All Signs Point To THIS….

All Signs Point To THIS….

All signs point to a heated battle for one more Pelicans roster spot at summer league with hungry young prospects and two-way players fighting to prove they belong at New Orleans long-term plans. We’re going to take a look at quite possibly the most heated battle that’s going to take place during summer league to get on this roster inside this edition of Pelicans Digest. What’s good with it everybody? It’s your people of the MIC. Thank you so much once again for rocking with us inside Pelicans Digest. And if you haven’t done it yet, go ahead, hit that subscribe button, baby. We really do appreciate your love and your support. And thank you so much for already rocking with us and getting us to close to 3,000 subscribers. Let’s take it over the top today and all this week so we can keep this conversation going about the Pels. And of course, uh, the big news this week is summer league. It kicks off for the Pelicans on Thursday in Las Vegas. And of course, the uh, roster has been announced. It was announced yesterday. And we already know that the three rookies are going to be on the roster. We got Jeremiah Fierce, uh, Micah Peavey, and Derek Queen. They all three are going to be on the roster. They all signed their rookie contracts. They are locked in. But there’s been one name that that has Pel fans scratching their heads. I know I was scratching my head when I heard it, too. And that is the fact that Antonio Reeds is going to be on the Pelican summer league roster. Now, you’re probably saying, “Well, damn, they just wave Antonio Reeds.” Yes, they did. They really did. They they waved Antonio Reeds earlier in the week and and it sent a lot of fans into a state of anger because again a lot of people thought that the Pelicans were once again giving up on a great young talent uh too early uh and not giving them enough time to develop and all this other stuff. Uh but I had to take a look at Antonio Reed’s contract real quick. Uh so I went I went over to uh to Sea of Blue. Uh Chris Bemore uh reports that despite signing a three-year $5 million deal last season, Ree’s contract included a team option and with front office changes in New Orleans, the team chose not to guarantee his $ 1.96 million salary for the 2025 and 2026 season. Uh, so I decided to do some looks into this and uh, for starters, I wanted to know why they gave up on Antonio Reeves and I came to realize that they really didn’t give up on him in in a sense last season. Antonio Reeves, if you recall, was showing some flashes of brilliance. Uh, but once again, he was a victim of a certain coach that we know, a head coach who loves to put veterans over the young guys, despite how well the young guys are playing, Willie Green. Because if you recall last season, I think on it was in November, uh the Pelicans played the Cleveland Cavaliers. CJ McCullum was out for that game. Uh so the Pels hurried up and signed Alfred Payton. And that same day, instead of letting Alfred Payton, you know, get some rest and get right and and get back into complete game shape, they started Payton over Reeves and and uh I think they put Payton and Boston together on the court sometime early in the first quarter of that game. They brought Reeves in. Okay. Reeves plays for 40 minutes non-stop and gives you 35 points in that game. Okay, so that sent Pelicans fans into a even though the Pel lost, we was like, “Okay, we got something here with Ree. This this kid could be a star.” Did you know that Reeves would not see any more meaningful minutes in the game until February? Again, he scored 35 points in a game in November. The very next game, he started Alfred Payeyton and only gave Reeves 11 minutes. Willie Green uh uh he didn’t get any more meaningful minutes. He didn’t play more than 20 minutes in a game until February. And then you saw the turn that he went on in the last five games of last season when the season was pretty much done and over with. All the way done and over with. He decided they’ve decided to give him some quality minutes and the boy showed out. He had over 20 points a game in those contests. Uh so if you look at his overall numbers, no, it don’t look good. If you look at his bulk numbers, no, it doesn’t look good because again, this guy never really got on the floor with the Pelicans because again, like I said, a certain coach, a certain head coach favors putting in veterans over a rookie who gave you 35 against a very good Cleveland Cavaliers team and and and then gave you crazy numbers towards the end of the season when it’s all said and done. So, you can try to, I guess, evaluate them. I don’t know. So Antonio Reeds now finds himself back on the Pelicans and with his contract being waved. Now the the reason why I think they waved they cont that contract was because uh it was a salary cap issue. I think you because if I read it correctly on salary switch they would had to guaranteed his salary by July 10th. What starts on July 10th? Summer league. So, they didn’t want to pay that $900,000 because I think they would had to guarantee at least uh a little bit more than half of his salary for the upcoming season. And the Pells did not want that on their books going into the season because again, you have paid Jordan Pool a million extra dollars more than the CJ McCullum contract. You brought in a couple of other players. You got the rookies in under contract. So, you were treading dangerously close if you’re the Pels to that salary cap once again though, that luxury tax situation by paying this guy. Now, I don’t think it would have been too dangerous. I think the kid was only going to make like $900,000. But still, they didn’t want that on the books. Okay. Plus, you got to consider this as well. If you’re the uh GM of the Pels that the 2024 and 2025 GLeague Rookie of the Year, Trey Alexander, just fell into your lap as a free agent and you so you jumped on him and go and sign him to a two-way contract so you can show up more guard death. So again, you find yourself in a position at the Pals to look at Reeves and see his potential, but then you see this kid here with uh uh and Trey Alexander who is with the Nuggets. We talked about him a couple days ago, GLeague player of the year. He’s two years younger than uh Antonio Reeves at 22 years old and averaged 24 uh 255 and five with a steel for the Denver Nuggets in their G-League team last season. This kid fell to you. Hey, I think you got to take a look at Flyer. Like I said, they made a sneaky good signing with this kid in the previous video. So, now what you’re about to see, in my opinion, in this upcoming summer league is going to be a battle, a a fierce battle between Trey Alexander and Antonio Reeves. Never mind the rookies. We’re gonna see the rookies and all that, but this is the matchup in my opinion uh that you need to look up for that you need to look out for. This is the matchup you got to look out for. Antonio Reeves versus Trey Alexander because both of these guys are going to be fighting for a permanent roster spot. Now, can Ree do it? That’s the question. He’s going to have to ball out because what I see with the Pelicans is they see the talent in him, but at the same time, you got to take a flyer on this kid who his coaches have said has incredible work ethic, uh, is is, uh, and couldn’t and just couldn’t get in on the spot on a loaded Denver roster. So, if this kid fell into your lap and you got a chance to sign him, you go ahead and sign him, put him on the two-way, see what happens. But this summer league is going to be the determining factor on whether or not what who who are these two guys are going to make it to the fulltime roster in my opinion. Because again, you’re already stacked in the guard position. Uh you got Pierce, you got Peavey, you got Alvarado, you got Murray. Uh who else I’m missing? I know I’m missing somebody. Uh so so you’re looking for pretty much your I guess your backup or your third as far as point guard uh position on the third team. I think this is the battle that you need to keep an eye out for because these two are going to go at it. Now not saying they going to go back and forth, but we’re going to have to see what kind of numbers they can put up, how well they work with the rookies. All that is going to be a determining factor in whether or not Ree returns to this team or they just go ahead and roll with Alexander. I think it’s fascinating. I think it’s fascinating. I think the Pels are doing right by Reeves in this regard. They’re giving the guy a chance to get seen on tape by more NBA teams. They know that he has the potential to be great. I guess they’re giving them a chance to say, “Go out here and prove it. If you’re as good as you say you are, go out here and prove it and and beat this kid who’s the G-League Rookie of the Year.” Messed up? Yeah. But it’s sports, baby. You gotta compete. You gotta compete. So it while Pel fans should be a little bit more excited about Reeves coming back, I’m g say this, he’s got some still competition in this Alexander kid because again, he’s two years younger. He’s two years younger. Uh Alexander is plus I think he has more of a better defensive skill set than Reeves. Ree can is a scorer and can get out there get busy and get you points, but at the same time, I don’t see the defense as as strong as Alexander has shown in his G-League appearances and a couple of games that he played for uh Denver. So again, if Ree does well, because Ree has the advantage of having actually played NBA minutes as compared to G-League minutes, and he showed out. Like we said, you go check those stats on his last the last I guess I want to say the last five games of the season. He averaged like 24 points a game. So it’s there there’s something cooking there with Reeves. The question is will he be able to show out and and and put a show on and stop this kid from taking his job? Because that’s what this is all boiling down to. It’s going to be a battle for who is going to be more than likely the third string guard uh on the fulltime Pelicans roster. Okay. But again, it’s I don’t blame Reeves. I I think Reeves I appreciate Reeves for taking up the opportunity and saying, “You know what? I’m gonna take this shot and take advantage of the situation even though y’all ain’t gonna pay me.” Because the team had the option to not pay him and they chose not to pay him because I think this was strictly a salary cap move. But I think if Reev if Reeves can prove himself, he could get back on his roster and make that money back, if not more. So, I think that’s what this is going to be. This is the battle you need to be watching for. These are the two players that you’re going to have to watch in summer league is Antonio Reeves and Trey Alexander. That is going to be a supreme battle and matchup for this final spot and it’s going to be interesting to see how it turns out. Man, what are your thoughts though? What are your thoughts? Are you happy to see Antonio Reeds back on this Pelicans team? Can he show out in summer league and usurp this new kid and Trey Alexander? Because again, Alexander’s on the two-way, so he chances are he gonna be here. He’s going to be, if anything, he’s going to be in Birmingham, but he’s going to be waiting in the wings for his opportunity. It’s up to Reeves to seize it. So, what do you think? Do you think this could be the most intriguing battle of summer league? Trey Alexander versus Antonio Reeves. What are your thoughts? C back with your thoughts in the comments. Let me know what you think. Uh, and also let me know what you what you feel about summer league and this roster. We’re going to continue all this week as we head up into the game starting on Thursday. uh looking at some more players that are going to be on the summer league roster and gauge whether or not they’ll have a chance to make this team uh and the full roster. But for now, give me your thoughts on Reeves versus Alexander. Is this the most compelling battle that you’re going to see in Summer League this week? Hit that subscribe button and let’s talk about it. And we’ll catch you next time right here on Pelicans Digest. I appreciate you for subscribing. Holl at your boy. It’s Mel talking about them bells.

Melz On The MIC breaks down one of the most compelling battles to look for at Pelicans Summer League.

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