Pelicans Hire Jamahl Mosley | Initial Reactions

Joe Dumars makes his first major hire as the lead basketball executive for the New Orleans Pelicans:

➡️ Jamahl Mosley

After building the Orlando Magic into one of the NBA’s top defensive teams and developing stars like Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner, and Jalen Suggs, Mosley now takes over a Pelicans roster built around:

* Zion Williamson
* Dejounte Murray
* Trey Murphy
* Jeremiah Fears
* Derik Queen
* Yves Missi
* Saddiq Bey

But is this the perfect hire for New Orleans… or are there red flags Pelicans fans should be concerned about?

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Hey Venorina, what up, what up, what up? Welcome to another episode of New Orleans. Basketball. I'm your host, Raphael Rattler, drawing my fellow middle brother. Gary Jim and Rather. What's popping with you, bro? Welcome to the summer. Welcome to spicy season.

SPEAKER_01 0:37

Very, very spicy season. What up, what up, bro? Uh man, everything's all good on this side, man. It's been it's been a minute since we've been on a lot of things. Of course, the NBA is always uh always got something going on with them, right? And now we've we passed the draft lottery. Um, Pell's got the man. Let me tell you, let me tell you something, Raz. Let me tell you something. Let me tell you something. The NBA will never ever see the pearly gates for making the NBA draft lottery happen during brunch and on Mother's Day. Yeah, shout out to all the moms. I miss my mom arrested. P shout out to your moms and Lindsay and everybody uh who I was with in Dallas. But shout out to the moms who sat around and watched all the men at the tables and all the brushes who like us who were sitting and watching the draft lottery, and especially the New Orleans moms, because I know every Pelican span was watching that draft lottery, and the Pels give up pick eight, um, which is not not the worst outcome, but we'll we'll get into that. Um, and then obviously the Pels had a new coach, so we'll get into that as well. Shout out to everybody in the city um who enjoyed uh yesterday they had Keith Lee's first family uh festival in in New Orleans. Uh apparently went off great. It was great vibes, great, you know, great atmosphere, great time for the kids in the city as well as the the families, everything. So shout out to Keith Lee and shout out to the city for that. But yeah, man, Jamal Mosley, the Jamal Mosley era is here, and I'm ready to get into it. How's everything on your side, bro?

SPEAKER_00 2:05

Everything's blessed, everything's blessed. Um, my son made another whip moon around the stuff. Birthday, man. Yes, Lord. Shout out to him uh for that. But yeah, I mean, WNBA is kicked off. We're getting to that point. Like I texted yesterday, I was like, or I texted you the day before. I said, There's no NBA games on, there's no WNBA Saturday on there's no football games on what do we do? Uh, we're almost there, so you know, enjoy it as much as you can these next couple weeks. I think these conference finals and these NBA finals are gonna be crazy, and we'll talk about that another day. But you're absolutely right. Uh, the Pelicans made some news outside of Trey Murphy sitting courtside with Tyrese Howard, and then everybody tweeting the picture. Oh no, what's going on with Trey Murphy? Outside of that, the Pelicans hire head coach. Drake drops three albums, and the world is on fire. So, before we get into it, because we got a lot to talk about, 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. Make sure you're leaving the comments. Obviously, this summer is gonna be a long one, it's gonna be a lot of big decisions made for the Pelicans. So, we want to hear what you guys have thoughts, thoughts on, and what you agree with, and what you don't. So, let's just jump into it. Joe Dom Dumars um makes his first hire, Troy Weaver, right as he a little bit past this time last year. That was his first big hire, and all so far this season um goes through, and for the most part, everything's untouched, season in, and everything changes. This is the most pivotal hire outside of Troy Weaver uh that he has made in this in his uh Pelicans debut. So after a long, long, long, long, long, long, long waiting, uh, the Pelicans have not had a true head coach since middle of the season, not even before the middle of the season. The Pelicans have hired Jamal Mosley, who was released from his uh duties uh with Orlando following their first round game seven loss to the Pistons, who also just lost. So let's just leave it there. Jamal Mosley is the name that everyone's been looking at, it's the name that the Pelicans have been most associated to, but most amount of time, even though he coached for another team for most of the for the entire season. What are your thoughts?

SPEAKER_01 4:22

Yeah, man. Uh listen, that Jamal Mosley is the guy that the Pelicans have had circle for a while. Uh, he's been uh a favorite of the of a lot of people in the the front office uh for a while. Uh so listen, I'll just get out in front of it. You know, not too long ago, I said that you know Jamal Mosley was not a coach that uh that I was interested in the Pelicans personally seeing you know uh be you know replace James Barrego uh as the interim head coach into full head coach. And part of it was because of some of the things that you know you had heard about the locker room and Orlando prior to their playoff series. Uh you know, and and part of it was you know, he he had a familiarity to him as far as like the coaching style, the way he, you know, the way he presents himself. And I've seen people call it Willie Green 2.0. It's it's not so much as Willie Green 2.0, whereas that he has some similar uh some similar characteristics towards him. Not he's not the same exact coach. Um, but I'll you know, my my first reaction is that this the players better get ready to be held accountable. I mean, this this guy who doesn't he doesn't play, and you can you can kind of saw see some of it play out in in in very ugly ways in the media um between him and Palo this past season. Um but when you talk about the the accountability and needing a voice to kind of come in and step in and and and kind of hold these guys' feet to the fire, um, you're not gonna get a lot of better answers in the NBA amongst like coaches and players, other you know, outside of Jamal Mosley and guys love him, you know, Luca Dodgers loved him. Superstars have have spoken well about his um you know his tenure as coaching or his his time with with star players. Um you know, but at the same time, there are there are questions gonna be coming into this, uh this you know his his tenure about his offensive philosophies. Obviously, the defense is there, uh, we'll get into it. But my first reaction is that I I would have preferred the Pelicans. Uh, if you're gonna you know step into a new uh you know, step into a new era with with Jeremiah Fears and Derrick Queen and um obviously you still have Zion and Trey there, um, you would have liked to see them give the an opportunity to maybe a new coach with a you know with a fresh face and not as much uh as much history that can be pulled upon. But at the same time, if this is the if this is you see this as an opportunity, I we we always say here on this podcast, only a Sith deals in absolutes. If this is a a team that the front office believes that, and they've been saying it over and over again, as much as people don't want to believe them that they believe that this roster can compete now, that they just need to uh you know mess with a a little bit here, mess with a little bit there, and maybe have a new voice and coaching in the in there, then Jamal Mosley is a is a is a fine coach to come in and and do that. He's you should you saw what he did with Orlando. Um, but at the same time, you know, he he has had his struggles, and so it'll be interesting to see where he takes this again very unique situation, very unique roster. Um, and what he does with it. It's gonna be interesting for me to see a defense first coach like that get as much as he could get out of guys like Jeremiah Fears and Derrick Queen and Zion and Trey, who have not had you know the best, the best track record as defenders, um, and see what he can do with that team. Um, but in all, I think this is a is a solid hire, and I think it's a it's a safe hire as far as where the floor can be for this team. Um, but as far as the ceiling goes, um, I'll be interested to see how how Jamal Moose can push that. How about what's your first reaction, R a lot to unpack.

SPEAKER_00 8:05

So so let's start with you know, obviously, his time in on Orlando, and let's start with how he was hired in the first place. Obviously, Joe Dumas has been in the league office, they've had relationships. You've seen this name connected to the Pelicans for quite some time, and it makes a lot of sense, right? To your point, you are going from a team that we've always talked about anytime the the Pelicans were matched up against the Magic. Man, this is a team that's also wing-driven. Man, this is also a team whose main superstar just wants to run through your throat. Like, man, this is a team that could be built very similar to the Pelicans, right? In a lot of ways. And so, right off the bat, you can see how it makes sense. But to your point, a lot of the difficulties in Orlando and a lot of the things that didn't go well in Orlando also have been the same things that have plagued the Pelicans as well. And so you look at that and you say, Man, why would you go make the same mistake with a with a similar type roster in terms of the best players and things like that? But let's take a step back on top of that. So, like, I like to see anytime you're doing a coach, no coach is gonna be perfect right away. I understand the name that was Dazzle Ryan. We talked about it on this on this podcast is Rajar Rondo. And everyone says, Well, why would you get a fresh voice? To your point, you've already seen what this guy can do. Why don't you see what a fresh face can do? Well, Joe Dumas also has a history of hiring first-time head coaches that didn't go well, right? And so it's not that I don't think he truly gave Rondo a chance, but I think that in the situation that the Pelicans are in right now, where we've talked about so many times before, they're in an interesting situation where you have two young guys going in their second year trying to take that next step. But you also have some guys that like are entering their prime and can really help you compete in a lot of ways. That's why they're in trade rumors all the time for every single player on the roster. And so you kind of need a floor to your point. The Pelicans' floor has been drafting in the top five or top eight, you know, in the last couple years. That's being the floor. It's almost impossible to jump steps and go from the floor of being bottom five to being like the pistons number one in the you kind of have to go through steps. And if you want to say it's a safe hire because it's a similar situation, it's in terms of just the styles of players and things like that, and you're taking an offensive roster and saying we need a defensive coach to fix it. I get it from some from men. So there's a couple things. I'll start with some of the things I like about the hire, and I like about his tenure. Some things that stood out to me that were different from Jamal Mosley than maybe Willie Green or James Morego or some of the names you've seen so far in the past, is he really, even though him and Paulo kind of hashed it out in the media in different ways, he really saw the growth and development in Paulo Baquero's game. Like you could see each year Palo getting better, and he empowered to give your best player the ball and let people play off the now. That can't be your only offense, and that can't be you what you do every single time. But you could see him double down on that. And like if you look at Paulo's game and you look at Zion's game, yeah, Paulo's probably a more diverse scorer, but Zion's a much more efficient scorer, but they both like to score in the same areas of the court. And so if you're gonna get a coach who's coming from one superstar that's similar, why not bring the guy who's coming from almost the exact identical type build from Duke University, number one, all of those things fall into play as well. And so I get that, and so I like the fact that he really dove into giving his best players the ball and kind of circulating and building offense off that. That's a floor to me. We just watched the Pelicans and the highest, you know, levels of Zions availability and all that stuff, and everyone was healthy for the most part, and like still watching it, even though they were competitive in games, you kept feel like something's missing, like the ceiling is missing every night, they're never gonna get there because, like, there's no like rhyme or rhythm to what they're doing. It's just like, hey, we're just gonna pass the ball around and see if someone's hot tonight. And and I just I just don't know if that's the best way of going about things. The other thing that kind of stands out to me that I liked about Jamal Mo Mosley is that they had an identity. How many times did Joe Dumars come in from the media multiple times before Willie Green was fired, once James Morego was hired, and say, What are we looking for? We're looking for someone who can make us compete every night and build an identity. Well, the magic when they first started with Jamal Mosley, were not a good defensive team, and over a two to three to four year, five-year span, they became one. And so I'm looking at a Pelicans team to again, yes, you don't have the Jonathan Isaac like random body type that can go all on the court, but is never on the court, stuff like you don't have some of those athletes that you do in Orlando, but I would argue there's another level to Jeremiah Fears' defense. I you and I have argued for a long time, there's another level to Zion's defense that I think he needs to get to. I think Trey Murphy has the athleticism to be sustainable on the defensive end, just not bad, not a great performer, but sustainable, like similar to Desmond Bain, right? Like Desmond Bain is not the biggest guy. Trey Murphy is 6'9 and can jump out the gym. There's no reason he shouldn't be better. And I think a lot of that is the mentality brought with how you coach and what you demand on a given night. And so I look at that piece and say he built an identity of defense. Joe Dumas comes from the bad boys' pistons that he both played on and he both was an executive for that are known for their defense. He says Sadiq Bey is the perfect player that we would like to embody and have other guys around that are tough for their defense, and so it's not a shocker to me that they went with a defensive-minded coach to help get these guys on par. What are some of the things that kind of stand out to you from Jamal Mosley's tenure that you liked? And then we'll get to the other stuff.

SPEAKER_01 14:10

Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I agree with everything you say. I think you know, having that identity, that defensive forward identity, um, like that's what I mean about it being safe. Like, you know, what Jamal Mosley is coming in, uh, and is going to preach, and what he's going to try to instill will be this team will defend every night, which is very similar to what Joe Dumar said. The exact with in his opening presser when he first got to New Orleans was that you're gonna come into New Orleans and this team is gonna play hard and this team is gonna defend. I will I will say that the Pelicans last season they played very hard, they did not defend, they did not defend, and so having a guy if if this team has already kind of self-matured into okay, we are going to play hard. Okay, so you had that instilled from James Marigo from Willie Green that the team is gonna play hard, whatever, whoever. Now you need the defending piece. I think Jamal Mosley can step in and do that well. Another thing that I think Jamal Mosley does well, um, and it it kind of goes apart to what you talked about is the development of younger players. Um, but I think part of that is his relationships to guys and his relationships with his staff. I think that is gonna be the next thing that the Pelicans, Joe Dumas, is gonna have to step in and do because we saw the development of Palo Like to talk about those those those stars, but there are guys like um like Anthony Black, who had a hell of a development this year, and it's credited to Jamal Mosley, but it's because Jamal Mosley was able to go get a guy like God Sham Guy from Dallas and bring him to Orlando, who Anthony Black has stepped in and said, Hey, did this guy has really come in and kind of help my development? I think that is one of the things that Jamal Mosley is great with, too, is relationships, whether it's good players, whether it's the uh guys across the you know the NBA landscape. I think that that is a positive to have, especially if if if you know if if Joe Dumar is gonna allow you know him to build his staff or have some kind of impact on his staff. I think he brings a level of credibility to that to that or uh you know to that position as far as the offense, I mean as as far as like assistance go and things like that. And I I what I what I mentioned the the first thing what I talked about earlier, like he is going to hold people accountable, like that is not going to be you know a question of if this guy's gonna do that. Now, he he also pours into the kind of a level of the bucket that that Zion was talking about about having a guy who has done it before. Jamal Mosley never played in the NBA, but he had a career in Colorado and he had a an overseas career, and he's been around the game long enough to where people respect him and respect his mind and things like that. I think giving him a five-year deal is interesting because if if if it works out where he plays, because we all know coaching deals, you could get the the biggest coaching deal in history in one year and then the next season get fired. We saw that with with Monty. Um, if he does play this five, you know, this five-year contract out, you're saying that this guy is is in charge of the development of Jeremiah Fairs, the development of Derrick Queen, and whoever other, um, you know, whoever the other the other team, you know, other young player that you have. And so, you know, if you're you're you're speaking that kind of power into his developmental skills, um, because this team again is still very young and it's gotten younger when you talk about Jeremiah Fears, Derek Queen, Michael Pv, those guys. Um, and so I think having that that kind of player development track, I think that that works out well, you know, for the team right now who is trying to teeter between the lines of having you know guys who are ready to contribute now, as well as having young guys in the wing who have proven, um, you know, proven that they can play at this level um in in certain aspects. Um I just think and and and again, here's my here's here's my turning point, and we can get into this. I think what I just talked about about his staff is going to be incredibly, incredibly important. And this is going into some of the things that some of the issues that you can see moving forward into this team. Um, because his offense just was not good. It just was not good, it has not been good. Now, to his you know, to you know, to give him some credit or to to to be fair to him, he hadn't had a lot of guys who could do some of the things that the Pelicans players can do offensively, right? They there hasn't been really a a Jeremiah Fears type of uh of spark offense, right? He hasn't had like a dis like a distinguished point guard um in DeJounte Murray, that kind of point guard there. He's had Jalen Suggs, he's had guys like that, but it's not the distinguished kind of point guard the way DeJounte Murray has shown capabilities to be. He hasn't had a guy like Trey Murphy up until you know they got Desmond Bain talking about a bomb, a bomber, that type of guy. Um, hasn't had that type of guy. Oh, he's got Trey Murphy, and really he's got Sadiq Bey now in that in that as well. Palo obviously, he has a similar thing in Zion, which you you talked about. Um, and then Franz also was really good as a second in command, but in a very different way that was similar to what Paolo did, which would get in the way, which makes you think about the Zion and Derek Queen kind of fit a little bit, but you know, again, staffing, we'll see. But but hit but your your record is your record, and your offense is your offense, your defense is your defense. The defense has been great. We've seen this team go through stretches where the offense just with all of the you would think talent available on the floor as far as offensive sign. When you talk about Zion and Trey, Derek Queen and Jeremiah Fears, and you just go down the list of guys who've been able to you know to score, like they they they just haven't been able, there've been stretches of times and games and months where they just haven't been able to unlock the offense in ways that they need to. Now, you saw a lot of you know the offense take a step forward with Jays Barrigo, but that's because that's the kind of coaching that he is, and so James uh uh uh Jamal Mosley is not that coach. And so if you come across a situation where this team uh you know where Jamal Mosley is trying to preach this defensive intensity and this defensive standard that he's holding, uh and you don't get that kind of results from the from the players, but you also don't have the offense to back it up or to make you know manufacture it, which you saw with James Barigo last season. That is what concerns me, is at that point, what happens at that point, and so again, there is there is positives to be seen. You talked about the uh the defensive identity, but also putting the ball in your best players' hands, and again, he's come from a situation where he's dealt with wing players who aren't the greatest shooters and still found success. It is in the Eastern Conference, and you cannot you you you have to you have to to speak that that has to be a part of the the the context. Um, but he did find success out of that, and so hopefully he he he's taken what he's learned and got back, you know, and and and is has kind of grown from it. Um, two weeks away from the job is not a long time to kind of sit back and think about some of the things. So this shows that the Pelicans really wanted Jamal Mosley. Um, but I do worry about what happens if the defense can't get to where he wants it to be, which is what we saw a little bit in Orlando. They had a slippish, they went from two to three to 10, 11 ish, and that offense never was able to keep it afloat because you know, through schematics and things. What happens if that happens with the Pelicans? Is the is the one thing that I worry about, uh, with Jamal Mosley.

SPEAKER_00 21:56

Well, I I I I think those are all really good points. I think the one that that Stands out to me for sure is there. I mean, there's two two ways of looking at this. You obviously are coming from a situation where you know um things didn't work out, had a really weird year after the organization went all in to go get Desmond Bain, um, and that was gonna be your team, and you were supposed to be the pistons of this season. That was supposed to be your trajectory. People were hurt now. He has a lot of experience with players being injured, so that is a plus walking into the New Orleans building. But you have a year where ever all the chips are stacked and you don't quite get the results, then people are like, Well, they're just a dead team walking, and then you go blow people out in the play-in, and then you go to the playoffs, and you are one Franz Wagner injury away from probably upsetting the one C. So you win three years. I'm not gonna discredit the things that he was able to do. Yes, there are some things that were blatant, and every time the Magic lost, it was obvious why they were losing. To your point, like the offense was just like hard to watch. And I think for a casual fan, the worst thing you can put in front of them is bad offense. Bad defense, okay, as long as you can score 150. I just watched Charlotte have a whole season of not playing no defense. But people are like, the Charlotte Hornets have arrived, then they get to the play and get smacked because they can't play defense, right? But people like that, right? But in the reverse, if you're playing good defense but you can never score, sometimes, especially to the casual fans, that is hard to watch, right? So it's more, it's more obvious when when that happens, and to your point, you're going from a gig that you just ended, you know, in a disappointing win. Uh oh, I'm switching tables and I'm going right back again. That's not a whole lot of topic to learn. But where I kind of lean on that is one, you should be learning all throughout. Like, if you're if you're in any profession and you're excelling at a job or you're taking the next step to the next job, you should always be looking for ways you can be better. I'm sure Jamal Mosley was not walking around like, yeah, everything is hunky door on the offensive end. We there's no ways we could give. I'm sure he recognizes the own flaws and his own system, his own tendencies, his own uh production so far. And so I'm sure Joe Dumar sees that as well. And so, to your point around the assistance and what do you put around you? Like, I'm gonna go to a football analogy. Sean Payton will score a ton of points, but until they were able to put defensive coordinators on the other side of him to be able to match his style of offense, the Saints weren't very good, right? They would just score a bunch of. I think it's very similar to basketball. If you're a defensive-minded coach, phenomenal. Do you get an offensive-minded guys to come in and institute their offense for you if that's not a strength of yours? Like that's part of leadership, is knowing where your flaws are and where your weaknesses are. And so I'm interested to see to your point how the coaching staff and assistant coaches staff is assembled based off the data and the information that you already know. So I couldn't agree more than now. To your point about the talent and and and the pieces around them, um, the magic were terrible on the three from the three-point, almost they were worse than the pelicans in some areas, like it very reminiscent to oh, throw it into your best player if they can't score at the rim, pass it out to someone and pray that they make it very, very similar in that way. But like, I couldn't agree with you more. And like this leads me into like some of the reasons why it might work. Like, if I look at the roster from top to bottom, yes, we talked about Zion and Palo play very similarly. Palo probably can does shoot, is more willing to shoot jumpers and stuff like that, but Zion is more efficient. If you want to put DeJounte and Franz like in the same category because they're both like all-star French all-star type player, okay. I think Trey Murphy and Desmond Bain are in very similar tiers of players, but then like after that, it's like okay, I think Sadiq Bey and you know Jalen Suggs are probably maybe similar tier, but I think Sadiq Bey is a much better offensive player. Okay, Wendell Carter and Ease Misi, like I think that Wendell probably has more to his game, but I think that ease has a higher ceiling just with what he's shown and shown at the end of last season, and the fact that he has age and like health on his side, unlike Wendell Carter. But then, like, after that, I love Anthony Black. Arkansas's fine and whooped. I see a lot of Anthony Black. Jeremiah Fears on a different planet offensively than Anthony Black. Like, they're they're just very different players, and I would much more lean to that side. Derrick Queen, I love Goga Bitanzo. Would love to see if if Jamal Mosley can bring him to New Orleans, right? That would be a great addition. Things like that. Derrick Queen, much higher ceiling offensively. Like, say what you want to say about Jordan Poole on the roster. He is better offensively than Javon Carter, Jamal Kane, Jace Richardson, Jed Howard. Like, that's that's what you're talking about. That's what Orlando was tasked with. And so, like, you look at that and you say, Okay, you give a defensive-minded coach going to a team that was adept at defense, right? Like, obviously, they were frisky in steals and blocks, and I think that's where they're gonna have to live. That's where the all the magic lived. They use their athleticism to their advantage, but they were frisky on the turnover. I think that's where they're gonna have to be, more so than I'm OKC and I'm shutting off the water from the get-go. I just think that's where they're gonna have to be. So if you take a defensive coach and you mold it on an office to roster, what can you bring to your point? Like, we talked about it before. No offense to the mild manner guys, because you need people like this in the world and female, you need people like that in the workplace, period, whether you're NBA coaching or whatever. But like, there's a difference when like you've got a challenger as the captain of your ship, like someone's that's gonna look you in the face and say, You're not being enough, Zion, you're not doing enough, Derek, you're not doing enough, and like not afraid, and not afraid's not the right word, but like it's just not their personality to be combative in that way. I think a part of that is good. I I think Paulo, who again, you've seen the the the growth and the development from Paulo, but he's always been wired a certain way, even from a younger age. I don't know if the the challenger type situation is necessarily what he appreciated, but I damn sure think Zion would be really good having a coach that is willing to call him out when it doesn't work.

SPEAKER_01 28:35

Yeah, yeah, no, I I agree a thousand percent. I appreciate everybody coming through uh uh today for the for the for the uh stream. So I that that part is the is super important to me, and I think layered on top of that, that challenger mindset, the bringing stuff out of people. I think what what with Jamal Mosley and Willie Green don't have in common is that yeah, he'll do that, he'll call you out and things, but he'll also give young players an opportunity to step in and and play, right? You talked about Jace, uh Jace Richardson and Jet Howard and those guys. Yeah, those guys didn't they haven't gotten on the floor and haven't played, but Jamal Kane was playing like in gay in the playoffs for you know for Orlando and stepping in and big shots. And the reason he was able to do that, and guys like Anthony Black were able to step in and do things, Tristan DeSilva, guys like that, they all got opportunities to play throughout the regular season, right? I saw Jed Howard on the floor. Maybe he didn't do enough to to to you know to garner more playing time, but I saw him on the floor, I saw uh Jace Richardson on the floor getting opportunities to play throughout the regular season. And I think coupling a guy who who is a challenger and demands the best out of you and will call you out if not, and coupling that with a guy who who will also give you an opportunity to do those things that he's challenging you to do to implement to you, um, I think that that that in of itself is a is a plus. And I think to you know, to what Joker is asking about um about getting on the floor, uh able to hit the floor running because the the teams are similar. I think those the teams having similar, you know, players who need opportunities to go out there. Jer, you know, Jeremiah Fields would be in his second year and Derek Queen, but they're both like really, really still young. Ease Misi is another one, Carlo Magnovich is another one, like guys who should be coming out um and and and getting opportunities to play, which we've seen in prior seasons. Guys just go missing from the rotation for for whatever reason. I don't think that that's gonna be a Jamal Mosley thing. I think he's he's a guy who's gonna give players opportunities to get on the floor and implement some of the things that he's calling you out for to see if you can if you can be better, um, and and and be better. And again, they they lost uh you know, they had a a bad season, they lost, you know, and they lost in the first round, but this he had this team up 3-1 against the number one C um and winning playoff games on the road, which is uh you know, only a dream that the the the Pelicans can can think of right now, and so just yeah, get to the playoffs exactly, and so I I think that is that is pluses in his side for sure. Uh, but I think his ability to to reach the young players um and to give them opportunities to play, I think that that could benefit a team of a bunch of young guys who have talent, um, who just need opportunities to get out there and play and to have a guy to hold them accountable when they make the same mistakes over and over again. Um, especially a guy who can call them out on the defensive side of the ball, right?

SPEAKER_00 31:44

I mean, again, I if you look at the the track, even James Moran, I don't think it's like obviously everyone has a little fire if you play in sports, period. But like I don't think he's like the in-your-face type guy either. So you like look at the track record, there wasn't an in the face type guy, except Stan Man Gundy. Like, that's the that's the only one, and Stan only lasted a year because they weren't ready to hear all that. Like, like, like, I think that in itself, to your point, and what we've talked about this offseason, like when you bring in guys like Jeremiah Fears and Derrick Queen, and you've got the GM saying, or the the the president, vice president of basketball saying we need to get tougher, things like that. I think it all starts with your captain, and I think at least having the the mentality or my hole is a change that I am willing to see just to see how it plays out. Because honestly, everybody's driven a little bit different, and everyone is why a little bit different. Some people need you to call them out versus the give them space and stuff like that, and so I'm I'm open to a different approach. I see some stuff in the comments like who do you want to bring to the step? Now, let me ask you this question. Obviously, everyone was honed in on Rondo is a big name, everybody recognizes that name. Period. He doesn't get this job. You haven't really seen his name linked to other coaching candidates right now. If Rondo's brought into the staff, and maybe some of the other guys you brought in, uh Darwin Ham, some of the other guys, Steve Hetzel, maybe he's the first assistant, whatever it may be. Obviously, there's gonna he might pull some guys from Orlando and stuff like that. Does that make you feel good? Like if you bring in some of those guys, does that kind of satisfy the fact that at least you have all those minds in the same building?

SPEAKER_01 33:28

Well, Jamal Mosley went from Dallas to Orlando, and so did uh God Sham God. So if you could get God Sham God to come to New Orleans and work with Jeremiah Fairs, Lord have mercy. Did I sign me up for that 1000? Call him up right now, tell him we got beignets waiting for him at the door, like whatever he wants. I if you could get him to come, but but yes, I I think that that's what I was that was what the the part I was talking about earlier about giving a little legitimacy to the to the head coaching position, very similar to what Stan, uh not Stan Van Gundy, but David Griffin did uh to the GM position for or the president of basketball operation position to of the Pelicans, right? People were like, Oh, that guy is going to that organization, right? Trade like so now you can get other guys to come in who have respectable, you know, you know, respectable, I guess, reputations across the league. Um, I think Jamal Mosley is is of that elk. I think you know he he's a fairly young uh coach, and I think that he has a lot of a lot of connections to a lot of guys um throughout the throughout the coaching tree. So I think you know, if you could get some of those guys, even some of those, like you talked about those guys that uh you interviewed with, if they you know want to move on from their positions. I know Rayon Rondo is on that buck staff, but Taylor Jenkins is now there, and so you don't know if that's something he would want. And I'm sure if you know if if it's either that or go and or go back to college or do something, if he wanted to remain in the NBA, if you offered him a position on the coach, I mean we just watched James Barrigo be there for however long, and then I've and then have a chance to step in and do you know do the head coaching position again. I think that that's that's an that that is a good that would be a good place to start to get some of those guys, but you but you have to nail Jokers is saying in the comments, you have to nail this staff because Jamal Mosley has shown you that he has some things that he can do really, really well. But again, the numbers are the numbers, the data is the data, your record is your record, the stats are the stats. His offensive, his offenses have not shown to be able uh to be uh you know high enough in a on a ranking or efficient enough or whatever the case is to be where you want this team to be, where this team's you know uh uh payroll, where this team's uh, you know, the players on this team where they all point you to where you should be. And so you have to nail this staff and get guys in there who can step into places and step into roles where Jamal Mosley is not the best at him. And I'm sure he again, like you talked about, I'm sure he knows that his offense was told every year after year after year in the bottom five, or you know, not getting higher than 19, celebrating, finish finishing in the top 20 because you've been under 20 the past four years, is not something that you're gonna be able to bring to a new job and expect things to change or expect things to be better for you. You're gonna have to step in and be malleable, bring in guys who have innovative offensive minds, uh, to help you with the offensive side. Because I do believe that the Pelicans can and should be better defensively than they were this season. I mean, they were what ranked 22nd, of course. There's there's no way to go, but uh, but I think they have guys if you look at this team between Herb Jones, between Zion, Trey Murphy, Ease Misi, Carlo Makovich, DeJounte Murphy. Like, you have average to plus defenders on this team. Um, and then obviously guys who can be in in passing lanes and and do other things, like Jeremiah Fears and Derrick Queen. Like, you have the ability. This this team should be better defensively. It's the offense that I that that I am I'm going to be watching, and I think it starts with the staff uh that you bring in to help um to help lift the the where Jamal Mosley might not be his best at.

SPEAKER_00 37:15

Right. I think you nailed it on the head, and we'll wrap this up because we'll we'll come back to you guys after the presser. It's not I think just your floor was raised, but to your point, there's just too many athletes on the Pelicans roster for every game. You'd be looking to say, How is that guy wide open at the rim after one pass? There's just too many of those, and the big biggest part, you know, again, shout out to Kevin Garnett, Uncun Jims. There would be moments or stretches where you're like, that's what the Pelicans defense should look like, but like the consistency was never there, even when they had their little run, like right before the all-star break, after the all-star break, like even within games, like the defense would like drop off the cliff and then like lock in for five minutes, stuff like that.

SPEAKER_01 38:03

No, no, look, and to that point, if you if you don't understand how like coaching can affect those things, right? You you say it's the same players. How could coaching stay? If I'm coaching a player and I tell you, hey, look, when you nail this rotation, that person behind you, you have to trust that person behind you to step up and nail his and help the helper. And if you know that your coach has been drilling into that to your head over and over and practice and practice, instead of you being lost on rotations, you know, okay, when I wrote nail this rotation, the person behind me is supposed to nail that rotation. I'm gonna trust that person because coaches told me, and we've gone through this over and over again. Whereas with the last season and seasons before, it would be well, if I nail this rotation, then I know I need to I need to go out there and run out and put that fire out, and then somewhere, yeah. And then that leaves guys wide open. Whereas if you're if you're coaching and you're you're coaching to nail rotations and and help the helper and make sure that you trust the person behind you, that is how coaching changes defensive schemes and defensive mentalities. Um, and that's how guys who aren't you know coming into the league as best defenders, nobody thought Paulo was a great defender coming out the league. Um, nobody thought you know Franz Wagner was a good defender. Like these guys weren't didn't come into the league as great defenders, but the scheme, the the system that you know that that Jamal Mosley and his team would and his assistants would put in allow those guys to be you know better defenders than they than they should be.

SPEAKER_00 39:32

Well, here's what I'll say I won't even discredit James Morigo or Willie Green or any other coach and say that they weren't practicing and teaching those same principles. But like we've talked about before, and where I agree with you, I think Jamal Mosley is different than Willie Green in that they're both player player coaches, but I think Jamal Mosley is more of an accountability coach than anything the Pelicans have had in the last uh six years, right? And since since then, he's not to your point of hey, I'm gonna teach you this, but if you mess it up on the court, you are coming sit on the bench because that's not what we do. And I don't think that the Pelicans have been there so far. I think it's been all right, they gotta work through it here versus like this is what we do, it is defense first, and the moment you mess it up, you got consequences to pay.

SPEAKER_01 40:21

Ain't no calling out. This I mean, ain't no calling up. This is calling out, yeah. Right, calling out calling up is gone, calling out is it.

SPEAKER_00 40:28

That's over, right? And I think you need a little bit of that, I think you need a lot of that to be honest with professional sports, but like I just think that those types of things will lend well. Now, look, if things don't work out, you'll know exactly why it worked out. The offense never got better. You saw exactly what you saw in Orlando, and exactly what you've been seeing in New Orleans past couple years. The to your point, the players don't buy in the defense first, these are a bunch of scorers like Jeremiah Fears, Derek, the Trey Murphy, these are guys who know how to get him up, and you're coming to Bills and said, Forget all that, this is what we're focused on. I can see that going two types of ways, and so the third part of this is like the way that this goes awry is if you have a similar situation with Paolo where the star player and the coach are not in lockstep, and so somebody's gotta go in in that scenario, and if that happens here with uh Jeremiah Fee and Derrick Queen, and to a lesser extent, Trey Murphy and Zion Williamson and things like that, things go awry. But look, I see in the comments who do you think benefits from this higher, you know, this could be a good situation. I don't think this is a the Pelicans were what fourth worst record in the league league last year, whatever it was, gave up the eighth pick. I don't think this is a well, if you fix the coach, everything works out, or if you just get off of Jordan Poole, everything works out, or if you change the way things are done with the assistant coaches, everything's working out, or if you change the jerseys, everything works out. I I don't think it's an or thing, I think it's an and thing. I think to your point, bringing in a coach who's known for their player development and accountability is something you need on a roster that needs to be held accountable and that needs to develop internally. So those two things play hand together. I think there was time for some changes around the organization and how they do things around the building, around the jerseys, around all the I think there was time for that. I think it's uh everything needs to be better next season, and it's not just the coaches. So I couldn't agree more with some of the stuff about bringing on the staff. I think you need to do better in that area, right? I think every area is is subject to be improved, so to speak. When you have a season like you just did with a mostly healthy roster, everything needs to change. So I'm really interested to see what Jamal Mosley has to say in his presser soon, and what's his mentality going into the situation? I'm sure he seems the similarities in the roster. I'm sure the reason why he got a five-year deal is he's like, if this doesn't work out, I want some time to be able to turn around. Look at the the proof is in the pudding that I've been able to do it to so far. So I need a longer contract. I'm sure all those things come to play as well. But as this thing continues to unfold, the Pelicans have a new coach, they have a new situation, they have a new mantra, they have a new leader, captain of the ship. Time will tell whether that ship gets directed in the right direction or not. But what you got left for the people, Garrick, as we wrap up.

SPEAKER_01 43:26

As always, you never know what people are going through. So give someone a smile a day. Listen, um, anytime you hire a coach, you know, whether it's Steve Kerr, uh Phil Jackson or Willie Green, it's a crapshoot, right? You never know, you know what's gonna happen. You know, obviously the Spurs have been and have Greg Popovich in charge of them. They haven't been, they weren't good after Tim Duncan. Pop retired, and then Miss Johnson stepped in, and then they draft Wimby, and now they're in the conference finals. So sometimes it's about luck, sometimes it's about you know nailing the coach at things. Like that, but if anything, the Pelicans have had some really awful luck up until this. I would say this summer. They got some good luck in the draft lottery with the pick going to eight. The basketball guys decided to smile on them. Um, unlike the the Pacers, which they did not, and so maybe this is the basketball guys smiling on the Pelicans, having a new coach come in who is about as accountability driven as the Pelicans have had in a long time. So maybe this changes everything, and you know, we'll see. So we'll be back to you well with you guys after the introduction presser to talk about some of the things that Jamose Jamal Mosley talks about. Until then, 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 New Orleans.basketball. Appreciate everybody coming through, and we'll see you all in the next one. Hey, Zenno, you know, then