May 5, 2025 • 30 mins
Pelicans TV Studio Analyst Wes Johnson joins Jim Eichenhofer and Gus Kattengell on the New Orleans Pelicans Podcast to recap Brandon Boston's 2024-25 NBA season.
"(I told Boston), ‘There is no better chance for you to prove yourself, go out there and show why you belong in this league.’ He was thrown into the fire. (He) was asked to go out there and produce. You saw the development and maturity of a young man coming from not getting a chance (with the Clippers), to getting a chance here, showing why he should be on the floor.’ ” – Pelicans TV studio analyst Wes Johnson on Boston; Johnson was a player-development coach for Boston in Los Angeles
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (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 here from players, coaches, broadcasters,
and those who cover the NBA on a daily basis.
It's time to flock up. The New Orleans Pelicans podcast
(00:29):
starts right now.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Hello boy, and welcome to the New Orleans Pelicans Podcast.
If it's a podcast of your New Orleans Pelicans, mister
Jim Ikenhofferpelicans dot com, I'm going to kat and go
with you for another week, Jim, one week to go
into the NBA Draft lottery. As we record this podcast
on Monday, May fifth, are better known as Sinkle to
my own. You can notice that we don't rehearse this anyway.
(00:59):
Look looking forward to a lot of going on to
here because the first round's done right the NBA playoffs,
he got a couple of Game sevens that we had
to deal with. Game two, Round twos are coming up.
We'll get your takes on that. But as we continue
our player profiles, we've looked at starters, we've started looking
at reserves here as well. And this week, what are
(01:20):
we doing a little bit different. This week is going
to be a kind of a combination. We're gonna have
Brandon Boston today on Monday's episode, and then we're gonna
have three rookies. We're going to have If mecI on Tuesday,
Carlo Makovic on Wednesday, and then Antonio Reees on Thursday.
You know, Gus, we don't want to leave you empty
handed on Friday, so we're gonna have a preview of
the draft lottery. We're gonna have a round table with
(01:42):
John de Chazer and Todd Graffanini, So we're gonna kind
of look around look ahead to the lottery, which is
a week from today on May twelfth. We're gonna have
a little bit of fun talking about some different topics
that are related to the lottery. We're gonna ask the
gentlemen for their thoughts, maybe some ideas on tweaks that
they want to make to the in the future, and
that kind of thing. So this is week three of
(02:04):
our player reviews. Some said that they would never come
to an end, but they will this week. This will
be the eleventh through the fourteenth, Monday through Thursday, and
then we'll wrap things up Friday with a preview, and
by the way, I also we'll have a written preview
of the lottery. I'm going to try to delve into
some different topics and kind of focus a little bit
on in twenty nineteen the format changed, so I'm going
(02:26):
to kind of look at some of what's happened in
the last six lotteries, this one next Monday being the seventh,
in terms of they flatten.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
The odds, it's it's a little bit more likely for
you to come from a lower spot and win the lottery,
and and just kind of look at some of those topics.
So that's what we're looking at for this week Monday
through Friday.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
And as a quick, quick, quick, quick quick review. Pals
right now currently where with the win loss record fourth
right there stands what I.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Like to call is the pre lottery slot.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
There it is.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
You don't want to say fourth because then people are like, wait,
do they pick fourth? They're going to go into the
lottery at the number four slot? They have the fourth
best odds of winning it. That's twelve point five percent.
We're going to get into a lot more of those
numbers and some of the percentages and so on and
so forth. In Friday's episode. But yeah, there's three teams
ahead of them on the ladder as they enter the lottery,
(03:18):
which is May twelfth in Chicago.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
All right, easy enough to look at it. When we
get to Friday, will get you all that information and
get you ready for that. In the meantime, television analyst
Wes Johnson takes a look at Brandon Boston, which is
an interesting player, Jim when you look at just how
he got here and really his significance important, and he
was also hit with the injury bugs. Yeah, you're fortunate
unfortunately he was.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
And I think he's one of those guys too that
I mean, so much time has passed since the chunk
of the year where he played a lot, it's easy
to forget how much he was on the court at
the beginning part of the season. So I mean in
the first half of the season, he was really one
of the handful of guys that we saw the most
and played the most minutes. Unfortunately, after February he was
in and did we didn'tet to see him in the
(04:01):
second half of the season, but but yeah, he was.
He was a very important factor in what the team
did in the first few months of the season and
got by far the best opportunity of his career so far.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
And the beauty of why I wanted the reasons we
wanted Wes Johnson to talk to him about him. Knows
him personally and knows really the journey and a lot
of the storylines maybe to be written here in the
off season, So let's get to it. Wes Johnson with
the Golf Coast Sports Entertainment Network analyst on Brandon Boston.
All right, welcome back, mister Wes Johnson, analyst for the
(04:34):
Golf Coast Sports and Entertainment Network. Here as we move
on to Brandon Boston. We spoke about Bruce Brown, veteran
player coming onto this team in the trade for Brandon Ingram.
He has certain things because, like you were saying, his resumes, credentials,
his game, you know, skins, the wall, whatever you want
to use that he can provide to young players and stuff.
(04:56):
When you have a season like this, you need those
guys to you know, there's light at the end of
the tunnel work right now for next year. And I
think that's what you kind of reference when you talked
a little bit about him playing so well towards the
end of the season helping those other guys. You also
have an opportunity as a young guy to get that opportunity. Yes, look,
I can't think of another player that took a hold
(05:18):
of an opportunity. Yes, better than a brand in Boston
this year from the beginning of the season.
Speaker 4 (05:24):
To the end of the season. Huh right, I mean
for me, I seen him since his rookie year, and
so you have like a seeing his production, his growth
throughout his rookie year, developing year by year. And you
heard like, Okay, we wanted to get away from being
an ISO player, wanted to be three and D spot
(05:46):
up defense. I get it. I saw it. I heard
the rumblings of it. I was in those meetings trying
to fight for him this to get on the floor.
So universe has a way of being funny and it
works in a mysterious ways. So I was here, he
came here, and like you said, young guy and the
opportunity and having talks with him and seeing the opportunity
(06:07):
to present itself, and it's like, this is no better
chance for you to have a chance to prove yourself
and go out there and play and show people why
you belong in his league because you long night's talking
to you, long night's in the gym, shooting with you,
and now it's time for you to be yourself. So
seeing opportunity there, Yes, he was thrown into the fire.
(06:28):
You thought you were going to play with all the
players on the team, but no, you were asked could
go out there and produce. You were asked to go
out there and play point guard. You was asked to
go out there and do stuff that you would say
that they tried to get you to get away from,
but you were able to show that you would be
You can be productive by being yourself. So him being
(06:48):
a score, him having those big outbursts, him having those
deflection moments, those steals. So you saw the developing the
maturity of a young man coming from being drafted did
second round, not getting a chance, to getting a chance
here and showing why he should be on the floor
and me personally being by not being biased to just
(07:09):
say big brother moment of being happy for him because
I know he was struggling mentally of like trying to
be on the floor and show why he should be here.
And the Pelicans gave him a chance and he was
able to maximize it. And all the young players that
actually got on the floor maximize our opportunity. But for me,
talking about be Boston, it was a come to Jesus
(07:31):
moment basically, like you put all that work in, now
you're on the floor being able to be productive offensively
and defensively, something that people were having a knock on
you asking about, and you show why that you were
able to do both. And now we're talking about him
now possibly being able to continue to extend his career
in the NBA.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
You know you reference this.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
I mean, we should back up for a second and
I'll go pull back the curtain a little bit. There's
definite it's not a coincidence that we picked you to
be the guests for Ran and Boston because you had
time with the Clippers where you worked with him and
you did player development there, and so you have obviously
unique insight in terms of his development as a player.
You know, a lot of guys in the position that
he's in where this was his fourth season in the NBA.
(08:13):
His first three seasons he didn't get to play a
ton But it wasn't really a slight to him. It
was more that that team was loaded. Clippers had a
ton of wings. They had a ton of guys at
his position, a ton of guards. It was going to
be difficult to, you know, leapfrog some of the more
veteran guys with tons on their resume. But I think
a lot of players would say after the season they
had with New Orleans, I just needed opportunity and it's
(08:36):
just that. It's just that I got to play more
and therefore my production went up. But given how much
knowledge you have of him personally and working with him,
did you see was it more than that? Was it
more than just Okay, he got to play more. Did
you see you know, some development of off the core
or just his game maturing stuff that you had been
talking to him about that you kind of saw come
(08:57):
to fruition this season with him getting being on the floor.
Speaker 4 (09:00):
Yes, so development for me for watching him, I think
that the growth side for me was the defensive side.
I think the challenge was accepted for that because you,
as a young player like you either have that side
and start developing those habits. But he accepted it. I
was going to take on guard and the best player.
I was going to be in the right place at
(09:20):
the right time for the rotations, the body positioning for
a closeout. So me watching them, I was watching them
as a coach pd coach more so than just watching
the mask. Okay, he's on the floor, he's getting his opportunity.
So seeing that side and how he was able to
add that stuff from the years everybody was telling them
and you see him be able to do that offensively,
(09:44):
it was just that's his gift. He's able to score
the ball, he's able to do special things on that
end of the floor. But for me, defensively, that's when
I saw that maturity level and that growth start to
take a different step on that side. So that's why
I can say, like, yeah, that's that was a big
jump for me.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
I mean, you know, we could say this about a
lot of players on the Pelicans this season. From a
team standpoint, it was terrible that there were so many
guys that got hurt. But I think the not only
did Brandon get a chance to play, but he was
asked to do a ton during some of the stretches
where he was on the court. It wasn't like, okay,
when he was with the Clippers. It might have been
in some of the sporadic times he got to play
(10:23):
it was like, Okay, well, we need you to play
a little defense tonight, or we need you to play
offense and get some buckets. He's a really good isolation player,
but there were plenty of times this season with the
Pelicans where it was like, Okay, we need you to score.
We need you to maybe be one of our top scorers.
We also need you to defend the best player on
the other team if you can rebound, and maybe pass
(10:44):
and do myself some popcorn too.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
So I think all that stuff was good for him.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
But I want to give you a couple of statistics
based on his season, and these are two kind of
completely different aspects of the game, so I think they
might be interesting to you or or just people in general.
The first number is nineteen, which is he had nineteen
games in a row with one steal at that point
in the season. That was the longest active streak. Tyrese
(11:10):
Maxey at that stage had eighteen. So I think he
was Brandon was proud of the fact that, you know,
he wasn't known as a defensive guy necessarily, and then
all of a sudden he's leading the league in that
one kind of unique statistic. And then the second number
is actually a pair of numbers, but they kind of
the same theme. He shot thirty five percent from three
(11:30):
point range and forty eight point five on twos this season.
Both of those were career highs. So it was by
far the most efficient offensive season of his NBA career
if you look at it statistically in a bunch of
different ways. So which of those is the most interesting
to you? And maybe it's both defense those deflections.
Speaker 4 (11:50):
I think, like I said, he accepted that side. And
if you look at the value of somebody young, and
if he's able to play defense, you're going to be
on the floor any team, and him able to do that.
Like the offensive side, like I said, that's his gift.
He's able to score, he's able to shoot, he's able
to do that. Yeah, you can break down some stuff
(12:10):
that you want to critique and like scale back, but
the defensive side, he saw that I actually can do this.
I actually found a way where I can be effective
and disruptive on that side of the floor. So him
being able to see that and enjoy that side, that
for me stands out way more than the offensive side.
Speaker 3 (12:31):
Lastly, for me, I mean going forward, obviously the one
unfortunate thing is the injury bug also hit him as
well at the end of the season, and he missed
a chunk of games at the end of the year.
But I think the good thing is by that point
he had played more minutes than he'd ever played before,
He'd been in more games, had all of the challenges
and opportunities that he got by that point. But I mean,
(12:51):
going forward now, going into next season, what do you
think is some of the next steps you want to
see from him or just things that he improved upon
this season that you want to see him just making
even bigger jump in as we go forward.
Speaker 4 (13:04):
Yeah, I mean for all the young guys that was
got that opportunity to play all those minutes and especially
in all these games, I think basically just change your
body and on nutrition side, strength side, and you see
what's going to be demanded of you if you get
those type of minutes and those type of games, like
(13:24):
back to back to back, like leveling up, so adding
that and then really like taking a early a sweep
of the game that you've played throughout this entire season,
seeing how you were productive, seeing what you can get
better on. Like so him being able to see Okay,
the scoring, the shooting I wanted, like, Okay, I need
to figure out how I can take less dribbles to
(13:46):
get my shot off physically, how I can be able
to bang with those bigger guards, those bigger wings that
I was able to ask me to guard, so I
can still be able to be disruptive and take that
next step on being out there for more minutes. When
I happen, we have a full roster wherever it is,
if it's here, if it's anywhere. So this really just
(14:06):
taking this whole season, and then that's just the foundation
of growth for the summer to add to that so
next season you can be better.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
I think the thing along the line to what Gym's
asking there, that's so remarkable and it's so tough too, right,
because you're a young player, whether it's ten days or whatever,
just to get an opportunity, you got to show out, right,
So those few minutes you're not passing, right, you're trying
to shoot them. My point is you're trying to show
you belong on the floor, and sometimes I could lead
to maybe overdoing things, and then the season that happens
(14:39):
happens where now you're not just doing a few minutes.
Now you're asking to start. Now, Now you're starting. Now,
you're playing. Now, it's more minutes. Now you're on your
bigger contract, You're doing all the different aspects of it,
playing aspects of the game that maybe you weren't supposed
to do, so you're supposed to be went from a
role player to know now we need twenty points from
you to that's a lot for a veteran player. Because
(14:59):
you spoke about Bruce Brown right being able to fit
in and doing those things I got to help win
a championship. Yes, so I gotta imagine part of what
you're answering with Jim there. This summer is just asking
coach gms, whatever, what do y'all guys want for me?
Or do you work overall on your game? Because a
lot of it just mentally, But does having the fact
(15:20):
that he's done it this past year is that helped
to right, Like when you guys work together or somebody
gonna be like, hey, you can do this, but now
you can work specifically on areas where you could maybe
maybe be used on a roster.
Speaker 4 (15:33):
For sure, this summer is going to be on how
meaning how are you going to be productive? You saw
how you were able to go out and I can
go out there and shoot the balls. They told me
I have to play. We were shorthanded and I have
to go out there and do everything. Okay, when you
don't have those minutes, how can you still be productive
and shooting, scoring, defensively? How can you be able to
(15:55):
do that? So this summer is makes you, like I said,
the strength taking the sweep of the season, when this
game that you play good, games that you play bad,
being honest with yourself, getting into the gym and really
honing in so the next you're coming up, you're able
to be on the floor and still be productive regardless
if you're able to play ten, fifteen, twenty minutes, y'all
(16:16):
willing thirty that's if they ask you to ask of you.
But this is a summer where that growth is something
that needs to be more so honest, how can I
be better as a professional? How can I be better
as a person player? Because when I ask to get
out on the floor with a full roster, I still
(16:37):
need to be productive because one, that efficient level needs
to be minimized. Now because when you're on the floor,
you have to be efficient, because that's one thing that's
going to keep players in the league because everybody's able
to score, everybody's able to do a lot of different things.
But a young player taking the next jump is being efficient.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
I wouldn't know if if you think I'm right on this,
because I think he's one of the players that adds
to a point that I'm going to be making here
wrap up this season. We haven't got to the draft yet,
we haven't got the free agency yet. I don't know
what the roster's gonna look like, make up who's healthy
who's not to start the season. But I think training
camps can be pretty competitive because you you are going
to have guys that are back from being injured last year,
(17:15):
right well, you're starting five essentially, even eve me see
I had an injury towards the end of last year,
and then you have a group of guys that became
your starting five. It became your starters that are still here.
You know, Carlo Reeves, Brandon all that, there's only so
many spots it is, so I do think that helps
right going into it. So that so it's that part
(17:37):
of that mentality too with with with brand in Boston
here going hey, when practice comes and camp comes, I
mean you would have to treat that like a regular
season game because there's only so many spots. Yeah, for sure,
I think that makes the team better, doesn't it?
Speaker 4 (17:52):
Yes, it does. If you have all these guys that
got all these like every said, throughout seeing these quality minutes,
everybody got all these this huge opportunity to go out
there and really show what they're made of, show why
they belong. So you got all these good reps training
camp next year, if you're able to grow and build
off of that, going into training camp, like you said,
(18:13):
it's going to be super competitive for everybody's standpoints. So
that is going to be fun because now everybody has
a something to build off of. It wasn't the G
League reps. These are real reps that you've got, So
going into this, these guys have basically gained another vet
notch in their belt because they y'all went against the best.
It wasn't not knock on the G League. It wasn't
(18:34):
that y'all got to go against all the top tier
ap MVPs, all these all stars. You got to go
against them, and y'all were productive. So training camp is
going to be super competitive and very confident with a
lot of guys coming into that.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
There's a method to my madness here is to wrap
up with Wes Johnson because when you sat down to
record these with us, I was talking with Jim and
I asked your opinion about Bad Boys, no case, they're
the top team in the West off the good start
this postseason. You said something that was very interested seeing this,
I'm going to wrap it all together and put a
little bow on it. You said, even when their starters
are out, the guys that are on the court play
(19:09):
the exact same way you mentioned their style of play,
tenacity on defense, offense, all that can a season like
this with guys like Brandon Boston and other guys like
that that are going to be your bench players next
year or part of that core of that second unit,
can that be something like that? That whyks like that?
Speaker 4 (19:30):
Yes, sir, no question, no question, because if you look
at it, you've seen them be able to fight in
games like, Yes, we have bad losses, yes it happens, yes,
because there was a team for the young players. But
if you look at the games that they were able
to continue to fight and compete in games, and you
asking guys that didn't think they were going to play
at all if we had a regular roster. So if
(19:53):
you're saying the culture and like that foundation of the starters,
they're out and we come in with these guys that
played those that we're asking to be the starters, and
they came in and did that. So yeah, this is
where you build something and continue to build with everybody
that's still here, because that'll be scary. That'll be scary
because we have a full roster and then we coming
(20:13):
with guys that are still hungry.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
Yeah, all right, we'll be scared to see what you're doing.
The Big three challenges ready for you. Scary hours. Good
luck to you there, and we can't wait for the
next season to get all that info here as well.
But we'll be following you wellow. Mister Wes Johnson, analyst
for the Gulf Coast Sports and Entertainment Network, Thank you, sir,
(20:35):
our thanks to Wes Johnson is always very informative and
insightful too of really knowing the player in terms of
just when he first came into the league. It really
kind of adds a different, I guess take on maybe
what Brandon was going through and really what he had
to work on and how he had somebody in this
corner here in the city.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
Yeah, I think Wes sounds like Wes was very valuable
for Brandon Boston in terms of kind of emphasizing and
sharing with him some of the things that he had
to improve upon to get into a position where he
was going to play more and where a team was
going to have more faith and confidence in him. I
mean not to say that the Clippers didn't, but I
mean it was just difficult for him to play there
(21:17):
because they had so many veteran players. But I think here,
with the opportunity that opened up for him, he definitely
capitalized on that. And I think with some of the
stuff that we talked about defensively, he also showed that
that was important to him. I think it wasn't just
a matter of, you know, that he needed to be
more productive defensively with the steals and the blocks that
he had that increased this year, but also just his
(21:39):
I think teams recognize the fact that he focused on
that and he understood, Okay, I have to get better defensively.
I think that is a big plus two in terms
of how teams evaluate him.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
Yeah, no doubt. Also, we want to take a quick
peek or look at right what took place here over
the weekend as a couple of Round two series. We'll
be get started here this week, but before we get
to tonight's game, which I think it's going to be
an interesting one, what don't you think of anything over
the weekend that you wanted to get into.
Speaker 3 (22:07):
Yeah, I mean I think tonight Denver versus Okay. See,
you've got the guy who's won multiple MVPs in Yokich
the last few years, and you have the player who
a lot of people project is going to win MVP.
If you look at in Shake Gildes Alexander, if you
look at Tim Bontemp's strophole that he does for MVP,
and it seems like the most recent one, it was
pretty convincing that SGA was going to be the MVP. So,
(22:29):
I mean that storyline is really interesting over the next
couple weeks. But I mean the weekend Game seven of
Denver series against the Clippers was so surprising to me
because I thought it was going to be a really
competitive game, a close game. Yeah, there were a couple
of blowouts earlier in that series, but you didn't think
Game seven was going to be so one sided. It
was kind of shocking to me the way that. I mean,
(22:50):
I'm not the only person saying this for the first
person to say this, but the Clippers' effort just seemed
to be really low. It just felt like they seemed like.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
They were tired.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
They were kind of worn out, which I mean that
happened sometimes in a series where you've been fighting back
and forth and it's been physical, but it seemed like
once they got down by double figures in the second half,
they just kind of let go of the rope and
then next thing you know, you blink and the Nuggets
are up by thirty five and the Clippers didn't even
really play some of their main guys in the fourth quarter,
(23:18):
which the third string I think the Clippers actually played
better than anyone in that game. They kind of got
it back to fifteen ish twelve ish, but I mean,
it was by far too late for them to make
a comeback. But it was a really interesting series between
the Nuggets and the Clippers because there was a bunch
of games that could have gone either way. But then
towards the end of the series, especially Game five and
(23:38):
Game seven, it was just a Denver runaway.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
So I think a lot of people.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
Picked the Clippers to win that series, and even as
things kind of broke relatively evenly, I think a lot
of people still were on board with the Clippers, picking
them to win the series, despite some of the evidence
that showed that things were trending towards Denver. But yeah,
it was one of the better first round series. And
I mean, in terms of how competitive the first round
was in the West, I don't think any of us
(24:05):
are really surprised because we knew how many good teams
there were, that there was going to be other than
ok see swept Memphis. You knew that the other series
were going to be really interesting.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
Basketball mask you something the thunder right, they beat Memphis
in a sweeping fashion and manner there how big do
you think their chip on their shoulders? And maybe I'm
just wondering if they have one or not. The only
reason I say this, you know, I'm walking the dog.
I tend to do that. You know, in the morning,
early drive time, someone Wasten International takes national radio and Jim,
(24:34):
it wasn't about Game one tonight, it was about well,
could be honest, go there? You know, in this okay,
scene and make a trade. They're the number one seed,
they have the MVP, they ran away with the West
in a very tough conference. Is it disrespectful for national Yeah,
people will start talking about, dude, they need a trade.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
I'm like, I don't know if they need it, but
I mean if I was them, you know, if you
almost like they want it proves so yeah, I wouldn't
be surprised if they have some bulletin board material up
in their locker room or their coaches remind them of like, hey,
by the way, you know, no one's really talking about you,
or people are still saying that you're not the favorite
even though you won sixty eight games this year. So yeah,
I definitely think that that could be part of it.
(25:16):
It does seem like, I mean, just for example, I mean,
if the if the Lakers won sixty eight games this
year and they were one seed two years in a row,
I don't think there'd be a lot of skepticism even
if you had the exact same players right in the
same in the exact same uniforms. So I could see that.
I mean, that's definitely something. I mean, honestly, to kind
(25:37):
of backtrack for a second, to the Clippers Nuggets conversation.
I had this discussion with a few people over the weekend,
and including some people that are directly involved in the situation,
that it did seem like, for example, ESPN was like
heavily involved in promoting the Clippers and saying the Clippers
are gonna win, and it felt like Denver was a
little bit of an afterthought. It does feel like that
(25:58):
sometimes that we have certain franchises that we treat like yeah, whatever,
m hm, and then others that it's like, so, I
mean if you could probably say that about Minnesota Lakers
as well, that I mean, I think almost everyone picked
the Lakers and then Minnesota one in five, So different discussion.
But I do think it's funny that there were a
lot of people that picked the Lakers to win in
(26:19):
five or six, and then they were asked on TV
or on a podcasts, is it disappointing that the Lakers
lost in five? And they're like, no, not really, It's like, well,
why did you pick them to win in five.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
Or six games?
Speaker 1 (26:30):
Then?
Speaker 2 (26:30):
But anyways, and I think that's the thing as you
wrap up on it, because I think it we're in
the West, so we tend to focus on it a
little bit more. The thing that makes you scary or nervous,
and it's scary. The situation isn't okay, see the youngest
team in the NBA. I think they are still yeah yeah,
I mean it might have beenybody a couple of birthdays.
(26:51):
But the point is you start the season with either
the team youngest team or second youngest, but it's up there.
That's what I mean, Like they could be good for
a long time, right, Well, point is you have picks,
you have youth, like you have chemistry, and that's something
Jim that maybe we can talk about as we get
closer to the lottery and building this roster and getting
forward into that nature too. Is one of the reasons
(27:12):
we're so exact about the upcoming pel season. This past season,
before the injury bug hit, you have a lot of players.
It's one of the reasons I think we're excited about
this training camp. Right We just talked about it and
have been in our player profiles. You have players that
have had to play for the injured players, so they
have experience playing together, they have experience playing in NBA minutes.
You have starters that have been playing together nowhere a
(27:34):
thing about them, probably go out and eat dinner together.
How much is chemistry you think as such an important
aspect to teams. I mean, look at I think a Phoenix.
I think the teams that couldn't get that chemistry right.
And now looking at Okay seeing they finish each other's sentences. Yeah, no,
I think it is really another team like that. I
think Okay see his future is so bright. The one
thing that I think is going to be really interesting
(27:55):
when we have this podcast in twenty thirty and you
look back on it, and I'm not trying to reign
Okac's parade before they even had a parade and won
a championship. But I think people are people are gonna
be monitoring the CBA in terms of they have so
many good players, they have so many young guys, but
at a certain point you're gonna have to pay them.
I think people are already kind of in advance, are
(28:15):
talking about this with Boston that this offseason coming up,
they're gonna have a payroll that is so astronomical that
they're probably gonna have to break up their team in
some fashion. So it's gonna be a matter of I
think probably for Okay, See, it's gonna be a matter
of minimizing how many pieces you have to take pull
apart from the core that they have right now. How
many contracts can you get guys to sign that are
(28:36):
affordable so that you can keep under the second apron
so you don't have all these other penalties that come
into play. But I think so, I think that's it is.
Speaker 3 (28:44):
But I mean, in the meantime, I think if you're
a Thunder fan, you have to you want to just
enjoy the heck out of the fact that you have all,
like all these things that you mentioned. You have some
of the best young players in the NBA, you have
a bunch of draft picks coming up, you have a
ton of depth. So it's it's gonna be really interesting
to see what happens over the next few years. I
think the biggest stumbling block to me in their way
(29:07):
of going on a huge run is just the competition
in the West is so good that it's not like
you're the East. Sometimes you have years where you might
have to only win, you only have to beat one
or two teams that are elite to just even get
to the finals, whereas in the West, I mean, I don't.
I can't see anytime soon there'd be in a situation
where you don't have to just go through a huge
gauntlet to get just to get to the NBA Finals
before you even have a chance to win a championship.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
Mister Jim I can offer us always appreciate the time,
and he will appreciate you. Going to Pelicans dot com
and a companying piece to every single winner or a
podcast fourteen in total, and as he mentioned at the
top of the podcast, coming up on Friday, a special
lottery preview of what's coming a week from today as
we record here on Monday May fifth, So go check
that out. Jim does excellent work. Thank you. Jim has
(29:51):
always very to us. For sure, we'll see you next
time on the New Orleans Pelicans Podcast.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
Thanks for listening to the New Orleans Pelicans Podcast. Join
us three times per week on Pelicans dot com, the
Pelicans mobile app, the iHeartRadio app, or where you get
your podcast, and be sure to give Jim and Guss
a follow on x at Jim Underscore I can offer
(30:16):
and Gcat Underscore seventeen. We'll see you next time right
here on the New Orleans Pelicans Podcast.
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 here from players, coaches, broadcasters,
and those who cover the NBA on a daily basis.
It's time to flock up. The New Orleans Pelicans podcast
(00:29):
starts right now.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Hello boy, and welcome to the New Orleans Pelicans Podcast.
If it's a podcast of your New Orleans Pelicans, mister
Jim Ikenhofferpelicans dot com, I'm going to kat and go
with you for another week, Jim, one week to go
into the NBA Draft lottery. As we record this podcast
on Monday, May fifth, are better known as Sinkle to
my own. You can notice that we don't rehearse this anyway.
(00:59):
Look looking forward to a lot of going on to
here because the first round's done right the NBA playoffs,
he got a couple of Game sevens that we had
to deal with. Game two, Round twos are coming up.
We'll get your takes on that. But as we continue
our player profiles, we've looked at starters, we've started looking
at reserves here as well. And this week, what are
(01:20):
we doing a little bit different. This week is going
to be a kind of a combination. We're gonna have
Brandon Boston today on Monday's episode, and then we're gonna
have three rookies. We're going to have If mecI on Tuesday,
Carlo Makovic on Wednesday, and then Antonio Reees on Thursday.
You know, Gus, we don't want to leave you empty
handed on Friday, so we're gonna have a preview of
the draft lottery. We're gonna have a round table with
(01:42):
John de Chazer and Todd Graffanini, So we're gonna kind
of look around look ahead to the lottery, which is
a week from today on May twelfth. We're gonna have
a little bit of fun talking about some different topics
that are related to the lottery. We're gonna ask the
gentlemen for their thoughts, maybe some ideas on tweaks that
they want to make to the in the future, and
that kind of thing. So this is week three of
(02:04):
our player reviews. Some said that they would never come
to an end, but they will this week. This will
be the eleventh through the fourteenth, Monday through Thursday, and
then we'll wrap things up Friday with a preview, and
by the way, I also we'll have a written preview
of the lottery. I'm going to try to delve into
some different topics and kind of focus a little bit
on in twenty nineteen the format changed, so I'm going
(02:26):
to kind of look at some of what's happened in
the last six lotteries, this one next Monday being the seventh,
in terms of they flatten.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
The odds, it's it's a little bit more likely for
you to come from a lower spot and win the lottery,
and and just kind of look at some of those topics.
So that's what we're looking at for this week Monday
through Friday.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
And as a quick, quick, quick, quick quick review. Pals
right now currently where with the win loss record fourth
right there stands what I.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Like to call is the pre lottery slot.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
There it is.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
You don't want to say fourth because then people are like, wait,
do they pick fourth? They're going to go into the
lottery at the number four slot? They have the fourth
best odds of winning it. That's twelve point five percent.
We're going to get into a lot more of those
numbers and some of the percentages and so on and
so forth. In Friday's episode. But yeah, there's three teams
ahead of them on the ladder as they enter the lottery,
(03:18):
which is May twelfth in Chicago.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
All right, easy enough to look at it. When we
get to Friday, will get you all that information and
get you ready for that. In the meantime, television analyst
Wes Johnson takes a look at Brandon Boston, which is
an interesting player, Jim when you look at just how
he got here and really his significance important, and he
was also hit with the injury bugs. Yeah, you're fortunate
unfortunately he was.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
And I think he's one of those guys too that
I mean, so much time has passed since the chunk
of the year where he played a lot, it's easy
to forget how much he was on the court at
the beginning part of the season. So I mean in
the first half of the season, he was really one
of the handful of guys that we saw the most
and played the most minutes. Unfortunately, after February he was
in and did we didn'tet to see him in the
(04:01):
second half of the season, but but yeah, he was.
He was a very important factor in what the team
did in the first few months of the season and
got by far the best opportunity of his career so far.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
And the beauty of why I wanted the reasons we
wanted Wes Johnson to talk to him about him. Knows
him personally and knows really the journey and a lot
of the storylines maybe to be written here in the
off season, So let's get to it. Wes Johnson with
the Golf Coast Sports Entertainment Network analyst on Brandon Boston.
All right, welcome back, mister Wes Johnson, analyst for the
(04:34):
Golf Coast Sports and Entertainment Network. Here as we move
on to Brandon Boston. We spoke about Bruce Brown, veteran
player coming onto this team in the trade for Brandon Ingram.
He has certain things because, like you were saying, his resumes, credentials,
his game, you know, skins, the wall, whatever you want
to use that he can provide to young players and stuff.
(04:56):
When you have a season like this, you need those
guys to you know, there's light at the end of
the tunnel work right now for next year. And I
think that's what you kind of reference when you talked
a little bit about him playing so well towards the
end of the season helping those other guys. You also
have an opportunity as a young guy to get that opportunity. Yes, look,
I can't think of another player that took a hold
(05:18):
of an opportunity. Yes, better than a brand in Boston
this year from the beginning of the season.
Speaker 4 (05:24):
To the end of the season. Huh right, I mean
for me, I seen him since his rookie year, and
so you have like a seeing his production, his growth
throughout his rookie year, developing year by year. And you
heard like, Okay, we wanted to get away from being
an ISO player, wanted to be three and D spot
(05:46):
up defense. I get it. I saw it. I heard
the rumblings of it. I was in those meetings trying
to fight for him this to get on the floor.
So universe has a way of being funny and it
works in a mysterious ways. So I was here, he
came here, and like you said, young guy and the
opportunity and having talks with him and seeing the opportunity
(06:07):
to present itself, and it's like, this is no better
chance for you to have a chance to prove yourself
and go out there and play and show people why
you belong in his league because you long night's talking
to you, long night's in the gym, shooting with you,
and now it's time for you to be yourself. So
seeing opportunity there, Yes, he was thrown into the fire.
(06:28):
You thought you were going to play with all the
players on the team, but no, you were asked could
go out there and produce. You were asked to go
out there and play point guard. You was asked to
go out there and do stuff that you would say
that they tried to get you to get away from,
but you were able to show that you would be
You can be productive by being yourself. So him being
(06:48):
a score, him having those big outbursts, him having those
deflection moments, those steals. So you saw the developing the
maturity of a young man coming from being drafted did
second round, not getting a chance, to getting a chance
here and showing why he should be on the floor
and me personally being by not being biased to just
(07:09):
say big brother moment of being happy for him because
I know he was struggling mentally of like trying to
be on the floor and show why he should be here.
And the Pelicans gave him a chance and he was
able to maximize it. And all the young players that
actually got on the floor maximize our opportunity. But for me,
talking about be Boston, it was a come to Jesus
(07:31):
moment basically, like you put all that work in, now
you're on the floor being able to be productive offensively
and defensively, something that people were having a knock on
you asking about, and you show why that you were
able to do both. And now we're talking about him
now possibly being able to continue to extend his career
in the NBA.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
You know you reference this.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
I mean, we should back up for a second and
I'll go pull back the curtain a little bit. There's
definite it's not a coincidence that we picked you to
be the guests for Ran and Boston because you had
time with the Clippers where you worked with him and
you did player development there, and so you have obviously
unique insight in terms of his development as a player.
You know, a lot of guys in the position that
he's in where this was his fourth season in the NBA.
(08:13):
His first three seasons he didn't get to play a
ton But it wasn't really a slight to him. It
was more that that team was loaded. Clippers had a
ton of wings. They had a ton of guys at
his position, a ton of guards. It was going to
be difficult to, you know, leapfrog some of the more
veteran guys with tons on their resume. But I think
a lot of players would say after the season they
had with New Orleans, I just needed opportunity and it's
(08:36):
just that. It's just that I got to play more
and therefore my production went up. But given how much
knowledge you have of him personally and working with him,
did you see was it more than that? Was it
more than just Okay, he got to play more. Did
you see you know, some development of off the core
or just his game maturing stuff that you had been
talking to him about that you kind of saw come
(08:57):
to fruition this season with him getting being on the floor.
Speaker 4 (09:00):
Yes, so development for me for watching him, I think
that the growth side for me was the defensive side.
I think the challenge was accepted for that because you,
as a young player like you either have that side
and start developing those habits. But he accepted it. I
was going to take on guard and the best player.
I was going to be in the right place at
(09:20):
the right time for the rotations, the body positioning for
a closeout. So me watching them, I was watching them
as a coach pd coach more so than just watching
the mask. Okay, he's on the floor, he's getting his opportunity.
So seeing that side and how he was able to
add that stuff from the years everybody was telling them
and you see him be able to do that offensively,
(09:44):
it was just that's his gift. He's able to score
the ball, he's able to do special things on that
end of the floor. But for me, defensively, that's when
I saw that maturity level and that growth start to
take a different step on that side. So that's why
I can say, like, yeah, that's that was a big
jump for me.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
I mean, you know, we could say this about a
lot of players on the Pelicans this season. From a
team standpoint, it was terrible that there were so many
guys that got hurt. But I think the not only
did Brandon get a chance to play, but he was
asked to do a ton during some of the stretches
where he was on the court. It wasn't like, okay,
when he was with the Clippers. It might have been
in some of the sporadic times he got to play
(10:23):
it was like, Okay, well, we need you to play
a little defense tonight, or we need you to play
offense and get some buckets. He's a really good isolation player,
but there were plenty of times this season with the
Pelicans where it was like, Okay, we need you to score.
We need you to maybe be one of our top scorers.
We also need you to defend the best player on
the other team if you can rebound, and maybe pass
(10:44):
and do myself some popcorn too.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
So I think all that stuff was good for him.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
But I want to give you a couple of statistics
based on his season, and these are two kind of
completely different aspects of the game, so I think they
might be interesting to you or or just people in general.
The first number is nineteen, which is he had nineteen
games in a row with one steal at that point
in the season. That was the longest active streak. Tyrese
(11:10):
Maxey at that stage had eighteen. So I think he
was Brandon was proud of the fact that, you know,
he wasn't known as a defensive guy necessarily, and then
all of a sudden he's leading the league in that
one kind of unique statistic. And then the second number
is actually a pair of numbers, but they kind of
the same theme. He shot thirty five percent from three
(11:30):
point range and forty eight point five on twos this season.
Both of those were career highs. So it was by
far the most efficient offensive season of his NBA career
if you look at it statistically in a bunch of
different ways. So which of those is the most interesting
to you? And maybe it's both defense those deflections.
Speaker 4 (11:50):
I think, like I said, he accepted that side. And
if you look at the value of somebody young, and
if he's able to play defense, you're going to be
on the floor any team, and him able to do that.
Like the offensive side, like I said, that's his gift.
He's able to score, he's able to shoot, he's able
to do that. Yeah, you can break down some stuff
(12:10):
that you want to critique and like scale back, but
the defensive side, he saw that I actually can do this.
I actually found a way where I can be effective
and disruptive on that side of the floor. So him
being able to see that and enjoy that side, that
for me stands out way more than the offensive side.
Speaker 3 (12:31):
Lastly, for me, I mean going forward, obviously the one
unfortunate thing is the injury bug also hit him as
well at the end of the season, and he missed
a chunk of games at the end of the year.
But I think the good thing is by that point
he had played more minutes than he'd ever played before,
He'd been in more games, had all of the challenges
and opportunities that he got by that point. But I mean,
(12:51):
going forward now, going into next season, what do you
think is some of the next steps you want to
see from him or just things that he improved upon
this season that you want to see him just making
even bigger jump in as we go forward.
Speaker 4 (13:04):
Yeah, I mean for all the young guys that was
got that opportunity to play all those minutes and especially
in all these games, I think basically just change your
body and on nutrition side, strength side, and you see
what's going to be demanded of you if you get
those type of minutes and those type of games, like
(13:24):
back to back to back, like leveling up, so adding
that and then really like taking a early a sweep
of the game that you've played throughout this entire season,
seeing how you were productive, seeing what you can get
better on. Like so him being able to see Okay,
the scoring, the shooting I wanted, like, Okay, I need
to figure out how I can take less dribbles to
(13:46):
get my shot off physically, how I can be able
to bang with those bigger guards, those bigger wings that
I was able to ask me to guard, so I
can still be able to be disruptive and take that
next step on being out there for more minutes. When
I happen, we have a full roster wherever it is,
if it's here, if it's anywhere. So this really just
(14:06):
taking this whole season, and then that's just the foundation
of growth for the summer to add to that so
next season you can be better.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
I think the thing along the line to what Gym's
asking there, that's so remarkable and it's so tough too, right,
because you're a young player, whether it's ten days or whatever,
just to get an opportunity, you got to show out, right,
So those few minutes you're not passing, right, you're trying
to shoot them. My point is you're trying to show
you belong on the floor, and sometimes I could lead
to maybe overdoing things, and then the season that happens
(14:39):
happens where now you're not just doing a few minutes.
Now you're asking to start. Now, Now you're starting. Now,
you're playing. Now, it's more minutes. Now you're on your
bigger contract, You're doing all the different aspects of it,
playing aspects of the game that maybe you weren't supposed
to do, so you're supposed to be went from a
role player to know now we need twenty points from
you to that's a lot for a veteran player. Because
(14:59):
you spoke about Bruce Brown right being able to fit
in and doing those things I got to help win
a championship. Yes, so I gotta imagine part of what
you're answering with Jim there. This summer is just asking
coach gms, whatever, what do y'all guys want for me?
Or do you work overall on your game? Because a
lot of it just mentally, But does having the fact
(15:20):
that he's done it this past year is that helped
to right, Like when you guys work together or somebody
gonna be like, hey, you can do this, but now
you can work specifically on areas where you could maybe
maybe be used on a roster.
Speaker 4 (15:33):
For sure, this summer is going to be on how
meaning how are you going to be productive? You saw
how you were able to go out and I can
go out there and shoot the balls. They told me
I have to play. We were shorthanded and I have
to go out there and do everything. Okay, when you
don't have those minutes, how can you still be productive
and shooting, scoring, defensively? How can you be able to
(15:55):
do that? So this summer is makes you, like I said,
the strength taking the sweep of the season, when this
game that you play good, games that you play bad,
being honest with yourself, getting into the gym and really
honing in so the next you're coming up, you're able
to be on the floor and still be productive regardless
if you're able to play ten, fifteen, twenty minutes, y'all
(16:16):
willing thirty that's if they ask you to ask of you.
But this is a summer where that growth is something
that needs to be more so honest, how can I
be better as a professional? How can I be better
as a person player? Because when I ask to get
out on the floor with a full roster, I still
(16:37):
need to be productive because one, that efficient level needs
to be minimized. Now because when you're on the floor,
you have to be efficient, because that's one thing that's
going to keep players in the league because everybody's able
to score, everybody's able to do a lot of different things.
But a young player taking the next jump is being efficient.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
I wouldn't know if if you think I'm right on this,
because I think he's one of the players that adds
to a point that I'm going to be making here
wrap up this season. We haven't got to the draft yet,
we haven't got the free agency yet. I don't know
what the roster's gonna look like, make up who's healthy
who's not to start the season. But I think training
camps can be pretty competitive because you you are going
to have guys that are back from being injured last year,
(17:15):
right well, you're starting five essentially, even eve me see
I had an injury towards the end of last year,
and then you have a group of guys that became
your starting five. It became your starters that are still here.
You know, Carlo Reeves, Brandon all that, there's only so
many spots it is, so I do think that helps
right going into it. So that so it's that part
(17:37):
of that mentality too with with with brand in Boston
here going hey, when practice comes and camp comes, I
mean you would have to treat that like a regular
season game because there's only so many spots. Yeah, for sure,
I think that makes the team better, doesn't it?
Speaker 4 (17:52):
Yes, it does. If you have all these guys that
got all these like every said, throughout seeing these quality minutes,
everybody got all these this huge opportunity to go out
there and really show what they're made of, show why
they belong. So you got all these good reps training
camp next year, if you're able to grow and build
off of that, going into training camp, like you said,
(18:13):
it's going to be super competitive for everybody's standpoints. So
that is going to be fun because now everybody has
a something to build off of. It wasn't the G
League reps. These are real reps that you've got, So
going into this, these guys have basically gained another vet
notch in their belt because they y'all went against the best.
It wasn't not knock on the G League. It wasn't
(18:34):
that y'all got to go against all the top tier
ap MVPs, all these all stars. You got to go
against them, and y'all were productive. So training camp is
going to be super competitive and very confident with a
lot of guys coming into that.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
There's a method to my madness here is to wrap
up with Wes Johnson because when you sat down to
record these with us, I was talking with Jim and
I asked your opinion about Bad Boys, no case, they're
the top team in the West off the good start
this postseason. You said something that was very interested seeing this,
I'm going to wrap it all together and put a
little bow on it. You said, even when their starters
are out, the guys that are on the court play
(19:09):
the exact same way you mentioned their style of play,
tenacity on defense, offense, all that can a season like
this with guys like Brandon Boston and other guys like
that that are going to be your bench players next
year or part of that core of that second unit,
can that be something like that? That whyks like that?
Speaker 4 (19:30):
Yes, sir, no question, no question, because if you look
at it, you've seen them be able to fight in
games like, Yes, we have bad losses, yes it happens, yes,
because there was a team for the young players. But
if you look at the games that they were able
to continue to fight and compete in games, and you
asking guys that didn't think they were going to play
at all if we had a regular roster. So if
(19:53):
you're saying the culture and like that foundation of the starters,
they're out and we come in with these guys that
played those that we're asking to be the starters, and
they came in and did that. So yeah, this is
where you build something and continue to build with everybody
that's still here, because that'll be scary. That'll be scary
because we have a full roster and then we coming
(20:13):
with guys that are still hungry.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
Yeah, all right, we'll be scared to see what you're doing.
The Big three challenges ready for you. Scary hours. Good
luck to you there, and we can't wait for the
next season to get all that info here as well.
But we'll be following you wellow. Mister Wes Johnson, analyst
for the Gulf Coast Sports and Entertainment Network, Thank you, sir,
(20:35):
our thanks to Wes Johnson is always very informative and
insightful too of really knowing the player in terms of
just when he first came into the league. It really
kind of adds a different, I guess take on maybe
what Brandon was going through and really what he had
to work on and how he had somebody in this
corner here in the city.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
Yeah, I think Wes sounds like Wes was very valuable
for Brandon Boston in terms of kind of emphasizing and
sharing with him some of the things that he had
to improve upon to get into a position where he
was going to play more and where a team was
going to have more faith and confidence in him. I
mean not to say that the Clippers didn't, but I
mean it was just difficult for him to play there
(21:17):
because they had so many veteran players. But I think here,
with the opportunity that opened up for him, he definitely
capitalized on that. And I think with some of the
stuff that we talked about defensively, he also showed that
that was important to him. I think it wasn't just
a matter of, you know, that he needed to be
more productive defensively with the steals and the blocks that
he had that increased this year, but also just his
(21:39):
I think teams recognize the fact that he focused on
that and he understood, Okay, I have to get better defensively.
I think that is a big plus two in terms
of how teams evaluate him.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
Yeah, no doubt. Also, we want to take a quick
peek or look at right what took place here over
the weekend as a couple of Round two series. We'll
be get started here this week, but before we get
to tonight's game, which I think it's going to be
an interesting one, what don't you think of anything over
the weekend that you wanted to get into.
Speaker 3 (22:07):
Yeah, I mean I think tonight Denver versus Okay. See,
you've got the guy who's won multiple MVPs in Yokich
the last few years, and you have the player who
a lot of people project is going to win MVP.
If you look at in Shake Gildes Alexander, if you
look at Tim Bontemp's strophole that he does for MVP,
and it seems like the most recent one, it was
pretty convincing that SGA was going to be the MVP. So,
(22:29):
I mean that storyline is really interesting over the next
couple weeks. But I mean the weekend Game seven of
Denver series against the Clippers was so surprising to me
because I thought it was going to be a really
competitive game, a close game. Yeah, there were a couple
of blowouts earlier in that series, but you didn't think
Game seven was going to be so one sided. It
was kind of shocking to me the way that. I mean,
(22:50):
I'm not the only person saying this for the first
person to say this, but the Clippers' effort just seemed
to be really low. It just felt like they seemed like.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
They were tired.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
They were kind of worn out, which I mean that
happened sometimes in a series where you've been fighting back
and forth and it's been physical, but it seemed like
once they got down by double figures in the second half,
they just kind of let go of the rope and
then next thing you know, you blink and the Nuggets
are up by thirty five and the Clippers didn't even
really play some of their main guys in the fourth quarter,
(23:18):
which the third string I think the Clippers actually played
better than anyone in that game. They kind of got
it back to fifteen ish twelve ish, but I mean,
it was by far too late for them to make
a comeback. But it was a really interesting series between
the Nuggets and the Clippers because there was a bunch
of games that could have gone either way. But then
towards the end of the series, especially Game five and
(23:38):
Game seven, it was just a Denver runaway.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
So I think a lot of people.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
Picked the Clippers to win that series, and even as
things kind of broke relatively evenly, I think a lot
of people still were on board with the Clippers, picking
them to win the series, despite some of the evidence
that showed that things were trending towards Denver. But yeah,
it was one of the better first round series. And
I mean, in terms of how competitive the first round
was in the West, I don't think any of us
(24:05):
are really surprised because we knew how many good teams
there were, that there was going to be other than
ok see swept Memphis. You knew that the other series
were going to be really interesting.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
Basketball mask you something the thunder right, they beat Memphis
in a sweeping fashion and manner there how big do
you think their chip on their shoulders? And maybe I'm
just wondering if they have one or not. The only
reason I say this, you know, I'm walking the dog.
I tend to do that. You know, in the morning,
early drive time, someone Wasten International takes national radio and Jim,
(24:34):
it wasn't about Game one tonight, it was about well,
could be honest, go there? You know, in this okay,
scene and make a trade. They're the number one seed,
they have the MVP, they ran away with the West
in a very tough conference. Is it disrespectful for national Yeah,
people will start talking about, dude, they need a trade.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
I'm like, I don't know if they need it, but
I mean if I was them, you know, if you
almost like they want it proves so yeah, I wouldn't
be surprised if they have some bulletin board material up
in their locker room or their coaches remind them of like, hey,
by the way, you know, no one's really talking about you,
or people are still saying that you're not the favorite
even though you won sixty eight games this year. So yeah,
I definitely think that that could be part of it.
(25:16):
It does seem like, I mean, just for example, I mean,
if the if the Lakers won sixty eight games this
year and they were one seed two years in a row,
I don't think there'd be a lot of skepticism even
if you had the exact same players right in the
same in the exact same uniforms. So I could see that.
I mean, that's definitely something. I mean, honestly, to kind
(25:37):
of backtrack for a second, to the Clippers Nuggets conversation.
I had this discussion with a few people over the weekend,
and including some people that are directly involved in the situation,
that it did seem like, for example, ESPN was like
heavily involved in promoting the Clippers and saying the Clippers
are gonna win, and it felt like Denver was a
little bit of an afterthought. It does feel like that
(25:58):
sometimes that we have certain franchises that we treat like yeah, whatever,
m hm, and then others that it's like, so, I
mean if you could probably say that about Minnesota Lakers
as well, that I mean, I think almost everyone picked
the Lakers and then Minnesota one in five, So different discussion.
But I do think it's funny that there were a
lot of people that picked the Lakers to win in
(26:19):
five or six, and then they were asked on TV
or on a podcasts, is it disappointing that the Lakers
lost in five? And they're like, no, not really, It's like, well,
why did you pick them to win in five.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
Or six games?
Speaker 1 (26:30):
Then?
Speaker 2 (26:30):
But anyways, and I think that's the thing as you
wrap up on it, because I think it we're in
the West, so we tend to focus on it a
little bit more. The thing that makes you scary or nervous,
and it's scary. The situation isn't okay, see the youngest
team in the NBA. I think they are still yeah yeah,
I mean it might have beenybody a couple of birthdays.
(26:51):
But the point is you start the season with either
the team youngest team or second youngest, but it's up there.
That's what I mean, Like they could be good for
a long time, right, Well, point is you have picks,
you have youth, like you have chemistry, and that's something
Jim that maybe we can talk about as we get
closer to the lottery and building this roster and getting
forward into that nature too. Is one of the reasons
(27:12):
we're so exact about the upcoming pel season. This past season,
before the injury bug hit, you have a lot of players.
It's one of the reasons I think we're excited about
this training camp. Right We just talked about it and
have been in our player profiles. You have players that
have had to play for the injured players, so they
have experience playing together, they have experience playing in NBA minutes.
You have starters that have been playing together nowhere a
(27:34):
thing about them, probably go out and eat dinner together.
How much is chemistry you think as such an important
aspect to teams. I mean, look at I think a Phoenix.
I think the teams that couldn't get that chemistry right.
And now looking at Okay seeing they finish each other's sentences. Yeah, no,
I think it is really another team like that. I
think Okay see his future is so bright. The one
thing that I think is going to be really interesting
(27:55):
when we have this podcast in twenty thirty and you
look back on it, and I'm not trying to reign
Okac's parade before they even had a parade and won
a championship. But I think people are people are gonna
be monitoring the CBA in terms of they have so
many good players, they have so many young guys, but
at a certain point you're gonna have to pay them.
I think people are already kind of in advance, are
(28:15):
talking about this with Boston that this offseason coming up,
they're gonna have a payroll that is so astronomical that
they're probably gonna have to break up their team in
some fashion. So it's gonna be a matter of I
think probably for Okay, See, it's gonna be a matter
of minimizing how many pieces you have to take pull
apart from the core that they have right now. How
many contracts can you get guys to sign that are
(28:36):
affordable so that you can keep under the second apron
so you don't have all these other penalties that come
into play. But I think so, I think that's it is.
Speaker 3 (28:44):
But I mean, in the meantime, I think if you're
a Thunder fan, you have to you want to just
enjoy the heck out of the fact that you have all,
like all these things that you mentioned. You have some
of the best young players in the NBA, you have
a bunch of draft picks coming up, you have a
ton of depth. So it's it's gonna be really interesting
to see what happens over the next few years. I
think the biggest stumbling block to me in their way
(29:07):
of going on a huge run is just the competition
in the West is so good that it's not like
you're the East. Sometimes you have years where you might
have to only win, you only have to beat one
or two teams that are elite to just even get
to the finals, whereas in the West, I mean, I don't.
I can't see anytime soon there'd be in a situation
where you don't have to just go through a huge
gauntlet to get just to get to the NBA Finals
before you even have a chance to win a championship.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
Mister Jim I can offer us always appreciate the time,
and he will appreciate you. Going to Pelicans dot com
and a companying piece to every single winner or a
podcast fourteen in total, and as he mentioned at the
top of the podcast, coming up on Friday, a special
lottery preview of what's coming a week from today as
we record here on Monday May fifth, So go check
that out. Jim does excellent work. Thank you. Jim has
(29:51):
always very to us. For sure, we'll see you next
time on the New Orleans Pelicans Podcast.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
Thanks for listening to the New Orleans Pelicans Podcast. Join
us three times per week on Pelicans dot com, the
Pelicans mobile app, the iHeartRadio app, or where you get
your podcast, and be sure to give Jim and Guss
a follow on x at Jim Underscore I can offer
(30:16):
and Gcat Underscore seventeen. We'll see you next time right
here on the New Orleans Pelicans Podcast.
Host
Jim Eichenhofer
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