August 16, 2025 • 36 mins
The 2025-2026 New Orleans Pelicans schedule is out! Radio analyst John DeShazier joins Jim Eichenhofer and Gus Kattengell to discuss what games stand out on the schedule.
The crew also gives their thoughts on how the team is viewed nationally and tackles the Pelicans curse narrative.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:05):
Welcome in to the New Orleans Pelicans Podcast, the official
podcast of your New Orleans Pelicans, a podcast dedicated to
everything you need to know about the squad.
Hear from players, coaches, broadcasters, and those who
cover the NBA on a daily basis. It's time to flock up.
(00:27):
The New Orleans Pelicans Podcaststarts right now.
Hello everyone, and welcome to the New Orleans Pelicans
Podcast, official podcast of your New Orleans Pelicans.
Jim, I can offer Gus, Cat and Gill with you.
The schedule is out. It's time to turn the page.
Mr. Jim, I can offer because that means now we actually look
(00:49):
forward to a new season. We look at the schedule.
We look at the tough parts, the easy parts, the fun parts.
All of that is coming up as Johnthe Shazer, radio analyst for
your New Orleans Pelicans will be joining us here as well.
Both of us along with him, we'regoing to look at the schedule is
totality. But first and foremost, man, I
love the fact that it's time to officially turn the page.
(01:13):
Yes, indeed, Gus. I mean, I'm looking forward to
forgetting last season, basically forgetting that ever
happened. I know there's going to be a lot
of reminders and unfortunately, you know, we're going, I'm sure
we're going to be referencing 21wins.
Hopefully throughout the season it'll be, you know, man, 21
wins. Look at how many wins they got
now. They're they're they've already
(01:35):
doubled their win total from last season.
But yeah, it's time to start fresh.
It's time to look ahead to the season and now that we have the
schedule, we actually have some kind of tangible reference point
in terms of October 22nd at Memphis's game number one.
We have 80 of the 82 games now. We know exactly the dates and
times for almost all of the schedule.
(01:55):
There'll be two games that are added in based on the the
results and outcomes of the NBA Cup.
But you're right, I mean, I'm, I'm looking forward to this and
it just feels a lot more real now that we have this on paper.
Yeah, no doubt. And obviously look, everyone
looks at schedules right now. They're they're just literally
dates and times on a piece of paper, right?
How the team is, is going to determine the parts of schedule
(02:17):
will you think are easier and harder as the season goes on.
And I think that's kind of the fun thing about it because as
we're going to get into the discussion with JD, there's been
a lot of movement in in the league.
There's been a lot of movement on the Pelicans.
There's new leadership as well. So I again, right now you look
at the sheet of paper, this could be hard as could be.
We don't know how it's going to be, but there's some things that
(02:39):
they'd stand out that we'll get in in a quick SEC.
But when you look at that schedule and you look at overall
what the league is sort of done,it is going to be interesting to
see how it all pans. Out you know, I want to
reference a tweet that I sent out a few days ago, which I
asked three questions that are related to the fact that the NBA
has a new broadcast deal right now and it's totally different
from what we've experienced. If you've been a fan of the NBA
(03:00):
for the last couple decades, youwill not recognize the way that
the national broadcast schedule is laid out this year.
And it this will be the case forthe next 11 seasons because
that's how long this deal goes for.
But I, I asked three questions. I asked how many Pelicans
national broadcast will the, will there be this season?
How the increase in NBA nationalgames affect tip offs here and
(03:21):
across the league? And does the increase mean more
national exposure for all teams or just the marquee teams?
So question #1 how many nationalbroadcast for the Pelicans?
The answer to that is 2. We'll talk about that a little
bit more later in the show. Question #2 how will the
increase in national games affect tip offs here and across
the league? Let's address here.
(03:41):
It actually has hardly impact any impact at all.
The Pelicans weekday weeknight home games will be at 7:00 PM.
Their weekend games will be at 6:00 PM.
There's only two exceptions to that for the entire home
schedule, and that is December 8th against San Antonio was a
game on Peacock. That game starts at 8:30.
And then on January 30th, there's a game on ESPN against
Memphis at 6:30. So it really didn't have much of
(04:04):
an impact, I thought, but that there would be some maybe a
Saturday afternoon game because Amazon has that as part of their
contract with the NBA. But really it it did not change
much in terms of, you know, whenthese Pelicans games at home are
going to be and just across the board as well.
And then third question, does the increase in national TV
games overall, is that going to mean more for the entire league
(04:29):
or just the marquee teams? And I actually think the answer
to that is actually both, because the the rule before was
that a team like the Lakers or the Knicks could only have a
maximum of of 28 national games.Now it's 34.
So there's four teams that have 34 games on the national deal.
On the other end of the spectrum, before you could have
(04:51):
actually have zero national TV games and now every team in the
league has at least two, at least 2.
So it's kind of it's meant that the teams that you're used to
seeing all the time are going tobe on national broadcast more,
but also the teams that don't get as much exposure.
Just to use one example, I thinkCharlotte maybe had zero
national TV last year. They have two this year, as is
the case for every team across the league that they have at
(05:13):
least two. I think the middle, upper middle
class, maybe if you want to callit that, of the NBA.
Maybe that's the biggest impact where you have some of these
teams that in the past might have gotten 12 to 15 national
games and this year they have 23to 25.
So it's a drastic increase. It went from about 165 to
national games to 250 ish. So I mean, you're talking about
(05:36):
a big jump and from night to night, you're going to have to,
it's not going to affect the Pelicans a ton because as we
said, there's just the two national games.
But across the league, you're going to have to really kind of
laser in on which games are on national, which games are on
league pass throughout the year.Yeah, no doubt.
And just just. And the Lakers have 84
nationally televised games, eventhough.
(05:56):
Somehow they fit that in. Well, they just replay some of
that. OK.
Yeah, OK. All of them are.
I do feel like that. But look, I think some of the
things too, when you look at that schedule, look, if you're a
West Coast, you have to have a late game.
So, right, there's only so many teams on the West.
That's a, you know what, Gus? That's a really good point in
terms of, you know, I, I talk about later in the podcast about
how teams that are kind of two teams that to me are kind of on
(06:19):
the same level of the predictions in the Western
Conference, Phoenix and Sacramento, they both have 9
national broadcast appearances and Pelicans have two.
I do think that the time zone the Pelicans are in does hurt
because some of the teams on theWest Coast do naturally get more
broadcast just because as you said, you have to have a second
game on these doubleheaders. And there's only, there's only
(06:40):
so many teams in the mountain time zone, in the Pacific Time
zone. So on average, if you're
Sacramento and you're the exact same team as New Orleans, on
average you will get more national broadcast just based on
the the that detail. Yep, no doubt.
I know. One of the things that I always
look forward to is how teams present and announce their new
schedules. The NFL has gotten really,
(07:00):
really popular about that. NBA has had some pretty good
ones. The Bells have had some fun ones
there as well. I think Urkel was part of last
year. Last year, yes, Urkel and CJ
McCollum, it was great. I, I wanted to say perception
can sometimes become a reality, but when it comes to, you know,
the health of New Orleans Pelicans, I'm sure while you're
(07:22):
at the gym or having lunch somewhere, somebody will come up
to you like Jim, the Pelicans are cursed.
I get that all the. Time.
Yep. So, well, the way to really
explain a lot of times that is. So what did you think of the
team deciding to embrace the curse?
And by the way, one of the things that you just reference
made reminded me that I my ratioof time at lunch to time at the
(07:45):
gym, I think it's a little off. It needs, I need to improve that
time at the gym, time at lunch, talking to people.
But no, I love the video. I thought it was great.
I mean, they've the video and social department have come up
with so many creative ideas the last few years that are just, I
think beyond what you expect. There's a lot of I didn't get to
watch a lot of the other schedule release videos, But to
(08:08):
me, this is this is peak creativity that they came up
with to to just play off of. You know, the fact that Dyson
Daniels mentioned that the he thinks the organization is
cursed. So it was hilarious.
I loved the acting by Trey Murphy and Herb Jones again,
above and beyond what you would expect from NBA player.
This is not their acting is not what they do, but I thought they
(08:29):
both did a great job with it. And by the way, too, I want to
challenge people listening to the podcast.
I saw I, I went yesterday to look at a couple different
websites, did rankings of the schedule, release videos.
So they, whoever put these out was able to watch all 30, I'm
assuming, and then rank them. And I saw CBS had the Pelicans
(08:49):
11th. Now, Gus, I did not get a chance
to watch many of if any of the other scheduled video releases
that other teams put out, but there's ten that were better
than the Pelicans. So the challenge I want to put
out to people is let me know on X who are the ones that were
were head and shoulders better than the Pelicans?
How did they end up 11th? Because to me, when I open, when
(09:10):
I clicked on that article, I wasthinking, OK, probably worst
case, they're probably going to be third or fourth because how
many concepts for videos could be could be funnier or more
entertaining than what they cameup with.
It's kind of reminiscent of a couple years ago when they did
the the piano video in in the practice facility with David
Griffin. I was like, this is this is a
this is elite like creativity and an idea.
(09:31):
So not sure how they ended up 11th or how they couldn't be in
the top, but maybe there's a bunch of videos I didn't see
that we're just like, you know, Tarantino level production.
I don't know, I'll have. I'll have to look black and
white. Right.
I'll have to look a little bit deeper to find that out.
Never know what go ahead. Jim asks for it at Jim under
score Eichenhofer And of course,you can always go see what we're
(09:53):
talking about by looking at the Pelicans on the website.
Any social media forum has it, but if it is on Twitter or X at
Pelicans NBA. All right, so let's step aside.
When we come back, John Deshazer, radio analyst for you
New Orleans Pelicans, joins us. We're going to delve into the
schedule. We're going to take a look at
all the different things. Is there a level of disrespect?
What can you do about it? And just trust me on this
(10:15):
deodorant. Just trust me on that.
You'll listen to New Orleans Pelicans.
Podcast, welcome back to New Orleans Pelicans podcast.
Jim, I can offer Gus, Kat and get with you as we welcome in
Mr. John De Caesar, analyst for your New Orleans Pelicans on the
radio side of things. JD, always good to see you.
Obviously, if you're here on thetable, that means the season is
here. The schedule is out.
We can't wait to get into it, but man, so many moves being
(10:37):
made in the offseason, not just New Orleans, but all of the
teams around the NBA. But as far as the Pelicans go,
what do you think of the offseason moves?
Well, first having me here is probably the best part of the
show. But obviously what you're
talking about the Pelicans, I assume you're talking about
Jordan Poole and Kevon Looney. Those are the big names that you
bring in. That comes at the expense of CJ
McCollum. Obviously with Jordan Poole that
(10:59):
that's Raiden, you know, poor I want for CJ.
That's what my guy. But you bring in a guy who has
some explosion. Jordan Poole, he can score in a
variety of ways. We saw that at Golden State when
he was at his best. He hadn't in his prime yet,
though. So he really could be a lot
better for the Pelicans. And he'll have to be because you
don't have the Jonty Murray early in the season.
So he'll take on that responsibility.
(11:21):
Kevon Looney brings in a veteranbig who can defend, probably not
much of A scoring threat. And really, I think a guy who
can probably mentor even easy a little bit, he's the guy who you
want him on the floor in clutch situations because he
understands how to play the game.
He understands how to defend. He's a really good rebound, or
at least he was a fantastic rebounder against the Pelicans.
(11:43):
So we want to see that for the Pelicans.
But you bring in those two guys and I think that's really the
crux of it. Of course, the deep Bay, you
want to get some some use out ofhim, obviously, because you're
going to need you're going to need all these guys early in the
season because again, you don't have Dejaunty Murray.
CJ McCollum is gone now. We don't know exactly the status
of Herb Jones and Trey Murphy right now.
(12:05):
We think they'll be ready, obviously.
And when they come back, they'regoing to be integral, integral
parts of what the Pelicans want to do.
But you make those additions based on looking forward and
saying, you know, what kind of pieces fit this team as you go
forward. Because I don't think this is a
team obviously that was satisfied with last season.
So how do you make the jump to get to the postseason?
Are these pieces going to help you do that?
(12:28):
And I think they feel like they will bringing in a veteran big
guy and Looney who's going to beavailable, who you know what
you're going to get out of. I think that's really helpful.
And again, I think Jordan Poole,we saw his first year in
Washington a couple years ago where a little skittish, but
last year he settled in a littlebit.
So maybe he's ready for that role because, yeah, he's
(12:49):
probably gonna have to come in, play a little bit of point
guard, maybe combination guard. But he's the guy who can put the
ball in the hoop and he can shoot it from deep and he can
play make. And so the Pelicans need that
kind of guy. You need a guy who was able to
create some things for himself and for his teammates, and I
think he can offer that. Yeah, I think coming off of 21
wins, you knew that they were wewere going to be moved.
There's no way that you were going to come back with the same
(13:10):
group of players. I think overall, you know, he
mentioned, you know, a couple ofthe veteran guys that have come
in and then the rookies obviously that they got in the
early part of the draft. I would say overall, I would
describe the combination of Moses as interesting.
And we're kind of we're in kind of wait and see mode in terms of
I think people understand that there's a lot of talent here,
but the question that they're going to have to resolve in
(13:31):
preseason and training camp is just how all the pieces fit
together. It seems like from a national
perspective, that's been one of the question marks about the
combination of players is, you know, how do the rookies fit in
terms of style of play, how to how to, you know, Jordan Poole,
there's a lot of guys that with offensive ability.
So how do you bring that all together and also become a
(13:52):
better defensive team compared to what happened last season?
Yeah, it's kind of a it's an interesting mix, let's put it
that way. And so you really want to see
how those guys do fit. You want to see how they play
together. But you also didn't see, I think
the Pelicans go out and say, OK,we need a specific guy for a
specific role as opposed to saying, you know, we got to get
players, we just got to get players and then we'll figure it
out, you know, and that's what coaching is about.
(14:14):
You figure out how guys fit. You want to get them on the
court and practice obviously andsee what the chemistry
combinations look like. But you want to get as many good
talented players as you possiblycan.
And then you figure it out from there.
And that's what I think that's what this organization
organization has to do. You can't just say, well, we
(14:34):
need a specific guy to do a specific thing.
You can do that when you're a playoff team, when you're really
good, but when your team is trying to get the come up, you
just get as many good guys as you can and see how they fit.
I heard people mentioning after the Derek Queen pick, for
example, how does he fit with Zion?
And to me, to your point, JD, it's like to me, there's 25
other questions that need to be answered first before you even
(14:55):
get to that part of it. So I think there's maybe a
little bit of overthinking in terms of trying to figure out
exactly how things are going to come together in June when the
draft happened or even in Augustas we speak now.
I think a lot of these questionswill be more determined during
training camp in October. Yeah, when you, when you put the
guys on the court, they figure it out for you.
(15:16):
You know, they'll they'll figureit out for you when you get the
combinations out there. And guys will kind of figure out
and understand the proper spacing, where the shots are
going to come from. You know, those kinds of things.
They sort themselves out when you get them on the court and
you get the chemistry and you let them kind of build it.
Yeah, you'll need some play calling and those kind of
things, but the coaches and the players figure out who fits
(15:38):
where and what combinations workbest.
Those are the little ingredientsto identity, right, To try to
figure out what kind of team you're going to be.
Yeah. I mean, this is something that I
think, I mean, the good news is that in a lot of areas there's
nowhere to go up from last season.
I mean, especially from an injury standpoint.
But also, I mean, this was one of the better defensive teams
the two previous years and then they had a huge drop off.
(16:00):
They finished 29th in defense. So I mean, in terms of the
identity, I think one of the first things on my list is just
re establish that you're one of the teams that you can't, you're
not going to go in there and putup 130 points the way that a lot
of teams did last season. And you help yourself with a
Kevon Looney. You certainly help yourself with
Herb Jones coming back because that's your that's the head of
the snake defensively. That's the guy who sets the
(16:22):
tone. So when you get him back healthy
and everybody says OK, if Herb'sdigging in, then I have to dig
in. We saw some instances last
season, limited minutes, but we saw some chances where Zion
Williamson really dug in defensively and concentrated and
showed, OK, he might not be a 40minute a Gamestopper, but four
or five possessions he can guard.
(16:44):
And so you need to get that mentality with him all the time.
And I think you have a little bit more of that when you get a
guy like Herb Jones on the court, because Herb is a great
individual defender, he's a great team defender.
And what everybody sees, what Herb is doing, I think it feeds
your team defensively. And I doubt we're going to get
into the meat potatoes of the schedule here in a quick SEC
after the next segment. But, Jim, is it because of the
(17:06):
lack of identity or maybe not knowing in the unknowns of the,
you know, the new roster, Jim, that judging by national media,
apparently the Pelicans will wintwo games.
I don't know if you knew that they're going to win two games.
No one's healthy. No one's going to play trade
everybody. It's so weird.
What do you think of the way I guess this team is being viewed
nationally? I mean, to be honest with you,
(17:27):
I'm a little bit astonished by how negative it's been, but I
understand, you know, when you win 21 games, a lot of national
media people just look at 21 and61 record.
They don't factor in that there were so many reasons behind
that. In terms of injuries.
It does feel like the 49 wins that they got two seasons ago,
people are acting like that was 15 years ago instead of, you
(17:47):
know, not that far in the in thepast.
But but yeah, it's, it's been, it's been unbelievable just how
it feels like you listen to somepeople and there's 15 different
items and they predict all 15 ofthem are going to be the worst
case scenario. Now, we did kind of experience
that a little bit last season. What could that happen two years
in a row? I I'm a little skeptical of
that. So, but it's, I mean, another
(18:09):
example I would use is I feel like to find positive national
coverage right now, you have to go to Kendrick Perkins.
So if we're at that point right now, then I think that says a
lot right there. Well, I'll say this, I
understand it. I'm not crazy about it, but I
understand it. It's something that the Pelicans
obviously can use as fuel. The thing is, and the beautiful
(18:31):
thing is, you can win your way into more national appearances.
You can win your way into that. And that's what the Pelicans
have to do. They have to show that they're
going to win. Because when you're talking
about 21 wins, I understand a lot of injuries, you don't
expect those things to happen again.
But your principal character is Zion Williamson and Zion
Williamson has played 214 games and six seasons.
(18:53):
So if you were the national media, you look and say it, OK,
is he going to be available? How often is he going to be
available in an 82 game season? Is he going to play 65 games or
he's going to play 40 games? Well, unfortunately, it's been
closer to the 40 than the 65 S base a lot of that stuff on
(19:13):
that. And the perception of this
organization is, you know, when you when you have changes like
that, when you when you trade CJMcCollum, who was the ultimate
professional, you think and you a guy, you're penciled out for
20 points a game. You say, OK, where's this
franchise going? What are they doing?
How are they getting better? And so I can see from an
exterior where people are saying, OK, why would we want to
(19:34):
have that team on national TV? But again, you fly to the radar.
Hopefully you use it as fuel because if you're a team that
looks at the schedule and you look at national appearances and
you see teams making 30 appearances on national TV and
you're making two and you're like, OK, we're in the NBA.
(19:54):
You should feel some level of disrespect.
You should feel some level of being overlooked and hopefully
that will be fuel for you. That's one of those things where
when a team, you know, you always hear guys when they win
game. Nobody believed in US well.
You're right. You're actually right.
So you can use that if you're the Pelicans, and hopefully they
will. The schedule comes out.
(20:16):
What are the first things that you guys look at JD?
Let's start with you. When you look at us at the 1st 8
to 10 games, is it the weekends?What's the first thing that you
look at I. Like the first ten, I mean,
because you want to get off to aquick start and you look at that
first ten and it's a briar patch.
It's it's difficult. We're talking about we're
(20:38):
talking on the 1st 10, seven of them are Rd. games and you got
Rogue and then included in that 10, you have games against
Memphis, Denver, Clippers, OKC, Dallas, San Antonio, which is on
the come up. All of those are Rd. games.
That's difficult because you're talking about a team that needs
to kind of get his legs under him.
Now think about the NBA is everybody's got a difficult
(21:01):
schedule. That's just the way it works.
But when you're talking about playing that level of
competition early in the season and a team that's got to gotten
off the slow starts, that's something you want to avoid.
You want to be able to build up as much equity as you possibly
can because they're going to be rough patches in the season.
You don't want that rough patch to be as you come out of the
gate and you're three and seven and now you're scrambling to get
(21:24):
to 500 when somebody else might be 8 and two and now you're
playing catch up early. Now you got to get into a Sprint
and you're playing and you're chasing the ball, chasing the
game the entire season. You want to be able to at least
come out of that, you know, hopefully 5 and 5-6 and four
where you have, you know, some stability to where you don't
have to. You know, you don't want the
(21:46):
negative perceptions that's going to go along that can that
can go along with starting slowly.
And that's what the Pelicans have to avoid because look, it's
been difficult around him for the last couple of years, or at
least the last year. When you're talking about 21
wins and you're talking about trying to re establish the
relationship between the franchise, the players and the
community, because you know, yougot people walking around
(22:08):
saying, you know, OK, it went 21games last year.
Do I really want to see this team?
Well, you have to give them something to want to see and
it's going to be difficult coming out of the gate, going to
be some entertaining opponents. Now, can you rise to that level
and meet that? Yeah.
I mean, that's the first thing Ilook at is always the beginning
part of the schedule, including the opening game, which is at
Memphis. It's kind of hard, I think, to
(22:30):
tangibly look at December, January.
It's just too far off in the future.
But like you said, JDI mean the way they start the season with
those 10 games, I do think that if they're five and five or six
and four, you're going to say, man, this is a really good
start. Because if you look at the
competition in the Road home split that you said where it's
seven of the 1st 10 are on the road, I think that'll be
(22:52):
encouraging if they can be really competitive at the start.
And it's also going to mean thatthey've beaten some really good
teams if they get off to even a 500 start through the 1st 10 or
so games. But I mean, partly to one of the
things that JD said, I mean, this team has had a lot of bad
starts. It's had years where they had to
dig out of a hole in the WesternConference.
You do not want to do that. Last year they were 5 and 25 on
(23:14):
Christmas. And it's that's insurmountable.
At the time you think, OK, well,there's still 50 something games
left in the season. But when you really look at it
in hindsight, it's like they hadno chance really to even get
back in the playing tournament. So I was hoping to see more
lower tier teams on the scheduleat the beginning part of the
year. But I mean, there's hardly any
lower T teams in the West. And also, this is a smell
(23:36):
detail, but with the NBA Cup thelast few years, there's more
Western Conference games at the beginning of the season than
there used to be. Because, for example, the
Pelicans have a game on Halloween at the Clippers.
So because they're at the Clippers that game, you have to
play a West Coast trip with multiple Western teams.
So you're not going to have the bottom of the East on your
schedule very much unless you get really lucky at the
beginning part of the season. So you Add all that stuff
(23:58):
together and teams in the West are going to know that it's
going to be difficult to get offto a good start, you know, as
long as the NBA Cup is in place and they put those games at the
beginning part of the season. That's a good point.
We've seen how competitive theseteams play in those games when
it comes to the Cup. So, you know, the Pells being in
Vegas just two seasons ago. Look, I agree with you.
(24:18):
I think when you look at the NBA, so many good teams with so
many good players, every games atough game.
But is there a tougher stretch in that schedule that kind of
just stands out to you ago? Oh boy, here we go, The
gauntlet. There's a stretch in January
leading over to February, January 16th to February the
6th. There's 11 games.
Nine of them are on the road. And we're talking as I read my
(24:41):
pad at Indy, at Houston, home against Detroit, at Memphis, at
San Antonio, at Oklahoma City, Memphis at home at Philly.
We don't know what Philly State is going to be by them.
Mabel Joel, Joel Embiid is back playing like an OVP by that at
Charlotte, which has not been the easiest play place for the
(25:02):
Pelicans to play at Milwaukee. Then at Minnesota, that's 11
games, nine of them on the road,8 against teams that, you know,
eight against playoff teams, playoff games.
And that's going to be really telling for this team early.
We talked about the beginning ofthe season and I think right
there in that stretch is a tough, tough way to go because
(25:23):
you're talking about 9 games on the road against really tough
opponents and it's going to be difficult.
It's going to be difficult. We'll we'll find out a lot about
this team. A.
Lot. Before we get to February,
because, because they can eitherbe completely out of it or right
in the thick of it. I mean, there won't be any, any
mix in there. They'll be either out of it or
(25:46):
right in it. And you hope, you hope, for
goodness sake, that they're in it.
You know, great minds think alike because I had exactly the
same thing in my notes I had down the second-half of January.
I think really the one of the most interesting parts of that
is we talked about earlier abouthow the beginning part of the
schedule is really difficult. The 1st 10 games or so.
There's almost an exact replica during that stretch in January
(26:07):
where they play at Memphis, at San Antonio, at OK C, which they
also do in the 1st 10 games of the season.
So if you enjoy the 1st 10 gamesof the season, there'll be
another stretch where you can get almost exactly the same
level of basketball. So, so yeah, I think the first
10 games and then the second part of January, as JD said into
February, those are the two mostdifficult stretches of the
(26:29):
season. Now and the flip side is if you
don't play well early in the season, which we certainly hope
the hill against will, you can make up some ground right here.
You can kind of atone for some of that beginning if you can
level it out right here. But again, it's so difficult
that's that's a gauntlet stretchwhere you play in some of the
best teams in the league and you're playing them in
repetitive fashion. So you got to bring your A game
(26:52):
pretty regularly. You can't just say, well, we're
tired tonight. You can't afford to be tired,
you know, And then you get into the situation of we hope
nobody's injured, so you know, what's your rotation going to
be. And if you're still trying to
kind of find yourself, if you'rethe Pelicans, you're playing
against teams that have established rotations that were
playoff teams. One of them with one obviously
(27:14):
won the championship of his playoff teams who understand who
their rotations are. So you kind of need to identify
what you are early, if you're the Pelicans, if you're going to
be competing against these teams.
Home Rd. is almost like a sub headline for me when I look at
this. When you look at before the
calendar year turns, lot more home games right then Rd. games.
And then JD, to your point once January comes, Jim, I feel like
(27:38):
you're on the road a lot. My toughest stretch is the end
of February into March. Leave Wednesday for Rd. game.
You probably don't come back to the following Sunday and it's
all West Coast games as well. There's a lot of white on that
schedule in the second after we've seen seasons where when
the Pells are in the playoffs and get that postseason run,
they either really good home team or Rd. game.
So if you're good on one or the other, you know, if you're a
(28:01):
good Rd. team, you're going to have probably a better good
second-half of the season. If you're a good home team, you
got a chance to get off to a couple of wins.
It's interesting, isn't it, whenyou look at Yeah.
You know, the interesting part about that six game road trip
that you mentioned is it starts with two games against Utah,
which if you look at the predictions across the league in
the summer, Utah's really the only team that's predicted
behind the Pelicans. In the West.
(28:22):
In a lot of cases, people have New Orleans 14th and then Utah
15th. However, the Pelicans have
struggled in Utah, in Salt Lake City for whatever reason.
So, so kind of on paper that looks like a like a decent start
to even though it's a six game trip, you're playing against a
team that may be the one team inthe West that people don't think
are going to compete for playing, but it is a place where
you haven't had a lot of good, good results.
(28:44):
Yeah, and you're basing that offof Utah's results from last
season when Utah was tanking. So is Utah going to be a
competitive team this year? Are they going to actually try
when you have marketing on your team, you got a chance, you got
some players. So you know, depends on Utah's
mindset for this season. Is Utah going to be going after
(29:07):
the number one pick or is Utah going to be the Utah from a
couple of seasons ago where theywere giving people fits?
So I think they're going to be back to trying to be that team.
And so now all of a sudden goingto Utah for back-to-back games,
which has been a historically difficult place to play anyway,
become much, much more difficultto win.
It's. Their favorite stretch that that
(29:28):
you kind of look at me like, hey, I kind of can't wait to see
this. Yeah, I think, I think we.
Briefly referenced this but after the 1st 10 games they
actually have 17 home games out of the next 22.
That's from mid November until December 29th.
They also have six games at homeout of seven wrapped around
Christmas. So which kind of ends that
(29:48):
stretch that I reference. So to have 17 home games, 5 Rd.
games over a long period of timeI think is very favorable.
Obviously, they have to take advantage of homecourted
homecourt way more than they didlast season where they didn't
win consistently. But I mean, to me that that's an
area where you have to win a bunch of games.
There is the NBA Cup in the middle part of that stretch.
(30:09):
So not to bore people, but it might not be exactly 17 home
games and five Rd. Games.
But overall, I mean that that's my favorite part of the season
because you're going to constantly get a chance to be in
the Smoothie King Center and seesome really entertaining games
and some interesting opponents. Great minds.
Great minds because because I picked basically December,
(30:31):
because the Pelicans will be home essentially the entire
month. Yeah, 11 games, 9:00 AM home
games in December and only one back-to-back.
And I mean, as Jim said, it's a good chance to see some great
basketball. But two, if you want to be a
good team in the NBA, I say thisevery year, if you want to be a
good team in the NBA, you got towin at home.
(30:51):
You got to establish wing at home because winning on the
road, it's difficult. Now, a couple of years ago, the
Pelicans were probably a better Rd. team than home team, but
that's an anomaly that doesn't happen.
That's just that just doesn't happen.
You have to establish at home and you got to have people
saying, you know what, and we'regoing to New Orleans, but it
ain't going to be easy. You, you want to establish that
(31:12):
and you want to give your fans something to hold on to, to
where they're going to say, you know what, it's December, it's
the holidays. But man, I won't go to the
Pelicans game because they're playing well, and especially
playing well at home. And so that's a chance to really
make up some ground, either makeup some ground or create some
space one way or the other, because you're at home so often
(31:32):
and you want to be able to establish that homecourt
advantage. I think people around here maybe
would be OK with not as many games around Christmas.
So you can kind of be around your family.
But I mean, from the team's perspective, for example, they
have games on the 26th and the 27th against Phoenix with the
state that Phoenix is in, you know, they just traded Kevin
Durant and they lost Bradley Beal.
Maybe they're not the same marquee team that they were a
(31:53):
couple years ago and they're not.
The animosity that Pelicans havefans have towards the Suns is
pretty much gone. We remember a couple of years
ago was high. But when you when you schedule
games during that stretch between Christmas and New
Year's, that's when people want to go to those games.
There's no school, people have time off.
So it works out really well for this is the second year or maybe
in the third year in a row that the Pelicans have had a lot of
(32:14):
home games right around Christmas or right after
Christmas. And those games draw big crowds.
So I mean, I think it might be something that you request every
year. It will give us as many home
games as we can because the building will be full during
that stretch. And the beauty is you get like a
double. You get Devin Booker, who brings
his family in from Mississippi. Devin Booker might score 40 or
(32:34):
50 and the Pells win the game because Devin Booker don't have
any help. So you get the best of both
worlds if you if you're the Pelicans.
So hopefully that's the situation where, again, you got
so many games at home, you can really, really make an identity
for yourself during that stretchif you play well.
Yeah, no doubt that we've heard head coach Willie Green say
especially they they, he loves that practice time.
(32:55):
And when you have a roster with a lot of new faces, that
practice time is going to help. So once you get out of October
here, November, December, you'regoing to have time to get that
together. When I think you do hit your
toughest stretch calendar year turns, you're on the road a lot.
All right, let's wrap it up. Look, JD kind of touched on it
already, Jim, two national games.
(33:16):
Does it matter to you? Are you upset or do you think
it's a big thing or like JD said, is it a motivating thing?
How do you look at? It I kind of like the way that
JD put it where you have to turnit into a positive.
I mean from an exposure standpoint, obviously it's not
good that only have two games innational broadcasts.
But I mean, you know, I'm going to turn try to turn this into a
positive as well here as we see here.
(33:36):
I have family who watches the games on League Pass in New York
State and they're upset a lot oftimes when the games are on ESPN
or TNT because on League Pass, they remove those games from
League Pass. You have to watch them on the
national broadcast carrier. So this year I'm not going to be
getting those calls of why aren't they on League Pass?
Why can't I watch Joel and Antonio?
(33:58):
So I mean, let's look at it as agood thing that we're going to
get to see a lot of local broadcasts across the country.
You want have to worry about signing on to Peacock and
Amazon. They have one game on Peacock,
they have 0 games on Amazon Prime.
So that's not a factor as well for fans.
I know there's people that were concerned about, OK, am I going
to have to subscribe to a bunch of different things to watch the
(34:19):
team this season? That won't be the case.
There's one game on ESPN. So I mean, I personally, I'm, I
won't say offended by it or feeldisrespected by it, but it is
interesting when you see, for example, Phoenix has nine games,
Sacramento has nine games and you look at it and you're like,
are they really that much above the Pelicans in the pecking
(34:40):
order or a different tier? So use it as motivation and and
reasons to prove people that youshould have more than two.
Yeah, motivation completely. And, and look, winning is the
best deodorant, OK, You win. And people have to take notice,
OK, they have to take notice. And even if they don't, you can
still use that as fuel and say, you know, we're winning and they
(35:01):
still don't want to put us on national TV.
Fine, we'll win some more. But when enough and people have
to take notice, national TV has to take notice.
They have to say, you know what,there's something going on in
New Orleans. They're winning games.
And they've got some marquee names on that roster.
They got some guys that people are familiar with that they
might want to see, and so that'swhat you're looking at.
If you're the Pelicans, you don't necessarily look at the
(35:23):
schedule. You just start winning, man.
Put your head down and win gamesand the rest will take care of
itself. I mean it, it always does, but
winning will cover for everything.
You win enough and people will put you on TV.
You'll be there. I.
Like that, that's the challenge for both you guys.
Jim, I can offer pelicans.com, John Deshazer on the radio side
of things as the analyst, deodorant, body spray, we're
(35:45):
going to roll on aerosol. How y'all work that into the the
coverage this year is what I'm going to be looking.
Forward to I'll figure out a way.
I'll figure out a way. This is getting a little
personal gospel. He said it, He said winning.
Winning's the best deodorant, nodoubt.
Well, look, we're. Excited.
October 22nd is when the Pells tip things off at Memphis and
then we're off and running. As always, we love these guys
(36:07):
and we love that you tune in notonly on the Gulf Coast Sports
Entertainment Network, but of course anywhere you get the
podcast. The New Orleans Pilot Kids
Podcast will be with you all season long for Jim, John, Gus,
thanks as always for tuning in to the New Orleans Pelicans
Podcast. Thanks for listening to the New
Orleans Pelicans podcast. Join us three times per week on
(36:28):
pelicans.com, the Pelicans mobile app, the iHeartRadio app,
or where you get your podcast. And be sure to give Jim and Gus
a follow on X and Jim under score I can offer and G Cap
under score 17. We'll see you next time right
here on the New Orleans PelicansPodcast.
Welcome in to the New Orleans Pelicans Podcast, the official
podcast of your New Orleans Pelicans, a podcast dedicated to
everything you need to know about the squad.
Hear from players, coaches, broadcasters, and those who
cover the NBA on a daily basis. It's time to flock up.
(00:27):
The New Orleans Pelicans Podcaststarts right now.
Hello everyone, and welcome to the New Orleans Pelicans
Podcast, official podcast of your New Orleans Pelicans.
Jim, I can offer Gus, Cat and Gill with you.
The schedule is out. It's time to turn the page.
Mr. Jim, I can offer because that means now we actually look
(00:49):
forward to a new season. We look at the schedule.
We look at the tough parts, the easy parts, the fun parts.
All of that is coming up as Johnthe Shazer, radio analyst for
your New Orleans Pelicans will be joining us here as well.
Both of us along with him, we'regoing to look at the schedule is
totality. But first and foremost, man, I
love the fact that it's time to officially turn the page.
(01:13):
Yes, indeed, Gus. I mean, I'm looking forward to
forgetting last season, basically forgetting that ever
happened. I know there's going to be a lot
of reminders and unfortunately, you know, we're going, I'm sure
we're going to be referencing 21wins.
Hopefully throughout the season it'll be, you know, man, 21
wins. Look at how many wins they got
now. They're they're they've already
(01:35):
doubled their win total from last season.
But yeah, it's time to start fresh.
It's time to look ahead to the season and now that we have the
schedule, we actually have some kind of tangible reference point
in terms of October 22nd at Memphis's game number one.
We have 80 of the 82 games now. We know exactly the dates and
times for almost all of the schedule.
(01:55):
There'll be two games that are added in based on the the
results and outcomes of the NBA Cup.
But you're right, I mean, I'm, I'm looking forward to this and
it just feels a lot more real now that we have this on paper.
Yeah, no doubt. And obviously look, everyone
looks at schedules right now. They're they're just literally
dates and times on a piece of paper, right?
How the team is, is going to determine the parts of schedule
(02:17):
will you think are easier and harder as the season goes on.
And I think that's kind of the fun thing about it because as
we're going to get into the discussion with JD, there's been
a lot of movement in in the league.
There's been a lot of movement on the Pelicans.
There's new leadership as well. So I again, right now you look
at the sheet of paper, this could be hard as could be.
We don't know how it's going to be, but there's some things that
(02:39):
they'd stand out that we'll get in in a quick SEC.
But when you look at that schedule and you look at overall
what the league is sort of done,it is going to be interesting to
see how it all pans. Out you know, I want to
reference a tweet that I sent out a few days ago, which I
asked three questions that are related to the fact that the NBA
has a new broadcast deal right now and it's totally different
from what we've experienced. If you've been a fan of the NBA
(03:00):
for the last couple decades, youwill not recognize the way that
the national broadcast schedule is laid out this year.
And it this will be the case forthe next 11 seasons because
that's how long this deal goes for.
But I, I asked three questions. I asked how many Pelicans
national broadcast will the, will there be this season?
How the increase in NBA nationalgames affect tip offs here and
(03:21):
across the league? And does the increase mean more
national exposure for all teams or just the marquee teams?
So question #1 how many nationalbroadcast for the Pelicans?
The answer to that is 2. We'll talk about that a little
bit more later in the show. Question #2 how will the
increase in national games affect tip offs here and across
the league? Let's address here.
(03:41):
It actually has hardly impact any impact at all.
The Pelicans weekday weeknight home games will be at 7:00 PM.
Their weekend games will be at 6:00 PM.
There's only two exceptions to that for the entire home
schedule, and that is December 8th against San Antonio was a
game on Peacock. That game starts at 8:30.
And then on January 30th, there's a game on ESPN against
Memphis at 6:30. So it really didn't have much of
(04:04):
an impact, I thought, but that there would be some maybe a
Saturday afternoon game because Amazon has that as part of their
contract with the NBA. But really it it did not change
much in terms of, you know, whenthese Pelicans games at home are
going to be and just across the board as well.
And then third question, does the increase in national TV
games overall, is that going to mean more for the entire league
(04:29):
or just the marquee teams? And I actually think the answer
to that is actually both, because the the rule before was
that a team like the Lakers or the Knicks could only have a
maximum of of 28 national games.Now it's 34.
So there's four teams that have 34 games on the national deal.
On the other end of the spectrum, before you could have
(04:51):
actually have zero national TV games and now every team in the
league has at least two, at least 2.
So it's kind of it's meant that the teams that you're used to
seeing all the time are going tobe on national broadcast more,
but also the teams that don't get as much exposure.
Just to use one example, I thinkCharlotte maybe had zero
national TV last year. They have two this year, as is
the case for every team across the league that they have at
(05:13):
least two. I think the middle, upper middle
class, maybe if you want to callit that, of the NBA.
Maybe that's the biggest impact where you have some of these
teams that in the past might have gotten 12 to 15 national
games and this year they have 23to 25.
So it's a drastic increase. It went from about 165 to
national games to 250 ish. So I mean, you're talking about
(05:36):
a big jump and from night to night, you're going to have to,
it's not going to affect the Pelicans a ton because as we
said, there's just the two national games.
But across the league, you're going to have to really kind of
laser in on which games are on national, which games are on
league pass throughout the year.Yeah, no doubt.
And just just. And the Lakers have 84
nationally televised games, eventhough.
(05:56):
Somehow they fit that in. Well, they just replay some of
that. OK.
Yeah, OK. All of them are.
I do feel like that. But look, I think some of the
things too, when you look at that schedule, look, if you're a
West Coast, you have to have a late game.
So, right, there's only so many teams on the West.
That's a, you know what, Gus? That's a really good point in
terms of, you know, I, I talk about later in the podcast about
how teams that are kind of two teams that to me are kind of on
(06:19):
the same level of the predictions in the Western
Conference, Phoenix and Sacramento, they both have 9
national broadcast appearances and Pelicans have two.
I do think that the time zone the Pelicans are in does hurt
because some of the teams on theWest Coast do naturally get more
broadcast just because as you said, you have to have a second
game on these doubleheaders. And there's only, there's only
(06:40):
so many teams in the mountain time zone, in the Pacific Time
zone. So on average, if you're
Sacramento and you're the exact same team as New Orleans, on
average you will get more national broadcast just based on
the the that detail. Yep, no doubt.
I know. One of the things that I always
look forward to is how teams present and announce their new
schedules. The NFL has gotten really,
(07:00):
really popular about that. NBA has had some pretty good
ones. The Bells have had some fun ones
there as well. I think Urkel was part of last
year. Last year, yes, Urkel and CJ
McCollum, it was great. I, I wanted to say perception
can sometimes become a reality, but when it comes to, you know,
the health of New Orleans Pelicans, I'm sure while you're
(07:22):
at the gym or having lunch somewhere, somebody will come up
to you like Jim, the Pelicans are cursed.
I get that all the. Time.
Yep. So, well, the way to really
explain a lot of times that is. So what did you think of the
team deciding to embrace the curse?
And by the way, one of the things that you just reference
made reminded me that I my ratioof time at lunch to time at the
(07:45):
gym, I think it's a little off. It needs, I need to improve that
time at the gym, time at lunch, talking to people.
But no, I love the video. I thought it was great.
I mean, they've the video and social department have come up
with so many creative ideas the last few years that are just, I
think beyond what you expect. There's a lot of I didn't get to
watch a lot of the other schedule release videos, But to
(08:08):
me, this is this is peak creativity that they came up
with to to just play off of. You know, the fact that Dyson
Daniels mentioned that the he thinks the organization is
cursed. So it was hilarious.
I loved the acting by Trey Murphy and Herb Jones again,
above and beyond what you would expect from NBA player.
This is not their acting is not what they do, but I thought they
(08:29):
both did a great job with it. And by the way, too, I want to
challenge people listening to the podcast.
I saw I, I went yesterday to look at a couple different
websites, did rankings of the schedule, release videos.
So they, whoever put these out was able to watch all 30, I'm
assuming, and then rank them. And I saw CBS had the Pelicans
(08:49):
11th. Now, Gus, I did not get a chance
to watch many of if any of the other scheduled video releases
that other teams put out, but there's ten that were better
than the Pelicans. So the challenge I want to put
out to people is let me know on X who are the ones that were
were head and shoulders better than the Pelicans?
How did they end up 11th? Because to me, when I open, when
(09:10):
I clicked on that article, I wasthinking, OK, probably worst
case, they're probably going to be third or fourth because how
many concepts for videos could be could be funnier or more
entertaining than what they cameup with.
It's kind of reminiscent of a couple years ago when they did
the the piano video in in the practice facility with David
Griffin. I was like, this is this is a
this is elite like creativity and an idea.
(09:31):
So not sure how they ended up 11th or how they couldn't be in
the top, but maybe there's a bunch of videos I didn't see
that we're just like, you know, Tarantino level production.
I don't know, I'll have. I'll have to look black and
white. Right.
I'll have to look a little bit deeper to find that out.
Never know what go ahead. Jim asks for it at Jim under
score Eichenhofer And of course,you can always go see what we're
(09:53):
talking about by looking at the Pelicans on the website.
Any social media forum has it, but if it is on Twitter or X at
Pelicans NBA. All right, so let's step aside.
When we come back, John Deshazer, radio analyst for you
New Orleans Pelicans, joins us. We're going to delve into the
schedule. We're going to take a look at
all the different things. Is there a level of disrespect?
What can you do about it? And just trust me on this
(10:15):
deodorant. Just trust me on that.
You'll listen to New Orleans Pelicans.
Podcast, welcome back to New Orleans Pelicans podcast.
Jim, I can offer Gus, Kat and get with you as we welcome in
Mr. John De Caesar, analyst for your New Orleans Pelicans on the
radio side of things. JD, always good to see you.
Obviously, if you're here on thetable, that means the season is
here. The schedule is out.
We can't wait to get into it, but man, so many moves being
(10:37):
made in the offseason, not just New Orleans, but all of the
teams around the NBA. But as far as the Pelicans go,
what do you think of the offseason moves?
Well, first having me here is probably the best part of the
show. But obviously what you're
talking about the Pelicans, I assume you're talking about
Jordan Poole and Kevon Looney. Those are the big names that you
bring in. That comes at the expense of CJ
McCollum. Obviously with Jordan Poole that
(10:59):
that's Raiden, you know, poor I want for CJ.
That's what my guy. But you bring in a guy who has
some explosion. Jordan Poole, he can score in a
variety of ways. We saw that at Golden State when
he was at his best. He hadn't in his prime yet,
though. So he really could be a lot
better for the Pelicans. And he'll have to be because you
don't have the Jonty Murray early in the season.
So he'll take on that responsibility.
(11:21):
Kevon Looney brings in a veteranbig who can defend, probably not
much of A scoring threat. And really, I think a guy who
can probably mentor even easy a little bit, he's the guy who you
want him on the floor in clutch situations because he
understands how to play the game.
He understands how to defend. He's a really good rebound, or
at least he was a fantastic rebounder against the Pelicans.
(11:43):
So we want to see that for the Pelicans.
But you bring in those two guys and I think that's really the
crux of it. Of course, the deep Bay, you
want to get some some use out ofhim, obviously, because you're
going to need you're going to need all these guys early in the
season because again, you don't have Dejaunty Murray.
CJ McCollum is gone now. We don't know exactly the status
of Herb Jones and Trey Murphy right now.
(12:05):
We think they'll be ready, obviously.
And when they come back, they'regoing to be integral, integral
parts of what the Pelicans want to do.
But you make those additions based on looking forward and
saying, you know, what kind of pieces fit this team as you go
forward. Because I don't think this is a
team obviously that was satisfied with last season.
So how do you make the jump to get to the postseason?
Are these pieces going to help you do that?
(12:28):
And I think they feel like they will bringing in a veteran big
guy and Looney who's going to beavailable, who you know what
you're going to get out of. I think that's really helpful.
And again, I think Jordan Poole,we saw his first year in
Washington a couple years ago where a little skittish, but
last year he settled in a littlebit.
So maybe he's ready for that role because, yeah, he's
(12:49):
probably gonna have to come in, play a little bit of point
guard, maybe combination guard. But he's the guy who can put the
ball in the hoop and he can shoot it from deep and he can
play make. And so the Pelicans need that
kind of guy. You need a guy who was able to
create some things for himself and for his teammates, and I
think he can offer that. Yeah, I think coming off of 21
wins, you knew that they were wewere going to be moved.
There's no way that you were going to come back with the same
(13:10):
group of players. I think overall, you know, he
mentioned, you know, a couple ofthe veteran guys that have come
in and then the rookies obviously that they got in the
early part of the draft. I would say overall, I would
describe the combination of Moses as interesting.
And we're kind of we're in kind of wait and see mode in terms of
I think people understand that there's a lot of talent here,
but the question that they're going to have to resolve in
(13:31):
preseason and training camp is just how all the pieces fit
together. It seems like from a national
perspective, that's been one of the question marks about the
combination of players is, you know, how do the rookies fit in
terms of style of play, how to how to, you know, Jordan Poole,
there's a lot of guys that with offensive ability.
So how do you bring that all together and also become a
(13:52):
better defensive team compared to what happened last season?
Yeah, it's kind of a it's an interesting mix, let's put it
that way. And so you really want to see
how those guys do fit. You want to see how they play
together. But you also didn't see, I think
the Pelicans go out and say, OK,we need a specific guy for a
specific role as opposed to saying, you know, we got to get
players, we just got to get players and then we'll figure it
out, you know, and that's what coaching is about.
(14:14):
You figure out how guys fit. You want to get them on the
court and practice obviously andsee what the chemistry
combinations look like. But you want to get as many good
talented players as you possiblycan.
And then you figure it out from there.
And that's what I think that's what this organization
organization has to do. You can't just say, well, we
(14:34):
need a specific guy to do a specific thing.
You can do that when you're a playoff team, when you're really
good, but when your team is trying to get the come up, you
just get as many good guys as you can and see how they fit.
I heard people mentioning after the Derek Queen pick, for
example, how does he fit with Zion?
And to me, to your point, JD, it's like to me, there's 25
other questions that need to be answered first before you even
(14:55):
get to that part of it. So I think there's maybe a
little bit of overthinking in terms of trying to figure out
exactly how things are going to come together in June when the
draft happened or even in Augustas we speak now.
I think a lot of these questionswill be more determined during
training camp in October. Yeah, when you, when you put the
guys on the court, they figure it out for you.
(15:16):
You know, they'll they'll figureit out for you when you get the
combinations out there. And guys will kind of figure out
and understand the proper spacing, where the shots are
going to come from. You know, those kinds of things.
They sort themselves out when you get them on the court and
you get the chemistry and you let them kind of build it.
Yeah, you'll need some play calling and those kind of
things, but the coaches and the players figure out who fits
(15:38):
where and what combinations workbest.
Those are the little ingredientsto identity, right, To try to
figure out what kind of team you're going to be.
Yeah. I mean, this is something that I
think, I mean, the good news is that in a lot of areas there's
nowhere to go up from last season.
I mean, especially from an injury standpoint.
But also, I mean, this was one of the better defensive teams
the two previous years and then they had a huge drop off.
(16:00):
They finished 29th in defense. So I mean, in terms of the
identity, I think one of the first things on my list is just
re establish that you're one of the teams that you can't, you're
not going to go in there and putup 130 points the way that a lot
of teams did last season. And you help yourself with a
Kevon Looney. You certainly help yourself with
Herb Jones coming back because that's your that's the head of
the snake defensively. That's the guy who sets the
(16:22):
tone. So when you get him back healthy
and everybody says OK, if Herb'sdigging in, then I have to dig
in. We saw some instances last
season, limited minutes, but we saw some chances where Zion
Williamson really dug in defensively and concentrated and
showed, OK, he might not be a 40minute a Gamestopper, but four
or five possessions he can guard.
(16:44):
And so you need to get that mentality with him all the time.
And I think you have a little bit more of that when you get a
guy like Herb Jones on the court, because Herb is a great
individual defender, he's a great team defender.
And what everybody sees, what Herb is doing, I think it feeds
your team defensively. And I doubt we're going to get
into the meat potatoes of the schedule here in a quick SEC
after the next segment. But, Jim, is it because of the
(17:06):
lack of identity or maybe not knowing in the unknowns of the,
you know, the new roster, Jim, that judging by national media,
apparently the Pelicans will wintwo games.
I don't know if you knew that they're going to win two games.
No one's healthy. No one's going to play trade
everybody. It's so weird.
What do you think of the way I guess this team is being viewed
nationally? I mean, to be honest with you,
(17:27):
I'm a little bit astonished by how negative it's been, but I
understand, you know, when you win 21 games, a lot of national
media people just look at 21 and61 record.
They don't factor in that there were so many reasons behind
that. In terms of injuries.
It does feel like the 49 wins that they got two seasons ago,
people are acting like that was 15 years ago instead of, you
(17:47):
know, not that far in the in thepast.
But but yeah, it's, it's been, it's been unbelievable just how
it feels like you listen to somepeople and there's 15 different
items and they predict all 15 ofthem are going to be the worst
case scenario. Now, we did kind of experience
that a little bit last season. What could that happen two years
in a row? I I'm a little skeptical of
that. So, but it's, I mean, another
(18:09):
example I would use is I feel like to find positive national
coverage right now, you have to go to Kendrick Perkins.
So if we're at that point right now, then I think that says a
lot right there. Well, I'll say this, I
understand it. I'm not crazy about it, but I
understand it. It's something that the Pelicans
obviously can use as fuel. The thing is, and the beautiful
(18:31):
thing is, you can win your way into more national appearances.
You can win your way into that. And that's what the Pelicans
have to do. They have to show that they're
going to win. Because when you're talking
about 21 wins, I understand a lot of injuries, you don't
expect those things to happen again.
But your principal character is Zion Williamson and Zion
Williamson has played 214 games and six seasons.
(18:53):
So if you were the national media, you look and say it, OK,
is he going to be available? How often is he going to be
available in an 82 game season? Is he going to play 65 games or
he's going to play 40 games? Well, unfortunately, it's been
closer to the 40 than the 65 S base a lot of that stuff on
(19:13):
that. And the perception of this
organization is, you know, when you when you have changes like
that, when you when you trade CJMcCollum, who was the ultimate
professional, you think and you a guy, you're penciled out for
20 points a game. You say, OK, where's this
franchise going? What are they doing?
How are they getting better? And so I can see from an
exterior where people are saying, OK, why would we want to
(19:34):
have that team on national TV? But again, you fly to the radar.
Hopefully you use it as fuel because if you're a team that
looks at the schedule and you look at national appearances and
you see teams making 30 appearances on national TV and
you're making two and you're like, OK, we're in the NBA.
(19:54):
You should feel some level of disrespect.
You should feel some level of being overlooked and hopefully
that will be fuel for you. That's one of those things where
when a team, you know, you always hear guys when they win
game. Nobody believed in US well.
You're right. You're actually right.
So you can use that if you're the Pelicans, and hopefully they
will. The schedule comes out.
(20:16):
What are the first things that you guys look at JD?
Let's start with you. When you look at us at the 1st 8
to 10 games, is it the weekends?What's the first thing that you
look at I. Like the first ten, I mean,
because you want to get off to aquick start and you look at that
first ten and it's a briar patch.
It's it's difficult. We're talking about we're
(20:38):
talking on the 1st 10, seven of them are Rd. games and you got
Rogue and then included in that 10, you have games against
Memphis, Denver, Clippers, OKC, Dallas, San Antonio, which is on
the come up. All of those are Rd. games.
That's difficult because you're talking about a team that needs
to kind of get his legs under him.
Now think about the NBA is everybody's got a difficult
(21:01):
schedule. That's just the way it works.
But when you're talking about playing that level of
competition early in the season and a team that's got to gotten
off the slow starts, that's something you want to avoid.
You want to be able to build up as much equity as you possibly
can because they're going to be rough patches in the season.
You don't want that rough patch to be as you come out of the
gate and you're three and seven and now you're scrambling to get
(21:24):
to 500 when somebody else might be 8 and two and now you're
playing catch up early. Now you got to get into a Sprint
and you're playing and you're chasing the ball, chasing the
game the entire season. You want to be able to at least
come out of that, you know, hopefully 5 and 5-6 and four
where you have, you know, some stability to where you don't
have to. You know, you don't want the
(21:46):
negative perceptions that's going to go along that can that
can go along with starting slowly.
And that's what the Pelicans have to avoid because look, it's
been difficult around him for the last couple of years, or at
least the last year. When you're talking about 21
wins and you're talking about trying to re establish the
relationship between the franchise, the players and the
community, because you know, yougot people walking around
(22:08):
saying, you know, OK, it went 21games last year.
Do I really want to see this team?
Well, you have to give them something to want to see and
it's going to be difficult coming out of the gate, going to
be some entertaining opponents. Now, can you rise to that level
and meet that? Yeah.
I mean, that's the first thing Ilook at is always the beginning
part of the schedule, including the opening game, which is at
Memphis. It's kind of hard, I think, to
(22:30):
tangibly look at December, January.
It's just too far off in the future.
But like you said, JDI mean the way they start the season with
those 10 games, I do think that if they're five and five or six
and four, you're going to say, man, this is a really good
start. Because if you look at the
competition in the Road home split that you said where it's
seven of the 1st 10 are on the road, I think that'll be
(22:52):
encouraging if they can be really competitive at the start.
And it's also going to mean thatthey've beaten some really good
teams if they get off to even a 500 start through the 1st 10 or
so games. But I mean, partly to one of the
things that JD said, I mean, this team has had a lot of bad
starts. It's had years where they had to
dig out of a hole in the WesternConference.
You do not want to do that. Last year they were 5 and 25 on
(23:14):
Christmas. And it's that's insurmountable.
At the time you think, OK, well,there's still 50 something games
left in the season. But when you really look at it
in hindsight, it's like they hadno chance really to even get
back in the playing tournament. So I was hoping to see more
lower tier teams on the scheduleat the beginning part of the
year. But I mean, there's hardly any
lower T teams in the West. And also, this is a smell
(23:36):
detail, but with the NBA Cup thelast few years, there's more
Western Conference games at the beginning of the season than
there used to be. Because, for example, the
Pelicans have a game on Halloween at the Clippers.
So because they're at the Clippers that game, you have to
play a West Coast trip with multiple Western teams.
So you're not going to have the bottom of the East on your
schedule very much unless you get really lucky at the
beginning part of the season. So you Add all that stuff
(23:58):
together and teams in the West are going to know that it's
going to be difficult to get offto a good start, you know, as
long as the NBA Cup is in place and they put those games at the
beginning part of the season. That's a good point.
We've seen how competitive theseteams play in those games when
it comes to the Cup. So, you know, the Pells being in
Vegas just two seasons ago. Look, I agree with you.
(24:18):
I think when you look at the NBA, so many good teams with so
many good players, every games atough game.
But is there a tougher stretch in that schedule that kind of
just stands out to you ago? Oh boy, here we go, The
gauntlet. There's a stretch in January
leading over to February, January 16th to February the
6th. There's 11 games.
Nine of them are on the road. And we're talking as I read my
(24:41):
pad at Indy, at Houston, home against Detroit, at Memphis, at
San Antonio, at Oklahoma City, Memphis at home at Philly.
We don't know what Philly State is going to be by them.
Mabel Joel, Joel Embiid is back playing like an OVP by that at
Charlotte, which has not been the easiest play place for the
(25:02):
Pelicans to play at Milwaukee. Then at Minnesota, that's 11
games, nine of them on the road,8 against teams that, you know,
eight against playoff teams, playoff games.
And that's going to be really telling for this team early.
We talked about the beginning ofthe season and I think right
there in that stretch is a tough, tough way to go because
(25:23):
you're talking about 9 games on the road against really tough
opponents and it's going to be difficult.
It's going to be difficult. We'll we'll find out a lot about
this team. A.
Lot. Before we get to February,
because, because they can eitherbe completely out of it or right
in the thick of it. I mean, there won't be any, any
mix in there. They'll be either out of it or
(25:46):
right in it. And you hope, you hope, for
goodness sake, that they're in it.
You know, great minds think alike because I had exactly the
same thing in my notes I had down the second-half of January.
I think really the one of the most interesting parts of that
is we talked about earlier abouthow the beginning part of the
schedule is really difficult. The 1st 10 games or so.
There's almost an exact replica during that stretch in January
(26:07):
where they play at Memphis, at San Antonio, at OK C, which they
also do in the 1st 10 games of the season.
So if you enjoy the 1st 10 gamesof the season, there'll be
another stretch where you can get almost exactly the same
level of basketball. So, so yeah, I think the first
10 games and then the second part of January, as JD said into
February, those are the two mostdifficult stretches of the
(26:29):
season. Now and the flip side is if you
don't play well early in the season, which we certainly hope
the hill against will, you can make up some ground right here.
You can kind of atone for some of that beginning if you can
level it out right here. But again, it's so difficult
that's that's a gauntlet stretchwhere you play in some of the
best teams in the league and you're playing them in
repetitive fashion. So you got to bring your A game
(26:52):
pretty regularly. You can't just say, well, we're
tired tonight. You can't afford to be tired,
you know, And then you get into the situation of we hope
nobody's injured, so you know, what's your rotation going to
be. And if you're still trying to
kind of find yourself, if you'rethe Pelicans, you're playing
against teams that have established rotations that were
playoff teams. One of them with one obviously
(27:14):
won the championship of his playoff teams who understand who
their rotations are. So you kind of need to identify
what you are early, if you're the Pelicans, if you're going to
be competing against these teams.
Home Rd. is almost like a sub headline for me when I look at
this. When you look at before the
calendar year turns, lot more home games right then Rd. games.
And then JD, to your point once January comes, Jim, I feel like
(27:38):
you're on the road a lot. My toughest stretch is the end
of February into March. Leave Wednesday for Rd. game.
You probably don't come back to the following Sunday and it's
all West Coast games as well. There's a lot of white on that
schedule in the second after we've seen seasons where when
the Pells are in the playoffs and get that postseason run,
they either really good home team or Rd. game.
So if you're good on one or the other, you know, if you're a
(28:01):
good Rd. team, you're going to have probably a better good
second-half of the season. If you're a good home team, you
got a chance to get off to a couple of wins.
It's interesting, isn't it, whenyou look at Yeah.
You know, the interesting part about that six game road trip
that you mentioned is it starts with two games against Utah,
which if you look at the predictions across the league in
the summer, Utah's really the only team that's predicted
behind the Pelicans. In the West.
(28:22):
In a lot of cases, people have New Orleans 14th and then Utah
15th. However, the Pelicans have
struggled in Utah, in Salt Lake City for whatever reason.
So, so kind of on paper that looks like a like a decent start
to even though it's a six game trip, you're playing against a
team that may be the one team inthe West that people don't think
are going to compete for playing, but it is a place where
you haven't had a lot of good, good results.
(28:44):
Yeah, and you're basing that offof Utah's results from last
season when Utah was tanking. So is Utah going to be a
competitive team this year? Are they going to actually try
when you have marketing on your team, you got a chance, you got
some players. So you know, depends on Utah's
mindset for this season. Is Utah going to be going after
(29:07):
the number one pick or is Utah going to be the Utah from a
couple of seasons ago where theywere giving people fits?
So I think they're going to be back to trying to be that team.
And so now all of a sudden goingto Utah for back-to-back games,
which has been a historically difficult place to play anyway,
become much, much more difficultto win.
It's. Their favorite stretch that that
(29:28):
you kind of look at me like, hey, I kind of can't wait to see
this. Yeah, I think, I think we.
Briefly referenced this but after the 1st 10 games they
actually have 17 home games out of the next 22.
That's from mid November until December 29th.
They also have six games at homeout of seven wrapped around
Christmas. So which kind of ends that
(29:48):
stretch that I reference. So to have 17 home games, 5 Rd.
games over a long period of timeI think is very favorable.
Obviously, they have to take advantage of homecourted
homecourt way more than they didlast season where they didn't
win consistently. But I mean, to me that that's an
area where you have to win a bunch of games.
There is the NBA Cup in the middle part of that stretch.
(30:09):
So not to bore people, but it might not be exactly 17 home
games and five Rd. Games.
But overall, I mean that that's my favorite part of the season
because you're going to constantly get a chance to be in
the Smoothie King Center and seesome really entertaining games
and some interesting opponents. Great minds.
Great minds because because I picked basically December,
(30:31):
because the Pelicans will be home essentially the entire
month. Yeah, 11 games, 9:00 AM home
games in December and only one back-to-back.
And I mean, as Jim said, it's a good chance to see some great
basketball. But two, if you want to be a
good team in the NBA, I say thisevery year, if you want to be a
good team in the NBA, you got towin at home.
(30:51):
You got to establish wing at home because winning on the
road, it's difficult. Now, a couple of years ago, the
Pelicans were probably a better Rd. team than home team, but
that's an anomaly that doesn't happen.
That's just that just doesn't happen.
You have to establish at home and you got to have people
saying, you know what, and we'regoing to New Orleans, but it
ain't going to be easy. You, you want to establish that
(31:12):
and you want to give your fans something to hold on to, to
where they're going to say, you know what, it's December, it's
the holidays. But man, I won't go to the
Pelicans game because they're playing well, and especially
playing well at home. And so that's a chance to really
make up some ground, either makeup some ground or create some
space one way or the other, because you're at home so often
(31:32):
and you want to be able to establish that homecourt
advantage. I think people around here maybe
would be OK with not as many games around Christmas.
So you can kind of be around your family.
But I mean, from the team's perspective, for example, they
have games on the 26th and the 27th against Phoenix with the
state that Phoenix is in, you know, they just traded Kevin
Durant and they lost Bradley Beal.
Maybe they're not the same marquee team that they were a
(31:53):
couple years ago and they're not.
The animosity that Pelicans havefans have towards the Suns is
pretty much gone. We remember a couple of years
ago was high. But when you when you schedule
games during that stretch between Christmas and New
Year's, that's when people want to go to those games.
There's no school, people have time off.
So it works out really well for this is the second year or maybe
in the third year in a row that the Pelicans have had a lot of
(32:14):
home games right around Christmas or right after
Christmas. And those games draw big crowds.
So I mean, I think it might be something that you request every
year. It will give us as many home
games as we can because the building will be full during
that stretch. And the beauty is you get like a
double. You get Devin Booker, who brings
his family in from Mississippi. Devin Booker might score 40 or
(32:34):
50 and the Pells win the game because Devin Booker don't have
any help. So you get the best of both
worlds if you if you're the Pelicans.
So hopefully that's the situation where, again, you got
so many games at home, you can really, really make an identity
for yourself during that stretchif you play well.
Yeah, no doubt that we've heard head coach Willie Green say
especially they they, he loves that practice time.
(32:55):
And when you have a roster with a lot of new faces, that
practice time is going to help. So once you get out of October
here, November, December, you'regoing to have time to get that
together. When I think you do hit your
toughest stretch calendar year turns, you're on the road a lot.
All right, let's wrap it up. Look, JD kind of touched on it
already, Jim, two national games.
(33:16):
Does it matter to you? Are you upset or do you think
it's a big thing or like JD said, is it a motivating thing?
How do you look at? It I kind of like the way that
JD put it where you have to turnit into a positive.
I mean from an exposure standpoint, obviously it's not
good that only have two games innational broadcasts.
But I mean, you know, I'm going to turn try to turn this into a
positive as well here as we see here.
(33:36):
I have family who watches the games on League Pass in New York
State and they're upset a lot oftimes when the games are on ESPN
or TNT because on League Pass, they remove those games from
League Pass. You have to watch them on the
national broadcast carrier. So this year I'm not going to be
getting those calls of why aren't they on League Pass?
Why can't I watch Joel and Antonio?
(33:58):
So I mean, let's look at it as agood thing that we're going to
get to see a lot of local broadcasts across the country.
You want have to worry about signing on to Peacock and
Amazon. They have one game on Peacock,
they have 0 games on Amazon Prime.
So that's not a factor as well for fans.
I know there's people that were concerned about, OK, am I going
to have to subscribe to a bunch of different things to watch the
(34:19):
team this season? That won't be the case.
There's one game on ESPN. So I mean, I personally, I'm, I
won't say offended by it or feeldisrespected by it, but it is
interesting when you see, for example, Phoenix has nine games,
Sacramento has nine games and you look at it and you're like,
are they really that much above the Pelicans in the pecking
(34:40):
order or a different tier? So use it as motivation and and
reasons to prove people that youshould have more than two.
Yeah, motivation completely. And, and look, winning is the
best deodorant, OK, You win. And people have to take notice,
OK, they have to take notice. And even if they don't, you can
still use that as fuel and say, you know, we're winning and they
(35:01):
still don't want to put us on national TV.
Fine, we'll win some more. But when enough and people have
to take notice, national TV has to take notice.
They have to say, you know what,there's something going on in
New Orleans. They're winning games.
And they've got some marquee names on that roster.
They got some guys that people are familiar with that they
might want to see, and so that'swhat you're looking at.
If you're the Pelicans, you don't necessarily look at the
(35:23):
schedule. You just start winning, man.
Put your head down and win gamesand the rest will take care of
itself. I mean it, it always does, but
winning will cover for everything.
You win enough and people will put you on TV.
You'll be there. I.
Like that, that's the challenge for both you guys.
Jim, I can offer pelicans.com, John Deshazer on the radio side
of things as the analyst, deodorant, body spray, we're
(35:45):
going to roll on aerosol. How y'all work that into the the
coverage this year is what I'm going to be looking.
Forward to I'll figure out a way.
I'll figure out a way. This is getting a little
personal gospel. He said it, He said winning.
Winning's the best deodorant, nodoubt.
Well, look, we're. Excited.
October 22nd is when the Pells tip things off at Memphis and
then we're off and running. As always, we love these guys
(36:07):
and we love that you tune in notonly on the Gulf Coast Sports
Entertainment Network, but of course anywhere you get the
podcast. The New Orleans Pilot Kids
Podcast will be with you all season long for Jim, John, Gus,
thanks as always for tuning in to the New Orleans Pelicans
Podcast. Thanks for listening to the New
Orleans Pelicans podcast. Join us three times per week on
(36:28):
pelicans.com, the Pelicans mobile app, the iHeartRadio app,
or where you get your podcast. And be sure to give Jim and Gus
a follow on X and Jim under score I can offer and G Cap
under score 17. We'll see you next time right
here on the New Orleans PelicansPodcast.
Host
Jim Eichenhofer
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