Oleh Kosel talks Pels in Australia, Zion's triple-double | Pelicans Podcast

On the latest New Orleans Pelicans Podcast for Wednesday, March 12, 2025, Pelicans.com’s Jim Eichenhofer and Gus Kattengell are joined by Oleh Kosel from The Bird Writes to discuss next year's preseason games in Australia.

Hear what Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations David Griffin had to say in Melbourne about the team’s historic upcoming visit.

They'll also discuss Zion Williamson’s triple double effort that led the Pelicans to a win against the LA Clippers while Jim gives us his team to watch and which teams' stock is up or down.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome in to the New Orleans Pelicans Podcast, the official
podcast of your New Orleans Pelicans, a podcast dedicated to
everything you need to know about the squad. Here from players, coaches, broadcasters,
and those who cover the NBA on a daily basis.
It's time to flock up. The New Orleans Pelicans Podcast

(00:29):
starts right now.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
Hello everyone, and welcome to the New Orleans Pelicans Podcast,
the official podcast.

Speaker 3 (00:37):
Of the New Orleans Pelicans.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
Because Cata Gel alongside mister Jimiken offer Pelicans dot Com
as always, sir, appreciate you and looking forward to our
next guest, because you provided something I didn't know. I
had no idea. Holly Kosel, NBA reporter an Australian ambassador
to basketball. Well, I don't know if that's true or not,
but he's an Australian native. I had no idea.

Speaker 4 (00:57):
Yeah, I didn't realize.

Speaker 5 (00:58):
I think I had heard that a few years ago,
but it kind of was in the back of my
mind somewhere. And he was chatting with Rod Walker before
the game last night about the Australia.

Speaker 4 (01:08):
News and he mentioned it and I was like, oh man,
we have.

Speaker 5 (01:11):
To get you on the podcast because I don't think
we know there's not a lot of people who cover
the Pelicans who were also born in Australia. I believe
that the ven diagram of that includes just Ali.

Speaker 3 (01:22):
That's about it.

Speaker 5 (01:22):
So I thought he was he'd be a perfect person
to talk to about that. I mean, just the insight
that he has and the experience that he has. And
I'm jealous because from what I hear about Australia, the
fact that he has been gets to go there all
the time and visit every so often.

Speaker 4 (01:36):
I think that's really cool. A place I've never.

Speaker 5 (01:38):
Been to, but it would be really fun to see
that for the first time.

Speaker 2 (01:41):
I'm we'll pull the curtain back just slightly for our
podcast listeners.

Speaker 6 (01:45):
Now.

Speaker 2 (01:45):
If you thought politicking for the past election was, you
know something else. You should see the hallways right now
the last twenty four hours here on the airline.

Speaker 4 (01:55):
Everybody wants to go to Australia.

Speaker 3 (01:58):
Everybody, you know. I'm not saying that we may or
may not go.

Speaker 4 (02:02):
I have no idea.

Speaker 2 (02:03):
What's your pitch, what's your pitch to your boss?

Speaker 4 (02:05):
What are you gonna pay?

Speaker 5 (02:06):
I mean, if they're gonna have training camp there, somebody's
I don't really want to do this on the podcast,
but if they're gonna have training camp there, I mean,
the kind of need to be there, it sounds like
they're going to. I mean, I think it's safe to assume,
even before I had heard the press conference that David
Griffin spoke at the other day, safe to assume that
they weren't gonna the games around October third and fifth.

(02:27):
They weren't going to just show up on the second
and then leave on the sixth. That I think we
knew based on how long of a trip it was
that there. They would be there multiple days before the
first game, and you know, they'll stick around. Maybe they'll
probably leave the day after the second game, but I mean,
it's gonna be a multiple day thing. It's not gonna
be just quick get in and out. So the fact
that they'll be there for training camp practices, this is

(02:50):
quite a change from them being in Nashville last year.

Speaker 4 (02:53):
What we were there for. It was fun, no doubt.

Speaker 7 (02:55):
Ye.

Speaker 2 (02:55):
Look, and I understand the logistics behind it and everything,
But look, first and foremost, they're going to be the
first NBA team to ever play some sort of game
on their shores, and they take that for a big thing.
You and I have been in Vegas the last two
years together. I know you were there a lot longer
before I got and was a part of the broadcast

(03:16):
with Aaron Summers and yourself and calling the Summer League games.
But remember there was a Pelican's assistant coach who was
an Australian basketball head coach and on the staff over
there who was kind of, you know, mirroring and shadowing
the NBA staff. And I had him on my talk
show and he talked about it, and it was so
interesting and intriguing to hear that, and he went through

(03:38):
a list of players that are you know, up and
coming and things that nature. So the Pels have had
a history with that league in that country, so we
weren't surprised, although it was shocking to us, we didn't know.

Speaker 4 (03:49):
I mean it's not like we knew. We just you know,
waited to tell everybody we didn't know.

Speaker 2 (03:55):
So to kind of give you an idea of really
how historic this is. Here's Executive vice president of Basketball
Operations David Griffin Jim who actually went to mail Board
and was there for the press conference. Here's what he
had to say.

Speaker 6 (04:16):
Thank you very much.

Speaker 8 (04:18):
Truly honored to be here today, to get to speak
on behalf of Missus Gaale Benson, our owner and Governor,
Dennis lausch Our CEO, and their teams. This is a
monumental moment for us as an organization. The New Orleans
Pelicans take great pride in being the first NBA team
to come to Melbourne.

Speaker 6 (04:36):
We will, as Larry mentioned, absolutely not be the last.

Speaker 8 (04:40):
This is a very rich sporting culture and New Orleans
is a very rich and diverse and beautiful culture as well.
I think the blending of those two things will be
a perfect match. We couldn't be more excited for this opportunity.

Speaker 6 (04:58):
I think one of them.

Speaker 8 (05:00):
The most important things for me about all of this
is that, starting in nineteen ninety six, sort of my
international exposure to basketball was at.

Speaker 6 (05:08):
The Atlanta Olympics and.

Speaker 8 (05:10):
I got to see Andrew Gays and Shane Heel firsthand.

Speaker 6 (05:16):
They put on an incredible show.

Speaker 8 (05:18):
I also got to see Michelle Tims, Michelle Brogan, Griffith,
Rachel Sporn win a bronze medal for Australia. And what
Timsey represented that spirit of never say die, that unflinching courage,
and that belief that victory is always around the corner
was something that I really held onto as a young

(05:39):
person in the NBA and later as I continued my career,
having exposure to Luke Longley as a player that was
important to us. Matthew Delavadova in Cleveland was one. Honestly,
I saw him yesterday at practice with the United Delhi
is as responsible for this as any player could, because

(06:00):
because what I watched him do in our finals versus
Golden State when he had to be hospitalized to take
him off of Steph Curry, was one of the most
powerful things I've ever seen in sport, and his grit
and his determination was something that fueled us as a
team and it's fueled me ever since in my career.

(06:20):
So I'd like to thank Matthew in large measure for
this as well. What he represented to us is what
I would like our teams to represent. It's what I
would like the New Orleans Pelicans to represent.

Speaker 6 (06:31):
In many ways.

Speaker 8 (06:33):
The selflessness and the team first attitude that both these
teams in the NBL finals represent are really important to us,
and we're trying to.

Speaker 6 (06:41):
Be tied to those roots.

Speaker 9 (06:43):
The NBL is an absolutely amazing product.

Speaker 8 (06:46):
Larry is being generous with the timeline that he gave
us twelve years.

Speaker 6 (06:50):
We're older than that.

Speaker 9 (06:51):
I think it was probably seventeen years ago.

Speaker 6 (06:55):
This dream sort of was hashed.

Speaker 8 (06:56):
But in terms of it being the Pelicans, Chris Orr
from Pacific Specific, let me try that again. Pacific Sports
Management was very instrumental. He brought a deal to us
in New Orleans with Trip, a deal one of our partners,
and Quantus, a great partner of theirs that really sort
of hatched this three years ago that we would be
able to.

Speaker 6 (07:16):
Do this in a way that made sense. So I'm
super grateful to.

Speaker 8 (07:19):
The NBA and raj Adam Silver and Mark Tatum for
helping to bring this to life, to really giving us
the opportunity to land the plane on something that we
believe is going to be truly special.

Speaker 9 (07:31):
To the Visit Victoria partners that we have.

Speaker 8 (07:33):
We're very, very grateful for all you're doing to bring
this together. And as I said, this isn't a threat,
but I think you're going to see more of us,
and I truly look forward to being the first to
open this up. The one thing that we will do
that will be unprecedented I believe is we're going to
do a good portion, maybe not all of but we're
gonna try to be here prior to the games for

(07:54):
a good portion of our training camp.

Speaker 6 (07:55):
Our full roster will be attendance.

Speaker 8 (07:58):
These games will be really meaningful to us with everybody
on our roster, and I know the NBL is going
to stock those two teams as well as they came
to create a very competitive environment. So thank you very much,
and again on behalf of Missus Benson, We're truly honored
to be the first here today.

Speaker 2 (08:17):
So clearly you can hear him, you know, say, look,
it's an honor to represent Missus Benson, this organization and
the NBA to do that. And I thought it was interesting,
is we're not going to be the last team that
the NBA is going to go and do that. So
they have made a push to play games and make
this more global, even though I think the NBA is
one of the most global sports out there. But I

(08:37):
think Josh was talking about what Spain did. Guys went
or the Pels went a couple of years.

Speaker 4 (08:41):
Yeah, they went in they went.

Speaker 5 (08:43):
To Berlin and Barcelona, and I believe it was two
thousand and eight or two, and I think it was
two thousand and eight. I wasn't on that trip, Josh was,
but yeah, they played a game in Berlin and Barcelona,
so that was that trip. And then in twenty sixteen
or seventeen they went to China.

Speaker 4 (09:00):
I was on that one.

Speaker 5 (09:01):
They played two games against the Houston Rockets, so that
was quite an experience too. I think that was a
twelve hour difference from New Orleans in time zone. So
I mean, this isn't the first time that they've done
this where they've spent part of preseason overseas, but it's definitely,
like you said, the first time that anyone from anyone's
gone an the NBA team's gone to Australia. There are

(09:22):
Australian teams from the NBL, which is their version of
the professional league there, that have played preseason games in
the United States against NBA teams, so that has been
pretty common, and it seems like that's increased quite a
bit the last few years. I believe in general, a
lot of those teams have played on the West Coast.
They've played, you know, games against Portland and teams like that,

(09:44):
although I think some of them have played in Philadelphia
as well. I guess a lot of it just depends
on whatever unique connections you have to their teams and
their league. But that's happened a lot where the NBL
teams have come here. But yeah, I mean it's cool
for the Pelicans to be the first team to do this.
They were they talked about how they've been in they
had been in negotiations for this even when before when

(10:07):
before Dyson Daniels was traded, and so they kind of
joked about that a little bit during the press conference
as well. But they definitely want to The Australian officials
want this to become an annual thing where there's an
NBA team over there, and I did hear a couple
of their executives mentioned in the same press conference they'll

(10:27):
probably lean towards teams that have an Australian player, like
Chicago has Josh Giddy, right, and some of the other
teams that have players. There's several players like Patty Mills
that have been in the NBA for a long time
that are kind of near the end of their career,
but they also have a bunch of guys. Josh Green
from Charlotte is another one who's from Australia. So I mean, yeah,
this says that the chance to become something that's relatively

(10:48):
more common. But it's it's it'll be nice for the
Pelicans to be the first team. And David Griffin also
mentioned that they feel a little pressure to have this
go really well so that it can become, you know,
the first.

Speaker 4 (10:59):
Edition of many in the future.

Speaker 2 (11:00):
Yeah, no doubt Again, like I said, it's why we're
taking a little time here to open up today's podcast,
because I do think that.

Speaker 4 (11:06):
Is very big news.

Speaker 2 (11:07):
It's not I know, we views, you know, preseason is
a certain way, but look we're gonna get into with
Holly Cosell here, as Ion Williamson said, it's so key
to have this team up and off and running at
the start of next season and starting next season to
get this team ready to start the way they want
to and not have a season like this. It's gonna

(11:27):
be overseas in a historical event. So I want to
kind of give it is just do and hear from
the guy himself, mister David Griffin. As for last night,
that four game losing streak, Bye bye seventeen threes, Jim,
I can offer one.

Speaker 3 (11:42):
In throw it out to Hawkins in the corner for three.

Speaker 10 (11:44):
Good, make him right, Hawk, Yes, make him right, I
mean the quick hawk release Jalen Wells underneath pick pocket
Kelly Olenox up the floor, Bruce Brown drives in, dump
it off, bounce past the reeves, right corner three and
the heat check for the rookie. Hey, yeah, z right

(12:04):
elbow down to Albarado, hook past Carlo left corner three.

Speaker 3 (12:10):
Carlow's corner is open.

Speaker 11 (12:12):
Again in the skc get it to Mesi up the
form of color CJ bounced feet to Jose fingers of
scenes left corner three.

Speaker 3 (12:21):
Good in front of the clipper bend.

Speaker 10 (12:22):
He can stand it there a couple of seconds before
seas A located him, and good thing he did before
the defense got there.

Speaker 3 (12:28):
Deep straightaway three from met Tree. Good. Just gotta make
him right.

Speaker 10 (12:34):
He's willing to give it up and pluff Bogdanovit's bear
hugged him on that one, so he had to give
him up.

Speaker 11 (12:39):
Three ball Bogdanovich, No weak side rebound, Williamson, there's a stop.
Can you convert? Fifty seconds left in the third ze
to Murphy. Another deep straightaway three.

Speaker 12 (12:50):
From Tena bra heat sick and He's pointing at the logo,
like right there, that's where I shot it, a.

Speaker 3 (12:56):
Little deeper than met Tree. Six straight from Murphy.

Speaker 11 (13:00):
Who is hounding Harden. Harden maintaining the dribble, crosses over
three times, gets to the rim.

Speaker 3 (13:06):
Faker road block by back of itch. You got numbers
back the other way. CJ to Z back to CJ
straightaway three boom being go Kristen James McCollum. That's three
straight three for the pills.

Speaker 2 (13:23):
There's two storylines last night, the threes. We'll start there
Jim and they will get to you know who with
the triple double. But what about the the from distance man.
Yesterday the team played well.

Speaker 4 (13:33):
Yeah, it was the.

Speaker 5 (13:34):
First time this season that they shot over fifty percent
from three point range, so highest three point percentage of
the season. Also had the highest field goal percentage of
the season. It's funny, this is a very random stat
in fact, but their two best three point shooting percentage
games of the season were both the home games against
the Clippers. So not sure what it is about LA
that brings out the hot three point shooting. Another random

(13:57):
thing too, of the seven the seven times the season
that they've shot over forty five percent from three the Pelicans.
That was the only time they won, So I don't
I don't know what does that mean they need to
shoot threes worse. That's a very strange development as well.
But yeah, that was it was fun. That was a
lot of That was a really good time last night.
I mean, that was a very entertaining game. They score
one hundred and twenty seven points. It was We heard

(14:21):
the clip of Trey Murphy pointing at the logo. I
think he was pointing in James Harden's direction as well
when he when he did that. I'm not sure if
James Harden was talking trash earlier or if James Harden
pointed at the logo himself when he made a three.
But yeah, that was that was very uh there. If
they're all going to be like that the rest of
the way, this will be a last fun last month.

Speaker 2 (14:40):
Well, all of the highlights I just played you were
before the third quarter?

Speaker 4 (14:45):
Oh really in the first half.

Speaker 2 (14:47):
Okay, to your point, the third quarter comes.

Speaker 11 (14:50):
Remember the good old days when they were one for
fourteen Zion an impossible pass shot by me ce No
can't make a layup and it's taken by Zubots, they'll
tie it up with.

Speaker 3 (15:01):
A three, and it's this frustration setting in on the pills.
Harden steps back for the tie.

Speaker 11 (15:06):
Yep, seventy five, seventy five, Tom out, Willie Green five
thirty three left and Harden and they're too hot right now.
Anything they put up is going in. Harden sizing up Macovich.
There's the old step back and rinse eighty three eighty two.

Speaker 2 (15:23):
Okay, so there you go, there went, there went the
twenty point lead. Clippers go and then Jim, what happened?

Speaker 4 (15:30):
Plican's got hot from three again?

Speaker 5 (15:32):
And then Zion's decided, I'm going to take over the
game with ten to five and five in the fourth
quarter alone.

Speaker 11 (15:38):
Get it to z chest it to them back court, now,
front court with three, Well, he will go down the lane,
ask and ye shall receive a flush.

Speaker 3 (15:49):
Now Jones at the buzzer for three.

Speaker 11 (15:52):
No, Williamson into the front court, hard drive on Kawhi,
dump it down to Carlow.

Speaker 3 (15:58):
And the tear drop is good. It's said number nine.

Speaker 11 (16:00):
For z' z sizing up Coffee Chests at the jose
for the double double.

Speaker 10 (16:06):
Around, around, around it down, make him right, make him right,
host and he did rebound.

Speaker 3 (16:13):
Z Can he say what he does to a column? Left?
Angel three? He made him right a down, Zion Williams.

Speaker 10 (16:20):
The fifth is your life, maman, Timeout Clippers, that is
prover fifth and.

Speaker 11 (16:26):
That's the huffle bucket hard and they left him alone
for three short see got the rate made a triple double,
triple double, pushes.

Speaker 3 (16:34):
It up the floor, Jose, what drible?

Speaker 12 (16:36):
Light it?

Speaker 8 (16:37):
God?

Speaker 3 (16:38):
And that might do it?

Speaker 7 (16:40):
And it did.

Speaker 2 (16:41):
Jim an amazing game one twenty seven because, as we said,
another bad third quarter thirty nine, but the Pels had
thirty seventy finished strong in that third. It wasn't a
thirty two point fifteen third, which was a big difference.
But it's something we want to talk to Ali about.

Speaker 6 (16:58):
Two.

Speaker 2 (17:00):
They just seem like Zion said, leap this. Yeah, we're
not losing this game. And here you go and gim
are we watching before our eyes? A team learning to
play through him and around him, and more importantly, him
understanding how this team can play through him and around him.

Speaker 4 (17:19):
I think so.

Speaker 5 (17:20):
I mean, what he did in the fourth quarter was
definitely one of the best quarters I think of his career.
The fact that you know, I mentioned he had ten points,
five rebounds, and five assists in that period. He also
had a career high and assists last night, So we're
seeing him get these triple doubles that he's had two
over the last two weeks. But I mean, I think
the biggest key to those triple doubles is obviously he
can get ten points. You know, in his sleep, he

(17:42):
can get ten rebounds on a lot of nights. But
now his assist totals are coming up. That's the part
where you know it's tough for him to get a
triple double because it's you know, he's not getting seven
eight assists that often, but now all of a sudden,
he's getting nine, ten, eleven, twelve on a more regular basis.
So I think a lot of that is just his
his the game kind of slowing down, his command of

(18:03):
the offense, his ability to know, I can get to
the basket whenever I want, but when there's two or
three guys coming at me, I can also see the
floor and find guys for open shots. And obviously it
helps a ton when his teammates are making them at
a high rate the way that they did last night,
where he had multiple guys that had really good nights
from three point range.

Speaker 3 (18:21):
No doubt.

Speaker 2 (18:22):
I think one of the things that's interesting is some
of the thoughts after the game here as well.

Speaker 13 (18:26):
Here was ze I didn't even realize I had after
the game, I was just so locked in because I
feel like my first hat was a bit rough, but
second half, you know, my teammates and coaches were just
you know, they ran in my ear and it was
just it's time to get to it.

Speaker 4 (18:42):
Head coach Willie Green, you know.

Speaker 14 (18:44):
It's it's always fascinating to watch him. You know, he
I told him in the huddle that he's got a
unique way of figuring out the game as he progresses,
and he figured out how they were calling the game,
and he started to attack a bit quicker, got off
the ball, hit his teammates, and that freedom up to

(19:05):
at times.

Speaker 6 (19:06):
But he's he's incredible to watch.

Speaker 2 (19:09):
And something Jimy wants you to comment on here from
CEE Jim McCollums, I think.

Speaker 15 (19:13):
He's in a great space, you know, mentally and physically obviously,
and then from a standpoint of how he's impacting the game,
and you know, multitude of ways obviously you seem to
chase down block defensively, you've seen a couple of blocks, rebounds,
pushing Timbo, the amount of attention he commands, you know,
on the offensive end, you know, they're always loading up.
I think I've seen the stat since two thousand and

(19:33):
whenever he came into the league. He's by far the
most double team you know player in the league. You know,
they shift the defenses and really build the defenses around
trying to contain him each night. And some of the teams,
some teams are better than others that you know, being physical,
and the Clippers are one of the you know, more
physical teams in the league. And he still was able
to get a triple double and leave his imprint on

(19:54):
the game tonight.

Speaker 2 (19:55):
Talk about fit so much, and I don't know, maybe
it's me, I'm trying to feel this way, but doesn't
it feel like CJ. McCollum is really comfortable with Zion
running the point and dishing and assistant catching and shooting
and being the professional shooter he is. I don't know.

Speaker 5 (20:12):
I mean, I think anyone that has watched him play
Zion play this season understands too that if you're a
shooter and you're out there with how much attention that
he's drawing from other teams and how much defenses are
saying we have to throw everything at him to keep
him from getting to the basket and keep him from scoring.
If you're a shooter like CJ or Trey Murphy, you say,
this is exactly what I want. I want to be

(20:33):
able to be wide open on a lot more frequent
basis because of all the bodies that they're throwing at Zion.
So I mean, yeah, it's been it's been really impressive.

Speaker 7 (20:43):
You know.

Speaker 5 (20:44):
Willie Green mentioned too that this is the best shape
condition that Zion has been in. I think that's allowing
him to to have these stretches where he's just relentless
with his aggressiveness and on the defensive end as well.
So he's kind of putting it all together right now.

Speaker 4 (20:59):
I feel like no doubt.

Speaker 2 (21:00):
Ali Cosell, NBA reporter and Australian native, he's going to
tell us a little bit about his homeland and why
he's excited the Pells are heading there. Well do that. Plus,
Jim's got a handful of topics for you coming up
and on Wednesday thing. But here's first, mister Alikosel. All right,
Tom now to bring in and welcome in a very
special guest, good friend of mine, Jim. He's just I

(21:21):
said this to Jim yesterday, mister alikosel NBA reporter. I
don't ever think you look like in the bad mood,
you know, just as you always just so so positive,
en upbeat your tone of voice. You could be completely
berating us, but it really comes across like in a
really good manner. You do a really good job with that.

Speaker 8 (21:39):
Ali.

Speaker 7 (21:41):
Thanks, Gus.

Speaker 12 (21:41):
You know what, I probably can attribute that to an
Austrange centis And Buddy, we're so laid back there.

Speaker 4 (21:48):
You go, look at you.

Speaker 2 (21:49):
He even teases us into why.

Speaker 4 (21:51):
He's joining us today.

Speaker 2 (21:53):
You guys might have heard the Pelicans are going down
Under in October. My son thinks I'm going to go
hang out with kangaroos and I don't even know if
we're going, But Jim, you versus a kangaroo versus a
kowala would be fantastic.

Speaker 4 (22:03):
If we do get to go.

Speaker 2 (22:05):
H October third and fifth, the Pels will be playing
a pair of NBL teams. Let's just start with their Alliwood.

Speaker 4 (22:11):
What do you mean you're Australian citizen?

Speaker 3 (22:13):
What?

Speaker 12 (22:15):
Yeah, so believe it or not, I was not born
in America, even though I guess I don't have any
kind of Australian accent anymore.

Speaker 7 (22:21):
But if you catch me on the saying the right.

Speaker 12 (22:23):
Word, like, for instance, a lot of people say aluminum,
I say aluminium. I mean there's certain things like I said,
if you picked up on you'll catch that Australian accent.
But I only lived there.

Speaker 7 (22:34):
I was born there and I lived in Sydney. I
lived there till I was six years old. Then we
moved over to America. My father's job. He's so odds
of getting a good job in that field. We're a
lot better than.

Speaker 12 (22:47):
The United States right right around nineteen eighty, so came
over here. I've been here ever since, but I have
visited on multiple occasions.

Speaker 7 (22:55):
Considering most of my family still lives in Australia.

Speaker 4 (22:58):
That's incredible. Yeah, I did not realize that either.

Speaker 7 (23:02):
You know.

Speaker 5 (23:03):
One of the things I was wondering about, obviously with
this tie in is connection with the Pelicans about to
play preseason games in Australia, and your background there and
your connection to the Pelicans as well. How how would
you describe from your experience the level of excitement that
there is or interest in the in the NBA in Australia.
I mean, for for me, the way that it's mostly

(23:25):
been conveyed is through social media. But but how how
would you describe that as far as just the level
of popularity that the NBA has there.

Speaker 12 (23:35):
Yeah, so I would call I would basically compare it
to maybe like a roller coaster. When I was a
kid growing up and I visited all the time in
the eighties and nineties every year every two years.

Speaker 7 (23:47):
NBA popularity was really high.

Speaker 12 (23:50):
That's because that's when the NBA was kind of in
its heyday, that's the Australian Basketball League. So you had
guys like Andrew Gays Andrew Boga coming up and making
basketball really popular because it was a good brand.

Speaker 7 (24:02):
At basketball, right.

Speaker 12 (24:02):
These guys could play and they had some good showings
in the Olympics, and like I said, the popularity it
was high. A lot of attendance with the local game,
and of course you always look at the best league,
which was of course the NBA at the time and
always has been, I guess, and you had your favorites, right.
So from talking just to my uncles people that my family,

(24:23):
knew friends. Often basketball will come up, right, everybody knows
the string football, you know, AFL, there's rugby, cricket, Okay,
what basketball there for a bit was right up there
with some of those other sports for a time, but
then it kind of went away, you know, just like
in any sport that's kind of trying to it's a
new sports, trying to hang on create some popularity, and

(24:45):
you have some downturns, then it's going.

Speaker 7 (24:47):
To struggle, right, so they've lost some sponsorships.

Speaker 12 (24:49):
NBA NBL kind of went really downhill in the late
nineties and especially in the early two thousands, and I
thought it was honestly the league was going to go
wiped out. For instance, the team I followed to Sydney games.
They even lost the team there for a couple of years,
only about two.

Speaker 7 (25:04):
Thousand and eight or nine. But then it all got revived, to.

Speaker 12 (25:08):
Say about twenty thirteen, fourteen fifteen, and they had to
do a lot with just again finding sponsors, right, they
got a good director, somebody really knew how to revived
in the league and ever since then it's really taken off.
So again, just talking to family, it's popular. People are
attending games. I know just recently was a year or
two ago over a million people attended and yel game,

(25:30):
you hadn't seen numbers like that since, like I said,
the mid to late eighty.

Speaker 5 (25:35):
What was your reaction to hearing about the Pelicans that
they're going to be going to Australia. I mean, I
had no idea. It came out of nowhere to me.
What was your initial is it?

Speaker 7 (25:45):
Think?

Speaker 5 (25:46):
You think you might be able to find your way
back over there to see some some relatives.

Speaker 7 (25:51):
Oh, you better believe.

Speaker 12 (25:52):
Over the last like twenty four thirty six hours, once
I found out the news before it was actually publicized,
I started ready talking to uh, you know, the wife
and everybody else that's over there in Australia, saying, you
guys might come and I might come and see you soon.

Speaker 7 (26:06):
I haven't been there a long time.

Speaker 12 (26:07):
Now I've got a real reason, because you guys are
a real reason, right, Family that doesn't count.

Speaker 4 (26:12):
The Pelicans are more important than family.

Speaker 1 (26:15):
Yeah.

Speaker 12 (26:15):
But look the NBL, well, it's it's a very successful.

Speaker 7 (26:19):
You know league.

Speaker 12 (26:20):
You never thought an NBA team would come over there.
It's a long trip. It's never been done before, like
this first time an NBA game's going over there, and
typically what usually these smaller leagues, their teams come.

Speaker 7 (26:30):
To us, right to America like NBA teams have come.
So I always thought that that was probably gonna be
the status quo for at least a little bit longer.
But yeah, I was ecstatic. Look, there's no doubt about it.

Speaker 12 (26:40):
And you've got to think the reason, one of maybe
the reason Pelicans were selected was you know, the collect connections,
right Trajan Langdon David Griffin over the last several years
have established over there. Of course, when you've got a
popular face like Zion Williamson, you're gonna want a team
like that to come over to Australia. So I think
a lot of things work in a favor for the Pelicans,

(27:01):
I think getting selected.

Speaker 7 (27:02):
So, like I said, that's all good for us.

Speaker 5 (27:05):
You you know, this is you know, six seven months
down the road yet. So I mean, I think for
a lot of us, we have no idea in terms
of the planning and that kind of thing yet, and
that'll be something probably that gets more addressed in the
summer in the off season. But I mean, what what
is your advice for you know, we heard it's a
sixteen hour time difference. What are you what's your advice
Obviously you've made that trip a bunch of times when

(27:26):
you come back to the US, or how do you adjust?
Because I would think that might have been I don't
know if stumbling block is the right word, but that
maybe have been a part of the hesitation to have
teams travel there in the past. I think it's definitely
sounds like it's going to happen more often more in
the future. But what's your advice for that? Because they're
going to have probably a couple of weeks before they

(27:48):
have to start the regular season when they come back
from Australia.

Speaker 12 (27:51):
Yeah, I will say that you're probably going to be
so tired on the way back for some reason.

Speaker 7 (27:56):
When you headed over there, the lag isn't as.

Speaker 12 (27:58):
Bad, right, the travel and you sleep on the plane
a little bit easier, just because it's kind of synonymous
with the body clock.

Speaker 7 (28:06):
Right.

Speaker 12 (28:06):
Usually the plane leaves California somewhere say about nine ten pm, right,
so you're kind of, like I said, perfect synchronization with
when you're gonna be sleeping, So you sleep for half
the flight over there. But coming back, Yeah, it's just
a mess. Honestly, Yeah, every time.

Speaker 14 (28:22):
Even when I was a.

Speaker 12 (28:23):
Little kid, I remember, and you know, kids have plenty
of energy, but come back, you're just wiped out for
like twelve hours, maybe even up to twenty four I
remember sleeping for eight to ten hours, didn't matter if it.

Speaker 7 (28:34):
Was the middle of the day.

Speaker 12 (28:35):
So hopefully the Puckers won't have any kind of practice
schedule for a few days.

Speaker 7 (28:39):
Just at the players. Really, there's no way to get
around it. You're just gonna have to take some time
off and just sleep it off.

Speaker 2 (28:45):
It's interesting you bring that up, because again, like Jim said,
we're we're all I mean, they kept.

Speaker 6 (28:49):
This really under wrest. You know.

Speaker 2 (28:52):
I'm looking at him like, oh, Australia, and it starts
kind of occurring to me and like, oh, we're gonna
be a part of it or not we you know.
So we're just sitting there eating at lunch ailing kind
of going over logistics. Sixteen hours difference. As Jim said,
seven pm, theres three am here, so you know, how
would you broadcast it?

Speaker 7 (29:08):
How would you do that?

Speaker 2 (29:09):
And then of course Josh Richardson is in charge of
kind of making sure the broadcast go well. He immediately
starts going. Okay, so training camp and practices and schedules,
and so it's interesting that you just said that because
when I look at the dates, the third and the fifth,
isn't that the beginning of preseason?

Speaker 7 (29:27):
Right?

Speaker 2 (29:28):
So I guess to your point, you get there, you
have some camp, you practice those, or you have those
two games, you're probably not looking at having another preseason
game till like Thursday or Friday when you come back.

Speaker 12 (29:39):
Huh yeah, I mean I was talking exactly about this
topic with Jim yesterday. And with the NBA preseason schedule
now really reduced, right, usually most teams will play now
four games. Pulcans were supposed to play four last year.

Speaker 7 (29:54):
I think it fits perfectly right. You get this out
of the way.

Speaker 12 (29:57):
Of course, you just mentioned training camp seems like it's
it's going to have to be held in Australia. It
just makes all the sense in the world. And then
when you get back, you might have time for one
or two games. I'm guessing it'll probably too and that'll
be it. But you'll probably have what I'm thinking you'll
have like post to a week off when you get back.
Let's say like five ways you also have some days
off before the start of the regular season.

Speaker 7 (30:18):
But it all fits right, It all works if you
look at the calendar.

Speaker 5 (30:21):
Yeah, I'm writing about this as well in one of
the things that I'm doing that probably will post today.
But David Griffin said during the press conference that they
held actually in Australia where he was, that they're going
to the way he described it was that they're going
to have most, but not all, of training camp in Australia.

(30:42):
So I would think that they're going to have I
think you have to have media day in your own city.
You can't just have any random place because obviously your
local media members are in the same city of where
you play. So I would think that that's how they're
going to do it. They'll have media Day here and
then DBD. You know how long they'll be in Australia,
but like you said, they'll probably have they'll have a
good chunk of time. I think when they come back

(31:03):
before maybe they have to play a preseason game or
two and then they'll wrap up preseason that way. So
you know, one thing I want to ask you too
before we turn our attention to the Pelicans right now
with you, Ali is One of the things that was
mentioned in the press conference that multiple people said, I'm
sure that this made an impression on a lot of people,

(31:24):
was that Australia is actually second in the world in
NBA League Pass subscribers or viewership. So, I mean, Australia
is actually only the fifty fourth largest country in the
world if you look it up based on population, but
it's second in League past obviously America the United States
is number one in that.

Speaker 4 (31:41):
But have you seen you know.

Speaker 5 (31:45):
Whether it's the people that you know, the connections that
you have, your family, have you seen more and more
in recent years of fans coming to NBA arenas. I
feel like once in a while we see the signs
that say I traveled nine thousand miles to see you know,
Josh Getty play in person. Is that something that you've
noticed too, that there's been just more of those fans

(32:05):
coming here.

Speaker 7 (32:07):
Oh yeah, and we've even met some over the last
few years in person, right. I mean, I don't know
if you met him, Jim when he was here, but
Lyle Swiftenbank did meet him.

Speaker 4 (32:15):
But yeah, I'm I'm well aware of who he is.

Speaker 7 (32:18):
Yeah.

Speaker 12 (32:20):
Yeah, he's made now two trips over here, and you know,
praise to him because he's not just coming from Sydney Melbourne,
he's coming from Perth, so it's even like another add
another three hours or stood here trip.

Speaker 7 (32:32):
But yeah, no, I've ever since I started.

Speaker 12 (32:34):
Covering the Pelicans, I always knew about Australia's popular fandom,
just even in the Pelicans alone, simply because when when
you run aside like I did sp Nation, you can
see where your contributors are, where your people that like
right pas, where it's coming from.

Speaker 7 (32:51):
And I always found it interesting.

Speaker 12 (32:53):
Australia seemed always be in the top three or four,
right in terms of of course America was number.

Speaker 7 (32:59):
One, and then usually the Philippines was right there, two
or three. Australia.

Speaker 12 (33:03):
Yeah right, So yeah, it's twenty six million, that's all
that exists in Australia in terms of population. Really tiny
when you consider land space. But yeah, despite all the
sports that they have, basketball they've always made room for.
But again, like I said, over the last ten years
or so, it's really exploded again. So that's why I
think we're seeing fans now want to come over and

(33:23):
actually see it for themselves. And you know this, Jim
today it seems like it's easier right to travel and
say it was twenty years ago or something like that. Sure,
especially just for like basketball games, right, stuff like that
people just didn't do, at least I didn't know anybody
doing that twenty thirty years ago.

Speaker 4 (33:37):
Yeah, yeah, that's interesting.

Speaker 5 (33:39):
I mean, like you said, Australia is up there twenty
six twenty seven million, it's actually California and Texas both
have larger populations just with those states. So just to
kind of give a little bit of a frame of reference,
how much of a different difference it is, Mexico I
think is like five times bigger than Australia. There's another
comparison point across the world.

Speaker 4 (34:01):
But yeah, it has.

Speaker 5 (34:03):
Been something that I've noticed too on social media. I've
noticed on Twitter X that there's been various people that
constantly interact with me who are Pelicans fans in Australia. So,
I mean, I'm sure they have fans of every team,
but I always thought that was cool that there's people
over there that are Pelicans fans and not just people.

(34:24):
It definitely surged while Dyson Daniels was here, but there's
also been people that I've interacted with that were there
way before Dyson Daniels and remain you know Pelicans fans now,
so I appreciate that part of it as well. In
terms of what we've been seeing on the court lately
with the Pelicans, I wanted to start with Zion Williamson.

Speaker 4 (34:43):
I mean, what's your impression of the way he's played
right now?

Speaker 5 (34:46):
And do you think that this is the best version
of Zion Williams and that we've seen in the six
seasons that he's been here.

Speaker 12 (34:53):
Yeah, I think probably everybody would agree with this sentiment
that it is the best, right, even though he's not
playing a full lot in a miss playing back to backs,
it's his impact per minute. It's the greatest we've ever
seen on both sides of the ball. More of course
been asked of him, especially since the team lost to
Jeantey Murray. You need a de facto point guard. And
let's face the Zion has always kind of shown the

(35:14):
playmaking ability really starting with the second year, and it
just really has exploded.

Speaker 7 (35:19):
It's always been there and now we're seeing.

Speaker 12 (35:20):
In the form of two triple doubles in the last
couple of weeks, had a career high twelve assists yesterday.
So the playmaking, he understands it. He'll say that he
can improve. He still has problems with turnovers, but again
that's nitpicking at this point when you consider.

Speaker 7 (35:34):
Right, it's been a very disjointed six year career for him.
So it's hard.

Speaker 12 (35:38):
You've got to think developing against the world's best when
you're just trying to get yourself acclimated your body and condition,
and you're being faced to carry a team whatever have you.
So I think he's done a great job, but really
it's a defensive end seeing him compete on almost every
play being able to guard really one through five.

Speaker 7 (35:56):
I mean, people like to toss that term around a lot, but.

Speaker 12 (35:58):
I think Zion truly is one of the few people
that can actually do that right. He's got the strength
and to handle a lot of centers at least for
a possession or two. And he's got the quickness and
I feel like the instincts, the hands, you name it,
to stay with a lot of point guards and we're
seeing it right, ridiculous block and steel numbers. He's got
what the second longest streak current streak going. I want

(36:18):
to say it's what forty seven to forty eight games now, yeah,
at least one block or one steel.

Speaker 7 (36:22):
So yeah, Jim, he's doing it all.

Speaker 12 (36:24):
And you know what you want to see is just
for him to continue finish the season healthy so you
can actually work on this game over the summer instead
of you know, concentrating on rehab or something like that.

Speaker 5 (36:34):
Yeah, you know, in the I guess lengthy amount of
time now that both of us have been here following
the team, there haven't been that many seasons where you know,
in late February early March they're out of the race
and you know for sure that the season is going
to end on a specific day because there's not enough
time to make up the ground that they have. But

(36:54):
I mean, I thought last night was really a lot
of fun. And when you think about a team that
is out of contention, a lot of times it's like,
you know, you're counting down the games and you're not
expecting things to be that entertaining. But I thought, if
we can get catch some nights like that, I think
this will be a lot more enjoyable, you know, final
few weeks of the season than it otherwise would be.

(37:15):
But what are some of the things that you're kind
of focusing on and paying attention closest attention to over
the last sixteen games of the season, whether it's you know,
the development of some of the younger players, you know,
how they're going to go into the offseason. What do
you think are some of the things that you want
to see over these last few weeks.

Speaker 7 (37:34):
Yeah, there's a lot. I mean you just kind of
mentioned that, Jim. In previous seasons, when it's been a
rough season, you usually found it very easy just.

Speaker 12 (37:41):
To tune out, right, whether it's because of the lack
of star power, just a lack of good players, lack
of development, because you don't really have your young guys right.

Speaker 7 (37:51):
Like rookies and such that you have something look forward to.

Speaker 12 (37:53):
And I think you can pretty much check the box
on everything there that the Pelicans. They do have that,
and so of course we raid talked about Zion, but
you've got Trey who looks like he's a developing future
All Star in the league.

Speaker 7 (38:05):
You've got CJ. McCollum, who's steady.

Speaker 12 (38:06):
Who always is providing some kind of veteran leadership that's
you know, carrying over to the young guys. And of
course the young guys, I mean Eve miss He's been
kind of there all year, on and off, really good
games here and there. So we've talked about him a
lot from one Rookie of the Year was it back
in December or excuse me, of the month in December.

(38:27):
But now we're seeing Antonio Reeves, Carlo Matovich, he's probably
standing out the most. You've got to think a lot
of these players are playing for roster spots, not roster spots,
but play, you know it, maybe spots in a rotation
for next season, somebody like Carlow Right, because that's going
to determine, you know, how they well they finish is
probably how much of front office thinks about what where

(38:49):
do we need to like make some additions.

Speaker 7 (38:51):
Who can we rely on, who can't we rely on?
So it's very important for these players.

Speaker 12 (38:55):
And now you're seeing like, for instance, Carlo, I think
he's really thrown his hat in the ring on maybe
deserving minutes. I swear if you asked me that a
month ago, I would have said, maybe the Pelicans need
to shore up the center position a little bit more,
because I don't know if.

Speaker 7 (39:06):
You can till I say on Carlow mac Rich.

Speaker 12 (39:09):
So yeah, Jim, there's still a lot going on with
this team, and I guess I should have mentioned also
Jordan Hawkins, Right, he's the guy who has struggled with
his back and pretty much.

Speaker 7 (39:19):
The whole season.

Speaker 12 (39:20):
Had a really good first opening weeks, but then the
back injuries struck me. He hasn't really looked the same
player until just recently. Thought he hit a couple of
really big threes in the last night's game where it
kind of helps stem the clip or tithe and got
the Pelicans back rolling again. So you want to see Hawk,
who's you know, prolific shooter when he's right, see him
get back to doing that on a more consistent basis.

Speaker 7 (39:40):
So yeah, there's so.

Speaker 12 (39:41):
Many things Jim I could talk about with this Pelicans team.
Like I said, unlike in previous years where.

Speaker 7 (39:46):
You're kind of just maybe focus on one player and
that's about it.

Speaker 12 (39:49):
Now there's a lot, there's a slew of things here
with this team for the last one sixteen games to
watch for.

Speaker 2 (39:53):
I think one of the things oli that stands out
to me that I've been paying attention to more than
anything is a couple of weeks ago, a couple of
games ago, Zion Williamson mentioned the importance of something you
and I have talked about back on the days of
the talk show Jim and I talk about in the
podcast identity, Who are you?

Speaker 4 (40:11):
What do you want to be?

Speaker 7 (40:12):
What?

Speaker 2 (40:13):
When the Pells pull up on you know, the roster,
another team's podcast or reporter say, the Pells are in town.
What are they going to talk about? What are they expecting?
What's your calling card? Where are you going to be
known for? I love the fact that Zion Williamson Ali
was the one that said that a couple of weeks ago,
that that's what the next several games of the season,

(40:36):
the remainder of the season was that, and you know
you famously clapped his hands and said, we're off and
running into next year. How important is it to you?
Because to me, I thought it was vital that the
guy that's the best player in your team finally says
that and has shown that. I mean, last night, You're
sitting there in that game, it didn't look good, and

(40:57):
all of a sudden it was almost like you said
bleep this, and he took over the game.

Speaker 4 (41:01):
In the second half.

Speaker 1 (41:02):
Right.

Speaker 3 (41:02):
I mean that to me says a lot.

Speaker 12 (41:04):
I think if I'm a fan, Oh absolutely Look, we
know that the biggest problem this season has been playing
basketball consistently for forty eight minutes for this team, right,
in terms of energy and such, and energy is what
honestly gives this team.

Speaker 7 (41:18):
I feel like it's identity. Right.

Speaker 12 (41:20):
You saw a lot of it last season, right, where
the defense field the offense where you want to get
out in transition, crash the offensive class right, get points
the hard way, or I should say a certain way,
because you have that alassism in five.

Speaker 7 (41:34):
So this year we hadn't seen it as much.

Speaker 12 (41:35):
But now that they've been playing better, now that guys
have been healthier, and of course you're being led by Zion,
I think we're beginning to see that again, right. But
the pushing in transition I think that's what stands out
to me the last few weeks that you're seeing both
from Zion and Jose. Right, We've got to talk about
Jose a little bit. How I think he's honestly kind
of flown under the radar, but he has put into
putting together his best season. Right, it's an all around

(41:59):
season where he's running the offense. Right, We're seeing plenty
of games eight nine. Tennis says very few turnovers. So
in addition to all that defensive you know havoc that
he likes to cause, whether results in a steel or not,
but you know he's.

Speaker 7 (42:11):
There, His presence is there for opponents.

Speaker 12 (42:13):
It's the offense that I've really just fallen in love with,
and that's contributing to this, I guess, this identity that
you want to see in the future right where you
want to see continue to develop over this remainder of
the schedule led by Zion of course, but yeah, it's
just constantly applying pressure.

Speaker 7 (42:28):
I feel like that's what Willie Green wants to do
because he's got the link, the size ethicism.

Speaker 12 (42:32):
When you think about Zion Trade, their ability, what they
can do now we're seeing it with Carlow.

Speaker 7 (42:37):
You see how Hawk can fly in and get a
block or rebound.

Speaker 12 (42:40):
You see the way this team should be playing right
probably what they envisioned started training camp, but unfortunately.

Speaker 7 (42:46):
Didn't work out that way.

Speaker 12 (42:48):
So yeah, Gus, and I'm glad you mentioned Zion. The
fact that it's on his mind that's so big. If
you're going to be a leader of this team, there's
several things you have to do with that. Others, you know,
don't have to worry about. One of those things, of course,
is the focus on the big picture, and you need
your guide, your main guy to understand en Zion obviously
is now basically showing us what through his play, through

(43:10):
his words, that he does understand what it's going to
take for this team to elevate himself and be in
position for the start of next season, basically really turn
it around.

Speaker 2 (43:19):
N be a reporter and Australia native and my tour
guide in the upcoming NBA trading camp for next If
we all go Alli, you gonna have you gonna have
to tell us man Mailbow and what's all about.

Speaker 3 (43:30):
I mean kind of googling it already.

Speaker 2 (43:32):
So it's an interesting place looking forward to it if
we all get to go, so we'll see.

Speaker 7 (43:37):
Oh I hope. So, guys, I'll tell you what.

Speaker 12 (43:40):
When we do end up over there, I may ask
to stay for another few weeks, and I'll probably try
and ask one of you guys stick.

Speaker 7 (43:46):
Along with me.

Speaker 12 (43:46):
But then again I might have to pro push you
guys too hard, right because I'll telling you what.

Speaker 7 (43:50):
You're gonna fall in love with the scenery, the people,
you name it. It's a beautiful country, awesome.

Speaker 4 (43:56):
Yeah, that'd be great. That'd be great. I'd be happy
to stay.

Speaker 5 (43:59):
I'm not sure if the Pelicans would allow that, but
unless you're willing to foot the bill, Alli, but uh,
but no, that's great, that would be That would be
a really fun experience to be able to do that.

Speaker 2 (44:09):
Yeah, man, thank you for your time and kind of
giving us a little little insight into it. And again
we got to learn a little something new about you. Man,
I've known you for a while. I had no idea.
So that's that was really cool, man.

Speaker 4 (44:19):
Always good to know that.

Speaker 7 (44:20):
Absolutely.

Speaker 12 (44:21):
Maybe now this will become a thing, right, Pelicans going
to Australia every year.

Speaker 7 (44:25):
Every other year, and I can become a special ambassador.
I can get on board with that.

Speaker 2 (44:29):
There it is Ambassador Cosel.

Speaker 4 (44:31):
Yes, the Court Australian correspondent.

Speaker 2 (44:33):
I love it, OLLI thank you for your time, sir.
We'll see you tomorrow night at the SKC.

Speaker 7 (44:38):
All right, thanks guys.

Speaker 2 (44:39):
Thanks to Ali. And I was kind of joking about
it yesterday in the pre game or even in postgame
while you were there. How many times you think we're
gonna say good day mate, or you know, shrimping to
Barbie or something of that nature. Like maybe it's gonna
be a podcast for sure if we get to go
like how many phrases and stuff people think of New
Orleans right as.

Speaker 4 (44:57):
Opposed to like to say, yeah, you know it's in Australia.

Speaker 5 (45:01):
It's funny you mentioned that because I think I told
Ali last night that I was going to ask him
to give us some phrases and some slang and stuff
like that.

Speaker 4 (45:09):
But we never ended up doing that.

Speaker 5 (45:10):
So we'll save that for a future podcast episode down
the road for.

Speaker 2 (45:14):
Melbourne, we'll do that. Yeah, because it's always true, right,
I mean, we always joke. I have a group of
friends of friend and texts or it almost seems like
every time there's a big event, so we have to
have the the second line or the brass band. Like
I've never just been on Vets in clear View and
there's a brass band that just is just.

Speaker 3 (45:30):
Marching down the street or something.

Speaker 2 (45:31):
You know, I have gators, you know, in the middle
of West mattering. I guess we could in the canal,
you know, sure, you know you know what I'm talking about.

Speaker 4 (45:39):
Yeah, yeah, we.

Speaker 2 (45:40):
Do see a lot more pelicans flying around. Yeah, that's
a good thing anyway, it is Wednesday. Let's get to
some important stuff, all right.

Speaker 10 (45:48):
Y'all, Now it's time for Western Conference Wednesday.

Speaker 12 (45:52):
Mister Eichenhoffer will tell us whose stock is up and
whose stock is down. So let's get started. What is
our team to keep an eye on for this week?

Speaker 5 (46:04):
Well, Mellory, the team to watch, I'm gonna go with
Golden State Warriors. They're now thirty seven and twenty eight.
They've won ten out of their last eleven games. They've
moved up to sixth place in the West. I know,
earlier in the season it didn't seem possible that the
or likely that the Warriors would not be a play
in team, But I mean right now they're in position
where they can avoid the play in tournament altogether. And

(46:24):
the reason I picked them for the team to watch,
I mean, they have four games coming up over the
next seven days and all of them are on national TV,
so that is gonna make for some compelling basketball. Thursday
they host Sacramento on TNT. Saturday they have New York
on ABC. Monday they host Denver on ESPN, and then
Tuesday Milwaukee on NBA TV. So a bunch of really

(46:46):
interesting opponents with a bunch of star players as well
as far as stock up goes, I went with the
Minnesota Timberwolves, who are now thirty seven and twenty nine.

Speaker 4 (46:56):
They're only a half game behind.

Speaker 5 (46:57):
Golden State for sixth places. The will are in seventh
right now. They've won five games in a row, and
they also have two games coming up later this month
against the Pelicans, both in Minneapolis on March nineteenth and
the twenty first, so the Pelicans will have some say
so in that what's become a really tight race for
the last guaranteed playoff position in the West and in

(47:20):
stock Down, I went with the Portland Trailblazers. I think
for people that are kind of don't have a dog
in the fight. It was interesting the way that they
rose recently and got into position where you thought, okay,
maybe they have a chance to make the play in tournament,
and they're not out of it right now, but they've
lost four games in a row. They're now five games
out of tenth place behind the Dallas Mavericks who are

(47:42):
thirty three and thirty three, So they've kind of played
their way a little bit out of realistic contention for
that last playing spot. But I mean I think the
race for tenth though, is going to be is going
to be interesting with Right now, Phoenix is two and
a half games behind Dallas. Monday was very damaging for

(48:02):
the Suns because the Mavericks won a game and ended
their losing streak, while the Sons had a chance to
win at Memphis at the buzzer, but Kevin Durant missed
a shot, So the Suns are back to two and
a half games behind the MAVs. They were one and
a half going into Monday night, but still in the race.
The Suns picked up a big win on Sunday in Dallas.
If they hadn't won that game, they'd really be in trouble.

(48:23):
But as it is, it's going to be really interesting
to see what happens with the Mavericks being so shorthanded,
if they're able to hold off the Suns with only
you know, a few weeks left in the season.

Speaker 2 (48:33):
Now sixteen games left I know for the Pals, so
somewhere around that neighborhood for a lot of the teams,
we'll call it seventeen to fifteen. Realistically, how many games
can you make up just in general a team?

Speaker 4 (48:44):
It's a good question.

Speaker 5 (48:45):
I think when you're you know, the Suns are thirty
and thirty five, so two and a half games would
seem to be more of a mountain than it is
if you're playing above five hundred basketball, I think, I mean,
I don't like to make predictions, but I think most
people believe that the Mavericks at thirty three and thirty
three are probably gonna end up with a losing record.

(49:06):
I mean, the way things are going, it's gonna be
hard for them to even stay at five hundred. But
I guess if you're the Suns, it's a matter of
can you can you win enough games to catch them?
And Phoenix also has the toughest remaining schedule in the NBA,
so I mean that part of it is difficult as well.
It's not like the Sons have been playing very good
basketball either against any of their opponents, so that part

(49:26):
will be something I think.

Speaker 4 (49:28):
Everyone will have an eye on.

Speaker 5 (49:29):
I mean, if Phoenix doesn't make the play in tournament,
it's it's a massive disaster considering you have those big
three guys, and if the Mavericks don't make it after
the Luca trade, that's also a horrific development as well.
So yeah, I mean, it's gonna be there's gonna be
some some you know, rubber necking. I guess you could
say some people watching to see what who ends up

(49:49):
with the horrible ending to their season.

Speaker 2 (49:52):
It's just so interesting. The reason I asked you guys
because obviously, OK see, they have an eleven game lead
on Denver in the second spot. There will be your
top seed West, so with you know, fifteen to seventeen
games left for a lot of different teams, if not sixteen,
The Nuggets eleven back, Lakers and Grizzlies in three and
four are one game back, so they're twelve overall. The

(50:13):
Houston Rockets fifth, thirteen back overall, so two games separate
three to five, and then Golden State sixteen games back.
That's a five game difference from two to six. So
I don't know if six and five are in play,
but two to five are absolutely playing. Look, I don't

(50:33):
know about two, but I'm just looking at if I'm
the Lakers, a possible matchup against the Warriors in that
first round will be really you know, so like I
don't know if I want two, if I went three,
if I know a four to five matchup.

Speaker 4 (50:46):
Grizzlies and Rockets.

Speaker 2 (50:47):
That seems like a really physical and tough series.

Speaker 6 (50:49):
Two.

Speaker 2 (50:50):
So those positions two to five I think are going
to go down to the final weekend.

Speaker 4 (50:55):
It could.

Speaker 5 (50:56):
And I think the one thing if you're the Lakers
right now too, though, is I mean, yeah, if you
finish third, you'd be playing against Golden State, which probably
doesn't seem ideal. But at the same time, I mean
you're also now in jeopardy of dropping to five or below,
where you don't even have home court advantage in the
first round. If you look at the Lakers upcoming schedule
where they're playing a bunch of very good teams, they
have two games coming up against Denver, which just split

(51:19):
against OKC, it's very difficult. And now that they don't
have Lebron for a while too. I mean, they just
lost to Brooklyn on Monday. Brooklyn was the easiest opponent
on paper that the Lakers have for this whole stretch
coming up, So you think you got to win that game.
If you don't win that game, it's a little concerning.
So but I do think, like you said, the way

(51:40):
Denver's been playing, I would think maybe they'll be able
to finish at second because some of these other teams
right behind them have been losing some games. But yeah,
three through five is really interesting, Lakers, Grizzlies, Rockets, and
then six through maybe eight or nine.

Speaker 4 (51:54):
Six through eight is.

Speaker 5 (51:56):
Only two games apart with them of Golden State Minnesota
and the Clippers. And that was a bad loss or
damaging loss for the Clippers last night as well. So
Pelicans are going to continue to have an impact on
how this race turns out with they have. Pelicans also
have very few games left against teams that don't have
a lot at stake.

Speaker 2 (52:14):
Mister Jimi Koffer has always give a follow over on
x GYM Underscore. I can offer Pelicans dot Com as
well previews and post game information as well on the website.
Thank you, Jim.

Speaker 3 (52:24):
Today was fun.

Speaker 4 (52:25):
It was fun, Thanks guys, lots of information.

Speaker 7 (52:27):
All right.

Speaker 2 (52:27):
We'll see again on Friday for a radio roundtable. John
Deschazer and Sarain Summers will be joining us here as well.
That should be fun. In the meantime, enjoyed tomorrow night's
game Pelicans taking on the Magic, and we'll see you
again right here on the New Orleans Pelicans podcast.

Speaker 1 (52:41):
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

(53:01):
and Gcat Underscore seventeen. We'll see you next time right
here on the New Orleans Pelicans podcast