Pelicans Season Almost Over… But are they any Better? | Borrego Lineups, Zion’s Role & Offseason Decisions

Welcome back to New Orleans.Basketball, your home for detailed New Orleans Pelicans analysis, roster breakdowns, and NBA discussion.

Hosted by Raphael Rattler alongside Garrick “G-Money” Rattler, we break down everything happening with the Pelicans as the season winds down.

📲 Follow us on Twitter, Instagram & TikTok: @nobasktball (no “E”)
👍 Like the episode and subscribe for more Pelicans content.

Key Topics in This Episode

1️⃣ What to Watch in the Final 16 Games

With 8 home games and 8 road games, plus three back-to-backs, we’re watching:

• Can Dejounte Murray unlock the Pelicans’ fast break offense?
• Will the defense show more accountability vs playoff teams?
• What does the rotation look like moving forward?
• Are DeAndre Jordan’s minutes more valuable than Karlo Matkovic’s development?

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2️⃣ What We’ve Learned About Borrego’s Lineups

James Borrego has hinted that tough rotation decisions are coming now that the roster is healthier.

Current lineup trends:

• Yves Missi should start at center
• Herb Jones may become a matchup-based starter
• Saddiq Bey’s impact keeps growing
• The rookies may be best used off the bench
• Karlo Matkovic remains the only shooting big on the roster

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3️⃣ The Pelicans’ Hierarchy Problem

Borrego recently mentioned that the team hasn’t fully defined its on-court hierarchy.

Our thoughts:

• Zion Williamson must be the focal point of the offense
• Zion’s motor and consistency must improve
• Dejounte Murray should elevate everyone around him
• Trey Murphy has All-Star upside as a play finisher
• The rookies are developing but not ready to lead yet

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4️⃣ Offseason Changes We’d Consider

Beyond internal development, we discuss potential offseason changes:

• Uniform redesign ideas (Tulane, LSU & Saints comparisons)
• Whether James Borrego deserves the permanent head coaching job
• Why Jordan Poole’s $32M contract might not fit the future

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Pelicans Fans — What Do You Think?

Should the Pelicans keep building around Zion, or is a bigger roster shake-up coming?

Drop your thoughts in the comments.

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📺 Subscribe for more Pelicans coverage all season long.

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Hashtags

#Pelicans #NewOrleansPelicans #ZionWilliamson #NBADraft #DejounteMurray #TreyMurphy #JamesBorrego #NBA #PelicansBasketball #NBAPodcast

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Hey, Vitno, Vitno. What up, what up, what up? Welcome to another episode of New Orleans.basketball. I am your host, Rafael Rella, joined by my fellow middle brother, Gary G. Munar. What's popping with you, bro? Welcome to springtime, spring forward, losing our. You know, I don't. I'm I'm not sure. Well, first of all, what up with you, bro? I'm not sure New Orleans knows that it's uh uh that it's spring and not summer because it was a cool 94 degrees outside, but don't worry, heat is your least, least thing you need to worry about in the city of New Orleans when you have a water main break. Uh you have the Cox internet outage going on uh going on every 10 seconds. Uh and uh people are dealing with energy bills, so you know, I always call it the unholy trinity. Uh, but it's is is you know, you got your holy trinity with what you you know what you what you with your spices and things you cook with, and you got your unholy trinity that you got to deal with in New Orleans, but uh yeah, man. Outside of that, every everything is all good uh on this side, man. Enjoying uh, you know, that there is some bad basketball being played, but there is also some good basketball being played, and some of it is being played by the New Orleans Pelicans. So uh I am enjoying it. We just got back from LA. Uh, let me tell you, Intuit Dome. Let's talk about that, man. Yeah, yeah, let's let's talk about it because I let me tell you, give us a little bit of a side to vent a little bit. Our tech, our AI overlords, they are being expedited by people like Steve Balmer, who created the and who built the Intuit Dome. Because for a building that is called the Intuit Dome, it is not very intuitive for fans to get in, needing an app to get into the game, whether you are a season ticket holder all the way down to somebody else who is not there for the Clippers, everybody has to have an app. And then also you have to have a payment method attached to the app to get any kind of concessions. It it just wasn't very, very uh user-friendly. But being in that building, it is a mecca, it is incredible, it is a it is a cathedral of basketball. Uh, I I think it was it is very innovative, but there's a lot of things going on, and crypto. I'm gonna say it not, it wasn't as live as I yeah, it wasn't as live as I thought it was gonna be. I mean, maybe it's the pelicans, you know, me but people not checking for the pelicans, there's always that, but you got Luca, you got LeBron in the the house that Kobe built, the house that Shaq built, and it just didn't have a lot of pizzazz to it. The like the Pelicans went out there, you know, did their best, competed in both games, lost at the end. Um, but you know, just the the difference between the two venues is very stark, very stark, bro. Yeah, I mean, I'm a tech nerd, so I can appreciate what Ballmer is trying to do. And at the end of the day, data is the new currency, and so collecting as much data as possible on every person that entered state is genius, and I wouldn't be shocked if more teams tend to follow this moving forward, not just basketball, football, baseball, whatever. I wouldn't be shocked, but to your point, like for it being the newest arena in the NBA, it's a hell of an experience from the beginning to the end. Like, they keep the viewer engaged, whether you're not like the biggest fan and you just want to kind of see all the flashing lights and see what the hell is going on, or whether you're in the game, like literally, there's not really a bad scene on the house. The wall thing is kind of cool, kind of college-y things like that. Like, it's a really cool concept, and I think more and more people as the NBA continues to grow and expansions right around the corner. I'm excited to see what these arenas begin to become like because you've had decades worth of arenas, and like you can only do so much, but I feel like the Clippers really did a good job of adding their own pizzazz to it. And you're right about the Lakers piece. Like, who knows if it was the opponent, but the energy in there just-I mean, the game was close the whole time through. The energy, it just it was dead, it was dead from the from from that beginning. But to your point, the Pelicans lost both, so it doesn't matter. Um in that regard, and we'll talk about some of their ups and downs. They've been beating the teams they're supposed to beat, and then they've been right there versus the teams they're not supposed to beat, and then lose at the end. Uh, before we get too far into it, because there's a lot to go over. Make sure you guys will follow us on Twitter, on IG, on TikTok. That's Inno Basketball No E. Make sure you're liking the episode below, and make sure you're subscribed to the channel. So the Pelicans are 21 to 45. They are not making the play in. We've already talked about this. We're not making the playoffs. If you are still Ho Naho, God bless you. Um, you're you're the type of person that everybody needs uh or in their circle, but it's not happening. At the current moment, they are the six best odds to get the number one pick. Now, I you and I talked about this off the pod. I think they're gonna fall into that A spot because Dallas ain't trying to win, and I think they're gonna pass them. The Grizzlies ain't trying to win, I think they're gonna pass them, and that's where I think they're gonna sit. So I think you're gonna end up giving Atlanta the eighth best odds in the lottery, which again it's crazy that like the narrative around the Derek Queen trade is what it is because of you know the risk, but like there's still a lottery, like the the maps weren't the best odds to get the the Cooper flag last year. They had one of the worst odds, like literally the one percent chance. So, like, if the Pelicans end up giving a top three pick in a loaded draft class, everyone's gonna say, I told you so, even if it's the eighth best odds, and then if you're a New Orleans fan, you're hoping that eighth best odds turns into like pick 10, so you could be like, ha, wouldn't you rather Garrett Weedo? I mean, at the end of the day, there is still some luck involved, or you know, never mind, I won't say the NBA is we or things like that. But it's just funny to me that that gets alluded to with or or or gets avoided when you're talking through these things. But you talk through this, the the season has not gone the way it is. For the most part, you've been healthy as a team. Um, you've finally been able to go through the growing pains like normal teams go through when their players are available and kind of figure things out on the fly. You become more competitive on a night-to-night basis. Now you're going down the end of the stretch to your point. A lot of teams aren't trying to win, and then you have the teams that are. Well, the Pelican schedule sets up for the next 12 out of 16 games where they're playing teams that are in the playoffs or in the play-in, trying to get themselves ready to get going. Now, the Pelicans aren't, they're getting ready to go to the offseason and seeing what happens next. Is there is this an audition for James Morego? This final stretch to see what he can galvanize. How is DeJounte continue to get his legs underneath him and things like that? But talk to me, what are you looking for out of these final 16 games to kind of take away, right? You always want to take away. I understand there's emotion involved in sports, especially when your team's losing or winning, you're gonna feel one type of way or the other. But with 16 games to go and the Pelicans being a unique spot where they're not tanking to get a pick because they don't have one, and they're not really playing for a play-in game, they're just gonna play hard to grow as a team. What are your what are some of the things that you're looking to gather from these last couple games? Yeah, so I mean, when you look at the the Pelican season, uh you know, the remainder of the season, um, I think you know, for the guys that are on this team, there there is a lot to to play for, uh, you know, especially when you talk about you know, some of the guys at the top of the roster, some of the guys at the the bottom of the roster, and really everybody in between. So I think the first thing that I want to see, I want to see Zion Landis playing. Like, listen, he he hasn't been able to finish a season healthy to the point where like he could look back and say, okay, this stretch of run that I played X amount of games straight through. Um, this is what I I did, this is what I didn't do, this is what I need to go back and work on because I'm not working focused on re rehabbing or surgery or anything like that. Um, he hasn't really had that opportunity, and I think this is probably his best season as far as putting together health, putting together uh strings of games, right? Like we saw him play 60 games before, you know, in that in that that one season where the Pelicans did actually play pretty well, right? And had the rest of the NBA not decided to play every game as well, they would have did some things. Um, but this was uh an opportunity for him to string together uh you know a good batch of games, and he did that, and you know, he's still doing that as we speak. You know, he he missed the game and broke his streak uh of consecutive games played out in LA. Um, but then he came right back, right? He came right back the day after. Um, it was precautionary, and he came back and he continued to play as well as he's been playing all season. Um, I think you know, you the narrative you've you've heard a couple things about Zion, about his usage rate, not be putting up the same amount of uh of points that you're used to seeing him do. I think a lot of that had to do with other guys stepping into roles. Um, and and we'll talk about that, which is some of James Barigo's comments. Uh, but I would like to see him just land this plane, right? Run through the finish line. I always talk about people talking about crossing the finish line. No, sprint through the finish line, you know, continue to put these games together against some of these top-tier talents, um, and some of these top-tier teams, uh, and and and show you know the the Pelicans or any other team, maybe you know, wherever the Pelicans would will decide, you know, the Pelicans, themselves, you know, other teams and Zion himself, right? To show that you can finish the season playing at this high of a level. The last time we saw him playing like this elite towards the end of the season, we know what happened, right? Like the last game of the season and things, uh, and it was taken away from him. So you want to see him able to land this plane and and fin sprint through the finish line. I think the other thing I want to see is can this team put together any kind of cohesion between this now weird lineup that that James Barrago, you know, has been putting out, he's been playing, you know, Zion at center, and then you know, some games DeAndre starts at center, and then Eve is available and he plays starting at center. Can they find a cohesive unit uh that that fits together in this stretch of time, right? You have DeJounte back, you have pretty much everybody available. Now it's about finding what you know who works with who and what does what uh as far as moving on because a lot of these guys, pretty much everybody you would think in the rotation, the top five, um, will probably be back next season. You know, I unless you know you have some something with DeJounte Murray, some trade. Outside of that, like those guys are gonna be back, and so you want to see some things uh you know going into next season where you find some kind of cohesion. And again, we're seven years into the Zion experience. We're what about six, five, six years into the Trey Murphy experience. So again, you understand people saying, Oh, well, why are we waiting until year seven to do this? Why? Because again, like you spoke about earlier, these are the the the way the Pelicans are losing now is the way like OKC used to lose before they took their leap, or you know, the the Minnesota Timberwolves, when their guys are healthy, the Pistons, when their guys are healthy, and like you said, that they're losing games at the end because they haven't been healthy and been on the floor. Whereas it's just like, oh, well, you can't take anything from this game because uh, you know, just uh uh Keith Brook Keith Brooks took the most shots in this game. So yeah, Keon Brooks. So who we don't we we don't even know who we can take from this game. Whereas this, you're like, okay, that guy is missing a lot of open shots. You should probably plug him into there. This is the more traditional way of young teams developing, and so it it sucks that it had to be all year seven and year six for trade, year five, whatever it is for trade, but it it is it it is you're you're seeing those losses now. So I want to see if they can find a group, a group of guys that are playing well together at a cohesive. I don't think that I think Jay Burgo is still searching for that. We've seen a lot of wonky connections and things like that. Um, but I want to I want to see that, and I think my last thing is obviously I just want to see Jeremiah Fiers and Derek Queen also land their plane. I think they both had up and down seasons. I think you see Jeremiah Fears kind of hitting a stride right now and and playing the best. It kind of sucks that the season's gonna be ended soon because I think he's just now finding his rhythm and and getting into the to the groove of things. Um, and but I I just think that if if these you know Jeremiah Fiers can continue to play, he goes, and Derek Queen could get back to some of the things that we saw at the earlier of the year. It seems like his rookie wall has been a little bit more prolonged and and more you know announced, uh, than than uh Jeremiah Fields. I think it's because Derek Queen had that start to the season where everybody's like, uh oh, and now obviously the picks and things attached to him. But I want to see both of those guys finish this this season strong, uh, with strong performances, cut down on some of the rookie mistakes. Jeremiah Fields is starting to do a little better that time. You still still see a lot of that with Derek Queen. Um, but I want to see these those two guys be able to finish this game uh season strong so that they also know what to go into the offseason to work on. I think there's a couple of things that is like very obvious for those both of those guys to work on, but I want those I want that to kind of show more in the game where you know, hey, they're they're playing well doing this, but these are the things that are popping out that need to, whereas there are games where you're like, well, Derek Queen didn't really do much of anything, so you don't know what to take, or Jeremiah Fears wasn't his game, and so there was nothing to take out of that. So just to see a little bit of consistency for these last couple of games, if those two can kind of put together a good stretch to end this season as well. Sure. I mean, I think you started the right way, and and your phrase of land the playing hits because I just want to see them get to the offseason healthy, and I'm not just talking about Zion, I'm talking about Trey Murphy, I'm talking about Herb Jones. These are all guys that if you squint, they've been missing games just as much as Zion these last couple years, right? And so, and so I'm looking to see can they all finish the season healthy and going in the off-season to your point to work on things versus the rehab? Because I tweeted last summer, five of the 12 players on the roster were recovering from first was some kind of major surgery going into the season, and so you bring that piece up. One piece that, like I you and I have talked about it, and we joke about it a lot, but like they have to figure it out because it has to be a strength for their team. I want to see these next 16 games. Can DeJounte Murray help both Jeremiah Fierce and just the rest of the roster figure out how to run a fast break? It's it's it's insane that we're having a I thought you were gonna go defense, but we will talk about that too. It's insane that we're having this conversation, but the more games that go by, the more you're like, What the every single game on a fast break that shouldn't be happening at the NBA level? It's almost if they're so athletic that they're like, Well, I could throw it here or I could throw it here, and they wait to the last second and you miss the X button on 2K. Like it's just the the amount of athletes on the team, and like I've said from the beginning for years and years, the only way this Pelicans team will ever be good is if they're good on the defensive end. When they cause havoc and they get in transition, they have to be able to capitalize it. I would say up until this point in the season, before DeJounte came back, you don't have a true guard, a true lead guard. Like I know Jeremiah Fears is starting to become that and starting to figure out that balance at a as a 19-year-old in the NBA, but you don't have a guy who's literally looking to set people up consistently before they look for their own. And so when you have a guy who, again, is a prime time passer reinserted in the team, all of a sudden you're like, Oh, that's what a fast break looks like. Like, that's what it's supposed to look like. Oh, just find Zion in transition versus like wait till the last second and then just lose your mind. Like, I they need to fix this part because it's gonna be a big part of the team. If you look at OKC and look at the Pacers team before everyone got hurt and things like that, what were they so good at? They caused a ton of havoc on the defensive end. And if you turn the ball over, they were scoring on the other end. I think the Pelicans are again not the caliber of team of those players, but built from the same elk in that they're not looking there. If you set them up in a half court situation, offense over and over and over, they're probably not gonna be, they're not the Denver Nuggets, right? They need to play in chaos and thrive in chaos. And so I'm looking to see how transition both defense and offense continue to improve. Um, now you brought up the defense piece, and James Arego has talked about this for months now. At this point, we're focused on the defensive end because again, you got a bunch of scorers, I won't say shooters, you got a bunch of scorers on this team that all thrive with the ball in their hands, but also are iffy on defense. But I would argue all have the capability to at least be decent. There's no traffic cones on in their rotation where you couldn't at least be certain. Even Derek Queen, who's probably the the worst of the 10, 11 guys who've been playing as of late, I still think, and he's shown flashes of competitiveness on the defensive end, it's just the consistency. And I know defense is typically the last thing that rookies learn and learn to get underneath their feet. I mean, look at Luca, he's an MVP and still does not give a damn on the other side. But in order for this team to be successful, everyone's got to buy in, especially if you don't have a lot of rim protection on the other end. So, like, you've got to kind of figure those things out, um, and and kind of see okay, can we build some consistency? Because if you really again squint, when the Pelicans are playing good teams, a lot of times they're more locked in, a lot of times they're more disruptive. And and Trey Murphy alluded to it at the last uh practice. He's like, We were playing teams that weren't trying to win, and now we're about to play teams that are trying to win, and we're looking at it as a litmus litmus test because you're not about to get high stake playoff minutes from this team this year. So, in these situations, what is your attention to detail on the defensive end, right? Uh, and those are things that you can take into the offseason to see you see that snapshot right there, that's how you need to play going into next season so you don't start off on behind. The last thing and kind of leads us into our next point is what the hell the rotation is gonna be. You talked about the different personnel pieces that James Morigo has to play with now since they're all available. Um, and yet you're seeing DeAndre Jordan at age 37 play over other guys and things like that. Now, James Morigo alluded to hey, now there's gonna be tough decisions, now we have to figure out what units play well or whatnot. From your perspective, what are the lineups that have stood out to you, either positive or negative, that you either want to see more of and you're intrigued by, or you want to see less of and want to see some type of either change, adjustment, whatever in Austin? I'm glad you asked me this question. So we were in LA, okay, and we went to the lake, we went to the Clippers game, but we went to the Lakers game as well, all right. And while I was sitting in this wonderful building, Crypto, Crypto Arena, there was a there was some like graphics on the screen talking about LeBron, right? And one of the things they brought up was that he's old, which we all know. But then I watched the game, and I'm watching the game, and I'm seeing JJ Reddick keep 41-year-old LeBron and you know perennially uh not in the greatest shape, regardless of the men's health, uh men's health uh uh article feature, keeping one of those guys on the floor at all times, and that brings me to my pet peeve, the bane of my existence. I I have tweeted about it the entire season from Willie Green to James Barrigal and everybody in between. I don't understand the infatuation with trying to have any sort of lineup on the floor that does not include Zion and or Trey Murphy, who are not 41 years old and or not perennially out of shape now with Zion, right? So that is one road lineup that I need James Barrigo to exercise him, you know, exercise himself of because it just it doesn't work, it it just doesn't, and you know, I I've he's tried to let Jordan Poole keep the offense afloat, but that obviously doesn't work. He's tried to let uh you know Jeremiah Fairs and Derek Queen kind of run this like young gun lineup, it works sometimes, but not all the time, and not enough, and not very often. So to have lineups that consist of no Zion and no Trey Murphy for an extended period of time, and then You know, the you lose control of a lead or the the lead expands or whatever the case is, and then you try to have them come in and save the day off the bench, it's just not conducive, and you're not putting players in the best positions to win. You have offensive, you know, offensive linchpins that can be on the floor, one can be on the floor at eight at every time. So you should utilize that, especially with Zion committing himself to playing the back-to-backs and playing in as many games as possible. Push it, test him. That put him out there, and with Tracy's, put Zion back out there. So that is one thing that I would like to see less of, if not completely, you know, deleted from the artillery. If we can, another thing I I like is Derek Queen with a big man behind him, with the caveat that that person is not old enough to be Derek Queen's father. Meaning, you have Eve's VC, you have Carlo Makovich, who, for some reason, I'm not quite understanding what's the reasoning behind Carlo Makovich. You know, good good guy, uh of the you know who covers the pelt, Shemit. Shemit reformed me that they think they were uh Shemit Doer, remind me that they were, you know, losing the Carlo minutes. And obviously, you know, if you look at some of those on and off minutes, though those don't look well, you know, with with Carlo. But I think I think basketball should be you know a case-by-case basis, and I don't think you should say, Okay, well, he lost these two quarters on the team because you know other things might have been going on as well, so he shouldn't play for the next six games, and then when you put him in, he has whatever. So I just don't understand the the the Carlo shunness, but Derrick Queen with a big man. I think we've talked about this from before Derrick Queen got drafted. If you go back and check Nob's draft preview, where we talked about Derrick Queen being a power forward, we said it before he got drafted. We are now in game 60, whatever, and he that is still rings true. He needs to have a center behind him. He is not ready to anchor a defense, he's not ready to play the yo-yo, he's not a rim protector. I think he's a good if you backing me down, I can keep my hand straight up or I can come over and help on defense. But asking him to beat a quarterback of a defense, which a center is, is just not is just not the uh ideal. And then you play DeAndre Jordan behind him. You saw it with with with uh de jante just coming back in. Guys are not guarding DeAndre Jordan, and so DeJounte can't do any of the the the pick and roll, pick and pop, yo-yo, lob. He can't do any of that if both people are running to DeAndre uh to DeJounte immediately, soon as he comes off the screen. And so I think there's there has to be some kind of you know landing spot where you can play Derrick Queen at the four and also give DeJounte uh you know a threat on uh and in the pick and roll part that's not Derek Queen, who also needs the ball uh in his hand to be the most effective. Um, and and I think that that person is Carlo or Eve Misi, especially Carlo with his ability to pop out um and shoot threes. And so I think that is one of the the things that I would really like to see. It it looks much better on the floor when you have two tall guys, and one of them is Derek Queen, who can be anywhere from a point guard to a power forward on the offensive side of the ball. Um, and so his uniqueness gives you that ability to play that. Um, obviously, you know, he gets beat on defense, and having a guy behind him would help in a sense. And so I think those two are the are the real the the real two lineups that I really would not like to see. Uh, and what I would like to see more when we're talking about Derek Queen and the center behind him. And honestly, I I wish we could have seen it more. We we we won't see a lot of it, but I think a lineup that I would like to have seen would have been Zion at point, right? Zion at point with Trey and Sadiq and like guy and Carlo, guys who can really stretch the floor. Show me what that five out offense looks like for a for a stretcher or two, where Zion's at the top of the key, flanked by guys who can knock down an open shot, um, and maybe have ease at in the dunker position as the you know the late. If you want to come over up and help, I can throw it over the top just to see a little bit more of that because I just don't think we got a lot uh uh of that lineup. So that's the one I would really, really like to see. But those two line, those two Derek Queen at at center slash Derrick Queen at power forward with DeAndre Jordan behind him, get it out of there. Trey, the Trey and Zion list lineups. I don't need to see any more of those ever again. I already know they're not that good. Well, again, I think every team, every fan base probably hates when one of their stars is not on the floor. I think everyone has has that made that argument, especially for a team that is struggling so bad as the Pelicans. Um, I echo you 1000%. Now, again, I think DeAndre Jordan has done so much for this team off of the floor because what if he's been able to do as a veteran in the locker room for Derek for Jeremiah for Carlo for Zion and things like that, just to get them talking and get them to be a more collaborative group. But at this point, not just the age, but Garrett, there's 16 games left in the season. John J. Jordan might retire this all season. At this point, you're damned if you do death or don't. And I would throw Eve to the Wolves, right? Every time Eve gets in the game, he gets a block and he probably gets a goaltend that the Pelicans have to challenge because the refs don't think that Eve was uh athletic enough to go and block. It turns out he was. To me, the only way that players get better at basketball is by playing basketball. You have seen certain spurts where Eve is a little too aggressive, right? And does a little too much, but I would rather that then to your point, DeAndre Jordan just out there and he's setting good screens and he knows where to be, but he knows he's not trying to score. He knows he's not a third, he knows those things. I think Eve needs all of those minutes. I think he needs to figure out all of those things that he needs to take those lumps and be able to rebound from it. Because again, to your point, I think Derrick Queen is so much better when he has a center next to him. It's funny that he got to play against his old uh teammate and Julian Reese, who came out and was balled in the NBA. You're like, Oh, this guy might belong. Yeah, no, no shit. Like, that's that's what Derek Queen was doing in college. Like, there was another guy next to him eating up boards and doing all that. Like, that that's the whole idea. And so for me, I have said from the beginning, I think the best version of this team is with Ease Messi is at the five. I just think that even if you got Herb out there, even if you got DeJounte out there pressing up on guys and being disruptives in the lane, you still need somebody back there just in case, right? They don't go by. And Carlo has shown some signs of rim protection as well. He's get he gets chased down blocked, he gets uh help side blocks and things on those lines. I just think Carlo probably is more finesse than he is physical at this point, and so you probably look at him more of a floor, but damn it, he's the only big on the roster who can shoot. Garrick, let me answer this question for me, honestly. Outside of Trey, outside of Sadiq Bey, Jordan Bull doesn't play, Jordan Hawkins doesn't play. Who do you on the Belicans roster feel that strongly about that they're gonna hit a catch and shoot three above Carlo? The the list is the list is short, like and so if that's the case, you brought up in LA kind of seeing how JJ Reddick was managing his team. The thing that I saw the most being that close is that when Zion touches the ball, all five guys are looking at Zion, the bench is looking at Zion, the fans are looking at Zion, the concession stand is looking at Zion. LeBron turned his back to Herb, completely turned his back. Herb was in the opposite corner, and LeBron turned his back and went into the lane. Where I was like, This is insane. Correct. So if that's the case, why wouldn't you want to have a guy who you know at the very least is gonna make one out of two, just to keep them honest and to make them think twice about leaving that guy open again? And so for me, I've never understood why Carlo doesn't play. I get it, there's opportunities where he misses rebounds that he should have had. That happens for the entire team, Zion, Trey, Herb, like that. That's everybody. And so for me, those two need to see as much minute as many minutes as possible down the stretch. Whether you go into the offseason and say we need to get better at center, and let's go find someone who's more reliable than our 21-year-old, our 25-year-old, whatever it might be, or it's to say these are the things you gotta get good at if you want to start next year. Like either one, regardless of what direction you plan to go for, you need to figure those things out. Now, you talk about that piece, you talk about the Andre Jordan piece. We need to have a discussion. I don't care that much that the rookies are coming off the bench. Everyone's like, Man, you draft them so high, man. How are they not playing? Look at the NBA, other than Cooper Flag, Khan Knipple is in a perfect situation where literally he just catches and shoots off the gravity of other players. That's a great position for him. But look at the rest of those guys drafted in spots two, three, four, five, nine. They aren't all playing 35 minutes a game, scoring 20. That's not what happens. And I would argue that Derrick Queen and Jeremia Fears got more exposure than any of them because they started for the majority of the season. And now, since they're moved to the bench, it's not like they're not playing, like they're still playing 25 minutes a night. And so for me, I'm like, I've never had a problem with them going to the bench. I think if anything, they can build more confidence playing against second units and figuring out their spots. Jeremiah Fears, as soon as he hit the bench, I feel like he got better, right? From that same from Derek Queen's perspective, I think that it's on the staff to figure out when that second unit goes in, and God forbid Zion or Trey goes out, play through Derek Queen, like he's the best option in that scenario. Jeremiah Fears, yeah, you might get transitioned and things like, but in the half court, I would play through Derek Queen if all those other guys aren't there. But the conversation we really need to have, Herb Jones moving forward into the next season, and and you know, it may be a game-by-game starter situation, and what I mean by that is I think Sadiq Bey has become too valuable for this team to always put him on the bench, right? Like, even to the point where they're playing through Sadiq Bey at times more than they're playing through Zion. Sometimes that's it, sometimes they play through Herb Jones more than Zion, and that's not a good thing. But my point being is I had someone I had an interaction with someone on Twitter. They were like, Well, I think Sadiq and Zion are too close of players, and one should go to the or Sadiq should go to the bench. My argument would be Sadiq Bey has proven to be such a versatile player that you think that they are similar players because they're both strong, they're both broad, they're both able to bully people on the block. But Sadiq Bey is the second best shooter on the team. So if you're so if you're telling me that the guy that you think goes to the block also hits the second most amount of threes, what you're saying is that this guy can play in different ways. So depending on what the lineup calls for, yeah, there might be times where you want him on the block, but other times you want him on the three-point line to spread uh space the floor for everyone else. With Herbs out there, if you don't have now, most team have most teams in the NBA have a guy, have an Anthony Edwards, have you know a Jamal Murray, have have have a perimeter-oriented player that you want to be able to shut off the water valve and to be able to at least make it difficult on that. And in those situations, I think it depends with her, right? It depends on how he how he's shooting, how he's playing, how in that specific game. But when you don't, I just think that the lineup with Sadiq in it is just more valuable, it just gives you more options, both on the offensive end and then the defensive end. You and I have talked about this off the pod. I think, in order for you to come to a consistency of, you know, Trey or uh Herb needs to come off the bench. Everybody else, DeJounte, you know, as he works himself wet, but Zion and Trey, you got to get better at perimeter defense. That's the only way it works because we've seen how horrible it is when Herb is not not on the floor or not available. That is just an indicator for me. The rest of the starting liner has to be better so that you can bring in guys who are not defensive-minded in Jeremiah Fierce and Derek Queen and bring a Herb with those guys to help glue those guys together and stuff like that. What are your thoughts on the Sadiq Bay, Herb Jones situation, Bryce McGowan's his closed game, stuff like that? What are your thoughts? Yeah, it it has been it has been a rough, rough, rough, rough season for Herb. And I don't I'm not sure people really because of who he is. And listen, the man got a got a day in New Orleans. So I who am I to tell people how to feel about Herb Jones? Um, and I've I've called him a transformational draft pick, I've called him a foundational piece, I've called him a 10-year starter, you know what I'm West Bank Rick. We this we're about to get into right now, and so I've I I I understand and am sympathetic, and and I understand Herb's contribution to this team, and when he's not there, I I know what this defense looks like. I also think a lot of, like you said, other players need to get better, but also I don't think you can put Herb on the bench or like not have Herb and then have Derrick Queen as the center, which was a lot of times this season where Herb didn't play, and you also had Jeremiah Fairs and Derrick Queen in the starting lineup, which not not no, no, no, not good, not not good. So I I Sadiq Be's I've always I've I this is what I've talked to you about this off the pod. Sadiq Bay is not her, he is not not on her. That is not who Sadiq Be is. But I do think Sadiq between Sadiq Bey and and if DeJounte is the you know stays the uh here and is is the you know point guard next season. If you have both of those guys on the floor, I think you can get 60 of Herb on defense, but when you look offensively, Raf, it it is you are it is almost it is almost working against Zion and working against like Derek Queen to have a Herb on the floor with those guys because you're asking Zion, everybody talks about you know Zion's ability, you know, and to get into the floor and like he doesn't shoot and he doesn't do these, this, the that, or the other, right? Giannis is MVP, finals MVP, and doesn't shoot. You don't need to shoot to be dominant in the NBA, actually kill O'Neal. But I think a lot of it also has to do with they the Pelicans haven't really put Zion in a good opportunity in a good position to close some of these games because of what's around him when he's playing. This Lakers game is a great protect. We were there first first front road. You talk about everybody turning their back and looking. It's one thing to have Herb out there and him not shoot. I mean, him him, you know, him not shooting, right? If he was one for two and you're like, he's he's just not shooting, her be going like one for seven, one for eight, one for nine, one for you know, two for ten, that that is a problem because defenses know that, and when you watch Herb shoot, it's almost like Herb doesn't even know. I mean, Herb knows that is not going in. I should shoot this, so I'm going to shoot this, right? But he also, but it also looks like he knows that it's not going in, so much so that love ad. That's our that's our guy. A D is on the broadcast, like, good for him for making a shot. And I'm like, that you you can't have that for 10, 20 games in a row, it's just very difficult for for Zion for anybody to operate when you're you're playing with basically a non-shooter that is being left open and is shooting like they should be a shooter, and he probably should be taking those shots because they're wide open. But you when you're not connecting on them, it it it you you have to look at, you know what's the difference, like can you make a difference? And it's game after game after game that it happens, but it it gets swept under because again, the Pelicans have a Herb Jones conundrum. Because if he's not out there, who's gonna guard like West Bank work is asking, who's gonna guard some of these best players? And so I I think I think we talked, I mentioned in the tweet to to talk about this this podcast. I think if when you talk about the recent trends that that can affect roster flexibility, if DeJounte has been lights out since he got back, I mean it doesn't look like he missed a step. He's ripped, he's aggressively ripping people, he's playing the passing lanes. Is he Herb, you know, per a perimeter defensively, especially now coming off of this Achilles? Probably not, but at this point, like the Pelicans are still giving up 130, 140 points a night. Yeah, it might not come from you know the best player every night because Herb hell holds that guy to 20 points or holds that holds that guy uh uh uh under 20 points, whatever the case is, but you're still giving up, but you're you aren't able to to close some of these closer games that you get that you're into because you're you're putting three three non-shooters on the floor when the game is on the line, and one of which the defense is not even, I mean, they turned their backs to him, and so yeah, that there's a there's a discussion here that if if de Jante is the is the point guard next going into next season, and again, we don't know, but if he is and you have Sadiq, can you get 60 of not on herb defense out of them two and get 110 of offense with Sadiq Bay out there and DeJounte, who's willing to take open shots and make big, big shots, and then surround them with and have Zion and Trey and ease for a live threat or Derek Queen out there to do whatever the case is. But I just think it's it's I'm not saying that it needs to happen now, and it may not ever happen, but it everything when a team under uh performs and underachieves, everything should be on the table, and you should have you should take a good look at if Sadiq Bey is a better starter, starting fit for this team. And so I I I I just I think it's worth a thought. It's something that you would have you couldn't pay me to believe that as a statement last season, just as soon as last season. I tweeted, I'm old enough to remember when them corner threes were were automatic. I remember I tweeted about it, he was shooting like 70 from the right corner three. I remember those he has not sniffed anywhere close to that, and so I just think that it's worth a conversation, worth looking at. Um, you know, once you get into the offseason about if DeJounte is gonna be there and he's gonna be in the starting lineup, and Zion's gonna be in the starting lineup, and Trey's gonna be in the starting lineup, which means you probably need a big man, so you're probably gonna have uh Zion, I mean uh Ease or Carlo or Garrett Queen if you want to, whatever, at the at center. That fifth starter between Herb and Sadiq, it it is worth a look at two things. So, one Zion came off the bench for a stretch of the season. So, if Zion can come off the bench, anyone can go off the bench. Herb Jones makes 13 million, 14 million, 15 million. Let me ask you this question Do you think Sadiq Bey is getting more or less than that? Oh, uh oh, I think he's getting more than that. Okay, so then if he's getting more than that, I would agree with you. Uh, obviously, the Pelicans have him on another great six million for one more year, but the contract extension talks will start this summer. I think he's getting more than that. And if he's getting more than that, then yeah, I that's just where I am with that. But to your point, I I agree. I think that everything needs to be evaluated, everything needs to be looked at. And to your point about Herb, like we talked about it the year before Herb made first team all defense as a guard or as a wing. The only way that players on defense get the recognition that they deserve defensively is if they also have a bump in their offensive game. Like, no one pays attention to you if you have nine steals. Think about Dyson Daniels. This year he's been awful shooting the ball. Last year led the league in steals, his shooting percentage was up. This year, everyone's like, Whoa, Atlanta, maybe you pay too much because his offense is going down. And so for me, I think it's a two way approach. I think you go into the offseason and You have some ideas, but you say, May the best man win. You come, you show back up at training camp. And if you hitting back on the threes, and we can't take you off, you're hitting the corner three things like that. The situation solves itself. But if not, have the nuts have the goal to start the season. Say, this is what we're gonna take a look at for the first 10 games. If it doesn't work out, we'll make adjustments along the way. That's the whole idea. Like, this leads me to our next point. Like, James Rego was asked a really good question. Um, I think it was by Schmidt as well, and he gave a really interesting answer. You know, so far this season, we talk about Zion's availability, we talk about the fact that his shooting numbers or scoring numbers are down and things on those lines. Well, part of it, to your point, is that now you have a Sadiq Bay who's giving you 20 points every now. Now Trey's giving you 20 points every now. You got rookies giving you 10-15 every night. You didn't have that before. But he was asked, It do you believe in some type of hierarchy? Because you've talked so many times about an equal tail equilibrium offense where anybody's night, it could be anyone's night. And immediately he was like, Every team I've been a part of, including San Antonio, and they have Tim Duncan and Manuel Genoli, Tony Parker, has some type of hierarchy. The interesting part was his answer. He said, I don't think we figured out our hierarchy yet. Some nights is Sadiq, some nights is Zion, some nights is Trey. I'm gonna stop right there. What are your thoughts on that statement from Jay's Redo? Well, I tweeted him, I tweeted that midway through the season that it felt like I think it was it might have been a Timberwolves game where I was like, it feels as though Zion just like goes possessions without the ball, yet he's the highest paid player on the team. And like I his usage rate, we I had a whole segment about this two podcasts ago about his usage rate. How his usage rate was like down in the area of like Evan Mobley and like you know, uh uh uh like guys off the the side of like Peyton Pritch, like Peyton Pritchard guys who like who how how is Zion not getting on this team that's has at that point 10 wins. How is he not getting all the touches? Um, and so it it is it is very obvious, and I think it's it's been obvious for a while. Um, you know, even going back to the Brandon Ingram days, like you know, who's you know, in bi was out, and then but then Zion kind of put the team at the number, uh had him at up there when he beat the Nuggets at the number one seed in the West, but then he got hurt, and then Brandon Ingram took the team to the playoffs and won two games in the playoffs, and then he left. And then CJ was kind of getting a whole bunch of shots up, and then he got so. I mean, it this is something that's been going on, and so I think it's it's very interesting to hear James Morego, who has been here for a lot of these years, like he's the interim head coach now, but he's been on, he's been he was next to Willie for a while, so he's seen all the iterations of this team, um, you know, as they have they as has uh as they've gone forward. So I just I it's very it's very uh it's very obvious to me. And so um, you know, for him to say it out loud and and to kind of you know say it as so matter-of-factly, um, I think he's right. And I think a part of it has to do with Zion's availability, part of it has to do with guys coming in, um, and and the the consistency of the Trey hasn't always been the most consistent player. Sadiq comes in and he gives seems like every night is between 10 and 45, but it ain't gonna be anything in between, it ain't gonna be anything less than 10. And so, like he comes in and every night, A D calls him the professional, you know exactly what you're gonna get from him, right? Every every night, even if he has a slow first half, you know about the second half. Yeah, it's gonna turn up, and so like that's a because that's a bit of so he comes in and he's consistent, right? He has this consistency. You got games where we saw with Jeremiah Fields and Derek Queen come in, like, hey bro, I'm lottery picks, I'm getting this up to myself, and so so you you've had this thing, and I know you want to talk about why it's that and I think you got a way better answer as to why this is going on, but to me, it has been very obvious through different iterations of this team why as Zion has has seems to not risen to the top at as far as the hierarchy goes, and I think some nights it's it works great because you look and you say, Okay, Sadiq had 45, Zion had 20, but then there are other games where like ant is cooking and Wimby is cooking and Jokic is cooking, and like you can't go toe-to-toe with those guys with like Sadiq B, and like you know, that you need Zion to go and be the superstar of the game, and he just doesn't get the ball, he doesn't, he's not on the team, whatever the case is, and so I think it's it's obvious, and I and you know, kudos for for James Riggle for just kind of stating the elephant in the room. I'll do you one better. I have an answer to the question. Zion has to be the focal point of this team for this team to go anywhere, right? Like, obviously, Derek Queen and Jeremiah Fierce have shown some things, Trey Murphy's shown some things, Sadiq Bey showed some things. But if you want to win in the league, you need a superstar, not star, you need a superstar to take. And I still don't know if I've seen that yet from Derek Queen and Jeremiah Fear. Again, they're 19 and 20. That may arrive, but I know it's there for Zion. But here's the flip part of that, and just like I said on the last part, I think a lot of it is, and sometimes you say that Zion doesn't get the ball, sometimes they don't even look at Zion, like the ball is going up, but Zion just uh might as well just run back on defense, like not even think about it. Whereas you see other teams come back on the same possession, and they're like, No, we're gonna pass it right back to you, and you're gonna figure something out. Like, you know who you know who used to do that really well in a Pelicans uniform? Rajon Rondo. Right. I remember when Boogie got hurt, and but and I remember the conversation. Boogie was like, I had to talk to AD and be like, bruh, you are still Anthony Davis, it's gonna be fine. And Rondo, I remember the game, I could see it. A D had somebody post it, Rondo passing the ball, ad passing back. Rondo was like, Hell no, right back to you. Like that, that don't that is what usual superstar-driven teams look like. Go ahead, would you not just in the NBA? It happens in college, it happens in high school, it happens in AAU, it happens in Little League. Like, you get the ball to your best player to get you a good shot. I think there is some good to having multiple options that any night somebody can give you 20, but there needs to be a hierarchy of all right, we haven't scored in three minutes, get this guy the damn ball. It needs to be part of that. But just like I said on the last pod, I think 50 to 60 percent of that is on the roster and on on the coaching staff to not implement that, yeah, everyone got the green light or greenish yellow light, but like that guy, get him the ball as many times as off him. I think that other 40 is on Zion. Because I look at games and Zion have 20, 25, 26, and you look at the field goal attempts, you know what I look at? I look at the rebounds and I look at the the assists because that shows me the activity. Sometimes he has some steal. I mean, he's good for two steals a game, a chase down block, a big block, every other game, things like that. But when he has high rebound games and high assist games, we've talked about this earlier in the year. That shows me he was always around the ball, he was always taking that motion. And I think a part of what James Arego was doing was calling him out and saying, Hey, you need to go say it doesn't matter what other people think. I'm gonna go get the ball, and I already have the ball in my hands, and I'm gonna do whatever the hell I want with it after that. You can't, that's what superstars do. You look at Luca, you look at Shea, you look at uh uh uh K, you look all these players on the MPB race. Yeah, they average 30 points a game, but they also average nine rebounds and seven assists because they're always going around the ball. That's a motor thing, and Zion needs to figure out if he has it or or not. That is that is that is what this offseason to me is about for him. You you get to the offseason knock on wood healthy. How do you get that motor where it needs to be on a night-to-night basis where you're not looking at field goal good tips? Because a lot of that, Garrick, Zion has the best second jump in the NBA. If that was the case, you would get five rebounds and three offensive rebounds every single game, which guess what leads to more shot attempts, which guess what leads to more points. So a lot of it takes care of itself in that scenario. So to me, I'm looking at Zion and saying, now you had a season to figure out yourself, figure out your body, figure out what it takes to be a professional, figure out what your team needs. Now, at the players' exit meetings, we need to have the conversation. Zion, we need more, we need more from you. So figure out whatever that looks like this offseason. Let's figure it out together because you cannot start next season without at least seven rebounds again, with at least five rebounds, right? Because that's the only way we're successful. Tatum came back fresh off of ACL first game. I mean, uh Achilles, first game, had eight rebounds. I'm not saying it's not you look into rebounds. There's so many when I'm like, oh, that should be Zion's rebound, and there's games like we've talked about when and and you're about to see a stretch of it. When it's the good games, we talk about the Wimbin Yama game, we talk about some of these high the Anthony Edwards games, some of these high stake games where some of the good teams he revs it up, but that's not the superstar, does it every game? You talk about Giannis, you know what to expect every game, the motor is there every game. I think that's the switch for Zion. Now, that is number one. He should be number one, and they need to figure it out how to make him number one. Number two, I don't think is Trey Murphy. I don't think I think Derrick Queen should be the the first option off the bench. I don't think it's Sadiq Bey. I think DeJounte Murray should have the ball in his hands the second most because he makes every he is a true. I see it in the comments. He is a flu true floor general. Not only can he create for himself, but he can make ease better and get him eight to ten points just by diving to the goal over and over and over, and has the ability to make that pass. He can make Carlo better, he can make Trey better, he can make Zion better, and so everyone gets better when he has the ball in saints because there's three different things he can do with it. Versus again, you look at Zion, you anticipate the drive. You look at Trey, you anticipate the three. Zadiq has some different things, but he's not the playmaker that DeJounte is, and so I think that you need to run the offense through him after Zion gets his or sits down or whatever it may be, or uh uh every third possession, whatever it may be. That's how I look at that piece. Trey is gonna get his part. Trey can be an all-star as a play finisher. Guess what? Klay Thompson's going to the hall of fame as a play finisher, and I'm not even saying Trey uh to limit Trey to no dribbles or anything like that, but he's gonna get his points off everyone else's gravity, everyone else is is is gonna drive. Jeremiah Fears are gonna drive, Derek Queen wants to drive, Zion wants to drive, DeJounte wants to drive, Trey is going to be open, right? So he is going to get his shots no matter what. So playing through Trey, like I don't think that that needs to be like a mainstay of the offense. Trey just needs to be on the floor and it's going to figure itself out in one way or the other. The fourth part of everyone's worried about the rookies and well, if all these other guys are getting the ball. This is not a two-time line situation like Golden State. Golden State had Steph and Clay and Draymond, who are now 38, 38, and like Moses Moody and like Wiseman are like 25. Zion and Trey are 25. Derek Queen is 21. Like, this is not this is not some huge two-time like thing. They are gonna get there, right? And it's better. Like, if you look at some of the rookies and sophomores who's who've had some of the quicker developments, they weren't put in positions where they had to save the world right off the bat, right? And now I think if you put them in positions where they're coming off the bench and they're getting those, and those nights when they got it going, and you let them let them go, that is way more conducive than watching Jeremiah Fears get eight turnovers or watching Derek Cude not be aggressive. Things like I think that's way more conducive to growth, right? Is doing it under a healthy environment and doing with guys where you see right there. And so for me, I think that's the pecking order. I think that's the pecking order that needs to surface and that I would like to see over the next 16 games. So you can go into the off-season whether the coaching staff is the same or whether coaching chat and say, Okay, that's a good sample size versus good teams to say this was successful, this is how we should play, or at least try it to begin the next season. What are your thoughts? Yeah, no, I I agree. I I couldn't agree more. I think this team has it has a hierarchy like built into it that works well because, like I've talked about how great of a player Brandon Ingram is, but Trey fits better next to Zion because of the shooting element, right? It is not a knock on BI, it's just the the play styles fit fit better. And so if Trey is gonna play off of, like you mentioned, all the guys who who who play down in the block and uh or drive uh uh drive and play down in the block, you didn't even mention Sadiq Bay, who will gladly go park his ass on the block and punish uh a mismatch. So you have all of these different guys that you have uh that you can that you can score, bam, finish with 83 points. That's crazy. That's insane. Insane 30 points in the first quarter. I knew it was crazy, but anyway. Um, so yeah, you you have all these guys that play downhill or play in the block down on the block and things like that. Trey can finish fill it up at over there, so that he doesn't have to to push it as okay, uh it's my turn now, give me the ball and clear out. That's not Trey Murphy's game, and we've we it has shown itself where he was the number one option, and it was difficult for him to do. And when other people came back and it was still difficult for him to do, we realize that he is a play finisher, and that is okay, right? He that is perfectly fine, and you have DeJounte who can be a uh the the number one with the ball, like I have the ball in my hand, but DeJounte can also play off the ball a lot, and so I think I think having him as the as a as a guy with the ball in his hand, because he's such a dynamic player, can do a bunch of things. Um, I think that that is conducive to to helping this team win because he he's a he's an option, a triple threat option, no matter where he is on the floor. If he's running around screens, he can drive, he can he can catch a shooting. Guess what? He can also make the right pass, he can make perfect line passes and things like that, and he's also getting his points in transition, as we've seen time and time again. And so I do think having Jeremiah Fairs and Derrick Queen kind of come in, you know, and and not have all the pressure to make every single play where you can have them come in and and and do what they do best, right? Kind of step in and and do what they do best as they work on the the other parts of their game that are going to come along. I think there's a hierarchy built into this team, but it relies on playing through Zion. And and as you know, a lot of jokes and as funny as it is to talk. Zion is uh I keep talking, he is one of one, he is one of those guys that all NBA players across the league all respect him, they all know his talent, you know. Obviously, motor issues, off-the-court issues, they all know about that too. But that's Austin Reeves, yeah. Nobody's getting in Zion's way over and over and over again. Okay, and so playing through him, I think we saw a lot of of Zion's good pass, great passing abilities when he had the ball at the top of the key. A lot of people talk about like his playmaking has gone down, and again, he doesn't have the same, you know, he hasn't had the same passes that all his stats are down, but I think a lot of the reason he hasn't passed the ball is like, bro, who is he gonna pass the ball to on the three-point line? Like, who who is he kicking the ball to to Herb? Like to like he there's a lot of guys that that aren't comfortable shooting those three. You pass it out to them, they catch, they driving right into you again. And so I I I just I think if you gave him an opportunity to play with more freedom, more open space with Carlo, with with guys like that, you would see that that that point Zion Zion is a gifted passer, like he he can make those passes. I just think you have to give him outlets and options to make those passes. Um, you better, and and again, so like I said, I think this there's a hierarchy built in, but it was it revolves around playing through Zion. And if you want this team to work and be good, as long as Zion is on the team, he has to be the best player. It's he's otherwise, like you're asking him to stand in a corner or like do he has to be on the ball, he has to be the guy with the ball in his hands, and then after that, you can go to DeJounte, you can go to Derek Queen. But I think the natural hierarchy of these pieces that you've put around Zion start with Zion having the ball and being your number one option. Yeah, there's nobody else on the team where all five guys on the defense are looking at them as soon as they catch the ball. There's no no, not Sadiq Bay, not Trey Murphy, not Derrick Queen. There's no one else on the team where the entire defense ships as soon as he touches the ball. That's just the gravity of him. Now, you brought bring up a really good point about things to change. Obviously, with 16 games to go, um, you're you're expecting some changes this offseason, but also a lot of the Pelicans roster is pretty much on the roster next year, too. Bryce McGowers comes in, obviously, he he he uh fractured his toe. Um, so you hope that that that that's okay, and that you know it's not a serious recovery, but like that alludes to the point that you're making. Bryce McGowers comes in again. Bryce been a guy, you know, trying to fight his way and establish a role in the NBA. He comes in and shoots decent from the three-point line. You're like, see, that's what it should look like, and so I just think there's some tweaking to do um this offseason. That being said, what are some changes with 16 games to go that you've already identified should be top of mind this offseason? Well, I think uh again, I've I've talked about the the starting lineup. I I really do think that they need to make a they need to make a a change at the the start, or at least I think about making that change uh at the starting lineup. And then I I think like the Pelicans need to address like the they need to address the shooting between Jordan Poole, Jordan Hawkins, like guys who are just not playing, right? And Jordan Poole's making 30 million dollars, like those are supposed to be like Jordan Hawk is not being able to be a contributor, is just hurting this team so much because literally the exact same thing that you are looking for, he was brought in to do that one particular thing, and that's knockdown shots around some of these guys who need the ball and driving it and things like that. And then uh Jordan Poole being you know supposed to be the guy to come in and plug in and be the the offense, keep the offense floating on uh you know, when when for whatever reason Zion and Trey are off the floor. Um, just not having that guy and having it have to be Sadiq Bay, which he's done it really well. Like he's he's obviously he's risen to the top as as one of those guys who can be counted on, uh, you know, on his Pelletus roster, but just that shoot that that that movement shooting, that that volume three-point shooting, you were supposed to have wave after wave of guys. Sadiq was supposed to do it, Trey was supposed to do it, but also Jordan Hawkins was supposed to do it, Jordan Pooh was supposed to do it, and really you've only been able to count on Trey and her and and Sadiq as the as the three-point shooters, right? Jeremiah Fairs is starting to show a little bit of that off the dribble, but playing behind screens, which I love. Um, but as far as like knockdown shooting, it's only been Trey and Sadiq. And so again, we're going into another off-season where you know you're looking for shooting, right? And and and I think that needs to be a serious. I I think you know, if you can if you your point about playing ease and carlo is is is important because I don't only do you need to see their development, but like I'm not sure Ease is not the center for this team moving forward. I'm not sure if Carlo is not the backup center moving forward, and so I think in order to go into the offseason and know what you need to address, that is the specific position where you may have an answer, but you don't know because you're not playing as much and you're playing DeAndre Jordan and was playing Kavan Looney, and Hunter Dickinson was the first substitution of the season. Like, yeah, I remember that. Uh, you you have to play those guys so that you know, okay, in the offseason, we don't really have to go all in to try to find a center to step in in here because ease is serviceable. The Celtics played the whole season with Nemes Cater, with Luka Garza, and they just traded for Nikola Vucevic, who is also coming off the bench now. If you can do other things and make other things, as long as you have rim protection and and one that can shoot, space the floor, that's all you really need. If you're not playing, you know, if you're just throwing instead, if you're not just throwing the ball to like Joel and Bede on Nikola Jokic. If if if if Eves and Carlo are serviceable, that allows you to go into this offseason. Like, look, if you don't shoot over 38, 37 from the three point line, we don't need that. Don't need to have conversations with you, and that way you can make that decision moving forward. So I think they need to address the shooting for sure, but I think it it coincides with playing easing Carlo so that you know, okay, I don't need to go find a star center, I can focus all the resources on addressing this problem, which is a huge problem for the team now and moving forward as you know, as Jordan Poole may not may or may not be on his team, and Jordan Hawk is continues to not play, right? Um, I think you're right. I mean, I think that's the obvious thing that sticks out to everybody. You got to get more shooting in some degree. You need to figure out between Kavon Ludie and Jordan Paul, all these guys that don't play but make a decent amount of money. How do you turn that money into things that can help you? Like, I would I would venture to say, yeah, you want wings who can be two-way and can not be a liability on the defensive side, but also can shoot. But I also think you need I like I mentioned before, Carlos the only big who can shoot. This is 2026. Cinners are coming in and getting him up. There are guys that can shoot around the league that you're like, huh? Well, if that guy can block shots every now and then and that guy can shoot, it'd be nice to have a player like that. I think you need to start looking for like I'm thinking of a player like a Jay Huff, right? Like, I know the Pacers went and got him the to replace Miles Turner, but like players like that. I think you need to be looking for bigger players that can also give you a little bit on defense, but can knock down the open shot, and so yeah, that that that piece stands out to me a lot, um, and and and to everyone. And so I'm interested to see how that looks around. I think Bryce McGowns has passed up like all of those players on the bench. Like, I think he's the next guy after Sadiq and and all I think he's the next wing. He's he got a new contract, like he's hurt right now. So now Micah Pv probably will play. I still don't think Jordan Poole's gonna play. Like, I think you you feel good about your 11th guy, 12th. I think you need to keep going right and keep keep finding pieces that are gonna the set you up for success. I'm really interested about coach, to be honest with you. Like, I I like some things that James Barrego has done since taking over. Like, the Pelicans look like they're doing like sensible things and like making logical choices now, um, and and things on those lines, but there's also been some things where I'm like, I wonder, you know, what a different mind would have brought, right? I like I don't know what Mike Malone's doing. I see him on the broadcast, I'm sure he's giving up a good job, like, and so like I think you should go into this offseason and definitely look over this 16-game stretch and say, what are all our options on the table? What's available to us? Do we feel that James gives us the best chance? Or, unlike what happened with the decision to hire Joe Dumas, or do we go see what is the best thing available in front of us and make a choice from there? I'm interested to see how that plays out this summer, whether James just gets the automatic re-up, or if they really have a true evaluation. And lastly, and we're gonna close the pods with this. I've said this for five, six seasons now. The only way the Pelicans are gonna get rid of the juju of the bad vibes that happened, whether injuries, whether bad records, whatever, is if they get new jerseys. Tulane got uniform of the Tulane Universe, Tulane football got uniform football, baby. Uniform of the year. You're telling me that the Pelicans couldn't find some type of art within New Orleans to put on the court and be like, damn, those are supply units. The Saints and LSU have some of the most iconic uniforms available. So everybody else in Louisiana has great jerseys, other than the Pelicans. Like lately, okay, the black and neon. Okay, like lately they've been putting some stuff out, but like I think the the vibes need to change all around, regardless if the roster changes that much or not. I think you need to inject this team as this is something different. Brandon Ingram, shout out to him, he'll be in the smoothie king center for the first time in a in a different uniform tomorrow night. I'm sure that is going to be one of those man, my brother's back, but damn, we need to win this game on both sides. I think you can get that on both sides, but like this is a new era, this is a new team. I had someone uh tweeted out, I was like, Man, sometimes throughout this season, the most frustrating part about it is that you watch the Pelicans, you're like, there's a good team in there somewhere. Like, like, there's some really good signs from this, and then other times you're like, What the hell? Like, they're not doing the basic things that normal teams do, regardless of how good they are. Like, why they didn't box out on a free throw, like basic things like that. I think the only way you're able to kind of turn the tide and say this is a new era. Someone was like, Hey, we've been talking about this for six and a half years. Derrick Queen wasn't on the team for six and a half years, Jeremiah Fears won't say Deep Bay was not like this is a dude different team, right? And so now you have to evaluate it within the prism in which it is, and so now I think the organization needs to treat it that way going into offseason. Get the guy some new jerseys. But with that being said, 16 games to go. The rematch with with with Brandon Ingram, the homecoming with Brandon Ingram tomorrow. What you got left for the people, Garrett, as the Pelicans close out the season? As always, you never know what people are going through. So give someone a smile today. Yeah, man. BI is gonna be back in the building. I'm interested to see what kind of what kind of uh reaction he did boom. So, like people love Brandon Ingram, and he did a lot for this city, and he did a lot for this for this team and his franchise and his organization. He put the team on his back a couple of times, but he also said some things and I mean then had to walk back some things as well. And so, you know, if I know anything about my people, bro, my people don't play about New Orleans, bro. They they they might love you and joke around with you, but you start talking reckless about this city. I I for Chris Paul is yes, I remember I'm old enough to remember when in 2020 they were booing Drew Brees in the streets, Drew Brees. Yeah, so I I'm just I'm just saying my city don't play by my city, so I will be interested to see. I'm sure it's gonna be a pack house. I'm sure Brent Negram's fans are gonna be there, and the people who love Brent Ingram are gonna be live, but I'm sure they're gonna be some people who are gonna be like, I remember the the the South remembers. So, with all that being said, uh as always, follow myself at Garrick underscore rattler, follow my brother at Raphael underscore rattler, follow the page at NO underscore basketball. No E. Most importantly, subscribe to New Orleans.basketball. We'll see you guys the next one.