Why Aren’t the Pelicans Playing Through Zion? | Borrego Offense, Rookies & Rotation Debate

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Hosted by Raphael Rattler and Garrick “G-Money” Rattler, we break down what’s happening with the Pelicans as the season winds down.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:22

What up, what up, what up? Welcome to another episode of New Orleans Dive Basketball. I am your host, Raphael Rattler, drawing up my fellow middle brothers. March Madness was popping with you, bro. Gary D. Murray. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. What up, bro? Yeah, man. It is March Madness. Shout out to future. Uh, I am enjoying, man. I'm enjoying. It's been some it's been some real good game. We had some some some some lower seeds. Of course, you always gotta have lower seeds, uh, beating the upper seeds, you know. Shout out to to high point coming in there, but you know, let's I'm gonna I'm gonna let you cook because this is your tournament to cook, because your your alma mater is out there giving the business to folk uh uh on and off the floor with a couple of intriguing players, one that's definitely not gonna be there for the Pelicans, but one that might be. So we'll we'll we'll we'll I'll let you cook about that. But man, uh yeah, both men's and women's going crazy. Uh, you know, you got the got the tournaments going crazy. But look, let me, I don't want to talk about the in uh any other NBA games because there's a lot of tanking and a lot of bad games happening, so I don't even want to get into that. Allow me to get on my soapbox for a little bit though. Man, it has been a great couple of weeks for your boy, man. Shout out to Sinners, Michael B. Jordan, uh getting best actor, Ryan Cougar getting best screenwriter. Uh, I ever, if anybody knows, there's a there's a poster right behind me. It's Sinners poster right behind me. One of my favorite movies of all time, man. I I am so glad to see them uh get you know get what they get they got. Uh it has been uh a crazy couple of weeks for them. So I I appreciate Sinners going, but I listen, one battle after another winning best pitcher. I I gotta, you know, I'm gonna let them I'm gonna let them cook because that was a that was a great movie as well. But I'm also wearing my Marvel shirt because we got our uh we got our trailer for uh Spider-Man brand new day. It is Daredevil Born Again season two uh week starts tomorrow. So I mean my nerd them. I know it's a baseball podcast, and we're talking about the pelicans, but it's just been a really solid week. And then I just want to say, uh, you know, if you haven't gotten an opportunity, please go out to the cinema and go see Project Hail Mary. It was one of the most one of the best movies I've ever seen. Uh, a really good way to kind of fall back in love with movies if you have it gone. So that's my soapbox. Just wanted to get off and talk. Talk to me about what's going on on your side, bro. Talk to me about these goddamn razor backs. I knew you're gonna talk to them. Oh man, everything is blessed on my side. We're fine. And everybody listening. I don't know if I'm just getting old, but like this last cold season, I've never been sick this many times, and I know I got young kids and schools of petri dishes and all that, but like I'm so glad to see like 90-degree weather again because man, the sicknesses and I got an allergy, so it's one thing to another, but man, I'm so done with the cold season and ready to move forward. But yeah, man, this March Madness, you know, shout out to the Razorbacks, they made it to the Sweet 16. I mean, of course, with all the NIL stuff going on this year, you're seeing less and less upsets, like no mid-major schools made it to the Sweet 16, and the in the in the men's are probably not gonna be in the women's either. Um but you did see Florida go down in a crazy way. You did see high point make it to Arkansas, and then Arkansas had to do what they do. But listen, Jeremiah Fierce. I just talked to you about this. Jeremiah Fierce reclassified, or he would have been in this draft class too. That's insane that he would have been in this draft class, too, as another freshman, but he might have been on to something. If he and a cuff and Jeremiah Fears were on the board this year, I'm not sure Jeremiah Fierce is the first point guard taken. I'm gonna go on on the limb and say he's not. So maybe Jeremiah Pierce ran in that little bit, but I'm excited for them. They got on the beast Arizona in front of them, so I'm hoping that they're able to take them down. But I'm yeah, Chuck Chuck been calling Chuck's been calling the March Madness Tournament the Arizona, uh, the Arizona Innotational all season. So got a got a tough task ahead of you, right? But again, this is when bet big players make big moments in NCA tournaments and they submit themselves going to the draft lottery. So I'm excited no matter what it holds, I'm excited for these last last game in these last rounds. I'm also excited to see where this Pelicans team is going because you're starting to see some of the remnants of a good team poke out. And I tweeted out a couple weeks ago, like there are times throughout the the season, especially since James Morrego is taking over, where you're like, Man, the Pelicans have a good thing in there somewhere, but then they inevitably collapse at the end of close games for all the good teams, so it's hard to kind of weigh it. But before we get too far into the show and we get into the main topic today, make sure you guys are following us on Twitter, on IG, on X, that's in no basketball. No E. Make sure you're liking the episode below, and make sure you are subscribed to the channel. So, for all the good things are going on with the Pelicans, yeah, they're 25 and 47. Yeah, I saw someone on X talking about hey man, if there's you're saying there's a chance, there's no chance. The Pelicans are not, it's not happening. So, their their season is all but over. Uh, James Harden talked about it and his postgame about how you know the Pelicans are starting to figure some things out since the Jate comes back, but it's a little too late, it's a little too late, right? If you're the Pelicans fan, but you're starting to see some good things six and four in their last 10 games, they're in the upper right hand quadrant in terms of playing well on the offensive end and the defensive end, like everything is is shaping up there in every single game, they're competitive in every single game, they're winning most of the games that they're playing, they're beating all the teams they're supposed to play. They league the league in points in the paint under James Morego. So it seems like they got an identity. The defense is starting to figure itself out and figure out oh, we have to play defense every night. But something critical is missing, Garrick. Like when you watch the team, you're like, Okay, yeah, Sadiq Bey is really having a career year, Trey Murphy's really having a career year. The rookies are really good to be excited about. Oh, shoot, DeJounte Murray's back off injury, he looks incredible. You're like, Oh, okay, all these things are good. But when I watch the games, and you and I talk about it all the time, there's still a critical element that's missing. The team does not play through its best player, right? Like, and I know there's could be a magnitude of reasons for why this is the case, but when you watch the team gear up and you can tell that they they're playing versus these tanking teams, and like they kind of will sleepwalk through it and turn it on and win at the end versus the good playoff teams that are trying to get ready for the playoffs in front of them. You can see they're locked in from the beginning. But when you play these other teams, you see the ladies' example the the game is in the clutch, the pelicans are on a run, James Harden, Donovan Middle check back in, and they turn it on and they're playing through their guys the whole time. When you watch the Pelicans, it's at times it feels like Zion is like an afterthought, right? And and I understand why you may have getting to this point. If you're a fan, you probably like, yeah, it should be this way. Look at the past six years, you can't rely on him. Things like that. But Garrett, when I watch the NBA, when I watch March Madness in college basketball, when I watch high school basketball, when I watch little league basketball, the ball always funnels through its best player, and generally from that, everyone else eats and everyone else kind of goes from there. So my question to you is from all the growth that you've seen that you've been wanting to see for the last couple years, does it still bother you a little bit that the team does not play through Zion when you're synconsist? Does it bother me? Absolutely. I mean, does it shock me? No, I I mean I've been tweeting this, talking about this for the the whole entire season. Basically, how it it is just it's really weird to watch Zion, you know, get paid the most on the team, uh, you know, be marketed as the as the guy, right? And then they get on the floor, and it's like, you know, they the the ball just doesn't go to him. His his he has like a real like one of his lowest usage rates of this season. And then I I've always told you, like, you know, again, I'm with you on look at all of the different things that Zion does to to kind of see if it's a good Zion game, right? We talked about this on the last podcast where you were like, you know, it's the uh rebound and assists and stocks, like, is he doing all of that? Right, and I agree with that a thousand percent. Like, that lets me know that this is uh engage Zion. But where I look at Zion is his field gold attempts, and I've been looking at him all season before the season started. I asked, I said, could we make a prediction? Something that we wanted to see, and my want to see was Zion leading the team in shots per game. It's not, I mean, uh shot total shots for the season, it's not gonna happen. And it's just been a thing that is is is part of Zion's DNA, as he's not a guy that always wants to dominate the ball, even though he probably should, right? I waxed poetically for a while on this podcast a couple of uh you know a couple of weeks ago, where I said if it's if it's a mentality thing, right? Like you talk about some of the greatest players in NBA history who were not and could not be an alpha, right? And but but had a lot of success is maybe the second in command, right? And if that's who you are, then that's who you are, right? You talk about guys like Anthony Davis and Klay Thompson and Kyrie Irving, and honestly, Kevin Durant and like guys like that, like that, like Kevin Durant's one of my favorite players in the world, but you know, he played with stuff, he got his two rings with next thing doesn't always dominate the boy, right? And so, like that if if that's who you are, then that's fine, but that's not what's gonna propel this Pelicans team with you at the helm to where they needed to go, and so we've we talked about this and discussed this all season long as something that is just going on with them. Now, I will say at this point, I'm gonna rely on my old favorite saying. Got another shout out to the Mandolin and Grogu, got another Star Wars movie coming out. Only a Sith deals in absolutes because I think it's a myriad of reasons, right? I think it's we we talk about why this is happening. I think part of it is Zion is just not the guy who dominates the ball in a sense of give me the goddamn ball. Like he just he's never been that guy, he wasn't that guy at Duke, right? Like, that's just wasn't who he was. Like, you saw all the dominant scoring and you saw all the forceful plays, but at his heart of hearts, I've always said he he's more Magic Johnson, more LeBron, like that's how he enjoys playing the game that way than like Michael Jordan or even like Anthony Edwards, who's like, I get enjoyment out of putting the ball in the room over and over and over again. That's what I do. I think a part of it is that you know Zion has incentives that he that that that is driving this, like you know, I I we we always listen to the Zach Lo show and and them talking about um this kind of perverse games, what games played kind of watching thing that the in that NBA fans are doing now because everybody's trying to see, oh, are you gonna you know uh qualify for this award or this team and this salary bump and that now? Obviously, the latest example being with Kay Cunningham and his collapsed lung, you know, prayers out to him. Um, but Zion has one of those well, right? When he gets to a certain number of play games in this season, um, you know, it that is where his his money kicks in. Same and and on top of that, if you've noticed, if you've watched the the previous couple of games, you know, Zion has a wrap around his hand, right? And this is this around his left hand is dominant hand, and so this is a a time where you know maybe if there wasn't an incentive going, he might not be playing, or he may have gone another route or something. We'll see what the what the offseason holds. Um, but I think that there's a part there's a part of that there, and then I also think like the the the team, it's a it's a balancing act because you wanna you I I think for this team to get where they need to go, Zion needs to be the best player and act like the best player and be treated like the best player as far as the offense goes, but at the same time, in order for this team to really get where they want to go, you're gonna need guys like Sadiq Bey to be ready to step up and and and fill in voids. We we know like the Zion and the Pelicans have had a relatively okay decent season as far as like health goes, as far as the entire team being out the entire season. Um, but like that's not the norm. Like, you you you know, like we know that that's not the norm. And so, like, you want to have these guys ready and able to step in and maybe step up a level if they need to. Uh, but when Zion's on the floor, like he needs to be the focus point and needs to be able to go. I mean, he didn't score for like at all the last game, and then in the third quarter decided, or the second quarter decided to score like 15 points in like four minutes, and that's the level you know, you you can talk about his availability, you can talk about his off-the-court things, you can talk about his shape and his his weight, and all of the different things. I've always said when you take all that away and talk about what happens on the floor, the talent is undeniable, the the scoring acumen is undeniable. There was nobody on Cleveland's team that had anything to do for Zion, any at all. And so, even perennial, all defensive team guy Evan Mobley was getting put through the rim over and over again, and so like that that is the type of talent and and scoring that you have on a team. You have to find a way, and it's upon the coach, like it's upon the coach to figure out a way to make sure that he is he is not you know being placed at parked in a corner where not only is he not a corner shooter, but like the defense doesn't pay him that much mind. And then when he's on the ball, even if he's not shooting, you watch and see how teams build walls around him and completely bend their defensive principles just to make sure that there are extra bodies inside of the paint to guard him, which opens the floor for a lot of other reasons. And so there's just a there's a there's a there's a a loop to be to be made there, right? You have to take that that that needle and put that that thread right through the noop to the loop to figure this out with this offense because you have uh an alpha talent who is being parked in a corner and and doing things, and the Pelicans are winning, and so these things are not magnified as much as they could. But like you say, when it comes down to a game like yesterday, when you have Donovan Mitchell and James Harden basically subbing themselves in in the end of the third middle of the third quarter saying, We're gonna get this game, they immediately got the game going. Trey didn't have it going, Sadiq obviously had it going a little bit, but it was the Zion show at that point, and when he's just being asked to park in the corner and you ask him to go win the game for you between James Harden uh against James Harden and Diamond Mitchell, you run into issues like this, and so it it is uh it's a it's upon the coach's staff to figure this out, but it is jarring to watch his usage rate as a guy who got who is uh over 200 million dollar guy and watches field goal attempts his usage rates be around some of the guys who are third, fourth on the team, uh on other teams, right? I agree with you that it's probably a lot of things and it's probably a combination of things all at one time, right? Like, obviously, the hand injury has bothered them literally every time Zion goes to the bench, the there's a trainer going to check on his hand every time he sits down, and so I'm sure he's playing through some things. You're probably right, he's incentivized to make it to a certain number of games this season, and I don't have to guess if he would still be playing, whether that was still the case or not, because last season I saw Zion put the Timberwolves through the room in Minnesota and fall on his back, come back, win the game, and then the next day he was out for the rest of the season with like 10 games to go. Like, and so, like, I've already seen what that looks like, especially for a team that's not going to the playoffs and things on those lines. Part of it might be Zion coaster it, saying, Hey, I've made it this far, let me not push the envelope too far. Because there are some times where he gets the ball, and I'm like, Zion, don't pass the ball. Uh the team needs to score, you need to score, and he gets off of it. But to your point, I always feel as if if anything for Zion, he's unselfish to a fault at times and and doesn't realize when the team needs him to get them a bucket or to facilitate a shot versus just to make the next pass or or make the right pass or whatever that may be. I think the team probably's looking at it a little bit, and like I don't think it's fair for James Barrego. I understand that, like, you know, I had some questions with some things that were going on throughout the game, and like, why did it take to the third quarter to realize oh, wait, number one plays on the team and he can score anytime you give him the ball and things like that. But like the team's also aware, hey, we got a good thing going right now, let's get everyone to the offseason healthy, let's not over-exert ourselves. Yeah, we want to build some winning habits, but you don't see them over-exerting DeJounte right now coming off the injury, and so they're probably being safe with Zion to some degree. But then it's also been Jays Varago's kind of mantra this season, right? Since he's taken over, talking about how they don't know what their hierarchy is, right? And how any night could be anybody's night. I'll say this when Joe Dumas got in front of a mic this summer and said Zion is our best player, it you didn't it it the money part, yes, the money makes a lot of sense, but Jordan Poole is also the second highest paid player and is not playing on purpose, right? He is like three people down on the bench and got the hoodie on most of the game. So, like, I'm not just gonna go to that, but when the new the new decision maker says we're reinvesting in this guy, and from all intents and purposes, feels like Zion is reinvesting in the in the in the Pels as well. You would like to see what are the what are the peaks, right? What are the highest points? Because no offense to DeJounte Murray and Trey Murphy and Sadiq Bey, who've all shown you man, they've got that star power in them too at times. But when Zion has the ball and when Zion has it going, there is a different level to him than any of those players that laid before, whether he's looking to score or whether he's looking to draw the gravity and to create for other people. There's no one on the roster that possessed that other than Zion. Maybe Derek Queen one day, maybe Jeremiah Fears one day. But to this day, there's just a different level with Zion and everyone else, and you can feel it. Like you're in the Smoothie King center when Zion scores seven points in a row and everybody's on their seat, whether it's offense, defense, timeout, whether uh Theo's in the in the in the crowd getting people lucky, like it's a different feeling when Zion has it going versus everyone else. And so I would attribute some of these close losses. Like we've talked about this a couple years ago when Brandon Ingram and Zion had it going and the team had it going. You were like, Okay, they're losing a lot of games and losing a lot of 20-point leads. Like, what's going on with this? Well, the best way to avoid losing and playing in a close game is to not let the games get close. So many of their close losses this back half of the season, the Pelicans have had leads in the third quarter. I think about the Lakers game, they had a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter, and in LA, they've had large leads, and during those times, you want to give it to your best player to make that lead bigger and make it so that the other team waves the white flag versus letting the team stick around, get some momentum, and then steal the game back from you, which happened in Cleveland just again because you waited until the third quarter to give Zion the ball, he gets going, and then all of a sudden he stops getting the ball, and then all of a sudden, all the rhythm's gone, and then all of a sudden you throw it to him with like a minute to go, or like, okay, Zion, now we need you to score. And like, I just don't know if that's a conducive way to win long term. Um, I just in it in today's NBA, you need a lot of players, but you need the star. And so I look at those things, um, and I'm saying there's a lot of growth points here, but playing through your main engine needs to be something that you see, right? Going into the off-season, you can't go into the offseason saying we don't know what a pecking order we have yet, right? Like, you gotta have to have an idea of where you're going, and maybe the team does have that, and like I said, maybe some of those other things are are playing more variables right now, and saying, Hey, we're just being smart with it, but we know we're going through Zion, but you want to see them practice it because you haven't seen it the past six years. It'd be one thing if you've done it consistently and you see the point zying from year to year to year, but you haven't seen that, and so like I'm just curious to see as things continue to develop whether James Morego and and his staff, or if he creates a new stack, stiffs around, or whether a new voice comes in to take over what that looks like. Because I really think that's when you're gonna see the peak element of the Pelicans where they're playing through Zion, and then everyone else continues to eat uh from the There. Now, there was a proposal on the board. I know again the Pelican season is virtually over. But there was an exciting some exciting nudes coming out lately. Um, there's a proposal for renovations on the Smoothie King Center that were announced again. These are beginning stages. You got a lot of work to do. Obviously, the Saints are number one in Louisiana right now. They were taking care of Force. Now it's the Pelicans' turn to double down. What are your thoughts on that, right? Like, obviously, we've been to a lot of arenas, almost all of them. We've seen the Smoothie King Center's potential. What are your thoughts on Miss Benson and the ownership group reinvesting in the Pelicans potentially? Yeah, I mean, listen, it it's it's exciting. Uh, I think you know, when you hear people talk about the city of New Orleans, like when they come down for Final Fours and they come down for conventions, and obviously, just recently the Super Bowl, a lot of people always say the same thing. The reason why uh New Orleans, you know, among the reasons, right? They there's a myriad of reasons why people love to come to the city of New Orleans and love having events hosted in New Orleans. Um, you know, the people, obviously, the food, obviously, the atmosphere. But one of the more the major things that people talk about, and we know from you know, just coming from LA, I've I went to Houston this year. You obviously you go to the Mavs games in in Dallas, um, is that it's a it's a walkable city, right? Like everything is so close by uh that you could, you know, get a hotel somewhere on Poydres and be at in the around everything in a span of 10 minutes, right? You could get to any event or anything in 10 minutes. And I think that that is one of the things that that that the city of New Orleans and the sports team should should really lean into. Uh, I've said that for a myriad of of years, and now I think when you talk about some of these uh these um improvements and some of these things that they're gonna do, renovations that they have planned, uh I think that's leaning into that, right? You talk about the outside, uh, the outside event center where people you can have Pelicans fest. The Pelicans do a good job of kind of you know fan engagement outside, like in between that area, but you know, between the Sleuthe King Center and the Superdome. Um, but there's just a lot more space and a lot more things that a sports team that is uh that brands the name New Orleans on it uh should be able to do, right? You talk about that that parking lot right across the street. If everybody knows where you come in, that area can be can be used, and you know, bits and towers, uh and uh adjacent parking lots. I think there's just a lot of things and a lot of areas that could be that could be used. And when you talk about inside, listen, we've gone to a lot of arenas, um, and we've seen you know, obviously from the top of the top and and into a dome, uh, to some of the other I've been to the Memphis arena where you know other arenas where people are not as enamored with the arena, right? Um, and smooth the king center is is towards that bottom, right? Towards the Memphis and things, uh, because there's a lot of things just at the Cavs game, the big old screen that they just put in was without power for a quarter and a half, and so it was you couldn't tell a score, didn't know what was going on. So there's a lot of things inside, but I think you know, adding extra seats, getting more people, um, you know, more affordable seats in there for people to come in. You you talk about building a team, um, and building uh a fan base and things. Uh, it starts with getting people at the games, right? You have to have people come to the games, and so I think having more uh more uh affordable seating for for uh you know for people like that, also you know, include improved box suites and things to have more higher class because again, you want to have as many affordable seats and people going in there, but you got to be able to sell this team sometimes to some of the bigger, uh, you know, some of the bigger clientele and things. So having amenities for them to come down and spend money um as well, I think I think is good. So listen, the smoothie king center it needs a uh a rebranding. Uh, I think there are other things which we which I know you're gonna bring up, uh, that the Pelicans need to address first, touch first, as far as you know, the the franchise and things going. Uh, but I think focusing on the arena is uh obviously a bright idea, a smart idea, a good business move, uh, in a in a way to kind of you know reiterate. Obviously, the Pelicans have gone through a tough stretch as far as injuries and wins and things like that. Um, but this team, I I've said it all season long, and I'll continue to bang the drum. When this team is competitive, it could be in a game, right? It could be 10 losses, and then on the 11th game, they are competitive in the fourth quarter. The smoothie king center turns into a madhouse because the people in New Orleans care. And so I think if you if you reinvesting into this team and reinvesting into the building and showing the community in the city that although things are rough and tough and things that you know you're digging into this city and and and try to figure its way out, starting with you know getting these guys on the floor to play a better, getting new faces in, getting new blood into the arena, um, and then also this new arena showing that the city that you you're in it with the city and that you're ready to kind of turn the page and try to get this this franchise uh you know on a better track, right? I mean, I look at it and I understand the complaints. I've heard the smoothie king center is the worst arena in the NBA. I don't know if I go that far, but like I get it. But typically, when do people get new arenas when they win? Like when you look at Golden State, and they just didn't magically come over the arena, right? Like they had a dynasty, and oh, and they get a new arena. Oh, the Clippers get uh Kawhi Paul Joe, oh, they get a new arena. Typically, when you're winning, people want to reinvest more, right? And the Pelicans have not been doing that, and so I kind of get the dilemma there from that perspective. But to your point, I think the lower bowl piece is cool, I think the renovations outside. There's just so much work that could be done for all the art and all the culture and for all the uniqueness of the city. Some of that has to be poured into some of that has to be poured into the team that it that it supports and that the name is on the jersey of. And I think they're starting to figure that out uh to some degree. All I ask, make sure you keep crispy crunchy chicken in there alive because you're been to a lot of been to a lot of arenas, but the food selection. I'll tell you what, the food selection of smoothie keys is better than Intuit. We're 1000% better than Intuit Dome. 1000%. It's not even close. It's not even close. Being at Intuit Dome feels like being at a circle K. That's what it's feeling like. But I will say, crispy crunchy chicken, yes. I don't know how how we need to, if we need to keep five. Listen, fiery crab is great. I do fiery crab at the crib on Sundays. That's my type of vibe, especially if they got a Saints game going or some kind of sports event. But I don't know if I need to be sitting next to somebody at a smooth at a pelicans game and they got the fiery crab popping. Shout out to Fiery Crab, but but but yes, I'm with you. The food, the food could be better, but it could also be a lot worse. And and to your point, I'll go further, right? Like, obviously, you know, it was a couple years ago when you know Brandon Ingram was in the playoffs versus Suns and things like that, and you heard the Smoothie King Center through your television set to the point where ESPN had to mute the background noise because of things being said in the Smoothie King Center. The same fans that go to Saints games that the Saints were known for their home field advantage for all those group breeze years could go right across the street to the Pelicans and become that same type of environment, which I don't know if that exists in very many other places in Rosman's country. Like, I think OKC is unique because that's all they have is the Thunder. I think the Pelicans could give that same type of college-like vibe, or it's a it may not be the biggest or the brightest arena, but it's a madhouse in there, and people hate to play in there. I think it has that that potential, but I also think the Pelicans have a top five announcing cast with AD and Joel, and I'm not being biased there just because they're friends of the pod. I also think they have one of the top in in-house uh entertainments in Theo. He won into the all-star game and was the one representative in terms of in-house entertainment. So if you put all those things together, the last thing is the jersey. They gotta do something with the jersey. I knew it was coming, I knew it was coming. I knew it was coming. I love the proposals, I think it's a great idea, but I'm tired of looking at the all-whites, I'm tired of looking at the blues and saying the blues are the worst. The blues are the worst. This is the spirit of New Orleans. Like, I the blues are the worst. I just think there that's low-hanging fruit you could do on. But again, it's good to see reinvestment in the team. It's good to see that that there's an idea going here, and that the team and the city wants to keep it all here and grow from here and build from here. But all it's gonna come from is winning. The more you win, the more the rest of the stump take care of it. Alcalaise, money, investor, sponsorship will take care of itself, but you gotta win. So let's talk about some of the guys who will be big parts of this Pelicans teams if they do continue to grow and build um in this tough, crazy growing Western conference. The rookies, right? So the rookies are having rookie seasons to me. Like, there's been ups, there's been downs, there's been some in the middles where you're like, are they playing? Like they're playing, but like, are they just out there? Stuff like that. But I want to talk about like what stands out for each of them, right? Um, from this standpoint. I mean, March Madness really has it buzzing in my mind of watching Jeremiah Fears in the tournament and watching Derek Queen in the tournament and things like that. But then watching them now taking this role going back, they kind of took the the inverse of uh uh uh approach that most rookies have taken so far this season, other than like Karaka Nipple and Cooper Flag, where they played a whole lot at the beginning and now they're kind of coming off the bench and trying to find themselves that way. But let's start with Jeremiah Fears. Um, the pace piece we've talked about. You're you're starting to see him understand how to use his speed, and now in these bat these last 10 games or so, you're starting to see him understand when he has a mismatch. When he sees the person in front of him, doesn't have the foot speed to keep in front of him, he just puts his head down and gets to the rim. He's starting to play at all three levels. I think the three-point shot is still got some work to go, but it's a lot further along than I thought it was gonna be in his rookie season. Um, just because like his shooting numbers weren't great at Oklahoma, it doesn't get easier to shoot in the in the NBA, and that's coming along. He's starting to be able to hit those floaters and stop and hit the mid-range, and again, settle into being a professional point guard at 19 years old, those things are starting to hit. But what I'm also starting to notice, and you've seen it all season, is like he gets to the rim, and so many times you're like, Oh, that's an easy layup, Jeremiah Fear, and it's just a miss layup. And if it could be that he had contact, or it could be that he anticipated contact and it didn't come, but I think all of that is gonna come with him getting stronger, uh, his body continuing to develop, his confidence developing as he gets older and gets his feet underneath him as a NBA as an NBA pro. But that last piece of the decision making, he's still wilding out sometimes. He's still he's still a teenager, and it it reminds you of stuff because the confidence is is is unworthy, like it's it and you you appreciate that and you want that in a in a young player, but this the selection, like even in that Cavs game, the the pals need a bucket, and Jeremiah comes up to court with like four seconds on the shot clock runoff and just launches a three, and you're like, uh, and the calves go back and get a layup on the other side. So there's just so many small things there. But what have you seen so far for Jeremiah for these last couple games or so? What are you looking for him to close out the season with? Yeah, it's it's funny that you mention like almost an inverse uh of how they've gone other, you know, against other rookies as far as their careers have started this season, because I think they've also taken kind of an in the talk about Derrick Queen and Jeremiah Fears, they've kind of taken an inverse kind of trajectory for them uh with each other. Um, and I think you could tie it to what you talk about like people's ceilings and people's floors, right? Like Derek Queen came out guns ablazing, right? Because he had more of a first of all, he's older, not a lot older, but older, right? And he also has uh what I would say more of an NBA-ish type game, right? When you come into the league and you're fundamentally sound and you have good footwork and things, like those are the safe bets, right? Like, okay, this guy's floor is probably gonna be this, right? And you have Jeremiah Fairs who came in who was like a guns blazing as well, but in a different kind of way, um, you know, where you just kind of rely on speed and what you can do individually as a talent, as opposed to like the game of basketball, it fitting into the game of basketball, and so he had a more of a learning curve early in the season, right? And then as time went on, as people got more film on Derek Queen, you start to see things kind of slow down for him as far as his production because but but his seat his floor still remained okay, he got eight points, five rebounds, five assists. Whereas Jeremiah Fair starts taking upwards because his his ceiling, you know, if he becomes you know Damian Lillard or something like that, because of all of the type of skill sets that he has, um, you know, you start to see his skill set take off. So it's kind of funny to see them deal with that inverse thing. But as far as Jeremiah Fairs go, I think the first thing that that jumps out, uh, I is what I asked about previous in the season, you know, when when when we were talking about his draft profile, what I was worried about was you know him being a small guard, not being able to shoot, and then also is he able to make some of the passes? Because we talked about, you know, if you're gonna be small, and you need to make sure you have one skill set that is NBA ready right now and that is elite right now, right? You talk about Trey Young, John Morant, like Damian Lillard, all of these smaller guards had things that they do well. Trey Young shooting and passing, John Morant's athletic ability, Dane shooting, like those type of things. And so if it wasn't going to be his jump shot, and obviously the speed was there, was he gonna be able to make the passes? And that's what I was worried about. And then we went to summer league, right? And I told you he made a couple passes in summer league that if they weren't going to Keon Brooks and Trey Alexander, then I think that a lot of those shots would he would have had a bigger assist game because he was making some like really nice NBA passes, and you see flashes of them in the in uh uh in these last couple of games where he's coming off of screens and he's making like dump off passes behind him or like direct to the corner passes, and so you see that, but again, you mentioned what you what you all also see, where he's still learning about what we always talk about about basketball being played in windows, right? And those same passes and those same things that you made, though those same windows that you played in Oklahoma. You might have thought that they were tight there, and you were excelling in those plays. You you're not making those plays in the NBA, like you gotta be even a little more quicker, a little bit more uh decisive. Because if you're not that half a half a half a second, that's a turnover, that's a tip pass that's going the other way, that's a detriment to your team. And he's still he's learning that, and you see it getting uh a little better. I think he's more calm, he's he's playing the game, you know, at a at a at a slower pace, and that's what I wanted for for the game to slow down, but not him. Because what makes him special is he doesn't slow down, and he he is the the the role runner, he's out of there, and so you want to make sure you cultivate that specific special NBA skill that he has because speed kills in his league as far as the guard play goes. Um, and so as the game slowed down and he doesn't, that's what's gonna make that's what you start to see better for him. And to your the the last point to your point is what I'm talking about, like he's starting to like he's starting to be able to play pretty comfortably behind screens, and what I mean by that is like he's starting to take uh step back, rejecting screens, going the other way, and playing behind the the the line and letting it fly. And there's a lot of time we we started at the beginning of this year where we was like, Man, those Jeremiah Fear bricks, they sound they sound they loud, they sound loud. Now I don't I don't feel them as much, right? I don't feel as many of those wide left, wide right rushing the shots trying to get them off because you know at Oklahoma, you miss this shot, they're coming right back to you. It's the NBA, brother. You behind Zion, you behind Trey, you're behind Herb, you're behind Sadiq Bay. You got a lot of people you behind already, and so you got to learn to maximize the the opportunities that you have. I think the defensive side of the ball, he's getting he's getting a lot better. He still can be targeted because of things that he can't control, being smaller, being shorter. But I think he's being active in the passing lanes, he's getting uh steals, he's being uh, and even if he's not getting those steals, he's crowding people, he's being a nuisance. Um, and it's allowing him to you know get get turnovers and things like that. He's got a long way to go. He's got to hit the weight room this season, uh, this offseason. I think this was a good, I think this was a great time for him to hit the league, and it's a great time for him to have a rookie uh year like he's having, because he's he's now learning a lot of things that he had to learn at a very, very young age. And so next year, he you know, this offseason, he'll be able to take that data, work on the things, the floaters, finishing at the rim, understanding that, like, yeah, that that contact hurts. So you got to be able to finish and be crafty in things. Watch a lot of Kyrie Irving around the rim, like he has that ability, that craftiness, maybe not to the level of Kyrie Irving, but he can kind of aspire. That's that's the that's the goal to be around there. Where Kyrie doesn't fall a lot, he doesn't do anything, but he's crafty and he knows how to get the ball to the rim. Um, I think that's gonna come with time, and I think as he grows, again, he's got we talk about Derrick Queen, baby fat, like he's got a lot of baby, like baby, just babyness to his the appearance and body and things. Well, as he grows and grows into his you know, mature strength and mature uh body frame, I think a lot of that is gonna come with him. But I'm I'm pretty I'm pretty impressed about you know with his his mentality, um, and his ability to be coached and not really have a lot of qualms, or you don't hear a lot of qualms or a lot of pouting from him going from a starting point guard on a you know for a lottery, uh in a for a lottery draft, high lottery draft pick on a starting point guard on a team that's not very good, and then you bench me, like DeJounte said it is it speaks volumes to them that you don't see or hear a lot of pouting from either of them, but specifically the braggadotico and it's very, very, very uh comfortable and confident in himself, Jeremiah Fears. I mean, I look at it this way. I mean, he's excelled since he went to the bench. I think he was much better off the bench than starting, especially when you get to watch DeJounte come back and see how he has a feel for the game. You're absolutely right in terms of the ability being there, the passes, the visions there, the ability to make the pass are there, which you can't say for everybody. Not everybody can make every pass on the court. His biggest thing, to your point, is the game slowing down and knowing when to anticipate the pass and when when to think two steps ahead versus getting into trouble and then making the decision from there and things on those, those things come with time, they come with experience. To your point, they come with just grown man strength and being able to vert things. That's one thing with Jeremiah Fierce. He's a small guard, but like I don't feel it. I felt I you know, like when he is driving downhill, a lot of times when he's under control, a lot of times he's not under control. But when he's when he's under control, he is the one initiate the contact and throwing guys with his own shoulder, even being probably the smallest guy on the court, and even defensively, like it's not that guys like Jordan Hawk is just put him in the post and then it's a blender time. Like it's not like that with him. He's able to position himself and be pesky enough to either play in the uh passing lane or make them get off the ball and things like that. The biggest thing for him on the defense has just been effort, and and he's starting to show more than that, and then that's credit to James Barrigo and his staff for saying this is a non-negotiable for him, and you're starting to see that and his impact on that as well. Now, moving on to Derek Queen. Um, the biggest thing for him, uh, again, the game is slowing down. Yeah, the stats don't look as great, but the biggest thing for him that I'm starting to notice that is important for the team, I'll start with what his biggest uh contribution to the team and growth port to the team up to this par, he's starting to be willing to let that corner three go and let that top of the break three go. And regardless of who's on the team next season, Derek Queen will be on there. The more comfortable he is spacing the floor, because like we said before, this team does not contain a bunch of shooters. Everybody, for the most part,'s mindset is to get downhill. If you have another big besides Carlo, who can sit on the three-point line and extend the floor when they don't have the ball, that is a luxury to have. And I think that if he's able to do that and be confident with it, right? He came in, he did interviews this offseason before the season and talked about the weakest part of my game is my shooting, but I'm gonna continue to work on it. He does it's not that his throat isn't ugly, his shots are are ugly, it's that he's not always confident. You can tell the one he's gonna make, and you can tell the ones he's gonna miss because the ones with no hesitation seem to go in. The ones where he's thinking, should I shoot these are the ones that don't seem to look well when they hit the rim and things like that. So him being able to do that, whether it's a long two, whether it's it's it's a it's a three, I think helps this team as far as him in particular. We talked about the motor, I we talked about that that issue with Zion. I think the same applies here. The whole idea of well, we're trying to keep Zion fresh so that you know, and let other people score so that he doesn't get injured. Well, like, what's gonna happen in the playoffs when you need him to score 35 and 40, things like that? I have the same type of mentality for. Derek Queen, who I would argue is probably in worse shape than Zion. He's able to play, he's played almost every game, right? He can continue to work and get better and put his body in the best position to be available, but most importantly, have a motor so that when you touch the floor, you are the most dominant player at all time. The biggest part with him, especially when he's playing with that second unit, he has to understand he is the best option. People that get double teamed in this league and draw doubles don't get doubled because they can pass. All right. People aren't like, yo, go send the double on Andre Miller, you know, because he's a really good passer. You get double because of your ability to score. Look at Jokic, who again, everyone wants to compare his game and Sangoon and things like that. People start to send the double when those guys have it going and they've got 12 points and 14 points and things like that. That's that flip that has to switch for Derek Queen. When he touches the corner, that I think immediately flipped for Jeremiah Fears. He was like, yo, if I'm gonna come off the bench, when I go in, it's going up. You want Derek Queen to have a little bit of that too. Hey, if I'm not gonna play 30 minutes tonight, when I get on the court, it's going up, and then let his passing ability be secondary to that because of who is on the court with him. And so when you see those things happen, I think whether it's uh Jeremiah Fears, whether it's Trey Murphy, whether it's point Herb Jones, and not entirely Sadiq Bey, you should be playing through Derrick Queen, but a lot of that is on him and his his ability to be aggressive. So, what have you seen from Derek Queen in the second part of this year? Well, things have kind of slowed down for him, the minutes have slowed down for him. What are the things that you're looking at just to finish out the season? Yeah, listen, I I Derek Queen is one of he he this he is the description of what I've called New Orleans Pelicans basketball for the past like eight years, which is unique, right? He is he is a joy to watch because I that there are things that he does as a center that you're like there are guards that can't do do that, right? And so there the the again the talent that he has is just is is phenomenal, like it it has the ability to be one of the most unique and better players in in the league, and so you know we talk about the things that could that could stop that from happening, and I think number one, it lays at the feet of what you just said is the aggressiveness because like he so Derek Queen hasn't scored 20 points since January 30th, okay. Since January 30th, hasn't scored 20 points, but if you if you look at uh like how he was uh scoring at the beginning of the season, it was effortless. Like there was there were times where it was like, okay, like this guy, there's just nothing they could do with him. He he took it to Gafford, he took it to Nicola Jokic, and it it just it felt easy, and then it just it felt like he just stopped trying to score as if someone told him not to score, or you know, we need you to be more of a facilitator for these guys. Because I've said it for since he stopped trying to score that the triple threat thing only works if there are triple threats, three, not two. Not if you're gonna stand at the three-point line face up and pass at you know, from you know, a couple feet behind the three-point line, then you are right now Draymond Green. That's what Draymond Green does. He catches the ball at the top of the key and he looks for to pass the ball. Nothing wrong with that. You know, Draymond is a Hall of Fame, things like that, but that's not where this Derek Queen with the Derek Queen that the Pelicans invested in, with Derrick Queen's talent screams, it doesn't scream Draymond Green, you know, 2025, 2026, Draymond Green. And so he has to understand that the talent that he has, the the skill set that he has, bigs don't like bigs, especially bigs coming off the bench, they don't know, they don't want to deal with that that kind of craftiness, that handle, get into the rim, those things like that. But also his ability to to cause those double teams opens up passing lanes where he excels. That is where you could take the most advantage of when that defense starts to scramble behind and he's hitting backdoor lobs to ease me, or he's hitting Trey for backdoor lobs because he's turning a corner and the defense has to help because they just can't deal, you know, they're you know, they can't deal with that. And so I think that like his aggressiveness is so key to to his it's crazy where we're talking about these these guys, you know. Uh, when you talk about Jeremiah Fairs and Derrick Queen, you're not talking about, you know, can they add this particular skill or can he add this particular skill? It's the mindsets. It's can you can you turn this on when you need it? Can you turn this off and slow it down when you need it? For Derek Queen, is can you turn it on? Because the Pelicans don't need a guy to come in and get four assists for five assists in the game and six rebounds. But that's not what they need. They need a guy to come in and be the force that he is on the D on the uh defensive side of the ball, and I mean the offensive side of the ball, because you're you're getting the ball a lot of times off the rebound and bringing it up. And so if you're just like instead of walking it up to look for passing, if your big six, ten, two whatever pounds is just coming down the floor, you know, dribbling, looking to score, that will open up the floor, open up the the the rotations and the mayhem behind, and you can pick teams apart on the on the uh with passing that way. The the the uh the shooting, you talked about it. I think someone has gotten to Derrick Queen about that because he's been before games. I've I've gone to the Pelicans games. I'm there before to watch the players warm up and things. He's working on those trail threes and those top of the key threes and those corner threes like crazy. He's working on them, um, shooting them over and over again. Before that Cavs game, uh, I watched him hit three top of the key threes in a row, uh uh out there with uh I think it was Corey Brewer out there with him. And so um I just think that that's something that's gonna come. His shot is not ugly, and it and is it's something that he should step into with confidence because he can make them, and when he makes them, it just again unlocks all different aspects of his team. But where I think that he needs to get better, and I just think that the Pelicans miss miscast him, um, and things is on the defensive side of the ball because I just don't think he's gonna be a five. I I don't think that that's just something that even Shangun and Jokic, like, yeah, they're not the greatest like defenders or rim protectors, but they also try to play with like their they they play in the paint with their pet backs to the basket. Derrick Queen likes to take the ball at the at the three-point line at the perimeter and dribble the like his offensive side of the ball tells you what kind of player that he wants to be on the defensive side of the ball. Jokic and Shangoon can do those things, but where they like to be is the block. So they're they're more physical, like they they they they they're physical. Whereas Derek Queen is more to me right now, is a more finesse player. I've liken him to Nas Reed more than Jokic, right? Like the gameplay is more Jokic, obviously, but the mentality is more of a Nas Reed, a guy who has the the tools offensively, but you'll never play him at the five just because he's uh what he looks like, and I think that that is something that the Pelicans have is taken a while to figure out, but I think that they're starting to see you starting to see him pair him with with Eves and pair him with with Carlo and guys like that, and so I think that that's a good thing for his development because I think that that is the best version of of this of him and this team is him with the center behind him. Um, and so I think this offseason, like you say, work on your uh on getting in the shape. I the the there is a motor there, I've seen him run back, bust his ass to run back and and get so it's it's the kg, the kg from uncut gym. Don't show me something if I can't have it, because I've seen it with Derrick Queen, and so it's about getting in the shape, getting into you. You now know what it takes to play. He's played in a lot of games this season. You now know what he gets. I remember they were talking to Ace Bailey, and Ace Bailey said somebody told him you crossed the 70 games mark, and he was like, 70 games, what and I think that's a lot of NBA rookies where they're like, damn, we played 70 games, you now know what it takes, you now know what the grind looks like. Take that data, do what you need to do in the offseason to make sure that you're coming into the next season as the the guy that we saw at the toward at the beginning of the season, as far as like getting into uh you know well, the beginning when he came in uh after his injury. But we saw that guy offensively, but I think it starts with getting into shape and being able to be asked to do those things on a night-to-night basis. Um, because I do think the skill set is there, I do think there is the motor there, but I think like to your point, getting into shape is gonna help all of that, it's gonna take care of all of that. So that is what I think he should be looking to to get better, be better for uh the rest of the season offensively with your aggressiveness, and then be looking to get bet into better shape um and hit the ground running in your second year, right? I mean, it's I I think it's interesting that you brought up Nicole Jokic who plays with Eric Gordon, who's the rim protector. You brought up Nas Reed, who plays with Rudy Gobert, who's a rim protector. Alpi Shangoon plays with everybody who's six foot ten, and Steven Adams is the one that they like to start with him, and they went who wouldn't go click Capella, so guys who also have a rim protector behind them, right? And so I couldn't agree with you more. And look, it's not just the motor piece from defensive, because he's so smart on both sides. You've seen him with multiple games with like two and three steals because he has really good hands in the passing lanes, and his ability is there, it's the the want-to effort on the defensive end. He doesn't always have, and to be honest, I would rather him be guarding four, or you can uh uh mix and match the matchup because Carlo can switch on to a four, or or Ease can switch onto a four, so you can play with the matchups to make sure he's not at a huge disadvantage every single time, but the ability is there, it's just having that motor to be able to do it on both ends of the floor that I think needs to grow. Now, last thing we'll get out of here. We got a larger sample size of the start lineup with DeJounte Murray, uh, Trey Murphy, Herb Jones, Sadiq Bey, and Zion at the five. And you're starting to see a pretty consistent rotation because everyone, Bryce McGowan's uh injured the toe, but pretty much everyone in the road rotation has been healthy um since the all-star break and a couple games before. What are your thoughts on the sample size? Because again, the Pelicans are winning games, and it seems to be working at times, but what are your thoughts on what James Morego has been rolling out in terms of that starting five and how the rotations have been playing there at? Yeah, so they're winning games. Uh they are, and they're they are getting off to good starts, depending on the matchup. Yeah, yeah. So I it's not something that okay, we'll just rip the band-aid off. There's there's gonna have to be a conversation. There is, I've talked about it a couple of podcasts before. I this this starting lineup is not, I don't think it's it's it's is like attainable for the uh an entire regular season. Um, because I think number one, you are asking Zion and Trey and Sadiq and her and DeJounte really to do something that is not how they should play, all five of them, doesn't what you're asking them to do is not conducive to how they should play, which is rebound, right? Like you you it's very hard to have shot blocking and rebounding when the tallest player on the floor is Trey Murphy. It's just very difficult to do that, especially against starting lineups who are you know gonna have guys like you know, Victor with Benyama and Jokic and Shingoon and and all of these different guys, whereas those five, their best bet, you know, the the thing to take advantage of is them being able to run, get these guys out. Well, in order to run, you gotta have the ball. And so if if they're all running, then who's rebounding, right? And so you would you would I think you would be looking for man, if you had a a tall guy who was athletic who was rebounding and who could block shots, you could kind of put that guy in the starting five. Luckily for the Pelicans, they have two of them. They have two of them. So I think again, it's working at the end of the season where you know games matter for the Pelicans, and games matter for some of the guys that you're that some of the teams that you're playing. There's a large chunk of the NBA that is not, it doesn't matter to me. And so it is working, and so I don't want to take that away. There are things, positive things that are coming out of that, but I think if you're being honest with yourself and you know the way the NBA is is going, the Rockets got unlimited tall people, you know. Victor Webbyamba has unlimited tall, has a limited uh you know knee length on his on himself, like you you have to be able to rim protect, and you have to be able to rebound, you have to be able to have a presence. You just went an entire three years with Jonas Valentino's at center and the entire three years you were begging and pleading for rim protection. Can you get rim protection? JV is great, but you don't have rim protection, and when you don't have rim protection, it it trickles down because now defenders don't they can't push up as more as much more because they know if they get past you, I mean, you know, you got Zion at the rim, like you know, maybe he can come across there and help, but like there is no tall person going for blocks there. So and you did that with you had you dealt with that with JV. And so I think if you're if you're being honest with yourself, I think that there's that you need to have a center starting, you need to have Eves or Carlo, one of those two guys starting at center, preferably Eves in my case, um, starting at center, which then leads to okay, well, if DeJounte is here, you know, as this as the season starts next season, you know, that's got a guy that's gonna be playing, and then you have Zion and you have Trey Murphy, and at that point, you you have your Herb Jones and Sadiq Bay question because Herb has been again. You've seen some really good stretches of Herb Jones. There was a play against the the Clippers um the uh a couple games ago, the second clippers game towards the end, where I tweeted that was one of the best Herb like came back and like uh off a rebound to close the game out. Jordan Miller ended up with the shot, but like Herb came back and defended the center, then got then dug the big man out of a out of an injured out of a mess, and it came back to the other side of the court and could and contested her uh Jordan Miller uh shot and he missed it, and then Herb went and got the rebound. And I was like, damn, there's the Herb Jones code. But then there are some games where you look on the other side and Herb is one for nine, one for eight, one for seven, and Herb's guy has his back towards him guarding Zion, guarding Trey, and and it's just they're funneling shots to Herb Jones, like you saw in this Cleveland game, where they just let him shoot every shot and look what happened, right? Whereas Sadiq Bey has shown you that he can knock those shots down night in and night out, and probably does a better job offensively, but he's not the he's not the defender that Herb Jones is. Now, he's not a bad defender. I've always called it 60 of Herb Jones, 110 of on defense, and 110 of Herb Jones on offense. Are you willing to make that trade-off? For me, I think that is the question going because I just don't know if you'll be able to play this same five together all season next season from game one to game 82. You're gonna have to make that change, and I think I think it's telling that the second DeJounte sits down, uh has to sit for a game, Eves is the guy to start in in that position, not another guard, not Jeremiah Fears, not Jordan Poole, not any of those guys. So I think that that shows you Eve's Mises uh uh uh his his what he breaks to the team, and obviously you see when he plays. But I just I the it's working now, and that's fine, and it's it's all good, but I just don't know if that's a lineup that you can have for the the season moving forward, and I think that directly leads to a question that nobody has ever thought we would ever have this conversation. But now if DeJounte goes and is traded, then that you know, obviously things are different. But if he's gonna be on the team next to you know, start the season next season, there's gonna be some some serious questions that need to be addressed about that fifth starter. Um, you know, whether it be you know Sadiq and Herb together, I mean, and you just run that five, or if you do go that center route, which one of those guys comes off the bench? I got a feeling that DeJounte Murray's gonna be around. I just did just just from the the feeling you get from the team, how everyone seems to be on the same page, everybody's talking about next. Well, everybody wouldn't be talking about next season if you didn't plan to be here uh in some capacity. Um, I said from the very beginning, I said it a year ago, right after you saw Eve come in. No one expected him to start, and then he started the most games on the Pelicans team last season, and then this season he was like off the rotation, off the bench, start one night, things like that. The only way you get better at basketball is by playing basketball, and as Ease Misi has played basketball, he looks better and better. I'm glad you brought up the the the Cleveland game because that was a microcosm of the issue at hand. When when Donovan Mitchell and James Harden decides it's go time, time to turn it up and win the game. Here's a couple of issues herb at five fouls, right? And so obviously he's playing, trying not to foul. He was four for 12 from the field, so they were letting him shoot, and he was shooting, right? Not very efficiently from that. You bring up a great point, he covers up so much defensively because Trey is not the best on-ball defender. DeJounte Murray is a pretty good good on-ball defender, but again, he's coming off an Achilles. Zion is can be when he's engaged a good defender, right? Sadiq Bay is a pretty good defender, so Herb ends up covering a lot for a lot of lot of people, and now you're starting to see him and Sadiq play with the rookies because they aren't so good defensively, so he can cover that up. But if you look at the end of the game, obviously James Harden and Donovan Mitchell don't want Herb Jones guarding them, so they are putting Herb Jones man in the corner. So on defense, he's not helping you because he's not the person that's on ball. And the Pelicans love the switch, right? So now not only is he not helping you on the offensive end of the board, not only is he not helping you on the defensive uh rebounding glass, but also now you have no rim protection. So versus two of the best better ball handlers in the NBA with the game on the line, you're saying DeJounte, you got him, Trey, you got him, Zion, you got him. And if they get past you, oh, by the way, they're gonna score because there you have no rim protection there. And so for me, I'm like, okay, if you're gonna have a non-shooter on the floor, why not have the guy who's tall because Evan Mobley is on the court? The the Pelicans had gotten stops multiple times and clutch times in that game, and then the Cavs would just get the rebound. Anyone would be running from any direction, whether it was Evan Mobley or someone else, and get the rebound because there was no center on the court to get the rebound for the Pelicans, and so that's the conundrum you're gonna consistently play. The very first time last season, I saw Eve Misi on the court. You remember this? We were at the game, and I saw Herb on the court at the same time. I said, Man, if you really squint, they didn't none of them had no swag on their arms because they were keeping it big busy. Herb had Her had the the he had the five minute or he had the two with the Jante there, and Eve had the 20. I was like, if you squint, they kind of look like variants of other one another. Eve just won, and I think that is gonna be how the Pelicans have to play. I think you're gonna have to say, look, there's gonna be games where we need Herb out there to shut the water off or at least make it difficult. And he's had some phenomenal defensive performance since this season, but there's also gonna have to be games where listen, we need the floor spacing on the offensive side of the ball, so we're willing to give up some perimeter defense because now we have eaves on the court and he's gonna run protect when he inevitably gets past one of U4, right? You're gonna have to make those decisions, right? And again, this is one game, you know. The the obviously the Cavs are going to the playoffs and looking to come out the east and things like that. You're not gonna blame a coach for the whole season for one, but like these are the decisions that you really gotta look at going into next season. What are the lineups that give us the best shot? And I understand they're mixing and matching, they're they're trying to see all the different uh skill sets they have available. How do we put enough defense and offense on the court at the same time? But the consistent things to me. Almost every game that you see Ease Measy come in in these last couple games, he comes in and impacts the game. Whether he's got three blocks, whether he's deterred a bunch of shots, whether he's got a goaltend that should have been called a block, whatever it may be, he impacts the game. I don't want to say the same way as her, but in a in a like-minded way and from a taller division. So if you've got to give up something, I just think rebounding and and and and height is something you should have on the court. Rav, I I saw Ease get about two or three uh what we call uh reputation blocks where people are like nope, they get past the guy, and they're like, nope, and they dribble it out. Like those not even you don't even count those in a box score. But if you watch the game and you see, you know, you see the the the guard come around the the big man and come down, and he doesn't have Eve in his sight, but like he knows Eve's is in the game, he's like, nope, and he dribbles around snake dribble right inside, like that's a defensive impact play made by Yuzmisi, right? And again, her Herb is one of the better defenders in the league. He has those plays too, right? As far as steals and black score and things like that, but I'm just talking about the team in all together, right? You brought up Draymond Green and how the Warriors built their dynasty. Sometimes Draymond was at the five, right? Sometimes Cavon Looney was at the five, things like that. Zion is not Draymond Green. No, he's not. Zion is not a rim protector to that degree. So if you're asking him to play the five, which I don't think is his best position, anyways, right? I don't think you get the best version of him offensive or defensively that way. Then I just think you gotta have someone behind him the same way you gotta have someone behind Derrick Queen. And so that's where I'm at with it. It'll be interesting to see this offseason how that that that kind of works itself out again. If Herb comes back and he's shooting 40 from three, maybe that takes care of uh the the the Herb Jones uh Sadiq Big conversation. But no matter how you put it, I think the Pelicans need to have a starting center in the game. He may not need to close every game. There's games where you don't need a five, but the game versus the Cavs with Evan Mobley and all these other athletic guys, that's a game where I think you should have a tall person on the court. So, with that being said, the Pels only have a couple games left. Um, they're rounding out the season, trying to get to it healthy, just trying to build a little momentum as they go to the next season and things like that. They got some really good games coming up in front of them, which I think they're gonna go for. And to be honest, I know we talked about you know Zion kind of picking and choosing when he's aggressive. If you've noticed, when they play the good teams, Zion picks his moments when whether it's a quarter, whether it's the entire game, where he res it up, hand be damned, whatever it may be. You got a whole stretch of good games coming up, and so I'm really interested to see how either the team plays through him, or if Zion just says, Forget it, give me the ball, I'ma play through me. We're gonna win some of these games that we can't seem to close for the rest of the season. But with that being said, what you got left for the people, Gary? As we look to wrap up the season, as always, you never know what people are going through. So give someone a smile today. Yeah, man, got some got some good games coming up. Uh, starting tomorrow, get the first first, get to see Jose Alvarado uh again, and so that that'll that'll be fun in in New York. But yeah, man, we'll we'll see if the Pelicans make any adjustments uh to how they play. Uh, I think again, the Pelicans have every incentive to win, they don't have any reason to mail it in or take anything uh with this pick still, you know, within can still be moved uh as far as up and down the odds ranking. So I think they have uh the they have every incentive to win, and I think they need to go out there and try. So uh as always, follow myself at Garrett underscore rattler. Follow my brother at Raphael underscore rattler, follow the page at N O underscore basketball no e. Most importantly, subscribe to New Orleans.basketball, and we'll see you guys in the next one.