April 14, 2023 • 46 mins
On the latest Pelicans Podcast presented by SeatGeek, Joe Cardosi is joined by Pelicans radio studio host Gus Kattengell as they reflect on the 2022-23 NBA season, their optimistic outlook, and what potential priorities for the offseason.
Jim Eichenhofer also calls in to discuss his keys for going forward and the state of the NBA Western Conference and what it means for the future.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome into the New Orleans Pelicans Podcast presented by Seat Gig,
a podcast dedicated to everything you need to know about
the squad. Yeah. I mean, if you want to tell him,
who was gonna play ten games together this season? They
went forty two games out. I said, that's that's crazy, um,
but enough for us to be successful, Um in your
future in a long time, we gotta be able to
(00:26):
play together. The New Orleans Pelicans podcast starts right now.
Welcome to the Pelicans Podcast presented by Seat Geek. I
am Joe Kardosi. Today very special because I am joined
by the extra brawny mister Gus Katt and Gel. Not
(00:47):
that Jim doesn't have muscles. Shirt, He's got plenty. He's
always flexed the lighting, it's it's lighting any he usually
doesn't wear the sleeveless shirt. But you know, I appreciate
you rolling in here with conn. Well, it's the off season.
How do players saying the all season? It's time to
get back in the lab. Yeah, time to get back
in the lab. I know it's only been when did
(01:07):
we last playing Tuesday? Wednesday? Wednesday? I know it's only
actually had it's only been one extra day? Yeah, um,
but you know, there are so many people that love
and I we actually do love this tap on the
window tell us hello, more more towards you than me.
But maybe next year it's only because they can see
me more. You're hurtled down again again in the lab.
(01:27):
I kind of think maybe if I get in the
lab a little bit more, yeah, um, maybe somebody out
attention comes my way next year. So yeah, bottom line though,
we plan on doing a lot more at that studio,
at some lighting, you know, things at nature, some decorations,
have a lot of plans. I'd love to have some
sort of speaker and mike out there. You guys can
talk to us all those different building. You can't put
(01:50):
stuff out well you know how that works. It's not
our call. Yeah, if it was up to us, it'd
be a party. But my Yeah, so yeah, I'm back
in the lab because there were no off season, Joe,
there is no offseason. If you're not getting better, then
you're getting left behind. Yeah, and I am constantly not
getting better. That's why I was just getting older. Yes,
I'm something about rising and grinding. I don't do either,
(02:12):
you know, but but it is the off season. It
feels weird. It feels like five seasons got jammed into
one somehow, with all the ups and downs. I mean,
the poor Pelican that I drew on the whiteboard behind me.
He got a tribal tattoo, he got fat, then he
got abs again, he's got a black guy, he's crying,
he's got stitches. I feel like it's representative of everything
(02:32):
the Pells went through, because, man, you know, rolling into
twenty twenty three, we were on top of the world
and then all of twenty twenty three happened. And you
don't want to call it forgettable, because there are lessons
to be learned from what the Pelicans went through, but
it's it's not something you want to repeat. And you
hope as the Pelicans go forward and as this team
(02:53):
rolls into the offseason, that those are lessons that that
will be learned. Yeah, And you know, we talked about
it in our pregame and even in our post game
on Wednesday, about how this season just felt. It was
just several months ago, four months ago, to the point
where I don't think any of us expected to be
feeling the way we felt at the end of the
calendar year. When we're going into that Memphis game on
(03:15):
December thirty. First, I don't think anybody was expecting to
feel the way we did. We had what tenny leven
consecutive home sellouts. You had blown away, you're blown out
the nets. To start the season. You were in first
place of the mighty Western Conference records. Brandon Ingram hadn't
even played in a month. It's great, like you're sitting
(03:36):
here going twenty twenty three is our years, Like, oh
my god, like this is actually happening. And then you
add the way the city was feeling with the way
the Saints season had gone. It was it was the
life raft that fans in this city needed. All eyes
were on the Pelicans, I think for the last time
in a long time, it really felt that way, right,
(03:56):
and uh, you know, and for a while the Pelicans
were living up to those ex dictations. And but between injuries,
between you know, players coming back and having to find
their groove, some of those games, when you look at
the state of the Western Conference, one game here, one
game there made all the difference in the standings. And
you hate to say, well, it could have been that one.
It could have been that one. But you could point
to literally any of them and be correct. CJ. McCullum
(04:19):
on Wednesday night after the game. I thought was as
honest and as truthful as players are a lot of times.
And it's what fans feel, yeah, and what fans felt.
And again that feeling, because I do agree with Willie
Green that the season was a success. You got to
(04:41):
the first place, you know, after it wouldn't like and
I don't mean first place after like two games and
won two and you you know, and that's what I've said,
I mean, you saw glimpses of what the team could be.
And that's also why it hurt so much. Now you
get to December, you've played two full seasons of basketball,
actually almost three, because you started in October, right, so
I mean early October. So when you're ending the calendar
(05:02):
year in first place, I think you were a twenty
four and twelve or something like, you've almost played thirty
I mean you played over over thirty games, so you've
earned that. You felt like the team had an identity,
wasn't play five games, won three year in first place.
It's a much different first place when you've actually played
months yes of basketball. So it was a success. It
was a success because you did see the work that
(05:24):
this team put in the off season paid off, and
it was one of the things we talked about here
in one of the early podcasts. One of the reasons
I thought this team may make a run or could
be a sixth seed was because you essentially did bring
back the same roster. There's no feeling out process, there's
no hey the coach in which system everyone knows what
you were doing. You worked in the off season the
(05:45):
entire time. We talked about where at Saints Ota or
training camp, and there's Trey Murphy and Herb Jones, but
you couldn't keep these guys out of the facility this
past season, and it paid off. They opened up the
season high. They beat the MAVs. You know, you saw
Dyson Daniels strip Luca in this first possession, Like you're
you're sitting here going, oh my goodness, Jose al Varado's
(06:07):
dropping forty against the Denver Nuggets, who wound up being
the top seed in the West in a game that
I mean, it was nuts, it was great. And then look,
it's just like anything else. The season then goes from
being the successful season to a disappointment. I'm not gonna
say it's a failure. It's a failure in that, and
I understand you're not in the first round. But I
(06:30):
think to me that I can see why, I can
explain why, I can point to why it makes sense
as to why. To me, a failure, failure is you
didn't live up to expectations. A failure would be you
didn't play to the level that you were capable of.
A failure is you were healthy, you didn't play. That
to me would be a failure. Zion had played all season.
(06:53):
B I didn't miss two months, and this team didn't
make the first round and lost in the first in
the play in, you and I would be having a
different discussion. Yeah right, But when you miss almost four
hundred plus games due to injury, you don't have Zion
Williamson literally play in twenty twenty three but one half,
(07:14):
not even a game. I mean he got hurt January second.
So when you don't have him January February March April,
the play in, when you don't have brandon Ingram for
two months, and more importantly, even in that playing game,
you don't have two catalysts and two players that Willy
Green closed out with in Larry Nanson Jose Alvarado, So
I can't say failure because he didn't have your team. Yeah,
(07:37):
disappointment absolutely well, you know, and and and heartbreak only
happens like you only really miss someone that you'll love.
Do you know if you're if you're done with somebody
and they're going, You're like, good, get out of here.
That's that's usually scrap. You'll slam the go I talk
like an old twenties guy when I'm real mad, but
you know that it only broke our hearts because of
(07:58):
what you're talking about. We saw glimpses of what this
team could be when healthy, and you saw Zion Williamson
breaking records, and you saw Bi once he got hot,
carrying the team and organically, I think we're going to
talk about what to look forward to. I had that
written down as a topic what went wrong, which I
guess we sort of talked about it hurts what to
(08:18):
look forward to, and that's sort of what we're getting into,
and it's it's sort of what is why it hurts,
you know, when you look forward to the future, as
you're saying Dyson Daniels, he struggled a bit down the stretch,
but you saw flashes from him trying to play point guard,
trying to adjust to that position. You see Trey Murphy,
you know in March he was headed for the G
League and then now he is a budding star in
(08:40):
this league. You got herb Jones showing some offensive weaponry
along with you know, his known defensive prowess. The pieces
are in place for this team if they can have
a stretch where they are truly a full team. I
still feel the same hope that I did in early January.
Before January, yeah, I agree. And look, we've touched on
(09:03):
this a lot, podcast shows, talk shows, whatever. The NBA's
the NBA. In this aspect, it steps. It can't skip them.
I mean you just can't. And I mean there's an
example after example after example. And what I'm curious about
is how you learn from this step. I mean you
heard Willie Green say it, yeah, after the game on Wednesday,
(09:27):
it's it is bittersweet. But how do you use this? Yeah?
And I'm talking everywhere and everyone. How is Zion going
to use this? How's this team going to use this?
How's Trey Murphy, Dyson Daniels, coach Green? Because nothing, I
think affects you more than loss. And I think they
(09:50):
do feel like this is a loss or pain or
hurt or discomfort or whatever you saw it. You know,
we were talking whatever in summ Is in a post
game and she commented Zion's reaction to the end of
the game. It look again for however we want to
look at it for whatever the reason he didn't play
or did play, it has to upset you. It has
(10:12):
to bother you. The last time you played this team
was in first place, the third place at the time
in January second and now you're going home, it's done.
If you're jose L Varadio's sitting there going you don't
think I could. That guy plays with with hurt ribs
right like he itching to get on the court. That
has to bother him. So I how do you use
(10:33):
it as fuel? I go back to I always say
one of my favorite commercials of all time, and it's
Michael Jordan, the black and white one where he's sitting
at the free throw line and it's just a bunch
of fonts and letters and texts and it's you know,
one thousand, six hundred missed free throws, you know, seven
hundred and sixty seven game winning shots, fourteen hundred whatever,
(10:54):
miss threes. And the entire commercial is his failures, right,
missus playoff losses, and it's just him in an empty
gym shooting a free through shooting a jumper. And that,
to me, has always stayed with me. It's easy to celebrate.
(11:16):
Your faith is what drives greatness, and what drives greatness
is failure. If that makes any sense to you, you
have if you have to percent. I actually teach that
to my kid all the time. You know, he gets
upset if he misses. When we started t ball, he
had said he gets angry or he he fell off
his bike yesterday and I'm like, get back on there.
I mean, dude, but that now you know? Now you know,
(11:36):
don't cut the wheel that hard. Now you know, don't
stop and try to you know, high five me. Let
go the handlebar, right. You have to know what that's like, right,
so I can tell you. And again I'm going by
what CJ. McCullum said, which I think is a perfect
reason why this organization wanted him and needs him. Yeah,
(11:58):
and it was a forty second. Hey, here's what you
have to do to win as a professional. And it
was things that maybe a lot of times people don't
think of right. And he mentioned we had an eight
late tip. What are you doing to be ready for
that late tip? You know you don't normally tip at
eight thirty, so you probably tend to get tight. Did
(12:18):
you nap, that you eat, that you hydrate? Do you
get your sleep? Things that we maybe don't think of
a lot, but we always tell ourselves and we've learned Joe,
it is important. I can go lift, I can eat right,
but if I don't sleep right, I don't get my rest,
I don't get a massage, I don't do those different things.
Are you ready to do it? And what was key
what he said was a routine. You're not just doing
(12:40):
it this week. You need to do it during the
summer when the season starts. That helps you come back
from injury quicker, if you're in better shape, if you're
somebody that routinely does maintenance, preventative maintenance. I talked to
doctors and kyro process much as James, he's the king
of that stuff. Well, he spends two million dollars on
his body for a reason. I mean, and that's the
(13:01):
thing though, but for him to be playing at almost forty.
And to be dropping thirty points a game and to
be out running people. Why because he eats a certain way,
he rests, a certain way, he takes care of his body,
plot or whatever. It's working. But that's just it, and
I think that's what this team needs to learn into
that next step. And we talked about this beginning of
(13:22):
the season. Last year they they learned, hey, we can win.
This year they found out we can win, but how
do we consistently win? And that's different targets on your backs.
You you know, people circle you now, sneak up some people.
How do you handle expectations? We saw clearly when you
(13:46):
are a game out of six how many games this
year a dozen't where this team didn't show up with
the required intensity to take on Orlando, to take on
teams that you should have beaten because you have better
talent Houston. But there you go, these are games they
have no bit. But again, if you want to win championships,
(14:07):
what do the Warriors do? What do what do Team Boston?
They come in and drop forty points in the first
quarter on the road against the Pelas, Why because their
mission in November? Right, it's May, It's June, but in November.
It's what they're doing to make sure their spot. They
show you early on in the season, even when it's
(14:29):
regular season basketball, who they are. When we played the Celtics,
I remember in studio being like, that's a different level,
different Milwaukee. When Milwaukee came in there, Yannis, I mean
the first quarter, you're like, oh my goodness. I mean,
they didn't stop. It was in business. And hopefully the
Pelicans learned those lessons. That's what a team looks like,
and that's the team you want to be to assert
yourself on any floor you step on. Yeah, and you
(14:51):
gotta hope those are the lessons they take from it.
But I think the thing that you can take solace
in is you did see this teamwork. Yeah, And I
do think it's very easy to go, oh, look, there's
disappointment in there's feelings like that. But I don't think
coach was lying when he said, look, this locker rooms
together and they're gonna support each other and talks and
(15:12):
you have to have those. I mean, my wife tends
to have a few more than I would like, right
with me, more than often than not. But yeah, um,
that said, what's going to be interesting for me this
postseason is some of the teams that made moves that
did work, like the Suns. I don't know. I don't
know how the Suns are with Kevin Durant in a postseason.
(15:32):
If they go sixteen and oh and don't lose a game,
that maybe changes your approach like a successful Yeah, remember
the draft and free agency come after the finals. So
I am curious to look at that. The King's a
team that leapt you. They took a leap in front
of t bottom dwellers, the first time in almost twenty
years has the been in a postseason, and they look solid.
(15:54):
Like again, I'm not being ugly, but when I watched
their roster compared to the Pels, they got shooting everywhere.
The guy that double doubles in the league in Sabonus.
But you have a lot of young talent, a lot
of good talent. So I'm very curious how this team does.
What I'm going to do watch this postseason? See what
that Memphis, they've again second straight ear to the second seed,
(16:19):
So you know, how do they react? How do they
build moving forward? I think affects how I build and
how I train in prep because again, what they need
to realize is what you do in October, November, December, January, February,
March matters. Come April, it just does. I mean, this
(16:40):
team shouldn't have been in the play in they were. Yeah,
and you have to be honest with yourself, jot it
down on a dry racer board in front of everyone.
This is why we're watching the play and that's why
it hurts. You know that you are better than the
play in on this roster is better than it is.
And to know that you could have gone into play
and play a hobble Timbers and then you match up
(17:02):
pretty well against the Nuggets. You have to now miss
all of that. And I think the other thing too
is you also have to understand that you earned sitting
at home and watching turnovers, not showing up at the
right intensity, maybe not doing the small things as see
Jim mccullochs seve in the post. Yeah, no, I mean,
(17:25):
that's just it. You don't think about it, but that, oh,
it's just a board in the second quarter of a
game in November that eventually costs you. Exactly in that
one game in April is the difference between you being
a play in or not so that's something to again
think of it, and you brought it up. Man, we
(17:46):
only get to see them the Eastern Conference one time.
We do get to see obviously the Western Conference teams
at least three, sometimes more than likely four. But you
see Milwaukee, you see Boston, you see those teams. It's
different look. And here's the other thing again, something else
that needs to wake this team up. New York. New
York was a team that not in the postseason last year.
(18:07):
They are a solid five team. Now, I know the
Pells beat them, but you had to beat them, and
you didn't have and they didn't have Bronson and they
and they were in that game and could have beaten you.
But that's my point. That's another team that's young and
and played with a certain intensity and Josh Hart was
per So it's changed that team. You have to understand,
(18:32):
there's a certain level you play to win a game. Sure,
they've they've they've achieved that they've got the winning course
to beat any team any given night. How do you
get to being a sixth seed that's a different level
of commitment and energy? Yes, how do you become a
championship caliber team? Maximum commitment, maximum effort, yep. Period. So
(18:58):
it's it's not really about yeah, you need to have it, sure, okay,
but it's about, as c Jim McCullum said, the little things,
what are you doing through the season, through the week.
And I go back and I mentioned this on my
talk show, what almost a month ago now, gosh um,
Derek Carr, who will be here next week on Monday,
(19:20):
the all season training program works now. And it's the
one thing he said it really stood out to me
that he does everything he can to get ready for
Wednesday right practice That really stood out to me. He's like,
we need to practice well and have everybody there to
(19:41):
practice so that way we can perform on Sunday. But
that's my point. That is the guy who's your quarterback,
who's the leader of your offense, saying, hey, you do
what you need to do Monday. You need to do
what you need to do Tuesday because Wednesday, eleven am,
I'm expecting you on that field. And that that's what
CJ McCullum is talking about. And yeah, a lot of
(20:03):
people gave CJ grief. She's like, well, he couldn't score.
His thumb is jacked and he has a torn labor yes, he.
I mean, he legitimately needs to get that surgery. So
you know, people are saying like, oh, he should have
scored more. If he wants to talk. He is a
he is a veteran leader, playing hurt, and his voice matters.
I think you know, he spoke quietly, but what he
spoke quietly was very loud on that locker room. When
(20:24):
you have a thumb that needs surgery and a torn shoulder,
I mean I it does. It does speak volumes shoulder.
I don't even know what's wrong with it right now,
and just sitting here in this chair, I'm about to
start weeping exactly. I don't even know what's it might
just be an out. But that's how he that That
goes to what I literally just said, what he said
(20:45):
after a game on Wednesday, Do what you need to
do to be able to get yourself on that court,
you know, and and and that's what I mean. It's
commitment and it's energy and it's all those different things.
So um, look, it's a learning experience. It's what are
those tough ones. It's just like, and the kid hurts himself.
You don't want the scratch. You don't want the scar.
You don't want the blood, but it's going to make
(21:05):
you better. And again, it's it's just like anything in life.
And I just the NFL, MLB. We can talk about
those other ones too, they're they're similar. But I do
think in the NBA you have to go through the
trials and tribulations. You just have to yea. And I
think as awful as you feel today, what they went
(21:27):
through this season, they can build on and I think
it's gonna make them stronger next year, for sure. I
really on coal in the furnace. You know, it's it's
coal in the furnace, and all we can do is
look forward to next season. I think, you know, there's
a lot to be I'm a bit of a poet.
I've read a book or two, and you know what
you've motivated to you. I'm I'm gonna go get my
shoulder fixed so I can go sit at the bar
(21:48):
and drink right on the week. Well, there you go,
you know, and be my best self. Goose, I know
you're gonna have a busy day. You're gonna be broadcasting
from the Nola Gold facility, So right there across the
parking lot, I'll be sitting over there missing you, just Peeka.
Am I gonna see you before October? I mean, am
I invited again? Are we doing a podcasts or yeah,
We're gonna have a busy schedule, and of course we
(22:10):
want you to be part of it. It was a
great first year together. Man, it was the Pelicans broadcast.
It felt like old times. We're gonna keep it going,
and I legitly mean it. I those fans that that
stopped by um. We looked forward to you, the families
with the daughter and yekids, look forward to what I
always love. That raft was like, are you a clown?
I'm like for her, I am, yeah, No, it's fun.
Mister Spider many spiders, always a gentleman with glasses. He
(22:33):
always two fist on it. You know, I mean I
I do enjoy it because and again that's why you
see this. Look. It was another sellout. We saw that
it's gonna go winning, it's gonna be, it's gonna it's growing,
it's gonna get there. Yes again that's we we have
to trust the people that uh you know have the titles. Yes, absolutely,
(22:56):
stair job to make it work. Ye. Look, we're just
the peons and the little office talking about the stuff
and we just hope for the best. And uh, look,
I think there's a lot to learn and a lot
to do going forward. It's could be a very interesting offseason.
It could be a very interesting day for all of
us here as the exit interviews are happening, and mister
Gus Kattingell is going to sprint across the parking lot
(23:18):
holding arms full of gear. I'll try to film it.
Put her on TikTok. It's sure to be funny, Gus.
Thanks for joining me. Man Jim, we miss you, Yeah,
we do miss you, Ben, not really because I got
I got the whole set. Yeah, you got the good chair.
You have to share my thoughts with any You got
the recliner that Jim usually has. Nice. I mean it's
almost like I was gonna say captain's chair, but this
is almost like an emperor's Yeah, and he makes someone
else say, look that little stool with a nail in it,
(23:40):
that's what this kind of leather plumpness in the long
long Jim demands the best, and if you don't give
it to him, he gets a foot rest stool here. Yeah,
he's got like extra he's got spares over here. I
don't have any storage because he's got extra footstools. Oh yeah, yeah,
turn it it's got Yeah, Jim, we miss you, buddy.
(24:01):
Hope you feel better. Oh thanks to Gus Cat and
Gell for joining this old dog on the Pelicans podcast.
You know it's it's lonely here without Jim. And what's that?
Oh it appears the Pelicans podcast mystery guest hotline is ringing.
(24:24):
There are so many guests. It could be today is
exident a few day? Who knows? Who knows who it
could be? Let's check it Pelicans podcast. Hey Joe, Jim,
I'll be going. It's mister Jim I can offer our man.
Holy goodness, I know the convalescing Jim I can. Hoofer
(24:50):
is currently laid up, but he is brave enough to
call the Pelicans podcast because, as we've talked about before,
he's got that dog in Jim. How you doing? I
got that dog in me. It was a very surreal
Wednesday for me. I wasn't there at the game because,
as you said, I'm trying to recuperate from having eye
(25:12):
surgery on Monday, right, So it was it was very
odd to be not in the arena and watching the
game on TV. And for have the season and that way.
But enough of my sob story. I'm doing okay. I'm
getting better. Hopefully I'll be back in person soon on
the campus and in the facility and in the radio studio,
podcast studio. But I'm doing all right. It's good man,
(25:34):
because we have been worried about you every day. I've
just had an empty chair in here and I just
sigh at it because it's not the same. But you
know what, we are moving on regardless, because it's the
end of the season and we sort of have to
reflect on it. There's there's so many reasons this season
felt like about four rolled into one. It feels like
(25:54):
because there's been so many highs and lows, so many
storylines that we were following for a bit and then
faded away or changed. I mean, look, Jim, it's it's
just a hard day for me and I miss your articles.
I just miss you. Give me your five keys for
feeling better, yeah, Joe, I mean he said it. As
far as the highs and lows of the season, there
(26:16):
was definitely a point Wednesday during the game in the
fourth quarter where I was kind of looking around even
kind of factoring my own situation and thinking like, man,
this year is just not meant to be. I mean,
some of the stuff that Willie Green had to do
in the fourth quarter, with some of the lineups and
some of the guys that he put out there that
had been part of the rotation. But I mean with
the string of injuries that pile on top of injuries
(26:37):
that pile on top of other ones, you know, it
is what it is. He had to improvise, So it
was there definitely was a point where I thought, like, man,
this is just it's just too much to overcome. But
that's kind of the way I looked at the way
this season ended, but kind of spinning forward to the
you know, list of things to look forward to. I mean,
(26:57):
one of the things that Larry Nance said an extra
interviews that I just saw, like literally a few minutes ago,
was there's no team in the Western Conference that can
say that they're not in the playoffs right now. They're
not going to be there, but they know that they
could be a number one seed in the West if
everything lined up well. So, I mean, I think compared
the first thing I would say on this list is
(27:17):
compared to previous years or maybe the previous decade would
be more specific. There were a lot of years where
there was a lot of question marks during the off season,
but you didn't go into the next season saying, like
with the confidence that you have now that the potential
is there. There might have been times in the previous
decade where you had you know, Anthony Davis and Drew
Holiday as your best players, and you had some other
(27:39):
good pieces and what ifs Back then though, you kind
of had the squint and be like, well, if this
comes together and if somehow we get a little bit
more development and we make the right moves in the
off season, and we definitely need to add some guys
because the depth is definitely not there, and the talent
frankly is a little bit shy of what it needs
to be. You might be able to compete for a
(28:00):
middle seed, you know, five six, if everything breaks right.
I mean, that didn't even happen, honestly, and in hindsight,
that didn't even come together. But now, I mean the
fact that they were in first place through a big,
pretty big chunk of the season, I mean, to me,
that's my number one thing, is like we don't have
to pretend that they need all these different things to
aligne and then even if they do a line, we
don't really know confidently that they have the ability to
(28:23):
be at the top of the West. So I would
say that's my number one thing. Number two of why
we should be excited and optimistic about next season and
the possibilities is just the development that already happened the season.
I would say Trey Murphy's number one on my list
as far as the jump that he made, I feel
like you added another piece of foundation, you know, building
(28:46):
block that you can say going forward that there's no
doubt that this guy is legit. Third, I would say, obviously,
and I think CJ McCollum discussed this after the game Wednesday,
they have to come back healthy. Yeah. I know a
lot of people had fans commented, and I thought, sweets
to me because because I posted some of his comments
(29:08):
about what CJ was trying to say, and to me,
the way I look at it, he was just to me,
that was just him dealing in reality, right. I mean,
it's just the fact that you cannot the team cannot
reach its potential. No team in the NBA can if
you don't have your guys available. So I mean Bob Line.
That's what you're gonna have to hope happens next year
(29:29):
just to get guys on the court, and we know
what they're capable of when that happens. And for CJ specifically,
I mean, I wasn't surprised at all that injuries were
affecting him greatly because you could just tell that he
didn't look like the same player that he was in Portland.
CJ's leadership, especially right now and they're going through it,
I think it's gonna prove more valuable almost than when
(29:50):
he was trying to steady the ship when he came
here fresh off a trade and they're sort of playing
with house money getting into the play in and making
a playoff push. This is where they're really gonna need
him to sort of right the ship and give them
the right mental framework to go forward. I feel like yeah,
And I mean, he's also a ten year veteran. He's
a big boy, so I know that he is not
(30:11):
It's not like it's catching him off guard. Some of
the criticism that he got or some of the second
jesting of people saying that he didn't play well. But
for me, what I want to see for him the
biggest thing I want to see for him next season
for him to be put in a position where, you know,
based on the availability of the other players increasing that
he's not enough. Position where so often he feels like
I have to be the guy that gets the points
(30:33):
when we need a basket. I definitely feel like there
were times where he was pressing in terms of, you know,
I have to contribute scoring, that's the number one thing
I do instead of letting the game come to him.
But when you put him in the situation where you
didn't have two of your other three big scorers, that's
going to happen a lot. So I just look forward
(30:54):
to him being in just in a situation where he
doesn't have to feel so much pressure on himself all
the time to do stuff and come back and just
be more efficient and be more of the guy that
we saw in Portland who was one of the really
maybe one of the only Trailblazers that was good in
that series in twenty eighteen when Pelicans swept the Trailblazers.
(31:14):
So yeah, that's I guess. The other things on my
list are I mean, brandon Ingram for a second year
in a row. The second half of the season last
two months was awesome. I mean last year it culminated
obviously in the playoff run and how good he was
against Phoenix, but didn't get that as far this year.
But I mean, I thought his last month plus was
some of the best that he's played yea in his
(31:36):
entire career. I came with that it seemed like like
for the first time I saw more people other than
like real Pelicans fans nationally sort of recognizing Brandon Ingram's
contributions to this team as a leader and as a
consistent scorer. You know, it seemed like, I don't know
if you want to call it a jump, but but
it seemed like he did make another step towards being
(31:58):
that that sort of superstar team leader player in nationalized
because of you know, his leadership and his scoring at
the end of the season. Yeah. Absolutely, I think there's
no doubt about that. I feel like though that the
last piece of that is, as we all know, um
doing it in the playoffs. I think he made a
bigger step probably nationally last season, just based on Yeah,
(32:20):
we all know, when you get to the playoffs, it's
really the only time of the year where there's one
game on, so everybody who's watching basketball, a lot of
players for the first time, right exactly. So unfortunately he
was denied of that this year. Um, other than you know,
the playing game, I'm sure there was a lot of
people that were just tuned in on that and there
was no other game going out at the same time.
(32:40):
So he just needs, to me, he just needs repeated
playoff appearances where people can understand how good of a
player he is. To me, that's what that's really the
last thing that's kind of separating him from some of
the other guys that place as a position, who get
more attention and more credit for how good of a
player they are than he does. It's just it's unavoidable.
(33:01):
You have to be on that stage when everyone's paying
attention and everyone's just locked in on your game, and
they're not. During the regular season, you're jumping around from
like eight different games at a time, and I feel
like a lot of what every player gets does gets
lost unless you're on like one of the five marquee
teams that are on national TV constantly, right right, you know,
and now, as I guess this would be number five,
(33:24):
I have a feeling I know what your fifth and
last thing is gonna be about or who it might
be about. I'm not sure actually, because I had on
my list. There might be something I'm forgetting, and I
welcome you to add a five B to this. My
five eight is just the offseason of having more opportunities
(33:44):
to make moves, including you know, again, they're gonna have
a first round pick, a lottery pick. It's gonna be
probably late lottery unless the Masks brings us the surprise
m They're in the fourth slot right now and that's
where there, that's where they will be on May sixteenth.
So just to come nation of having a lottery pick,
as well as another off season to make trade possibilities,
(34:05):
free agent moves, that kind of thing. Would you have
a five be for me? Well, I was gonna say
maybe it ties into your health thing, but I was
just gonna say, Zion, you know really what he means
to this team and having a full off season, and
you know last offseason he was healing from something, and
I guess to some degree he will be again this offseason,
but not to the same degree. He's gonna be rolling
into this one. As he said, he feels good now,
(34:27):
it's just a matter of getting him into you know,
the proper shape, proper headspace. And so with Zion now
rolling into a full off season with this team, you know,
chemistry wise, you know how they gelled together, and his
health and rolling into this season sort of full force
knowing what you're getting, I think that's gonna be tremendous
(34:48):
for this team going in. A big part of what
drained a lot of the enthusiasm as this season went
on was the uncertainty what's gonna happen. Is Zion coming back?
Is he is he injured? Is he shut down? Well,
now we know he's gonna be coming back next season,
and uh, it just changes the whole dynamic of this team.
But again, that probably goes into health more than anything,
because that's why he was out. He was just gone.
(35:10):
And uh, I mean, like you said, it's it's gonna
be a very interesting offseason. Let's not forget you know,
people bummed out about that pick, maybe losing some of
its luster. Trey Murphy was a late lottery pick and
he's turned out pretty good for our Pelicans. So I
think we're gonna be delving into that as we get
later into the off season, aren't we mister Jimothy Iikenhoffer. Yes, indeed.
(35:32):
You know one thing I would add about Zion too,
is I mean, there's been a lot of comparisons as
far as players that have missed games at the beginning
of their career who were drafted high. One of the
players that I keep looking at, and uh, I feel
like people have misunderstand this or don't have the mass
correctly and some of the things that they've assessed that
Zion has actually played more games in his first four
(35:54):
years than Joel embed Yes, yes, so I'm not comparing
those two guys necessarily, but I mean that's what you
want to see. You want to see him get through
some of the issues that he's had at the beginning
of his career and become a player that you just
see on the court consistently and enough to where you know,
m VT is an MVP candidate, and he's actually a
perennial MVP candidate. You don't think of him as an
(36:15):
injury riddled player that you gotta worry about constantly. He
missed his games here and there, but it's nothing that's
problematic or an issue for the Sixers. He's on the
court plenty to make them one of the best teams
in the East every year and like I said, be
in the in the running for MVP probably two three
years in a row now. So that that's what I
want to see furs on. And another quick thing too,
(36:38):
player that I didn't mention yet that um, I'm looking
forward to seeing Jose Alvarado back on the court as
well next season. Another guy thats the last chunk of
the of the regular season. And obviously the play in
you watch okayc in that game and they have so
many guys that are playmakers and so many guys that
can do stuff off the dribble. I feel like that
really hurt the Pelicans defensively in that game. And it
(37:00):
just seemed like they had so many guys that could
get to the basket or at least get into the
lane and dish off the people for easy baskets. And
I feel like beyond Zion, who I mean, is one
of the best guys in the league at gett into
the rim and just impossible to stop off the dribble. Yeah,
the Pelicans missed to say a lot in terms of
some of the stuff that he brought, even as well
(37:20):
as just the energy component. That he always brings to
the floor. So um, that's another piece. I guess I'll
make that five C. Yeah, might as well. And you know,
I'm also excited for for Dyson Daniels, which may go
under look because you know, he he he started off hot.
Everybody remembers that that stolen Luca ball when he first
(37:42):
you know, got out there, and you know he had
a rough stretch there, but he started to pick it
back up towards the end of the season, and we
saw a lot of players make a huge second year jump,
you know. I mean, look, I talked about it again
with with Gus Catton Gill earlier, but you know, Trey
Murphy was headed for the G League, you know, back
in March or so, and now he is a foundational
piece of this team. So you never know, you know,
(38:04):
with the right guidance and the right coaching and the
right offseason, what kind of jump Dison can make. But
he's shown flashes of being, first of all, a very versatile,
lengthy defender. But you know, just having a legitimate point
guard out there would help the Pelicans tremendously. And you know,
to have him have a whole offseason, I think it's
(38:25):
gonna be interesting to see what he brings to the
team as well next season. Yeah yeah, Joe. You know,
I think one of the things that we've learned the
last couple of years too, one of the best parts
about developing a roster this way as opposed to the
way that the team tried to build you know, five
eight years ago during that stretch, was you have a
bunch of young guys now and from year to Europe
(38:46):
a lot of them can make a big jump in
a big improvement, and that can have a massive impact
on how many more wins you get. So, I mean,
between we talked about Trey, we talked about her. I thought,
in the last twenty games with this regular season play
his best that he's played in his first two years.
Yet Dyson Daniels same thing to his a same thing.
(39:07):
I mean, we can go down the list, there might
be another guy added in the draft that has potential
to get better. So, um, that's gotta be on the
list somewhere as well. This list is getting very long,
but that's gotta be on the list somewhere. Is just
how many of these guys are twenty one, twenty two,
twenty three and they keep getting better. You're not talking
about a collection of you know, mid career veterans. Who
(39:29):
they are, what they are. We definitely have not even
scratched the surface with some of these guys in terms
of their potential. The completely agree. And when I spoke
to Nick Gallo from the Oklahoma City Thunder earlier it
you know it, we talked about how that they were
sort of playing with house money, sort of how we
felt like we were playing with maybe last season, and
I feel like we're going to see a lot of
(39:49):
them going forward. And you know, Pelicans fancy to remember
we still have a war chest of assets. There's still
so many moves that can be made. It's still so fluid,
who knows what can happen. But you know, the state
of the West is just bananas right now. You look
at you know, you look at Sacramento and they're they're
just owning the West. You look at the Grizzlies, who
you know, we want to be a rival of the Grizzlies,
(40:12):
but first thing is first we have to be relevant
enough to see them for them to see us as
a rival. So you know, they're a tough team and
you look at the West, it's just a few years ago,
I don't think you would have looked at it and
expected things to look this way. The Lakers in a
play in and the Kings, you know, just ruling the
roost along with the Nuggets and the Grizzlies. How long
(40:34):
do you expect it to stay like this? I mean,
this is gonna be an interesting offseason, you ceba, all
kinds of moves that are going to be made. I mean,
how long do you expect the West to look the
way it is? I feel like even in twenty twenty
two I didn't look this way. Yeah, I mean to
drill down to specifically the Pelicans, I think one of
the best, I mean totally out of their control. But
one of the best developments of this past season in
(40:54):
terms of the rest of the West, especially compared to
pretty much the entire time that I've been here, is
that the division has gotten worse. The division has gotten
more manageable, so that that's very helpful. I mean, you
play all those teams automatically four times a year. The
Mavericks had a very you know, kind of crash and
burn at the end of the season. The Rockets and
(41:15):
Spurs are still in totally rebuild mode. Who knows how
long it's going to take for them to move out
of that. You mentioned the Grizzlies. But to answer your question,
I mean, as far as the West, I feel like
it's really hard to predict because, like you said, you
asked someone two years ago what the West would look
like in twenty twenty three, they would have been completely wrong.
Some teams that we thought were gonna have staying power
(41:36):
at the top of the standings have not. And some
of the teams that we thought maybe would be at
the bottom for multiple years also have not, including the
thunder that they'd be making a rise. So I mean,
I think it's very fluid. It's gonna be really interesting
because you just have so many teams that even some
of the teams like Dallas that I mentioned they had
a bad year, they couldn't easily jump up next year.
(41:59):
Utah made a really nice stride. So it's definitely not
going to be easy, that's for sure. Yes, but the
Pelicans need to focus on basically with a nice place
finished this year, I mean, and being at number one
at one point, I think they want they should go
into next year with the goal of trying to move
(42:19):
up at least several spots in the standings and maybe
be cemented in the top six. I think they would
have definitely banished it wasn't for the injuries this year. Yeah,
I mean they've they've shown themselves what they can be
if they stay consistent and they're healthy, and hopefully that
went to their heads a little bit and they're hungry.
I mean, I hate to be sitting at home right now,
(42:40):
but I do love the rise of the small market teams,
especially in the West, and uh it's it's kind again.
I'm not gonna say it's fun to watch, but I
want to be part of it next season. I want
the Pelicans to be riding on the crest of that wave. Jim,
you know I miss you up in here. I might
take a couple of days off just to reflect not
(43:02):
only on the season but how much I miss you.
But I'm just glad you're mending my man, and glad
you are able to join me on the Super Mystery
Guest Hotline today. It made my day. Well thanks, Joe.
I really look forward to being back into the studio
in person with you as well in the In the meantime,
I'm going to stay inside as much as I can
(43:23):
and not scar any young children with ye how I
look right now? Well, you know, if you drive past
the palatial, I can offer a state and you see
the curtains sort of parting. Don't look too closely. It's
not nos faratu. That's just Jim in his healing clothes.
That's just that's just how he rolls. But uh, you know,
you you do what you need to do. Everyone's healing
(43:43):
process is different, and you come back when you feel
like Jim I can offer. I certainly will do that,
and I do look forward to next season, but in
the in the short term, just looking forward to the lottery,
the draft. Yeah you, and we'll go from there. Yes,
as he teased, we will be covering all of that.
So much news going to be happening. But first things first,
(44:06):
Jim's gotta get better. Jim, stay, stay on the mend,
my friend, and I will see you soon. Sounds good.
Thanks Joe, big thanks to Jim I can offer for
joining me hobbled, and big thanks to Gus, Kat and
Gel for joining me mostly Shirtless Fun podcast today under
(44:30):
not so fun circumstances. You know, I didn't expect to
be here today talking about the end of the Pelican season.
I expected to be talking about things ahead, and I
think a lot of people did. And that's why it hurts,
is that you know this team is capable of more.
And I think that's why, as much as it hurts,
there are reasons to look ahead to the next season
(44:51):
with that in mind, knowing that this team is capable
of more if they just put it together. Big thanks
to you if you came to any of the games
this season, if you have listened to any of them
on the radio, if you are listening to this podcast,
if you ever knocked on the window gave us a
wave when we were in there, us, me and Gus,
(45:12):
the radio crew, we always enjoy the interaction with you guys.
I want to get to know more of the fans
and the people that are out there watching and ingesting
these Pelicans games, So I'm gonna try to get out
to more of the events in the offseason. Big thanks
to everyone who has ever listened to anything we do.
We do appreciate it. You're our people. Not a lot
(45:33):
of time to really reflect on things, and not a
lot of time for you to miss us. Jim and
I are already planning offseason podcasts stuff, lots of fun
content gonna be coming your way on the Pelicans podcast
and the Pelicans Podcast Network of podcasts. So once again,
if you're a fan of the Pelicans, if you're listening
(45:55):
to this, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.
Give me a follow over on Twitter at j car
five oh four. Always enjoyed chatting with you, folks, and
until I speak to you again, oh oh go pel
(46:17):
Thanks for listening to the New Orleans Pelicans podcast presented
by seat Geek. Join us three times per week on
Pelicans dot com, the Pelicans mobile app, or you can
subscribe to the podcast on iTunes. We'll see you next
time right here on the New Orleans Pelicans Podcast presented
by SeatGeek
Welcome into the New Orleans Pelicans Podcast presented by Seat Gig,
a podcast dedicated to everything you need to know about
the squad. Yeah. I mean, if you want to tell him,
who was gonna play ten games together this season? They
went forty two games out. I said, that's that's crazy, um,
but enough for us to be successful, Um in your
future in a long time, we gotta be able to
(00:26):
play together. The New Orleans Pelicans podcast starts right now.
Welcome to the Pelicans Podcast presented by Seat Geek. I
am Joe Kardosi. Today very special because I am joined
by the extra brawny mister Gus Katt and Gel. Not
(00:47):
that Jim doesn't have muscles. Shirt, He's got plenty. He's
always flexed the lighting, it's it's lighting any he usually
doesn't wear the sleeveless shirt. But you know, I appreciate
you rolling in here with conn. Well, it's the off season.
How do players saying the all season? It's time to
get back in the lab. Yeah, time to get back
in the lab. I know it's only been when did
(01:07):
we last playing Tuesday? Wednesday? Wednesday? I know it's only
actually had it's only been one extra day? Yeah, um,
but you know, there are so many people that love
and I we actually do love this tap on the
window tell us hello, more more towards you than me.
But maybe next year it's only because they can see
me more. You're hurtled down again again in the lab.
(01:27):
I kind of think maybe if I get in the
lab a little bit more, yeah, um, maybe somebody out
attention comes my way next year. So yeah, bottom line though,
we plan on doing a lot more at that studio,
at some lighting, you know, things at nature, some decorations,
have a lot of plans. I'd love to have some
sort of speaker and mike out there. You guys can
talk to us all those different building. You can't put
(01:50):
stuff out well you know how that works. It's not
our call. Yeah, if it was up to us, it'd
be a party. But my Yeah, so yeah, I'm back
in the lab because there were no off season, Joe,
there is no offseason. If you're not getting better, then
you're getting left behind. Yeah, and I am constantly not
getting better. That's why I was just getting older. Yes,
I'm something about rising and grinding. I don't do either,
(02:12):
you know, but but it is the off season. It
feels weird. It feels like five seasons got jammed into
one somehow, with all the ups and downs. I mean,
the poor Pelican that I drew on the whiteboard behind me.
He got a tribal tattoo, he got fat, then he
got abs again, he's got a black guy, he's crying,
he's got stitches. I feel like it's representative of everything
(02:32):
the Pells went through, because, man, you know, rolling into
twenty twenty three, we were on top of the world
and then all of twenty twenty three happened. And you
don't want to call it forgettable, because there are lessons
to be learned from what the Pelicans went through, but
it's it's not something you want to repeat. And you
hope as the Pelicans go forward and as this team
(02:53):
rolls into the offseason, that those are lessons that that
will be learned. Yeah, And you know, we talked about
it in our pregame and even in our post game
on Wednesday, about how this season just felt. It was
just several months ago, four months ago, to the point
where I don't think any of us expected to be
feeling the way we felt at the end of the
calendar year. When we're going into that Memphis game on
(03:15):
December thirty. First, I don't think anybody was expecting to
feel the way we did. We had what tenny leven
consecutive home sellouts. You had blown away, you're blown out
the nets. To start the season. You were in first
place of the mighty Western Conference records. Brandon Ingram hadn't
even played in a month. It's great, like you're sitting
(03:36):
here going twenty twenty three is our years, Like, oh
my god, like this is actually happening. And then you
add the way the city was feeling with the way
the Saints season had gone. It was it was the
life raft that fans in this city needed. All eyes
were on the Pelicans, I think for the last time
in a long time, it really felt that way, right,
(03:56):
and uh, you know, and for a while the Pelicans
were living up to those ex dictations. And but between injuries,
between you know, players coming back and having to find
their groove, some of those games, when you look at
the state of the Western Conference, one game here, one
game there made all the difference in the standings. And
you hate to say, well, it could have been that one.
It could have been that one. But you could point
to literally any of them and be correct. CJ. McCullum
(04:19):
on Wednesday night after the game. I thought was as
honest and as truthful as players are a lot of times.
And it's what fans feel, yeah, and what fans felt.
And again that feeling, because I do agree with Willie
Green that the season was a success. You got to
(04:41):
the first place, you know, after it wouldn't like and
I don't mean first place after like two games and
won two and you you know, and that's what I've said,
I mean, you saw glimpses of what the team could be.
And that's also why it hurt so much. Now you
get to December, you've played two full seasons of basketball,
actually almost three, because you started in October, right, so
I mean early October. So when you're ending the calendar
(05:02):
year in first place, I think you were a twenty
four and twelve or something like, you've almost played thirty
I mean you played over over thirty games, so you've
earned that. You felt like the team had an identity,
wasn't play five games, won three year in first place.
It's a much different first place when you've actually played
months yes of basketball. So it was a success. It
was a success because you did see the work that
(05:24):
this team put in the off season paid off, and
it was one of the things we talked about here
in one of the early podcasts. One of the reasons
I thought this team may make a run or could
be a sixth seed was because you essentially did bring
back the same roster. There's no feeling out process, there's
no hey the coach in which system everyone knows what
you were doing. You worked in the off season the
(05:45):
entire time. We talked about where at Saints Ota or
training camp, and there's Trey Murphy and Herb Jones, but
you couldn't keep these guys out of the facility this
past season, and it paid off. They opened up the
season high. They beat the MAVs. You know, you saw
Dyson Daniels strip Luca in this first possession, Like you're
you're sitting here going, oh my goodness, Jose al Varado's
(06:07):
dropping forty against the Denver Nuggets, who wound up being
the top seed in the West in a game that
I mean, it was nuts, it was great. And then look,
it's just like anything else. The season then goes from
being the successful season to a disappointment. I'm not gonna
say it's a failure. It's a failure in that, and
I understand you're not in the first round. But I
(06:30):
think to me that I can see why, I can
explain why, I can point to why it makes sense
as to why. To me, a failure, failure is you
didn't live up to expectations. A failure would be you
didn't play to the level that you were capable of.
A failure is you were healthy, you didn't play. That
to me would be a failure. Zion had played all season.
(06:53):
B I didn't miss two months, and this team didn't
make the first round and lost in the first in
the play in, you and I would be having a
different discussion. Yeah right, But when you miss almost four
hundred plus games due to injury, you don't have Zion
Williamson literally play in twenty twenty three but one half,
(07:14):
not even a game. I mean he got hurt January second.
So when you don't have him January February March April,
the play in, when you don't have brandon Ingram for
two months, and more importantly, even in that playing game,
you don't have two catalysts and two players that Willy
Green closed out with in Larry Nanson Jose Alvarado, So
I can't say failure because he didn't have your team. Yeah,
(07:37):
disappointment absolutely well, you know, and and and heartbreak only
happens like you only really miss someone that you'll love.
Do you know if you're if you're done with somebody
and they're going, You're like, good, get out of here.
That's that's usually scrap. You'll slam the go I talk
like an old twenties guy when I'm real mad, but
you know that it only broke our hearts because of
(07:58):
what you're talking about. We saw glimpses of what this
team could be when healthy, and you saw Zion Williamson
breaking records, and you saw Bi once he got hot,
carrying the team and organically, I think we're going to
talk about what to look forward to. I had that
written down as a topic what went wrong, which I
guess we sort of talked about it hurts what to
(08:18):
look forward to, and that's sort of what we're getting into,
and it's it's sort of what is why it hurts,
you know, when you look forward to the future, as
you're saying Dyson Daniels, he struggled a bit down the stretch,
but you saw flashes from him trying to play point guard,
trying to adjust to that position. You see Trey Murphy,
you know in March he was headed for the G
League and then now he is a budding star in
(08:40):
this league. You got herb Jones showing some offensive weaponry
along with you know, his known defensive prowess. The pieces
are in place for this team if they can have
a stretch where they are truly a full team. I
still feel the same hope that I did in early January.
Before January, yeah, I agree. And look, we've touched on
(09:03):
this a lot, podcast shows, talk shows, whatever. The NBA's
the NBA. In this aspect, it steps. It can't skip them.
I mean you just can't. And I mean there's an
example after example after example. And what I'm curious about
is how you learn from this step. I mean you
heard Willie Green say it, yeah, after the game on Wednesday,
(09:27):
it's it is bittersweet. But how do you use this? Yeah?
And I'm talking everywhere and everyone. How is Zion going
to use this? How's this team going to use this?
How's Trey Murphy, Dyson Daniels, coach Green? Because nothing, I
think affects you more than loss. And I think they
(09:50):
do feel like this is a loss or pain or
hurt or discomfort or whatever you saw it. You know,
we were talking whatever in summ Is in a post
game and she commented Zion's reaction to the end of
the game. It look again for however we want to
look at it for whatever the reason he didn't play
or did play, it has to upset you. It has
(10:12):
to bother you. The last time you played this team
was in first place, the third place at the time
in January second and now you're going home, it's done.
If you're jose L Varadio's sitting there going you don't
think I could. That guy plays with with hurt ribs
right like he itching to get on the court. That
has to bother him. So I how do you use
(10:33):
it as fuel? I go back to I always say
one of my favorite commercials of all time, and it's
Michael Jordan, the black and white one where he's sitting
at the free throw line and it's just a bunch
of fonts and letters and texts and it's you know,
one thousand, six hundred missed free throws, you know, seven
hundred and sixty seven game winning shots, fourteen hundred whatever,
(10:54):
miss threes. And the entire commercial is his failures, right,
missus playoff losses, and it's just him in an empty
gym shooting a free through shooting a jumper. And that,
to me, has always stayed with me. It's easy to celebrate.
(11:16):
Your faith is what drives greatness, and what drives greatness
is failure. If that makes any sense to you, you
have if you have to percent. I actually teach that
to my kid all the time. You know, he gets
upset if he misses. When we started t ball, he
had said he gets angry or he he fell off
his bike yesterday and I'm like, get back on there.
I mean, dude, but that now you know? Now you know,
(11:36):
don't cut the wheel that hard. Now you know, don't
stop and try to you know, high five me. Let
go the handlebar, right. You have to know what that's like, right,
so I can tell you. And again I'm going by
what CJ. McCullum said, which I think is a perfect
reason why this organization wanted him and needs him. Yeah,
(11:58):
and it was a forty second. Hey, here's what you
have to do to win as a professional. And it
was things that maybe a lot of times people don't
think of right. And he mentioned we had an eight
late tip. What are you doing to be ready for
that late tip? You know you don't normally tip at
eight thirty, so you probably tend to get tight. Did
(12:18):
you nap, that you eat, that you hydrate? Do you
get your sleep? Things that we maybe don't think of
a lot, but we always tell ourselves and we've learned Joe,
it is important. I can go lift, I can eat right,
but if I don't sleep right, I don't get my rest,
I don't get a massage, I don't do those different things.
Are you ready to do it? And what was key
what he said was a routine. You're not just doing
(12:40):
it this week. You need to do it during the
summer when the season starts. That helps you come back
from injury quicker, if you're in better shape, if you're
somebody that routinely does maintenance, preventative maintenance. I talked to
doctors and kyro process much as James, he's the king
of that stuff. Well, he spends two million dollars on
his body for a reason. I mean, and that's the
(13:01):
thing though, but for him to be playing at almost forty.
And to be dropping thirty points a game and to
be out running people. Why because he eats a certain way,
he rests, a certain way, he takes care of his body,
plot or whatever. It's working. But that's just it, and
I think that's what this team needs to learn into
that next step. And we talked about this beginning of
(13:22):
the season. Last year they they learned, hey, we can win.
This year they found out we can win, but how
do we consistently win? And that's different targets on your backs.
You you know, people circle you now, sneak up some people.
How do you handle expectations? We saw clearly when you
(13:46):
are a game out of six how many games this
year a dozen't where this team didn't show up with
the required intensity to take on Orlando, to take on
teams that you should have beaten because you have better
talent Houston. But there you go, these are games they
have no bit. But again, if you want to win championships,
(14:07):
what do the Warriors do? What do what do Team Boston?
They come in and drop forty points in the first
quarter on the road against the Pelas, Why because their
mission in November? Right, it's May, It's June, but in November.
It's what they're doing to make sure their spot. They
show you early on in the season, even when it's
(14:29):
regular season basketball, who they are. When we played the Celtics,
I remember in studio being like, that's a different level,
different Milwaukee. When Milwaukee came in there, Yannis, I mean
the first quarter, you're like, oh my goodness. I mean,
they didn't stop. It was in business. And hopefully the
Pelicans learned those lessons. That's what a team looks like,
and that's the team you want to be to assert
yourself on any floor you step on. Yeah, and you
(14:51):
gotta hope those are the lessons they take from it.
But I think the thing that you can take solace
in is you did see this teamwork. Yeah, And I
do think it's very easy to go, oh, look, there's
disappointment in there's feelings like that. But I don't think
coach was lying when he said, look, this locker rooms
together and they're gonna support each other and talks and
(15:12):
you have to have those. I mean, my wife tends
to have a few more than I would like, right
with me, more than often than not. But yeah, um,
that said, what's going to be interesting for me this
postseason is some of the teams that made moves that
did work, like the Suns. I don't know. I don't
know how the Suns are with Kevin Durant in a postseason.
(15:32):
If they go sixteen and oh and don't lose a game,
that maybe changes your approach like a successful Yeah, remember
the draft and free agency come after the finals. So
I am curious to look at that. The King's a
team that leapt you. They took a leap in front
of t bottom dwellers, the first time in almost twenty
years has the been in a postseason, and they look solid.
(15:54):
Like again, I'm not being ugly, but when I watched
their roster compared to the Pels, they got shooting everywhere.
The guy that double doubles in the league in Sabonus.
But you have a lot of young talent, a lot
of good talent. So I'm very curious how this team does.
What I'm going to do watch this postseason? See what
that Memphis, they've again second straight ear to the second seed,
(16:19):
So you know, how do they react? How do they
build moving forward? I think affects how I build and
how I train in prep because again, what they need
to realize is what you do in October, November, December, January, February,
March matters. Come April, it just does. I mean, this
(16:40):
team shouldn't have been in the play in they were. Yeah,
and you have to be honest with yourself, jot it
down on a dry racer board in front of everyone.
This is why we're watching the play and that's why
it hurts. You know that you are better than the
play in on this roster is better than it is.
And to know that you could have gone into play
and play a hobble Timbers and then you match up
(17:02):
pretty well against the Nuggets. You have to now miss
all of that. And I think the other thing too
is you also have to understand that you earned sitting
at home and watching turnovers, not showing up at the
right intensity, maybe not doing the small things as see
Jim mccullochs seve in the post. Yeah, no, I mean,
(17:25):
that's just it. You don't think about it, but that, oh,
it's just a board in the second quarter of a
game in November that eventually costs you. Exactly in that
one game in April is the difference between you being
a play in or not so that's something to again
think of it, and you brought it up. Man, we
(17:46):
only get to see them the Eastern Conference one time.
We do get to see obviously the Western Conference teams
at least three, sometimes more than likely four. But you
see Milwaukee, you see Boston, you see those teams. It's
different look. And here's the other thing again, something else
that needs to wake this team up. New York. New
York was a team that not in the postseason last year.
(18:07):
They are a solid five team. Now, I know the
Pells beat them, but you had to beat them, and
you didn't have and they didn't have Bronson and they
and they were in that game and could have beaten you.
But that's my point. That's another team that's young and
and played with a certain intensity and Josh Hart was
per So it's changed that team. You have to understand,
(18:32):
there's a certain level you play to win a game. Sure,
they've they've they've achieved that they've got the winning course
to beat any team any given night. How do you
get to being a sixth seed that's a different level
of commitment and energy? Yes, how do you become a
championship caliber team? Maximum commitment, maximum effort, yep. Period. So
(18:58):
it's it's not really about yeah, you need to have it, sure, okay,
but it's about, as c Jim McCullum said, the little things,
what are you doing through the season, through the week.
And I go back and I mentioned this on my
talk show, what almost a month ago now, gosh um,
Derek Carr, who will be here next week on Monday,
(19:20):
the all season training program works now. And it's the
one thing he said it really stood out to me
that he does everything he can to get ready for
Wednesday right practice That really stood out to me. He's like,
we need to practice well and have everybody there to
(19:41):
practice so that way we can perform on Sunday. But
that's my point. That is the guy who's your quarterback,
who's the leader of your offense, saying, hey, you do
what you need to do Monday. You need to do
what you need to do Tuesday because Wednesday, eleven am,
I'm expecting you on that field. And that that's what
CJ McCullum is talking about. And yeah, a lot of
(20:03):
people gave CJ grief. She's like, well, he couldn't score.
His thumb is jacked and he has a torn labor yes, he.
I mean, he legitimately needs to get that surgery. So
you know, people are saying like, oh, he should have
scored more. If he wants to talk. He is a
he is a veteran leader, playing hurt, and his voice matters.
I think you know, he spoke quietly, but what he
spoke quietly was very loud on that locker room. When
(20:24):
you have a thumb that needs surgery and a torn shoulder,
I mean I it does. It does speak volumes shoulder.
I don't even know what's wrong with it right now,
and just sitting here in this chair, I'm about to
start weeping exactly. I don't even know what's it might
just be an out. But that's how he that That
goes to what I literally just said, what he said
(20:45):
after a game on Wednesday, Do what you need to
do to be able to get yourself on that court,
you know, and and and that's what I mean. It's
commitment and it's energy and it's all those different things.
So um, look, it's a learning experience. It's what are
those tough ones. It's just like, and the kid hurts himself.
You don't want the scratch. You don't want the scar.
You don't want the blood, but it's going to make
(21:05):
you better. And again, it's it's just like anything in life.
And I just the NFL, MLB. We can talk about
those other ones too, they're they're similar. But I do
think in the NBA you have to go through the
trials and tribulations. You just have to yea. And I
think as awful as you feel today, what they went
(21:27):
through this season, they can build on and I think
it's gonna make them stronger next year, for sure. I
really on coal in the furnace. You know, it's it's
coal in the furnace, and all we can do is
look forward to next season. I think, you know, there's
a lot to be I'm a bit of a poet.
I've read a book or two, and you know what
you've motivated to you. I'm I'm gonna go get my
shoulder fixed so I can go sit at the bar
(21:48):
and drink right on the week. Well, there you go,
you know, and be my best self. Goose, I know
you're gonna have a busy day. You're gonna be broadcasting
from the Nola Gold facility, So right there across the
parking lot, I'll be sitting over there missing you, just Peeka.
Am I gonna see you before October? I mean, am
I invited again? Are we doing a podcasts or yeah,
We're gonna have a busy schedule, and of course we
(22:10):
want you to be part of it. It was a
great first year together. Man, it was the Pelicans broadcast.
It felt like old times. We're gonna keep it going,
and I legitly mean it. I those fans that that
stopped by um. We looked forward to you, the families
with the daughter and yekids, look forward to what I
always love. That raft was like, are you a clown?
I'm like for her, I am, yeah, No, it's fun.
Mister Spider many spiders, always a gentleman with glasses. He
(22:33):
always two fist on it. You know, I mean I
I do enjoy it because and again that's why you
see this. Look. It was another sellout. We saw that
it's gonna go winning, it's gonna be, it's gonna it's growing,
it's gonna get there. Yes again that's we we have
to trust the people that uh you know have the titles. Yes, absolutely,
(22:56):
stair job to make it work. Ye. Look, we're just
the peons and the little office talking about the stuff
and we just hope for the best. And uh, look,
I think there's a lot to learn and a lot
to do going forward. It's could be a very interesting offseason.
It could be a very interesting day for all of
us here as the exit interviews are happening, and mister
Gus Kattingell is going to sprint across the parking lot
(23:18):
holding arms full of gear. I'll try to film it.
Put her on TikTok. It's sure to be funny, Gus.
Thanks for joining me. Man Jim, we miss you, Yeah,
we do miss you, Ben, not really because I got
I got the whole set. Yeah, you got the good chair.
You have to share my thoughts with any You got
the recliner that Jim usually has. Nice. I mean it's
almost like I was gonna say captain's chair, but this
is almost like an emperor's Yeah, and he makes someone
else say, look that little stool with a nail in it,
(23:40):
that's what this kind of leather plumpness in the long
long Jim demands the best, and if you don't give
it to him, he gets a foot rest stool here. Yeah,
he's got like extra he's got spares over here. I
don't have any storage because he's got extra footstools. Oh yeah, yeah,
turn it it's got Yeah, Jim, we miss you, buddy.
(24:01):
Hope you feel better. Oh thanks to Gus Cat and
Gell for joining this old dog on the Pelicans podcast.
You know it's it's lonely here without Jim. And what's that?
Oh it appears the Pelicans podcast mystery guest hotline is ringing.
(24:24):
There are so many guests. It could be today is
exident a few day? Who knows? Who knows who it
could be? Let's check it Pelicans podcast. Hey Joe, Jim,
I'll be going. It's mister Jim I can offer our man.
Holy goodness, I know the convalescing Jim I can. Hoofer
(24:50):
is currently laid up, but he is brave enough to
call the Pelicans podcast because, as we've talked about before,
he's got that dog in Jim. How you doing? I
got that dog in me. It was a very surreal
Wednesday for me. I wasn't there at the game because,
as you said, I'm trying to recuperate from having eye
(25:12):
surgery on Monday, right, So it was it was very
odd to be not in the arena and watching the
game on TV. And for have the season and that way.
But enough of my sob story. I'm doing okay. I'm
getting better. Hopefully I'll be back in person soon on
the campus and in the facility and in the radio studio,
podcast studio. But I'm doing all right. It's good man,
(25:34):
because we have been worried about you every day. I've
just had an empty chair in here and I just
sigh at it because it's not the same. But you
know what, we are moving on regardless, because it's the
end of the season and we sort of have to
reflect on it. There's there's so many reasons this season
felt like about four rolled into one. It feels like
(25:54):
because there's been so many highs and lows, so many
storylines that we were following for a bit and then
faded away or changed. I mean, look, Jim, it's it's
just a hard day for me and I miss your articles.
I just miss you. Give me your five keys for
feeling better, yeah, Joe, I mean he said it. As
far as the highs and lows of the season, there
(26:16):
was definitely a point Wednesday during the game in the
fourth quarter where I was kind of looking around even
kind of factoring my own situation and thinking like, man,
this year is just not meant to be. I mean,
some of the stuff that Willie Green had to do
in the fourth quarter, with some of the lineups and
some of the guys that he put out there that
had been part of the rotation. But I mean with
the string of injuries that pile on top of injuries
(26:37):
that pile on top of other ones, you know, it
is what it is. He had to improvise, So it
was there definitely was a point where I thought, like, man,
this is just it's just too much to overcome. But
that's kind of the way I looked at the way
this season ended, but kind of spinning forward to the
you know, list of things to look forward to. I mean,
(26:57):
one of the things that Larry Nance said an extra
interviews that I just saw, like literally a few minutes ago,
was there's no team in the Western Conference that can
say that they're not in the playoffs right now. They're
not going to be there, but they know that they
could be a number one seed in the West if
everything lined up well. So, I mean, I think compared
the first thing I would say on this list is
(27:17):
compared to previous years or maybe the previous decade would
be more specific. There were a lot of years where
there was a lot of question marks during the off season,
but you didn't go into the next season saying, like
with the confidence that you have now that the potential
is there. There might have been times in the previous
decade where you had you know, Anthony Davis and Drew
Holiday as your best players, and you had some other
(27:39):
good pieces and what ifs Back then though, you kind
of had the squint and be like, well, if this
comes together and if somehow we get a little bit
more development and we make the right moves in the
off season, and we definitely need to add some guys
because the depth is definitely not there, and the talent
frankly is a little bit shy of what it needs
to be. You might be able to compete for a
(28:00):
middle seed, you know, five six, if everything breaks right.
I mean, that didn't even happen, honestly, and in hindsight,
that didn't even come together. But now, I mean the
fact that they were in first place through a big,
pretty big chunk of the season, I mean, to me,
that's my number one thing, is like we don't have
to pretend that they need all these different things to
aligne and then even if they do a line, we
don't really know confidently that they have the ability to
(28:23):
be at the top of the West. So I would
say that's my number one thing. Number two of why
we should be excited and optimistic about next season and
the possibilities is just the development that already happened the season.
I would say Trey Murphy's number one on my list
as far as the jump that he made, I feel
like you added another piece of foundation, you know, building
(28:46):
block that you can say going forward that there's no
doubt that this guy is legit. Third, I would say, obviously,
and I think CJ McCollum discussed this after the game Wednesday,
they have to come back healthy. Yeah. I know a
lot of people had fans commented, and I thought, sweets
to me because because I posted some of his comments
(29:08):
about what CJ was trying to say, and to me,
the way I look at it, he was just to me,
that was just him dealing in reality, right. I mean,
it's just the fact that you cannot the team cannot
reach its potential. No team in the NBA can if
you don't have your guys available. So I mean Bob Line.
That's what you're gonna have to hope happens next year
(29:29):
just to get guys on the court, and we know
what they're capable of when that happens. And for CJ specifically,
I mean, I wasn't surprised at all that injuries were
affecting him greatly because you could just tell that he
didn't look like the same player that he was in Portland.
CJ's leadership, especially right now and they're going through it,
I think it's gonna prove more valuable almost than when
(29:50):
he was trying to steady the ship when he came
here fresh off a trade and they're sort of playing
with house money getting into the play in and making
a playoff push. This is where they're really gonna need
him to sort of right the ship and give them
the right mental framework to go forward. I feel like yeah,
And I mean, he's also a ten year veteran. He's
a big boy, so I know that he is not
(30:11):
It's not like it's catching him off guard. Some of
the criticism that he got or some of the second
jesting of people saying that he didn't play well. But
for me, what I want to see for him the
biggest thing I want to see for him next season
for him to be put in a position where, you know,
based on the availability of the other players increasing that
he's not enough. Position where so often he feels like
I have to be the guy that gets the points
(30:33):
when we need a basket. I definitely feel like there
were times where he was pressing in terms of, you know,
I have to contribute scoring, that's the number one thing
I do instead of letting the game come to him.
But when you put him in the situation where you
didn't have two of your other three big scorers, that's
going to happen a lot. So I just look forward
(30:54):
to him being in just in a situation where he
doesn't have to feel so much pressure on himself all
the time to do stuff and come back and just
be more efficient and be more of the guy that
we saw in Portland who was one of the really
maybe one of the only Trailblazers that was good in
that series in twenty eighteen when Pelicans swept the Trailblazers.
(31:14):
So yeah, that's I guess. The other things on my
list are I mean, brandon Ingram for a second year
in a row. The second half of the season last
two months was awesome. I mean last year it culminated
obviously in the playoff run and how good he was
against Phoenix, but didn't get that as far this year.
But I mean, I thought his last month plus was
some of the best that he's played yea in his
(31:36):
entire career. I came with that it seemed like like
for the first time I saw more people other than
like real Pelicans fans nationally sort of recognizing Brandon Ingram's
contributions to this team as a leader and as a
consistent scorer. You know, it seemed like, I don't know
if you want to call it a jump, but but
it seemed like he did make another step towards being
(31:58):
that that sort of superstar team leader player in nationalized
because of you know, his leadership and his scoring at
the end of the season. Yeah. Absolutely, I think there's
no doubt about that. I feel like though that the
last piece of that is, as we all know, um
doing it in the playoffs. I think he made a
bigger step probably nationally last season, just based on Yeah,
(32:20):
we all know, when you get to the playoffs, it's
really the only time of the year where there's one
game on, so everybody who's watching basketball, a lot of
players for the first time, right exactly. So unfortunately he
was denied of that this year. Um, other than you know,
the playing game, I'm sure there was a lot of
people that were just tuned in on that and there
was no other game going out at the same time.
(32:40):
So he just needs, to me, he just needs repeated
playoff appearances where people can understand how good of a
player he is. To me, that's what that's really the
last thing that's kind of separating him from some of
the other guys that place as a position, who get
more attention and more credit for how good of a
player they are than he does. It's just it's unavoidable.
(33:01):
You have to be on that stage when everyone's paying
attention and everyone's just locked in on your game, and
they're not. During the regular season, you're jumping around from
like eight different games at a time, and I feel
like a lot of what every player gets does gets
lost unless you're on like one of the five marquee
teams that are on national TV constantly, right right, you know,
and now, as I guess this would be number five,
(33:24):
I have a feeling I know what your fifth and
last thing is gonna be about or who it might
be about. I'm not sure actually, because I had on
my list. There might be something I'm forgetting, and I
welcome you to add a five B to this. My
five eight is just the offseason of having more opportunities
(33:44):
to make moves, including you know, again, they're gonna have
a first round pick, a lottery pick. It's gonna be
probably late lottery unless the Masks brings us the surprise
m They're in the fourth slot right now and that's
where there, that's where they will be on May sixteenth.
So just to come nation of having a lottery pick,
as well as another off season to make trade possibilities,
(34:05):
free agent moves, that kind of thing. Would you have
a five be for me? Well, I was gonna say
maybe it ties into your health thing, but I was
just gonna say, Zion, you know really what he means
to this team and having a full off season, and
you know last offseason he was healing from something, and
I guess to some degree he will be again this offseason,
but not to the same degree. He's gonna be rolling
into this one. As he said, he feels good now,
(34:27):
it's just a matter of getting him into you know,
the proper shape, proper headspace. And so with Zion now
rolling into a full off season with this team, you know,
chemistry wise, you know how they gelled together, and his
health and rolling into this season sort of full force
knowing what you're getting, I think that's gonna be tremendous
(34:48):
for this team going in. A big part of what
drained a lot of the enthusiasm as this season went
on was the uncertainty what's gonna happen. Is Zion coming back?
Is he is he injured? Is he shut down? Well,
now we know he's gonna be coming back next season,
and uh, it just changes the whole dynamic of this team.
But again, that probably goes into health more than anything,
because that's why he was out. He was just gone.
(35:10):
And uh, I mean, like you said, it's it's gonna
be a very interesting offseason. Let's not forget you know,
people bummed out about that pick, maybe losing some of
its luster. Trey Murphy was a late lottery pick and
he's turned out pretty good for our Pelicans. So I
think we're gonna be delving into that as we get
later into the off season, aren't we mister Jimothy Iikenhoffer. Yes, indeed.
(35:32):
You know one thing I would add about Zion too,
is I mean, there's been a lot of comparisons as
far as players that have missed games at the beginning
of their career who were drafted high. One of the
players that I keep looking at, and uh, I feel
like people have misunderstand this or don't have the mass
correctly and some of the things that they've assessed that
Zion has actually played more games in his first four
(35:54):
years than Joel embed Yes, yes, so I'm not comparing
those two guys necessarily, but I mean that's what you
want to see. You want to see him get through
some of the issues that he's had at the beginning
of his career and become a player that you just
see on the court consistently and enough to where you know,
m VT is an MVP candidate, and he's actually a
perennial MVP candidate. You don't think of him as an
(36:15):
injury riddled player that you gotta worry about constantly. He
missed his games here and there, but it's nothing that's
problematic or an issue for the Sixers. He's on the
court plenty to make them one of the best teams
in the East every year and like I said, be
in the in the running for MVP probably two three
years in a row now. So that that's what I
want to see furs on. And another quick thing too,
(36:38):
player that I didn't mention yet that um, I'm looking
forward to seeing Jose Alvarado back on the court as
well next season. Another guy thats the last chunk of
the of the regular season. And obviously the play in
you watch okayc in that game and they have so
many guys that are playmakers and so many guys that
can do stuff off the dribble. I feel like that
really hurt the Pelicans defensively in that game. And it
(37:00):
just seemed like they had so many guys that could
get to the basket or at least get into the
lane and dish off the people for easy baskets. And
I feel like beyond Zion, who I mean, is one
of the best guys in the league at gett into
the rim and just impossible to stop off the dribble. Yeah,
the Pelicans missed to say a lot in terms of
some of the stuff that he brought, even as well
(37:20):
as just the energy component. That he always brings to
the floor. So um, that's another piece. I guess I'll
make that five C. Yeah, might as well. And you know,
I'm also excited for for Dyson Daniels, which may go
under look because you know, he he he started off hot.
Everybody remembers that that stolen Luca ball when he first
(37:42):
you know, got out there, and you know he had
a rough stretch there, but he started to pick it
back up towards the end of the season, and we
saw a lot of players make a huge second year jump,
you know. I mean, look, I talked about it again
with with Gus Catton Gill earlier, but you know, Trey
Murphy was headed for the G League, you know, back
in March or so, and now he is a foundational
piece of this team. So you never know, you know,
(38:04):
with the right guidance and the right coaching and the
right offseason, what kind of jump Dison can make. But
he's shown flashes of being, first of all, a very versatile,
lengthy defender. But you know, just having a legitimate point
guard out there would help the Pelicans tremendously. And you know,
to have him have a whole offseason, I think it's
(38:25):
gonna be interesting to see what he brings to the
team as well next season. Yeah yeah, Joe. You know,
I think one of the things that we've learned the
last couple of years too, one of the best parts
about developing a roster this way as opposed to the
way that the team tried to build you know, five
eight years ago during that stretch, was you have a
bunch of young guys now and from year to Europe
(38:46):
a lot of them can make a big jump in
a big improvement, and that can have a massive impact
on how many more wins you get. So, I mean,
between we talked about Trey, we talked about her. I thought,
in the last twenty games with this regular season play
his best that he's played in his first two years.
Yet Dyson Daniels same thing to his a same thing.
(39:07):
I mean, we can go down the list, there might
be another guy added in the draft that has potential
to get better. So, um, that's gotta be on the
list somewhere as well. This list is getting very long,
but that's gotta be on the list somewhere. Is just
how many of these guys are twenty one, twenty two,
twenty three and they keep getting better. You're not talking
about a collection of you know, mid career veterans. Who
(39:29):
they are, what they are. We definitely have not even
scratched the surface with some of these guys in terms
of their potential. The completely agree. And when I spoke
to Nick Gallo from the Oklahoma City Thunder earlier it
you know it, we talked about how that they were
sort of playing with house money, sort of how we
felt like we were playing with maybe last season, and
I feel like we're going to see a lot of
(39:49):
them going forward. And you know, Pelicans fancy to remember
we still have a war chest of assets. There's still
so many moves that can be made. It's still so fluid,
who knows what can happen. But you know, the state
of the West is just bananas right now. You look
at you know, you look at Sacramento and they're they're
just owning the West. You look at the Grizzlies, who
you know, we want to be a rival of the Grizzlies,
(40:12):
but first thing is first we have to be relevant
enough to see them for them to see us as
a rival. So you know, they're a tough team and
you look at the West, it's just a few years ago,
I don't think you would have looked at it and
expected things to look this way. The Lakers in a
play in and the Kings, you know, just ruling the
roost along with the Nuggets and the Grizzlies. How long
(40:34):
do you expect it to stay like this? I mean,
this is gonna be an interesting offseason, you ceba, all
kinds of moves that are going to be made. I mean,
how long do you expect the West to look the
way it is? I feel like even in twenty twenty
two I didn't look this way. Yeah, I mean to
drill down to specifically the Pelicans, I think one of
the best, I mean totally out of their control. But
one of the best developments of this past season in
(40:54):
terms of the rest of the West, especially compared to
pretty much the entire time that I've been here, is
that the division has gotten worse. The division has gotten
more manageable, so that that's very helpful. I mean, you
play all those teams automatically four times a year. The
Mavericks had a very you know, kind of crash and
burn at the end of the season. The Rockets and
(41:15):
Spurs are still in totally rebuild mode. Who knows how
long it's going to take for them to move out
of that. You mentioned the Grizzlies. But to answer your question,
I mean, as far as the West, I feel like
it's really hard to predict because, like you said, you
asked someone two years ago what the West would look
like in twenty twenty three, they would have been completely wrong.
Some teams that we thought were gonna have staying power
(41:36):
at the top of the standings have not. And some
of the teams that we thought maybe would be at
the bottom for multiple years also have not, including the
thunder that they'd be making a rise. So I mean,
I think it's very fluid. It's gonna be really interesting
because you just have so many teams that even some
of the teams like Dallas that I mentioned they had
a bad year, they couldn't easily jump up next year.
(41:59):
Utah made a really nice stride. So it's definitely not
going to be easy, that's for sure. Yes, but the
Pelicans need to focus on basically with a nice place
finished this year, I mean, and being at number one
at one point, I think they want they should go
into next year with the goal of trying to move
(42:19):
up at least several spots in the standings and maybe
be cemented in the top six. I think they would
have definitely banished it wasn't for the injuries this year. Yeah,
I mean they've they've shown themselves what they can be
if they stay consistent and they're healthy, and hopefully that
went to their heads a little bit and they're hungry.
I mean, I hate to be sitting at home right now,
(42:40):
but I do love the rise of the small market teams,
especially in the West, and uh it's it's kind again.
I'm not gonna say it's fun to watch, but I
want to be part of it next season. I want
the Pelicans to be riding on the crest of that wave. Jim,
you know I miss you up in here. I might
take a couple of days off just to reflect not
(43:02):
only on the season but how much I miss you.
But I'm just glad you're mending my man, and glad
you are able to join me on the Super Mystery
Guest Hotline today. It made my day. Well thanks, Joe.
I really look forward to being back into the studio
in person with you as well in the In the meantime,
I'm going to stay inside as much as I can
(43:23):
and not scar any young children with ye how I
look right now? Well, you know, if you drive past
the palatial, I can offer a state and you see
the curtains sort of parting. Don't look too closely. It's
not nos faratu. That's just Jim in his healing clothes.
That's just that's just how he rolls. But uh, you know,
you you do what you need to do. Everyone's healing
(43:43):
process is different, and you come back when you feel
like Jim I can offer. I certainly will do that,
and I do look forward to next season, but in
the in the short term, just looking forward to the lottery,
the draft. Yeah you, and we'll go from there. Yes,
as he teased, we will be covering all of that.
So much news going to be happening. But first things first,
(44:06):
Jim's gotta get better. Jim, stay, stay on the mend,
my friend, and I will see you soon. Sounds good.
Thanks Joe, big thanks to Jim I can offer for
joining me hobbled, and big thanks to Gus, Kat and
Gel for joining me mostly Shirtless Fun podcast today under
(44:30):
not so fun circumstances. You know, I didn't expect to
be here today talking about the end of the Pelican season.
I expected to be talking about things ahead, and I
think a lot of people did. And that's why it hurts,
is that you know this team is capable of more.
And I think that's why, as much as it hurts,
there are reasons to look ahead to the next season
(44:51):
with that in mind, knowing that this team is capable
of more if they just put it together. Big thanks
to you if you came to any of the games
this season, if you have listened to any of them
on the radio, if you are listening to this podcast,
if you ever knocked on the window gave us a
wave when we were in there, us, me and Gus,
(45:12):
the radio crew, we always enjoy the interaction with you guys.
I want to get to know more of the fans
and the people that are out there watching and ingesting
these Pelicans games, So I'm gonna try to get out
to more of the events in the offseason. Big thanks
to everyone who has ever listened to anything we do.
We do appreciate it. You're our people. Not a lot
(45:33):
of time to really reflect on things, and not a
lot of time for you to miss us. Jim and
I are already planning offseason podcasts stuff, lots of fun
content gonna be coming your way on the Pelicans podcast
and the Pelicans Podcast Network of podcasts. So once again,
if you're a fan of the Pelicans, if you're listening
(45:55):
to this, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.
Give me a follow over on Twitter at j car
five oh four. Always enjoyed chatting with you, folks, and
until I speak to you again, oh oh go pel
(46:17):
Thanks for listening to the New Orleans Pelicans podcast presented
by seat Geek. Join us three times per week on
Pelicans dot com, the Pelicans mobile app, or you can
subscribe to the podcast on iTunes. We'll see you next
time right here on the New Orleans Pelicans Podcast presented
by SeatGeek
Host
Jim Eichenhofer
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