Pelicans Summer League 2025 Preview | Pelicans Podcast

Pelicans Summer League 2025 Preview | 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 everyone and welcome to the New Orleans Pelicans podcast, official podcast of your New Orleans Pelicans. As always, we appreciate you for tuning us in and it is a couple months away from the start of the regular season. Jim Iikenoff for pelicans.com. I don’t know about you, but I’m already excited as excited as have been um for summer basketball in a long, long time as the Pels have started practice for summer league which begins this week. They’re off and running four games, five total, four already on the schedule, the fifth depending on their win loss record. But Jim, they had practice. We talk about practice back on Sunday. Sir, how are you? Good to see you. I’m doing well, Gus. Yeah, I mean I think I’m excited as well. I mean, if you think about it, the Pelicans are one of two teams that have two lottery picks in this draft. And we we talked in a recent episode about, you know, the discussion about the trade for Derek Queen. I think it’s time now to look at what these guys are going to do on the court. And I think that’s the important thing, the fact that they have the seventh pick in the draft and the 13th pick in the draft. So, I mean, yeah, there there haven’t been many years where the Pelicans have had this caliber of draft pick, this level of player debuting in summer league. I think if you go all the way back to 2012 when they had the first pick in the draft and the 10th pick in the draft, Anthony Davis and Austin Rivers, but Anthony Davis didn’t play in that summer league because he got picked up by the Olympic team. So, I mean, this might be, you know, objectively this might be the most um exciting summer league for the Pelicans and maybe ever if you look at where these two guys were picked in the in the draft. No doubt. We got a fun show lined up for you. You’re going to hear from these players here as well. Look, Andrew Lopez even had some one-on- ones today. You’ll get the full interview over on the Pel’s website. Antonio Daniels and Joe Myers, they’ll be back as their contract got extended here. They had their thoughts as to what’s coming up here as well. They sound excited, Jim, but when do they normally not sound excited here as well, plus the team officially announcing a move that involved a trade. So, adding some veteran presence in there. And Jim’s going to give his thoughts on that. But obviously, look, let’s be honest, right? One of the main reasons, man, that they’re shipping you out there to tear up the strip in Vegas is to focus on the two picks that the Pelicans selected in the first round, Jeremiah Fears and Derek Queen. This is Cory Brewer, who I I can’t wait to see him on the sidelines as the summer league coach. Uh he’s been with the staff for a while. I think he just got done. He might still be sweating from playing the threeon-ree, you know, uh league that he was doing that year as well. But yesterday after practice he was asked flat out what what are we going to see with these two rookies in in specific with fears and queen when it comes to minutes. Listen what he said. Oh, it’s going to be really important. You know those guys are going to get a tournament of course just because you know they’re our draft pick. They’re our guys and we want to see what we got. So we can put those guys out there in the right positions and you know let them succeed. All right. So lots of minutes Jim is what he’s saying that they’re going to put them out in in positions to succeed and to fail. I love that he said that um first and foremost, but this is specifically what we said. Uh Jeremiah’s fast. That’s first impression. Fast, man. He gets up and down the court really fast. Um he’s going to be a good player. Good young guy. Derek can really play. He can really score the ball. He can pass. So, I like both. I love both those guys. I had a little intel as the graph was in there as well on Sunday and I just text him what did he think? And he uh he just he just gave me the little smiley emoji. So, graph’s already happy already. first impressions, but when you hear Cory Burrus say, “Hey, we’re going to give him minutes.” And his first impressions are, “Hey, this guy can score and this guy is fast.” I guess this what this is about, right? These four, five games for these players to go out and show us what they have. Yeah. I I mean, I can’t wait to see these two guys play on Thursday against the Timberwolves. Games at 2:30, the opener of summer league. Really for the entire league. The Pelicans are playing that first game in the afternoon. Yeah. I I mean I’m I’m really interested to see with Jeremiah Fears the way his speed translates to the NBA game. I think we already saw on the weekend uh high draft pick for the Philadelphia 76ers VJ Edgecom. He was the third pick. You see the way he looked in college and the way he looked in the NBA is totally different because the spacing is so much better in the NBA. You just have a lot more room to operate. Some of Edgecomb’s athleticism really shown in the the first game that he played the other day against Utah. So, I’m I’m curious to see. It’s always interesting, no matter who it is, um just how their their game translates to the NBA, even the three-point line with how that adds more room for guys to operate. Um I think, you know, we’re not going to go overboard, I don’t I don’t think, with any stat or any specific outcome or result of what these guys do, but I am curious to see Jeremiah Fears his three-point shooting, his jumper. Know that he he shot a lower percentage in college. that’s definitely going to be something that he works on in his area of focus. And then for Derrick Queen, just his versatility, all the different things that he does to see how that uh translates to the NBA as well. So, I mean, there’s going to be a lot of reasons to keep a eye open on and focus on these two guys in the first couple games of summer league. I think one of the other things that been that’s been impressive, Jim, for me as well, and I think you and I have even talked about it off camera, just in passing, I I love how these two carry themselves, right? I mean, they’re young. I mean, they haven’t obviously played a minute in the NBA, but um look, Derek Queen hasn’t been oblivious to what some have said or commented about the pick and all of that. And again, that has nothing to do with his bearing or doing, but I love the fact that he he’s flat out telling you, see the see this over here on my show that’s called Chip. And I have a Chip on my shoulder. I can’t wait to prove how um how valuable I am and and what he can do. I mean, listen to what he had to say. I just want to be I just want to show that I’m one of the best that got drafted this year. It don’t matter that I went 13th, second, third, fourth. Man, I just wanted to show that I’m the best. And then you got Jeremiah Fears who was asked after practice yesterday, Jim, hey, a lot of your friends, they’re just wrapping up high school, going to college and starting their first year, and you’re starting your professional career. And um I love what he says. Man, I’m going to come out um set a statement, uh show everybody what I’m capable of, continue to show my teammates what I can bring to the floor every time I step on. I I just I love that confidence already. You know what I mean? It’s like in listening to Jeremiah Fears speak, he seems like he’s been in the league a couple years, right? I mean, I I was I was impressed after practice yesterday, addressing all the questions, speaking thoughtfully, understanding everything that he’s bringing up. Um talking about different players, what he wants to do, understand he’s going to mess up, but he’s going to also make some plays. And then with Queen, it just seems like he can’t wait to go out there and show what he can do. And we’re going to get to something here in a quick second. I didn’t even think about it. Eve Mei, who’s looked really good in lab videos. Um, he’s on that roster and he spoke specifically about already being a teammate for him. And you can think in a situation, a setting like this, it’s about me. I want to show, but we’ll see what he says about me. Yeah, I was telling Coach House and um, Coach Moose that uh, that he gonna love playing with me because I’m just going to keep throwing them lobs and stuff and just uh, help and just help the team and just both of us work well together and just get get better overall. Yeah, I think you used the word confidence earlier. I mean, I think that applies to both of those guys. To me, Jeremiah Fears is extremely ready to play. It seems like he’s got all the confidence in the world that he can go out there and do well. And from what we’ve seen of Queen, it just seems like nothing phases him. He’s going to be one of those kind of people. It seems like from the very initial read that I have on him that nothing is going to bother him. He’s just going to roll with whatever. And so, um, he seems like he has kind of a more of a laid-back personality, but, um, I I’ll be interested to see how he plays and, um, see if that confidence only increases as you get into summer league and you start playing against some of these other players. I I really enjoy listening to fears. Like you said, he had a lot of good comments Sunday. And Queen also has multiple times now said he’s looking forward to going up against some of the players that he faced maybe in college or maybe earlier than that on the AA level and try to repeat the uh team success that he had there. And by the way, I mean I I know we always I’ll speak for myself. I’m going to probably downplay the results but of of the team, but I mean wouldn’t it be nice to get some wins? I think after last season I’ I’ I’d be happy to to get a couple W’s on the board. Flat out Cory Brewer. Uh, we’re going to play hard. You know, that’s going to be our identity. We’re going to be the hardest playing team and we’re going to get some wins. There it is. That short and sweet and to the point, right? Play hard and go and get some wins. And I know that sounds simplistic maybe or coach speak, but Jim, when you have the season that the Pels had a year ago, not just the injury and all of that, but in games where and I understand there different rosters and there’s different leadership and there different teams, but last season was last season. You had games where you lost by 40 points, 30 points, games where the head coach is like, “Man, we just we didn’t bring it today and stuff.” Again, I’m just speaking from a fan standpoint. I love hearing that the influx or some of the new players that you’re bringing in, first things out of their mouths, we’re going to play hard. I’m looking to prove myself. The coach, hey, we’re going to play hard. We’re going to try to get some wins. I I like saying that. I understand they don’t count in the NBA record. I you I guess. Do you get a trophy? I don’t know. Do you get a a big old chip if you win I don’t know what the trophy is if you win the Vegas league? But I like hearing because at the end of the day, you compete and you try to win in those competitions, right? When I’m playing with my kid, he’s trying to beat me. I mean, that’s I that’s the whole point of competition. And I’m I’m okay with setting the stage already, aren’t you, Jim? With hey, let’s go win. Let’s go play hard. Then when you throw in the vets, you already got guys that are itching to maybe even push them. Yeah, for sure. I mean, I’m just looking forward to watching um not just these two guys, but you know, some of the other players that we’re probably going to talk about, you know, on on Wednesday’s episode, just to see them at this level, to see what they can do. And and I think I I find from at least from the video, we’ll see what this looks like on Thursday against Minnesota, but I mean, I find Fears to be a very entertaining player to watch with his ball handling. Um, that was one thing that I I think uh Derek Queen said that he one of the things that stood out to him was that he has the ball on a string just to his his handle is just really good. And I I think with Queen, it’s about his versatility. It’s about the fact that he can score, he can pass, he’s got really good IQ, he’s got good feel for the game. Um, I think he can block some shots a little bit as well. So, all of these different things are are what we’re going to be looking for in uh in in their debut against the Timberwolves and and just as we go forward. But I it makes me really happy to know as Cory Brewer said too that these guys are going to play a lot because I think that’s something that’s going to make these games um more more interesting and more relevant. We I know we’ve seen unfortunately the trend of sitting guys has also hit summer league where the last game or two for some teams you don’t see them certain guys play at all. We’ll see how that goes. But um but I’ll be I’ll be really pleased and it’ll be more than worth people’s I was going to say two and a half hours but summer league games are maybe it’ll be worth people’s two hours to watch uh to see what these guys do in their first professional uh games on the court. You heard Corey Brewer kind of mention I just want to get your specifics here. you’re going to get a chance to actually watch these guys practice a little bit before you head out there for the game on Thursday. We’ll kind of, you know, recap this once we actually see a game under our belts. But, um, when when it comes to fears, you you’ve talked to people. I know you’ve put something up on pels.com, his background, his, you know, path, I guess, to being drafted and you’ve seen some of those highlights and all that stuff, but how do you think with that roster or just, you know, in this setting, what does it sort of want to see? I remember when we did the games last year. I want to see aggression, right? I you know me, dunks. I want to see you attacking. Um h how do you handle pressure? You know, some of those teams are not just going to be like the Pelts. We saw Memphis, I think, last year. I mean, they were, you know, following. I think Scotty Pippen Jr. was all over players in one of those games and stuff like that. So, he’s going to feel pressure. How How does he handle that? Because turnovers is a key, attacking the ball, getting it in the spacing stuff. So, I I want to see point guard play, I guess, to, you know, Yeah. summarize it when it comes to fears. What do you want to see Thursday from him? Yeah. I mean, I think you you mentioned some of it, but I think also I’m curious to see one of the things that the scouts talked about a lot, not not just here, but just across the NBA was his ability to get into the paint. So, I’m curious to see in the game against Minnesota, you know, how easily is is he able to penetrate? He also had a really good free throw rate in college where he got to the line a ton. So, ho how uh well is he going to be able to do that? Is he going to be somebody at least in summer league where he can get, you know, six, eight free throws a game or something around that range? Also, with him specifically, he he was put in a role in college where he was more they needed him to score. He was really the number one option to score. I mean, that might be somewhat the case on summer league as well, but I’m also curious to see how he kind of toggles back and forth between, okay, I’m I’m out here scoring and, okay, now I’m out here distributing and with some of the other players that are going to be there. Eve me is obviously a guy that is dependent sometimes on a point guard getting him set up for oops and he gets open, you got to get then you got to get him the ball. So that that’s another aspect of it I think that is going to be really um interesting is just how he handles the passing versus passing or passing versus scoring thing that I think really all point guards have to to deal with. But especially as a rookie, it’s one of those things that you have to kind of learn on the fly and it a lot of it depends on your teammates. But um I don’t know. I I think that’ll be that’ll be something to keep an eye on. I mean, is is he going to be somebody that’s going to get 25 30 points in summer league or is he going to be somebody who kind of goes back and forth between, you know, I’m out here to to get buckets and I’m out here to set people up for open shots? That’s a good point. I think what’s interesting too is, and again, so much I feel like has been talked about Queen about his selection as opposed to what kind of player what he can do. You and I talked about it in one of the recent pods. It’s I can’t find anybody that isn’t for Maryland or fans that just wished him well and such a a great guy in the community teammate. I mean, you see him always smiling, all those things. And we’ve seen that translate a little bit in the small amount of, you know, things that he’s done for the Pels. But as far as a player, Jim, you also went back and looked at him. What kind of player can we expect? Because after practice yesterday, it was interesting listening to fears when he was asked, “Hey, what are your thoughts now actually being on a court with Derek Queen?” Man, super super skilled, extremely skilled. Um, high IQ, can really do almost everything you need him to do, and he’s somebody that’s we going to need in these next couple games. So, we expect him to show up big time, and I’m going to continue to keep talking to him and pushing him and motivating him. Yeah. Yeah, I think on the offensive end, the thing I think I’m going to look for with Derek Queen the most is, you know, obviously his passing, his his ability to see the floor seems to be pretty unique. I think if you look at his overall skill set on offense, this is a guy that we don’t see coming out in the draft very much. I mean, there might be international guys that kind of have this package, but we don’t see a lot of American bigs that have some of the traits that he has. So, passing in the half court offense, I think, is big. um his ability off the dribble as well. That was something that he did in college at Maryland and that his coach talked about as well is that he has like a legitimate ability to put the ball on the floor and get to the rim, which is something that you don’t necessarily expect from somebody as big as he is. And then at the defensive end, just I mean I if there was something that people were concerned about pre-draft, it was you know his quickness, his foot speed, you know, where he’s going to fit in defensively. So, I’ll be curious to see who he gets matched up, like matched up against, which type of players he’s guarding, whether that’s fours or fives. And we’ll be able to see, you know, the way he handles himself in space, because, as we know, compared to college, the bigs in the NBA have to cover a lot more ground. There’s a lot more players they go up against that can shoot threes and that have just more of a a wider skill set. So that’ll be something to to kind of track as well, just to see what he does defensively and and just the way that they use him defensively as well. So you’ve heard us talk a little bit about obviously Jeremiah Fears and Derek Queen. Andrew Lopez, sila reporter for Pelicans television, had a chance to sit with both of them one- on-one. Here’s what that sounded like. Andrew Lopez here is sitting with the number seven overall pick, Jeremiah Fears, the newest of the Pelicans right now. So Jeremiah, let’s just kind of talk about this entire process. What was what has this week been like for you from being in Brooklyn to coming here? What’s everything been like? It’s been super dope. Um it’s one of those experiences you will never forget in your life. Um just being able to go through the whole process. Obviously, every kid dream of kind of getting to this point. So it’s one of those things that you write down and that you dream of. And finally being able to accomplish something like this been amazing. I took a lot of pictures, a lot of videos. Uh definitely to save it for the future. Um show my family when the time is right. Um and just something to keep for myself as well. What was that moment itself like? You hear your name called. Adam Silver is up there with the seventh pick in the 2025 NBA draft. The New Orleans Pelicans select Jeremiah Pierce from the University of Oklahoma. Just just walk me through that moment. Man, it was crazy. Um it was a little bit of relief. Yeah. Um, just sitting there, you never never know who going to call, what team going to kind of take a chance take a chance on you. So, um, hearing the Pelicans call was super dope. Uh, I remember my age and he told me like, “Yeah, we going going at number seven.” So, just dropped my head and I’m like, only guy I can tell like what your story is going to be. So, just continuing to keep working and I know this is only the beginning. So, I’m super excited. How much I mean you right now you should be getting ready for your first year of college. You reclassify what went into that and saying, “Hey, I’m I’m ready. I can do this.” Especially do it in the SEC. Yes, sir. Um just my confidence. Um I believe in myself more than anything in the world. So just continuing to stay confident throughout the the good, the bad, going to be a lot of bumps and bruises along the way. So continuing to stay confident was um one of those big things for me and going in there and trusting myself. Um, like you said, I was supposed to be a senior in high school, so stepping on a stage like that is is a big stage. So, you definitely got to be ready and be prepared for what’s about to come. So, but continuing to stay focused on the main goal. And for all our Pelicans fans out there, let’s may not be familiar with your game. Why don’t you describe your game right now? Um, I would describe my game as somebody that’s creative, unique, shifty, and somebody that’s can get his team involved. Um, it’s definitely going to be a show every game. Uh, the Pelican fans are definitely going to be in the crowd. A lot of oo and’s and uh getting the team hype, getting everybody hyped. A lot of dunks from Zion, a lot of great passes from my teammates, Derek Queen, Jose. Um, the Jonte, it’s going to be just a great season. Um, I feel like we all going to bring a lot to the table and we just kind of here to uh shift the culture around and shape everything. All right. Appreciate it. Yes, sir. Thank you. How’s it going, guys? Andrew Lopez, your New Orleans Pelican sideline reporter, sitting with Derek Queen, the number 13 overall pick from this year’s draft. Now, Derek, let’s just talk about what what has this week kind of just been like for you in terms of, you know, going to the draft, getting back to New Orleans. What’s what’s everything kind of been like? It’s been it’s been a busy uh a good busy week. Um, still soaking it all in and it now it’s just starting to feel real. At first, it didn’t feel real, but enjoying it all at the same time. What was the the first like it’s starting to feel a real moment. Was it when you put the jersey on out there a little while ago? Uh no, probably probably when I woke up the N probably when I was flying here actually. I was like, “Wow.” Like I’m really in the NBA now. What uh I mean just just the work to get here and the season that you had and I mean kind of walk me through I mean you come in with a bunch of guys from Maryland. You’re able to kind of to go where you wanted to go. you know, not as far as you maybe wanted to go in the NCA tournament, but from from there to this, like did you I mean, how how hard was that to kind of just kind of process to be like, we’re making it here? Uh, it was hard. And also, it was kind of boring because like because you just getting ready just uh for workouts and combine, just working on your game, not not really playing against nobody cuz you don’t want to risk no injuries. So, so like you’re not playing, but you just like doing what you’ve been doing all your life, shooting, dribbling, defense, like like working on your game, but but after combine once you started getting in a workouts and you and you hooping against each other, now that’s when the fun start. So, uh it was a mixture of both cuz everybody want to um get here, be in a position you want to get in. So, you just got to push yourself every day and remember it’s always somebody working when you sleeping or getting food or something, right? Let’s uh let’s go back to to draft night the trade. You know, there was, you know, some talks of where you were going to go when and I know you said it before like Duffy comes over and tells you what’s what’s happening. Just walk me through the moment when you found out that you were going to be a Pelican. Yeah, I think this was like late 11, like like right before they called 11th or early 12th when when they told me that. And then I I I started getting messages on my phone and so I guess everybody started posting it already and stuff. So it was uh so so it was good. It was amazing uh that I found out because like I enjoyed my visit here, love the people here and I was like this somewhere and and this is a great opportunity for me. So for like and I was like this is a spot I want to come to. for for the Pelicans fans out there who are not familiar with the game. I know everybody’s probably they’ve done some research, they’ve looked at some highlights, they’ve looked at some film a little bit, but why don’t you describe your game for the Pelicans fans? I’m a uh I’m a great ball knower. Like I know the I feel like I know the game really well. Once I adapt to the um to the NBA speed and and how people move and understand people, like I’m I feel like I’m be I’m be great in this league. Uh, I’m definitely here to help the help the Pelicans win because I feel like um I adapt already. I’m family already. So So I want to do something good for uh New Orleans and um like I said, I’m I’m just excited. All right. Appreciate it. All right. Our thanks to Andrew for that, Jim. So we we have obviously draft picks and some players of that. And we, you know, haven’t forgotten Michael Peavey here as well to see what he’s going to be able to do. He’s a guy that what has uh defense on his mind. A guy flat out said in his 32nd postdraft interview, I I want to prove him the best defender here as well. As as simply as we can put it, is that what we’re looking forward to with him in these summer league games? Maybe an impact on the defensive end. Yeah, it sounds like that’s what he thinks his niche is going to be or maybe the way that he’s going to most easily gain a roster spot and or gain a role, gain minutes. So yeah, I think we’re going to be talking about him a little bit more extensively on Wednesday because he’s one of the players that’s scheduled to speak to the media on either Monday or Tuesday. But yeah, I think that’s um something that we’ll watch for from him is is what he can do on the defensive end. But I’m I’m looking forward to hearing more from him in terms of what his expectations are for summer league and what are some of the things that he wants to achieve while out there in Las Vegas. All right, those are your three draft picks and then the team also adding some veteran presence via the trade officially announced back on Sunday. So Jordan Pool, Sadique Bay, Jim, what can you tell us about their additions and maybe perhaps what the Pelicans are envisioning in their roles being for Pel’s fans that are listening? Yeah, I think one of the things that stands out right away from that trade where Kelly Olen and CJ McCollum go to Washington, the Pelicans get Jordan Pool and Sadiq Bay is I mean just from an age standpoint, the roster got a lot younger with those moves. Um CJ and Kelly Olen were both from the 2013 draft. So they’ve been in the league for a dozen years a piece. Pulley and Sadique Bay are both 26. So they definitely made it. So, I mean, really, they don’t have there’s no one on this roster now that’s over 30 on the entire squad. So, that that’s a change. But specifically with Jordan P to me, um he’s a similar player to CJ McCollum in some ways in terms of what he’s out there to do. He’s out there to score. He’s out there to get buckets, but I think he’s a little bit more dynamic offensively than CJ. He can play on the ball a little bit more um and be somebody he’s maybe a little bit more athletic, a little bit quicker. Obviously, he’s eight years younger than him as I just as I just mentioned. Um, so I think that’s part of it. I think he’s going to be able to to play point guard and maybe handle pressure, fullcourt pressure, defensive pressure a little bit better. And then Sadique Bay, I’m curious to watch him because he missed all of last season with the ACL injury. But before that, thought he had a lot of really promising moments and I think he’s somebody that can be really productive as a reserve, as a guy that comes in off the bench and can score. He had a 50-point game when he was with Detroit. It was a few years ago. I’m not sure how many people remember that now that he had that kind of game where he just went off and scored a ton, but he’s a three-point shooter. He’s pretty solid defensively as well. So, I think he he definitely has a chance to be able to carve out a role where he can come in and uh be productive. Something I think that he’s done throughout his whole career. And by the way, too, he was um on the floor a ton. Obviously, he missed this past season as I mentioned, but before that, he played in a ton of games and was re really durable. He had a couple seasons where he played 82 games. So, I mean, that that’s another aspect as well that I look forward to uh seeing him add to the roster. Yeah. And Jim, I think one of the other things that’s interesting and fun too is um you can not only feel that excitement, but again, all of these processes and whether it’s bringing new players and getting them acclimated, it kind of all does start this week, doesn’t it? I mean, from the first practice on Sunday to the first game on Thursday, getting everybody acclimated to what this season’s Pelicans culture and team and and vision is going to be. So, it’s all steps and then eventually we get everybody together and then of course we go off and running late September, early October training camp and the trip to Australia and all of that and uh back for another couple of seasons new deal for Joel Myers and Antonio Daniels which I’m sure everyone’s excited for to have them here as well. They were recently over on Fox 8 with Juan Concincaid and they were talking about Jim the excitement level that they sort of have as Joel Myers kind of touched on. Hey, this is, you know, not only the beginning of what this team can sort of be, but trying to, you know, get together a a certain roster and hopefully better luck this season than last season is what uh Joel had to say. The word aggressive, which Joel has used a lot and it was 21 and 61 last year. So, you you need to be aggressive. You need Jordan Paul can score. Zion Williamson, we know how good he can be. If he can play 70 plus games for the Pels this year, they’re going to be a factor in the Western Conference. But I do like the fact that Joe brought in guys to compete right away. Be competitive. As AD said, don’t dig yourself a hole. You don’t need projects and they don’t have projects now. And everything I’ve heard about Fears, everything I’ve heard about Derek Queen and also Peavey. A lot of people haven’t talked about him and I talked to people that watched him at Georgetown his last year. what a cover guy he is, which will help off the bench like Herb Jones developed as a great cover guy right away. So, there’s a lot to be excited about, believe it or not, for the Pells going in. The key is, of course, Zion needs to be on the floor. And then you have AD, of course, who’s always excited, but he says, you know, kind of to your point, Jim, all this matters, right? All of these are are steps, baby steps, whether it’s the rookies now, then the vets coming in probably I’d say early September probably going to be doing that if not even already this summer. Ei been looking incredible, right, with the lab video. So all these guys working. But but basically he’s saying look all of this leads up to where you’re ready in October. You’re not hoping that October you’re getting it all together and then start because Steam needs to start fast especially where they play. Here you go. It’s about developing chemistry. Okay. And I think that’s the big thing now. If you look at it, Herb Jones was out all last year for a lot of last year. Trey Murphy was injured a lot of last year. Deontay Murray will be sidelineed to start this season. So, and you have Kevon Looney coming in new. You have uh Jordan P that’s new. You you have different guys that are coming in and that are new. Um the rookies that are coming in. Like it’s about chemistry. Training camp and preseason to me are about developing chemistry. You can do a lot of things individually and find out a lot about yourself, but collectively because of how deep the Western Conference is. You want to hit the ground running. Like this isn’t one of those years where you want to start out four or five games under 500. You want to hit the ground running. And for me, that starts with the preseason training camp and also going into uh preseason games. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I’m excited to turn the page off of last season and to kind of put that in the rearview mirror to kind of get rid of some of the negativity and and move forward. I think hopefully a lot of that starts with summer league with we’re getting to see not just the two guys that were picked in the lottery, but some of the other younger players as well that are going to be on the court out there. So yeah, I mean this is the beginning and hopefully the 25 26 season will be a big jump from what we experienced over the previous bunch of months. But yeah, I’m looking forward to it and I I think, you know, hopefully this will be the fresh start that we’re that we’re looking for and and we’ll be able to see uh the seventh pick in the draft and the 13th pick of the draft perform really well. It’s it’s it’s not the end of the world if they struggle a little bit or they have some of the you know initial rookie jitters or or or um you know slow start kind of thing or or bad games here and there. But I I’m I’m really excited to see what these guys can do against this level of competition and now that they don’t have a huge target on their backs the way that they did in college where every single team pretty much they went up against went into the game saying okay we have to stop this guy from beating us. Hey, look, you can’t be a playoff team in the Western Conference if you don’t, you know, start and trying to win games and trying to do that. What I mean by as you need a new season, I’m with you. I last year happened. I mean, we’ll go back to as in terms of reference, but I think that’s the theme that you’ve been trying to bring up here and clearly you can hear from the rookies and Cory Brewer is starting now. This is not last year’s team. It’s going to be a different team, different makeup, different roster, different um I guess maybe mentality at least from the get-go. And what AD said there, I think is so key and crucial, man. Uh OKC, I can’t imagine is going anywhere. The top two picks of the draft was Dallas and San Antonio. You just look in your division. You look at the West. We’ve talked about it at Nauseium about how difficult it’s going to be. I think what AD said is key. You better be ready to play right at the at the end of October when the regular season starts. those preseason games, you didn’t be working out kinks or finalizing what you kind of want to do because you get you get into where you waiting a week or two into October into November. Man, we’ve seen this team in the last couple years, one game be the difference between the playin or not. And Jim, I can’t imagine one or two games is going to make the difference is not going to make the difference between again being a playin team or hosting a first round playoff. I think every game matters. Yeah. Get me back to zero and zero, Gus. I’ve been saying that for a while. It felt like last year they were behind the eightball from the jump. It was like they immediately were a few games under 500 and you look at the standings and you’re at Thanksgiving and you’re already worried about whether they can make the play in. So, I mean, get me back to 500, get me back to a fresh new start. And I do think too that the attitude that we’ve seen from the the the lottery picks is definitely refreshing as well to say like they don’t care what happened in the past and they shouldn’t care. So I I think just getting a fresh, you know, day one look on everything. Obviously what they do on the court is more important than what they say in press conferences and that kind of thing. But I I do like their attitude and I do think that it’s going to be easier to say, “Okay, this is a new day. We’re going to we’re going to make a big jump this year. we’re going to improve in a bunch of different areas behind the the two guys that they added. And then obviously Micah Peavey as well as as a second round pick. Yeah, looking forward to it. And Jim’s going to be busy. He also says get me back to Vegas. He and a whole host of folks that cover the Pelicans will be over there the entirety. Uh we’re going to have somebody there the entire two weeks. Jim, Andrew, Joel, AD all going to be up there. Our podcast will be there along with Andrew. So looking forward to that. in 30 seconds or so. Jim, what specifically are you going to be uh giving us over on the website, sir? Yeah, we’re going to have, you know, I’m going to try to do while I’m there. I’m not going to be there the entire time, but while I’m there, I’m going to try to track down some of the other broadcasters. We’re going to do kind of hopefully a postgame show, quote unquote, that we’re going to have on the podcast. So, Thursday after the game, we’ll have something from the site in Las Vegas that we’ll use on Friday’s episode. And then Saturday’s game as well. Same deal for Monday’s episode next week. I’m not sure if we mentioned this too, but we’re planning to have Monday, Wednesday, Friday episode this week and next week. So, you can look forward to that. Beyond that, we’ll have to we’ll say TBD. But definitely for these first two weeks, we’ll have three episodes a week. And then obviously, I’ll be writing uh postgame recaps about the games, not just the ones that I’m there for, but also the ones that we will catch kind of next week late night TV. Uh the third and fourth game, and then the fifth game is is still TBD. That’ll be determined based on the outcome and results of the first four games that they play. All right, looking forward to that, Mr. J. Mike offer as always, man. Appreciate the time and thank you for listening to the New Orleans Pelicans podcast. We’ll see you on Wednesday right here. Once again, 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_iconhoffer and gcat_17. We’ll see you next time right here on the New Orleans Pelicans podcast.

On the New Orleans Pelicans Podcast for Tuesday, July 2, 2025, Jim Eichenhofer and Gus Kattengell preview Pelicans Summer League and discuss this year’s goals in Las Vegas. Hear from Pelicans first round draft picks Jeremiah Fears and Derik Queen about their first practice and Summer League head coach Corey Brewer about his expectations for the team. Andrew Lopez goes one-on-one with the new Pelicans draft picks as Joel Meyers and Antonio Daniels discuss all the moves the Pels have made so far heading into Summer League play.