2025 NBA Draft Preview – Charlotte Hornets Pick 4 | Pelicans Podcast
[Music] 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 everybody welcome to new orleans pelicans podcast official podcast of your new orleans pelicans presented by new age products the official garage and outdoor kitchen provider of the new orleans pelicans we get you ready for the nba draft coming up on wednesday june 25th and thursday june 26th rounds one and two pelicans currently with the seventh pick overall in the first round jim we’ve talked about the other teams leading into the pelicans to get fans ready dallas with the first pick san antonio the second pick philly the third and it leads us to today’s podcast which is number four the charlotte hornets rod boon will be talking to us from the charlotte observe a little bit about it but overall when you think of the hornets what do you think of yeah i mean it’s been a struggle i i think last season was was similar for them as it was to the pelicans where i mean the pelicans won 21 games the hornets won 19 but i think that’s kind of where the comparison ends because i feel like they’re at a much earlier stage of them trying to build up to be a competitive team obviously the pelicans won 49 games the previous season made the playoffs they’ve made the playoffs two out of the last four years where charlotte hasn’t made it since 2016 so um i think they’re one of the more interesting roster builds right now across the league because they do have some pieces but um as as rod i’m sure is going to discuss with us they need their main guys to be on the court more for them to be able to move up i think every team in the east i mean maybe i’m presuming too much here but i think if you’re a team in the east right now you think no matter what record you had last season that it’s possible to make a big jump because it’s kind of wide open right now to we’ve seen a bunch of teams i mean the pacers are in this boat only a few years ago they weren’t even in the playoffs and now they’re in the nba finals so i think that’s doable a little bit more doable in the east i think than it is in the west yeah okay well coming up andrew lopez television silent reporter for your new orleans pelicans will continue giving us uh a little breakdown on a couple of prospects two in particular casper yakonis and colin murray boils but first up let’s find out what the hornets will likely do as we are joined by mr rod boon of the charlotte observer all right time now to bring in our guest mr rod boon covers the charlotte hornets for the charlotte observer you can give him a follow over on x at rodboon sir good morning and thanks for joining us man how are you doing great how you guys doing today doing fantastic rod i i guess we’ll start with um talking about the hornets coming off a season where they went 19 and 63 and i think one of the things that stands out about them as well is they’ve i i’m kind of shocked when i see this that they’ve gone nine years in a row without making the playoffs which is the longest drought in the nba and the second longest is actually the spurs at six which is is also stunning to me but i mean how would you kind of summarize what just happened this season it seems like one of the themes of their season was unfortunately similar to to pelicans where you had a lot of key guys missing tons of games and that made it even more difficult for them to be competitive correct i mean that’s been the hornet story last couple of seasons here they just have the talent but they just can’t get on the court um enough games um to go out there and display it so when you have your you know your star point guard lamelo ball he hasn’t played a whole season since he’s been in the league that’s not a good sign when you try to build around players like that so when you have to figure out as a coach each night who’s going to be available and how do you go about attacking the opposing team it it creates a problem so until they can actually go out there at the hornets and be uh you know fully healthy for an entire season they won’t be able to break this playoff drought because that’s been the main issue is just really in my mind health you have talent but if you you have talent and they’re not on the court you can’t display it and you can’t get anywhere rod you mentioned lamelo ball obviously the pelicans in their situation with zion it’s somewhat similar in that you have a super talented guy that has missed a good chunk of games over the last few years um and you and you kind of have to make decisions based on that though that you you know whether it’s building around that player or you know what his future is how do you see what the hornet how the hornets view lml ball right now i mean is it the kind of thing where it’s like he’s he’s a center he’s still a centerpiece of the team and you have to figure out okay now we have this really talented point guard who’s been an all-star and now you just kind of hope that he can he can um just become more durable basically absolutely i mean you mentioned zion it’s similar to me to zion i mean it’s like you know you have a player who you know could be a difference maker out there could be a stud and you want to build around him but if he’s not on the court if he’s always hurt and injured how can you find out who the best players to put around him you know who who they are so that’s been the main issue with lamelo just his health because when people see him on the court and see his type of game yeah he has to do a little bit more improvement in terms of being able to play some more winning basketball but the guy makes everybody i’m talking about everybody better on the court he finds the open man he’s pushing the ball he’s making crazy passes that players don’t even think he’s going to be able to make i mean he does so much that just you just look say man they can just be healthy they could be a really good team but that’s been the main problem him is just injuries um ankle problems wrist problems um so again similar to zion if you can find a way to keep him on the court and keep him healthy then you have a player to build around and you can be good for years to come you know one of the reasons i mean the main reason why we’ve kind of structured our draft preview podcast this way where we’ve already talked to the first three teams picking and now charlotte is the fourth team wanted to kind of try to get a feel for what the direction some of these teams picking before the pelicans might go i mean it feels like there’s a pretty um universal belief that cooper flag and dylan harper are the kind of the top two prospects in this draft after that do you have any feel for what direction charlotte might go or what they might lean towards i mean with that fourth pick is it the kind of thing where you just take the best player available or do you look at some of it seems like you know for a team that won 19 games charlotte does have a lot of wing talent and guard talent perimeter talent um so how do you think that they’re going to approach that fourth pick i think if if i’m the hornets i get the best player available because as you mentioned they have wings and guards but we talked about their injuries right i mean you want to be able to have depth in the league and also have options to be able to make trades if you want to be able to bring other players in here so from my perspective of everything i’ve gathered so far if you have cooper flag going one to dallas and you have dylan harper going two to the spurs or maybe a possible trade there whoever depending on if they can move up or not three what i understand is probably going to be ace billy from ruckers uh i think philly you know the sixers like him a lot they want to have players again they can bring in around joel and beating those guys and building around them so i think ace billy is number three at philly so at forward the hornets from what i can tell right now is bj edgecom from baylor um they like him a lot they met with him at the combine in chicago last month they the hornets like defensive players charles lee’s about defense first a little bit so bj is could be a two-way player um he he likes defense uh in terms of like that part of the the court so if you’re the hornets again you said you have enough maybe offense at times so to me you want to be able to get a player who you can not only plug in on one side of the ball but really on both sides of the ball because if you can stop or at least contain some players on defense um with lamelo ball being your point guard that to me helps you out so again if if ace bella is there if for some reason maybe philadelphia goes a different route and goes maybe trey johnson or something like that then maybe the horns go ace bailey but from everything i’ve gathered so far if this the the talent falls the way it it should um the horns probably will be right there at vj edgecom from baylor from an overall kind of standpoint and outlook charlotte basically has changed over its entire basketball operations over the last in the last year you know they hired a new executive jeff peterson they had a new first year coach charles lee last season i mean how do you see kind of the way that they view what the short term maybe medium-term i i i would think that you know i mentioned the playoff drought is it the kind of thing where there’s pressure to okay we got to be a lot more competitive soon or is it the kind of thing where you you think that they’re going to look at it as kind of a longer term like this is not something that we want to rush we want to do this as methodically as we possibly can the latter i mean they’ve talked about that specifically the ownership group led by gabe plinet and rick snall and uh the new president of operations back operations jeff peterson they’ve all talked about not wanting to like basically cut corners the hornets as you mentioned you know almost a decade long playoff drought they don’t want to come here and say “okay we’re going to go out make a couple of deals and we’ll be a playoff team next year then after that you’re back to square one.” they want to be able to build it up methodically also be able to be a playoff team you know yearly they want to be able to find that magic potion to be able to let them be at least you know in the mix every year because right now they’re not and you met again it’s been almost 10 years since they actually had a playoff spot so they want to do it the right way they want to build um from the draft they want to make the appropriate at the right time trade they want to um sign a player here or there that actually will help them but won’t put them um you know over the cat situation the way they want to make things done methodically so if they can do that as they have things planned they can make it a long-term u situation where they can actually win um here in charlotte because they also are redoing their building second year renovations they want basically want to do everything over here in charlotte you want to actually have a new building per se we have a new uh basketball operations you want to have new ownership going to have just a new mentality at overall here in town so they want to do it from the ground up i don’t see them doing anything out there that’s going to jeopardize them being a playoff team for two or three years in a row you know rod was one of the things that uh i always find interesting whether it’s the nfl or nba people we either copy or just look at trends and how things are going last couple years you saw you know whether it’s the super teams or big trades for big players we saw one this past season but when you look at the nba finals which is going on right now you see two teams to kind of around what you just talked about right building teams through the draft fighting at one guy whether it’s a free agency pickup or a trade pickup cuz you know sga and hallebert were kind of like that too then building through the draft do you think that’s maybe the trend with this new cba and the aprons and all the things that the league has now where we’re going to see teams build like this i think so because as you mentioned with the new cba like it’s hard to have a super team you can’t have these three players on max contracts because they just doesn’t work financially and if you do oh boy you really can’t build around them because you can’t go out there and get veterans on minimum deals you know you can’t uh do things that can actually make your team better because you’re kind of hampered by that second tax apron so you’re right i think from the way the cba is written now will it be exactly like oklahoma city and indiana maybe not but they’re definitely a little bit of a model especially okc because okc to me is a is is if you are in charlotte if you are new orleans that should be your your your your blueprint is you acquire as many picks as you can first round draft picks you build through the draft and you sign the occasional guy that put you over the top and you know caruso okc you know players like that who you may feel okay they’re not worth a max contract but they’re are the player that actually i need to like help complement my roster so i think that is if you’re a gm on a small market team that’s your blueprint is to find your players through the draft for one build that base up and then also make your methodical small moves until it’s time to make that big move that actually put you over the top yeah you know i think one of the things too that is a lot easier said than done that oklahoma city and indiana i think have both done too is um chad homegrren was the second pick for the thunder that was a no-brainer but they’ve also made a lot of really good picks from draft slots that aren’t completely ideal you know aaron wiggins was the 55th pick in the draft for example for okc indiana has some guys that were picked later i mean i think the this stat has been repeated something similar is that the pacers haven’t really picked in the top five in forever so i think that’s the part of it too i think that is crucial for i think the pelicans have done that to some extent where you had trey murphy was the 17th pick herbert jones was the second round pick um i think charlotte is probably in that territory too where they really need to start nailing some of these picks not just the ones that are in the lottery but also you know if you if you have mult the pelicans only have one pick this year just the first round pick but i mean some of these other teams have four or five picks and i think that that part of it is crucial as well especially if you can nail a late first rounder or a second rounder you’re talking about salary that is very manageable under the cap i feel like that part of it is going to be more and more important as well i agree you’re right second round picks especially because that’s a good point you make second round picks you hit on those guys not only are they economical in terms of your you know your cap situation but you control those guys a little bit differently as opposed to a first round pick you know they they you you have their rights a little bit more you can go out there and and retain them a little bit easier than a first round pick per se so you’re right i think that’s the biggest thing if if if you’re a really good gm and you build from the draft and you get these second round picks that actually hit upon something that will help you out long term and make your situation better to be able to go out there and get a player to be able to come in and help you right away mr rod boom covers the charlotte hornets for the charlotte observer two weeks until the nba draft in the final week of june on wednesday and thursday the 25th and 26th as always appreciate the time rod i know jim we’re going to bother you throughout the season where we talk a little basketball and see where the hornets and where the pelicans are as the year uh goes on hey absolutely man thanks for having me on i’m here anytime you need me just let me know thanks rod appreciate it yes sir you guys got it anytime all right we continue to get you ready for the nba draft as we now look at another pair of prospects andrew lopez television sideline reporter for your new orleans pelicans joining us here to go over that all right let’s see if i can do this ready i’m i’m i’m waiting casperis yakonis 66 guard out of illinois i kind of want him i kind of want him to be the pick now just like that yakonis can you hear the graph and joel and joon graph graph’s going to love it but he he’s going to get a nickname for him so quick no doubt one of those um i i love it here look when we take a look at all these draft picks i we’re going to get into them specifically but andrew i i was just talking about it with you and jim before we started recording this when we get closer to now two weeks um to today that the nba draft will be going as we record this i’m feeling better and better about what’s going to be around seven because i’m feeling as both of you gentlemen spoke about during the season this year’s draft has talent this isn’t one of those i don’t know it was one or two like it was maybe perhaps last year i feel like at seven there’s like an nba player if that makes any sense does that make sense there’s somebody who is going to be in your rotation um should be able to be in your rotation i should say right off the bat uh when when you’re at seven i know when you when look i you go into the lottery with number four odds and you come out at seven it’s a little disappointing but when you look at the players who are there it’s it’s it’s the same conversation we had uh in our previous pot where we talked about one is probably set one’s definitely set two is probably set three three and four are probably set although there could be some surprises is there but everything after that for the next 10 picks really does feel like it’s what the team would do we’re going to talk about murray bole like in sam vini saying from the athletic and which his draft guide if you if if you have a chance please go read like take seven hours out of your day and go read that whole thing that it’s extremely comprehensive yeah when he’s talking about cmbb he’s talking about he goes if i think he’s got him like in the middle of his pack on his list but he’s like if i’m a team and i’m a i’m a certain team he goes i may have him as high as five on my list there’s so many of these guys that would maybe you know a derek queen for example might be five or six on somebody’s list or 14 on somebody’s list common could be the same so all all of these guys have this this very wide range where i think you’re going to get a good basketball player at number seven i think yakonis fits that description as well where we do see some mock drafts where he’s mid lottery we see some other ones where he’s a little deeper in the lottery for example the most recent nba.com consensus mock draft where they take a bunch of different websites and average them out he’s he’s been ninth or tth i think on on most of those that nba.com has listed u what what are some of the things that we have to look for with him in terms of how this guy has become someone that pretty i think pretty much everyone thinks he’s a at least a lottery pick yeah he’s not only at least a lottery pick i think for for most of the year he’s been probably a top five to seven pick mhm uh i think he he did not have a very strong conference and kind of tailed off toward the end of the season and you you know everybody can start kind of picking apart your game after that point but he was a guy for most of the year was a a top five kind of consensus pick you you knew the top three were going to be you know cooper dylan and ace for most of the season that’s what you had as the year went on vj kind of worked himself into that conversation but for the most part he was sitting there five six in most mock drafts um some of the earliest we we we talked about this before when when do you start to turn the page to draft stuff mhm you know it’s hard you know our job is to focus on the nba and watch this we all like sports we’re all going to watch a little bit here a little bit here probably when i one of the first things i was looking at when we first started to kind of turn the page was looking at lead guards looking at big men and and he obviously pops up and you’re like “oh you probably got to be in the top five to get him.” but uh still a very good talent at definitely a lead guard i think he averaged six assists this year which it feels like it’s even harder now that’s a lot of assists for college that’s a lot right 40-minute game lower scoring and we tal we talked about this the other day with fears about how his elite level playmaking he only averaged four and a half assists a game 4.1 i think you know a lot of this depends on teammates making shots obviously right so he he is definitely going to be a playmaker i feel like with a with a lot of guys in this class you have to look at his shot to see where that’s kind of like the the big determining factor but uh definitely a lead guard who is is is is going to be heady he’s going to make the right pass and that’s kind of where he has been trained to be which you know you can add that if if if there’s anything you want to add to your to your team i want to add somebody who can shoot i want to add somebody who can pass on somebody who can play defense and he’s right in there the first line of the nba.com description about him is dimes will be dropped and i think i wrote that too one of the things that as a huge backer historically personally of past first point guards and kind of that more conventional uh floor general that i that intrigues me just from the standpoint that i i just like that kind of player and you watch the video of him and there he does make a lot of really crafty passes it seems like he sees the floor really well um getting into some of the pro comparisons i think is instructive for him too because it gives you i think maybe a better feel for what type of player he he is if you haven’t watched video of him yet um and the the names that that i came up with that i’ve i saw commonly for him are tyrese hallebertton chanty bilips spencer denwitty austin reeves goran dragich and then vasa misich so of those uh of those guys who do you like in terms of the way he plays probably it’s hard because if you threw that harley uh comparison out there like a few months ago people would be like “oh okay i see where you’re going.” and you throw it out there now and it’s like “whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa.” like i want this kid like he’s going to leave the nba finals this year like right away um dragitch is probably the one um of that group i i’ve seen a little bit of giddy i’ve seen a little bit the the denwitty though i’ve i’ve seen a lot as well just kind of a a bigger lead guard i mean he’s got size and you know he he he can go out there and play you just have to wonder about the shot i mean that that’s kind of where it’s at and again he we we go back to what we talked about with fears the other day how much of this is him taking shots that he wouldn’t take if he weren’t the option that he needed to be for his team um he’s a guy like he’s a good rebounder for a size he’s obviously you know an an extremely talented playmaker um the defensive side is where i think he’s been picked apart a little bit which is why he’s now gone from almost a consensus top five top six pick to okay well maybe he goes seven well maybe he goes nine maybe he goes 10 his range again it’s it’s it’s what what what does a team want in a in a in a guy where you could be h like there’s so many guys who i feel that if the right team were picking at five they get their guy at five and then we hear this a lot in the nfl oh my guy slid to me and we didn’t have to move and go get him that that could very well be the case the the guy who you would take if you were picking fifth could be available for you at 10 mhm so the guy you could be picking at four could be available for you at eight or nine like i it’s just a it’s all of these guys are such in a a very tight tier if you’re doing it that way yeah i mean listening to you talk about the giddy comparison i i like that a lot i mean based on the minimal amount of knowledge that i have about yakonis just the way that you describe his game it does sound like kind of the way that josh giddy came into the league where you know he’s a playmaker you know he’s got size but his shot is a is a question mark um are there any pelicans historical comparisons that we can make to yakonis like if you really want to throw it back with like a big lead guard you go all the way back to grievous that’s what i was thinking too you go all the way back to grievous i i think the the probably a touch of lonzo but not in the kind of as as as flashy as he was um but just in the i if i’m thinking of a 66 lead guard who can make every pass on the floor who would probably be a great guy who could throw that spin lob to to z he probably fits that mold he’s going to make those kind of passes there’s a touch here a touch there but like i mean grievous was such a different player at such a different time like i feel like i feel like a bunch of those like early like you know early 2000 like they’d love to play in today’s game like they feel like you know they might have you know got passed by a little bit the you know the 2010 guys the early ones so probably those two but i i think he’s he’s more of a uh unique kind of player yeah i was thinking of gravis vasquez too um gravis is a little bit more of like a methodical kind of penetrator this guy from the at least from the video i saw is maybe a little quicker maybe a little bit more aggressive and gravis was more of like a scan the floor um set people up didn’t really drive a ton i didn’t have the didn’t have the same kind of foot speed honestly that this guy has so yeah i think that that’s interesting as well i guess turning to the second player today colin murray boils um what are some of the reasons why this this is a guy who i i think nba.com has him as 11th again in a compilation of a bunch of different mock drafts um how has this guy gotten into the uh lottery discussion again somebody that i did not know a ton about before the draft talk began you know what he was he’s not a guy who was on a lot of people’s boards early on has been absolutely one of the fastest risers um in this draft and the point that he has put himself in uh this lottery conversation you look at the the things that he was able to do and in the sec on it on a south carolina team that wasn’t really doing much mhm he was able to average 16 and eight but you look at the other numbers it’s he’s getting his rebounds everywhere a block and a half per game a block and a uh a block and a half a per game and and a steal and half per game he was all over the place defensively and that’s where i think teams see him as we go more and more and more to positionless basketball your one can be a four at times you know when i was in san antonio the big joke was you used to um even though he was the starting center at 7 foot not three pop used to make it a big joke hey don’t call him a five mhm well who’s your start sh don’t tell victor he’s the starting center tonight when you talk to victor wbeyama well he’s like i don’t i don’t think i’m a starting center i’m just a player you know cuz on some plays i’m the point guard on some plays i’m the two it just matters where you run it as you get into positionless basketball that means you need guys who can defend almost every spot on the floor yep we see this with herb and we saw how much the team missed it when herb was not on the floor that is the idea of what colin murray boils can bring a 6667 230 240 just guy who can defend all spots and he’s going to get you deflections he’s going to get you steals he’s going to get you blocks the shot is there like he’s got all of these tools in his belt to to make an impact and it’s it’s not one of these things where okay he’s just going to he’s a 66 230 wing he’s just going to stand up like no he he’s got all of this kind of in his in his bag right now um to be able to kind of be one of these i i don’t want to call him like a small ball five yet because i want you you don’t want to just throw that on somebody especially at that size but he he has the tools that that could make him successful in the nba it does seem like when you go through some of the mock drafts and you see some of the projections that this is you know i i mentioned how he’s 11th on nba.com’s consensus this is kind of the part of the the mocks at least where you’re starting to get into some more players that are known as defense first and i think sometimes that’s also why some of these guys are that have that as their their biggest strength it it’s sometimes they don’t end up in the top five because teams have a hard time saying we we can’t take a guy who averaged eight points a game in college with the fourth pick um because sometimes those guys are just it’s a little bit too limited you’re looking for more upside and that kind of thing but um i thought it was interesting with um to get into some of the pro comparisons for murray boils um you can kind of picture kind of the hard hat nature of some of the players that have played in the nba that are compared to him and and really when you go through these six names um there’s really only one or two of them that you think offense with these players not defense so the list is uh that i came up with very unscientifically is thaddius young was actually born in new orleans i believe right it’s a local guy yes we just put his dad felton young in the holy cross hall of fame uh about a month ago and was able to talk to thaddius and uh felton back then look at that i set him up perfectly didn’t even realize i was doing it and then paul milsap another guy that has a extreme louisiana connection from the state went to louisiana tech um grant williams draymond green gershon yavelli and then the last guy is really the the only one of these i think that’s super offense first over defense and that’s julius randall which of those guys do you like as a comparison i the one you keep hearing is draymond i mean the size comparison everything is there the shot profile i mean i i when i when i say he has a shot it’s it’s it’s if that shot develops he was nine of 34 from three this year the shot is there it’s what develops from that how much can you continue to grow we but we saw it with herb herb was not a shooter in college that’s the reason herb was falling into the second round to to begin with um but draymond’s the one you just continue to hear uh because of the the versatility i think one of my favorite com if you haven’t been on the ringers draft site uh of how they have their stuff set up they have some of the wildest comparisons um yeah and they’re very some of them are very creative they’re very humorous yeah it’s it’s like javale mcgee in his mind’s eye for who that was right right uh for a couple of things but you go look at the ones uh for cmv and it’s draymond green metal world peace and anthony mason anthony mason which i just think like for our newer fans out there just please go watch some anthony mason highlights and just enjoy what 90s basketball used to be like just picture hockey enforcement yeah i was going to say for the younger fans just picture if a a guy in ufc made it onto the basketball court and averaged like 18 and eight that’s that was what anthony mason was yeah and did it pretty pretty consistently um but i like the draymond because i think that’s that’s the that’s his calling card right now and that’s why uh as vassini pointed out he could have him if he was for a certain team he would be fifth right and that’s why if you go look on the ringers mock draft he’s 19th he is just he’s one of these guys that when when you were making these list of okay here are the 12 guys that we’re going to talk about the list was probably 20 25 guys long because it’s oh well these are top 12 here oh but these are the top 12 here y and then this guy’s climbing up here but but this guy’s doing this and it’s just he is one of these examples of that and you know there’s a certain sect of of draft twitter that is is going crazy for him and then there’s other guys who are trying to figure this all out on the other side yeah i mean we’re going to talk again next week as we wrap up with uh on the draft prospects with will gillery we’ll have a set of four more guys but you’re right i mean there’s some names that we probably aren’t going to get to that we see in a bunch of mock drafts like jace richardson is a guy that is not on nba.com’s consensus mock draft he was i wanted to restrict it to that so at least we had some guard rails and some some ways to narrow it down don’t the don’t blame jim for when this guy like why didn’t you have this guy in your in your podcast series look this is what nba.com said this that’s it why did you use this list instead of this list why did you use this list instead this is what we’re using guys exactly uh last thing on uh murray boils is uh pelicans comparisons anybody that fits with him in the past i mean it’s a he’s a bigger herb um he you you look at his college three-point production that fits uh but i think i mean positional versatility i don’t think we’ve had a guy in in in recent years that kind of can match that that defensive versatility so i think i mean that would probably be the way i’d have to go right there what’s interesting to me guys as we kind of put a bow on this so far and especially with your contributions here andrew again thanks for your time man um this is it’s shaping up to be a very interesting draft from this aspect of it i think in years past hey these are the top talented players right and then after that it kind of dies down i still remember when byron scott was here as head coach he was like “man after the first three or four good luck.” you know you don’t know what you have which always blew my mind because you only have two rounds and was so used to you know jim and andrew being in this building saints and seven rounds of football you find starters and you find guys i mean marcus coloulston’s and stuff i get it brady and the nba it’s not but we’re kind of starting to see maybe change a bit we’ve talked about uh even with our guest today with with rod boon talking about with the apron and stuff drafting growing players you see the two teams in the finals maybe we’ve seen it be more important what’s interesting with this draft to me is when i look at the top couple of teams guys one thing that’s in common with dallas san antonio philly even charlotte what rod brun said and in us at seven all four of those teams out of the seven injuries was a big thing with them right so if you have talent but that your your talent was injured i mean kyrie irving ad those guys those are starters those are guys that that get you in the playoffs so who you pick may be more for fit right or helping rather than i need a face of the franchise right as in the past utah washington we need a face of the franchise kind of right but but it’s interesting that you have some of those teams where to your point i’m willie green i’m the pells hey give me another defender in this and i think what’s interesting too is you guys keep talking about defenders a lot of these guys do you think the pendulum maybe starts to swing where everyone’s jacking up threes i need people that can go defend because i’m watching in the finals right now a team that can defend can eliminate that three-point shot what you’re seeing right now and i think in the last four to five years so many more the learning curve on nba defense used to be a lot bigger than what it was and now you’re seeing the oh herb jones was you know in that conversation his first year evan mobley was in that conversation his first year victor winyama was i mean he’s an anomaly but he was second in defensive player in the year voting his first year in the league you’re starting to see more and more guys come in because that’s what’s going to get you on the floor we hear ad say it all the time on the broadcast what’s going to get you on the floor as a young player in this league everybody can score all all of you have been the best player on your team the majority of you i’m talking 95% were probably the best player on your team in college unless you’re out of duke and and you can make a whatever you’re at these top programs or you’re two or three the majority of you were the guy who was going to average 2025 in which all of you were probably averaging 30 in high school good point yep what’s going to get you on the floor in the nba defense first then you figure the rest out you know one thing too big picture that i was going to mention as we wrap up for this week of our draft preview podcast is gus you mentioned how you know maybe the nba second round importance is less than what the nfl has where they have so many rounds and people are focused on we need to find these late round picks i do think that’s changing in the nba though because for various reasons i mean i think the most tangible thing is the three the three two-way contracts now you have actually have 18 guys on your roster and then with the injuries that have increased the the the amount of guys that have been out and the player availability i think you need depth on your roster more than you ever did and then and then the other part is the salary cap where the i could see teams having the strategy of saying like we’re not going to no team’s going to base their whole build on second round picks but maybe you in as people learn more about the effects of the new cba and some of the constraints that those picks become more valuable maybe not in trades it’s still probably never going to be the kind of thing where you’re like “oh yeah we’ll trade you the 45th pick.” that a team’s going to be like “oh yes we want the 45th pick.” but as an asset that you can use yourself and load up your roster with some of those guys that are affordable i do think that that we’ve already seen that change and i think it’s a trend that’s going to continue as time goes on the second apron rules all the all these new rules it’s it’s it’s a lot more restrictive you need cost controlled guys on your team and you need guys who can be cost controlled and effective and that’s to you know to jim’s point yeah no doubt i’ve been a part of drafts guys where the second round starts and uh the food started arriving for the the people making the picks and stuff i mean they just they it was completely hey how much money selling for picks and money and cash and stuff i don’t think that’s the case anymore so jim i can offer if you want to follow up some more stuff with each of our podcast go to pelicans.com he does a great job there and andrew so nice to see you during the summer um we’ll continue to see you sir yes you will thank you as always for tuning us in don’t forget the pel podcast brought to you by new age products the official garage and outdoor kitchen provider of your new orleans pelicans we’ll see you next time 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 jim_ikinhoffer and gcap_17 we’ll see you next time right here on the new orleans pelicans podcast
On the New Orleans Pelicans Podcast for Thursday, June 12, 2025, Jim Eichenhofer and Gus Kattengell continue their series of draft previews ahead of the 2025 NBA Draft.
They welcome Hornets beat writer Rod Boone of the Charlotte Observer and Pelicans TV Sideline Reporter/Host Andrew Lopez to discuss the Charlotte Hornets’ fourth overall pick as Lopez breaks down two more 2025 NBA Draft prospects in Illinois guard Kasparas Jakucionis and South Carolina forward Collin Murray-Boyles.
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1 Comment
If I could dance like that, I'd be writing this comment right now from some party💞