December 12, 2025 • 23 mins
New Orleans Pelicans center DeAndre Jordan joins Jim Eichenhofer and Gus Kattengell on the Pelicans Podcast for Friday, Dec. 12, 2025, to discuss his new role in New Orleans and what he sees from the Pelicans young roster.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:05):
Hello, everyone, and welcome to the New Orleans Pelicans
Podcast. I'm Gus, Cat and Gill.
Along with Mr. Jim, I can offer pelicans.com, DeAndre Jordan
joining us for this week's episode.
DeAndre, thank you for your time, man.
Thanks. For having me, I appreciate it.
Appreciate it as well got a lot to get into man and I guess that
kind of happens when you're now almost 20 years into the NBA.
There's a lot to talk about a little bit, man.
Is it still, is it still kind ofsurprising, you know, man, that
(00:27):
you're, I mean. Yeah, it's surprising.
It's it's a very humbling experience for me just being a
second round pick and the UPS and the downs that I've gone
through my career and learning different things.
And now I'm in a totally different role, which is, has
been amazing and I've been able to like relish in that.
And this is a new challenge for me.
(00:48):
It's, it's totally different from what I've been used to.
But being able to, you know, give back if I'm not out there
playing, being able to have my impact on the game and teaching
the young guys and giving them insight and just helping our
team camaraderie, I think is a is a huge.
And I really, I really enjoy doing that.
Yeah, right. From like from being a rookie to
(01:09):
to now kind of really being a voice for really 3 rookies on
this franchise that I think a lot of Pels fans are really
excited about. So let's just kind of get into
that. You kind of touched on a little
bit right now and kind of that role.
What has that role been like? What does it be like when you
first meet these guys, when you first, you know, sign on to the
team? And how has that gone to where
we are now in December? Yeah.
(01:29):
I mean, it's been, it's been fun.
We're we're making strides. Obviously our record isn't
showing what we're doing, the improvements that we're making,
but you got to think that Jeremiah Fears is supposed to be
in college. You know, he up class.
I believe their queen is 20 years old, Michael P BS a little
(01:51):
older, but he's still a rookie, you know, so those guys are
playing a lot of minutes and twoof those guys are starting.
So to be able to, you know, one,be 20 year old starting to
center position in the Western Conference in the NBA is
extremely tough. And also starting at point guard
at 19 years old when you're supposed to be in College in the
NBA and the Western Conference, with the amount of talent that
(02:12):
we have in this league and especially in our conference,
it's amazing. And those guys, they've, they've
held their own. So I'm really proud of them.
And Michael has played extremelywell in the different roles that
he's been given throughout the 1st 30 games of the season.
So those guys are going to have a head start on a lot of rookies
and I'm really proud of them in the things that they've been
able to do, especially once we get our full team back and
(02:32):
everybody's healthy and they've gotten the minutes like this and
they've been able to be in thoseCrush Time games, that's going
to help them and our team even more.
I feel like people say about some of the guys that come into
the league that there's different, you know, there's
different types of rookies in terms of how receptive they are
to, you know, instruction and some of the wisdom that the
players that have been in the league for a long time can give
(02:54):
them. What, what's been your
perception of them so far in terms of like, you know, their
willingness to learn and, and wesee you all the time, maybe
during time outs on the sideline, like taking them aside
or as they walk off the court during a break, you know,
talking to them. What's that been like?
It's been pretty easy, you know,we don't have you know, I don't
know if this is a family friendly show, so I'm not going
(03:16):
to say certain things, but I mean like those guys listen,
they aren't prima donnas, you know what I mean?
In my in my case, 18 years ago, I didn't have a choice.
I had to listen or there will beconsequences from the best that
I had, but I'm I have at times more of a gentle approach when
it comes to them. But I mean sometimes you got to
be a little bit more constructive with your criticism
(03:37):
with those guys because some things they respond to and some
things they need a little bit more of a tough love teaching.
And I I think that that's great being able to talk to guys a
different way. And I think it's also comes with
the years in the league knowing I can talk to fears one way and
DQ a different way and PV a different way.
So it's it's, it's good to be able to have that mixture, but I
(04:02):
also kind of want to let them learn from their mistakes as
well. That kind of let them tell me
what they see instead of giving them the answer and letting them
see what I or tell them what I see all the time.
One of the things I think a lot of fans are curious about is,
and this is not a bad thing, buthow many times we've seen
Jeremiah Fears get into it a little bit with an opposing
player and even DQA little bit here and there.
(04:24):
But I mean, what's what's your perception of that?
Is it just that they're in a position where it's like they
don't want to be pushed around that because they're rookies?
Is that basically what it is? Why this happening?
I think, I think it's a little bit of that.
I mean those guys, you know, they have really, you know,
similar backgrounds, you know, fears being from Chicago and DQ
being from Baltimore, like, you know, they don't take a lot of
(04:46):
stuff, you know, so I'm, I'm really happy to see that.
We've talked to fears about him donating a lot of his money back
to the NBA cares program. We want him to not do that as
much as you buy me a bottle of wine instead.
But I I love that they have, youknow, the chip on their
shoulder, You know, they're not going to back down from anybody.
(05:06):
I love that. And it's it's something that
they're going to be doing for a long time, just hopefully not
getting technical fouls. But I love the toughness that
they have and it's great and it's contagious and they're
going to be in this league for avery long time and both be great
players. I kind of want to touch on that
because that's something I released today.
You go back to that Phoenix game, right?
You know, Jeremiah said, look, hey, I could have come out.
(05:28):
I want to stay on there. You know, Derrick Queen, we've
seen a couple of times go toe totoe a little verbally and then,
you know, Jeremiah and and Luca,you know, just meeting at the at
the head for a little head buddy.
But I, I, I would rather somebody that had that
competitiveness and fire and tryto teach them to, you know, kind
of care like that. And I guess just in, in your
career, when you see that in guys that are just, you know,
(05:52):
not even 24 games at that time, not even 20 games at that time,
that that's just who you are. It's the makeup, right?
And you can work with that because that makes them
coachable, don't you? Think and it shows that they
care too. You know, it shows that they
care. It shows that they have a
because a lot of you can't teacheffort and and care and
physicality and things like that.
(06:12):
And those guys have it. And you know, I think them being
able to prove that now while we're in this learning stage,
when we do excel and this team starts to turn it around and
that'll still be their attitude.And you know, they want to win
their competitive, they care about the game.
So when you see that response, Ican't get mad at that because
(06:37):
I'm like, you know, you actuallycare.
Some people would just go, oh, we're we're losing.
It's OK. But but but they don't like
that. And they, you know, they're
going to talk back with the bestof them.
So I like that about them, too. Yeah.
You know, one of the things thatyou said earlier that I wanted
to kind of go back to quickly because I know we're going to
get into more of like why you'vebeen in the league so long, how
you've been successful for this amount of time.
But when you first came into theleague and I think it was 2008,
(07:01):
you were drafted, Did you, did you think like I'm going to I
want to play 10 years in the league was something, was this
long of a career something that even crossed your mind?
Like how did you see the your longevity when you first came?
In when I came in, I was 19, so I was thinking that I'm going to
play forever, you know, like I feel great.
I'm 19 and I can do whatever andit's I'm, I'm fine.
(07:24):
But as my career started to develop, then, you know,
personal accolades and collective wins and, and things
you wanted to achieve. And I've, I've done those things
now I'm like, you know, I want to get to a point where I am
happy with that. And I am, I am happy with that.
Now I'm at peace with my career.I would love to play 20 years.
(07:45):
That's my goal because it's sucha, a huge accomplishment.
There's been a handful of guys to be able to do it.
And that's that'd be a great group to be a part of.
When you when you look at, you know, being able to play that
long, I guess one of the things that I can almost tie back into
what we're seeing now with, you know, you're helping with the
with the rookies is understanding that, yes, there's
(08:07):
talent, there's basketball. There's so much more to that.
We've seen a couple times and we've already documented on this
podcast how, you know, Greg Monroe sits with Derek and
looking at film before games andtaking that onto the court.
Jeremiah doing the same thing with Coach Miles, how much of
that for people that are watching right now for you to be
successful at this level is putting all of that into
(08:27):
practice, how you practice, how you prepare, how you film study
and then how you play on a game then.
Yeah, well, I mean, I think you said it, the preparation is the
most important thing, whether it's in practice and shoot
around on days off. Some guys come back and shoot
the night before the game at thearena.
(08:47):
And then film, I think is very, very important.
I think it's an undervalued thing that is in this league and
that it's not just about watching your minutes.
It's about watching the entiretyof the game and watching the
flow of the game, how it changeswhen you go out, how it changes
when you come back in. And not only watching like, like
(09:10):
I talked to the DQ last night and you know, we're on him while
watching the games and watching,you know, things.
And I'm like, make sure you watch the first half and the
second-half. You know, we talked about that
because it's like those are two totally different players, you
know, And just for him to be able to recognize that early on
and be like, Hey, you know what?I need to play like I did in the
second-half for being for the whole game.
(09:31):
And maybe that game looks different, maybe it doesn't.
But you know, it's just you can't turn it on and off.
And I think when you watch it onfilm, the film doesn't lie.
So I think a lot of that is is aparent there, though.
I think that film is extremely important.
Wanted to ask you just about, I mean, you touched on some of
this in terms of how a guy playsin the league this long.
If you when you give advice, if I mean, I know I'm sure a lot of
(09:54):
stuff that you talk about the with the rookies is not about 10
years from now. It's about trying to be
successful tonight or this week or this month.
But if you, if you sat down withsome of these guys and told them
this is how you can be 18 years in the league.
I mean, you mentioned some of it, but I mean, I'm, I would
imagine there's other stuff thatyou've learned along the way in
terms of like how to take care of your body physically,
(10:16):
preparation, rest. I mean, what are I'm sure this
answer could be 15 minutes just in.
Itself, but I mean. What are some of the things that
you tell somebody, if you're talking to somebody on your
team, about how to be in the league for a long time, the way
you have been? I think it's just, this is a
very broad thing, but just be a pro, be professional, whether
(10:36):
that's taking care of your body,what you put into your body,
sleep, your work, your reps, everything like all of that
stuff goes under the same umbrella.
And it's also like, I have, I feel good.
So I don't think I need a massage or I don't need to get
in the culture, but I don't needto.
I can eat bad tonight, which is fine.
Like you can have in moderation,but all of that stuff adds up
(10:59):
and it's it helps the longevity of your career.
Just for I guess for fans to to kind of get a little insight to
it since you've been working obviously with Derek a little
bit more. We we see what he did to start
the work week man back against San Antonio, but you see him at
practice, talk to him throughoutthe game and stuff.
Who is Derrick we and what kind of player is he and can he be?
(11:22):
And like when you sit down and watch film with him where you
talk to him or you're talking him in the game, what kind of
player is he For players or for people that maybe don't watch
the games, they're like, oh, we see some stats.
Maybe I should pay attention. Who is he?
First of all, DQ is a kid, you know, and I think you have to
(11:42):
give him a little bit of grace too, because he is a kid still,
but he's extremely talented, extremely talented.
He's going to be a really great player in this league for a long
time, I'm hoping. And he's a sponge.
Like he wants to be better. He wants to be good.
He wants to be one of the guys and I and I and I love that
about him and fears both becausethey're hungry.
(12:05):
You know, they were a lot, both lottery picks, but they play
with a chip on their shoulder, which I which I love about both
of those guys. But like I said, they're super
inviting to things that you see criticism and they take it the
right way. You know, some guys would
sometimes shell up, but they embrace it.
And when you got young guys likethat, that's that's going to be
(12:28):
a highlight because those guys are, are ready to accept any
challenge. And like I said, they're both
sponges. They what they want to get
better. They watch film, they work on a
game, and that's all you can askfor.
Being a big when you see some ofthe moves that he does or, or
can you go back to maybe some ofthe plays going?
I I think of you, I think of like the physicality, you know,
want to break that ribbon, Duncan and stuff like that.
(12:48):
He has that sort of finesse at the same time and can play that.
It's interesting. He's extremely talented man.
He can handle the basketball. He has a great mid range jumper.
He's super crafty from the elbowand he's a hell of a passer.
He's a hell of a playmaker. And I think like a lot of times
he wants to make plays for guys.So that just shows his
(13:10):
unselfishness as a player. But like once he starts to
develop that stuff, once he works on his body a little more,
he's going to be a problem. He already is.
So seeing that I'm, I'm really happy with what we have here and
I think those guys will be here for a very long time and they'll
both be really great. Yeah.
So I was going to say like to toput it in context right before
we go to break here. I mean it, it's so early.
(13:33):
You know, it's great when when your coaches are referring to
you as hubs and things of that nature that that's a lot.
I mean, that means you're, you're impacting the game.
Absolutely, Yeah, absolutely. Those guys are both decision
makers in our offense on our team and we're asking a lot of
them. But like I said, they'll they
got a head start and they'll have the blueprint very, very
early. So I'm happy for those guys.
(13:54):
Well, Jim's almost been here 20 years, I've been here 3, and he
tells me to stick to the script.So he doesn't trust me to do
that and sticking to the script will do that.
Where we come back, we'll ask DeAndre a little bit about his
career and its entirety here. And especially, I don't know,
did he have a vet or two? That's kind of like he is now
kind of pushing him a little bit.
You probably know who I'm going to get into here in a little bit
as the Pelicans podcast continues after this.
(14:20):
All right, welcome back to the New Orleans Pelicans Podcast.
Once again, Jim, our thanks to DeAndre Jordan, who, if you
really enjoy that conversation like we did, it was just too
much for one episode A2 parter on Tuesday.
We'll have more with DeAndre Jordan and kind of focus a
little bit more on really what Ithink is so magnificent in terms
of the the full circle. It was of his career, right?
(14:43):
And he touched on it with all the different aspects of it.
But but now in this role with the Pels that he started with
our conversation. It's not easy, is it to, to sit
on that bench you you want to play and at the same time almost
be a coach and mentor. And he's done an amazing job
with it, which he. Really.
He really has. And you know, by the way, I knew
we weren't going to be able to probably contain him with just
(15:03):
one episode. So looking forward to hearing
more from him in Part 2. Yeah, I mean, I think, you know,
you, you talk about how it's difficult to take on that role.
I mean, I think anyone who's played sports, anyone who's
competitive knows there's some people never have to deal with
this. But there's times where you're
not going to play at all. And it's tough.
It's tough to go through that situation.
(15:24):
You want to be on the court, youwant to be able to contribute.
But I think he has the wisdom ofunderstanding that, OK, maybe on
the court I'm not going to be able to produce and help as
much. But there's so many other ways
that I can benefit a team. And, and I want to say too,
that, you know, I've, I've seen this with players that have been
here in the past. If you look around the NBA and
(15:45):
you look at the guys maybe at the end of the bench or guys
that don't play very much. I just respect the the fact that
he has the, the character and the, the self-awareness to know
that, you know, I can play. I know he said he wants to play
in the league 20 years, which is, I mean, he's only has to do
2 more years to do that. But yeah, guys like that, just
(16:08):
keep that in mind. When you see players like that,
you know that they must be pluses across the board in all
of the intangible categories. And that's one of the biggest
reasons why teams continue to add players like him to their
roster, even if they know, OK, he's maybe he's not going to
start, maybe he's not going to play 35 minutes a night, maybe
he not might not play at all. But even with him not playing,
he still is helping us in a bunch of different categories
(16:31):
that are hard to measure. Yeah.
And to your point, I think what's interesting is it it's
not maybe statistics or something you would see in a box
score, right? But even here in New Orleans, we
saw back in the day on the football side of things, guys
like what Roman Harper, Malcolm Jenkins brought to that
secondary. They even brought him back, Sean
Payton did when they had a youngsecondary to help mentor them
(16:52):
here as well. And we've seen it.
We're going to get into it a little bit about how Fears and
Queen have handled it, but kind of something that I've been able
to see to your point, when you go on the road, you want to talk
about a respected player. He's a respected player.
And I'm not just talk about justbut from the teammates, but you
know, from the person that is, is there that's part of the
(17:13):
security detail or a staffer from another team, they all come
up and run and say hello, DeAndre, He knows everybody by
name. He knows those things.
And Jim, one thing as we close out the segment that really
stands out to me, Very few people can walk in and command a
room. He can command your attention.
Or we just saw it in the last, you know, few games here with
(17:33):
the Pels in the game, Hey, get over here, do this and boom, the
instant dividends that he pays. But when you can have a player
like that on your roster, on your road trip, on your plane,
in your hotel and all that, thatis valuable.
Yeah, it really is. And I, I like his, his
personality is just very positive and very.
Always smiling. Yeah, and I think he, I mean
behind the scenes, like it seemslike he goes out of his.
(17:56):
There's another thing that keepsguys in the league a long time.
He goes out of his way to say hito people, to get to know
people, even if you don't want to be the person that only talks
to people if if they can do do something positive for you, like
you can get something out of it.Basically, it just seems like
he's in a very brief amount of time, he's really done well in
terms of just reaching out to people.
(18:17):
Maybe he doesn't know every single person's name around
here. I wouldn't expect him to, but
but he's definitely been good about interacting with with
everyone and and for people to know.
And you can see why when he you go on the road or even games
here, you see players from otherteams coming to say hello to him
too. He's been on a few teams and
he's, I, it seems like he's beena popular teammate everywhere
(18:37):
he's been and, and it's kind of obvious to see.
Yeah, no doubt. Well, we started out the work
week with speaking about the rookie ladder.
Well, the latest rookie ladders come out and their Pels are
still three and five, just the names of switch, which means we
have to talk about the rookies, Derek Fears and Derek Fears,
Jeremiah Fears and Derrick Queena little bit more.
So we'll do that when we come back and wrap up this edition of
(18:58):
the New Orleans Pelicans Podcast.
All right, welcome back to the New Orleans Pelicans Podcast.
Jim, I don't know if you know this, but the rookies for your
New Orleans Pelicans are kind ofa a storyline this season have
been playing well. Look, not just the statistics,
but DeAndre Jordan brought something up to you that really
stood out. They've had a chance to play on
(19:20):
the court in order to produce those statistics.
They're getting the minutes. How rare is that?
What is something that you found?
Yeah, I mean, I think it's a little bit of, it's definitely a
silver lining of the season thatmaybe when you went into the
year, you didn't think that. I mean, it wasn't a given that
Jeremiah Fears was going to start.
He it only took him three or four games and then he was in
the starting lineup. It wasn't a given based on Derek
Queen missing all pre season that he was going to immediately
(19:43):
jump in or relatively quickly become a prominent contributor.
But I mean, as we record this entering the Portland game,
Fears is third in the NBA in minutes among rookies and Queen
is 7th. I think that number for Queen is
going to keep increasing or thatranking because he did start
slowly where he had some games where he played 1015 minutes
(20:03):
before he moved in the starting lineup.
So I mean, they've both played over 600 minutes, which is
great. I mean.
DeAndre used the term head start.
It's definitely the kind of thing that even though, you
know, the winds haven't come so far, I do think that this is
going to pay off when you go into next season because these
guys are going to have so much time under under their belt and
so much experience that they goton the court as opposed to just
(20:25):
kind of sitting on the side and and watching.
Yeah. No doubt.
And obviously being in those situations like clutch games and
potential game winners, I mean, you, you can't stimulate them.
I mean, you have to go through them and along those lines,
let's start with Jeremiah fears here a little bit.
When when you start and especially at that position, why
is the word consistency stand out to?
(20:47):
Me. I mean, we talked about this a
little. Importance of it.
With with DeAndre as well, it's just that position is a
challenge because there's probably 25 great starting point
guards in the NBA where every single never going against
somebody who's really good and if you're not ready to play,
you're going to look bad. But the the biggest, I mean,
what stands out to me from a consistency standpoint is in the
1st 25 games of the season, he had 16 times where he scored 15
(21:09):
plus points. So he hasn't had these big
fluctuations where it's like onenight he scores 2 points, the
next he has 22, the next night he has four.
He's been somebody that you can rely on.
He's going to have games here orthere where it's like, yeah,
he's a rookie, but but I think he's been somebody that you can
really count on. The other thing too with him
from an efficiency standpoint, he's shooting 44% from the
(21:31):
field, 37 from 380 on free throws.
Couple the 44%. One thing I want to look at was
specifically Damian Lillard has a rookie 43%, Darren Fox has a
rookie 41, Darius Garland 40, Kate Cunningham 42.
That position you see so many ofthese guys where the worst
efficient season they have is their rookie year at point
(21:52):
guard. So like, this is a really good
starting point, I think for Jeremiah Fears and I think even
this season he'll continue to get better in in that area.
I like how you put that in theseAll Star players.
Rookie season was their worst indoing and you know the pels
rookie point guards doing so well already on that.
All right, when you look at Derrick Queen, I I don't know
(22:13):
what I enjoy the most watching him finally kind of show his
paint styles and and and the moves and the steps in there.
Or is it his passing game that it's the most fun to watch to?
Me, it's his passing because it's so unique.
I think he does a lot of things that are kind of one offs where
it's like you don't see players do this, especially rookies.
But just his the way he sees thefloor.
(22:35):
And I mean once that of the player, the Pelicans have seven
guys who've played at least 20 games a season.
He's leading the team in assistswith 3.9 per game.
Again, another number that I think is going to increase, but
the fact that he's leading the squad in that area just is kind
of tangible evidence of how goodof a passer he is.
But if you watch the games, it'slike it seems like he's
(22:57):
averaging 7 assists a game or 8 assists a game.
He's been so impressive, especially since he started
playing more. I think the thing that's just
impressive to me more than anything else as we wrap up is
that you've seen teams this season try to take the ball out
of his hands, you know, double him, come up with game plans one
game or so early on in the JamesBorrego, you know, era.
He's like, hey, this team came in to stop him.
(23:20):
That just doesn't happen to a a rookie center, much less.
Right. It's the ultimate respect that
now people talk about this a lotin the NBA, where some at the
beginning of the season, I thinkhe was barely mentioned in the
opposing scouting report. Now he's like near the top of
the list. So that that is a great sign in
terms of the other teams are going into games saying we have
(23:41):
to figure out how to slow him down and how to keep him from
having a huge night. Well, have a great weekend.
When we come back next week, more DeAndre Jordan as he sits
down and chats with us a little bit more about his career.
So that was fun. Thanks for joining us on this
week's episode. This year I can offer I'm Gus
Cotton Gale. As always, appreciate you for
tuning in.
Hello, everyone, and welcome to the New Orleans Pelicans
Podcast. I'm Gus, Cat and Gill.
Along with Mr. Jim, I can offer pelicans.com, DeAndre Jordan
joining us for this week's episode.
DeAndre, thank you for your time, man.
Thanks. For having me, I appreciate it.
Appreciate it as well got a lot to get into man and I guess that
kind of happens when you're now almost 20 years into the NBA.
There's a lot to talk about a little bit, man.
Is it still, is it still kind ofsurprising, you know, man, that
(00:27):
you're, I mean. Yeah, it's surprising.
It's it's a very humbling experience for me just being a
second round pick and the UPS and the downs that I've gone
through my career and learning different things.
And now I'm in a totally different role, which is, has
been amazing and I've been able to like relish in that.
And this is a new challenge for me.
(00:48):
It's, it's totally different from what I've been used to.
But being able to, you know, give back if I'm not out there
playing, being able to have my impact on the game and teaching
the young guys and giving them insight and just helping our
team camaraderie, I think is a is a huge.
And I really, I really enjoy doing that.
Yeah, right. From like from being a rookie to
(01:09):
to now kind of really being a voice for really 3 rookies on
this franchise that I think a lot of Pels fans are really
excited about. So let's just kind of get into
that. You kind of touched on a little
bit right now and kind of that role.
What has that role been like? What does it be like when you
first meet these guys, when you first, you know, sign on to the
team? And how has that gone to where
we are now in December? Yeah.
(01:29):
I mean, it's been, it's been fun.
We're we're making strides. Obviously our record isn't
showing what we're doing, the improvements that we're making,
but you got to think that Jeremiah Fears is supposed to be
in college. You know, he up class.
I believe their queen is 20 years old, Michael P BS a little
(01:51):
older, but he's still a rookie, you know, so those guys are
playing a lot of minutes and twoof those guys are starting.
So to be able to, you know, one,be 20 year old starting to
center position in the Western Conference in the NBA is
extremely tough. And also starting at point guard
at 19 years old when you're supposed to be in College in the
NBA and the Western Conference, with the amount of talent that
(02:12):
we have in this league and especially in our conference,
it's amazing. And those guys, they've, they've
held their own. So I'm really proud of them.
And Michael has played extremelywell in the different roles that
he's been given throughout the 1st 30 games of the season.
So those guys are going to have a head start on a lot of rookies
and I'm really proud of them in the things that they've been
able to do, especially once we get our full team back and
(02:32):
everybody's healthy and they've gotten the minutes like this and
they've been able to be in thoseCrush Time games, that's going
to help them and our team even more.
I feel like people say about some of the guys that come into
the league that there's different, you know, there's
different types of rookies in terms of how receptive they are
to, you know, instruction and some of the wisdom that the
players that have been in the league for a long time can give
(02:54):
them. What, what's been your
perception of them so far in terms of like, you know, their
willingness to learn and, and wesee you all the time, maybe
during time outs on the sideline, like taking them aside
or as they walk off the court during a break, you know,
talking to them. What's that been like?
It's been pretty easy, you know,we don't have you know, I don't
know if this is a family friendly show, so I'm not going
(03:16):
to say certain things, but I mean like those guys listen,
they aren't prima donnas, you know what I mean?
In my in my case, 18 years ago, I didn't have a choice.
I had to listen or there will beconsequences from the best that
I had, but I'm I have at times more of a gentle approach when
it comes to them. But I mean sometimes you got to
be a little bit more constructive with your criticism
(03:37):
with those guys because some things they respond to and some
things they need a little bit more of a tough love teaching.
And I I think that that's great being able to talk to guys a
different way. And I think it's also comes with
the years in the league knowing I can talk to fears one way and
DQ a different way and PV a different way.
So it's it's, it's good to be able to have that mixture, but I
(04:02):
also kind of want to let them learn from their mistakes as
well. That kind of let them tell me
what they see instead of giving them the answer and letting them
see what I or tell them what I see all the time.
One of the things I think a lot of fans are curious about is,
and this is not a bad thing, buthow many times we've seen
Jeremiah Fears get into it a little bit with an opposing
player and even DQA little bit here and there.
(04:24):
But I mean, what's what's your perception of that?
Is it just that they're in a position where it's like they
don't want to be pushed around that because they're rookies?
Is that basically what it is? Why this happening?
I think, I think it's a little bit of that.
I mean those guys, you know, they have really, you know,
similar backgrounds, you know, fears being from Chicago and DQ
being from Baltimore, like, you know, they don't take a lot of
(04:46):
stuff, you know, so I'm, I'm really happy to see that.
We've talked to fears about him donating a lot of his money back
to the NBA cares program. We want him to not do that as
much as you buy me a bottle of wine instead.
But I I love that they have, youknow, the chip on their
shoulder, You know, they're not going to back down from anybody.
(05:06):
I love that. And it's it's something that
they're going to be doing for a long time, just hopefully not
getting technical fouls. But I love the toughness that
they have and it's great and it's contagious and they're
going to be in this league for avery long time and both be great
players. I kind of want to touch on that
because that's something I released today.
You go back to that Phoenix game, right?
You know, Jeremiah said, look, hey, I could have come out.
(05:28):
I want to stay on there. You know, Derrick Queen, we've
seen a couple of times go toe totoe a little verbally and then,
you know, Jeremiah and and Luca,you know, just meeting at the at
the head for a little head buddy.
But I, I, I would rather somebody that had that
competitiveness and fire and tryto teach them to, you know, kind
of care like that. And I guess just in, in your
career, when you see that in guys that are just, you know,
(05:52):
not even 24 games at that time, not even 20 games at that time,
that that's just who you are. It's the makeup, right?
And you can work with that because that makes them
coachable, don't you? Think and it shows that they
care too. You know, it shows that they
care. It shows that they have a
because a lot of you can't teacheffort and and care and
physicality and things like that.
(06:12):
And those guys have it. And you know, I think them being
able to prove that now while we're in this learning stage,
when we do excel and this team starts to turn it around and
that'll still be their attitude.And you know, they want to win
their competitive, they care about the game.
So when you see that response, Ican't get mad at that because
(06:37):
I'm like, you know, you actuallycare.
Some people would just go, oh, we're we're losing.
It's OK. But but but they don't like
that. And they, you know, they're
going to talk back with the bestof them.
So I like that about them, too. Yeah.
You know, one of the things thatyou said earlier that I wanted
to kind of go back to quickly because I know we're going to
get into more of like why you'vebeen in the league so long, how
you've been successful for this amount of time.
But when you first came into theleague and I think it was 2008,
(07:01):
you were drafted, Did you, did you think like I'm going to I
want to play 10 years in the league was something, was this
long of a career something that even crossed your mind?
Like how did you see the your longevity when you first came?
In when I came in, I was 19, so I was thinking that I'm going to
play forever, you know, like I feel great.
I'm 19 and I can do whatever andit's I'm, I'm fine.
(07:24):
But as my career started to develop, then, you know,
personal accolades and collective wins and, and things
you wanted to achieve. And I've, I've done those things
now I'm like, you know, I want to get to a point where I am
happy with that. And I am, I am happy with that.
Now I'm at peace with my career.I would love to play 20 years.
(07:45):
That's my goal because it's sucha, a huge accomplishment.
There's been a handful of guys to be able to do it.
And that's that'd be a great group to be a part of.
When you when you look at, you know, being able to play that
long, I guess one of the things that I can almost tie back into
what we're seeing now with, you know, you're helping with the
with the rookies is understanding that, yes, there's
(08:07):
talent, there's basketball. There's so much more to that.
We've seen a couple times and we've already documented on this
podcast how, you know, Greg Monroe sits with Derek and
looking at film before games andtaking that onto the court.
Jeremiah doing the same thing with Coach Miles, how much of
that for people that are watching right now for you to be
successful at this level is putting all of that into
(08:27):
practice, how you practice, how you prepare, how you film study
and then how you play on a game then.
Yeah, well, I mean, I think you said it, the preparation is the
most important thing, whether it's in practice and shoot
around on days off. Some guys come back and shoot
the night before the game at thearena.
(08:47):
And then film, I think is very, very important.
I think it's an undervalued thing that is in this league and
that it's not just about watching your minutes.
It's about watching the entiretyof the game and watching the
flow of the game, how it changeswhen you go out, how it changes
when you come back in. And not only watching like, like
(09:10):
I talked to the DQ last night and you know, we're on him while
watching the games and watching,you know, things.
And I'm like, make sure you watch the first half and the
second-half. You know, we talked about that
because it's like those are two totally different players, you
know, And just for him to be able to recognize that early on
and be like, Hey, you know what?I need to play like I did in the
second-half for being for the whole game.
(09:31):
And maybe that game looks different, maybe it doesn't.
But you know, it's just you can't turn it on and off.
And I think when you watch it onfilm, the film doesn't lie.
So I think a lot of that is is aparent there, though.
I think that film is extremely important.
Wanted to ask you just about, I mean, you touched on some of
this in terms of how a guy playsin the league this long.
If you when you give advice, if I mean, I know I'm sure a lot of
(09:54):
stuff that you talk about the with the rookies is not about 10
years from now. It's about trying to be
successful tonight or this week or this month.
But if you, if you sat down withsome of these guys and told them
this is how you can be 18 years in the league.
I mean, you mentioned some of it, but I mean, I'm, I would
imagine there's other stuff thatyou've learned along the way in
terms of like how to take care of your body physically,
(10:16):
preparation, rest. I mean, what are I'm sure this
answer could be 15 minutes just in.
Itself, but I mean. What are some of the things that
you tell somebody, if you're talking to somebody on your
team, about how to be in the league for a long time, the way
you have been? I think it's just, this is a
very broad thing, but just be a pro, be professional, whether
(10:36):
that's taking care of your body,what you put into your body,
sleep, your work, your reps, everything like all of that
stuff goes under the same umbrella.
And it's also like, I have, I feel good.
So I don't think I need a massage or I don't need to get
in the culture, but I don't needto.
I can eat bad tonight, which is fine.
Like you can have in moderation,but all of that stuff adds up
(10:59):
and it's it helps the longevity of your career.
Just for I guess for fans to to kind of get a little insight to
it since you've been working obviously with Derek a little
bit more. We we see what he did to start
the work week man back against San Antonio, but you see him at
practice, talk to him throughoutthe game and stuff.
Who is Derrick we and what kind of player is he and can he be?
(11:22):
And like when you sit down and watch film with him where you
talk to him or you're talking him in the game, what kind of
player is he For players or for people that maybe don't watch
the games, they're like, oh, we see some stats.
Maybe I should pay attention. Who is he?
First of all, DQ is a kid, you know, and I think you have to
(11:42):
give him a little bit of grace too, because he is a kid still,
but he's extremely talented, extremely talented.
He's going to be a really great player in this league for a long
time, I'm hoping. And he's a sponge.
Like he wants to be better. He wants to be good.
He wants to be one of the guys and I and I and I love that
about him and fears both becausethey're hungry.
(12:05):
You know, they were a lot, both lottery picks, but they play
with a chip on their shoulder, which I which I love about both
of those guys. But like I said, they're super
inviting to things that you see criticism and they take it the
right way. You know, some guys would
sometimes shell up, but they embrace it.
And when you got young guys likethat, that's that's going to be
(12:28):
a highlight because those guys are, are ready to accept any
challenge. And like I said, they're both
sponges. They what they want to get
better. They watch film, they work on a
game, and that's all you can askfor.
Being a big when you see some ofthe moves that he does or, or
can you go back to maybe some ofthe plays going?
I I think of you, I think of like the physicality, you know,
want to break that ribbon, Duncan and stuff like that.
(12:48):
He has that sort of finesse at the same time and can play that.
It's interesting. He's extremely talented man.
He can handle the basketball. He has a great mid range jumper.
He's super crafty from the elbowand he's a hell of a passer.
He's a hell of a playmaker. And I think like a lot of times
he wants to make plays for guys.So that just shows his
(13:10):
unselfishness as a player. But like once he starts to
develop that stuff, once he works on his body a little more,
he's going to be a problem. He already is.
So seeing that I'm, I'm really happy with what we have here and
I think those guys will be here for a very long time and they'll
both be really great. Yeah.
So I was going to say like to toput it in context right before
we go to break here. I mean it, it's so early.
(13:33):
You know, it's great when when your coaches are referring to
you as hubs and things of that nature that that's a lot.
I mean, that means you're, you're impacting the game.
Absolutely, Yeah, absolutely. Those guys are both decision
makers in our offense on our team and we're asking a lot of
them. But like I said, they'll they
got a head start and they'll have the blueprint very, very
early. So I'm happy for those guys.
(13:54):
Well, Jim's almost been here 20 years, I've been here 3, and he
tells me to stick to the script.So he doesn't trust me to do
that and sticking to the script will do that.
Where we come back, we'll ask DeAndre a little bit about his
career and its entirety here. And especially, I don't know,
did he have a vet or two? That's kind of like he is now
kind of pushing him a little bit.
You probably know who I'm going to get into here in a little bit
as the Pelicans podcast continues after this.
(14:20):
All right, welcome back to the New Orleans Pelicans Podcast.
Once again, Jim, our thanks to DeAndre Jordan, who, if you
really enjoy that conversation like we did, it was just too
much for one episode A2 parter on Tuesday.
We'll have more with DeAndre Jordan and kind of focus a
little bit more on really what Ithink is so magnificent in terms
of the the full circle. It was of his career, right?
(14:43):
And he touched on it with all the different aspects of it.
But but now in this role with the Pels that he started with
our conversation. It's not easy, is it to, to sit
on that bench you you want to play and at the same time almost
be a coach and mentor. And he's done an amazing job
with it, which he. Really.
He really has. And you know, by the way, I knew
we weren't going to be able to probably contain him with just
(15:03):
one episode. So looking forward to hearing
more from him in Part 2. Yeah, I mean, I think, you know,
you, you talk about how it's difficult to take on that role.
I mean, I think anyone who's played sports, anyone who's
competitive knows there's some people never have to deal with
this. But there's times where you're
not going to play at all. And it's tough.
It's tough to go through that situation.
(15:24):
You want to be on the court, youwant to be able to contribute.
But I think he has the wisdom ofunderstanding that, OK, maybe on
the court I'm not going to be able to produce and help as
much. But there's so many other ways
that I can benefit a team. And, and I want to say too,
that, you know, I've, I've seen this with players that have been
here in the past. If you look around the NBA and
(15:45):
you look at the guys maybe at the end of the bench or guys
that don't play very much. I just respect the the fact that
he has the, the character and the, the self-awareness to know
that, you know, I can play. I know he said he wants to play
in the league 20 years, which is, I mean, he's only has to do
2 more years to do that. But yeah, guys like that, just
(16:08):
keep that in mind. When you see players like that,
you know that they must be pluses across the board in all
of the intangible categories. And that's one of the biggest
reasons why teams continue to add players like him to their
roster, even if they know, OK, he's maybe he's not going to
start, maybe he's not going to play 35 minutes a night, maybe
he not might not play at all. But even with him not playing,
he still is helping us in a bunch of different categories
(16:31):
that are hard to measure. Yeah.
And to your point, I think what's interesting is it it's
not maybe statistics or something you would see in a box
score, right? But even here in New Orleans, we
saw back in the day on the football side of things, guys
like what Roman Harper, Malcolm Jenkins brought to that
secondary. They even brought him back, Sean
Payton did when they had a youngsecondary to help mentor them
(16:52):
here as well. And we've seen it.
We're going to get into it a little bit about how Fears and
Queen have handled it, but kind of something that I've been able
to see to your point, when you go on the road, you want to talk
about a respected player. He's a respected player.
And I'm not just talk about justbut from the teammates, but you
know, from the person that is, is there that's part of the
(17:13):
security detail or a staffer from another team, they all come
up and run and say hello, DeAndre, He knows everybody by
name. He knows those things.
And Jim, one thing as we close out the segment that really
stands out to me, Very few people can walk in and command a
room. He can command your attention.
Or we just saw it in the last, you know, few games here with
(17:33):
the Pels in the game, Hey, get over here, do this and boom, the
instant dividends that he pays. But when you can have a player
like that on your roster, on your road trip, on your plane,
in your hotel and all that, thatis valuable.
Yeah, it really is. And I, I like his, his
personality is just very positive and very.
Always smiling. Yeah, and I think he, I mean
behind the scenes, like it seemslike he goes out of his.
(17:56):
There's another thing that keepsguys in the league a long time.
He goes out of his way to say hito people, to get to know
people, even if you don't want to be the person that only talks
to people if if they can do do something positive for you, like
you can get something out of it.Basically, it just seems like
he's in a very brief amount of time, he's really done well in
terms of just reaching out to people.
(18:17):
Maybe he doesn't know every single person's name around
here. I wouldn't expect him to, but
but he's definitely been good about interacting with with
everyone and and for people to know.
And you can see why when he you go on the road or even games
here, you see players from otherteams coming to say hello to him
too. He's been on a few teams and
he's, I, it seems like he's beena popular teammate everywhere
(18:37):
he's been and, and it's kind of obvious to see.
Yeah, no doubt. Well, we started out the work
week with speaking about the rookie ladder.
Well, the latest rookie ladders come out and their Pels are
still three and five, just the names of switch, which means we
have to talk about the rookies, Derek Fears and Derek Fears,
Jeremiah Fears and Derrick Queena little bit more.
So we'll do that when we come back and wrap up this edition of
(18:58):
the New Orleans Pelicans Podcast.
All right, welcome back to the New Orleans Pelicans Podcast.
Jim, I don't know if you know this, but the rookies for your
New Orleans Pelicans are kind ofa a storyline this season have
been playing well. Look, not just the statistics,
but DeAndre Jordan brought something up to you that really
stood out. They've had a chance to play on
(19:20):
the court in order to produce those statistics.
They're getting the minutes. How rare is that?
What is something that you found?
Yeah, I mean, I think it's a little bit of, it's definitely a
silver lining of the season thatmaybe when you went into the
year, you didn't think that. I mean, it wasn't a given that
Jeremiah Fears was going to start.
He it only took him three or four games and then he was in
the starting lineup. It wasn't a given based on Derek
Queen missing all pre season that he was going to immediately
(19:43):
jump in or relatively quickly become a prominent contributor.
But I mean, as we record this entering the Portland game,
Fears is third in the NBA in minutes among rookies and Queen
is 7th. I think that number for Queen is
going to keep increasing or thatranking because he did start
slowly where he had some games where he played 1015 minutes
(20:03):
before he moved in the starting lineup.
So I mean, they've both played over 600 minutes, which is
great. I mean.
DeAndre used the term head start.
It's definitely the kind of thing that even though, you
know, the winds haven't come so far, I do think that this is
going to pay off when you go into next season because these
guys are going to have so much time under under their belt and
so much experience that they goton the court as opposed to just
(20:25):
kind of sitting on the side and and watching.
Yeah. No doubt.
And obviously being in those situations like clutch games and
potential game winners, I mean, you, you can't stimulate them.
I mean, you have to go through them and along those lines,
let's start with Jeremiah fears here a little bit.
When when you start and especially at that position, why
is the word consistency stand out to?
(20:47):
Me. I mean, we talked about this a
little. Importance of it.
With with DeAndre as well, it's just that position is a
challenge because there's probably 25 great starting point
guards in the NBA where every single never going against
somebody who's really good and if you're not ready to play,
you're going to look bad. But the the biggest, I mean,
what stands out to me from a consistency standpoint is in the
1st 25 games of the season, he had 16 times where he scored 15
(21:09):
plus points. So he hasn't had these big
fluctuations where it's like onenight he scores 2 points, the
next he has 22, the next night he has four.
He's been somebody that you can rely on.
He's going to have games here orthere where it's like, yeah,
he's a rookie, but but I think he's been somebody that you can
really count on. The other thing too with him
from an efficiency standpoint, he's shooting 44% from the
(21:31):
field, 37 from 380 on free throws.
Couple the 44%. One thing I want to look at was
specifically Damian Lillard has a rookie 43%, Darren Fox has a
rookie 41, Darius Garland 40, Kate Cunningham 42.
That position you see so many ofthese guys where the worst
efficient season they have is their rookie year at point
(21:52):
guard. So like, this is a really good
starting point, I think for Jeremiah Fears and I think even
this season he'll continue to get better in in that area.
I like how you put that in theseAll Star players.
Rookie season was their worst indoing and you know the pels
rookie point guards doing so well already on that.
All right, when you look at Derrick Queen, I I don't know
(22:13):
what I enjoy the most watching him finally kind of show his
paint styles and and and the moves and the steps in there.
Or is it his passing game that it's the most fun to watch to?
Me, it's his passing because it's so unique.
I think he does a lot of things that are kind of one offs where
it's like you don't see players do this, especially rookies.
But just his the way he sees thefloor.
(22:35):
And I mean once that of the player, the Pelicans have seven
guys who've played at least 20 games a season.
He's leading the team in assistswith 3.9 per game.
Again, another number that I think is going to increase, but
the fact that he's leading the squad in that area just is kind
of tangible evidence of how goodof a passer he is.
But if you watch the games, it'slike it seems like he's
(22:57):
averaging 7 assists a game or 8 assists a game.
He's been so impressive, especially since he started
playing more. I think the thing that's just
impressive to me more than anything else as we wrap up is
that you've seen teams this season try to take the ball out
of his hands, you know, double him, come up with game plans one
game or so early on in the JamesBorrego, you know, era.
He's like, hey, this team came in to stop him.
(23:20):
That just doesn't happen to a a rookie center, much less.
Right. It's the ultimate respect that
now people talk about this a lotin the NBA, where some at the
beginning of the season, I thinkhe was barely mentioned in the
opposing scouting report. Now he's like near the top of
the list. So that that is a great sign in
terms of the other teams are going into games saying we have
(23:41):
to figure out how to slow him down and how to keep him from
having a huge night. Well, have a great weekend.
When we come back next week, more DeAndre Jordan as he sits
down and chats with us a little bit more about his career.
So that was fun. Thanks for joining us on this
week's episode. This year I can offer I'm Gus
Cotton Gale. As always, appreciate you for
tuning in.
Host
Jim Eichenhofer
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Betrayal: Weekly
Betrayal Weekly is back for a brand new season. Every Thursday, Betrayal Weekly shares first-hand accounts of broken trust, shocking deceptions, and the trail of destruction they leave behind. Hosted by Andrea Gunning, this weekly ongoing series digs into real-life stories of betrayal and the aftermath. From stories of double lives to dark discoveries, these are cautionary tales and accounts of resilience against all odds. From the producers of the critically acclaimed Betrayal series, Betrayal Weekly drops new episodes every Thursday. Please join our Substack for additional exclusive content, curated book recommendations and community discussions. Sign up FREE by clicking this link Beyond Betrayal Substack. Join our community dedicated to truth, resilience and healing. Your voice matters! Be a part of our Betrayal journey on Substack. And make sure to check out Seasons 1-4 of Betrayal, along with Betrayal Weekly Season 1.