Are the Pelicans 2025’s Dumbest NBA Franchise? | The Bill Simmons Podcast

Are the Pelicans 2025’s Dumbest NBA Franchise? | The Bill Simmons Podcast

so I did like Derek Queen going to New Orleans in a trade at number 13 then we found out what the trade was this was when I lost my mind i think I blacked out i’m so glad the NBA can still give us these new Orleans trades up 10 spots so they could take Derek Queen and they give up their unprotected 2026 first round pick swap that they have with Milwaukee where they have the favorable whatever the better pick is they keep they send that to Atlanta who had to be deliriously happy like we only have to move down 10 spots and we get an unprotected this was one of the five dumbest trades of this decade i I was speechless i just can’t believe it and who is it it’s our guy Joe Dumars who was so bad in the first half of the 2010s he I got so much column mileage from him he finally got bounced from the Pistons never got another job and then moved into the NBA and everybody in the NBA loved him and he’s a great guy by all accounts and enough time passed that everybody forgot how bad of a GM he was down in the and now he just traded away their unprotected 2026 pick house they’re in the west the [ __ ] does he think’s going to happen next year the he think they’re going to be a five seed what is he doing
the hilarious thing and this is what what um we get to to relish coming going forward is they’re he They they’re doing some kind of their version of 3D chess here cuz I think Zion is moving on i think the point of Zion leaving CIA going over to Bill Duffy there’s a trade demand coming derek Queen is fits a specific needs plays a specific role for them um and they were just like this is this is our plan we have a plan and we’re going to acquire him and we can’t you know let let the possibility uh they go that that we don’t get him for for this for this role okay so you’re saying they’re trading their best player which will inevitably make next year’s team worse and they’re not going to have a pick after they trade that player that makes sense to you
and perceivably better drafts from from what we understand
you would anticipate that any kind of Zion trade would include picks i mean is that reasonable so your only defense of that trade is the hypothetical that Zion Micah traded which by the way would also then make them worse and they wouldn’t have their pick
i said it’s their version of 3D chess it doesn’t make any sense it’s it’s just in Dumar’s world it’s Dumar
this is one of those that Adam Silver like you could have talked me into him vetoing like they vetoed the Chris Paul trade that’s how bad that trade was kyle would Atlanta have done that trade if it was a top four protected pick i’m gonna say yes top four protected atlanta’s like we’re still doing it top seven protected i think they do that
probably probably uh protected they they I can’t even imagine they’re showing all these war rooms they should have shown the Hawks war room as guys are taking their shirts off doing this and [ __ ] popping champagne on each other it was It was probably like the Magic City on the bus yeah
yeah it was like the mushroom scene and this is the end where they’re just like going nuts um I can’t even imagine how deliriously happy they were and I really like where Atlanta was sitting before tonight and now they have this New Orleans pick they have a $25 million trade exception they added Cororzingis jaylen Johnson’s coming back they got Tyson Daniels and Trey Young and Risa Shay and Aongu House it’s It’s time to look at the conference odds don’t think that I haven’t already but please
you already did you You cheated on me
of course what the hell house um they’re not in the top six 33 to1 to win the East
yes that’s a ticket that’s in my portfolio
they might be doing that later
fanduel sports book yes sir
33 to1 what if they get Demar Rosen with that trade exception
all they have to do is make it to the Eastern Conference F they don’t have to win for that ticket to have value you have an amazing hedge with that 33 to1 sitting in your pocket that team that’s that I still can’t imagine one stop that they make and like Dyson Daniels is incredible i can’t name one other player i mean J Johnson’s plays both ways for sure as well but um no Johnson and Daniels as their two defenders and then they’ll they’ll be able to do some other stuff
we we were texting a lot about Derek Wayne during the season
because he bring he brings some things to the table that I love there’s some defensive stuff with him that is about as bad as it gets
and it’s going to be he’s going to be one of those guys where I I I do think it’s a he’s a ceiling basement guy but there’s some really good offensive stuff the problem is some of the ways you would use him on offense are very similar to how like you would use say a Zion Williamson who’s also just hypothetically
no idea how those two guys would play together makes no sense at all
no they don’t they they are they have mirroring uh issues for sure but he’s he’s he you’re right i mean he’s got a lot of things that you like i mean the connectivity of his passing i was saying on our on the draft show that in that 18 ft to the rim area uh he he roasts other bigs with his foot speed with his balance he can contort uh he just does some things that are odd for a player of his body type he’s not super explosive but you mentioned the defensive stuff i think a lot of that’s controllable for him i mean if you’re banking on him ever being if you’re banking on him being your rim protector then you you should just have to take a breathalyzer before you even are qualified to to to run a team because I I that was so obvious he doesn’t have the size to be a rim protector he’s more of a help defender and the big thing for him too is he has great hands he does have mobile hips even though he’s not super fast um and he’s a great defensive rebounder uh it’s it’s more of a playtoplay is he going to mature to the point where he starts taking that personally because people have just said this about him relentlessly and I know this stuff’s gotten back to him about uh on the defensive glass or just on the glass period it’s like “Oh where’s my man oh he just ran by me because I didn’t touch him and he got an easy basket.” That happened over and over again and just consistency of effort because um he can be I think at least a neutral defender it’s just it’s going to be up to him whether or not he takes that personally and cuts out the taking plays off and stuff like that this lot of my boxes because I like the creativity on offense is really special i don’t like the work ethic part and the taking plays off and the defensive liability part sam Vassini said something on Rasolo’s pod about how he’s just been playing against men for the last couple years as a big guy and just is seasoned with and that he thought he was actually a pretty good bet to be able to play faster than you think um I to me it’s amazing the Hawks fleec them two summers in a row two different front offices the DeJonte Murray trade was was a fleecing and then this happens that is how they might have the championship belt now of biggest mess of a team i think this is it i think giving away next year’s first round pick and making it unprotected i think they grabbed the belt
wow
i think Sacramento was like “We just got it back what what do you mean we just And they just took it back
like without blinking
i It’s very
Not to mention they’re putting Jeremiah Fears and Jordan Pool together
oh boy i thought that the Wizards traded Jere Pool away so that Fears would fit better and then when they picked Fears I was like “Oh I’m way off with my logic with this.” I I thought that’s what they were doing house
and Trey Murphy’s got to be like “Why am I here what is this team
that That’s exactly right this This is the most confounding team I I I was trying to come up with i mean even Charlotte feels like it has a point it feels like it has a direction phoenix is like in this conversation got to keep Phoenix you know there’s still
I guess Phoenix does have Phoenix
so I thought Sacramento took it back
from Phoenix but you’re right phoenix still has it sacramento made a good pick tonight when we get to it when and if we do
sac maybe Sacramento is riding the ship a little bit but I mean Sacramento turning Fox and Hallebertton into Zack Lavine like that’s like an oldtimer um not to mention the Sabonis extension on that stuff but yeah you’re right I think so Phoenix probably had it and then New Orleans just took it and New Orleans has had this belt I mean they’re they’re basically like the Russell Celtics with this belt they’ve had it nine different times over the course of uh since the mid70s
you have to remember how close the Pelicans were though to to turning the corner they’ve been close a couple times
it was like for 5 seconds
yeah but but I mean
they had a playing game against LeBron and then that and then the moment was over
they they were on a pace for over 50 wins just a year ago closer they got 40 first round picks for Anthony Davis
i I I get it i’m just saying they were
they won the lottery the problem I have with uh with Derek with with with my with my guy
this DMB thing yeah
it’s just a it’s it’s this um maturity is is still under development and you can eyeball you can use your own eyeballs and look at his body type and reach a conclusion that maybe he hasn’t maximized all that’s available to him to turn himself into the kind of beast that that he might be in terms of physical specimen
it would be good if he was going to New Orleans where the point there’s so much healthy food there and clean living
well we just they just lived through a guy who had a maturity issue and maybe an issue where maximize Yeah so and Derek is not 18 years old this is like It would be one thing to say “Yeah he’s pudgy he’s 18 or he’s 19 or whatever he’s pushing up he’s closer to 21 than he is to to to 18 so
So you don’t think he’s on the vers climber at 5 in the morning like LeBron
here’s the thing he can do that it’s there they have versa climbers they can get one down to New Orleans and he could become the beast that we’re talking about he could make that commitment you know he can get that challenge on the defensive end and become that guy i hope he does he was uh it was great to have Maryland uh viable for for a for a basketball season um here most recently and it make some noise in the tournament um I want the kid to to succeed it feels like it’s up to the kid joe Dumar was so bad in Detroit that I once wrote in a column that I wanted to sell Joe Dumar’s cap space cologne you only have to spray it once and then you can’t get away from the smell for three to five years remember when he was handing out all those terrible contracts everyone forgets how bad Joe Dumar was it’s been 11 years right unfortunately he has he has uh Seawn Marks and some others i feel like we’re we’re almost like atrocious GM Summit territory
oh you’re going to fire
getting close yeah we we’re we almost have enough teams again house is giddy
yeah I’m trying to think of all the teams
we got VC we got we got Ishbia we have New Orleans
you got a lot of character voices to ride to as well i think this is prime for
I feel like Chicago could be in the running
chicago Jerry Ryanorf never paid the luxury tax i will say I will say on Queen one thing he one apologetic thing I would say is that he considering where he was like a couple years ago he has made progress he has worked on his body so I I I I hope he continues that way
i like the value at 13
oh yeah
that pick was top 10 that pick was top 10 protected i would have liked the trade but it’s unprotected in a draft that everybody is saying is awesome it’s insane there’s no counterargument that is an insane thing to do to do that this [Music]

The Ringer’s Bill Simmons, Joe House and J. Kyle Mann discuss the Pelicans trading up for Derik Queen with their 13th pick.

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