April 23, 2025 • 35 mins
Pelicans TV sideline reporter/host Andrew Lopez joins Jim Eichenhofer and Gus Kattengell on the New Orleans Pelicans Podcast to recap CJ McCollum's 2024-25 NBA season.
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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 (00:33):
Hello, every want to welcome to the New Orleans Pelicans Podcast.
If it's a podcast, if you're New Orleans Pelicans. We
continue with our player profiles now that the twenty to
twenty four twenty twenty five season has come to a conclusion.
Zion Trey in the books our thanks to Will Gillory.
Now Andrew Lopez steps in. We will hear from him
(00:54):
as he discusses CJ. McCollum in this one particularly, but
Jami Kanoff Repelicans dot Com in here with me as well.
On Tuesday, a very big moment here in the franchise,
as Joe Dumars was introduced as the new EVP Executive
Vice President of Basketball Operations. And you know, he had
(01:14):
a lot to say and it was our first chance
to hear I guess his vision and where we're gonna
go moving forward here as it's going to be a
very busy offseason again. Mark May twelfth is the draft lottery.
We'll find out where the Pills pick at that point.
End of June is the NBA Draft, and so forth
and so on, and you get ready for the new season.
So Jim overall, mister Dumars is up there. What stood
(01:37):
out to you, sir?
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Yeah, I mean, I think to me, he was exactly
what I expected him to be. I've seen him give
interviews before. I've seen him speak about basketball and a
bunch of different topics. Obviously, he was in the league
office the last few years and did a bunch of
interviews for national podcasts and different shows. But I mean,
I feel like the way I would describe his speaking
tone and his approaches, it's very much the way he
(02:01):
was when he was a player. He's just one of
those guys that's just very rock solid, steady, reliable player,
and it's kind of the way he is. He doesn't
say a lot of flashy stuff. It's just kind of,
you know, he's kind of a dependable guy. And you
know you're not gonna get a ton of quotes that
you're going to put up on the on you know
on websites or in tweets and stuff like that, But
(02:25):
he's just more about my actions are so much more
important than what I'm going to say up here, no doubt.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
I think one of the things that is going to
be interesting is getting all of the information as to
what are the things that he needs to work on,
what are the things that really he has in place, Jim,
and I think that's one of the things he was
asked yesterday. And it's something that you've stressed if healthy
Steam has talent.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Right, yeah, I mean if you think about it. You know,
we talked about this in the last offseason that if
you go by ESPN dot com or you go by
the Ringer when they put their top one hundred players
list out there going into last season, the Pelicans had
six guys in the top one hundred. That may have
changed a little bit. Obviously, Brandon Ingram isn't here anymore
and he was one of those six players. But I mean, nonetheless,
this is a team that has talent and has pieces
(03:11):
to build around. I mean, the three seasons before this
past season that we just endured, they either made the
play in or they made the playoffs. All three of
those years. They had a winning record the two seasons
before this past one, So I mean there's a little
bit of a track record. This isn't a team that
has been at the bottom of the league the way
some of the other teams that have a high percentage
(03:32):
in the lottery are. They definitely are an outlier if
you look at them compared to you know, the other
the three teams that finished with the worst record than
they did.
Speaker 4 (03:40):
No doubt.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Well, here's what Jill had to say about the core
of the team and how it feels about it.
Speaker 5 (03:44):
I like the core here.
Speaker 6 (03:46):
I think there's some really good young pieces here. I
think that there's a fan base. If you win in
New Orleans, I think everybody in this room, no, you win,
you start winning, the New Orleans people are gonna come
out and drow. And so I know that this was
first of all, an incredible fan base. Secondly, for me
(04:08):
at this point in my career, ownership of where I
worked was a paramount importance.
Speaker 5 (04:15):
And so.
Speaker 6 (04:18):
Coming here and work for miss Spencer, coming here and
looking at the core of who's here, I've been knowing
really since he was at Coolie High in Detroit, and
so I you know, I just thought all those things
together for me, for me personally, it was just like,
this is the right fit, this is perfect right here.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
Yeah, I mean I think the cupboard is not bear here.
Even though you know that's something that I touched on
a little bit a second ago. This is not a
job where you're coming in and saying like, man, there's
really no resources here, there's no talent. I'm gonna have
to figure out how do I go from where we
are right now to a team that can compete.
Speaker 4 (04:58):
It's not a start from scratch.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
I mean, if you compare, you know, not to single
them out, but if you look at Washington situation, maybe
not right now, but if you go back a year ago,
that Washington job is the kind of thing where it's
like you really don't have any pieces at all that
you can build around. They added some guys in the draft.
They had, you know, the number two pick in the draft,
Alex Aar. They had a couple other guys that they
added in the first round this year. But it's like
(05:22):
you're kind of at It's almost like you're not even
at step one, you're kind of at step zero. If
you take a job like that, Whereas I think One
of the things that Dumar's reference was just the fact
that there are you know, he said he likes the
young core and the young pieces that they have here.
It's definitely the case where you have some of the
plenty of raw materials to work with. Now it's a
(05:43):
matter of how do I tweak this, how do I
round out the edges, how do I improve the way
that everything fits together to get better results. Another thing
I thought of too, when he was talking about how
there weren't that many opportunities that could take him from
the job that he was in New York City. I mean,
I don't want to put words in his mouth, and
(06:06):
it's impossible to get in someone else's head. But to me,
the NBA front office job is like, you're kind of
the twenty four hours a day bad guy. You're the
guy that's you know, administering the punishments, the fines, and
it's just it's kind of similar to it the job
as of a referee. The only thing that can happen
is for people to ignore your That's a good day.
A good day is no one said anything mean about you,
(06:27):
no one was angry and furious. So I mean, to me,
running an NBA team is a much more I'll speak
for myself. It just seems like so much more of
an appealing job than working for the league office, because
I think at the end of the day, when you
work for the league office, there really aren't any wins.
There's just not losses, whereas when you run an NBA team,
obviously there's just a bunch of things that everyone's working
(06:48):
towards the same goal. Everyone wants to be a playoff team,
everybody wants to eventually be a championship team. There's not
really a championship carrot. If you're working in New York
City for the League office, you're just trying to make
sure you're put out fires, You're making sure that people
are not, you know, cursing you under their breath or
over their breath all the time. I think this is
(07:08):
a this job is is just something that seems a
lot more attractive.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
I guess, yeah, I thought it was interesting and maybe
just for a later show as we get closer to
the season. But him working, as he said, with all
of the teams and seeing how they operate and how
they handle certain situations, you know.
Speaker 4 (07:26):
It's it's not a bad thing.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Jim you kind of have a little sneak peek behind
the curtain as to how teams handle and the trouble
spots and somewhere else. So I think it'll be interesting
too when it comes to maybe making moves or having
communications and relationships with other front offices and other decision makers.
Speaker 4 (07:44):
I think that's a good thing.
Speaker 6 (07:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
Yeah, And I mean to me, the league is ever changing,
so to be constantly monitoring how all thirty teams are
operating is definitely something that's helpful. I mean we've seen
I mean there's two kind of unprecedented. There's two head
coaches that got fired in the last ten games of
the season, which is not something that we've seen before.
So yeah, I mean I think being having some insight,
(08:07):
maybe having some behind the scenes analysis or observations of
the way different teams operate, and being able to look at, Okay,
this is something that I want to copy, or this
is something that I totally want to avoid. Maybe I
don't want to let the coach go with three games
left in the season, or whatever your opinion is of that.
I think those are things that are helpful to have
that perspective.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
And Jim, those are two teams that are in the
postseason right now, you know in Memphis and in Denver,
particularly with that one of the things that stood out too,
and again not to put words in people's moouths, but
obviously when you make a change at EVP.
Speaker 4 (08:40):
It's.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
There's a different voice, right, a different vision, or just
something wants to go in a different direction. So one
of the things that he was asked yesterday was what
is that vision? What is that voice? And I guess
what that identity is going to be. You and I
talk about it all the time. Who are the pells?
What are the pells?
Speaker 4 (09:02):
What are they going to be? What are they going
to hang their hat on?
Speaker 2 (09:06):
And you kind of got a glimpse yesterday from mister
Dumarts about, Hey, this isn't at the very least the foundation,
the ground level piece of what we're going to build
this house on, per se for using construction.
Speaker 6 (09:18):
Yeah, just the standards that you set as an organization,
like you have to you have to set standards and
you can't waiver for no standards. They can't be like
the first week of the season that here's the standard,
and as the season goes on, things slowly start changing.
That's not championship. That's not contending, that's not elite basketball.
(09:40):
That's not elite anything.
Speaker 5 (09:42):
When you allow things to just slide.
Speaker 6 (09:43):
And so it's just setting in standards early on and
then like you have to hold to that and hold
everybody accountable to them. I think this flectra too. I
think and I had this conversation with Miss Benson yesterday.
I actually we were talking about how you raised kids
right and so I but I think this is true
about teams too. I can say anything I want to say.
Speaker 5 (10:08):
I can come in here.
Speaker 6 (10:09):
And I can run off this, this, this, and this,
but people have to see you live it every day
like championship culture, like you're talking about.
Speaker 5 (10:18):
Being playing into June every year. I can assure you, Fletcher.
Speaker 6 (10:23):
That is not this. You're not gonna be up one
day that like they have to see you come in
like a rock every day and they have to know
we lost last night, we won last night, doesn't matter.
Like this organization, we're gonna do things the right way
and we're not gonna waiver from that now. I think
the culture exact is what you see every day when
(10:43):
you come in. It can't fluctuate from day to day.
It can't fluctuate from win to loss. That's what culture is,
and that's how you get there. That's how you get
to planning in June every year.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
Yeah, by the way, guys, I think the baby wanted
to ask a few questions. Is it a kind of
an ongoing conversation going on during the during his Joe's talk,
But I think that's a family member. Maybe maybe that
youngster just was, you know, kind of happy to hear
a family member talk and just wanted to kind of
converse back and forth. So I thought that part was funny.
(11:16):
But yeah, I think, you know, going back to what
he talked about there, I mean, I think it's just
another one of those things where it's like it sounds
weird to say this during a press conference or after
a press conference, but it's like he's basically saying that
talk doesn't really matter that much. You know, you can
put out a bunch of slogans, you can say, Okay,
this is what we're all about, but it doesn't matter
what you say you're about. It's about improving that day
(11:38):
in and day out. I mean, it doesn't take very
long for people to see through, you know, if you're
talking a big game, but you're not backing it up
if you're not following through on all the things that
you say that you're about. So I like that part
of it as well. It's just one of those things
where it's like, it doesn't really matter what we say
in April. It you know, when you start training camp
(11:58):
and you start the prese and you have to set Okay,
this is the way that we're going to operate, and
these are the things that you're going to adhere to.
And if on the third day the players are like,
oh wait, I guess we're not adhering to this, it
doesn't really matter what you spent the previous five or
six months talking about.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Yeah, no doubt, And it's understanding what teams like San
Antonio have done for a while, right Miami Heat that
culture and things that nature established at practice. And look,
we're kind of seeing right now the newest incarnation, at
least in my mind of okay. See, like you know,
when you see him on a calendar, you know it's coming, right.
I mean, they're going to be strong defensively. You look
at their postgame interviews, Jim, it's a family. They're all
(12:36):
one another, and it's led by SGA. I mean he
you know, sometimes they're kidding too much, and he like
takes the jacket off the sideline reporter and they dressed
him up like Mario and whatever from Superintendo.
Speaker 4 (12:48):
But you know what I'm saying is like he's the guy.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
He lets him have fun, but there's there's work to
be done, and I think that's something that will be
interesting and exciting to see. But we've got a lot
to get into when it comes to him and and
this off season of moves that the Pells are going
to be making here.
Speaker 4 (13:05):
But today we're going to focus on c J.
Speaker 5 (13:07):
McCollum.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Was so we brought in the sideline reporter for the
Gulf Coast Sports Entertainment Network, mister Andrew Lopez. And here's
our conversation about El Presidente. All right, Tom down to
welcome in Pelicans sideline reporter mister Andrew Lopez. Sir, were
gonna break down a couple of players here, you Drew Straws,
c J McCollum, and Herb Jones. We'll start with CJ,
(13:28):
who had a very interesting season this year.
Speaker 5 (13:31):
Can I can I first? Can I start with something
I learned about somebody in this room recently, Well, you
know CJ is Christian James. Okay, did you know Jim
was James Christian?
Speaker 4 (13:44):
I did not know that.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
That's very interesting facts.
Speaker 5 (13:47):
Yep, name why he has seventeen c J. McCollum jerseys.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
And that is why that sounded like an honest to
goodness sideline report in the game, like Joe Myers goes,
let's go to Andrew Lopez. He's got some information, and
you literally really just did that.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
It would have been the worst sideline report of the season.
I think, I don't think. I don't think I saw
all of Andrews work this year, but I saw most
of it. I think that would have been bottom tier.
But I appreciate the.
Speaker 5 (14:11):
I just I thought that was very interesting.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Again, it sounded like a legit, honest to goodness silent
report that you would have heard this year on the
Gulf Coast Sports and Entertainment Network. First year in the
books for you, man, what was it like?
Speaker 5 (14:24):
It was fun? It was really fun. Man, learned a lot,
learned the left from Joel, learned left from Ade and
from our whole crew, and just kind of navigating things. Obviously,
nobody wanted the season to go the way it was.
But doing that and the hosting and being able to
host and at these home games and have all these
(14:44):
fans behind us and do that for every game that
has been you know, just just a joy overall to
watch and see so very excited gearing up a year
or two and seeing what we could do to make
this better.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
You know, another random fact related to the Eichenhoffer family, Andrew,
for your Christmas games where you were hosting, you had
several of my family members behind you. I never I
never told you that, but yes, another uh yeah, you
had a bunch of people jumping up and down. My
sister in law was back there, my niece, et cetera
cast of thousands. Besides, besides CJ's excellence in in name,
(15:23):
in being named the way he was, I wanted, you know,
part of what we wanted to bring in a bunch
of people that have been around the team all season
is we kind of wanted to start with just some
insight on each player's kind of background. Like you're you
obviously were around the team the entire season, you travel
all the games. I think people know that CJ is
one of those guys that really spends a lot of
(15:45):
He's a very introspective guy. He's a very kind of
analytical guy. How would you describe just kind of his
approach to the game and and just your experience of
being around him, you know, probably the most you have
been in the time that you've been covering this team
going back a bunch of years.
Speaker 5 (15:59):
Very methodical, very very methodical. He goes about things a
certain way the whole time, and he has his routines
which have have changed some as he is, you know,
embraced fatherhood and how you know, he's even mentioned sometimes
how he'll you know, get the kids to go down
(16:21):
with his wife and then show up over here for
late night sessions trying to you know, get some shots
up and do things like that. Working with AJ Diggs,
his his his guy and doing a whole bunch of work.
And I think what he does is it's he has
to kind of have that routine and it's one reason
(16:42):
why he has scored twenty, you know, average twenty points
a game for ten consecutive seasons. You know that that
doesn't happen by accident. And when you look at it,
he's the not just consecutively, but there's only been thirty
seven guys two so far, and there's there's quite a
few in the Nines that can jump up. The Giannises,
(17:06):
the Devin Bookers, the Joel's Kat, all these kind of
guys who can then jump up and do it. But
only thirty seven players in NBA history have averaged twenty
points a game for ten seasons period. He's done it consecutively.
Here are some of the names who have not done it.
Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan, Alex English, George Gervin. Some of
(17:29):
these guys, Blake Griffin, Tracy McGrady, Paul Pierce, ray Allen,
Pete Maravich. I'm sorry, Pete Maravich. All of these guys
have not done what CJ has done, and I think
it speaks to a certain level of his professionalism and
(17:50):
his ability to When we call him a professional score
it's because that is what he does and you see
it in the work that he puts in.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
Yeah, you know, I love that stat That's not one
that I've heard before. You talk about his consistency and
his reliability. I think that's a huge hallmark of what
has made him a guy that teams want throughout his career.
One of the things that stood out from this season though,
was he also had these monster performances, these individual games
where I mean he had a fifty point game, he
(18:19):
had a few other forty plus point games. I mean,
what was your takeaway from from that? I mean, just
the fact that he was able to just go off
basically whenever they needed him to.
Speaker 5 (18:30):
Yeah, it's kind of funny because I think he's now
has I believe it's fourteen forty point games, and this
is the most he's ever had in the season. He
had four three forties in a fifty, So again, it
just kind of shows you there there were a lot
of times this year that because of the way this
(18:51):
season has gone, that he was needed to do a
lot of things. The first three fifties, I think all
happened within like whatties, I should say, happened within like
a five week stretch. Yeah, he had the the Detroit game,
which ended up being I think, I believe his final
game of the season. He had forty. But he had
(19:13):
the fifty against Washington, the forty five against Utah, the
forty three against Sacramento. Two of those were overtime wins.
The fifty, I will say I was a little upset
at the fifty. Hmmm, because he did the fifty on
the one home game I was not available.
Speaker 6 (19:31):
For no.
Speaker 4 (19:33):
So I thought you were going to go.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
You were upset he didn't get the fifty one because
he missed the free thrower.
Speaker 5 (19:37):
He was upset he didn't get to fifty one. I
think he said that.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
Right because his career high was was his screer high
fifty or is fifty? I think it was, yeah, okay,
so he would have he would have had a new one.
Speaker 5 (19:49):
I feel like I had a very good reason to
miss that game.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
Indeed, well indeed, you know.
Speaker 5 (19:55):
My wife and my my baby would say otherwise. Uh.
But I was like, I'm sitting at home at night.
We're going to the hospital next morning, and I was like, man,
if they win this game, the Cursive Lopes people are
really going to get lost out And.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
It ended a losing streak too, if I remember, oh yeactly.
Speaker 5 (20:16):
Oh yeah, and he dropped fifty. I was a little
afraid to walk in the following week. Did get back
to the arena understandably, you.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
Know, Andrew, I can't wait for you know, fifteen twenty
years from now, when your daughter does something like she's
late for something and you're upset at her, and you
can be like and you know what, also, by the
way back in twenty five, you realize you made me
miss a fifty point game by CJ McCollum, and she'll
probably look at you like your your you've lost.
Speaker 5 (20:44):
Yeah, she's she's going to walk out. She's just gonna
turn around leave.
Speaker 3 (20:48):
But that's something that you can that you can, you know,
kind of hold it. You can keep that in your
back pocket and use I'm going to use it at
one point, definitely, definitely.
Speaker 5 (20:56):
You know.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
One of the things that we're doing in each of
these podcast two is I'm gonna give the guest two
stats and from the player's season, and I want you
to pick which one you like the best, and then
we'll can kind of discuss with let's go which. So
by the numbers on CJ mccoum, I don't know call
this pelistats what we're calling it, but we'll come up
(21:18):
with something. The first number is six ninety two and
that is how many career three pointers that CJ has
made with New Orleans, which is a franchise record. Trey
Murphy has six hundred, He's third on the list. Drew
Holiday six twenty eight. The second number is eight, and
that is the times in New New Orleans team history
that a player has made at least nine threes in
a game. Of those eight times, CJ has.
Speaker 5 (21:41):
Four of them. Oh, I was going to guess five
of them.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
So maybe I should add some trivia to this.
Speaker 5 (21:46):
I was gonna say, but Trey Murphy.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
Has the has three, and then Pagia has one. So
which of those two numbers do you like best? Or
which of them do you want to talk about? We
could even talk about both if you.
Speaker 5 (21:56):
I'd like to talk about both, but let's start with
the career mark because it's one of those numbers that
jumps out at you. Because he's only been here for
three and a half seasons. Two hundred and twenty three
games is what he's played. He hit that mark, I
want to say around career game like two hundred ish.
(22:17):
It was like one too. It was in that neighborhood.
But it just goes to show you. I mean, since
he's been here, he's hit basically three a game, a
little bit more than that, and it's just he's been
asked to do a lot, and when you look at
his numbers percentage wise, It's funny what I'm about to say,
(22:38):
because he shot a career low from three point range
this season at thirty seven point three, which is still
a number that most guys in the NBA, especially shooting
eight a game, would be like, I would love that
previous low was like thirty seven to five. He had
(22:59):
done that twice in his career. But this is the
guy who just last year, last season i should say,
was forty two to nine. And obviously you look at
that thirty seven to three, and he had to take
a lot of tough shots, right, because and he also
had a lot of attention on him because of all
of the injuries in which you saw with you know,
Trey not being on the floor, or Dejonte or herb
(23:21):
or Ze or whoever. A lot of attention was focused
on him, and he probably took maybe some shots that
even in twenty three twenty four he's not taking, and
he still shot thirty seven to something percent, right. I
think it's a credit to him in the job and
again going back to the professionalism and being the professional
score of the work that he was able to do,
(23:44):
that he was able to have that kind of season
that other guys would would love to have. There's a
number of guys of the of the four fifty four
hundred or probably I would love that season, if not
more sure, And it's like mah, like you know the
way he added so and I know that's something that
(24:06):
he's probably like, Nope, that's got to that numbers got
to get back up. I have to have a better
season and kind of hold myself to that center. This
is a guy who was a forty percent three point
shooter in his career. When you shoot the ball like that,
it is you look at it and you go, yeah,
it's probably I could see how you're going to become
the a franchise as all time leader in just three
(24:27):
and a half seasons.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
Sure, sure, yeah, I mean last thing for me. I
mean it would be interesting to hear his perspective too
on on that. I mean, he's he's very tied into
the numbers. He's a very analytical guy. I'm sure that
I don't know, I don't want to put words in
his mouth, but I'm sure that he wanted to shoot
forty percent because that's kind of I've heard him say
before in previous seasons. He's when he goes through a
(24:49):
slump or maybe he starts the season slowly. He's like,
I know, I'm going to be back at my usual
number right around forty. But I think you make a
really good point though, in terms of just the he's
not wide open. He was wide open way less this
season than he was in the past. I think he
was getting on more of his shots wore pull ups.
I mean, he's really good at that too. But I
think pretty much every shooter, if they get those wide
(25:10):
open catch and shoots ball swung to you nobody's around,
you're gonna your percentage is gonna be higher. So but
I mean that brings me to the last thing for
me is so I mean just going forward. I mean,
obviously you're not gonna he's not gonna drastically change his
game this far into his career. I think that was
this was his twelfth season in the NBA. I mean,
what do you look for him now? Is it just
a matter of, you know, he hope the team gets healthy,
(25:34):
you get get him back to that role of where
he's making wide open shots and he's just in a position.
I mean, I thought he had a really good year
as it was, especially under the circumstances. But I would
think that he would benefit a ton from us never
having a season like we just experienced.
Speaker 5 (25:50):
Yeah, I think a lot of people benefit from us
never having a season like that. But two more numbers
that just kind of stuck out to me is you know,
sometimes when you talk about a guy who you know,
to use a football reference, when when Mike Evans got
a thousand yards for whatever how many consecutive seasons it was,
he had like four or five seasons where he was
(26:12):
right above a thousand, whether it was you know, catching
it the last game or ten to fifty whatever he was.
There haven't been many years where CJ has like just
eked over twenty points a game, twenty three, twenty four pals,
he had twenty point zero, but he was averaging twenty
one in a game this year while being the focal
(26:34):
point at thirty three years old. We were looking at
it. I think he was like at one point, I think
he was six or six in the NBA among thirty
three and up players, behind the guys that you know,
the guys you would expect. But you saw him adapt
his game. And one thing you saw was he shot
(26:56):
fifty point five percent on Tuesday year, which is only
the fifth time in his career he's been over fifty
on twos fifty point five. His career high as fifty
point nine, so he's almost right there. So you saw
saw him kind of adjust his game a little bit,
whether it was getting to that float or getting in,
you know, getting a little mid range going. And I
think that kind of speaks to CJ. McCollum, is he
(27:20):
is going to find ways to score the basketball. And
when you have a healthy lineup around him, you know,
and he is not you know, it's not all eyes
on him or you know. And no discredit to the
other guys that have played this year, but they weren't
established threats the way a CJ. A trey A z heard,
(27:42):
but de Jente are. And so when defense are able
to key in on him a little bit more and
for him still to be able to come out and
score twenty one point one, I think it's just a
credit to who he is. And I'm very much looking
forward to seeing what he can do once he shakes
off some injuries as well, and you know, it is
(28:02):
around a healthy.
Speaker 4 (28:03):
Roster, yeah, because I think that's one of the things.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
Right as we wrap up here, Andrews about you know,
since Zion's been here and really the last five six
years or so, it's fit you know, who fits here,
who fits there.
Speaker 4 (28:13):
And all those different aspects of it.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
I think what we saw is a player that continues
to adapt, a player that's professional, and the player that,
if I read, you.
Speaker 4 (28:22):
Know basically what they want this team to be moving forward.
He's a foundational piece.
Speaker 5 (28:28):
When you listen to Willie Green talk about CJ and
what he brings the on the court, the off the court,
He's that guy that you want. And you know, sometimes
having the PA president is a good thing in your
locker room, but it's the guy who has worked himself
into being the type of leader that he can be.
(28:50):
The taking guys to dinner and all this kind of stuff.
And that's just a small part. But the knowledge that he,
you know, has given these guys goes a long way.
Speaker 4 (29:00):
Final thing for you.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
He's an entrepreneur, right, I mean he has his own
wine company. Oh yeah, you're you're you know.
Speaker 4 (29:05):
Daddy Now Apple sauces things. Maybe a baby.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
Line, Yeah, would you help take we went have to
talk little joint partnership for the Lopez baby line.
Speaker 4 (29:15):
Gerber has done really well.
Speaker 5 (29:16):
I'm gonna I'm gonna go all right, you guys, you
guys finish up. I'm gonna go. Uh, I gotta go
call such I'm there.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
It is there, It is for sure. Thank you so much,
mister Andrew Lopez. Thank you all right, our thanks to
Andrew Lopez. See Jim McCollum. Jim, did you think he's
gonna have a couple of forty point games? In fifty
point game?
Speaker 3 (29:34):
Yeah, not necessarily. I mean the thing about that though.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
Because he started so slow, but you kept saying, he's
not this bad a shooter.
Speaker 4 (29:41):
It's going to come around. You told this this the beginning, and.
Speaker 3 (29:44):
I think when I say I wasn't expecting him to have,
you know, for example, a fifty point game, it's really
not any reflection on him at all. It's more just
that like you don't need him going into the season.
You're not thinking, like, man, if CJ doesn't get forty
five tonight, we're gonna we have no chance to win
if she doesn't get fifty. It's just unfortunate that what
led to that, of course, was all the injuries and
(30:04):
him being in a situation where it was like there
weren't nights even against some of the lower level teams
of the league where he had to go go wild
for them to be able to pull off a victory.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
All right, Well, Jim, during the regular season, we would
like to do Western Conference Wednesdays on Wednesdays. He gave
us a handful of different things to go into it.
Not as many, but we will do a Western Conference Wednesday.
Speaker 5 (30:24):
Bit.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
Yeah, I'm gonna just go briefly through a couple points
from the playoffs. So far in the Western Conference, it's
been what about four days of games Monday or yeah, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday.
Just a couple bullet points so far. Best series so
far in the Western Conference has been the Clippers in
the Nuggets. Right now that through two games it's Clippers
(30:45):
two fifteen, Nuggets two fourteen, So I mean that should
tell you how close it's been. The first game of
that series win in overtime. It's been so fun watching
Kawhi get back to the level where he was when
he was in his prime, you know, maybe like five
six years ago before he started having a lot of
injury issues in him battling against Jokic, the player that
he has. Worst series so far okay Se has outscored
(31:08):
Memphis by seventy through the first two games. Memphis is
big three of Jackson, Moran, and Baine. All of them
have shot forty percent or worse from the field so far,
so that one has been rough. And then last thing,
the biggest question of the Western Conference playoffs to me
so far is who are the real Timberwolves. They made
(31:29):
twenty one three pointers in Game one, shot fifty percent
from downtown in that game, and then they only made
five in Game two against the Lakers and lost pretty convincingly.
So the question going forward, you know, going into the
upcoming games they play Friday and Sunday back in Minneapolis,
is which of those Timberwolves teams will show up? Because
I think that's going to dictate what happens, and it's
(31:53):
just been They've been definitely the most Jacquelin high team
I think of the entire playoffs so far. So that
is the abbreviated West Conference Wednesday for the first week
of the playoffs.
Speaker 4 (32:03):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
There's so much fun to be watching in these postseasons.
Obviously you would love the Pels to be in there,
but I was on Area they.
Speaker 3 (32:09):
Got it too.
Speaker 4 (32:10):
Within ten I'm like, come on to you.
Speaker 3 (32:12):
Yeah. And by the way, too, the speaking of the
Pelicans in the playoffs, what's happened so far in Okay
se versus Memphis has also they've made last year's first
round sweep of the Thunder versus the Pelicans look like
an extremely competitive series. I mean, that was nothing compared
to what the Thunder are doing to the Grizzlies right now.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
In ten seconds here, because it's behind your head on
the TV right you know, screaming.
Speaker 3 (32:36):
Am I not supposed to look her? No?
Speaker 2 (32:38):
I mean you know it's the you know, the screaming
day saying they need more from Lebron for the Lakers.
Speaker 4 (32:42):
And I get it.
Speaker 2 (32:43):
I get it that that's that's a talking point. Look,
I even asked earlier this week, is Steph the guy
to look at what he's doing with Golden State?
Speaker 4 (32:51):
And they'll be playing the Rockets here again this week?
But I get it.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
They're not the team that everyone wants to talk about.
But okay, sees aren't good, aren't they? Maybe it's just
that what they are, I mean last year what they
did with the Pals.
Speaker 4 (33:06):
They're a really good defensive.
Speaker 2 (33:08):
Team and Jim now they can score, and I just
that's a team that maybe in a couple of years,
will you know, they become the sexy team to talk
about and stuff, because look, I'm sitting there listening to
Joe Dumars yesterday. The Bad Boys weren't the pretty you know.
Speaker 5 (33:23):
Look, they were.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
Physical, they beat you in different ways. They had their
scoring and stuff. But I don't know, I don't know.
Maybe it's just because it's fresh in my mind, but
Bad Boys in OKC.
Speaker 3 (33:35):
Hmm, interesting comparison. I think the biggest similarity there is
the defense that that that's the end of the floor
where they're they're hanging their hat on and they're just
okay See is swarming you defensively. But yeah, I mean,
I'm really curious to see it. Things could change. We've
seen this happen a ton where in the series switches
locations and then the lower seeded team plays better. Maybe
(33:58):
Memphis can be more competitive when they play them in Tennessee.
But I mean, right, so far, it looks like this
isn't going to be a huge test for okay See.
I'm curious though, as we get to the second and
third round. Okay See is so young, so like the
way they got knocked out last year from by Dallas
in the second round. When you think about it, it
shouldn't be that necessarily surprising because that was really the
first time that Okay See has been in the playoffs.
(34:21):
But I'm just I'm curious to see this year because
I think they're just they're a lot better than even
they were last year when they were also a one seed,
to see if they can carry that through and get
to the finals. But I mean, right now, the way
that they've played so far, how can you not be
extremely impressed?
Speaker 2 (34:35):
Mister Jim I can offen, give a follow on Pelicans
dot com. We'll see you next time on the New
Orleans Pelicans podcast.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
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 Underscore I can Offer and
(35:02):
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 (00:33):
Hello, every want to welcome to the New Orleans Pelicans Podcast.
If it's a podcast, if you're New Orleans Pelicans. We
continue with our player profiles now that the twenty to
twenty four twenty twenty five season has come to a conclusion.
Zion Trey in the books our thanks to Will Gillory.
Now Andrew Lopez steps in. We will hear from him
(00:54):
as he discusses CJ. McCollum in this one particularly, but
Jami Kanoff Repelicans dot Com in here with me as well.
On Tuesday, a very big moment here in the franchise,
as Joe Dumars was introduced as the new EVP Executive
Vice President of Basketball Operations. And you know, he had
(01:14):
a lot to say and it was our first chance
to hear I guess his vision and where we're gonna
go moving forward here as it's going to be a
very busy offseason again. Mark May twelfth is the draft lottery.
We'll find out where the Pills pick at that point.
End of June is the NBA Draft, and so forth
and so on, and you get ready for the new season.
So Jim overall, mister Dumars is up there. What stood
(01:37):
out to you, sir?
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Yeah, I mean, I think to me, he was exactly
what I expected him to be. I've seen him give
interviews before. I've seen him speak about basketball and a
bunch of different topics. Obviously, he was in the league
office the last few years and did a bunch of
interviews for national podcasts and different shows. But I mean,
I feel like the way I would describe his speaking
tone and his approaches, it's very much the way he
(02:01):
was when he was a player. He's just one of
those guys that's just very rock solid, steady, reliable player,
and it's kind of the way he is. He doesn't
say a lot of flashy stuff. It's just kind of,
you know, he's kind of a dependable guy. And you
know you're not gonna get a ton of quotes that
you're going to put up on the on you know
on websites or in tweets and stuff like that, But
(02:25):
he's just more about my actions are so much more
important than what I'm going to say up here, no doubt.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
I think one of the things that is going to
be interesting is getting all of the information as to
what are the things that he needs to work on,
what are the things that really he has in place, Jim,
and I think that's one of the things he was
asked yesterday. And it's something that you've stressed if healthy
Steam has talent.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Right, yeah, I mean if you think about it. You know,
we talked about this in the last offseason that if
you go by ESPN dot com or you go by
the Ringer when they put their top one hundred players
list out there going into last season, the Pelicans had
six guys in the top one hundred. That may have
changed a little bit. Obviously, Brandon Ingram isn't here anymore
and he was one of those six players. But I mean, nonetheless,
this is a team that has talent and has pieces
(03:11):
to build around. I mean, the three seasons before this
past season that we just endured, they either made the
play in or they made the playoffs. All three of
those years. They had a winning record the two seasons
before this past one, So I mean there's a little
bit of a track record. This isn't a team that
has been at the bottom of the league the way
some of the other teams that have a high percentage
(03:32):
in the lottery are. They definitely are an outlier if
you look at them compared to you know, the other
the three teams that finished with the worst record than
they did.
Speaker 4 (03:40):
No doubt.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Well, here's what Jill had to say about the core
of the team and how it feels about it.
Speaker 5 (03:44):
I like the core here.
Speaker 6 (03:46):
I think there's some really good young pieces here. I
think that there's a fan base. If you win in
New Orleans, I think everybody in this room, no, you win,
you start winning, the New Orleans people are gonna come
out and drow. And so I know that this was
first of all, an incredible fan base. Secondly, for me
(04:08):
at this point in my career, ownership of where I
worked was a paramount importance.
Speaker 5 (04:15):
And so.
Speaker 6 (04:18):
Coming here and work for miss Spencer, coming here and
looking at the core of who's here, I've been knowing
really since he was at Coolie High in Detroit, and
so I you know, I just thought all those things
together for me, for me personally, it was just like,
this is the right fit, this is perfect right here.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
Yeah, I mean I think the cupboard is not bear here.
Even though you know that's something that I touched on
a little bit a second ago. This is not a
job where you're coming in and saying like, man, there's
really no resources here, there's no talent. I'm gonna have
to figure out how do I go from where we
are right now to a team that can compete.
Speaker 4 (04:58):
It's not a start from scratch.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
I mean, if you compare, you know, not to single
them out, but if you look at Washington situation, maybe
not right now, but if you go back a year ago,
that Washington job is the kind of thing where it's
like you really don't have any pieces at all that
you can build around. They added some guys in the draft.
They had, you know, the number two pick in the draft,
Alex Aar. They had a couple other guys that they
added in the first round this year. But it's like
(05:22):
you're kind of at It's almost like you're not even
at step one, you're kind of at step zero. If
you take a job like that, Whereas I think One
of the things that Dumar's reference was just the fact
that there are you know, he said he likes the
young core and the young pieces that they have here.
It's definitely the case where you have some of the
plenty of raw materials to work with. Now it's a
(05:43):
matter of how do I tweak this, how do I
round out the edges, how do I improve the way
that everything fits together to get better results. Another thing
I thought of too, when he was talking about how
there weren't that many opportunities that could take him from
the job that he was in New York City. I mean,
I don't want to put words in his mouth, and
(06:06):
it's impossible to get in someone else's head. But to me,
the NBA front office job is like, you're kind of
the twenty four hours a day bad guy. You're the
guy that's you know, administering the punishments, the fines, and
it's just it's kind of similar to it the job
as of a referee. The only thing that can happen
is for people to ignore your That's a good day.
A good day is no one said anything mean about you,
(06:27):
no one was angry and furious. So I mean, to me,
running an NBA team is a much more I'll speak
for myself. It just seems like so much more of
an appealing job than working for the league office, because
I think at the end of the day, when you
work for the league office, there really aren't any wins.
There's just not losses, whereas when you run an NBA team,
obviously there's just a bunch of things that everyone's working
(06:48):
towards the same goal. Everyone wants to be a playoff team,
everybody wants to eventually be a championship team. There's not
really a championship carrot. If you're working in New York
City for the League office, you're just trying to make
sure you're put out fires, You're making sure that people
are not, you know, cursing you under their breath or
over their breath all the time. I think this is
(07:08):
a this job is is just something that seems a
lot more attractive.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
I guess, yeah, I thought it was interesting and maybe
just for a later show as we get closer to
the season. But him working, as he said, with all
of the teams and seeing how they operate and how
they handle certain situations, you know.
Speaker 4 (07:26):
It's it's not a bad thing.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Jim you kind of have a little sneak peek behind
the curtain as to how teams handle and the trouble
spots and somewhere else. So I think it'll be interesting
too when it comes to maybe making moves or having
communications and relationships with other front offices and other decision makers.
Speaker 4 (07:44):
I think that's a good thing.
Speaker 6 (07:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
Yeah, And I mean to me, the league is ever changing,
so to be constantly monitoring how all thirty teams are
operating is definitely something that's helpful. I mean we've seen
I mean there's two kind of unprecedented. There's two head
coaches that got fired in the last ten games of
the season, which is not something that we've seen before.
So yeah, I mean I think being having some insight,
(08:07):
maybe having some behind the scenes analysis or observations of
the way different teams operate, and being able to look at, Okay,
this is something that I want to copy, or this
is something that I totally want to avoid. Maybe I
don't want to let the coach go with three games
left in the season, or whatever your opinion is of that.
I think those are things that are helpful to have
that perspective.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
And Jim, those are two teams that are in the
postseason right now, you know in Memphis and in Denver,
particularly with that one of the things that stood out too,
and again not to put words in people's moouths, but
obviously when you make a change at EVP.
Speaker 4 (08:40):
It's.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
There's a different voice, right, a different vision, or just
something wants to go in a different direction. So one
of the things that he was asked yesterday was what
is that vision? What is that voice? And I guess
what that identity is going to be. You and I
talk about it all the time. Who are the pells?
What are the pells?
Speaker 4 (09:02):
What are they going to be? What are they going
to hang their hat on?
Speaker 2 (09:06):
And you kind of got a glimpse yesterday from mister
Dumarts about, Hey, this isn't at the very least the foundation,
the ground level piece of what we're going to build
this house on, per se for using construction.
Speaker 6 (09:18):
Yeah, just the standards that you set as an organization,
like you have to you have to set standards and
you can't waiver for no standards. They can't be like
the first week of the season that here's the standard,
and as the season goes on, things slowly start changing.
That's not championship. That's not contending, that's not elite basketball.
(09:40):
That's not elite anything.
Speaker 5 (09:42):
When you allow things to just slide.
Speaker 6 (09:43):
And so it's just setting in standards early on and
then like you have to hold to that and hold
everybody accountable to them. I think this flectra too. I
think and I had this conversation with Miss Benson yesterday.
I actually we were talking about how you raised kids
right and so I but I think this is true
about teams too. I can say anything I want to say.
Speaker 5 (10:08):
I can come in here.
Speaker 6 (10:09):
And I can run off this, this, this, and this,
but people have to see you live it every day
like championship culture, like you're talking about.
Speaker 5 (10:18):
Being playing into June every year. I can assure you, Fletcher.
Speaker 6 (10:23):
That is not this. You're not gonna be up one
day that like they have to see you come in
like a rock every day and they have to know
we lost last night, we won last night, doesn't matter.
Like this organization, we're gonna do things the right way
and we're not gonna waiver from that now. I think
the culture exact is what you see every day when
(10:43):
you come in. It can't fluctuate from day to day.
It can't fluctuate from win to loss. That's what culture is,
and that's how you get there. That's how you get
to planning in June every year.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
Yeah, by the way, guys, I think the baby wanted
to ask a few questions. Is it a kind of
an ongoing conversation going on during the during his Joe's talk,
But I think that's a family member. Maybe maybe that
youngster just was, you know, kind of happy to hear
a family member talk and just wanted to kind of
converse back and forth. So I thought that part was funny.
(11:16):
But yeah, I think, you know, going back to what
he talked about there, I mean, I think it's just
another one of those things where it's like it sounds
weird to say this during a press conference or after
a press conference, but it's like he's basically saying that
talk doesn't really matter that much. You know, you can
put out a bunch of slogans, you can say, Okay,
this is what we're all about, but it doesn't matter
what you say you're about. It's about improving that day
(11:38):
in and day out. I mean, it doesn't take very
long for people to see through, you know, if you're
talking a big game, but you're not backing it up
if you're not following through on all the things that
you say that you're about. So I like that part
of it as well. It's just one of those things
where it's like, it doesn't really matter what we say
in April. It you know, when you start training camp
(11:58):
and you start the prese and you have to set Okay,
this is the way that we're going to operate, and
these are the things that you're going to adhere to.
And if on the third day the players are like,
oh wait, I guess we're not adhering to this, it
doesn't really matter what you spent the previous five or
six months talking about.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Yeah, no doubt, And it's understanding what teams like San
Antonio have done for a while, right Miami Heat that
culture and things that nature established at practice. And look,
we're kind of seeing right now the newest incarnation, at
least in my mind of okay. See, like you know,
when you see him on a calendar, you know it's coming, right.
I mean, they're going to be strong defensively. You look
at their postgame interviews, Jim, it's a family. They're all
(12:36):
one another, and it's led by SGA. I mean he
you know, sometimes they're kidding too much, and he like
takes the jacket off the sideline reporter and they dressed
him up like Mario and whatever from Superintendo.
Speaker 4 (12:48):
But you know what I'm saying is like he's the guy.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
He lets him have fun, but there's there's work to
be done, and I think that's something that will be
interesting and exciting to see. But we've got a lot
to get into when it comes to him and and
this off season of moves that the Pells are going
to be making here.
Speaker 4 (13:05):
But today we're going to focus on c J.
Speaker 5 (13:07):
McCollum.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Was so we brought in the sideline reporter for the
Gulf Coast Sports Entertainment Network, mister Andrew Lopez. And here's
our conversation about El Presidente. All right, Tom down to
welcome in Pelicans sideline reporter mister Andrew Lopez. Sir, were
gonna break down a couple of players here, you Drew Straws,
c J McCollum, and Herb Jones. We'll start with CJ,
(13:28):
who had a very interesting season this year.
Speaker 5 (13:31):
Can I can I first? Can I start with something
I learned about somebody in this room recently, Well, you
know CJ is Christian James. Okay, did you know Jim
was James Christian?
Speaker 4 (13:44):
I did not know that.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
That's very interesting facts.
Speaker 5 (13:47):
Yep, name why he has seventeen c J. McCollum jerseys.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
And that is why that sounded like an honest to
goodness sideline report in the game, like Joe Myers goes,
let's go to Andrew Lopez. He's got some information, and
you literally really just did that.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
It would have been the worst sideline report of the season.
I think, I don't think. I don't think I saw
all of Andrews work this year, but I saw most
of it. I think that would have been bottom tier.
But I appreciate the.
Speaker 5 (14:11):
I just I thought that was very interesting.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Again, it sounded like a legit, honest to goodness silent
report that you would have heard this year on the
Gulf Coast Sports and Entertainment Network. First year in the
books for you, man, what was it like?
Speaker 5 (14:24):
It was fun? It was really fun. Man, learned a lot,
learned the left from Joel, learned left from Ade and
from our whole crew, and just kind of navigating things. Obviously,
nobody wanted the season to go the way it was.
But doing that and the hosting and being able to
host and at these home games and have all these
(14:44):
fans behind us and do that for every game that
has been you know, just just a joy overall to
watch and see so very excited gearing up a year
or two and seeing what we could do to make
this better.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
You know, another random fact related to the Eichenhoffer family, Andrew,
for your Christmas games where you were hosting, you had
several of my family members behind you. I never I
never told you that, but yes, another uh yeah, you
had a bunch of people jumping up and down. My
sister in law was back there, my niece, et cetera
cast of thousands. Besides, besides CJ's excellence in in name,
(15:23):
in being named the way he was, I wanted, you know,
part of what we wanted to bring in a bunch
of people that have been around the team all season
is we kind of wanted to start with just some
insight on each player's kind of background. Like you're you
obviously were around the team the entire season, you travel
all the games. I think people know that CJ is
one of those guys that really spends a lot of
(15:45):
He's a very introspective guy. He's a very kind of
analytical guy. How would you describe just kind of his
approach to the game and and just your experience of
being around him, you know, probably the most you have
been in the time that you've been covering this team
going back a bunch of years.
Speaker 5 (15:59):
Very methodical, very very methodical. He goes about things a
certain way the whole time, and he has his routines
which have have changed some as he is, you know,
embraced fatherhood and how you know, he's even mentioned sometimes
how he'll you know, get the kids to go down
(16:21):
with his wife and then show up over here for
late night sessions trying to you know, get some shots
up and do things like that. Working with AJ Diggs,
his his his guy and doing a whole bunch of work.
And I think what he does is it's he has
to kind of have that routine and it's one reason
(16:42):
why he has scored twenty, you know, average twenty points
a game for ten consecutive seasons. You know that that
doesn't happen by accident. And when you look at it,
he's the not just consecutively, but there's only been thirty
seven guys two so far, and there's there's quite a
few in the Nines that can jump up. The Giannises,
(17:06):
the Devin Bookers, the Joel's Kat, all these kind of
guys who can then jump up and do it. But
only thirty seven players in NBA history have averaged twenty
points a game for ten seasons period. He's done it consecutively.
Here are some of the names who have not done it.
Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan, Alex English, George Gervin. Some of
(17:29):
these guys, Blake Griffin, Tracy McGrady, Paul Pierce, ray Allen,
Pete Maravich. I'm sorry, Pete Maravich. All of these guys
have not done what CJ has done, and I think
it speaks to a certain level of his professionalism and
(17:50):
his ability to When we call him a professional score
it's because that is what he does and you see
it in the work that he puts in.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
Yeah, you know, I love that stat That's not one
that I've heard before. You talk about his consistency and
his reliability. I think that's a huge hallmark of what
has made him a guy that teams want throughout his career.
One of the things that stood out from this season though,
was he also had these monster performances, these individual games
where I mean he had a fifty point game, he
(18:19):
had a few other forty plus point games. I mean,
what was your takeaway from from that? I mean, just
the fact that he was able to just go off
basically whenever they needed him to.
Speaker 5 (18:30):
Yeah, it's kind of funny because I think he's now
has I believe it's fourteen forty point games, and this
is the most he's ever had in the season. He
had four three forties in a fifty, So again, it
just kind of shows you there there were a lot
of times this year that because of the way this
(18:51):
season has gone, that he was needed to do a
lot of things. The first three fifties, I think all
happened within like whatties, I should say, happened within like
a five week stretch. Yeah, he had the the Detroit game,
which ended up being I think, I believe his final
game of the season. He had forty. But he had
(19:13):
the fifty against Washington, the forty five against Utah, the
forty three against Sacramento. Two of those were overtime wins.
The fifty, I will say I was a little upset
at the fifty. Hmmm, because he did the fifty on
the one home game I was not available.
Speaker 6 (19:31):
For no.
Speaker 4 (19:33):
So I thought you were going to go.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
You were upset he didn't get the fifty one because
he missed the free thrower.
Speaker 5 (19:37):
He was upset he didn't get to fifty one. I
think he said that.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
Right because his career high was was his screer high
fifty or is fifty? I think it was, yeah, okay,
so he would have he would have had a new one.
Speaker 5 (19:49):
I feel like I had a very good reason to
miss that game.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
Indeed, well indeed, you know.
Speaker 5 (19:55):
My wife and my my baby would say otherwise. Uh.
But I was like, I'm sitting at home at night.
We're going to the hospital next morning, and I was like, man,
if they win this game, the Cursive Lopes people are
really going to get lost out And.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
It ended a losing streak too, if I remember, oh yeactly.
Speaker 5 (20:16):
Oh yeah, and he dropped fifty. I was a little
afraid to walk in the following week. Did get back
to the arena understandably, you.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
Know, Andrew, I can't wait for you know, fifteen twenty
years from now, when your daughter does something like she's
late for something and you're upset at her, and you
can be like and you know what, also, by the
way back in twenty five, you realize you made me
miss a fifty point game by CJ McCollum, and she'll
probably look at you like your your you've lost.
Speaker 5 (20:44):
Yeah, she's she's going to walk out. She's just gonna
turn around leave.
Speaker 3 (20:48):
But that's something that you can that you can, you know,
kind of hold it. You can keep that in your
back pocket and use I'm going to use it at
one point, definitely, definitely.
Speaker 5 (20:56):
You know.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
One of the things that we're doing in each of
these podcast two is I'm gonna give the guest two
stats and from the player's season, and I want you
to pick which one you like the best, and then
we'll can kind of discuss with let's go which. So
by the numbers on CJ mccoum, I don't know call
this pelistats what we're calling it, but we'll come up
(21:18):
with something. The first number is six ninety two and
that is how many career three pointers that CJ has
made with New Orleans, which is a franchise record. Trey
Murphy has six hundred, He's third on the list. Drew
Holiday six twenty eight. The second number is eight, and
that is the times in New New Orleans team history
that a player has made at least nine threes in
a game. Of those eight times, CJ has.
Speaker 5 (21:41):
Four of them. Oh, I was going to guess five
of them.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
So maybe I should add some trivia to this.
Speaker 5 (21:46):
I was gonna say, but Trey Murphy.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
Has the has three, and then Pagia has one. So
which of those two numbers do you like best? Or
which of them do you want to talk about? We
could even talk about both if you.
Speaker 5 (21:56):
I'd like to talk about both, but let's start with
the career mark because it's one of those numbers that
jumps out at you. Because he's only been here for
three and a half seasons. Two hundred and twenty three
games is what he's played. He hit that mark, I
want to say around career game like two hundred ish.
(22:17):
It was like one too. It was in that neighborhood.
But it just goes to show you. I mean, since
he's been here, he's hit basically three a game, a
little bit more than that, and it's just he's been
asked to do a lot, and when you look at
his numbers percentage wise, It's funny what I'm about to say,
(22:38):
because he shot a career low from three point range
this season at thirty seven point three, which is still
a number that most guys in the NBA, especially shooting
eight a game, would be like, I would love that
previous low was like thirty seven to five. He had
(22:59):
done that twice in his career. But this is the
guy who just last year, last season i should say,
was forty two to nine. And obviously you look at
that thirty seven to three, and he had to take
a lot of tough shots, right, because and he also
had a lot of attention on him because of all
of the injuries in which you saw with you know,
Trey not being on the floor, or Dejonte or herb
(23:21):
or Ze or whoever. A lot of attention was focused
on him, and he probably took maybe some shots that
even in twenty three twenty four he's not taking, and
he still shot thirty seven to something percent, right. I
think it's a credit to him in the job and
again going back to the professionalism and being the professional
score of the work that he was able to do,
(23:44):
that he was able to have that kind of season
that other guys would would love to have. There's a
number of guys of the of the four fifty four
hundred or probably I would love that season, if not
more sure, And it's like mah, like you know the
way he added so and I know that's something that
(24:06):
he's probably like, Nope, that's got to that numbers got
to get back up. I have to have a better
season and kind of hold myself to that center. This
is a guy who was a forty percent three point
shooter in his career. When you shoot the ball like that,
it is you look at it and you go, yeah,
it's probably I could see how you're going to become
the a franchise as all time leader in just three
(24:27):
and a half seasons.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
Sure, sure, yeah, I mean last thing for me. I
mean it would be interesting to hear his perspective too
on on that. I mean, he's he's very tied into
the numbers. He's a very analytical guy. I'm sure that
I don't know, I don't want to put words in
his mouth, but I'm sure that he wanted to shoot
forty percent because that's kind of I've heard him say
before in previous seasons. He's when he goes through a
(24:49):
slump or maybe he starts the season slowly. He's like,
I know, I'm going to be back at my usual
number right around forty. But I think you make a
really good point though, in terms of just the he's
not wide open. He was wide open way less this
season than he was in the past. I think he
was getting on more of his shots wore pull ups.
I mean, he's really good at that too. But I
think pretty much every shooter, if they get those wide
(25:10):
open catch and shoots ball swung to you nobody's around,
you're gonna your percentage is gonna be higher. So but
I mean that brings me to the last thing for
me is so I mean just going forward. I mean,
obviously you're not gonna he's not gonna drastically change his
game this far into his career. I think that was
this was his twelfth season in the NBA. I mean,
what do you look for him now? Is it just
a matter of, you know, he hope the team gets healthy,
(25:34):
you get get him back to that role of where
he's making wide open shots and he's just in a position.
I mean, I thought he had a really good year
as it was, especially under the circumstances. But I would
think that he would benefit a ton from us never
having a season like we just experienced.
Speaker 5 (25:50):
Yeah, I think a lot of people benefit from us
never having a season like that. But two more numbers
that just kind of stuck out to me is you know,
sometimes when you talk about a guy who you know,
to use a football reference, when when Mike Evans got
a thousand yards for whatever how many consecutive seasons it was,
he had like four or five seasons where he was
(26:12):
right above a thousand, whether it was you know, catching
it the last game or ten to fifty whatever he was.
There haven't been many years where CJ has like just
eked over twenty points a game, twenty three, twenty four pals,
he had twenty point zero, but he was averaging twenty
one in a game this year while being the focal
(26:34):
point at thirty three years old. We were looking at
it. I think he was like at one point, I think
he was six or six in the NBA among thirty
three and up players, behind the guys that you know,
the guys you would expect. But you saw him adapt
his game. And one thing you saw was he shot
(26:56):
fifty point five percent on Tuesday year, which is only
the fifth time in his career he's been over fifty
on twos fifty point five. His career high as fifty
point nine, so he's almost right there. So you saw
saw him kind of adjust his game a little bit,
whether it was getting to that float or getting in,
you know, getting a little mid range going. And I
think that kind of speaks to CJ. McCollum, is he
(27:20):
is going to find ways to score the basketball. And
when you have a healthy lineup around him, you know,
and he is not you know, it's not all eyes
on him or you know. And no discredit to the
other guys that have played this year, but they weren't
established threats the way a CJ. A trey A z heard,
(27:42):
but de Jente are. And so when defense are able
to key in on him a little bit more and
for him still to be able to come out and
score twenty one point one, I think it's just a
credit to who he is. And I'm very much looking
forward to seeing what he can do once he shakes
off some injuries as well, and you know, it is
(28:02):
around a healthy.
Speaker 4 (28:03):
Roster, yeah, because I think that's one of the things.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
Right as we wrap up here, Andrews about you know,
since Zion's been here and really the last five six
years or so, it's fit you know, who fits here,
who fits there.
Speaker 4 (28:13):
And all those different aspects of it.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
I think what we saw is a player that continues
to adapt, a player that's professional, and the player that,
if I read, you.
Speaker 4 (28:22):
Know basically what they want this team to be moving forward.
He's a foundational piece.
Speaker 5 (28:28):
When you listen to Willie Green talk about CJ and
what he brings the on the court, the off the court,
He's that guy that you want. And you know, sometimes
having the PA president is a good thing in your
locker room, but it's the guy who has worked himself
into being the type of leader that he can be.
(28:50):
The taking guys to dinner and all this kind of stuff.
And that's just a small part. But the knowledge that he,
you know, has given these guys goes a long way.
Speaker 4 (29:00):
Final thing for you.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
He's an entrepreneur, right, I mean he has his own
wine company. Oh yeah, you're you're you know.
Speaker 4 (29:05):
Daddy Now Apple sauces things. Maybe a baby.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
Line, Yeah, would you help take we went have to
talk little joint partnership for the Lopez baby line.
Speaker 4 (29:15):
Gerber has done really well.
Speaker 5 (29:16):
I'm gonna I'm gonna go all right, you guys, you
guys finish up. I'm gonna go. Uh, I gotta go
call such I'm there.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
It is there, It is for sure. Thank you so much,
mister Andrew Lopez. Thank you all right, our thanks to
Andrew Lopez. See Jim McCollum. Jim, did you think he's
gonna have a couple of forty point games? In fifty
point game?
Speaker 3 (29:34):
Yeah, not necessarily. I mean the thing about that though.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
Because he started so slow, but you kept saying, he's
not this bad a shooter.
Speaker 4 (29:41):
It's going to come around. You told this this the beginning, and.
Speaker 3 (29:44):
I think when I say I wasn't expecting him to have,
you know, for example, a fifty point game, it's really
not any reflection on him at all. It's more just
that like you don't need him going into the season.
You're not thinking, like, man, if CJ doesn't get forty
five tonight, we're gonna we have no chance to win
if she doesn't get fifty. It's just unfortunate that what
led to that, of course, was all the injuries and
(30:04):
him being in a situation where it was like there
weren't nights even against some of the lower level teams
of the league where he had to go go wild
for them to be able to pull off a victory.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
All right, Well, Jim, during the regular season, we would
like to do Western Conference Wednesdays on Wednesdays. He gave
us a handful of different things to go into it.
Not as many, but we will do a Western Conference Wednesday.
Speaker 5 (30:24):
Bit.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
Yeah, I'm gonna just go briefly through a couple points
from the playoffs. So far in the Western Conference, it's
been what about four days of games Monday or yeah, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday.
Just a couple bullet points so far. Best series so
far in the Western Conference has been the Clippers in
the Nuggets. Right now that through two games it's Clippers
(30:45):
two fifteen, Nuggets two fourteen, So I mean that should
tell you how close it's been. The first game of
that series win in overtime. It's been so fun watching
Kawhi get back to the level where he was when
he was in his prime, you know, maybe like five
six years ago before he started having a lot of
injury issues in him battling against Jokic, the player that
he has. Worst series so far okay Se has outscored
(31:08):
Memphis by seventy through the first two games. Memphis is
big three of Jackson, Moran, and Baine. All of them
have shot forty percent or worse from the field so far,
so that one has been rough. And then last thing,
the biggest question of the Western Conference playoffs to me
so far is who are the real Timberwolves. They made
(31:29):
twenty one three pointers in Game one, shot fifty percent
from downtown in that game, and then they only made
five in Game two against the Lakers and lost pretty convincingly.
So the question going forward, you know, going into the
upcoming games they play Friday and Sunday back in Minneapolis,
is which of those Timberwolves teams will show up? Because
I think that's going to dictate what happens, and it's
(31:53):
just been They've been definitely the most Jacquelin high team
I think of the entire playoffs so far. So that
is the abbreviated West Conference Wednesday for the first week
of the playoffs.
Speaker 4 (32:03):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
There's so much fun to be watching in these postseasons.
Obviously you would love the Pels to be in there,
but I was on Area they.
Speaker 3 (32:09):
Got it too.
Speaker 4 (32:10):
Within ten I'm like, come on to you.
Speaker 3 (32:12):
Yeah. And by the way, too, the speaking of the
Pelicans in the playoffs, what's happened so far in Okay
se versus Memphis has also they've made last year's first
round sweep of the Thunder versus the Pelicans look like
an extremely competitive series. I mean, that was nothing compared
to what the Thunder are doing to the Grizzlies right now.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
In ten seconds here, because it's behind your head on
the TV right you know, screaming.
Speaker 3 (32:36):
Am I not supposed to look her? No?
Speaker 2 (32:38):
I mean you know it's the you know, the screaming
day saying they need more from Lebron for the Lakers.
Speaker 4 (32:42):
And I get it.
Speaker 2 (32:43):
I get it that that's that's a talking point. Look,
I even asked earlier this week, is Steph the guy
to look at what he's doing with Golden State?
Speaker 4 (32:51):
And they'll be playing the Rockets here again this week?
But I get it.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
They're not the team that everyone wants to talk about.
But okay, sees aren't good, aren't they? Maybe it's just
that what they are, I mean last year what they
did with the Pals.
Speaker 4 (33:06):
They're a really good defensive.
Speaker 2 (33:08):
Team and Jim now they can score, and I just
that's a team that maybe in a couple of years,
will you know, they become the sexy team to talk
about and stuff, because look, I'm sitting there listening to
Joe Dumars yesterday. The Bad Boys weren't the pretty you know.
Speaker 5 (33:23):
Look, they were.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
Physical, they beat you in different ways. They had their
scoring and stuff. But I don't know, I don't know.
Maybe it's just because it's fresh in my mind, but
Bad Boys in OKC.
Speaker 3 (33:35):
Hmm, interesting comparison. I think the biggest similarity there is
the defense that that that's the end of the floor
where they're they're hanging their hat on and they're just
okay See is swarming you defensively. But yeah, I mean,
I'm really curious to see it. Things could change. We've
seen this happen a ton where in the series switches
locations and then the lower seeded team plays better. Maybe
(33:58):
Memphis can be more competitive when they play them in Tennessee.
But I mean, right, so far, it looks like this
isn't going to be a huge test for okay See.
I'm curious though, as we get to the second and
third round. Okay See is so young, so like the
way they got knocked out last year from by Dallas
in the second round. When you think about it, it
shouldn't be that necessarily surprising because that was really the
first time that Okay See has been in the playoffs.
(34:21):
But I'm just I'm curious to see this year because
I think they're just they're a lot better than even
they were last year when they were also a one seed,
to see if they can carry that through and get
to the finals. But I mean, right now, the way
that they've played so far, how can you not be
extremely impressed?
Speaker 2 (34:35):
Mister Jim I can offen, give a follow on Pelicans
dot com. We'll see you next time on the New
Orleans Pelicans podcast.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
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 Underscore I can Offer and
(35:02):
Gcat Underscore seventeen. We'll see you next time right here
on the New Orleans Pelicans podcast.
Host
Jim Eichenhofer
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