DEEP DIVE: Pelicans Sign 3x NBA Champ Kevon Looney! Here’s What It Means!

DEEP DIVE: Pelicans Sign 3x NBA Champ Kevon Looney! Here’s What It Means!

With NBA free agency opening up yesterday, Joe Dumar did a little bit of shopping. Went and got us a big man, too. Kind of for the cheap. So, we’re going to break down this move and what does it mean for the Pelicans in the near future. So, y’all know what to do. Cute my music. This is the Pelican Scoop with Jordan Kitchens, breaking down everything under the sun about your New Orleans Pelicans. Smash that like button, leave a comment, and subscribe to stay on top of your Pel content. Now, Running Point, here’s Jordan.
What is good, YouTube? Welcome back to another edition of the Pelican Scoop. I am your host with the most Jordan Kitchens. And ladies and gentlemen, before we kick this bad boy off, I just want to say from the deepest deepest deepest deepest deepest deepest part of my heart, not trying to get corny, not trying to, you know, get no s tears and all that, but the growth the channel has had over the last couple days has been amazing. You know, I appreciate everybody that’s been here from the jump, you know, from the start of the season, that’s watched this channel also grow and the community has grown and I I just appreciate everybody, you know, the good, the bad, whatever. You know, I just want to be able to create a space where Pelicans fans can have a discourse. I’m not trying to sit here and be a bootlicker for the franchise. I’m not trying to see be here and be a bootlicker for the players. I just want to be able to talk ball thoroughly, as objective as how I feel about it. And it’s been doing that. It’s been building. And I just appreciate everybody that comes together cuz we just want to see the best for the Pelicans. No if ends or buts about it. We just want the best for the Pelicans because they got New Orleans on a front. So they’re doing good, they’re doing bad. We going to be here regardless. So we about to hit 2,000 subs. It’s unbelievable. It’s literally unbelievable. But let’s kick this bad boy off. And yesterday Joe Dumar did a little bit of shopping. NBA free agency open up. You seen guys get hundred million dollar contract. I just saw Nikil Alexander Walker go to the Hawks for four years, 62 million. One of David Griffin’s failed experiments, but he found a way to stick in the lead. This is not about Nikil. This is about Cavan Looney. Cavan Looney, threetime NBA champion with the Golden State Warriors, signs with the New Orleans Pelicans yesterday. So, let’s break this down what Sham’s talking about. As you can see from the screenshot on this screen at Sham Shirani on X, the everything app, Twitter, whatever you want to call it, free agent center Kavan Looney has agreed to a two-year $16 million deal with the New Orleans Pelicans. Sources tell ESPN Life Sports Agency CEO Todd Ram, however you say your name, Todd, forget you. You don’t matter the point. And the Pelicans reach a deal tonight for the three-time NBA champion who departs Golden State after 10 years. 10 years. Now, now I told my friends when I first saw this, you know, I really wasn’t feeling this move. Yes, I did say the Pelicans needed big. Yes, I wanted a big, but you know, I wanted more of a rim protector. Like Cavan Looney is an excellent glass cleaner. Like Cavon Looney is going to clean the glass. He he he’s going to protect the boards. Cavano is going to protect the boards and set some strong screens, which the Pelicans need. They need rebounding and they need screens. So, I’m not sit there and gonna act like it’s a bad move. So, I have to really dive a little bit deeper into Cavon Looney. only you know what is he bringing to the Pelicans but feel like what’s his life like outside of the court and so I found something very interesting let me just give you guys how throw it off I am okay so what I like to do is when you know the team brings in new players I always like to see you know I go like to go check the Instagram comments I like to go see his Instagram comments to see what is his former fan base saying about this certain player you know cuz I was I was skeptical about this DeJonte Murray y’all remember when the Pelicans got the Jonte Murray I talked about it probably one of the first part of the channel I was like look there’s a lot of Hawks fans badmouthing you know, and he didn’t have the best exit from the Spurs. So, it’s a little I’m a little iffy about that because if you’re good to a fan base, if you’re a good not even just saying you’re a good player, but like if you just show up and work hard and just do whatever you got to do, you know, you’re not doing no weird stuff and doing all this trying to alienate the fan base and doing things like that, you know, being good in the community, giving back and whatnot, the fan base is going to send you nothing but flowers every time. Every time. Nobody’s going to have nothing bad to say about you. And they’re like, excuse me, nobody gonna have nothing to say bad about you. and unlikely the Hawks and the Spurs fans, they were smoking Dejonte and I was like, you know, okay, let’s see how this goes. You know, it’s a little iffy the fan base doing that. So, that’s where I like to start off with. And when I checked Kavon Looney’s in his last Instagram post, you’re going to see on the screen. I’m probably going to pull up a little video recording of it. Um, nothing but love. And I mean, I mean, he didn’t even post like a goodbye farewell yet. He’s will do that, but this is just on a post he had a couple days ago. I’m talking Nothing Belove. You going to see it on the screen. I mean nothing but love that like I did not see one bad comment, not one bad nobody said anything bad to say about Kavon Lun. You would have thought the Pelicans were getting Mother Teresa. Somebody that just gives back to the world, a philanthropist, gives back to the community. And not even just that, just a great overall person. But forget all that. Cool. You can be a good person. What does this mean about you playing ball and how can you affect the team? So let’s talk about what Cavon Looney can do for this Pelicans team. So, it’s of no surprise that him and Jordan Pool were former teammates with the Golden State Warriors winning that ring in 2022. So, Jordan P was very ecstatic once he saw that we’re getting Kavon Looney. You know, he’s talking about OMG is lit with the little demon emoji and the Florida Lee. Hey, P getting P getting a little bit of seasoning on him. So, Jordan Pool and Cavon Looney. I’m not going to sit here and act like, oh, the Pelicans got this new duo, whatever. But this is a good vet and a good locker room guy that this team is bringing in. Joe Dumar has already informed us that the type of players they want to bring in are high IQ guys, high character. I know when you hear that character where you start thinking about Griffin, we want the best humans possible. We want great humanitarians. These guys over here, they they throw the trash away. They’re the goodest citizens ever. You know, when you hear that, like, okay, that’s cool, bro, but what does this mean about you playing basketball? And Kavon Looney is going to bring you a good veteran presence for you have nothing but young bigs at this point. You have nothing but young bigs between Carlo, between Eve Mei, and Derek Queen. You need a vet. All right. CJ McCullum’s gone. You got to bring some type of veteran presence. a guy with three rings. So, he knows what winning looks like. He knows what goes into trying to build a winning contender. Granted, the Pelicans don’t have Steph Curry, Draymond Green, uh Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson. You know, we don’t have We don’t have necessarily that. And we damn sure don’t have a Steve Kirk. We don’t have that. But you’re starting to see the building blocks. You I’m just being honest with you guys. You’re you’re seeing Joe be a man of his word. He’s telling you the type of guys are trying to bring in tough tough- minded guys that are going to be aggressive and that are going to have high IQ and know how to game. Kavon Looney is a high IQ player. Not only does he know how to set great screens and know how to rebound, but he just knows how to play his role. And I think that could be great on a development for Derek Queen cuz who needs to learn how to set better screens. Either get a lot bigger. You can see how Looney how he transformed into a nice, you know, big body player, how to set some screens, how to attack the glass, even Carlo. So, I think it’s a good addition in that sense. I really do I really did want a rim protector cuz Kavon Looney let’s break down Kavan Looney stats matter of fact. So last season with the Golden State Warriors, Kavan Looney averaged 4.6 rebounds, 1.6 assists, you know, no blocks, no steals, you know, 51% from the field. So he’s not taking, you know, stupid shots. Shot 40% from three, but only shot 0.1 attempts. So he’s not really shooting threes. He’s going to give you what he’s going to give you, right? You’re not expecting Looney to come out here and average uh yeah, we need 35 points and 35 rebounds from Kavani. Like it’s you’re not going to get that. But I think at his best, what I seen from his best though was uh the 2022 2023 season as you can see on the screen, which I think he can I think he can come back and give you a little bit of this. This is what I think Kavon Looney can give this Pelicans team around seven points, 9.3 rebounds, 2.5 assists. Maybe not that many assists because you don’t have you’re not passing it like I said to Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Jordan P. I mean, Jordan pools on the roster, but you know, still no blocks, still no steals. Um, but that’s what at 23 minutes a game. As you saw from the other one, he played only 15 minutes a game last year for Golden State Warriors. So, I think he’ll get around maybe 20 minutes a game for the Pelicans. Should I mean, you got him on an eightyear, well, not eight years, a two-year, $16 million deal. I think Cavon Looney will come in and be an immediate impact, not only just setting screens, maybe to free up Zion a little bit because I just feel like this Pelicans team just is terrible at setting screens. Like it’s just like you know when Zion set screens it always is not the best screens. You need a guy that can sit there and create. We haven’t had a good screen setter. Let’s call it what it is since JV. The second JV left the team the team has not had anybody remotely close remotely close to setting a good screen. I mean and then if you talk about outside of him, who the hell is setting good screens outside of JV on this Pelican team the last couple years? Pretty much nobody since Stephen Adams. Like you needed a guy like this. You needed a guy that was going to bring instill some type of toughness. A guy that you know is is going to be a stalworth on the team. So, I think Cavon Looney will be a a good addition to this team. But it’s not like this move is is the the stone move. Like, okay, they got Kavon Looney. Woo! We fa to turn it up. Like, no, it’s a good foundational piece to keep building on and keep bringing instilling the culture that Joe Dumar wants to install into this team. That’s what I feel like this move is all about. You know, you want to bring in a strong veteran because a team that’s extremely young, like the oldest player outside of Looney was Deontay Murray, right? So, you got a bunch of young guys in their 20s trying to figure it out. I mean, you got two teenagers now, Jeremiah Fears and and Derek Queen. With a guy like Zion Williamson, who is I mean, I don’t know, he might not be the best person they need to be learning from, but Kavon Looney, you know, looking from his comments, looking at his Instagram page, seeing what he likes to get into outside of the court. This is a good locker room guy and a good veteran piece of this team at it and his team desperately need it. Now, what does this mean? Joe Dumar is done. I don’t expect this team to be done. I expect them to at least get probably a type of swing type of wing that could play the two and three. Get one of those guys. I mean, they got Peavey, but I don’t think they’re necessarily done. Maybe another big man. I still think this team needs a rim protector. A lot of people like, “Oh, we got Mei.” If you only have one rim protector, you really like, come on now. I think you need a little bit more than Mei because Mei, he’s not that type of shot blocker. Like me is one of those guys that’s going to like rotate over and smack it off the glass and he’s not really um I know a lot of people don’t like to talk about Rudy Gobear, but he’s not one of those guys that’s going to sit there in front of the rim and just deer you from going to the paint. Like I get it. Rudy Gobear gets a lot of hate even though he’s he’s a good he’s a great player. Like I hope hope you guys know Rudy Goar Hall of Fame. Like I get it. The guy started co whatever but he’s still a Hall of Famer. And when you watch the Timberwolves he does deter people from going into the paint from attacking the paint. I can’t say the same thing about Mei. Granted, Mei can get there, but I think you need one more. You really needed one more guy to be like that or that can give you a little bit of that. But, you know, maybe Joe is banking on Mei year two leap, right? But I think you have a various slew of different bigs now between everybody has a different skill set out of Carlo, uh, Looney, Derek Queen, and Mei. All of them are different. All of them are different. You don’t have two of the same type of guys. So, that’s good in a way. You know, it gives you a lot more versatility with the lineups and what you want to do. But in my eyes, for this team to truly be at its best, truly be at its best. Okay, let’s let’s have some hypotheticals. All right, to end this video off, let me just give you guys a hypothetical. For this team to truly be at its best, your starting front court, like if this team is going to go where they need to go, I’m not saying NBA champ, but they have to make the playoffs. No if ends, but about you traded that pick, you have to make the playoffs now. You’re not going to be there if your starting front court is not Eve Mei at the five and Derek Queen at the four. Has to be you. They have to find a way to get Queen along to where he’s starting. Have to be cuz Zion Williamson is not the for the future. I keep seeing all these little ESPN people put up like the oh this the future depth chart of the Pelicans and this with the lineup and they keep putting Zion at the four. The Zion at the four stuff is over. Y’all have we have to stop. We have to move off that. He plays a lot better at the three. He plays a lot better when he has two big men to go rebound for him because we all know and we all been having these gripes about Zion that he cannot rebound or he not he can’t rebound. He doesn’t rebound at a high enough clip to where it’s like damn sign getting five six rebounds like damn like seven rebounds is a lot to him for him to be at his best. He’s a three. Maybe he doesn’t he doesn’t have the typical oh this a three but he’s a NBA small forward. Small forward. Now if he’s giving you six, seven rebounds, maybe eight on a good night at a small forward position that’s great. That’s that’s that’s a chef’s kiss. That’s a chef’s kiss. But I think if this team’s going to truly get to where they need to get to, you got to have Zion at the three. You got to have Queen at the four and you got to have Looney, not Looney, you got to have Mei at the five. Now fill in obviously Trey’s going to start and point guards probably got to be Jordan Pool for the time being until you know DeJonte or whatever, however that comes back. And I know a lot of people like well Herb Jones and all this, but hey man, I’m not starting Herb over Trey and I’m damn sure N Zion at the three because we seen him at the four and you’re at a disadvantage with him at the four every time. every time. You got teams out there like the um Utah Jazz. I know it’s a Utah Jazz, but you got them out there with Walker, Kesler, Lori Markin, and two sevenfooters. Two sevenfooters. Every time you play the Jazz is a mismatch. Every time we see Milwaukee, it’s a problem with Brook Lopez and Giannis. Now, I know Lopez ain’t there no more, but it’s like always a problem when you have these giant fours in Zion. Like, it’s always a mismatch other than when he sees Jiren Jackson Jr. and that’s fingerlicking. Oh, that was kind of pause on whatever that motion was. That Whoa. Whoa. But finger looking good. Anyway, so let me know how y’all feeling, man. Let me know how y’all feeling about this Looney deal. Just let me know how y’all feeling, bro. I just wanted to have a discourse. Let’s just talk ball. Let’s shoot. Let’s shoot ideas in the comments. But I’ve been your host, the most, man. I’m about to get up out of here. Y’all have a good one, man. Peace.

The Pelicans just made a bold move by signing 3x NBA Champion Kevon Looney, In this video, Jordan Kitchens break down:

🏀 Why Looney is the perfect fit for the Pelicans’ system
🧠 How his championship experience can elevate the locker room
🔄 What this means for the rotation and frontcourt depth

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