Erin Summers talks Pelicans’ national media coverage | Pelicans Podcast 3/13/24

Erin Summers talks Pelicans’ national media coverage | Pelicans Podcast 3/13/24

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 to another edition of your New Orleans Pelicans podcast it is game day we got a ton of topics to get into J Mike and offer pelicans.com we’re going to have fun with our next segment Aaron Summers is going to join us as we get back into

Action we’re going to have a little fun in the discussion portion of this year as well uh want you set that up for us yeah Gus I mean it’s it’s it’s interesting because I feel like this week is good timing to do this because starting on Monday this is probably the

Most national media attention the Pelicans have gotten all season maybe or at least since maybe when they were in the inseason tournament and they were playing in Las Vegas so I thought it would be interesting to kind of go through some of the national media narratives that we hear about the

Pelicans or in general and kind of discuss whether they’re fair or unfair so this is going to be maybe this will be a reoccurring game that we play on the podcast every so often where we play fair or unfair we throw out some national media discussion and we debate

Whether th those takes are fair or unfair um one of them that I think comes to mind and I think a lot of this too I know if I’m trying if I’m catching people up on things that they may have missed um Brian wior in the hoop Collective did a a really long

Interesting segment about the Pelicans on Monday and then Zack low did a a long thing about the Pelicans on Tuesday so ESPN has been all in on the Pelicans this week um but one of the things that I hear just to use an example and this

Will be maybe I’m sure something we get into when we talk to Aaron in in the next segment um I hear people say that the team with the best player wins in the NBA all the time and when I hear that I think that that’s true except for

When it’s not true and part of why I say that is because when I hear people make that point it reminds me of the seven years that I covered a team that had Anthony Davis that often had the best player night in and night out and still

Made the playoffs only twice out of the seven years that he played here so I mean it’s a it’s a fun thing to say and it sounds good in Clips if you’re going to lift like 20 seconds out of a podcast or a video to say like you know if you

Want to win in the NBA you got to have the best player but it’s not really true because Pelicans had the best player many many nights and it’s just so much more comp complicated than just having the best player the best two players depth matters in the NBA um you have to

Be able to fill out a whole roster and I think if if there’s any fan base in the NBA that understands that it’s not just about having one guy I would think it’s New Orleans about your favorite team the Lakers it’s a clear example there I mean

On On Any Given night on many given Nights LeBron James is the best player when Anthony Davis is healthy they do that and they have pretty much spent most of the season in 10th this year nth or 10th they haven’t won but a bubble championship and I’m not saying that I’m

Just saying that that’s the championship they won around that time MH and and so to your part I mean Kevin Durant you’ve had Luca you’ve had Kyrie pair together that didn’t they didn’t even get to the postseason last year so it takes time to

Do that but I’m with you look I I would say nicoa yic right it’s been an MVP’s been one of the best players and he has the best player but he’s a completely different player or that team is different than when you had Jamal Murray they didn’t win the NBA championship

Until Jamal Murray came back in Elfie so it’s to your point I do think you need you you need that player but it’s sort of like having Pat momes with the Kansas City Chiefs it’s okay to have the best quarterback and the best player to do

That but you have to have somebody that blocks for him you have to have somebody that catches for him a defensive player all those different aspects of that yeah and I think too what happens in a lot of cases there’s almost reverse engineering in that sometimes people say the best

Player is the best player after he wins so it’s kind of like a self-fulfilling prophecy that you if you’re if you’re going to make the statement all the time that you know you got to have the best player to win win but it’s like once you

Win people say okay now joic is the best player in the NBA because they won a championship so it’s kind of hard to disprove that if you’re always basing it on the premise that the team that wins the championship has the best player in the league are close to that but um

That’s just an interesting thing you know one thing too before we get into this discussion that I want to set up just on the theme of fairness unfairness I don’t I don’t think it’s realistic or reasonable to think that or expect National media in general to go beyond

Kind of a surface level analysis of teams just be simply from the fact that they cover if you’re covering the whole league you have to follow 30 teams and I don’t know if there’s enough time in the day to get into a ton of the specifics

But on the other hand um I my criticism and my issue that I have sometimes with people that cover the NBA overall and don’t get into some of the details is if I’m covering something just to use an example if I’m covering hockey which I know nothing about I’m going to be Qui

It and I’m not going to make you know outlandish takes because I don’t know enough about it I want to try to research it more I just feel like sometimes people who don’t know a lot about specifics of a team the Pelicans in in our case will still make bold

Statements and I think that’s the the problem that a lot of fans have in general is like people they don’t they don’t dial back how how um how bold they are with their takes even though they don’t have a good feel for the whole situation they don’t have enough

Information to analyze things so um that would be my only my only advice to people is like and and also too In fairness I mean there’s there there are plenty of national media people who do H have a ton of information Zack low to me is the best example when you listen to

Him talk about the Pelicans you know that he’s coming from an informed perspective that he’s actually watched the games I know that’s a crazy idea to actually watch the team play um but be besides that um you know there’s there’s other people that do it’s just the the

The thing that gets people’s attention are the people who don’t seem to follow it closely but still have a bunch of opinions I could have saved you a whole lot of work by just saying there are a lot of people nationally that talk about this team that have never watched them

Play exactly there’s no other way to make that that statement just like such as star power in another dier this week saying this team’s disappeared since the inseason tournament game against the Lakers tell me how you don’t watch this team or even see where they are in the standings without actually telling me

That we’re going to get into the tonight’s game against Cleveland as well as the Cavaliers are third in the Eastern Conference Jim will break down some of the things to keep an eye on here as well but let’s get into that discussion as we welcome in Aaron Summers to the

Conversation right let’s welcome in our Pelican sideline reporter and beat reporter for your New Orleans Pelicans Miss Aaron Summers so nice to see you as the team has come back from a three-game road trip and they came back 3 and0 18 games left nicely in fifth I would say

Solid in fifth but nice in fifth they got help while we were away and now as we get back into the Smoothie Kings Center for three games Aon you can feel the excitement can’t you yeah it’s been so much fun watching this team because there’s different players that are

Stepping up and playing um at another level and we talked before they went on this road trip that they they had to go take care of business and they did and they did it very solid fashion um especially the first half of play they just really got out to good starts and

And we’re able to you know get those three wins and now look not trying to look too far ahead but you know we got a game tonight but they are in a position where they could move up to Fourth yeah well I’ll tell you what they got a

Little help last night the Clippers go down Minnesota had a heck of a stretch there to really put the game away and look they have to play Cleveland after the pels play Cleveland today and it’ll be on a back toback before they come here in New Orleans I know you don’t

Like look ahead you to absolutely win tonight I’m not saying you don’t but there’s a possibility Friday that pels could be playing for fourth spot right in the Western Conference so that’s kind of exciting isn’t it yeah it’s awesome and watching some of the games last night obviously kawh Leonard did that

Like disappearing act and everybody’s freaking out as just where he went but apparently he’s just dealing with backs spasm so he could be out of the game coming up and obviously tonight against the Cavs they’re without three of their their top people possibly Donovan Mitchell as well so things are looking

Really good for the pelican they got to take advantage of it before we get to that tough stretch coming up back at home by the way guys whenever I see on a TNT game where a player is walking down a hallway leaving the arena mid game I

Start to wise and I my skin starts to crawl and I start to have flashbacks to 2019 right but uh but yeah no no before we get into the discussion about National media Aaron I also wanted to ask you for your thoughts on the recent play of your fellow North is it North

Carolinian is that how you say it it TR Murphy of the way that he’s played lately Trey’s been unbelievable and I think that he went through a spell where he wasn’t playing as well after he kind of retweaked his knee and was dealing with a little bit of pain there and I

Think we all were feeling for him because we know how much work he put in before he got injured originally and then we everybody had such high expectations for him but then coming in the way he’s played of late has been huge for this team I I was at stuff

Earlier when he scores 16 points or more in a game the Pelicans are 11 and0 so that just shows what uh a big impact he can make on this team to have him coming off the bench and I know we can get into a lot of discussion about the future of

This team and what’s going it’s going to look like but right now he’s been playing really well in that in that spot tell you one of the things that treyes obviously what three of the last five games he’s led the team in scoring here as well and I I love what Willie Green

Said just to get I guess get the the tidbits on on on what he’s doing as well here not just the scoring but I I must have are you still bruised by the way on your left arm I was elbowing the heck out of him at the watch party on Sunday

Cuz I loveed how aggressive he was he was dunking he was rebounding he was going up and grabbing boards he has that kind of athleticism Aaron I mean he competed in the slam dunk competition and that’s kind of my thing I know he can shoot the three I know he can get

Four or six threes a game but he is probably the P I think on any given time has the ability to play Above the Rim and that might sound crazy knowing that there’s a player on this team that has a Jordan shoe brand but if there’s a

Criticism I tend to have from Z sometimes is he tends to be more of a layup guy than not I mean he can occasionally you’ll see the alleyoop and sure somebody that size get up that brings the house down but Trey can do it off the dribble Trey can do it coming

Down the court and I think now that he’s knocking down threes you’re seeing him maybe take advantage of that and Willie Green mentioned that he’s like he wants to see him do that because now they’re coming out to close him out run by him abolutely throw it down place will go

Bananas I just he’s capable of doing that he’s one of those players Brandon Ingram’s been doing that as of late too as well we’ve seen him kind of throw it down I think JD call it with malice a couple games ago this team needs to play like that because I think they’re

Capable of doing it it’s a mindset to me Aon I think I remember early in the season Brandon Ingram said it where they just need to be more decisive and whether that is just going and attacking the glass and getting downhill or passing it off to somebody else doing it

Quicker and I think we’re seeing them just play more confident in that in their own abilities and Trust in their teammates and and especially with the way herb Jones is playing you can pass it off to him and he can knock down an outside shot like anybody else right now

So I think that helps a lot and they’re kind of trying to finally figure out what their rotations are like and who you’re playing around you’re more comfort able so I think in general everybody is just playing a little more confident and I think that’s leading to

Them making some of those decisions to just put the ball on the floor and go for it um that’s something that Trey worked on a lot this offseason as well all right well let’s have a little fun with this discussion because it is interesting to me I am shocked by a lot

Of times how people nationally talk about the New Orleans Pelicans folks and I’m convinced they don’t watch a single minute of basketball even if you just watch the highlight you might be able to see some things like I don’t get to watch a lot of the different teams I

Know you guys have league pass and stuff like that I got the seven-year-old but at least at night I watch SVP I watch the highlights and at least have an idea if they won didn’t win and what oh who is doing something in those highlights so at least look at the standings look

At the bo they actually show our highlights I you would think I mean I think they we’re on there it’s the amount of coverage that this team gets nationally night in and Night Out is absurd yeah I watch the highlights almost every night and it’s the probably the least amount of

Coverage a Dun three it’s probably another bucket by the other team or two and then at the very B but the Pelicans wind up winning yeah I’m with you it is crazy to me cuz I I mean obviously the Lakers are always going to get way more hype and it’s ridiculous because they’re

Fighting for a play in spot right now I I didn’t know if you know that the pels did win Sunday right we were there we watched it and all that but the only game that matter was the Lakers game Sunday night I’m not even kiding you the

Audio Vault that I can use for my talk show when I pulled up ESPN it was bite after bite after bite after bite after bite after bite of the Lakers Sports Center when they used to have the the Ticker on the side that told you what

Was coming up yeah like I want that because I don’t want to sit through all this other let me know before I get to the Pelicans I’m just being honest though seriously there was like six Anthony Davis bites a couple of Darin ham bites couple of LeBron bites about

Of his ankle and things that nature then Tim legler talked about the p i mean the the Lakers who’s the best match up for the Lakers and I’m literally just sitting here going they are a playin team right like if they don’t win that game their season

Ends that’s where they are it’s crazy my my only advice is I’m not sure what percentage of the country gets NBA TV but I’m one of the privileged that does get NBA TV cuz you you know if you have NBA TV that you will see pelicans highlights if they played a game that

Day but one one quick thing I was going to mention too I watched uh ESPN’s afternoon show uh NBA today yesterday yeah and they did a highlight package of Friday’s game against the Bucks by the Lakers and then Sunday’s game how many teams in the NBA if you had a Tuesday

Episode of that show would go back to Friday highlights that would never happen with any other team it’s it’s incredible but that kind of gets us to our our discussion this you know this morning about you know Tim Bon Temps he says the Pelicans are a team other West

Teams want to see in the playoffs whoever plays the Pelicans in the playoffs will be favored now I think on the surface and look there were some other things said this week here as well about lack of star power for the PS and some of it is fair from

This aspect of it Jim they haven’t been there we’ve talked about that there has there’s not been a tip a pass a missed shot a graph dagger moment where CJ McCullum Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson have been in the post season so from that aspect I get

It but I don’t know how should I be upset by that you know I don’t want to disappoint people that were hoping that I was going to just tear apart National media throughout this entire podcast by saying on the very first one that I think this one is fair and um the reason

I say fair for this one is because I do think that there’s a group of teams in the and I don’t necessarily like this but I think that if you’re being realistic and you’re saying who are some of the teams that say the Lakers the Warriors some of the teams that have

Been the Nuggets who won the championship literally last year some of the who are the teams that they would if they’re behind closed doors and they’re telling you the truth they would say they’d want to play and I would say it’s not just the Pelicans it’s also teams like Sacramento who haven’t maybe

Oklahoma City the teams that haven’t had a lot of playoff experience that haven’t gone deep in the playoffs to your point Gus I think that that is legitimately and you can like I said you can you can argue with Tim bontemps you can say you

Can disagree with but I I do think that that is a fair statement that he makes there yeah I mean in watching this Pelicans team I see a lot of problems for other teams like who guards Zion can anybody guard him for an entire game

Probably not and then if you do you have other options especially with the way that Trey Murphy’s been playing Brandon Ingram has been playing great but defensively this team is a problem and I don’t think people have taken the time to watch this team and and see how destructive they’re being how much

They’re locking down teams the way Zion had seven blocks over this road trip I mean he’s flying all over the place and people have been on his case forever about not playing defense but he is so I think they’re looking at probably what they saw you know at the on the national

Stage in these big games that we watched and I I think people are going to go back to that Lakers game I think we’ve kind of mentioned that a few times like they’re on the national stage playing the n Season tournament and they completely dropped the ball against the

Lakers so I think that’s in people’s minds um and they just haven’t really been paying attention since quick one couple quick things I mean to your point Aaron I think I’ve talked about this a lot lately defense is the most under discussed under noticed element of the

Entire NBA I mean the teams that play really good defense tend to be underrated compared to the teams that are great offensively but bad defens flashy and there’s not as many highlights right for sure um and and the last thing too the the part about whoever plays the Pelicans the playoffs

Will be favored I think that part is fair partly from the standpoint of they’re going to be a lower seed unless they end up finishing fourth and if they finish fourth as a seed they might play they’ll play a fifth seed that will probably be say the Clippers or the

Timberwolves so um I do think that that’s fair too that that they’re they’re they’re not going to be the favorite in any series that they have in the first round but I mean that’s the way it is that’s just the way the seating is you know that’s to be

Expected all right I feel like I’m in the National media here so we’re going to continue to play fair or not be Aaron we’ll start with you on this one Zion and Brandon Ingram stats are down so that means they’re not having good Seasons I this goes across the board for

Any sport if you just look at Stats you’re going to miss a lot of what the actual player does and I think in the grand scheme of what this team is doing right now they’re valuing assists and playing with each other more than going out and getting theirs so Brandon Ingram and Zion

Williamson’s stats are down however their assists are up so points and also minutes played are down so that’s going to naturally lead to some of the other stats being down as well but it’s because they are actually doing what’s best for the team I think they’re

Playing much better as it as it you know team ball and Willie talks about it all the time trusting your teammates allowing other people to go from you know good to Great you know if if somebody else is open then by all means pass it off so I think that they’re

Playing smarter in that regard and it’s not leading to some of these crazy stats on a on a normal basis I think a lot of this is just the counting stats and math I mean going into the season I think you knew that if you take the fact that the

Big three on this team between CJ bi and Zion haven’t played that much together going into the season if you if you factor in okay now you’re going to have a season where they all play together a lot the counting stats for all three of those guys are going to go down because

You’re spreading the wealth between the three players as opposed to obviously if you have two main weapons their numbers are going to go up compared to if you have three guys that are getting most of the touches and most of the shots and also too the depth of this team I mean

They’re not in a position where they need somebody to score 40 45 points a game the way sometimes we see with the Mavericks and the Lakers so um and and last thing too from me the reason I think it’s unfair to say that they’re not having good Seasons to me if they if

Bi and Zion continued on the trajectory where they get were getting a lot of individual credit or they had great stats but the team wasn’t winning they’re not going to get the the do that they need for how good of players they are anyway so I mean if both of those

Like say hypothetically both of their stats were higher but this team was you know 25 and 39 instead of 39 and 25 nobody would care right so it’s it’s I think that part is unfair I think ultimately for both players to get to where they need to be and should be in

Terms of people recognizing them for the talent and the ability that they have the Pelicans need to make the playoffs on a regular basis and they need to start advancing year in and year out in the postseason you dealt with so many injuries last year or the past few years

That like CJ mccolm had to take over or you know Brandon when he was in or whatever so yeah I to your point Jim like now that everybody’s healthy the depth that we have the minutes the points everything’s going to be distributed a little bit differently and doesn’t definitely does not mean that

This team is bad you mentioned too the the minutes are down part of the reason the Min are down is because they’re basically leading the NBA in wins by 20 30 points so at the end of there’s a lot of four not playing that I see the

Highlights don’t tell me that Jim all I know is the minutes are down the points are down they’re not play well but that’s a very good point though that that’s a very good point to bring up all right let’s continue fair not fair oh by the way I I heard at practice yesterday

Someone bring up to Willie Green that Brandon likely will lead the team and assist again this year so I mean again but you know he’s having a bad season anyway fair or not fair I love this one this week Aaron you must I can I can see the

Eye roll I didn’t I wasn’t around you cuz you were busy but I saw the eye roll when this week the old well the Pelicans have disappeared since the play in blowout loss to the Lakers I will say fair or not fair this is egregiously not fair but they did

Kind of fall off for a little bit while they were trying to figure out out how to respond and what to do and the and the rotations and and who should play with who and getting more comfortable with each other and there was a lot of

There was some growth that had to take place so I will say maybe the month of December you know it was a little up and down maybe some of January very tough schedule in January they got out of it 8 and seven though so that was good but

Since February and you know this past couple weeks of March theyve been playing so much better and they’re have solidified themselves as a playoff team you know for better for worse I guess probably so but um um and nobody is talking about that like they might

Have fallen off for a little bit because the initial oh wow they just really blew it on a big stage against the Lakers this team definitely isn’t it people probably put him away for a little while but it is about time that you start paying attention to who the Pelicans are

Again I’m goingon to say that it’s fair to say that they disappeared from discussion only because if you look at the group of teams between right now say fourth and 10th the Clippers are stars studed the suns are the Mavs are the Lakers are the Warriors are and so a lot

Of times when people have discussed this part of the Western Conference they’ve pretty much ignored the Pelicans and ignored Sacramento so I mean it’s fair that they disappear from National discussion but not through their own fault just because that’s what people have chosen to focus on it’s definitely

Unfair to say that they disappeared on the court because obviously they have you know like the second best record in the league since December the end of December and so um yeah they they’re not talked they haven’t been talked about as much as some of these other teams but

It’s for a lot of the reasons that we already discussed where um just some of the big names that some of these teams have including the two teams that right now would be in the 910 playing game that have Hall of Famers and mega stars

On the RO so Jim is like straight up like agreeing with this National media he is the national media apparently I I for sure thought you would be like be like empathetic with like okay I understand completely not fair you can’t disappear and still be in fit I said I

Said I agree with them that they disappeared from the discussion from National media not that I disagree that they should have disag I mean I get it it’s a lot of like they don’t trust this team because they haven’t done it yet and you don’t trust Z because he’s continually

Gotten hurt heck he’s played 52 games already this season so he’s playing MH and he has made a statement about how he wants to be in the playoffs and he is playing like it and pretty soon when they’re back on that National stage regularly people are

Going to see it and I got to give it to like you said a couple NBA TV people and and stuff like they they are talking about him a little bit Yeah and saying that he is definitely on the right path so I don’t know all right fair or not

Fair next topic ready for this the net rating oh there it is the Boston Celtics is just in there good they’re first M Pelicans are second oh but you just said it’s it’s it’s an inflated number because of blowout wins against Bad teams and so they stat piled on so since

I don’t like the Pelicans fair or not fair that’s an inflated number because of blowout win so they’re not really that good this one’s unfair because everyone plays pretty much the same schedule and I don’t see all these other teams in the west or the NBA winning

Constantly by 20 30 points or having a three and0 road trip like the Pelicans just did where they were up by you know 253 points every game they won the first halves of those games by 60 something points so I think that that part is unfair because you know yeah the their

Numbers definitely look better because they have so many blowout wins but um I think I’d rather win games by a lot of points than have it go down to the end especially against there’s a pretty large collection of bottom feeding teams this year and the Pelicans have been

Able to not only beat those teams but just resoundingly defeat them well if you look at the other teams that are at the top with the Pelicans in offensive defensive and overall net rating it’s the Celtics the Thunder and the Nuggets like those teams are really freaking

Good and if you are doing what they’re doing statistically and you’re now fifth could be fourth like maybe the Pelicans are also really freaking good I’m with you I’m with you yeah they are they are fourth in net rating right now they’re actually ahead of Denver in that category oh they dropped from

Second to Fourth see I told you they’re well they were I think the part about them second is dating back to I’m talking about over the course of the entire season picking dates though that’s what I’m saying I mean you it’s like sitting there saying they’ve won

Four or five I want to know the whole season no that’s the ridiculous part of this though right it’s that you can grab a stat you can look at a time frame a length of frame or whatever to try to create whatever it is bottom line is

This I guess I want to ask you to this where we played fair fair it it it was fun on that does it matter and what I I I think it does to this exent I think this team plays better with the chip on his shoulder couple seasons ago right like that year

That they went and gave the Suns all they wanted this team had a chip on its shoulder and I thought they struggled with that last year being kind of the hunted they got out to First and and again I’m not picking individually on players but I can remember clearly Jose

Alvarado in the 10 game lose oh we’re still good I’m like no y’all are struggling you know it’s like even Willie Green look we’re we’re going to battle this out like no you’ve lost 10 straight you know so I I think think this team by its makeup Aon and you know

These players as well as anyone because you see them at practice you talk to them at the games you you you sit next to him on a bench I think this team likes being disrespected at least in their mind to an extent right yeah I mean they represent New Orleans right

Like we’re Petty we like that stuff we lean into it we we want to prove people wrong and I think to your point about last year the way that this team was put together a lot of relied on Zion being Zion and he was in the month of December

But then he got hurt and the team kind of fell apart a little bit um went through that rough stretch CJ was able to kind of revive them and and bring them through for the end of the season but this year I don’t think they wanted to put that much on anyone individual

And so it took some time for everybody to figure out their roles and how to play together and now it’s really clicking at a great time and and your role players herb Jones I I want to say offensively Trey Murphy Naji Marshall Jose Alvarado has gotten back into the rotation obviously Dyson Daniel’s

Getting hurt but they’re all stepping up and playing a lot better Larry Nance Jr is getting some starts in the second half so I think everybody is kind of peing at the right time and if you talk to any one of these players they they want to go out there

And prove something because they do hear what everybody else says sure and don’t feel that they don’t feel like they’re as I don’t want to say bad but not as good as some of these other teams that have these quote unquote Superstars I mean Zion and Brandon are arguably

Superstars and just because they haven’t done it consistently at that stage it’s not really because of anything they’ve done wrong there there have been injuries there have been other stuff that have been going on that take away from that so this year with them being healthy on the trajectory that they are

If they don’t capitalize it now on it now then there are probably going to be some some bigger issues and we probably will never be talked about again in National media but exactly right I think that this means a lot to these guys so you think

It matters Jim does it does it matter at all how we’re perceived by the national media I think it does to an extent in that maybe could fuel I think a makeup of this team that benefits them but on the grand scale of thing do you think

They really walk in that locker room and get bothered I don’t think that they have like a daytoday thing of paying attention to it but I do think that I agree with both of you guys in terms of including what Aaron was saying as far as that they are

Motivated by the fact that they’re not held in the same esteem as some of the other teams and that they don’t get as much attention for it but but you’re right Gus I mean I think I’m I’m sure a lot of pelicans fans would say the same

Thing too that they like being the under under the radar team as much as we might complain and and be like you know it’s it’s unfair the way that they are discussed sometimes and treated I I do think that there’s a little bit of a like you said chip on your shoulder

Mentality to this but you know from a from kind of a different angle when you ask the question does the national media coverage matter the way I look at it a little bit too is like um I don’t think ultimately it really matters in terms of

The team’s success or just the broad big picture but it matters from the standpoint of fans because a lot of times that is besides some of the local coverage that is the only coverage that people get so a lot of people are watching ESPN every day and they are

Watching some of the other shows and they’re listening to different podcasts make sure you listen to this one first before you listen to the others like the but um but yeah I I think it matters just from people get frustrated because they expect more and they expect better coverage they expect more thorough

Analysis and they expect things to to be more factual and less you know speculative as far as people’s assessments of the Pelicans well Windor was talking about um his pod this week like the defense and how we’ve been so good defensively especially three-point um shooting percentage defense but he

Straight up said I haven’t watched enough games to be able to tell for myself what it is that they’re doing so at least he admitted that sure I haven’t watched enough so I think overall that’s the the main issue here and the Pelicans haven’t been on

National tv as much as some of these other teams have so you haven’t gotten a good gauge of it but look at the end of the day I I do think uh we’ll see what happens and you do your talking on the court and the next three are going to be

Pretty important and special here as well I’d love to get this the blender going and popping and I think that’s going to happen Aaron the final 11 and0 we’ve talked about this a ton they just are what they are whether you’re good or bad it would be hard for the Lakers the

Bucks anybody that those final 11 games you’re playing eight I think of those 11 if not nine of those 11 that are currently in the playoff standings in the top 10 on both conferences they’re going to be playing for standings as well some away some here they’re hard

Get as much as you can before I said last week those three games on the road if you can go three and 0 with the help that you could be getting you could be in a good spot if they go two and one in

This Home St I love three and 0 but two and one as well against specifically these two teams like Friday night you know uh that back to back against Portland stough but you’re at home you know you can you’re at least going to bed Friday night and waking up in your

Own uh place and this team’s been pretty good on back toback so let’s see what happens here but this is kind of an important home stand as well to try to get some wins in yeah I think it’ be huge going off of that three- game Road

Trip to come in here and carry that momentum you know they had a couple days off here going into this game against the Cavs but like I mentioned earlier the Cavs are dealing with a lot of injuries they haven’t been playing their best they’re on a two- game Road slide

They’ve only been putting up 106 points a game over that stretch so they haven’t been playing at their highest level so hopefully the Pelicans can kind of come in and take advantage of that and then again on Friday night we don’t know who is going to be in and out for the

Clippers but with a lot on the line there it would be huge for them to take advantage of that game as well and then yeah I mean the Trailblazers would just be L yet give Aon a follow over on X Aaron Summers let’s have some fun tonight and hopefully get another wins

Good to see you definitely sounds good cannot wait all right Jim all right jimr thanks to Ain Summers there and look I’m ready to get going into tonight’s game and you kind of mentioned it and you guys did as well about the the Cavs just quickly touch on them that injury report

For them not having maybe some players I don’t know if they’re going to have spider or not but D Mitchell is one of those guys that’s been playing really well that team’s really good here as well they got a back toback coming up so I I kind of wonder yeah Donovan Mitchell

Is questionable for tonight’s game and then they have three rotation guys who are all listed as out and definitely won’t play that’s Evan Mobley with the ankle Max stru with the knee remember he made a 60-footer to beat the Mavericks recently and then Dean Wade is another

Guy he had a huge game against Boston uh I think it was about a week ago he’s also out for personal reasons so yeah a big chunk of the guys that they rely on are not going to play tonight Mitchell being the biggest one that we have to

We’re going to have to find out later today whether he’s playing or not so we’ll see uh one of the keys I had for tonight’s game is going to be the benches because the Pelicans bench has been so good lately Trey Murphy obviously has been on fire and with all

Of these guys that Cleveland has out of the mix that’s bumping up a bunch of guys who haven’t played very much this season into players that are in the second unit guys that are now seventh eighth and Ninth men that were previously 11th 12th 13th men who

Weren’t getting in games at all so that could be something that the Pelicans take advantage of just the when the starters come out of the game the Pelicans have a collection of players that are a lot more proven than what Cleveland will put on the floor tonight

All right I hear you hey it’s Wednesday which means it’s Western Conference Wednesday and that means what it means it’s time to look at the team to watch now I have bad news Gus I believe the curse of the Western Conference Wednesday team to watch has been broken

But and of course it had to be done by the dreaded LA Lakers they went two in one over the last seven days started out promisingly for me with they had a 10-point home loss to the Kings but then they beat the Bucks by one and they beat

The Timberwolves by 11 so Lakers go two- one they’re 36 and 30 they’re still four games behind the Pelicans so they Pelicans still have a pretty decent cushion over them the team to watch this next seven days that I’m going to hope to work my magic on is the Phoenix Suns

And they are one and a half games behind the Pelicans right now at 38 and 27 big reason I pick them is because their schedule is really interesting they’re at Boston Thursday night TNT game at Charlotte on Friday and then at Milwaukee on Sunday which is a ABC game

So going to be on national TV I know we talked about National media a lot in this podcast two of their three games that they have over the next seven days are on the national Airwaves and against two of the top you know three teams in the Eastern Conference so curious to see

How the Suns do over this next stretch and Beyond even the short term they have the tough schedule remaining in the in the entire NBA over the remainder of the season so I not going to get into this today we we might talk about it later

Down the road but if you look at their last 8 to 10 games of their schedule it’s incredible how difficult Phoenix’s slate is so those are the that that’s the team to watch for for this Wednesday and you know one thing quickly too before we go Pelicans are only two games

Behind the Clippers now for fourth place the Clippers are at Chicago on Thursday night before they play in New Orleans on Friday obviously the Pelicans play the Cavs tonight so if New Orleans wins tonight they’re going to go into that Friday game against the Clippers either two games behind the Clippers or maybe

Even one game behind the Clippers so you get within one game if the Bulls are able to upset the Clippers on Thursday if you’re one game behind them going into that you have you have a chance to push the Clippers out of fourth and move into that number fourth spot I never

Would have imagined that it would be possible for that to happen so quickly considering not long ago I I believe the Pelicans were a solid five six games behind the Clippers and the standings we talked about why that road trip was so big you had to go three and 0 because

They were playing other teams and more difficult teams and I mean look you look at the teams that everybody else is playing in the Western Conference and they’re all challenging again look the Cavs are absolutely leg they’re third team in in the Eastern Conference you

Know but what I mean is when you look elsewhere I mean the nuggets are playing the Heat the Warriors are playing the Mavericks tonight the Lakers are playing the Kings yeah so if you get some how get a win it’s what graph always said we’re in

This two and 1 half week stretch where if the pels get a win they’re going to gain ground on someone just based on because other Western Conference teams are playing each other right so if you win somebody in the standings drops a game and it’s true too that not only the

Pelicans are about to end this long stretch tonight of playing only against Eastern Conference teams there’s a lot of other teams team in the west true as well that are almost done playing the east or 90% done so if you look at the last two weeks of the schedule or so in

April it’s almost all games of West versus West so like you said you win and there’s going to be some some advantages gained it’s why we talked about that cushion was so important two or three games cushion could be really big even from like I said I I just I want to get

To the Spy where what we’ve been doing we’re talking about four or five or matchups or what first round I mean it’s not just us the national media as much as we like to make fun of they’re talking about what matchup is going to be easier for teams they already have

The PALS in right and that’s what I’m getting at is that they’re playing so well and there’s just so few games left Jim that I think you can comfortably I mean you’re you’re a full five games from the 10th spot mhm okay so Golden State’s 10 and a half back you’re five

And a half back I’m not saying you can go there and have a bad stretch I just saying with 18 left I haven’t seen this team play to where I mean you would have to have injuries several injuries I think for you to go three and seven in

The next 10 does that make sense I just I haven’t seen this team do things that get you to believe man that that five six game losing streaks around the corner I just I don’t see that I think they’re con consistent in to your point when you have those teams playing

Western Conference teams I don’t think you’re going to see a 6 s game win streak and that’s what you would need to go from 9 or 10 to five or four or six like you have to win six seven in a row and in two or three teams have to lose

Four or five in a row there’s only 18 games left I just that’s what I’m getting at you know if this was December I’m good with that 18 games left that’s what I’m trying I guess to kind of tell pel’s fans is we’re not there yet but it

It’s looking like if you just take care of your business go two and one in a three- game stretch you know three of five things I I think you’re you’re good just keep playing the kind of basketball you’re playing and I don’t see you having to be sitting here with the

Dreaded winner go home playing absolutely I mean the way that they’re playing lately where they’re not only winning games but they’re dominating in a lot of aspects they just keep playing the way that they’re playing and things are going to be looking even better than

They are right now and I mean by it’s funny to think that by Saturday night which is not long from now no they’re they’ll only have 15 games left at that point because they have three games in the next four nights all in the Smoothie King Center yeah that’s crazy all right

We’ll see you at the smoothing King Center Jim iOffer pelicans.com jimiken Hofer we’ll see you on Friday hopefully talking about another win and previewing a very big game against the Clippers it’s Gus catell thank you for tuning Us in 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 of follow on X at gimore I can offer and gcat 17 we’ll see you next time right here on the New

Orleans Pelicans podcast

On the latest New Orleans Pelicans Podcast from Wednesday, March 13, 2024, Jim Eichenhofer and Gus Kattengell are joined by Pelicans sideline reporter Erin Summers. They’ll discuss the Pelicans’ current 4-game winning streak and why, despite being the 5th seeded team in the competitive NBA Western Conference playoff race, the national media isn’t high on the team.
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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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