March 24, 2025 • 47 mins
On the latest New Orleans Pelicans Podcast for Monday, March 24, 2025, Pelicans.com’s Jim Eichenhofer and Gus Kattengell are joined by Pelicans Radio Color Analyst John DeShazier to discuss the recent three-game road trip plus a look ahead to the Pelicans' 2025 NBA Draft needs.
Later, Jim gives us this week’s spoiler scale plus his player to watch and player of the week.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome in to the New Orleans Pelicans Podcast, the official
podcast of your New Orleans Pelicans, a podcast dedicated to
everything you need to know about the squad. Here from players, coaches, broadcasters,
and those who covered the NBA on a daily basis.
It's time to flock up. The New Orleans Pelicans podcast
(00:29):
starts right now.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Hello, every want and welcome to the New Orleans Pelicans Podcast,
official podcast of.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Your New Orleans Pelicans.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Mister jimmichan offer Pelicans dot com in front of me.
I'm Gus Katngel. Coming up next segment, John de Chaser,
radio analyst of your New Orleans Pelicans.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Literally just back.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Well they got back around nine o'clock ish last night.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Jim.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
We'll talk to him about what it was like to
be on that road trip and he's going to say
something very interesting. I think people will go, huh, Pels
had more law did wins, but he actually felt good
about that road trip. And they'll explain that coming up
here as well. Plus the spoiler scale that is coming
as what we got nine games left?
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Is that what it is? Ten?
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Yeah, six at home for the road, four on the road,
and they're all important.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
For different reasons.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
For the Pels, we've been talking about that, but for
some of these road teams or some of the opponents
that the Pelicans are playing, it is very important as
it's time for standings, watching and all of that. So
we'll get into all of that and more, plus Player
of the Week and player to you know, kind of
keep an eye on in things that nature. We'll do that,
but first and foremost, last night, Pels wrapping up the
three game road trip at the Pistons. Back on Friday Gym,
(01:42):
they took on the te Wolves that didn't go so well,
a second forty point defeat in the week Sunday much
better performance just overall. Take on the two games over
the weekend.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
Yeah, I mean Friday was it seems like they've been
in this mode lately where they've alternated between you know, impressed.
The Wednesday game was impressive win. The Friday game was
pretty discouraging, just the fact that you were, you know,
run off the court in the second half. And then
Sunday you come back and you know it wasn't a win,
but they lost by six and you know, I think
it was a tie game or they were down by
(02:13):
a possession with just a couple of minutes left, so
they had a chance to win. So overall, it's just
been one of those things where it would be nice
to get out of this pattern where it's like every
other game you're either you know, disappointed, or you're really
pleased with the way that they played. But like you said,
I think the road trip overall was pretty good.
Speaker 5 (02:30):
I mean, they were.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
Given the way that they played against the Pistons in
the Smoothie King Center, you kind of might have gone
into Sunday's game thinking, oh boy, this is gonna be
this is not gonna be a lot of fun. But
it did turn out to be I think one of
the more entertaining games, especially on the road, of the
entire season, even though they didn't end up getting the
win ultimately.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
See j McCollum forty points. How many times he's done
it this season three?
Speaker 5 (02:52):
I think three or four.
Speaker 4 (02:53):
I think it's been four or five.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
It's pretty good many times he's dropped forty points to
see he had a solid performance yesterday. I thought Jordan
Hawkins had a nice effort there as well.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
But man, CJ.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
It's interesting because one of the things we'll talk about
with JD two is ball handling, turnedovers and things that nature.
Why do you think CJ. McCollum has been able in
a season where he started slow to have so many
games where he gets hot and gets on that.
Speaker 4 (03:21):
I'm not sure. I mean, I guess maybe the most
clear reason to me is just the opportunity that he's had.
I mean, if you think about his first three seasons here,
there weren't that many times where you looked at the
starting lineup and you said, man, this is the only
He's the only guy out there that is gonna have
the ball a out and get a bunch of shots.
So I think that's the The opportunity is definitely there
(03:42):
when you don't have Zion playing, and I think, by
the way, he has four games this season now of
forty plus points, and I think I'd have to go
back and look at the specifics, but I do think
in some of those, you know, there were multiple guys
that were out, so his shot attempts are going to
go way up. And I'm not taking away from his
big because I mean, you're not gonna score fifty points
in a game if you don't get a good amount
(04:03):
of shot attempts. But he can get when he is
in a high usage mode where it's like the ball
is coming to him constantly, and it's he's not out
there with Zion, Trey Murphy and the various other scorers
that they the Pelicans have, he can get on this
role where it's like man, he's getting hot and the
other team is not able to slow him down.
Speaker 5 (04:23):
So, I mean, that's that's I think that's probably the.
Speaker 4 (04:26):
Biggest reason why this season in particular, he's had so
many big games, because I mean there's there's been a
lot more games where you looked out there and you're like,
he's gonna have to score a bunch of points for
them to win. Whereas you know, when this team is
full strength, he's gonna pick his spots. He's gonna have
his nights where he scores twenty five thirty points and
it is a huge reason why they win. But they're
(04:46):
not just so heavily reliant on him to have big
nights the way they have been this season.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Right tonight, it's the Philadelphia seventy six ers. Got a
game tonight, got a game on Friday, So bookends of
the work week Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, no games.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
A brief I guess breather.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Jim, after having three games in four days and then
we're back at it every other day to wrap up
the seasons, said only ten games remaining. What are you
looking at tonight? I mean the Philly has also been
a team that's been injured. They've shut down some of
their players, like guys like Paul George and stuff. We'll
wait to see if Zion's gonna play tonight as he's
recovering from a back nutusian a hard fall than at
(05:21):
first game against Minnesota where he played great. So if
I'm going on to the game, I'm a Pels fan,
what am I looking at?
Speaker 1 (05:27):
To me?
Speaker 4 (05:27):
Yeah, I mean you probably should have your roster handy nearby.
You need to make sure if you want to get
familiar with some of these Sixers players, because I mean
they if you think about it, when the Pelicans played
the Sixers in January, that was one of the Pelicans
road wins. You looked out at the court in Philly
and said, man, a lot of these Sixers players, I
don't know who they are.
Speaker 5 (05:46):
I'm not that familiar with.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
They're even less recognizable now if you look at the
players that are in their rotation so I mean that's
definitely gonna be a big part of this as well.
So you know, as we record this around eleven AM,
the Pelicans injury report will be coming out around twelve thirty,
twelve forty five. The deadline is one PM for both
of these teams to report their injuries on the second
game of a back to back. So I mean, unfortunately,
(06:09):
as we record this, we don't know exactly the status
of some of the players, including Zion Williamson. But I
think it's going to be one of those games that is,
you know, I don't mean this in a derogatory way,
but it's going to be kind of one of those
kind of summer league games where it's like, Okay, you're
going to see a bunch of players that you haven't
seen play very much, and a lot of them are
out there to prove whatever it is that they're trying
(06:30):
to show in the NBA, you know, getting a bigger
opportunity than they you expected. I mean, both of these
teams were playoff teams. The Sixers have made the playoffs
seven years in a row, which is a streak that's
about to end.
Speaker 5 (06:42):
So I mean, this is this is the kind of
game Monday.
Speaker 4 (06:45):
Night, where you just you never would have expected this
in a million years, that a March game between the
six Sixers and the Pelicans would be a bunch of
unproven guys or guys that are just trying to get
a foothold in the NBA. But I mean, I think
that's a big part of what we're going to see tonight.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
We'll see what takes place in the meantime. We'll also
see what takes place the final ten games. John the
Chaser is just on this road trip. The radio analyst
for your New Orleans Pelicans joins us now all right,
Tom now to bring in our guests for today, and
it is analyst on the radio on the Pelicans radio network,
mister John the Shazer. John, good to see you, although
you were just in Detroit. Man, it's crazy.
Speaker 5 (07:22):
Hey, yeah, that's why God made the charter. I guess. Yeah.
We got back decent time last night, maybe nine to
fifteen or so, so not too bad. Could have been
a whole lot worse. We have gotten back a whole
lot worse. So yeah, not too bad at all.
Speaker 4 (07:37):
I know some people don't like the afternoon games, but
I mean the fact that this was a back to back.
I feel like that makes a big that's a big help.
The fact that you guys got back here at a
reasonable hour as opposed to coming back from Michigan at
whatever time a night game would have been.
Speaker 5 (07:50):
Well, I gotta say, unless the team plays on Saturday night,
I always believe Sunday games should be like a two
o'clock tip. I'm with you, tip. You know, if I
were commissioned Foray, that's exactly what I would do to
the schedule and be like, hey, are they playing Saturday night? No,
they're playing a home game. Yeah, schedule it for two o'clock,
because what are we waiting for? I love it. I
(08:11):
love it.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
I gotta tell you, I would love to have an
entire podcast of if I were commissioner for a day.
Speaker 5 (08:16):
With I got some stuff, you got some idea.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
We kind of did that a little bit on the
podcast on Friday, comping ideas on the radio round table
with Aaron on how to maybe you know, fixed teams
from oh, I don't know, being as competitive as they
could be, right, sitting players and things that nature and
all that stuff, which Jad we can always get into
with you as well. But the most important thing I
gotta know is you did it when I only once
but twice in a row. How annoying is the howler
(08:42):
in Minnesota?
Speaker 5 (08:43):
You know what? I kind of like it. It kind
of turns into white noise, to be honest with you,
in the background. I mean it's a lot really not
paying attention to it because one the Pelicans didn't get
to the foul line a whole lot, so we didn't
have to hear it a whole lot, unfortunately. But yeah,
it just kind of turned into white north in the background. Now,
I think it's a lot more annoying if you're at
the file line a lot and you're winning, and so
(09:06):
you know, when you're losing by like forty, you get there,
it's like, hey, keep running. It's like, you know, hey,
if you don't have to call any fouls, we can
get out of here. Okay.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Well, between that and chicken, I mean it now, I
gotta I gotta say this.
Speaker 5 (09:22):
You know, eve MESI has had a wonderful rookie season.
I think we'll be on the All Rookie team.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (09:29):
The all time franchise leader in single season rebounds as
a rookie passed Anthony Davis. Some fantastic things. He gave
those folks chicken back to back games in the fourth quarter.
He missed two free throws in a row in both games,
and so they I mean, so he got the breaking
for chicken. He the folks in Minnesota love love Eve
(09:51):
Measi because he fed a whole lot of folks. You know. Now,
My only thing with that is, if I were commissioner
for a day, I would tell everybody to go to
the same Chick fil A on the same day, because
I cam, hey, no shade Chick fil A. I know,
(10:12):
but I know you ain't got that much chicken in there.
So I would love for that to happen. I just
I just like to see what would happen if that
happened there.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
It is so much we can get into here as well.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Again, I think maybe that's it's kind of a fun
thing to maybe do one day, just all the different
events or I think things that teams put on gym.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
I know you traveled a while here as well.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
I don't know if the sound of frolicking pelicans, which
used to be a sounder on my talk show and
I can't find it anymore, but someone went out I
guess to a beach and recorded pelicans frolicking, and it
kind of sounds like, I mean, it's it's not you know,
I don't know if that's something you want at the
free throw line.
Speaker 4 (10:49):
I don't know if that would have the same effect
as the howling Wolf. But nonetheless, yeah, I mean JD.
I mean, one of the reasons we want to have
you on. Obviously you were there for the whole road trip.
How do you when you when you look evaluate the
road trip overall, I mean, how do you look back
on it? Obviously they had a really good win at Minnesota,
but I mean, what are your kind of your biggest takeaways.
(11:11):
I guess from that trip.
Speaker 5 (11:12):
It was a one to two record obviously, so that's
not winning, but but I felt like it was a
winning road trip. I guess maybe I've been beat up
so much this season, so my standards have lowered some.
So so they won the first game Minnesota, both teams
pretty much full strength, Zion at the height of his powers,
and so we saw what the Pelicans can do when
(11:33):
they're like that. Now, the second game in Minnesota was
you know, kind of a you know, hey, we kind
of like we got what we wanted, you know, Zion's hurt,
We're gonna sit him. Minnesota's out for blood because they
absolutely desperately need the game, and there's no way Minnesota
is going to play that same way in back to
back games. So that one was kind of a you know,
(11:53):
a one off. And then you go to Detroit and
so Zion's not playing mes He's not playing, so you're
already shorthanded, and now, of course this team is even
more short handed, and you playing a Detroit team that,
even though it doesn't have Kate Cunningham and Tim Hardaway junior,
it's still a pretty formidable lineup when you add Malik
Beasley and then a shrewder to the starters. But the
(12:15):
Pels had them dues, I mean, played them well and
played them down to the last three four minutes to
where it kind of got a little loose at the
end and got away from them, but really played well
all things considered. You knew there were going to be
some discrepancies. You knew they were going to be there
was going to be a point in the paint discrepancy
because the Pels didn't have e Mec and then Carlo
(12:37):
Mackovic unfortunately play sixteen minutes in foules out, so you
don't have anything in terms of rent protection. And it
showed you knew there was probably going to be in
Descriptioncy at the foul line because the Pelicans didn't have
anybody to draw those files and Zion Williamson didn't play
it and you're lying on three point shots. But that
was encouraging also because the Pels made threes. I think
(12:57):
there were twenty and forty from three, which is extremely
encouraging because you know, we were on the radio broadcast. Thing.
You know what, in order to win this game, pills
probably need to shoot it fifty times from three. And
if they shot at fifty times from three and if
they made twenty three twenty four of them, they probably
do in the game. Maybe they do win the game.
But it was kind of you know, you got to
make do with what you have in that situation. Now,
(13:19):
the unfortunate thing, the thing that that's that's under my
skin the most is the turnovers. There's I understand, these
guys don't have the chemistry and they hadn't played together
and all those things that are built in as excuses,
legitimate excuses, but these are a lot of these are
(13:39):
unforced turnovers and unforced turnovers don't deserve legitimate excuses to me,
when you're you know, if you dribble off a foot
and you know or or or you're you're in you know,
you're in a dribble handoff and a guy's able to
shoot the gap. To me, those you know, the unforced
errors really have gotten on me because you know, you
(14:00):
lose games that way when you just turn the ball over.
So you have you know, had twenty six turnovers that
second game in Minnesota, I would say eighteen of them
were unforced. You know, yesterday against Detroit, I would say
twelve thirteen of those turnovers are unforced. And those are
the ones that you look back at the game and
(14:22):
you say, man, that's twelve more shot attempts she didn't get,
or your live ball turnovers. That's eight points they got
in fast break off turnovers that were LiveBall. And those
things are glaring in the NBA, and you might be
able to get away with them sometimes, but they are
glaring in the NBA, and very rarely are you able
to just shoot your way out of those kinds of mistakes.
(14:44):
They were able to do it the first night in Minnesota.
Now the turnovers even up in the second half, and
that made a big difference. But it's rare that you're
able to shoot your way out of certain certain certain
aspects of the game. If you can't score in the paint,
you gotta be able to score from me outside. If
you're turning the ball over, you got to be able
to score when you do have the ball. But if
you turn it over so many times, and if you
(15:06):
give up so many free throws, where do you make
up the gap. That's where that's hurt this team the
most these last few games. And that's the thing. Yet
you want to see tightened up because, like I said,
I understand these guys, all of them hadn't played together.
I mean, you know, maybe Antonio Reeves and and you know,
you know these guys, you know sometimes they're probably walking
(15:26):
around with it. You know my name is signed on them.
But but having said that, these are National Basketball Association players,
and I know practice is limited, but there's a reason
you're in the NBA. And the unforced turnovers don't help you.
When a guy's able to pressure you at mid court
and kind of take it from you, I know that's
(15:47):
not an unforced turnover. And yet it kind of is
because it's just basic ball protection and those things are
just some things that are glaring that that I want
to see this team be able to clean up.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
I think part of that reason eyes is what Zion's
not doing that, right, But that would you say, at
least to me one of the bigger I don't know
if you can answer that question, but one of the
things here in the final ten games where you want
to see who's your ball handler and things that nature,
because I know Zion can handle that, gotcha. I don't
know when Dejon Ta Murray's coming back next year. It
(16:20):
probably won't be at the start of the season, right, Yeah.
Speaker 5 (16:22):
I would imagine, okay, all Star break, after All Star breaks,
so that's a lot of basketball before that, and.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
I guess the need for that is kind.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Of important, right It means that's something you address later on,
but I guess it's But you.
Speaker 5 (16:35):
Gotta have a point. You gotta have a point. You
gotta have somebody who can get guys in space. You
gotta have guys who can handle the basketball under pressure.
You gotta have guys and you know, Jose Alvarado can
do some of those things that can do a lot
of those things. And Jose Evarrado has actually played welly
eight minutes, but he can't play forty eight minutes. And
the flip side is Jose Alvarado's five to ten. So defensively,
(16:58):
if you're switching everything, and everybody in the NBA seems
to be switching everything, when you're switching everything, and Jose
Alvarado ends up on the post against Tobias Harris, who's
six's eight, or he ends up on the on the
post against you know, Polo Banco or you know Franz Wagner.
Those guys aren't guys who are gonna kick it out
(17:19):
and say, okay, we're gonna run our offense reset. They're
gonna say, okay, this is now our offense. We got
a guy in the house on the post that we
can take advantage of. So they'll just whatever it is
they were running, they'll break it and say, okay, this
is it now, this is what we're doing. And in fact,
you know you'll see guys kind of hunting in those situations.
(17:39):
So Jose can do a lot of things, a lot
of great things. He can't grow five inches and so
you know, you got to have a point who's a
little bit bigger, and when the now, when Jose's off
the bench and he gives you those juice minutes, those
eighteen to twenty, you know, juice minutes. He is fantastic.
But you gotta have a guy who's going to be
a front line starter in the NBA who can handle
(18:02):
the ball and hail the pressure, and so that's got
to be kind of one of the things that the
Pelicans are looking for with the Johntay Murray going to
be out a period of time for next season.
Speaker 4 (18:12):
Wanted to quickly comment on a couple of things that
you said earlier. One, the Friday game in Minnesota reminded
me of what we see a lot in the playoffs
where the higher seeded home team loses game one and
it's like, you know, they're going to come back with
a vengeance. We hardly ever see anyone go down two
in a playoff series if they're the home team for
(18:33):
those first two games, and I think that's part of it.
There's just a big mental aspect to it as well.
And the part you said about Carlow to me, Carlo
game against Detroit was like a clinic on how to
be in the wrong place at the wrong time. It
just seemed like he would come back in the game
and then he'd be you know, sometimes not really his fault,
just like you know, just be in the wrong spot
(18:54):
and pick up a foul and immediately be back having
to go on the bench because of that. So that
was a you know, that was a bad development when
they were already so like you said, so shorthanded at center.
But I wanted to ask you about, I mean, one
of the real bright spots of Sunday. We talked a
little bit about this on the postgame radio show, but
I asked you about Jordan Hawkins as far as his
(19:16):
twenty five point game, which was tied for his season high,
and you talked about his aggression that that was the
thing that you like the most about the way he
played on Sunday. I mean, where do you think what
have you seen from him lately and where do you
think that comes from? Is it is his confidence coming
back after the back injury and some of the struggles
that he had earlier in the season. What do you
(19:37):
think is behind that?
Speaker 5 (19:38):
Maybe I think that's exactly it. I think he's feeling
healthy and I think his confidence is where it should be.
You know, the guy's name is Hawk. Shouldn't it be
in attack mode all the time? Definitely? And so you
like to see him in attack mode. Not so much
worry And I get it. He's in the second year
in the NBA and a lot of things are predicated
on how you earn your minutes. And most guys, I think,
(20:01):
if I score, I stay on the floor, and a
lot of times, yeah that might, that might factor into it.
But it's the other little things. You know, you got
to defend, You gotta rebound, gott to rotate on defend,
on defense. Those things are things that coaches look for
because you gotta affect the game when you're not scoring,
and not everybody can do that, not everybody is tasked
(20:24):
to do that. But when you come off the bench,
you gotta be able to do that because you don't
know how many minutes you're gonna get. You know, now,
sometimes it might be twenty eight, sometimes it might be eighteen.
So you got to be add it as soon as
you get out there. For Jordan Hawkins, if you're not
in the starting lineup, you got to have foot on
the accelerator the minute you check into the game, and
(20:44):
you got to be aggressive. He's too good a shooter,
and I think he's got a lot of other skills
that he's working on and developing, because now we're seeing him,
you know, do a little bit more off the bounce
and those kinds of things. We see that part of
his game developing. He's not just reliant on the three
point shot, but even then he can generate and create
his own threes. So that's one of the things that
(21:06):
you want to see from him continue because I just
think he's got a lot of potential that can be
unlike he I guess possibly, and I don't know how.
I know he got a little point guard work in
Summer League last year, but he could be a guy
that you could kind of hopefully lean into for some
spot minutes at the point because he's got the size.
(21:29):
If he can handle the ball under pressure, you know,
he's a shooter that you want out there. He's got
the length that you want in a defender, you know,
So he's got a lot of aspects that you would want.
And look, if he's looking in the mirror, he's got
to be saying, you know what, if I can play point,
if I can handle the ball a little bit better.
I can get on the floor a little bit more.
And so those are you know, guys are saying I
want minutes, I want minute, Well, what are you doing
(21:51):
to get those minutes? That's the way you can get
more minutes if you're Jordan Hawkins, is to play a
little bit more point, which you know, again, I think
he tried to do some of that in the summer league,
and maybe he works on some of that extensively in
the offseason, because you know, a guy who's a shooter
like Jordan Hawkins didn't need to be putting all this
time into shooting. He's got that part, you know, it's
(22:11):
the other parts of his game that he's got to strengthen,
and I think that's one of the things things strengthen.
Speaker 4 (22:16):
It's interesting too, because I mean, he had I don't
know what it was at least five games as a
rookie where you say, man, this guy's potential is so high,
and not only his potential, but the fact that he's
actually I mean he beat Dallas, not by himself, but
he was a huge reason that they won that game
super short handed. Last season as a rookie in Dallas.
I mean, he had a couple other games where he
had you know, thirty plus, and then it seems like
(22:39):
yesterday's game was just another example that I would put
in that same group where you say, like, you know,
there's a reason this guy was a lottery pick and
that he was picked so high. I think a couple
other guys I think that we're going to be keeping
a close eye on over the last ten games of
the season in terms of I mean, Hawk is a
second year guy, but the Pelicans also have multiple rookies.
(22:59):
With the bigs in the situation that they have right
now with Carlo Makovich and Eve Mesi over the last
three weeks of the season, I mean, what are some
of the things that you want to see from those
guys as they close out their first season in the NBA.
Speaker 5 (23:13):
Well, well, I'll start with Eve the starter. I want
to see Eve be more aggressive offensively. He's catching the ball,
you know, sometimes at the free throw line, sometimes at
the key. He's got his back turned to the basket.
His defender is four or five feet off and in
the paint, and Eve is not forcing himself to be defended,
and so he's you can't play It's hard to play
(23:35):
four on five offensively in the NBA, you can get
away with it sometimes, but it's hard to do it.
And so I want to see Eve be more of
an offensive threat. He already has the the want to
and him because he's chasing every rebound, he's chasing every block,
but he's got to refine his offensive game. And probably
a lot of that is that he feels uncomfortable with
(23:56):
it right now. But this is the time to work
on it. You know. Now you've got some game opportunities
to work on it, because you know you're not a
playoff team, so this is the experimentation process where you
can work on some things like that. And so hopefully,
you know, you'll see him develop a little bit more,
not even maybe trying to drive to the basket, because
when he does want to be aggressive offensive lead, you
(24:17):
see him trying to drive to the basket. But I
might like to see him just turn around and develop
that little jumper. It's right there. They're giving it to you.
You know, if you make one or two of them,
you don't have to make a whole lot of them.
But now people got to come up and guard you,
and now you can get around him a little bit easier.
For Carlo. Yep, Carlo is turning into my to my
new Nagy. You know, he's my dude. Now, I just
(24:38):
want to see him be more wise, I guess, or
just learn the NBA defensively. You know, as you mentioned yesterday,
you know, he was just in the wrong place at
the wrong time. But you know he's kind of off balance,
he's reaching, you know. So I want to see him
learn how to be a little bit wiser when it
comes to filing. And I want to see him have
(24:58):
a little bit more, a little bit better judgment because
he was he had eight points, eleven rebounds sixteen minutes yesterday.
He was valuable, but he committed a couple of fouls.
Like and it's like, dude, I know, I know, you
don't want the coaching staff to yell at you. I
get it, I know, I know, but you got to
(25:19):
understand what your value is right now. Your value is
on the floor. You commit that file, and now you
go to go sit. Now you know, the team smaller,
you don't have anybody that they will look at and say,
you know, he might block a shot. So I think
he's just got to be a little bit more judicious
than that. And some of that might just come with
playing in the NBA and NBA officials getting a little
bit more familiar with you, hopefully and saying, well, okay,
(25:42):
you know that's kind of how he plays, or we're
gonna let that slide or whatever it is, because you know,
as guys get a little bit older, seems like they're
able to get away with a little bit more. He
won't be able to get away with as much as
as as you know, Rudy Gobert. But still, you know,
you just want to see him, you know, grow and
mentally be ready, especially because it looks like he's ready. Offensively.
(26:05):
It looks like he's got a lot of things he
can do offensively to kind of to add in. But
now he's got to be able to play that kind
of defense that can keep him on the floor in
a situation like yesterday. You want to see him on
the floor. You want to see him on the floor
thirty thirty two minutes in a starting role, and instead
he's out there for sixteen And so now you you know,
you extrapolate and you say, man, if he'd have been
on the floor, he might have been able to get
(26:27):
you know, sixteen, and you know, fourteen or something like that.
But you don't know because he wasn't out there, right.
You know.
Speaker 4 (26:34):
The last time we had you on the podcast, one
of the questions we asked in the roundtable was about
your excitement level for the NCAA tournament.
Speaker 5 (26:42):
And I know you were quite.
Speaker 4 (26:43):
Busy this weekend, so I can't imagine you got to
watch a ton But by the way, there was a
there was a game where a team scored thirteen points
in the first half.
Speaker 5 (26:52):
So I watch, I watched something. See. But now here's
here's the thing to me, and folks, if you like
the NCAA tournament, okay, don't don't at me and don't whatever,
because I'm just gonna say this, it's like watching a
car wreck. You just kind of glued to it. It's
a lot of bad basketball. My goodness, it's a lot
of bad basketball, yep. And so I'm watching and I'm like,
(27:14):
you know, this is so unskilled. And I know people
probably listened to me saying, well, the team, the team
you work for is one nineteen games, so they're in
the NBA. And I guarantee you any NBA team is
gonna boat race any college team. I'm watching these college teams,
and I'm like, these dudes shooting you know, side step
threes and step back threes, and it's just it's like abominable.
(27:37):
It is. It's so hard to watch. I was watching
Arkansas and Saint John and it was like an avalanche
of bad. It was. It was like you know, I was.
I mean, it gets to the point where you kind
of mesmerized because both teams are like the same bad
and it's like, well, okay, Well it's even then because
(27:59):
you know, neither one of them really good, and it's like, well, okay,
but these are Saint John's, like one of the highest
ranked teams in the nation. It's like, well, wait, this
is this is the best we got right here. I
mean said, I don't I don't know what's happened to
college basketball. I don't know if it's you know, too
many guys trying to trying to be Steph Curry or what.
(28:20):
But I mean, it's it's hard for me to watch now,
and I will watch, but it's hard for me to watch.
Speaker 3 (28:25):
Is that the game?
Speaker 2 (28:26):
I was gonna ask you about it because your comments
last week has stuck with me throughout you know, rounds
one and two when going into it, I'm like, man,
it really isn't very good basketball.
Speaker 3 (28:36):
But it was one game.
Speaker 5 (28:37):
It was.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
I think they were combined two teams four for thirty
four from three.
Speaker 3 (28:42):
Is that the game you're talking about?
Speaker 2 (28:44):
I know it was in my day or Sunday, I
cannot remember. I mean it might have been, but there
was one gamer's two good teams. They were combined four
for thirty four, four for forty from three point and
only four to three pointers were made in the entire game.
It's just jacking up threes or not. And look, I'm
texting Jim yesterday. I guess it's because we don't see
it right, Maryland winning. I don't know if that was
(29:06):
a travel or not. And that's been a debate all
last night. I mean travel or not.
Speaker 5 (29:11):
When I watched it, when I watched the replay, I
didn't think anything of it. I just thought bucket, yeah.
But then you get people, you know on social media,
I know, and it's a traveler's travel and it's a
travel everywhere with the NBA, and I'm thinking to myself, well,
let me look at it again. And I still couldn't
determine whether it was a travel. But since I covered
the NBA. I'm like, that ain't no walk, that's a bucket.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
But the point is, I mean that drive by being
kissing off the glass like that just stood out because
to your point, I mean, but I can you imagine
a game where well we've kind of seen it sometimes
with four thirty four combined.
Speaker 5 (29:43):
I'm telling you it's it's not good basketball. It's just
hard to watch. It just is not esthetically pleasing. And
I don't care what nobody says. You can you can
be an alumni, you can, you can fill out your brackets.
You can. You know, you can go to Buffalo Wild
Wings and watch all the games at the same time.
I don't care. It's some bad hoops. I don't care
what nobody said.
Speaker 4 (30:04):
By the way, I think I'm gonna try to figure
out how to work in avalanche of bad.
Speaker 2 (30:08):
Even we can put that on like it it was
Arkansas and Saint John's. Saint John's was two of twenty
two nine percent from distance. Arkansas was two of nineteen
ten percent from distance.
Speaker 5 (30:21):
Yeah, that's that's Roughn't the whistle one? Dude? I mean,
I mean, that's just I mean, that's just that's abominable.
That's that's rough, that is, I mean, think about it.
Seeing the mya analogy is always this, if you took
twenty two shots from half court, you make it. You
(30:41):
make more two of them, right right, right? Yeah, So
the three point line is way farther than so if
you took if you if you just dribbled up and
you took twenty two, because nobody's gonna contest you at
half court. It's just Steph Curry. You took twenty two
from half court, I bet you fool around and makes six.
Speaker 4 (30:59):
Yeah. You know this is an awkward transition, JD. Because
the direction you took that when I brought that up,
because I was going to ask you, how important is
it for the Pelicans to add a piece in the draft?
Speaker 5 (31:11):
Draft?
Speaker 4 (31:12):
Right? Well, there are overseasly, but you know there are
I would think that we're when we're talking elite players
here that are going to be in the lottery in
the draft. You know, we're not talking maybe necessarily the
guys that are shooting over fourteen from three or whatever.
But I mean, just from a broad standpoint, I mean,
how do you how do you view this position that
(31:33):
the Pelicans are in as far as being in the
lottery and then being able to add somebody.
Speaker 5 (31:37):
Well, one thing I can say is they they've been
able to find guys that they can that they can
add through the draft, whether it you know, whether it's
it's you know, Herb Jones or now you know, Jordan
Hawkins or Trey Murphy, they've been able to find guys
and those guys hadn't necessarily it hadn't been top five
picks exactly. Yeah, so I kind of have faith that
they'll be able to find the guy who can who
(31:58):
can fit you know what this team does, especially if
you're able to get a guy high and that the
thing is, you know, I don't know where. I mean,
it'll be a supplemental role because you you know, you're
projecting it projecting into next year. But you figure eve
me see Zion, Trey Murphy, Herb Jones is back to
(32:18):
John Ty, Murray will be back, uh C. J McCollum,
Jordan Hawkins, Carlo Mackovic. That's eight guys and it's gonna
be hard to beat out one of those eight guys
as a rookie. So whoever it is will actually fall
into I don't want to say in an optimal position, but
a pretty good situation that he doesn't have to be rushed. Now,
(32:40):
you know, not woold he won't have to play because
of injuries. But if all things, you know, work the
way they should or the way we hope, he won't
have to be force fed, and you can kind of
bring him along. And you know, yeah, you can listen
to you know, watch the people on social media. Yeah
they ain't development. That's that's the position you want to
be into, where you can bring a guy along slowly
(33:02):
that he doesn't have to play. Now. Best case scenario
is and I forgot Jose Alvarado in that rotation too.
Best case scenario is you might you might be able
to get a point guard. And I'm not always sold
on rookie point guards, but if you can get a
guy who who you feel good about because now in
(33:24):
the NBA he didn't exclusively have to be a point guard.
You got Ze who can run some point. You got CJ.
McCollum who can run some point. You'll have Trey Murphy
who can bring it up. You'll have Herb Jones who
can bring it up. So you got guys who can
get the ball past half court and not turn it over.
So it could be a really really promising situation. Whether
it's a point guard or whatever the Pelicans pick up,
(33:45):
it can be a really promising situation for him.
Speaker 4 (33:48):
It's an interesting point you make about, you know, the
level of I don't know if pressure or what it is,
or that'll be on whoever comes in here based on
the other talent that's already in place. I do think
it's interesting that, for example, Jordan Hawkins was a lottery pick.
It was fourteen out of the fourteen lottery picks, but
he came into a situation where it wasn't like you
got to come in and dominate and carry everything. And
(34:10):
then Eve Mecie, for totally different circumstances, got to play
a ton this year and way more than we expected.
But he also was in a situation where, yeah, you're
a first round pick, but we're not expecting you to
come in and like change the franchise and that kind
of thing. So I do think that that that's a
big positive that you would think that it sets somebody
up whoever comes in here next season, you would think
(34:32):
it sets them up to be successful and you're not
putting them in a position where there's too much weight
on them, and there's too much that they have to carry.
Speaker 5 (34:40):
Yeah. Now, of course the caveat is appeals to get
the number one ball in this Cooper flag, all bets
are off. It was just everything because're like, okay, you
got this guy, he got hey, he's got to Hey,
now he's gotta play. He has he has to play,
and he has to contribute because if you're that high
a pick, you got to That's just the way the
NBA is. I don't make the rules, that's just how
(35:01):
it is.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
Yeah, well, let's see what takes place. Obviously, as we
get closer and closer too. Then in the meantime, six
games remaining at home.
Speaker 4 (35:08):
JD.
Speaker 2 (35:08):
What is it that you hope that the home folks
get to see here?
Speaker 5 (35:12):
I hope they get to see Zion Wiimson in five
of those, and I hope this team plays really hard
and competitive. That's really about as much as we can
ask for right now. I want the home folks to
see Zion because let's face the facts. You know, this
is a business operation and you're trying to make money
(35:34):
and you sell tickets with your marquee guys, and if
Zion Williamson is out there and he's playing well, people
are going to be more inclined to say, you know what,
I'm mad about this season, but I'll do another buy
in because I see some of what I want to see,
So I want to see that much from this team.
I just want to see Ze out there, and I
want to see this team be really competitive down the stretch.
(35:56):
I want to see him, you know, hey, win some
cool but but be competitive, be in the games, and
have fans engaged at the end of the at the
end of games.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
All right, mister John the Shades is always appreciate the time, sir,
Thank you, and try to go get a nap before
tonight's game.
Speaker 5 (36:11):
A man, there's no rest for this non weird.
Speaker 3 (36:15):
Yet here you man. Thank you, sir.
Speaker 2 (36:18):
Thanks to John de Shazer. As always, you can give
a follow as well over on New Orleans Saints dot
Com as he covers the football team, which Jim they're
about to get busy here, draft coming up, also the
free agency, lots of the new signings. It's kind of
interesting to kind of see the players here coming and going,
bringing back some familiar faces and stuff with the Saints.
I bring that up because it's one of the things
(36:39):
you asked him about you know, it is going to
be a huge topic here in the offseason.
Speaker 5 (36:44):
What is it?
Speaker 2 (36:45):
May twelfth, I think is when it gets takes place
and we'll find out where the Pells will pick, and
then it is a big thing because he brings up
a good point. Right, if if you bring back the
majority of this roster, which they will because they're under
contract and stuff, what I guess spots are open or not?
Speaker 3 (37:03):
And I guess it does this depends where you draft.
Speaker 2 (37:06):
If you're drafting one, two, three, or four, you would
assume that those players are probably guys that can come.
Speaker 3 (37:11):
In and help you.
Speaker 2 (37:12):
Is it do you do you draft based on Nina
thought it was a great question. Is it you know,
best talent available? I think we all have our ideas
to do that. I think what I look at this
is my opinion. No one's asking me, but my opinion
is there's one constant in the last I don't know
how many years, and especially since I's been here, and
that's been an injury situation. Not just him, the team
(37:35):
and they battled with injuries.
Speaker 1 (37:37):
Now.
Speaker 3 (37:37):
I don't know if it's bad.
Speaker 2 (37:38):
Luck, if it's something you can fix or whatever, but
everyone has dealt with injuries across the league. It's the
teams to stay healthier tend to do that. So I
don't know, I'm looking for maybe players that stay on
the court or whatever. But that's why to me, I'm like,
you mean, best player available. I don't know who's going
to be available or not. I mean, you know, and again,
your number one guy you traded for last year to
(37:59):
Jean Tim Murray, I don't know when.
Speaker 3 (38:00):
He's gonna be back.
Speaker 2 (38:01):
And I just got done cutting sound and John the
Chaser just got done watching a team three games on
the road. We're turnovers were an issue. Turnovers at home
were an issue when they lost big by home. So
that's something that's key to me.
Speaker 4 (38:15):
Yeah, for sure, you know, and too, by the way, too,
I would be interested to hear, and we're never gonna
get this. We're never gonna get an honest answer. I'd
be interested to hear the perspective of, say, some of
the guys in the top five of the draft that
are coming out that are expected to be picked high.
If you're in that player's shoes, would you rather go
somewhere where you're gonna go to a team where they
they're like Okay, we need you to do everything. We
(38:36):
need you to immediately carry the load some of these
some of the teams in the East, for example, that
have at the bottom of the standings, they don't have
a ton of pieces that they can build around. They
have a couple guys, they're talented. So would you rather
go to a situation like that or would you rather
come to New Orleans where there's seven to eight quality
rotation pieces And a lot of the reason that the
(38:57):
team didn't win this year was because of injuries, where
if you just go back a year they won forty
nine games and made the playoffs. You compare that to
some of the other teams in the East that it's
been multiple years since those teams have been in the postseason.
So I think in some ways, I think there's a
lot more pressure if you go to one of those
other teams than if you come to New Orleans. So
that's just something interesting to think about. And like I said, though,
(39:18):
I'm pretty sure if you ask those guys, you're not
gonna get an honest answer. They're not gonna say one
way or the other, like, oh, I want to go
somewhere where I can average thirty a game or you know,
they're not gonna say that, and they're also not going
to say like, yeah, I want to have less pressure
on me and go somewhere where they have a lot
of other talented players already. They might say that after
they get picked by that team, but not beforehand.
Speaker 2 (39:36):
Well, I mean, you know, you get to see them
every now and then at the cafetier. Maybe you know,
while you're making your salad or getting a slice of pizza,
you can ask the upper upper management, where are we
going to the Dragon? I actually look, I don't know. It's
it's interesting you guys talked about the NCAA tournament and
watching those games too. I am watching, you know, like
you and I were at the watch party yesterday over
at Uptown Sports Social and we watched Duke and Baylor play,
(39:58):
so obviously Flag was there. We watched Florida yukon the
ending of that one, so I am paying a little.
Speaker 3 (40:04):
Bit more attention.
Speaker 2 (40:04):
I'm like, that guy's good, Maryland's game winner. That guy queen,
you know, that's a big taking it off the inbound,
driving on the left side of the lane, kissing in
a high off the glass.
Speaker 3 (40:14):
I'm like, hey, that's not bad.
Speaker 2 (40:15):
So I am looking to see, Man, does that translate
to the NBA or now?
Speaker 4 (40:21):
Yeah, I mean what I would consider what I've did
the first four days of the NCAA tournament to be
kind of grazing, like I'm not really I mean, especially
while the Pelicans are playing, it's hard to really lock
in on any specific game. You catch things here and there.
I mean, when we get to these next rounds, though,
I think I will try to watch like an entire
Duke game now that they're in the Sweet sixteen, for example,
or some of these other teams. But I mean, there's
(40:43):
it's fun though, to be able to just kind of
click around and find the close games and the ones
where there's some drama happening. You know, honestly too, this
is a whole different discussion. It doesn't seem like there
were that many interesting games or dramatic endings. Either I
heard someone say or someone tweeted that was the word
first round in the history of the NCAA tournament, however
you want.
Speaker 5 (41:02):
To measure that.
Speaker 4 (41:03):
So but hopefully these upcoming rounds, you know, Thursday through Sunday,
where we're talking Sweet sixteen and then the Elite eight,
we'll we'll have some some better games, but I think
so far it's been a little bit mediocre in terms
of the drama and the tension in some of these games.
Speaker 2 (41:20):
Yeah, I'm with you, and I think it's it's gonna
be interesting maybe if we can have a fun podcast
later on and talk about that too, just in terms
of because JD's pretty adamant. It used to can't can't
miss appointing television anoun So it's kind of like, you know,
that's I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (41:36):
Is it the three point shot? Is it one and done?
Speaker 2 (41:38):
Is it just that the European game's gotten better? Is
it just basketball analytics has ruined the game?
Speaker 1 (41:43):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (41:43):
I just I do think it'd be kind of one
of those, you know, bar conversation podcasts.
Speaker 3 (41:49):
Just you know, I don't have an answer, but this
is what I think.
Speaker 4 (41:52):
I feel like the NCAA will not be hiring JD
for their commercials when they promote the games, you know,
March Madness. It's a like, these games are awesome, you
want to tune in. I feel like for some reason
j d's chances at a sponsorship with them have probably
gone by the wayside from this podcast, So.
Speaker 3 (42:09):
Jldal for John Cazer.
Speaker 6 (42:14):
Well, it's a Monday, Thanky Jim is always our Friday.
It's time for mister Eichenhoffer to give his players of
the week and a player to watch for this week,
which you got, big guy.
Speaker 4 (42:30):
Let's start with the player of the week, and I'm
gonna go with Zion Williamson. Granted he only played two
of the four games, but he did average twenty nine
point five points. He shot sixty two percent from the field.
He got twenty four trips to the foul line, so
in just the two games. So I mean, you know,
sometimes on the radio we like to complain a little
bit or you know, maybe bring up you know, maybe
(42:51):
he should get some more free throws and more foul calls.
But I don't think we can legitimately say that that
was something that we could gripe about. Over those two
games at Zion played with the twenty four trips to line,
he averaged five and a half assists, one point five
steals in a block. So you know, it was a
good first two games that he played of that week.
(43:12):
I don't think anyone else, I mean CJ obviously had
a forty point game, but I don't think anyone else
really consistently over those four games played, you know, every
single night, really well, So gonna go with Zion as
the player of the week, and then for the player
to watch, somebody that we talked a little bit about earlier,
and that's gonna be Jordan Hawkins. He had twenty five
(43:33):
points at Detroit on Sunday, which tied his points season high.
He was six for eleven on threes, which is the
most three pointers he's made in a game all season.
His career high is seven three pointers, which was at Denver,
only the seventh game of.
Speaker 5 (43:48):
His NBA career.
Speaker 4 (43:49):
He set his record for most threes in a game
and almost matched that again yesterday against Detroit. So Jordan
Hawkins player to watch over these next seven games. The
Pelicans have three games this week, Philadelphia tonight on Monday,
Golden State on Friday, and then Charlotte on Sunday. All
(44:10):
of these games are at home, so we're talking about
a three game home stand before they head to California
next week. And then lastly, Gus, it's time for the
spoiler scale. And this is a very up and down
spoiler scale because we have drastically different things at stake
for some of these opponents. For tonight's game against Philly,
I had to go with a one on a spoiler scale.
(44:32):
The Sixers are twenty three and forty eight. They're thirteenth
in the Eastern Conference. They have the fifth worst record
in the NBA, which is noteworthy because their pick is
top six protected, so they really if they want to
keep their pick. Their chances of doing so if they
finish with the fifth worst record are a lot higher
than if they finish six or seventh, obviously in terms
(44:53):
of the reverse standings, So only a one for the
spoiler scale tonight. This is a Sixers team that is
going to have a lot of players that even from
their college careers, You're going to be like, I don't
remember even seeing this guy play in college. There's a
lot of guys that don't have a ton on their
resume but are getting a big chance to play. And
then Friday's game against Golden State, this might be a
(45:14):
season high on the spoiler scale. I'm giving that one
a nine. The Warriors are forty one and thirty. They're
in sixth place in the West. They're only a half
game ahead of Minnesota, so I mean by the time
we get to that game, we're talking the Warriors only
have maybe seven or eight games left in the regular season,
and it's a very tight race that they have with
the te Wolves and the Clippers and a couple other
teams and then lastly Charlotte on Sunday. On the spoiler scale,
(45:37):
I'm giving that one a two, a two, and I
would have given it a one except if you remember back. Well,
if you remember back, the Pelicans did lose to the
Hornets in a game that was very frustrating and kind
of ugly, So I feel like there's a little tiny
bit of payback in vengeance for that. Yeah, the Hornets
are eighteen and fifty three, They're in fourteenth place in
(45:59):
the Eastern Conference. They have almost exactly the same record
as the Pelicans do. So, just to review quickly, spoiler scale,
Sixers game is a one, Warriors is a nine, and
then Charlotte is a two. So that's the spoiler scale
for Week twenty three of the season.
Speaker 2 (46:14):
Is nine, the highest you've given I think it is. Yeah,
I think the season eight.
Speaker 4 (46:19):
Yeah, I want to leave a little wiggle room for
a ten. Over over the next couple of weeks, we'll see,
we'll monitor, we'll monitor the situation. But yeah, I mean
it's crazy. There's only you realize, there's only three weeks
left in the season, so this is the this is
the third to last spoiler scale of the year that
we're going to get.
Speaker 2 (46:37):
Can just give it at ten just for the heck
of it on April.
Speaker 5 (46:39):
Fourth, you know what I think?
Speaker 4 (46:42):
For now, I'm leaning towards ten, but we'll see the standings.
You know, we'll have to monitor the standings. I mean,
the Lakers would. I'm sure the Lakers will still have
a ton to play for at that point. So yeah,
we'll probably lean towards a ten in that game.
Speaker 3 (46:54):
You never know.
Speaker 2 (46:55):
And then look, by that time, Bronnie could have passed
Ben Simmons in another statistical you never Yeah, that could
be maybe free throw percent. He almost had twenty at
a seventeen point game recently.
Speaker 4 (47:04):
Yeah, yeah, there you go.
Speaker 3 (47:06):
Things are looking up, although they also did lose that.
Speaker 4 (47:08):
Game, right, Yeah, they've been losing a little bit lately,
so I mean, I'm really broken up over that.
Speaker 2 (47:13):
I'm sure you know you're gonna get over it at
some point. We'll see you tonight, Pelicans Otjim Will join
us for his Three Things as the Pelics take on
the seventy six or tonight at the Smooth the King Center.
We will see you again on Friday on the New
Orleans Pelicans podcast.
Speaker 1 (47:27):
Thanks for listening to the New Orleans Pelicans Podcast. Join
us three times per week on pelicans dot com, the
Pelicans Mobile app, the iHeartRadio app, or where you get
your podcast, and be sure to give Jim and Guss
a follow on X at Jim Underscore I Can Offer
(47:48):
and Gcap Underscore seventeen. We'll see you next time right
here on the New Orleans Pelicans podcast
Welcome in to the New Orleans Pelicans Podcast, the official
podcast of your New Orleans Pelicans, a podcast dedicated to
everything you need to know about the squad. Here from players, coaches, broadcasters,
and those who covered the NBA on a daily basis.
It's time to flock up. The New Orleans Pelicans podcast
(00:29):
starts right now.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Hello, every want and welcome to the New Orleans Pelicans Podcast,
official podcast of.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Your New Orleans Pelicans.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Mister jimmichan offer Pelicans dot com in front of me.
I'm Gus Katngel. Coming up next segment, John de Chaser,
radio analyst of your New Orleans Pelicans.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Literally just back.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Well they got back around nine o'clock ish last night.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Jim.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
We'll talk to him about what it was like to
be on that road trip and he's going to say
something very interesting. I think people will go, huh, Pels
had more law did wins, but he actually felt good
about that road trip. And they'll explain that coming up
here as well. Plus the spoiler scale that is coming
as what we got nine games left?
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Is that what it is? Ten?
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Yeah, six at home for the road, four on the road,
and they're all important.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
For different reasons.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
For the Pels, we've been talking about that, but for
some of these road teams or some of the opponents
that the Pelicans are playing, it is very important as
it's time for standings, watching and all of that. So
we'll get into all of that and more, plus Player
of the Week and player to you know, kind of
keep an eye on in things that nature. We'll do that,
but first and foremost, last night, Pels wrapping up the
three game road trip at the Pistons. Back on Friday Gym,
(01:42):
they took on the te Wolves that didn't go so well,
a second forty point defeat in the week Sunday much
better performance just overall. Take on the two games over
the weekend.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
Yeah, I mean Friday was it seems like they've been
in this mode lately where they've alternated between you know, impressed.
The Wednesday game was impressive win. The Friday game was
pretty discouraging, just the fact that you were, you know,
run off the court in the second half. And then
Sunday you come back and you know it wasn't a win,
but they lost by six and you know, I think
it was a tie game or they were down by
(02:13):
a possession with just a couple of minutes left, so
they had a chance to win. So overall, it's just
been one of those things where it would be nice
to get out of this pattern where it's like every
other game you're either you know, disappointed, or you're really
pleased with the way that they played. But like you said,
I think the road trip overall was pretty good.
Speaker 5 (02:30):
I mean, they were.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
Given the way that they played against the Pistons in
the Smoothie King Center, you kind of might have gone
into Sunday's game thinking, oh boy, this is gonna be
this is not gonna be a lot of fun. But
it did turn out to be I think one of
the more entertaining games, especially on the road, of the
entire season, even though they didn't end up getting the
win ultimately.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
See j McCollum forty points. How many times he's done
it this season three?
Speaker 5 (02:52):
I think three or four.
Speaker 4 (02:53):
I think it's been four or five.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
It's pretty good many times he's dropped forty points to
see he had a solid performance yesterday. I thought Jordan
Hawkins had a nice effort there as well.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
But man, CJ.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
It's interesting because one of the things we'll talk about
with JD two is ball handling, turnedovers and things that nature.
Why do you think CJ. McCollum has been able in
a season where he started slow to have so many
games where he gets hot and gets on that.
Speaker 4 (03:21):
I'm not sure. I mean, I guess maybe the most
clear reason to me is just the opportunity that he's had.
I mean, if you think about his first three seasons here,
there weren't that many times where you looked at the
starting lineup and you said, man, this is the only
He's the only guy out there that is gonna have
the ball a out and get a bunch of shots.
So I think that's the The opportunity is definitely there
(03:42):
when you don't have Zion playing, and I think, by
the way, he has four games this season now of
forty plus points, and I think I'd have to go
back and look at the specifics, but I do think
in some of those, you know, there were multiple guys
that were out, so his shot attempts are going to
go way up. And I'm not taking away from his
big because I mean, you're not gonna score fifty points
in a game if you don't get a good amount
(04:03):
of shot attempts. But he can get when he is
in a high usage mode where it's like the ball
is coming to him constantly, and it's he's not out
there with Zion, Trey Murphy and the various other scorers
that they the Pelicans have, he can get on this
role where it's like man, he's getting hot and the
other team is not able to slow him down.
Speaker 5 (04:23):
So, I mean, that's that's I think that's probably the.
Speaker 4 (04:26):
Biggest reason why this season in particular, he's had so
many big games, because I mean there's there's been a
lot more games where you looked out there and you're like,
he's gonna have to score a bunch of points for
them to win. Whereas you know, when this team is
full strength, he's gonna pick his spots. He's gonna have
his nights where he scores twenty five thirty points and
it is a huge reason why they win. But they're
(04:46):
not just so heavily reliant on him to have big
nights the way they have been this season.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Right tonight, it's the Philadelphia seventy six ers. Got a
game tonight, got a game on Friday, So bookends of
the work week Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, no games.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
A brief I guess breather.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Jim, after having three games in four days and then
we're back at it every other day to wrap up
the seasons, said only ten games remaining. What are you
looking at tonight? I mean the Philly has also been
a team that's been injured. They've shut down some of
their players, like guys like Paul George and stuff. We'll
wait to see if Zion's gonna play tonight as he's
recovering from a back nutusian a hard fall than at
(05:21):
first game against Minnesota where he played great. So if
I'm going on to the game, I'm a Pels fan,
what am I looking at?
Speaker 1 (05:27):
To me?
Speaker 4 (05:27):
Yeah, I mean you probably should have your roster handy nearby.
You need to make sure if you want to get
familiar with some of these Sixers players, because I mean
they if you think about it, when the Pelicans played
the Sixers in January, that was one of the Pelicans
road wins. You looked out at the court in Philly
and said, man, a lot of these Sixers players, I
don't know who they are.
Speaker 5 (05:46):
I'm not that familiar with.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
They're even less recognizable now if you look at the
players that are in their rotation so I mean that's
definitely gonna be a big part of this as well.
So you know, as we record this around eleven AM,
the Pelicans injury report will be coming out around twelve thirty,
twelve forty five. The deadline is one PM for both
of these teams to report their injuries on the second
game of a back to back. So I mean, unfortunately,
(06:09):
as we record this, we don't know exactly the status
of some of the players, including Zion Williamson. But I
think it's going to be one of those games that is,
you know, I don't mean this in a derogatory way,
but it's going to be kind of one of those
kind of summer league games where it's like, Okay, you're
going to see a bunch of players that you haven't
seen play very much, and a lot of them are
out there to prove whatever it is that they're trying
(06:30):
to show in the NBA, you know, getting a bigger
opportunity than they you expected. I mean, both of these
teams were playoff teams. The Sixers have made the playoffs
seven years in a row, which is a streak that's
about to end.
Speaker 5 (06:42):
So I mean, this is this is the kind of
game Monday.
Speaker 4 (06:45):
Night, where you just you never would have expected this
in a million years, that a March game between the
six Sixers and the Pelicans would be a bunch of
unproven guys or guys that are just trying to get
a foothold in the NBA. But I mean, I think
that's a big part of what we're going to see tonight.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
We'll see what takes place in the meantime. We'll also
see what takes place the final ten games. John the
Chaser is just on this road trip. The radio analyst
for your New Orleans Pelicans joins us now all right,
Tom now to bring in our guests for today, and
it is analyst on the radio on the Pelicans radio network,
mister John the Shazer. John, good to see you, although
you were just in Detroit. Man, it's crazy.
Speaker 5 (07:22):
Hey, yeah, that's why God made the charter. I guess. Yeah.
We got back decent time last night, maybe nine to
fifteen or so, so not too bad. Could have been
a whole lot worse. We have gotten back a whole
lot worse. So yeah, not too bad at all.
Speaker 4 (07:37):
I know some people don't like the afternoon games, but
I mean the fact that this was a back to back.
I feel like that makes a big that's a big help.
The fact that you guys got back here at a
reasonable hour as opposed to coming back from Michigan at
whatever time a night game would have been.
Speaker 5 (07:50):
Well, I gotta say, unless the team plays on Saturday night,
I always believe Sunday games should be like a two
o'clock tip. I'm with you, tip. You know, if I
were commissioned Foray, that's exactly what I would do to
the schedule and be like, hey, are they playing Saturday night? No,
they're playing a home game. Yeah, schedule it for two o'clock,
because what are we waiting for? I love it. I
(08:11):
love it.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
I gotta tell you, I would love to have an
entire podcast of if I were commissioner for a day.
Speaker 5 (08:16):
With I got some stuff, you got some idea.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
We kind of did that a little bit on the
podcast on Friday, comping ideas on the radio round table
with Aaron on how to maybe you know, fixed teams
from oh, I don't know, being as competitive as they
could be, right, sitting players and things that nature and
all that stuff, which Jad we can always get into
with you as well. But the most important thing I
gotta know is you did it when I only once
but twice in a row. How annoying is the howler
(08:42):
in Minnesota?
Speaker 5 (08:43):
You know what? I kind of like it. It kind
of turns into white noise, to be honest with you,
in the background. I mean it's a lot really not
paying attention to it because one the Pelicans didn't get
to the foul line a whole lot, so we didn't
have to hear it a whole lot, unfortunately. But yeah,
it just kind of turned into white north in the background. Now,
I think it's a lot more annoying if you're at
the file line a lot and you're winning, and so
(09:06):
you know, when you're losing by like forty, you get there,
it's like, hey, keep running. It's like, you know, hey,
if you don't have to call any fouls, we can
get out of here. Okay.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Well, between that and chicken, I mean it now, I
gotta I gotta say this.
Speaker 5 (09:22):
You know, eve MESI has had a wonderful rookie season.
I think we'll be on the All Rookie team.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (09:29):
The all time franchise leader in single season rebounds as
a rookie passed Anthony Davis. Some fantastic things. He gave
those folks chicken back to back games in the fourth quarter.
He missed two free throws in a row in both games,
and so they I mean, so he got the breaking
for chicken. He the folks in Minnesota love love Eve
(09:51):
Measi because he fed a whole lot of folks. You know. Now,
My only thing with that is, if I were commissioner
for a day, I would tell everybody to go to
the same Chick fil A on the same day, because
I cam, hey, no shade Chick fil A. I know,
(10:12):
but I know you ain't got that much chicken in there.
So I would love for that to happen. I just
I just like to see what would happen if that
happened there.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
It is so much we can get into here as well.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Again, I think maybe that's it's kind of a fun
thing to maybe do one day, just all the different
events or I think things that teams put on gym.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
I know you traveled a while here as well.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
I don't know if the sound of frolicking pelicans, which
used to be a sounder on my talk show and
I can't find it anymore, but someone went out I
guess to a beach and recorded pelicans frolicking, and it
kind of sounds like, I mean, it's it's not you know,
I don't know if that's something you want at the
free throw line.
Speaker 4 (10:49):
I don't know if that would have the same effect
as the howling Wolf. But nonetheless, yeah, I mean JD.
I mean, one of the reasons we want to have
you on. Obviously you were there for the whole road trip.
How do you when you when you look evaluate the
road trip overall, I mean, how do you look back
on it? Obviously they had a really good win at Minnesota,
but I mean, what are your kind of your biggest takeaways.
(11:11):
I guess from that trip.
Speaker 5 (11:12):
It was a one to two record obviously, so that's
not winning, but but I felt like it was a
winning road trip. I guess maybe I've been beat up
so much this season, so my standards have lowered some.
So so they won the first game Minnesota, both teams
pretty much full strength, Zion at the height of his powers,
and so we saw what the Pelicans can do when
(11:33):
they're like that. Now, the second game in Minnesota was
you know, kind of a you know, hey, we kind
of like we got what we wanted, you know, Zion's hurt,
We're gonna sit him. Minnesota's out for blood because they
absolutely desperately need the game, and there's no way Minnesota
is going to play that same way in back to
back games. So that one was kind of a you know,
(11:53):
a one off. And then you go to Detroit and
so Zion's not playing mes He's not playing, so you're
already shorthanded, and now, of course this team is even
more short handed, and you playing a Detroit team that,
even though it doesn't have Kate Cunningham and Tim Hardaway junior,
it's still a pretty formidable lineup when you add Malik
Beasley and then a shrewder to the starters. But the
(12:15):
Pels had them dues, I mean, played them well and
played them down to the last three four minutes to
where it kind of got a little loose at the
end and got away from them, but really played well
all things considered. You knew there were going to be
some discrepancies. You knew they were going to be there
was going to be a point in the paint discrepancy
because the Pels didn't have e Mec and then Carlo
(12:37):
Mackovic unfortunately play sixteen minutes in foules out, so you
don't have anything in terms of rent protection. And it
showed you knew there was probably going to be in
Descriptioncy at the foul line because the Pelicans didn't have
anybody to draw those files and Zion Williamson didn't play
it and you're lying on three point shots. But that
was encouraging also because the Pels made threes. I think
(12:57):
there were twenty and forty from three, which is extremely
encouraging because you know, we were on the radio broadcast. Thing.
You know what, in order to win this game, pills
probably need to shoot it fifty times from three. And
if they shot at fifty times from three and if
they made twenty three twenty four of them, they probably
do in the game. Maybe they do win the game.
But it was kind of you know, you got to
make do with what you have in that situation. Now,
(13:19):
the unfortunate thing, the thing that that's that's under my
skin the most is the turnovers. There's I understand, these
guys don't have the chemistry and they hadn't played together
and all those things that are built in as excuses,
legitimate excuses, but these are a lot of these are
(13:39):
unforced turnovers and unforced turnovers don't deserve legitimate excuses to me,
when you're you know, if you dribble off a foot
and you know or or or you're you're in you know,
you're in a dribble handoff and a guy's able to
shoot the gap. To me, those you know, the unforced
errors really have gotten on me because you know, you
(14:00):
lose games that way when you just turn the ball over.
So you have you know, had twenty six turnovers that
second game in Minnesota, I would say eighteen of them
were unforced. You know, yesterday against Detroit, I would say
twelve thirteen of those turnovers are unforced. And those are
the ones that you look back at the game and
(14:22):
you say, man, that's twelve more shot attempts she didn't get,
or your live ball turnovers. That's eight points they got
in fast break off turnovers that were LiveBall. And those
things are glaring in the NBA, and you might be
able to get away with them sometimes, but they are
glaring in the NBA, and very rarely are you able
to just shoot your way out of those kinds of mistakes.
(14:44):
They were able to do it the first night in Minnesota.
Now the turnovers even up in the second half, and
that made a big difference. But it's rare that you're
able to shoot your way out of certain certain certain
aspects of the game. If you can't score in the paint,
you gotta be able to score from me outside. If
you're turning the ball over, you got to be able
to score when you do have the ball. But if
you turn it over so many times, and if you
(15:06):
give up so many free throws, where do you make
up the gap. That's where that's hurt this team the
most these last few games. And that's the thing. Yet
you want to see tightened up because, like I said,
I understand these guys, all of them hadn't played together.
I mean, you know, maybe Antonio Reeves and and you know,
you know these guys, you know sometimes they're probably walking
(15:26):
around with it. You know my name is signed on them.
But but having said that, these are National Basketball Association players,
and I know practice is limited, but there's a reason
you're in the NBA. And the unforced turnovers don't help you.
When a guy's able to pressure you at mid court
and kind of take it from you, I know that's
(15:47):
not an unforced turnover. And yet it kind of is
because it's just basic ball protection and those things are
just some things that are glaring that that I want
to see this team be able to clean up.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
I think part of that reason eyes is what Zion's
not doing that, right, But that would you say, at
least to me one of the bigger I don't know
if you can answer that question, but one of the
things here in the final ten games where you want
to see who's your ball handler and things that nature,
because I know Zion can handle that, gotcha. I don't
know when Dejon Ta Murray's coming back next year. It
(16:20):
probably won't be at the start of the season, right, Yeah.
Speaker 5 (16:22):
I would imagine, okay, all Star break, after All Star breaks,
so that's a lot of basketball before that, and.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
I guess the need for that is kind.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Of important, right It means that's something you address later on,
but I guess it's But you.
Speaker 5 (16:35):
Gotta have a point. You gotta have a point. You
gotta have somebody who can get guys in space. You
gotta have guys who can handle the basketball under pressure.
You gotta have guys and you know, Jose Alvarado can
do some of those things that can do a lot
of those things. And Jose Evarrado has actually played welly
eight minutes, but he can't play forty eight minutes. And
the flip side is Jose Alvarado's five to ten. So defensively,
(16:58):
if you're switching everything, and everybody in the NBA seems
to be switching everything, when you're switching everything, and Jose
Alvarado ends up on the post against Tobias Harris, who's
six's eight, or he ends up on the on the
post against you know, Polo Banco or you know Franz Wagner.
Those guys aren't guys who are gonna kick it out
(17:19):
and say, okay, we're gonna run our offense reset. They're
gonna say, okay, this is now our offense. We got
a guy in the house on the post that we
can take advantage of. So they'll just whatever it is
they were running, they'll break it and say, okay, this
is it now, this is what we're doing. And in fact,
you know you'll see guys kind of hunting in those situations.
(17:39):
So Jose can do a lot of things, a lot
of great things. He can't grow five inches and so
you know, you got to have a point who's a
little bit bigger, and when the now, when Jose's off
the bench and he gives you those juice minutes, those
eighteen to twenty, you know, juice minutes. He is fantastic.
But you gotta have a guy who's going to be
a front line starter in the NBA who can handle
(18:02):
the ball and hail the pressure, and so that's got
to be kind of one of the things that the
Pelicans are looking for with the Johntay Murray going to
be out a period of time for next season.
Speaker 4 (18:12):
Wanted to quickly comment on a couple of things that
you said earlier. One, the Friday game in Minnesota reminded
me of what we see a lot in the playoffs
where the higher seeded home team loses game one and
it's like, you know, they're going to come back with
a vengeance. We hardly ever see anyone go down two
in a playoff series if they're the home team for
(18:33):
those first two games, and I think that's part of it.
There's just a big mental aspect to it as well.
And the part you said about Carlow to me, Carlo
game against Detroit was like a clinic on how to
be in the wrong place at the wrong time. It
just seemed like he would come back in the game
and then he'd be you know, sometimes not really his fault,
just like you know, just be in the wrong spot
(18:54):
and pick up a foul and immediately be back having
to go on the bench because of that. So that
was a you know, that was a bad development when
they were already so like you said, so shorthanded at center.
But I wanted to ask you about, I mean, one
of the real bright spots of Sunday. We talked a
little bit about this on the postgame radio show, but
I asked you about Jordan Hawkins as far as his
(19:16):
twenty five point game, which was tied for his season high,
and you talked about his aggression that that was the
thing that you like the most about the way he
played on Sunday. I mean, where do you think what
have you seen from him lately and where do you
think that comes from? Is it is his confidence coming
back after the back injury and some of the struggles
that he had earlier in the season. What do you
(19:37):
think is behind that?
Speaker 5 (19:38):
Maybe I think that's exactly it. I think he's feeling
healthy and I think his confidence is where it should be.
You know, the guy's name is Hawk. Shouldn't it be
in attack mode all the time? Definitely? And so you
like to see him in attack mode. Not so much
worry And I get it. He's in the second year
in the NBA and a lot of things are predicated
on how you earn your minutes. And most guys, I think,
(20:01):
if I score, I stay on the floor, and a
lot of times, yeah that might, that might factor into it.
But it's the other little things. You know, you got
to defend, You gotta rebound, gott to rotate on defend,
on defense. Those things are things that coaches look for
because you gotta affect the game when you're not scoring,
and not everybody can do that, not everybody is tasked
(20:24):
to do that. But when you come off the bench,
you gotta be able to do that because you don't
know how many minutes you're gonna get. You know, now,
sometimes it might be twenty eight, sometimes it might be eighteen.
So you got to be add it as soon as
you get out there. For Jordan Hawkins, if you're not
in the starting lineup, you got to have foot on
the accelerator the minute you check into the game, and
(20:44):
you got to be aggressive. He's too good a shooter,
and I think he's got a lot of other skills
that he's working on and developing, because now we're seeing him,
you know, do a little bit more off the bounce
and those kinds of things. We see that part of
his game developing. He's not just reliant on the three
point shot, but even then he can generate and create
his own threes. So that's one of the things that
(21:06):
you want to see from him continue because I just
think he's got a lot of potential that can be
unlike he I guess possibly, and I don't know how.
I know he got a little point guard work in
Summer League last year, but he could be a guy
that you could kind of hopefully lean into for some
spot minutes at the point because he's got the size.
(21:29):
If he can handle the ball under pressure, you know,
he's a shooter that you want out there. He's got
the length that you want in a defender, you know,
So he's got a lot of aspects that you would want.
And look, if he's looking in the mirror, he's got
to be saying, you know what, if I can play point,
if I can handle the ball a little bit better.
I can get on the floor a little bit more.
And so those are you know, guys are saying I
want minutes, I want minute, Well, what are you doing
(21:51):
to get those minutes? That's the way you can get
more minutes if you're Jordan Hawkins, is to play a
little bit more point, which you know, again, I think
he tried to do some of that in the summer league,
and maybe he works on some of that extensively in
the offseason, because you know, a guy who's a shooter
like Jordan Hawkins didn't need to be putting all this
time into shooting. He's got that part, you know, it's
(22:11):
the other parts of his game that he's got to strengthen,
and I think that's one of the things things strengthen.
Speaker 4 (22:16):
It's interesting too, because I mean, he had I don't
know what it was at least five games as a
rookie where you say, man, this guy's potential is so high,
and not only his potential, but the fact that he's
actually I mean he beat Dallas, not by himself, but
he was a huge reason that they won that game
super short handed. Last season as a rookie in Dallas.
I mean, he had a couple other games where he
had you know, thirty plus, and then it seems like
(22:39):
yesterday's game was just another example that I would put
in that same group where you say, like, you know,
there's a reason this guy was a lottery pick and
that he was picked so high. I think a couple
other guys I think that we're going to be keeping
a close eye on over the last ten games of
the season in terms of I mean, Hawk is a
second year guy, but the Pelicans also have multiple rookies.
(22:59):
With the bigs in the situation that they have right
now with Carlo Makovich and Eve Mesi over the last
three weeks of the season, I mean, what are some
of the things that you want to see from those
guys as they close out their first season in the NBA.
Speaker 5 (23:13):
Well, well, I'll start with Eve the starter. I want
to see Eve be more aggressive offensively. He's catching the ball,
you know, sometimes at the free throw line, sometimes at
the key. He's got his back turned to the basket.
His defender is four or five feet off and in
the paint, and Eve is not forcing himself to be defended,
and so he's you can't play It's hard to play
(23:35):
four on five offensively in the NBA, you can get
away with it sometimes, but it's hard to do it.
And so I want to see Eve be more of
an offensive threat. He already has the the want to
and him because he's chasing every rebound, he's chasing every block,
but he's got to refine his offensive game. And probably
a lot of that is that he feels uncomfortable with
(23:56):
it right now. But this is the time to work
on it. You know. Now you've got some game opportunities
to work on it, because you know you're not a
playoff team, so this is the experimentation process where you
can work on some things like that. And so hopefully,
you know, you'll see him develop a little bit more,
not even maybe trying to drive to the basket, because
when he does want to be aggressive offensive lead, you
(24:17):
see him trying to drive to the basket. But I
might like to see him just turn around and develop
that little jumper. It's right there. They're giving it to you.
You know, if you make one or two of them,
you don't have to make a whole lot of them.
But now people got to come up and guard you,
and now you can get around him a little bit easier.
For Carlo. Yep, Carlo is turning into my to my
new Nagy. You know, he's my dude. Now, I just
(24:38):
want to see him be more wise, I guess, or
just learn the NBA defensively. You know, as you mentioned yesterday,
you know, he was just in the wrong place at
the wrong time. But you know he's kind of off balance,
he's reaching, you know. So I want to see him
learn how to be a little bit wiser when it
comes to filing. And I want to see him have
(24:58):
a little bit more, a little bit better judgment because
he was he had eight points, eleven rebounds sixteen minutes yesterday.
He was valuable, but he committed a couple of fouls.
Like and it's like, dude, I know, I know, you
don't want the coaching staff to yell at you. I
get it, I know, I know, but you got to
(25:19):
understand what your value is right now. Your value is
on the floor. You commit that file, and now you
go to go sit. Now you know, the team smaller,
you don't have anybody that they will look at and say,
you know, he might block a shot. So I think
he's just got to be a little bit more judicious
than that. And some of that might just come with
playing in the NBA and NBA officials getting a little
bit more familiar with you, hopefully and saying, well, okay,
(25:42):
you know that's kind of how he plays, or we're
gonna let that slide or whatever it is, because you know,
as guys get a little bit older, seems like they're
able to get away with a little bit more. He
won't be able to get away with as much as
as as you know, Rudy Gobert. But still, you know,
you just want to see him, you know, grow and
mentally be ready, especially because it looks like he's ready. Offensively.
(26:05):
It looks like he's got a lot of things he
can do offensively to kind of to add in. But
now he's got to be able to play that kind
of defense that can keep him on the floor in
a situation like yesterday. You want to see him on
the floor. You want to see him on the floor
thirty thirty two minutes in a starting role, and instead
he's out there for sixteen And so now you you know,
you extrapolate and you say, man, if he'd have been
on the floor, he might have been able to get
(26:27):
you know, sixteen, and you know, fourteen or something like that.
But you don't know because he wasn't out there, right.
You know.
Speaker 4 (26:34):
The last time we had you on the podcast, one
of the questions we asked in the roundtable was about
your excitement level for the NCAA tournament.
Speaker 5 (26:42):
And I know you were quite.
Speaker 4 (26:43):
Busy this weekend, so I can't imagine you got to
watch a ton But by the way, there was a
there was a game where a team scored thirteen points
in the first half.
Speaker 5 (26:52):
So I watch, I watched something. See. But now here's
here's the thing to me, and folks, if you like
the NCAA tournament, okay, don't don't at me and don't whatever,
because I'm just gonna say this, it's like watching a
car wreck. You just kind of glued to it. It's
a lot of bad basketball. My goodness, it's a lot
of bad basketball, yep. And so I'm watching and I'm like,
(27:14):
you know, this is so unskilled. And I know people
probably listened to me saying, well, the team, the team
you work for is one nineteen games, so they're in
the NBA. And I guarantee you any NBA team is
gonna boat race any college team. I'm watching these college teams,
and I'm like, these dudes shooting you know, side step
threes and step back threes, and it's just it's like abominable.
(27:37):
It is. It's so hard to watch. I was watching
Arkansas and Saint John and it was like an avalanche
of bad. It was. It was like you know, I was.
I mean, it gets to the point where you kind
of mesmerized because both teams are like the same bad
and it's like, well, okay, Well it's even then because
(27:59):
you know, neither one of them really good, and it's like, well, okay,
but these are Saint John's, like one of the highest
ranked teams in the nation. It's like, well, wait, this
is this is the best we got right here. I
mean said, I don't I don't know what's happened to
college basketball. I don't know if it's you know, too
many guys trying to trying to be Steph Curry or what.
(28:20):
But I mean, it's it's hard for me to watch now,
and I will watch, but it's hard for me to watch.
Speaker 3 (28:25):
Is that the game?
Speaker 2 (28:26):
I was gonna ask you about it because your comments
last week has stuck with me throughout you know, rounds
one and two when going into it, I'm like, man,
it really isn't very good basketball.
Speaker 3 (28:36):
But it was one game.
Speaker 5 (28:37):
It was.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
I think they were combined two teams four for thirty
four from three.
Speaker 3 (28:42):
Is that the game you're talking about?
Speaker 2 (28:44):
I know it was in my day or Sunday, I
cannot remember. I mean it might have been, but there
was one gamer's two good teams. They were combined four
for thirty four, four for forty from three point and
only four to three pointers were made in the entire game.
It's just jacking up threes or not. And look, I'm
texting Jim yesterday. I guess it's because we don't see
it right, Maryland winning. I don't know if that was
(29:06):
a travel or not. And that's been a debate all
last night. I mean travel or not.
Speaker 5 (29:11):
When I watched it, when I watched the replay, I
didn't think anything of it. I just thought bucket, yeah.
But then you get people, you know on social media,
I know, and it's a traveler's travel and it's a
travel everywhere with the NBA, and I'm thinking to myself, well,
let me look at it again. And I still couldn't
determine whether it was a travel. But since I covered
the NBA. I'm like, that ain't no walk, that's a bucket.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
But the point is, I mean that drive by being
kissing off the glass like that just stood out because
to your point, I mean, but I can you imagine
a game where well we've kind of seen it sometimes
with four thirty four combined.
Speaker 5 (29:43):
I'm telling you it's it's not good basketball. It's just
hard to watch. It just is not esthetically pleasing. And
I don't care what nobody says. You can you can
be an alumni, you can, you can fill out your brackets.
You can. You know, you can go to Buffalo Wild
Wings and watch all the games at the same time.
I don't care. It's some bad hoops. I don't care
what nobody said.
Speaker 4 (30:04):
By the way, I think I'm gonna try to figure
out how to work in avalanche of bad.
Speaker 2 (30:08):
Even we can put that on like it it was
Arkansas and Saint John's. Saint John's was two of twenty
two nine percent from distance. Arkansas was two of nineteen
ten percent from distance.
Speaker 5 (30:21):
Yeah, that's that's Roughn't the whistle one? Dude? I mean,
I mean, that's just I mean, that's just that's abominable.
That's that's rough, that is, I mean, think about it.
Seeing the mya analogy is always this, if you took
twenty two shots from half court, you make it. You
(30:41):
make more two of them, right right, right? Yeah, So
the three point line is way farther than so if
you took if you if you just dribbled up and
you took twenty two, because nobody's gonna contest you at
half court. It's just Steph Curry. You took twenty two
from half court, I bet you fool around and makes six.
Speaker 4 (30:59):
Yeah. You know this is an awkward transition, JD. Because
the direction you took that when I brought that up,
because I was going to ask you, how important is
it for the Pelicans to add a piece in the draft?
Speaker 5 (31:11):
Draft?
Speaker 4 (31:12):
Right? Well, there are overseasly, but you know there are
I would think that we're when we're talking elite players
here that are going to be in the lottery in
the draft. You know, we're not talking maybe necessarily the
guys that are shooting over fourteen from three or whatever.
But I mean, just from a broad standpoint, I mean,
how do you how do you view this position that
(31:33):
the Pelicans are in as far as being in the
lottery and then being able to add somebody.
Speaker 5 (31:37):
Well, one thing I can say is they they've been
able to find guys that they can that they can
add through the draft, whether it you know, whether it's
it's you know, Herb Jones or now you know, Jordan
Hawkins or Trey Murphy, they've been able to find guys
and those guys hadn't necessarily it hadn't been top five
picks exactly. Yeah, so I kind of have faith that
they'll be able to find the guy who can who
(31:58):
can fit you know what this team does, especially if
you're able to get a guy high and that the
thing is, you know, I don't know where. I mean,
it'll be a supplemental role because you you know, you're
projecting it projecting into next year. But you figure eve
me see Zion, Trey Murphy, Herb Jones is back to
(32:18):
John Ty, Murray will be back, uh C. J McCollum,
Jordan Hawkins, Carlo Mackovic. That's eight guys and it's gonna
be hard to beat out one of those eight guys
as a rookie. So whoever it is will actually fall
into I don't want to say in an optimal position, but
a pretty good situation that he doesn't have to be rushed. Now,
(32:40):
you know, not woold he won't have to play because
of injuries. But if all things, you know, work the
way they should or the way we hope, he won't
have to be force fed, and you can kind of
bring him along. And you know, yeah, you can listen
to you know, watch the people on social media. Yeah
they ain't development. That's that's the position you want to
be into, where you can bring a guy along slowly
(33:02):
that he doesn't have to play. Now. Best case scenario
is and I forgot Jose Alvarado in that rotation too.
Best case scenario is you might you might be able
to get a point guard. And I'm not always sold
on rookie point guards, but if you can get a
guy who who you feel good about because now in
(33:24):
the NBA he didn't exclusively have to be a point guard.
You got Ze who can run some point. You got CJ.
McCollum who can run some point. You'll have Trey Murphy
who can bring it up. You'll have Herb Jones who
can bring it up. So you got guys who can
get the ball past half court and not turn it over.
So it could be a really really promising situation. Whether
it's a point guard or whatever the Pelicans pick up,
(33:45):
it can be a really promising situation for him.
Speaker 4 (33:48):
It's an interesting point you make about, you know, the
level of I don't know if pressure or what it is,
or that'll be on whoever comes in here based on
the other talent that's already in place. I do think
it's interesting that, for example, Jordan Hawkins was a lottery pick.
It was fourteen out of the fourteen lottery picks, but
he came into a situation where it wasn't like you
got to come in and dominate and carry everything. And
(34:10):
then Eve Mecie, for totally different circumstances, got to play
a ton this year and way more than we expected.
But he also was in a situation where, yeah, you're
a first round pick, but we're not expecting you to
come in and like change the franchise and that kind
of thing. So I do think that that that's a
big positive that you would think that it sets somebody
up whoever comes in here next season, you would think
(34:32):
it sets them up to be successful and you're not
putting them in a position where there's too much weight
on them, and there's too much that they have to carry.
Speaker 5 (34:40):
Yeah. Now, of course the caveat is appeals to get
the number one ball in this Cooper flag, all bets
are off. It was just everything because're like, okay, you
got this guy, he got hey, he's got to Hey,
now he's gotta play. He has he has to play,
and he has to contribute because if you're that high
a pick, you got to That's just the way the
NBA is. I don't make the rules, that's just how
(35:01):
it is.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
Yeah, well, let's see what takes place. Obviously, as we
get closer and closer too. Then in the meantime, six
games remaining at home.
Speaker 4 (35:08):
JD.
Speaker 2 (35:08):
What is it that you hope that the home folks
get to see here?
Speaker 5 (35:12):
I hope they get to see Zion Wiimson in five
of those, and I hope this team plays really hard
and competitive. That's really about as much as we can
ask for right now. I want the home folks to
see Zion because let's face the facts. You know, this
is a business operation and you're trying to make money
(35:34):
and you sell tickets with your marquee guys, and if
Zion Williamson is out there and he's playing well, people
are going to be more inclined to say, you know what,
I'm mad about this season, but I'll do another buy
in because I see some of what I want to see,
So I want to see that much from this team.
I just want to see Ze out there, and I
want to see this team be really competitive down the stretch.
(35:56):
I want to see him, you know, hey, win some
cool but but be competitive, be in the games, and
have fans engaged at the end of the at the
end of games.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
All right, mister John the Shades is always appreciate the time, sir,
Thank you, and try to go get a nap before
tonight's game.
Speaker 5 (36:11):
A man, there's no rest for this non weird.
Speaker 3 (36:15):
Yet here you man. Thank you, sir.
Speaker 2 (36:18):
Thanks to John de Shazer. As always, you can give
a follow as well over on New Orleans Saints dot
Com as he covers the football team, which Jim they're
about to get busy here, draft coming up, also the
free agency, lots of the new signings. It's kind of
interesting to kind of see the players here coming and going,
bringing back some familiar faces and stuff with the Saints.
I bring that up because it's one of the things
(36:39):
you asked him about you know, it is going to
be a huge topic here in the offseason.
Speaker 5 (36:44):
What is it?
Speaker 2 (36:45):
May twelfth, I think is when it gets takes place
and we'll find out where the Pells will pick, and
then it is a big thing because he brings up
a good point. Right, if if you bring back the
majority of this roster, which they will because they're under
contract and stuff, what I guess spots are open or not?
Speaker 3 (37:03):
And I guess it does this depends where you draft.
Speaker 2 (37:06):
If you're drafting one, two, three, or four, you would
assume that those players are probably guys that can come.
Speaker 3 (37:11):
In and help you.
Speaker 2 (37:12):
Is it do you do you draft based on Nina
thought it was a great question. Is it you know,
best talent available? I think we all have our ideas
to do that. I think what I look at this
is my opinion. No one's asking me, but my opinion
is there's one constant in the last I don't know
how many years, and especially since I's been here, and
that's been an injury situation. Not just him, the team
(37:35):
and they battled with injuries.
Speaker 1 (37:37):
Now.
Speaker 3 (37:37):
I don't know if it's bad.
Speaker 2 (37:38):
Luck, if it's something you can fix or whatever, but
everyone has dealt with injuries across the league. It's the
teams to stay healthier tend to do that. So I
don't know, I'm looking for maybe players that stay on
the court or whatever. But that's why to me, I'm like,
you mean, best player available. I don't know who's going
to be available or not. I mean, you know, and again,
your number one guy you traded for last year to
(37:59):
Jean Tim Murray, I don't know when.
Speaker 3 (38:00):
He's gonna be back.
Speaker 2 (38:01):
And I just got done cutting sound and John the
Chaser just got done watching a team three games on
the road. We're turnovers were an issue. Turnovers at home
were an issue when they lost big by home. So
that's something that's key to me.
Speaker 4 (38:15):
Yeah, for sure, you know, and too, by the way, too,
I would be interested to hear, and we're never gonna
get this. We're never gonna get an honest answer. I'd
be interested to hear the perspective of, say, some of
the guys in the top five of the draft that
are coming out that are expected to be picked high.
If you're in that player's shoes, would you rather go
somewhere where you're gonna go to a team where they
they're like Okay, we need you to do everything. We
(38:36):
need you to immediately carry the load some of these
some of the teams in the East, for example, that
have at the bottom of the standings, they don't have
a ton of pieces that they can build around. They
have a couple guys, they're talented. So would you rather
go to a situation like that or would you rather
come to New Orleans where there's seven to eight quality
rotation pieces And a lot of the reason that the
(38:57):
team didn't win this year was because of injuries, where
if you just go back a year they won forty
nine games and made the playoffs. You compare that to
some of the other teams in the East that it's
been multiple years since those teams have been in the postseason.
So I think in some ways, I think there's a
lot more pressure if you go to one of those
other teams than if you come to New Orleans. So
that's just something interesting to think about. And like I said, though,
(39:18):
I'm pretty sure if you ask those guys, you're not
gonna get an honest answer. They're not gonna say one
way or the other, like, oh, I want to go
somewhere where I can average thirty a game or you know,
they're not gonna say that, and they're also not going
to say like, yeah, I want to have less pressure
on me and go somewhere where they have a lot
of other talented players already. They might say that after
they get picked by that team, but not beforehand.
Speaker 2 (39:36):
Well, I mean, you know, you get to see them
every now and then at the cafetier. Maybe you know,
while you're making your salad or getting a slice of pizza,
you can ask the upper upper management, where are we
going to the Dragon? I actually look, I don't know. It's
it's interesting you guys talked about the NCAA tournament and
watching those games too. I am watching, you know, like
you and I were at the watch party yesterday over
at Uptown Sports Social and we watched Duke and Baylor play,
(39:58):
so obviously Flag was there. We watched Florida yukon the
ending of that one, so I am paying a little.
Speaker 3 (40:04):
Bit more attention.
Speaker 2 (40:04):
I'm like, that guy's good, Maryland's game winner. That guy queen,
you know, that's a big taking it off the inbound,
driving on the left side of the lane, kissing in
a high off the glass.
Speaker 3 (40:14):
I'm like, hey, that's not bad.
Speaker 2 (40:15):
So I am looking to see, Man, does that translate
to the NBA or now?
Speaker 4 (40:21):
Yeah, I mean what I would consider what I've did
the first four days of the NCAA tournament to be
kind of grazing, like I'm not really I mean, especially
while the Pelicans are playing, it's hard to really lock
in on any specific game. You catch things here and there.
I mean, when we get to these next rounds, though,
I think I will try to watch like an entire
Duke game now that they're in the Sweet sixteen, for example,
or some of these other teams. But I mean, there's
(40:43):
it's fun though, to be able to just kind of
click around and find the close games and the ones
where there's some drama happening. You know, honestly too, this
is a whole different discussion. It doesn't seem like there
were that many interesting games or dramatic endings. Either I
heard someone say or someone tweeted that was the word
first round in the history of the NCAA tournament, however
you want.
Speaker 5 (41:02):
To measure that.
Speaker 4 (41:03):
So but hopefully these upcoming rounds, you know, Thursday through Sunday,
where we're talking Sweet sixteen and then the Elite eight,
we'll we'll have some some better games, but I think
so far it's been a little bit mediocre in terms
of the drama and the tension in some of these games.
Speaker 2 (41:20):
Yeah, I'm with you, and I think it's it's gonna
be interesting maybe if we can have a fun podcast
later on and talk about that too, just in terms
of because JD's pretty adamant. It used to can't can't
miss appointing television anoun So it's kind of like, you know,
that's I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (41:36):
Is it the three point shot? Is it one and done?
Speaker 2 (41:38):
Is it just that the European game's gotten better? Is
it just basketball analytics has ruined the game?
Speaker 1 (41:43):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (41:43):
I just I do think it'd be kind of one
of those, you know, bar conversation podcasts.
Speaker 3 (41:49):
Just you know, I don't have an answer, but this
is what I think.
Speaker 4 (41:52):
I feel like the NCAA will not be hiring JD
for their commercials when they promote the games, you know,
March Madness. It's a like, these games are awesome, you
want to tune in. I feel like for some reason
j d's chances at a sponsorship with them have probably
gone by the wayside from this podcast, So.
Speaker 3 (42:09):
Jldal for John Cazer.
Speaker 6 (42:14):
Well, it's a Monday, Thanky Jim is always our Friday.
It's time for mister Eichenhoffer to give his players of
the week and a player to watch for this week,
which you got, big guy.
Speaker 4 (42:30):
Let's start with the player of the week, and I'm
gonna go with Zion Williamson. Granted he only played two
of the four games, but he did average twenty nine
point five points. He shot sixty two percent from the field.
He got twenty four trips to the foul line, so
in just the two games. So I mean, you know,
sometimes on the radio we like to complain a little
bit or you know, maybe bring up you know, maybe
(42:51):
he should get some more free throws and more foul calls.
But I don't think we can legitimately say that that
was something that we could gripe about. Over those two
games at Zion played with the twenty four trips to line,
he averaged five and a half assists, one point five
steals in a block. So you know, it was a
good first two games that he played of that week.
(43:12):
I don't think anyone else, I mean CJ obviously had
a forty point game, but I don't think anyone else
really consistently over those four games played, you know, every
single night, really well, So gonna go with Zion as
the player of the week, and then for the player
to watch, somebody that we talked a little bit about earlier,
and that's gonna be Jordan Hawkins. He had twenty five
(43:33):
points at Detroit on Sunday, which tied his points season high.
He was six for eleven on threes, which is the
most three pointers he's made in a game all season.
His career high is seven three pointers, which was at Denver,
only the seventh game of.
Speaker 5 (43:48):
His NBA career.
Speaker 4 (43:49):
He set his record for most threes in a game
and almost matched that again yesterday against Detroit. So Jordan
Hawkins player to watch over these next seven games. The
Pelicans have three games this week, Philadelphia tonight on Monday,
Golden State on Friday, and then Charlotte on Sunday. All
(44:10):
of these games are at home, so we're talking about
a three game home stand before they head to California
next week. And then lastly, Gus, it's time for the
spoiler scale. And this is a very up and down
spoiler scale because we have drastically different things at stake
for some of these opponents. For tonight's game against Philly,
I had to go with a one on a spoiler scale.
(44:32):
The Sixers are twenty three and forty eight. They're thirteenth
in the Eastern Conference. They have the fifth worst record
in the NBA, which is noteworthy because their pick is
top six protected, so they really if they want to
keep their pick. Their chances of doing so if they
finish with the fifth worst record are a lot higher
than if they finish six or seventh, obviously in terms
(44:53):
of the reverse standings, So only a one for the
spoiler scale tonight. This is a Sixers team that is
going to have a lot of players that even from
their college careers, You're going to be like, I don't
remember even seeing this guy play in college. There's a
lot of guys that don't have a ton on their
resume but are getting a big chance to play. And
then Friday's game against Golden State, this might be a
(45:14):
season high on the spoiler scale. I'm giving that one
a nine. The Warriors are forty one and thirty. They're
in sixth place in the West. They're only a half
game ahead of Minnesota, so I mean by the time
we get to that game, we're talking the Warriors only
have maybe seven or eight games left in the regular season,
and it's a very tight race that they have with
the te Wolves and the Clippers and a couple other
teams and then lastly Charlotte on Sunday. On the spoiler scale,
(45:37):
I'm giving that one a two, a two, and I
would have given it a one except if you remember back. Well,
if you remember back, the Pelicans did lose to the
Hornets in a game that was very frustrating and kind
of ugly, So I feel like there's a little tiny
bit of payback in vengeance for that. Yeah, the Hornets
are eighteen and fifty three, They're in fourteenth place in
(45:59):
the Eastern Conference. They have almost exactly the same record
as the Pelicans do. So, just to review quickly, spoiler scale,
Sixers game is a one, Warriors is a nine, and
then Charlotte is a two. So that's the spoiler scale
for Week twenty three of the season.
Speaker 2 (46:14):
Is nine, the highest you've given I think it is. Yeah,
I think the season eight.
Speaker 4 (46:19):
Yeah, I want to leave a little wiggle room for
a ten. Over over the next couple of weeks, we'll see,
we'll monitor, we'll monitor the situation. But yeah, I mean
it's crazy. There's only you realize, there's only three weeks
left in the season, so this is the this is
the third to last spoiler scale of the year that
we're going to get.
Speaker 2 (46:37):
Can just give it at ten just for the heck
of it on April.
Speaker 5 (46:39):
Fourth, you know what I think?
Speaker 4 (46:42):
For now, I'm leaning towards ten, but we'll see the standings.
You know, we'll have to monitor the standings. I mean,
the Lakers would. I'm sure the Lakers will still have
a ton to play for at that point. So yeah,
we'll probably lean towards a ten in that game.
Speaker 3 (46:54):
You never know.
Speaker 2 (46:55):
And then look, by that time, Bronnie could have passed
Ben Simmons in another statistical you never Yeah, that could
be maybe free throw percent. He almost had twenty at
a seventeen point game recently.
Speaker 4 (47:04):
Yeah, yeah, there you go.
Speaker 3 (47:06):
Things are looking up, although they also did lose that.
Speaker 4 (47:08):
Game, right, Yeah, they've been losing a little bit lately,
so I mean, I'm really broken up over that.
Speaker 2 (47:13):
I'm sure you know you're gonna get over it at
some point. We'll see you tonight, Pelicans Otjim Will join
us for his Three Things as the Pelics take on
the seventy six or tonight at the Smooth the King Center.
We will see you again on Friday on the New
Orleans Pelicans podcast.
Speaker 1 (47:27):
Thanks for listening to the New Orleans Pelicans Podcast. Join
us three times per week on pelicans dot com, the
Pelicans Mobile app, the iHeartRadio app, or where you get
your podcast, and be sure to give Jim and Guss
a follow on X at Jim Underscore I Can Offer
(47:48):
and Gcap Underscore seventeen. We'll see you next time right
here on the New Orleans Pelicans podcast
Host
Jim Eichenhofer
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