Phoenix New Orleans Dallas in my mind that will be battling for five six seven and eight would you agree yeah I agree I mean when you ask about how do I view the the tiar

Of the standings I I agree I mean I think it’s I mean things can change and especially get the four but that’s a lot of games to make up now right from a short-term standpoint it’s not realistic to think that the goal should be to move

All the way up to four um like you said I think Dallas Phoenix and Sacramento those are the three teams that Pelicans fan should be paying the closest attention to right now and I think February is a possib there is a possibility that yeah yeah we’re not I’m

Not targeting the fourth spot but can they move up to fifth or sixth in February by the end of this month can we say you know not only are they in the top six but they’re in good position in terms of where they are compared to Dallas fortunately I don’t think most

Likely they’re not going to have the tiebreaker on Dallas so they’re going to need to win more games than the Mavericks um the Kings they just need to have the same record as them because obviously they already have the tiebreaker wrapped up with them and they still have one more game against

Sacramento in April so um next week that game at the Clippers how big is that yeah I mean that you know that’s the one that’s the one only opponent I mean there’s a couple the Lakers are 500 but really the the stretch of games that they have coming up that that Clipper

Game is really the only one against against a team that’s over 500 and well over 500 right but that’s the one I’m circling and like of the trip of you know whatever I I need that one that would be great that would be great that won’t be the game though that I think

Fans are going to go into saying like that’s the game that we’re going to win that’s the one that would be I think people will look at that you know maybe as almost like a bonus like if you get this win you really got a chance to have

A great road trip well I tell you what look and here’s the thing that team looks really good right now defensively and I think they’re going toing for the top I’m just and it’s not it’s not a bad thing hear me out if the season ends and

You’re five you play the third seed right now it’s the Clippers I don’t want to play the Clippers in that first round do you I don’t no not the way they’re playing so I’d like them to get to two or one the Clippers yeah yes and I I can

Completely see that happening if I’m five I’m playing four that’s Denver I understand that they’re defending champs I understand they got all and joic understand the last time they played the NBA is about matchups the pels can match up against them in other words on the

Court they have a chance to win would you agree with me on that you know what’s interesting though is I think OKC Minnesota I feel like that as well I think a lot of teams in the west and I don’t this is no disrespect to Minnesota

And OKC it’s really more the fact that neither of those teams has been deep in the playoffs and doesn’t have guys that have have a lot of experience so I mean if it’s the thing is is the top four is so close to that it’s hard to project

Like Denver could end up being number one by the end of the SE or by the end of this month they could be number one so it’s going to change a lot but I I think a lot of teams in the west I’m guessing are saying that they wouldn’t

If you have your pick you don’t want to play the defending NBA champs and you don’t want to play a Clippers team that has you know granted the Clippers have had a bunch of struggles in the postseason but they have various guys that have done a ton in their career and

Like you said the way they’re playing right now they’re dangerous and I was very skeptical of them when they first made the Harden trade and there was plenty of reason to be because they lost the first five games but it took me a while but I mean that’s all gone I I

Definitely feel like they’re a team that you’re not going to want to play if if they continue to do what they’ve been doing lately they’re going to be maybe the number one team it’s I think it’s probably going to be between them and Denver that people are going to say

Let’s try to avoid them in the first round of the playoffs be real interesting when we sit here at the end of this month and see where things are super excited for you on Friday Jim wanted to have a little bit more fun so we decided to do a radio Round Table

Every two weeks and today it’s the color analyst John the shaser along with Aaron Summers who’s the Saints and Pelicans team reporter but also on game days she is the sideline reporter as well so let’s all have a chat shall we all right Tom now to welcome in John deshazer

Aaron Summers jikan offer it’s our radio Round Table second time we’re going to be doing this and it’ll be kind of fun especially since we want to focus on the future we’re not talking about like the year 3000 is Jim you going to be using hoverboards things like that right are

You cloned how many clones would you have in yourself uh I think one is probably plenty for scary to be honest with you it’s real scary to be honest with you what’s going on guys how y’all doing yeah I’m doing great yeah JD how you doing all good all good on the road

Ready to come back home no doubt I’m sure for that uh look one of the things and one of the reasons so many fans are excited about this team is how young they are and how I guess we have yet to remotely see the potential of this team

Right and it’s kind of what the the them of today’s Round Table is going to be right the fact that you know obviously they’re trying to achieve as much as they possibly can this year make the playoffs go as deep as they can but we also know that you know the championship

Window for contention probably isn’t immediately right this second we know that you know down the road however they do this year it’s probably more you know two years from now three years from now so that was kind of the theme to that we wanted to talk about during this radio

Round table and I guess should preface before we get into some of the specific stuff that I kind of limited everybody to it’s players 25 and under on the team so whatever answers you hear from people today if you say well how come they didn’t mention CJ McCollum how come they

Didn’t mention you know Cody Zeller uh that it’s really six guys that are 25 and under on the team right now Jose Alvarado is 25 herb Jones is 25 Trey Murphy and Zion are both 23 Jordan Hawkins is 21 and Dyson Daniels is 20 Naji Marshall actually this was a little

Controversial among the group Naj Marsh just turned 26 last week so there’s a little bit of gray area there I I don’t I don’t need to be a stickler on this if you want to throw in nii Marshall and some of your answers that’s fine by me I

Guess I guess I’ll let it slide this time I mean his birthday was last week right exactly so it’s fine it’s fine and Brandon Ingram turned 26 in September so I think that’s a pushing it a little bit too far all right it wasn’t this year so

Right right we got you all right so how are you going to do this you want to do this with just like different moments and different things that you like with some of these guys to kind of touch on yeah I think we start out with um people’s favorite or most memorable

Single game performance from this season among those group of six maybe sevenish guys if you want to include nii so far I guess we could start with JD okay well I’m I’m Gonna Leave Naji and and bi out I’m gonna leave out the AARP Group and I’m gonna stay with with

The 25 and under U my favorite one and I was going to you know I had two in case somebody went before me but I think it’s Jordan Hawkins at Dallas um November excuse me um January 13th when the team was short-handed and there was no bi there

Was no Zion there was no CJ McCollum I think there was no Trey Murphy and The Rook came up with 34 points made six to 12 threes uh five rebounds four assists and a couple of steals but I really thought he showed up big in that game because you know the team short-handed

You know that production has to come from somewhere and he was pretty Fearless he’s he’s shown him to be a pretty Fearless player anyway um but that stage on the road short-handed where you got to have it from somebody because you’re not going to get it from

Your big guys was huge to me in terms of him developing showing his confidence and really kind of showing this team hey when the moment comes it it might not be too big for this guy um he’s willing to step out and produce and you give him

You can run offense for him uh you can run specific plays for him let him come off picks and shoot he’s got the quick release but he really showed himself to be you know didn’t have a whole lot to lose in that game anyway because I don’t think anybody thought that pels would

Win that game but man he showed up big and that would be my big game out of those guy out of the young guys I obviously agree with you and Jordan Hawkins he’s had a lot of fun games the 31.1 at Denver um in November but because you took Jordan Hawkins I’m

Gonna go with Zion Williamson’s performance uh against Sacramento in late November because he scored 18 points in the second quarter completely dominated and those are the most fun performances to watch when Zion just takes over games he’s done it twice this year where he scored 18 points in a

Quarter but in that game in particular he ended up with 26 points he was he shot 75% from the field he was 12 of 16 so I think that type of Zion Williamson is just phenomenal to watch when he just dominates so that was one of my favorite

Games from Z this year yeah you know to to to what JD said um if you look at the standings right now it’s possible that that game that the Pelicans won where Hawkins had 34 points against Dallas could end up being a huge moment in the season they’re one game ahead of the

Mavericks maybe at the end of the year we look back at that I know I’m going to mention this because graph isn’t here last season we talked a lot about how a Laker Matt Ryan made a shot that was so pivotal in the standings um maybe

That’ll be the same thing with that that Hawkins game and the fact that they were able to beat the Mavericks in that situation um Aaron I had I also had a Zion game but I had a different one okay um I had his 36-point game against Minnesota on December 11th and the

Reason I picked that one was because it was the first game after the inseason tournament and it was just such a such a resounding answer to you know the criticism and in the second guessing that he got specifically and then the team overall after the way that they

Played against the Lakers in Las Vegas so um that was another game where he just took over and I I thought the timing of that was so perfect another kind of honorable mentioned one that I had on my list was um herb Jones had 22 points was four for four on

Three-pointers in the game against Utah where they scored 153 points and set a franchise record and just to me that was a symbolic night for him just the fact that you know he came into the NBA three years ago as a guy that people had a ton

Of questions about his shooting and he is perfect from the three-point line in four attempts and the team breaks the the record for most points ever in a game so um that was that was one that stood out as well but I also had Hawkins

I feel like all of us I’m sure had that on their on their list as as a game that’s just impossible to to ignore the the the performance that he had that game if you wonder if a per performance like that guys got him into the rising

Stars allstar game you know yeah I got an honorable mention for Gus Jose Alvarado New Year’s Eve against the Lakers yeah sure he likes that one um not a lot of points but it was it was the defensive presence and Jose comes up with a couple of Ste a couple of blocks

In that game really but you know the thing he did against Jackson Hayes on the box I think uh I think Gus will like that I think we all like that because that was kind of the quintessential Jose Alvarado kind of game I love the the picking of LeBron right I can’t believe

I didn’t have that on my list no it’s really good again all those moments are solid here what about guys favorite individual Improvement this season from this group of young players I’m GNA go with her um I think herb has has improved steadily each season so you know you almost don’t want

To give him credit for that but I mean I think he’s become obviously a more effective outside shooter a quicker jump shooter uh and defensively he’s just been the same herb Jones that we have come to know uh throughout his NBA career but I think what he’s adding to

This team offensively is something that hopefully will become even more reliable you know he still had a couple of dips you know and and a couple of shooting slumps already this season but but he’s so steady he’s one of those guys that you know when he’s not on the floor and

He’s out of the lineup you feel it and so I think I just like the way he’s played so far this season especially the the improved outside shooting can I go a different direction and say the one stat that all of them have done better in sure okay great because that’s what I’m

Doing every single one of these players has had a career high and assist this year wow so I think the way that they’re playing together and sharing the ball obviously is something that coach green wants them to do but the fact that they’re really trusting each other and

Kind of using each other to their their skill set I guess you know finding each other in for their shots and and for what does well for the team I think has been really good overall that ties into one of mine I had herbs three-point percentage is in terms of a specific

Stat that is EAS improved the fact that he has been around 40% after his first two years where he was around 33 34 that’s that’s huge for him um and then the second one was uh Zion’s passing he’s averaging a career-high 4.7 assists per game and the Pelicans are 16 and

Three when he has at least five assists in a game so I thought that was an interesting barometer for how the team success has been and also I mean this is this is kind of obvious but he’s played in 38 games this season he out of 48 he

Played 29 last year that might be the most important school with straight participation he that’s that’s the direction the NBA is going that year so I want to stress that as much as possible yeah no that’s my uh that was one of the things that just stood out to

Me that just getting him on the court I mean you see the difference it makes with the team JD availability especially with a player like that I mean that is the key well they keep on talking about gravity and when he’s on the floor you can see how he basically B sucks the

Defense toward him and it allows his teammates to be open I mean he’s such a pivotal player and such a guy who galvanizes what they want to do offensively that when you put the ball in his hands and he gets going downhill man especially going left because he’s

Always gonna end up going left right but you can’t stop him from doing what he does and when he does that it really affects the opposing defense because he he’s one of those guys who’s you know when Z’s going downhill and he’s getting to the rim he’s really tough to stop he

Basically stops himself because the opposing defense can’t really stop him all right guys what’s about uh the most important individual Improvement that needs to continue or be made for next season or the future of the team what do you think JD well I I really think this team needs to

Be a little bit better at at at turnovers um and I can’t say you have to have a a traditional point to do that but they’ve got to be able to get in those moments especially late in games and be able to get into their offense uh

There’s going to have to be some who’s capable of doing that for him whether it’s Zion or bi or whether it’s you know CJ McCollum or whether it’s herb Jon I don’t care who it is but somebody has to be able to get you into your offense because we’ve seen too many Helter

Skelter moments down the stretch where you have the the unforced turnover or you see a team that’s not really poised in the clutch and that’s why the clutch record is what it is because this team kind of loses its Poise especially when teams get tougher defensively down the

Stretch of games so that’s what I want to see I just want to see this team Having learned from those moments because the only only way you can get better is to be in those moments but now we need to see the success that comes from being in those moments we need to

See the graduation from a team that’s unable to finish to a team that’s able to finish out games clean yeah I mean I could go with consistency from a lot of people just we’ve seen huge games offensively from from Trey Murphy from Jordan Hawk they Trey’s been in kind of a a slump

Here he’s been struggling so getting back to just his usual level of production would be great but I think herb Jones being able to sustain and even elevate a little bit more on the offensive side is huge for this team because he is so good defensively but

When he can be an offensive threat he’s out there just by himself on an island so often when he can knock down that three the way that he has been over this past stretch I think that helps the team overall just in a a huge way I have two

Specific ones to me that both of these are important for the individual players future in the league and in terms of his role increasing and his value to the team but it also you know just the Pelicans ability to keep moving up the standings in the Western Conference over

The next couple years first is Jordan hawkins’s defense to me if he becomes a a a quality defensive player we already seen the offensive level that he can reach as a rookie for him to be able to do some of the stuff that he’s done with

A pair of 30-point games against some of the best teams in the league with Denver and Dallas is super impressive so if he can add that other side of the court I know a lot of rookies struggle with that it’s not a surprise to see a guy kind of

Takes need some time to figure things out defensively I mean I think that’ll be huge and the other thing is Dyson Daniels offensive aggressiveness he’s shooting 28% on threes right now um so that’s an area that he has to keep getting better at so for him it’s kind

Of the opposite end of the Court where his defense is already at that level that’s Way Beyond what you expect from a second-year guy but now his offense has has to kind of to um join the party as far as if he can do that I mean both of

Those guys if they can add the other side of the court and have that be a strength you’re talking about two two-way players that are going to be extremely valuable for New Orleans going forward you know something that surprised me when I was looking at Stats

Is the fact that Dyson’s played in every single game this season yeah and as much as they’ve been changing the lineups and rotating players in and out he’s somebody that has played and had minutes in every game so to your point adding to the other side of the ball I think would

Be extremely beneficial they obviously see value in him on the court interesting and I cheated and I literally wrote down Dyson Daniels because he did play a nice offensive game against Houston the other night and uh and I went team instead of individual so you know I

Cheated I think we can all say we’re on the same page on that um I love this because we I I think fans all the time think about this all those draft picks that The pels Have and things of Nature and Jim I know it’s something that you

Always talk about too so give me a prediction on what’s going to happen with the Lakers pick pels can either take it or defer to 225 um and then take it then so do to take it this year to take it next year JD I think I would actually defer it um

You know you bring you’re talking about bringing in a young play who you have to develop you got to find the role for and the core of this team is is pretty solid right now I believe so you know where would that player play how how how much

Usage would you get out of him how effective would he be while you’re trying us to establish what you have with these young core players along with CJ McCullum and V Valen chunes and Brandon Ingram and and Marshall how do how does another Young Piece fit in

That you have to develop now fortunately Jord hains has come in and been exactly what they need but even if you were to say draft a point guard uh a young point guard on a veteran team how quickly do they assimilate you know how quickly do they gain the respect of their teammates

So you know i’ be more in favor of of like punting on it and waiting a little bit and and seeing what more you can get out of this team and how much more seasoned it can get before you add another Young Piece to it I am totally

On board with deferring to 2025 because of the fact that they already have an issue trying to find minutes for everybody on this team and why I mean EJ Liddell has a full contract with the Pelicans and he spent most of his year down in Birmingham so you’re already

Having an issue with some of the the talent you have here I I looked at some of the mock drafts it looks like the Pelicans would get that pick around 14 if it was this year right and at that point there is the Duke Kyle filipowski

Who is great he is really good he is offensively fantastic his defense though isn’t as good so if we’re trying to get a different kind of Center in here why go with somebody who’s not as good on the defensive end you know what’s interesting one of the reasons I like

Doing these round tables is because I have exact can I hop in for a second I know how much that hurt Aaron to have to admit a player I know how much that wounded her so I just wanted to throw that out there folks that’s really unbiased opinion because it really

Wounded her to say that I’m sure yeah I know I thought the same is having a pretty good season this year I thought the same thing but I didn’t want to say anything because I don’t want to bring up a sore subject but that’s okay JD no

One of the reasons I like doing these round tables is because I actually have the exact opposite opinion of of you guys I hope you don’t hold that against me my my take was um I think it’s risky that the Lakers make a bunch of moves in

The offseason and turn into you know a team that makes the playoffs or is near closer to the top of the West so my take was to you you you you take the pick this year and one of the things to keep in mind too is that it doesn’t

Necessarily have to be used on a player it could be something that they can use as an asset in a trade so I was thinking that you you jump on the fact that if if the Lakers don’t make the playoffs it’s a lottery pick you happily say thank you

LA Lakers for your lottery Pick and it would be the second time in three years that they were able to do that which I I think is a is a huge positive yeah look I I think LeBron looked great in New York I’m just saying you know anything

Of that nature and just go ahead and start speeding up that process to rebuild think it’s time to do that it’d be a great tourist attraction all right finally guys thing is I mean they’ll probably be back in the lottery next year because I mean the Lakers win the

Off season and then they have to trade everybody and they gotta add Pieces by by Thanksgiving so we know what their cycle is every year so we know about this same time next year they’re going to be looking to blow up the roster again yeah but the Lakers got a huge win

Last night without a I wonder that changed my thought process a yeah uh I don’t have to tell you how many times graph kept texting me how is this happening and unbelievable for that aspect of it here’s a tough question because it’s one of the things that I

Think makes the West so tough here we got about two and a half minutes here guys there’s so much Youth and talent in and around the NBA in the west but in this division as well so here’s the question which Southwest Division team has the brightest future and do the pels

Need to be concerned with the most JD uh it’s still Memphis to me even though they just traded Steven Adams which was a huge part of that team but when you’re talking about John Mor a superstar and and Desmond Bane one of the best Shooters in the league and

Jiren Jackson Jr who is a defensive Force pretty much I think they still have a young good cor a young great core actually and so you build around those guys that you already have on the roster so I still think it’s Memphis I still think Memphis is a really dangerous team

I know John Mor is out this season obviously but once he gets back on the court for next season and you have Desmond Bane already who’s gaining you know who’s injured also and you have Triple J I just think that’s a really great Foundation of young players uh

That was a good team last year and got pushed out of the playoffs uh but I think that’s a really really good team and I think they’ve got enough seasoning to be a team that’s going to be formidable for you know another five six years if they can keep that core

Together I think there’s so many fascinating teams in this division right now because you you look at that team but then the Rockets they kill me every time I watch them and they’re just flying around I think they need another vet that’s really going to help them Elevate themselves because their youth

Is so good they have so many talented players and then the Spurs with wemi wemi has played less games than Jordan Hawkins has this year and Jordan Hawkins hasn’t played like the entire season so this going to take a little while for the Spurs to develop I think like

They’re a little bit further off so I might go with the maps just because they have Luca Kyrie they might be able to kind of take a big step forward depending on on the draft and what they’re able to add yeah I mean one of the reasons why I thought this was a

Good question or interesting question is because there’s so many different options I mean like you kind of just detailed Aaron I mean you go through the whole Division and say I can make a case for every single one of these other four teams for various reasons um I actually agreed with JD in

Terms of my answer was the Grizzlies and really to try to n kind of narrow it down and be concise on this part of it um I I just thought they have the best track record of the other four teams in terms of when they’re healthy when they

Have most of their guys available it’s a 50 win team they were two- seed last year I just feel like I have the most confidence in that core group of guys now granted you know like we’ve seen with the Pelicans it’s a lot of sometimes it’s easier said than done as

Far as getting the players on the court and having them be available but um I just feel like they’re the team that I feel the most confident in going forward which is you know a lot of what what JD said um they also have are gonna have a

Lottery pick this year so think about that too I mean and again like we talked about with what the Pelicans decision is going to be on whether to take the Lakers first round pick or defer it Memphis might be in a position where they say we finished with the fourth

Worst record in the League this year say or fifth worst record M and we ended up three in the lottery and now all of a sudden we don’t necessarily want to need to add a a rookie to this mix but now we have a third pick in the draft and

There’s a bunch of teams that every year every summer that are like we we want to rebuild and we there might be another team in the lottery that has another lottery pick that’s like yeah we want to pick eighth and third so here’s the the deal that we’ll do with you Memphis so

Um bunch of reasons why I think that they’re the team that the Pelicans are going to have to be the most concerned about in the future I mean Dallas like you said Aaron is another team that but I just with Kyrie you just never know like from year to year you just don’t

Know what his situation is going to be look I mean it’s not that I kind of live on the rumor mill and stuff but I mean I most of this season I’d seen that you know he still would like to go to La and play with LeBron obviously wherever that

Happens what the Lakers do is another thing but that’s to your point you don’t know what that future entails with him or where he wants to go I think one interesting caveat with all of this too is when you guys were talking about the young players on the Pelicans and the

Next thing they need to do an improvement I agree with Y all when it comes to like why Memphis is so um key because that one player period end the story we saw him when he first came back this season joh Mor that can just take over a game Superstar right like when

You look at all the teams in the Southwest Division I would say that would be my thing for Improv Improvement for those young players that you guys listed from the pels do they need to have a go-to player do they need to have a player that can match the wits in a

Game in a series that we’ve seen when Bookers drop in 50 jaw takes over like you saw that right in the last two drives of that game he said it after the game he talk to the coach we got this what do you want me to do who on the

Pels does that right cuz until you match that it has to be them because you have a guy that does that right with Houston young upand cominging but who is that guy I think their coach is trying to you know get them to that but when you look

Around the league I think you have to have that guy don’t you yeah and I think that that’s I mean go ahead and say it I think that’s what the Pelicans thought maybe Zion Williamson was going to be able to do and you’ve seen it at times

Where he’s taken over but again does he do that on a consistent basis at the end of the game and I think this might be part of the reason why we’ve fallen in some of these clutch Time games is who takes over who do you turn to and say

This is we want you just take over score is it Brandon Ingram is it Zion Williamson is it CJ McCollum I don’t I don’t know and I think that they don’t really know either I think and I hope that really the way that Zion gets to that is he goes from

The 88% that he mentioned recently in terms of where he is physically to 100% I think that that’s one of the steps that needs to happen I think one of the things for him too at the end of games that he doesn’t have compared to John

Morant and this isn’t his fault this is just the reality of basketball he’s not going to just the Pelicans aren’t going to get a rebound or take the ball out of bounds and give it to Zion and have him you know just drive by everybody like J

Luka is the same thing so really that part of it though is why it’s important for the Pelicans to be better execution wise in clutch time to be able to say okay we want to go through Zion we know he’s not going to be a guy that’s going

To dribble 94 feet the way that John Morant can’t can but if we execute well and we run the offense the way it’s supposed to be and most importantly of all we don’t turn the ball over we can get it to him in a position where he can

Be the guy at the end of games that is the player that people envisioned when he came into the NBA so um it’s not just on him I think it’s on the the team overall but I I still believe that he can be you know he’s not going to no

Power forward we saw this with Anthony Davis too no power forward is going to be able to do what John Mor or Luca does at the end of games or Kyrie where they can just dominate the ball um go one-on-one and get a a bucket but there’s other ways that you can get

Other guys involved that don’t play the point card position soone throw a little wrench because when I close my eyes and I think of you mentioned Luca and Aaron we’ve seen this a lot with the joker and things that nature one of the things I

Guess that would love to see is like for me Zion should be a double double every night like I rebound should he can get because and get it maybe that agiv of going get the ball pull it away and start a fast break how many times do we see some of those non-traditional

Point guards or guys like that those bigs I I can close my eyes and I can see yic grabbing the rebound starting the fast break he may not go 94 feet but he’ll go 60 and initiate and then get it right back and hit a three or something

We see Luca do that go get that I’m thinking of J I know he’s a guard but he’ll go get that rebound and then very good rebound is that the next step that maybe we see that that aggressive nature for Z to go get that board then

Start that fast break and then have that ball in his hands I definitely think he seems more energized when he can get going on the defensive end and carry it into his offense he I think he himself likes the whole idea of Point Zion and

If that can start when you take the ball out of the ho go like I I think that’d be really fun to see and who is getting in front of him to stop that exact thinking right close games and clutch games and even ones that we’ve seen here

At the arena we’ve seen in La we’re going to see this week coming up when the bleep hits the fan LeBron and AD either have the ball or it feels like they’re getting all of the rebounds right LeBron will go grab that board and he’s off and going he’ll bring the ball

Up the court and that’s what we’re saying I I love spreading the ball you brought up a great Point all of these young players with their assists going up fantastic eight minutes out five minutes out three minutes out in a game it’s no difference in Aaron you cover

The Saints end of the day I need a first down it’s the fourth quarter we need to get the first to win the game I need to get the first to get the field goal to win it I’m going to Alvin CRA I’m going to my stars I’m going to my guys that

Sell jerseys and that’s how kind I feel with this team who on this team clutch moments hand up in the air I got it ball off the rim we need that board I’m going to go get it and I think until that step gets taken yeah it’s going to be a

Learning process yeah and to Jim’s point it could be just that differential in his health like getting all the way up to 100% And His conditioning whatever else it is um and I know people are concerned about sometimes he turns the ball over when he gets inside but I

Think that’s because there’s so many bodies down there on him it’s really hard but if he is getting out in front of him and there’s no way he’s turning the ball over he’s gotten better too at handling when two or three guys are running at him which is part of what I

Talked about earlier in terms of his assist per game career high he’s getting better and better but I still he still has grounds to he still has room to go as far as you know sometimes he does get surprised by Defenders coming from different angles and that kind of thing

So um that’s an area that he can continue to improve I definitely think there I’m sure there’s people listening to this who thought that someone could have or should have mentioned in terms of individual Improvement his rebounding overall I think that’s very fair to say that it’s important for Zion to become a

More consistent rebound rebounder um his offensive rebounding his natural ability is is like world class the fact that he his second jump jump is so good that he gets a lot of offensive rebounds before guys on the other team even realize the ball’s coming off the rim he’s already

Up there at the basket but his defensive rebounding I think definitely is an area that he can and definitely will be that’s a quick way to get go off and going and transition and if anyone wants to know why we keep leaving JD out we’re

Not he had to go for shoot around so we just want to ignore cut his mic he said a couple things I didn’t appreciate so he was trying to talk is to me so we we said it was right after you disagreed with him that we no longer heard from

John deser color analyst no he had to go to shoot around so that way he knows what he’s talking about tonight against the Spurs Aon before we let you go too they do have the Spurs tonight and wemy I I don’t know if you saw the last 10

Games double digits he’s doing pretty well um he’s really incredible and and I think last week was it right before the pals played OKC him and ch we’re going back and forth and and you can really see what he’s capable of but also some of the things that maybe Jonas can take

Advantage of tonight man that length though it’s just it’s crazy it it’s so hard I mean you cannot defend that especially when he can pop up from outside every once in a while he’s just so long even though he’s tiny you saw he can battle with people inside it’s

Hilarious when you see him going up against somebody like yonas valent Tunis and you’re like how is yonas not able to just absolutely bulldoze him and he holds his own it’s impressive so it’s going to be a fun match up to watch because Jonas is coming off a huge game

For himself so yeah does that carry over is he able to establish himself inside even though wem’s going to be in there and then you have to worry about the block shots from other players so it yeah he’s a different different player to work with yeah and you’d agree it’s

Not a disrespectful thing but this is one of those games too look you have to go get it now before they get back better that makes sense absolutely I mean every win right now I’m watching League Pass every night I’m like okay this was a good night for us overall

Because this team won this team lost whatever whatever like that’s where we’re at we are trying to get out of the playing games and you need a little bit of help and you get better take care of yours it’s crazy guys it’s what 35 games

36 games that you have left to P 34 34 now yeah 34 but it feels Aaron doesn’t it feel like there’s like there’s only a week or two because of that because of this is so freaking good if you lost three games he went from five to seven

In the top six like no questions asked but that is the issue we’re dealing with right now in the west is that a good thing in terms that maybe it’ll it’ll make it feel like a playoff field doesn’t it and and I I get in these

Clutch moments and the only reason I say this because by the time the playoffs come you’ve you’ve been having to play these games where you need wins like you can’t take a night off no I mean I guess it’s going to help you develop and get better be ready for the level of

Competition when you get to the playoffs and maybe it’s it’s going to make that final game against whoever that Eastern opponent is easier but I don’t think it’s fun right now no don’t think it’s fun I was gonna get there I was gonna say the same thing like your theory is

Great and everything us but I’d rather spend the first week of April you know kind of making plans for okay they’re going to play in the playoffs and we know it’s going to start here instead of last year where it went down to the very end let’s let’s let’s avoid that let’s

Not have it be the drama and the nervous in the ant anxiousness that I mean graph has enough things to worry about right now do we really don’t need to trying to keep his head from exploding like and we’re getting close night in and night

Out I did mention it was real happy the Lakers won last night right at Boston yes you did without ad yeah that didn’t help us no not at all uh quickly we got about 30 60 seconds here 12 games in the month of February I wanted at least 500

We they went eight and seven in the month of January 12 games in the month of February win loss record you think they need uh my math isn’t the best but I think we need to win 75% of those games four yeah I’m gonna say eight and four because um

Just based on the schedule they have four games against teams with winning records in February out of 12 so let’s let’s go eight and four I think you need to go for like January 500ish will get you had to survive it from here on out

You have to go you’re seven and three in 10 games you cannot do a below 500 10 game stretch definitely for sure Aaron Summers give her a follow over on X Aaron E Summers she’s the Saints and Pelicans team reporter of course on game day she is part of the broadcast as she

Is the silent reporter thank you for your time yeah definitely this is fun yep for sure all thanks Daron Summers and John deser there it’s also Friday which means what Jim Miken Hofer here’s the problem Gus what we already talked about what my trending number is going

To be that’s okay um my trending number is 10 out of 15 actually I can kind of reset this a little bit 10 out of 15 which is in January the Pelicans played 10 teams with winning records five teams with losing records toughest schedule in the league um opponents wise in February

That number is basically four teams with winning records seven teams with losing records and then there’s one team which is the Lakers that is exactly 500 I wasn’t sure where to put them in the bucket 47 and one 47 and one that’s the uh that’s the trending number for

February the schedule and as you can see it’s the flip of what they had in January wow um they’ve played I’m sure this is no surprise to anybody that’s followed the Pelicans this season it does seem like they other than maybe you know they had one stretch in um the

Beginning part of January or no December middle part of December where they played Washington Charlotte San Antonio it feels like besides that it’s like when is the stretch of the schedule where they’re going to play teams that aren’t as good and it does feel like that’s coming up now where they’re

Playing a a lot more of a collection of teams that are under 500 so that’s something that we’re going to monitor and as I’ve said a million times just because you’re playing against a team that doesn’t have a good record I.E San Antonio tonight is a perfect example

Doesn’t mean that you’re going to just walk on the court and win so they’re going to have to be as professional as they can be the Pelicans and and try to take care of business in a lot of these games and um it doesn’t mean anything that on paper you know okay we’re

Playing against a bunch of teams that are not good you still have to win the games and I think that’s going to be the thing that we uh we watch but I am slightly cautiously optimistic based on the fact that even not just in February but in March and Beyond too they finally

Are playing a lot more teams against the East and it’s not Boston and Milwaukee the way that they just had it’s more of the teams you know Aaron mentioned this too that once you get beyond the top six or seven of the East there’s a huge drop

Off and the Pelicans have a bunch of games against those teams um really more so in March so we’ll see how they do against that kind of competition give Jim a follow over on X Jim ien Hoffer has always appreciate the time in my training numbers one or two how many

Pizzas would you like tonight when you come hang out at the radio studio uh let’s go with two you know at earlier in the show when you said Jim wanted to have some more fun yeah I thought you were going to say and therefore he’s coming to the studio but you said you

Know we’re having a radio round table but well this is a this is an exciting day for me exciting day radio round table and I’m making my season debut for road games in the radio studio so Gus I am all in I’ve got my Pelicans radio

Sweatshirt on I am I am fired up this is a big what a way to start February it’s always nice always nice to have more company than just me and the conductor Chris Moran not that it’s a bad thing it’s just you know a yeah it’s a little

Lonely yeah well hopefully I can provide a little little jolt of energy you know kind of like nii and Jose coming off the bench for you and Chris I just want to win how about that it’d be fantastic yeah that’d be good too sounds good all

Right thank you as always for tuning Us in we’ll see you again on Monday hopefully after another couple of wins we’ll see you then on the New Orleans Pelicans podcast thanks for listening to the New Orleans Pelicans podcast join us three times per week on pelicans.com the

Pelicans mobile app the iHeart Radio App or where you get your podcast and be sure to give Jim and Gus a follow on X at gimore ion offer and ecat1 17 we’ll see you next time right here on the New Orleans Pelicans podcast

On the latest New Orleans Pelicans Podcast from Friday, Feb. 2, 2024, Jim Eichenhofer and Gus Kattengell are joined by color analyst John DeShazier and sideline reporter Erin Summers for a radio roundtable to discuss the Pelicans core of young players and talent. The group also previews how key February’s games could be in the Western Conference standings race to the 2024 NBA playoffs.

#NBA #Pelicans #NewOrleansPelicans
Latest NBA News & Pelicans News @ https://www.pelicans.com

New Orleans Pelicans Roster
———————————————–
Jose Alvarado #15 Guard
Dyson Daniels #11 Guard
Kaiser Gates #12 Forward
Jordan Hawkins #24 Guard
Brandon Ingram #14 Forward
Herbert Jones #5 Forward
Kira Lewis Jr. #13 Guard
E.J. Liddell #32 Forward
Naji Marshall #8 Forward
CJ McCollum #3 Guard
Trey Murphy III #25 Guard
Larry Nance Jr. #22 Forward/Center
Matt Ryan #37 Forward
Dereon Seabron #0 Guard
Jonas Valanciunas #17 Center
Zion Williamson #1 Forward
Cody Zeller #44 Forward/Center

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