July 2, 2025 • 38 mins
On the New Orleans Pelicans Podcast for Tuesday, July 2, 2025, Jim Eichenhofer and Gus Kattengell recap the 2025 NBA Draft as they discuss Pelicans draft picks Jeremiah Fears, Derik Queen, and Micah Peavy.
Hear from the new Pelicans and Executive Director of Basketball Operations Joe Dumars on their additions to the team.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(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.
Hear from players, coaches, broadcasters, and those who
cover the NBA on a daily basis. It's time to flock up.
(00:27):
The New Orleans Pelicans Podcaststarts right now.
Hello buddy, welcome to a special edition of the New
Orleans Pelicans Podcast, the official podcast of your New
Orleans Pelicans. It is a Summer League edition of
the Pels Pod presented by New Age Products, the official
garage and outdoor kitchen provider of your New Orleans
(00:49):
Pelicans. So we can get you ready for at
least five games. Well, it will be 5 games over
there in Vegas and we got you covered as of course the voices
on Pelicans television. Antonio Daniels, Jill Myers will
be out there, Silent reporter Andrew Lopez, Aaron Summers will
be there as well. And of course our very own Jim I
can offer from pelicans.com is going to be getting a look see
(01:12):
as to what's going on with threedraft picks that took place
Wednesday and Thursday, two in the first round, one on
Thursday. Jim, I saw you on Wednesday as
there was some fireworks, there was a trade.
There was so much excitement andreaction which will get into
each and every one of that. But first and foremost, Sir, how
you doing? Thanks for joining us.
I'm doing really well, Gus. How about yourself?
(01:33):
Doing fantastic man. What was it like?
I saw you there. Was very busy.
A lot happened really quick early on in that draft with the
Pells getting Jeremiah Fears at 7:00 and then just a little bit
later at 13, Derrick Queen as the Pells traded to get closer
to where we, you know, we were able to grab them and and they
did. What do you think?
Yeah. Yeah, a lot of things are going
(01:53):
on. I mean they went into the draft
a while back. They just had one first round
pick. If you go back a few weeks like
ended up with two and then they end up with the 7th pick, which
they had before and then the 13th pick.
So I mean very eventful times. They also didn't have a second
round pick if you go back and now.
So basically to get three players in the draft was more
than I expected. I love the fierce pick.
(02:16):
I mean, you, you know, you, you're another witness that I
have that can vouch for me in terms of, you know, a lot of
teams say, you know, this is theguy we wanted, this is the guy
on their board. But it's not true.
They just say that because, you know, that it sounds good.
But I, I genuinely did did like fears and going even going into
the draft that day, I was like, man, I would be really happy if
they end up with him at 7:00. And then the, the the trade for
(02:39):
Queen was definitely a surprise.But I mean, we're probably going
to get into a little more specifics later too.
He was 9th on the nba.com consensus draft board.
So I'm going to save some of my ranting for later in the show,
but let's remember that this was, you know, they they got him
at 13. He was the he was really 9th if
you average out all the mock drafts.
(02:59):
So I mean, we're not talking about the 20th prospect.
We're talking about a guy that was pretty much ranked on the
top 10 objectively. So it, but it was a, it was a
very interesting night. I think one of the most, maybe
the most eventful draft nights that the Pelicans have had in
the time that I've been here. Yeah, no doubt.
And obviously as we've been talking the last couple of
weeks, here's we got you ready for the draft with a draft
(03:19):
preview shows we talked about Jeremiah Fears, Derek Queen here
as well. And and how, look, we were
interested to see how a change of leadership was going to view
the the direction of this team. Here's Joe Dumars, executive
vice president of basketball operations, on what the draft
says about the Pelicans. We were just talking in my
office there and, and I said to those guys, I said, you know,
(03:42):
when you hear your name called in the draft, that organization
is making a statement about who they think you are.
And what I said to those guys iswe think that you guys represent
everything that we are here and that's why you hear your name
called by certain teams. And so we think these guys are
(04:03):
all about winning. We think these guys are
professional. We think these are high
character guys. We think these guys, we're going
to be proud of these guys. I think the city of New Orleans
is going to be proud of these guys.
We don't want just basketball players.
We want good people in the building.
And we think all three of these young men are really good
people. And besides that, they are
(04:26):
fierce competitors. We were just going over the
schedule and talking about matchups and all of this already.
So we got fierce competitors here, we got high character
people, we got guys who are going to make this city proud
so. Right.
So that's Joe Dumars on I guess his approach and why he want to
(04:46):
kind of get these players. He are the three players.
Just initial thoughts and reaction from Saturday when they
were officially introduced to the media.
Man, it's been super dope. Like he said, it's it's no
better feeling to hear your namecalled and finally getting down
here, meet the people, meet yournew family, and they just
welcome all of us with open arms.
And we all super excited we already get to work.
(05:09):
Like he said, we was talking about opponents and matchups.
So we ready. Yeah, piggyback off what he
said, this is a dream come true to be able to play for the New
Orleans Pelicans. I think this whole organization
for taking a chance on us. And yeah, like you said, we
can't wait to play in Summer League and show the fans what we
got. Yeah, definitely super excited.
(05:33):
It definitely hit me when I got down here seeing everybody and
meeting me and my new family. Just super excited.
And we are, like we all said, ready for summer league, ready
to compete. Yeah, You know, I, I think if
you didn't get a chance to watchthe press conference and you
aren't familiar with those guys yet, you know, the the first guy
(05:53):
who spoke there was Fears. The second guy was PV.
The third guy was queen. And I think people will quickly
realize that anytime you hear someone say super dope or dope
that that's Jeremiah Fears. So that was the the clip that
seems to be his favorite word. So.
But yeah, I think, you know, to go back to some of what Joe
Dumars said, we knew a decent amount about, especially the
(06:18):
first, the two lottery picks from the the, the discussion
that we had on the previous podcast, the video that we've we
watched of them, but didn't I didn't necessarily know a lot
about them as people. And it's something that we've
learned a lot more about in the last few days speaking to, for
example, I spoke to Queens coachat Maryland.
I spoke to some of the AAU coaches that fears had in
(06:39):
Chicago. And the way I would kind of kind
of quickly describe them is fears is very intense.
He seems to be. One of his coaches said when he
was in second grade, he was one of those guys that was just
livid if he lost a one-on-one game.
And we're talking about a 7 yearold, an 8 year old, he still
kind of seems like he care. He just seems like a very
serious guy. When you listen to him be
interviewed, he's kind of a no nonsense guy.
(07:01):
Queen is definitely a fun lovingkind of guy.
He has a really good sense of humor.
We heard in the press conferencesome of his quotes and his his
Maryland head coach also said that he's one of those guys that
you can joke with and he'll comeright back at you.
He called him, he said he has kind of a New York City sense of
(07:21):
humor where it's like that ride dry humor, but he's really quick
to respond to an insult or, or kind of a fun ribbing.
So I think we saw that a little bit in the press conference too,
just getting to know a little bit more about both those guys.
And I think in both cases they're going to be for
different reasons. I think the fans are going to
really start to attach themselves and like them.
(07:44):
Fierce is kind of the underdog guy that throughout his career
earlier he was kind of a smallerplayer, played up against older
players, dominated despite the age difference, despite maybe
the height size difference. And then Queen is just one of
those guys that the, again, the Maryland coach talked about how
he's one of those people that you love to be around because
he's positive and he has a smileon his face all the time.
(08:06):
And it seemed like throughout the press conference, he was
constantly grinning and smiling and just cracking a little bit
of a joke. So interesting personalities
that are being added to the mix.I love it.
You know, one of the things thatI guess has come across to me
and especially and I get it. It's just Saturday, you know,
essentially and what you got little bit on Wednesday and
Thursday after the draft. I mean, PV was 35 seconds on
(08:29):
ESPN, right? But at the end of that Jimmy
talked about, hey, I'm going to prove that I'm the best defender
in the NBA. You talk about Jeremiah fears
and that attitude and the swag they sort of has.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with having a chip on your
shoulder and wanting to prove that each and every time.
Jim, you sat across from me herein in the podcast studio.
How many times this season? Well, that's what you wanted
(08:52):
from the Pells. I'd ask you, hey, what do we
want this tonight in the game orin the pregame?
You like to compete. That's a guy you're not going to
have to tell to compete. I like that.
And when it comes to Queen, the thing that was interesting, and
I'm sure you did it too that night after the draft, during
the draft, you're scrolling, you're looking on social media.
I, I couldn't find a single thing that didn't come across as
(09:14):
the Maryland fan base absolutelyloves this kid.
And I saw videos of him at hospitals playing with kids.
He's always smiling. The fans like this is our guy.
Congrats. Look, I, I understand that game
winner, you know, but but that'sthe other thing too.
And Joe Dumars even mentioned that, didn't he, on Saturday?
(09:35):
These guys win that that's what they do.
And and that was something that really stood out to me because
I, I guess maybe we're starting to see Jim a type or a fit.
Here's what would Joe Dumar's answer when he was asked, hey,
how do these guys fit? Because we've heard for so many
years, how do they fit with certain players?
How do they fit with this? I thought it was interesting
(09:56):
that Joe Dumar's define his version of fit this way.
So we just want guys who are smart, tough, competitive guys
with basketball Iqs. That's what every one of these
guys have. They have great basketball Iqs.
They're competitive, they play to win.
That's who we are. That's that's the the profile of
who we want all the players to be here at the Pelicans.
(10:17):
And so from that standpoint, when you draft guys and they
have those qualities, they'll figure out how to play with
other guys. But that's what high IQ is.
You don't have to tell high IQ guys how to play with somebody
else that that's why they're high IQ guys, because they know
how to do that. I think IQ is a word that has
been used a lot for Derek Queen.You watch some of the video of
(10:40):
him, just his passing, the way that he sees the floor and it
was people have said that, you know, he's one of the highest IQ
players in all of college basketball last season.
I think you can see that on someof the tape.
And then in terms of the toughness intensity, I think
both Fears and PV definitely fitthat category.
I'm curious to see what Michael PV can do on the defensive end
(11:02):
because that seems to be one of his forte's that he's like a
6667 guy who can be a wing defender.
And I believe he said he wants to be known as one of the best
wing defenders in the game. So I mean, there's definitely a
lot of confidence from all of these guys.
And I think even though there's a lot of youth here, especially
with Queen and Fears, they both did not play like 1819 year olds
(11:27):
throughout their college season.That was a thing that really
stood out to me that I want to get to 2 as well.
Jim, what is he, a freshman of the year in the FCC top
conference, probably in college basketball last year.
You don't come in and become thestarting point guard of a team
there and do what he did and play the way he didn't get
drafted where you are. If you don't have that right,
maybe that it factor or not. And again, look, but we I
(11:50):
mentioned it, the game winner, you know, for Maryland, I having
guys that want to do that, that embrace that moment and aren't
afraid of it. And I always find it funny
because I was like the I always say the people that you know,
you have the keyboard coaches and you know, the film scouts on
social media, you know what, what do you look at how to fit
(12:10):
the numbers and all the different things.
And, and I what's crazy to me isthese kids are so young, as you
mentioned, yet I've shown certain traits and things that
you would love to have in this organization.
And when you think of, I would say the top three players on
this roster on this franchise right now and why I think
they're going to win or not whenis based on these three, right?
It's it's Zion, it's Trey and it's Herb and those guys he saw
(12:33):
get better by the year. He's talking about summer
league, Trey Murphy, the jump between 1:00 and 2:00.
Herb Jones went from he didn't shoot 2 knocking down threes and
becoming the first team all pro in the subsequent year.
So these kids haven't even started yet.
So I find it a little interesting when there's, I
don't know, some criticism aboutwhere where some of these guys
(12:54):
going out. What do you make of that?
Yeah, I mean, I mean, one thing too that I think is worth
pointing out is that, you know, going back again to an objective
measure, which to methenba.com consensus mock draft is
objective. It takes all of the different
websites and averages out together.
The Pelicans and the Spurs, the only two teams that got more
than one player from the Top 14.So the Spurs got Carter Bryant
(13:18):
with the 14th pick and obviouslythey took Dylan Harper second.
The Pelicans got the 7th best player, Jeremiah Fears, who was
very accurately, I guess in hindsight projected at 7th by
the nba.com measurement. And then Queen was 9th.
So I mean, just that part of it I think is important.
I do think to some extent, I'm not sure how much I want to get
into this at this part of the show, but I do think the fit
(13:41):
stuff is overrated in terms of like, you want to get really
good players in and then you figure out like, OK, we even
know what these guys are going to do, what we know generally
what they do well, but we don't know how some of the different
stuff translates to the NBA. So when I hear people talking
about like, you know, you can't take care of Queen because how
does he fit in with Zion? I have like 57 questions I need
(14:02):
to have answered first before I even get to that part.
So I just think we're getting ahead of ourselves a little bit
with some of the stuff where youtalk about fit.
I mean it, I think the most important thing, especially when
you're picking at this part of the draft, is to get the best
player that you could possibly get, keep adding to your talent
base, and then go from there. I mean, there's just so many
(14:22):
questions they have to be addressed before we can even
start worrying about some of those, like minor specifics.
Yeah, no doubt. Before we get into those
specifics, I'm going to ask you because I I know you're itching
to give me your hot take or at least your your opinion on some
of the specific criticisms when it comes to one of the pals
draft picks. But but as I said, those
(14:44):
keyboard scouts, I was like to look at certain things on film.
Here's what Joe says he looks at.
You know, when you're doing this, you're not really trying
to compare to someone else. You see the skill sets that each
one of these young guys have. And what you're trying to figure
out is can that fit the style ofplay that we want to play?
And so I'll go back to this again and say this.
(15:04):
These are three high IQ basketball players.
These are three tough guys. These are three competitors and
all three of them have impacted winning.
That's really what I'm looking at.
Like to compare it to someone else maybe a little bit.
You look at that, but that's notthe primary thing you do.
You want to make sure that theseare the guys that are going to
help you win here in New Orleans.
(15:26):
All right. So that's the first time, Jim,
maybe perhaps that we're really hearing what the philosophy of a
Joe Dumars run basketball organization is.
Yeah. I mean, I think, you know, I did
not closely follow Oakland or Oakland, Oklahoma, Maryland and
Georgetown's seasons. But I mean, in the case of both
Oklahoma and Maryland, the two players that the Pelicans got in
(15:49):
the lottery, both were the best players on teams that achieved a
ton. Maryland was ninth in the final
AP poll. They made it to the Sweet 16.
Oklahoma was one of the last undefeated teams across all of
college basketball and Division One.
So, I mean, and these two guys in terms of Joe Dumars talking
about how they impact winning, Ithink, you know, you saw it was
very evident that these guys immediately came into their
(16:11):
college teams and and made a bigsplash in the win column.
No doubt. All right, let's get specific
about some of these players in in particular.
Let's start with obviously the first player that went and that
was Jeremiah Fears had this to say on the Bells drafted him.
Man, it was it was super dope. I'm in my workout.
I came down here and just from my personal experience, I
thought I did really well duringthe workout.
(16:33):
Seemed like they were kind of excited a little bit and I was
excited as well. So like Derek said, it all
worked out for for the better. I'm excited to be down here.
Got to meet some of some of my guys and man, it's going to be
super fun. We going to bring a lot to New
Orleans and it's going to be a show.
I wasn't even at the workout, Gus and I was also excited about
(16:55):
fear, so. So that should tell you.
Yeah, No, I mean, I think he's one of those guys, too.
I think that is going to be beyond his personality.
Do yourself a favor, if you're aPelicans fan, watch some video
on YouTube. It's readily available of some
of his plays and his highlights from college.
I think his style of play is going to be something that
people really embrace. Somebody who covers Oklahoma and
(17:17):
they talked about how just he, Imean, there's a video I think on
YouTube that says Jeremiah Fear is the most exciting guard in
high school basketball from whenhe was maybe a junior or senior.
And you watch just some of the crafty ball handling moves and
reverse layups and stuff that hehas.
I think he's going to be somebody that went, you might
like him now listening to him speak, but when you watch him
(17:38):
play, I think you're really going to enjoy his style.
So, Jim, one of the questions you asked about Jeremiah Fears
was the role his family played. What did you want to know?
Yeah, I thought it was interesting because speaking to
a couple of his AAU coaches and youth basketball coaches, they
talked about how his father, whose name is Jeremy Fears, got
on the court physically with him.
(17:58):
And one of the ways that he improved his ball handling was
his dad would just go out there and play defense against him,
you know, turn him different directions, make him play
against live defense. And one of the things that his
coaches talked about was that his dad was very instrumental in
his ball handling getting so good because instead of having
him just do like some of the cone drills, which he also did
(18:19):
those. But a lot of what he did was
dribble up the floor against hisolder brother, who's two years
older than him, Jeremy, Jeremy Junior and his father.
So they both believed in that. He needs to learn under game
conditions. And I think that's one of the
reasons why his ball handling isso good because he wasn't just
dribbling against air, he was dribbling against members of his
(18:39):
family. So that's why I asked that
question about the impact. I thought that was really
interesting kind of anecdote. I love that.
So while Carver eats dinner tonight, just want me to throw
like some tennis balls at him and stuff like that just so we
can work on his baseball dodgingskills and things.
You. Can let him finish dinner first
but then then throw the. Stuff out yes, that's right.
Just out of nowhere. He's coming out the shower and
watch out, you know, start toss.I love that look, as you
(19:02):
mentioned a little bit earlier, it's gonna be fun to kind of see
and, you know, the Summer leaguegames with him and and he almost
get the sense and feel he wants to prove himself.
All right, let's get to it, man.Derek Queen, your thoughts on
him? Here's what he had to say about
the Pelicans drafting him. 20 seconds.
I really wasn't sure where I wasgoing to end up at, but I'm glad
it all worked out because this is one of my favorite spots and
(19:24):
and I definitely wanted to end end up here.
And then it was just like a lot of nerve when it was going on.
And then I just kept bugging my agent and then it like I said,
it just all worked out. You have something over in
pelicans.com that we're going totease here in a quick SEC, but
just Derrick Queen more that stands out to you about the
(19:45):
criticism about it in the pic ormore about the type of player
that he is? Yeah, I'll go with for at this
point, I'll go with the type of player he is.
I just think he's really unique.I mean, his teammates call him
Baby, called him Baby Yokich at Maryland.
I think if you watch the video of him, you'll see he's not
crazy athletic. He's is, he's not quick that
(20:06):
quick either, but he he plays atlike his own pace and his
passing is really good. His his Maryland coach talked
about how just he has a methodical approach to the game
and also kind of bristled at theidea that he's not athletic
enough. And he also used the comparison
of basically, you know, he didn't use specific names, but
(20:28):
it it come brings to mind like Luka, Doncic, Shay Gill, just
Alexander in terms of that. You can't speed them up.
He's a totally different player than those guys.
Obviously different position andeverything, but there's certain
players that play at their own speed.
And you say to yourself, how is this guy so successful when it
doesn't look like he's really moving that fast or, you know,
piercing the defense at a rapid rate?
(20:48):
It when you watch the tape of Queen, you see that a lot.
Citrus say I know what Yokich almost looks like it.
Do you know where the gym is? But that's the guy's incredible,
isn't it? And he seems like he's in slow
motion, but he gets the job doneconstantly.
And is it multi multi time MVP? I'm not comparing him to Yokich
everybody. I'm just saying that that's what
the the kind of the comparison that his teammates made came
(21:09):
from. No doubt.
All right, PV on being drafted. I had a really good workout
here. I'm, I saw the type of guys this
organization likes to bring defensive minded guys.
So yeah, I thought this could bea place where I can succeed
that. So I'm just, I'm just glad they
took a chance on you. Basketball family, that's where
he comes from, right? Yeah, I think so.
And by the way, I always love itwhen a guy talks defense too,
(21:30):
because we know, I mean, the vast majority of the players who
play in the NBA, the reason, thebeginning reason that they were
considered for the league is because they're great offensive
players and they were the best player on their team.
But he has seems to have the awareness already of like, the
way that I can carve out a role in a niche is to be like Herb
Jones and focus on the defensiveend and go from there.
(21:50):
It's a very smart approach, I think.
All right, man, I got about fourminutes here, Jim, I, I got to
ask you the naysayers, the criticism.
What do you, what do you got to say about it?
I mean, Joe kind of has his own thing here and then you can give
it to me. I've.
Been doing this way too long to give credence to naysayers.
I will say this though, we're going to try our own path here.
(22:15):
We're not going to go buy any ofanyone else's playbook.
And so these are the guys that we really, really wanted as
Pelicans and we're super, super happy to have them here.
But make no mistake, we're goingto try our own path here, and
we're not planned by anybody else's book.
You're giving me 4 minutes. I might need 14, but I'm going
to do the best I can to keep it to four.
(22:37):
Now. I think it's important when we
talk about a lot of things that this is my, one of my takeaways
on the discussion about the NBA and trades and draft picks is
there's a segment of people thatI think a lot of media members,
fans belong to that I would callNBA asset Twitter.
And when I say that is they theyconsider assets more important
(22:58):
than almost any anything else. It's important to manage your
assets. It's important to value picks
properly. I get it, but I do think we're
at the point as a league where Ifeel like there's, I've kind of
half jokingly said this to people here and there lately.
There's people that think a 2032first round pick is better than
a 6th man who's on your team right now who can help you win a
(23:20):
game today. Not somebody who's in 6th grade
right now or 7th grade. Even the twenty 26th pick is in
college right now. He's not going to be, he's not
going to be able to help you wina game next.
Season. You don't even know who that is.
Right, exactly. A couple other quick points I
want to make too. I've heard a few people say the
Pelicans traded 2 first round picks for Derrick Queen.
(23:41):
Incorrect. If I call if I'm AGM and I have
the 23rd pick and I call anotherGM and say hey I got the 23rd
pick, will you trade me the 13thpick for it?
Straight up they would be like are you insane?
It's not 2 picks. The price of moving up was next
year's draft pick. So let's please get that
straight. It was one pick that they
traded, not next year's. Another point quickly, because I
(24:03):
know we don't have a lot of time, people have brought up the
point about should there have been protections on the pick.
I get it. I understand that's a reasonable
thing to say. OK.
Should it have been top 4 protected?
I understand. Here's the thing though, if
you're the other GM, would you, would you give, would you put a
top four protection on a pick knowing that you're trading this
(24:25):
year's number 13? If you give up, if you trade
that pick, but it's top 4 protected, that means the only
way that you actually improve the position of that pick is if
next year's is exactly between 5th and 12th.
So you're talking about a tight range here.
If you make it top 10 protected,it would have to be 11 or 12 in
next year's draft for that to bean improvement from the 13th
(24:47):
pick that you're trading this year, in which case it would
have to be exactly 11th or 12th for it to even be worth it.
So I think we we need to factor that into the discussion as
well. When people say that, it's like,
yeah, it would be great to have a protection on the pick.
But if you try to put that in there, maybe the other GM says
it's not worth me doing it now based on all the reasons that I
(25:08):
just listed. So those are some of my takes.
I definitely need more time to kind of lay out my my vision for
overall of some of my opinions. That's kind of in a nutshell the
way I look at it that it's we'regetting to the point where the
future stuff, what could be is always it's getting to the point
(25:29):
where anything in the future is more attractive than what we
actually have right now. So it's funny to what last thing
I'll say quickly on this to talking to football people, they
it boggles their mind. I think this is really an NBA
thing where it's like what's behind the the the mystery door
in the future is always more is always better than any present
(25:52):
thing. I think for a lot of people,
they love the the appeal of the dream of what a pick in the
future could be. But then as soon as you actually
have that player, I mean, we sawthis with Anthony Davis trade.
If you think about it, they amassed a ton of assets in the
future, but the problem is, is that eventually when those
assets come into play, when you actually have to draft a human
being who has to perform at basketball, not your vision of
(26:15):
what this potentially could be down the road when you actually
have the tangible. So now the asset has turned into
something on the court, something that is no longer, you
know, a utopian vision of what a2039 pick could be.
That's where the execution of it.
Part of it is. And I think in this case
specifically with Derrick Queen,you have a player that obviously
(26:36):
Joe Dumars and the front office love, love the guy and they want
to have him on the court in uniform next season because they
think his potential is really high.
Now, last thing, the debates about where next year's pick is
going to be very interesting. I also think valid, you know, a
team comes off a 21 win season and you're concerned that it's
(26:57):
going to be they're going to have to make a massive
improvement to not be in the lottery again next season, not
finish out of the playoffs. But the last thing I'll say on
that part of it too is you can tell me what you think about
this too, Gus, you were around, you've been around, you were on
all last season. I do think that there's people,
in fairness to them, they don't watch the Pelicans every single
game. They haven't religiously
(27:17):
followed the last few seasons. To me, I'm a little astounded.
Maybe you can accuse me of beingbiased here, a little bit of a
Homer. When I hear people say, as I've
heard a few times say, are the Pelicans even going to win 21
games next season? It blows my mind because I'm
like, that would be valid if youdidn't, if you factored out the
part that they won as of in April of 2024, which was by my
(27:39):
calendar was 16 months ago they won or 14 months ago they won 49
games. They were.
They were within an eyelash of being a top six seed.
Granted, some of the roster has changed.
I get it. But you have to factor in they
won 21 games last year because not only did they have a season
where everything that could go wrong went wrong, but I think
after everything that went wrongcould go wrong, there was still
(28:02):
more stuff after that that took place that made it result in the
21 win. So I just it frustrates me fans.
You can let me know what you think about this.
But when I hear people say are they even a 25 win team next
season with some of the players they have, I just I just don't
understand it. Like to me, that's going way too
far. I think it's it's fair.
Is it fair to say, you know, it's going to be difficult for
(28:23):
them to make the playoffs. Maybe they don't make the
playoffs. Yes, but is it just is it just,
is it reasonable to say that this team is one of the worst
teams in the league without factoring in that they had a
ridiculous amount of injuries? That's last season.
That's the part that is really frustrating to me, that we
watched this team be very competitive in recent years.
Last year was the outlier. The years before that they won
(28:45):
4942 and then 36 the year that they played Phoenix in the first
round of the playoffs. So I don't see this as a bottom
dwelling team. I see this as a team that had a
ridiculous amount of guys missedgames and that was the number
one. The probably the the eight
biggest reasons why they won 21 games was because they had guys
sidelined last year. No, no doubt.
And I think one of the things, and I get it, sometimes your
(29:05):
reputation is earned rightfully or not right.
Sometimes perception can become reality.
Wasn't Zion the number one overall pick?
I mean, he was right. I mean, and I understand he
hasn't played a playoff game. I get it.
But he was the number one overall pick and we saw in the
second-half of this past season,man, when he's healthy, he can
dominate. I, I, we did see that.
(29:25):
Sure, Trey Murphy's a guy that Imean, arguably guy's an All Star
caliber player. Now, does he, you know, become
that way or not? But what I'm saying is he's he's
not bad at basketball. Herb Jones, you mentioned the
injuries there. This is the guy that came off of
making that first team. All defense was one of the best
3 point shooters on the team theseason before that.
(29:47):
I just so I I don't know that hemaybe he just wants to fish, not
basketball. I, I it's just crazy to me
because the Pels are going to win if those three guys play and
if those three guys play well and, and look, I get it.
There's a lot of different othermoves that may be happening and
things of that nature. But I don't know man, when the
city fell in love with this teamand pushed the Phoenix Suns the
(30:09):
top seed back in the day gym. It's because of hustle defense,
kind of that tenacity, never give up sort of mentality.
I mean Willie Green's famous yougot to fight right?
Bringing in guys that have high basketball IQ and I get to have
been played bringing in guys that have showed winning though
at certain levels. That's something Joe Dumar's
brought in and bringing in guys that are excited about competing
(30:34):
in summer league when a lot of people like, call me in October.
I yeah, I can't hate, you know what I'm saying?
Like I can't. That doesn't make me upset.
I I kind of, I don't know. I'm with you.
I let's bring on the naysayers, man.
I think that's another X Factor is we don't know how much the
rookies are going to contribute,but they could have an impact.
(30:54):
And if you if you're assessing the team and saying, jeez, are
they going to win 20 games? I mean, it's possible that both
rookies could make a a dent thisseason to make them an improved
team beyond all of the veteran guys that you just listed in
terms of I'm pretty sure they didn't forget how to play
basketball over the last few months.
So, you know, another quick thing, I'll make point.
I'll make 2 in terms of the outlook of the team overall.
(31:16):
The I want to make 2 comparisonsfor the Pelicans.
One to Memphis, another to Washington.
The first one is Memphis. Memphis last season had an
injury. Two seasons ago they had such an
injury riddled season. But when when last season
started, nobody was like, oh, this is one of the worst teams
in the league because they understood that the Grizzlies
had so many injuries and that was why they went to the bottom
(31:37):
of the standings in 120 something games in the 2324
season. The Pelicans have not.
This recent version of the Pelicans has not accomplished as
much as the Grizzlies have in recent years.
I grant that the Grizzlies were a two seed a couple times in in
this decade, but I make the comparison to say that you gave
the Grizzlies a ton of benefit of the doubt because they had a
(31:59):
season where they had tons of guys injured.
But it feels like the Pelicans in a lot of circles got zero
benefit of the doubt as we go into next season in terms of
what their potential is with their roster.
Second point, when I compare them to the Wizards, what I say
is you could look at the standings and say the Pelicans
won 21 games last year. The Wizards won 19.
If you didn't know anything about basketball, you would say,
(32:20):
I guess those two teams are pretty comparable.
I guess their outlook is the same.
I mean, the Pelicans only won two more games in the Wizards.
But I do not have to sit here. It would be a, it would be a
slap in the face for me to sit here and explain to Pelicans
fans that the Pelicans probably have a little bit better roster
and outlook. And I don't mean this as a
slight to the Wizards, but I bring up that example to say you
(32:41):
can't just look at the Wizards won 19 games, the Pelicans won
21, therefore they're equally competitive going forward.
I mean, that's just ridiculous. I think I'll, I think I've, I
think I'll end there. I try not to get too upset and
emotional. I think I mostly reigned it in,
but I I think I'll stop there, Gus.
Yeah, it's OK. I hear you, man.
I before we let you go here, gotabout a minute.
(33:03):
Go ahead and tease a a, a, a in depth article on Derek Queen
coming up here. And and obviously you probably
touch on the criticism part of it.
And I look, I love the fact thatfrom Joe Dumars talking about
the Sean Timber. We're going to talk a little bit
a lot about where the team is and all the stuff is once the
summer league comes. And again, a a host of you guys
are going to be over there. So it's going to be fun podcast.
(33:25):
We'll have that for you fans. So stay with us.
But I I love the hey, we're taking things head on approach
from Joe Dumars. And I don't know if Derrick
Queen heard him on Wednesday kind of talk about that with
other aspects of the team. But I love when he was asked
about it, you know, and look, you can't hide from social media
today and what people feel or orsay and is what he had to say
(33:46):
about the criticism. You can end with that.
Yes, definitely, because I mean I'm I'm going to say, hey, I
don't think nobody in in that class ever going to be better
than me. So I block all the noise out and
then he got a lot of faith in me.
Most of those guys I beat on at high school.
(34:09):
So it don't it don't really it don't really matter, but just
got to continue. I know that the NBA is a whole
different level. So just got to continue getting
better. Don't get too big headed, don't
get too low and just and and just just beat on them next year
when they when they come, when they come in and and and make
Jonah like a JS. You know, obviously.
(34:29):
This is an audio platform, so you can't see his face, but I
thought his answer was great. And if you see his the look on
his face too, you can see he kind of has a grin the whole
time, especially when he first hears the question.
So I thought that answer was a good summary of what his
personality is like. And you mentioned the article I
wrote. It was really a lot about his
just what kind of guy he is, hissense of humor, his coach, Kevin
(34:54):
Willard. Kevin Willard, I mentioned him
earlier as the Maryland coach. I probably should put a name to
that. Kevin Willard was awesome
talking to him on the phone on Saturday before the press
conference. And he just goes through a lot
of different traits that Derek Queen has.
So I, I think it's worth reading.
I mean, I'm, I'm also a little biased because I wrote the
article, but I think it's worth checking out just to kind of
(35:16):
learn a little bit more about him.
And I had a great time speaking with Coach Willard, just
learning more about what Derek Queen is like and really also
how much Willard enjoyed coaching him for his one season
at Maryland. I love that and again, I you can
do a lot worse than than gettingguys that are described as high
level basketball like you guys, team guys, winners, people that
(35:37):
have been in positions to take, you know, shots that they can
help win games or just things ofthat nature.
And it's all about that. I I look again, we'll see what
happens, but I'm excited. I I know this next week or when
summer league starts here, we have four games we know for a
factor. We'll see the dates and times
already couple of back to backs already, which is almost like
the right season, right? And then you have that fifth
(36:00):
game is going to come. So looking forward to the
coverage again. Stay with us, Mr. Jim, I can
offer pelicans.com. When were that article and
subsequent articles coming up? Too right?
Yeah, Monday is going to Monday.It's already up, actually, the
Dairy Queen article. And then I have something I'm
working on this week about Jeremiah Fears in terms of his
background from Chicago and someof the influence that his family
(36:21):
and his youth basketball had on him.
And so look forward to that. And by the way, Gus, lastly, how
excited are we for summer leagueright now?
I've talked to a bunch of peoplewho've said, you know, based on
the combination of the draft picks and listening to them
speak at the press conference Saturday, I've heard various
people say, man, this is the most pumped.
I am to fur to watch summer league in a in a while.
(36:42):
So man, I'm looking forward to being there.
We'll be there in person for thefirst couple games in Vegas and
reporting for the podcast live from from Nevada after I get
away from the craps tables. And so I'm I'm pumped.
I'm I'm really excited and readyto go.
I know the first night of the league, July 10th, you're going
to see Cooper flag and some of the other players, but Pelicans
(37:03):
I think have one of the first ormaybe it might be the first game
that day against the Timberwolves.
So man, it's going to be fun to see these guys get out on the
court and play. And I'm looking forward to your
in depth 45 minute breakdown against the Lakers and Brawny
James. Looking forward, excellent and.
I and I will have some help. I I believe I will have some
help from someone else. We'll have, we'll have a couple
(37:24):
guests on the show out there that'll and their job for that
one will be to rein me in probably.
Well, like I said, we all know that that term, the wise guys,
right? Well, Jim Ikenhofer, Will
Guillory, Andrew Lopez, just going up and down the strip.
Who knows what's going to happen, man.
As always, been appreciated. And again, I'm with you.
Let's say I'm excited we have a little basketball to talk about
(37:46):
over the next two weeks. As always, appreciate you for
tuning us in. You've been listening to the New
Orleans Pelicans Podcast presented by New Age Products,
the official garage and outdoor kitchen provider of your New
Orleans Pelicans. Some Gus Gatenglements you might
can offer. We'll see you next time on the
New Orleans Pelicans Podcast. Thanks for listening to the New
Orleans Pelicans Podcast. Join us three times per week on
(38:07):
pelicans.com, the Pelicans mobile app, the iHeartRadio app,
or where you get your podcast. And be sure to give Jim and Gus
a follow on X and Jim under score I can offer and G cap
under score 17. We'll see you next time right
here on the New Orleans PelicansPodcast.
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.
Hear from players, coaches, broadcasters, and those who
cover the NBA on a daily basis. It's time to flock up.
(00:27):
The New Orleans Pelicans Podcaststarts right now.
Hello buddy, welcome to a special edition of the New
Orleans Pelicans Podcast, the official podcast of your New
Orleans Pelicans. It is a Summer League edition of
the Pels Pod presented by New Age Products, the official
garage and outdoor kitchen provider of your New Orleans
(00:49):
Pelicans. So we can get you ready for at
least five games. Well, it will be 5 games over
there in Vegas and we got you covered as of course the voices
on Pelicans television. Antonio Daniels, Jill Myers will
be out there, Silent reporter Andrew Lopez, Aaron Summers will
be there as well. And of course our very own Jim I
can offer from pelicans.com is going to be getting a look see
(01:12):
as to what's going on with threedraft picks that took place
Wednesday and Thursday, two in the first round, one on
Thursday. Jim, I saw you on Wednesday as
there was some fireworks, there was a trade.
There was so much excitement andreaction which will get into
each and every one of that. But first and foremost, Sir, how
you doing? Thanks for joining us.
I'm doing really well, Gus. How about yourself?
(01:33):
Doing fantastic man. What was it like?
I saw you there. Was very busy.
A lot happened really quick early on in that draft with the
Pells getting Jeremiah Fears at 7:00 and then just a little bit
later at 13, Derrick Queen as the Pells traded to get closer
to where we, you know, we were able to grab them and and they
did. What do you think?
Yeah. Yeah, a lot of things are going
(01:53):
on. I mean they went into the draft
a while back. They just had one first round
pick. If you go back a few weeks like
ended up with two and then they end up with the 7th pick, which
they had before and then the 13th pick.
So I mean very eventful times. They also didn't have a second
round pick if you go back and now.
So basically to get three players in the draft was more
than I expected. I love the fierce pick.
(02:16):
I mean, you, you know, you, you're another witness that I
have that can vouch for me in terms of, you know, a lot of
teams say, you know, this is theguy we wanted, this is the guy
on their board. But it's not true.
They just say that because, you know, that it sounds good.
But I, I genuinely did did like fears and going even going into
the draft that day, I was like, man, I would be really happy if
they end up with him at 7:00. And then the, the the trade for
(02:39):
Queen was definitely a surprise.But I mean, we're probably going
to get into a little more specifics later too.
He was 9th on the nba.com consensus draft board.
So I'm going to save some of my ranting for later in the show,
but let's remember that this was, you know, they they got him
at 13. He was the he was really 9th if
you average out all the mock drafts.
(02:59):
So I mean, we're not talking about the 20th prospect.
We're talking about a guy that was pretty much ranked on the
top 10 objectively. So it, but it was a, it was a
very interesting night. I think one of the most, maybe
the most eventful draft nights that the Pelicans have had in
the time that I've been here. Yeah, no doubt.
And obviously as we've been talking the last couple of
weeks, here's we got you ready for the draft with a draft
(03:19):
preview shows we talked about Jeremiah Fears, Derek Queen here
as well. And and how, look, we were
interested to see how a change of leadership was going to view
the the direction of this team. Here's Joe Dumars, executive
vice president of basketball operations, on what the draft
says about the Pelicans. We were just talking in my
office there and, and I said to those guys, I said, you know,
(03:42):
when you hear your name called in the draft, that organization
is making a statement about who they think you are.
And what I said to those guys iswe think that you guys represent
everything that we are here and that's why you hear your name
called by certain teams. And so we think these guys are
(04:03):
all about winning. We think these guys are
professional. We think these are high
character guys. We think these guys, we're going
to be proud of these guys. I think the city of New Orleans
is going to be proud of these guys.
We don't want just basketball players.
We want good people in the building.
And we think all three of these young men are really good
people. And besides that, they are
(04:26):
fierce competitors. We were just going over the
schedule and talking about matchups and all of this already.
So we got fierce competitors here, we got high character
people, we got guys who are going to make this city proud
so. Right.
So that's Joe Dumars on I guess his approach and why he want to
(04:46):
kind of get these players. He are the three players.
Just initial thoughts and reaction from Saturday when they
were officially introduced to the media.
Man, it's been super dope. Like he said, it's it's no
better feeling to hear your namecalled and finally getting down
here, meet the people, meet yournew family, and they just
welcome all of us with open arms.
And we all super excited we already get to work.
(05:09):
Like he said, we was talking about opponents and matchups.
So we ready. Yeah, piggyback off what he
said, this is a dream come true to be able to play for the New
Orleans Pelicans. I think this whole organization
for taking a chance on us. And yeah, like you said, we
can't wait to play in Summer League and show the fans what we
got. Yeah, definitely super excited.
(05:33):
It definitely hit me when I got down here seeing everybody and
meeting me and my new family. Just super excited.
And we are, like we all said, ready for summer league, ready
to compete. Yeah, You know, I, I think if
you didn't get a chance to watchthe press conference and you
aren't familiar with those guys yet, you know, the the first guy
(05:53):
who spoke there was Fears. The second guy was PV.
The third guy was queen. And I think people will quickly
realize that anytime you hear someone say super dope or dope
that that's Jeremiah Fears. So that was the the clip that
seems to be his favorite word. So.
But yeah, I think, you know, to go back to some of what Joe
Dumars said, we knew a decent amount about, especially the
(06:18):
first, the two lottery picks from the the, the discussion
that we had on the previous podcast, the video that we've we
watched of them, but didn't I didn't necessarily know a lot
about them as people. And it's something that we've
learned a lot more about in the last few days speaking to, for
example, I spoke to Queens coachat Maryland.
I spoke to some of the AAU coaches that fears had in
(06:39):
Chicago. And the way I would kind of kind
of quickly describe them is fears is very intense.
He seems to be. One of his coaches said when he
was in second grade, he was one of those guys that was just
livid if he lost a one-on-one game.
And we're talking about a 7 yearold, an 8 year old, he still
kind of seems like he care. He just seems like a very
serious guy. When you listen to him be
interviewed, he's kind of a no nonsense guy.
(07:01):
Queen is definitely a fun lovingkind of guy.
He has a really good sense of humor.
We heard in the press conferencesome of his quotes and his his
Maryland head coach also said that he's one of those guys that
you can joke with and he'll comeright back at you.
He called him, he said he has kind of a New York City sense of
(07:21):
humor where it's like that ride dry humor, but he's really quick
to respond to an insult or, or kind of a fun ribbing.
So I think we saw that a little bit in the press conference too,
just getting to know a little bit more about both those guys.
And I think in both cases they're going to be for
different reasons. I think the fans are going to
really start to attach themselves and like them.
(07:44):
Fierce is kind of the underdog guy that throughout his career
earlier he was kind of a smallerplayer, played up against older
players, dominated despite the age difference, despite maybe
the height size difference. And then Queen is just one of
those guys that the, again, the Maryland coach talked about how
he's one of those people that you love to be around because
he's positive and he has a smileon his face all the time.
(08:06):
And it seemed like throughout the press conference, he was
constantly grinning and smiling and just cracking a little bit
of a joke. So interesting personalities
that are being added to the mix.I love it.
You know, one of the things thatI guess has come across to me
and especially and I get it. It's just Saturday, you know,
essentially and what you got little bit on Wednesday and
Thursday after the draft. I mean, PV was 35 seconds on
(08:29):
ESPN, right? But at the end of that Jimmy
talked about, hey, I'm going to prove that I'm the best defender
in the NBA. You talk about Jeremiah fears
and that attitude and the swag they sort of has.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with having a chip on your
shoulder and wanting to prove that each and every time.
Jim, you sat across from me herein in the podcast studio.
How many times this season? Well, that's what you wanted
(08:52):
from the Pells. I'd ask you, hey, what do we
want this tonight in the game orin the pregame?
You like to compete. That's a guy you're not going to
have to tell to compete. I like that.
And when it comes to Queen, the thing that was interesting, and
I'm sure you did it too that night after the draft, during
the draft, you're scrolling, you're looking on social media.
I, I couldn't find a single thing that didn't come across as
(09:14):
the Maryland fan base absolutelyloves this kid.
And I saw videos of him at hospitals playing with kids.
He's always smiling. The fans like this is our guy.
Congrats. Look, I, I understand that game
winner, you know, but but that'sthe other thing too.
And Joe Dumars even mentioned that, didn't he, on Saturday?
(09:35):
These guys win that that's what they do.
And and that was something that really stood out to me because
I, I guess maybe we're starting to see Jim a type or a fit.
Here's what would Joe Dumar's answer when he was asked, hey,
how do these guys fit? Because we've heard for so many
years, how do they fit with certain players?
How do they fit with this? I thought it was interesting
(09:56):
that Joe Dumar's define his version of fit this way.
So we just want guys who are smart, tough, competitive guys
with basketball Iqs. That's what every one of these
guys have. They have great basketball Iqs.
They're competitive, they play to win.
That's who we are. That's that's the the profile of
who we want all the players to be here at the Pelicans.
(10:17):
And so from that standpoint, when you draft guys and they
have those qualities, they'll figure out how to play with
other guys. But that's what high IQ is.
You don't have to tell high IQ guys how to play with somebody
else that that's why they're high IQ guys, because they know
how to do that. I think IQ is a word that has
been used a lot for Derek Queen.You watch some of the video of
(10:40):
him, just his passing, the way that he sees the floor and it
was people have said that, you know, he's one of the highest IQ
players in all of college basketball last season.
I think you can see that on someof the tape.
And then in terms of the toughness intensity, I think
both Fears and PV definitely fitthat category.
I'm curious to see what Michael PV can do on the defensive end
(11:02):
because that seems to be one of his forte's that he's like a
6667 guy who can be a wing defender.
And I believe he said he wants to be known as one of the best
wing defenders in the game. So I mean, there's definitely a
lot of confidence from all of these guys.
And I think even though there's a lot of youth here, especially
with Queen and Fears, they both did not play like 1819 year olds
(11:27):
throughout their college season.That was a thing that really
stood out to me that I want to get to 2 as well.
Jim, what is he, a freshman of the year in the FCC top
conference, probably in college basketball last year.
You don't come in and become thestarting point guard of a team
there and do what he did and play the way he didn't get
drafted where you are. If you don't have that right,
maybe that it factor or not. And again, look, but we I
(11:50):
mentioned it, the game winner, you know, for Maryland, I having
guys that want to do that, that embrace that moment and aren't
afraid of it. And I always find it funny
because I was like the I always say the people that you know,
you have the keyboard coaches and you know, the film scouts on
social media, you know what, what do you look at how to fit
(12:10):
the numbers and all the different things.
And, and I what's crazy to me isthese kids are so young, as you
mentioned, yet I've shown certain traits and things that
you would love to have in this organization.
And when you think of, I would say the top three players on
this roster on this franchise right now and why I think
they're going to win or not whenis based on these three, right?
It's it's Zion, it's Trey and it's Herb and those guys he saw
(12:33):
get better by the year. He's talking about summer
league, Trey Murphy, the jump between 1:00 and 2:00.
Herb Jones went from he didn't shoot 2 knocking down threes and
becoming the first team all pro in the subsequent year.
So these kids haven't even started yet.
So I find it a little interesting when there's, I
don't know, some criticism aboutwhere where some of these guys
(12:54):
going out. What do you make of that?
Yeah, I mean, I mean, one thing too that I think is worth
pointing out is that, you know, going back again to an objective
measure, which to methenba.com consensus mock draft is
objective. It takes all of the different
websites and averages out together.
The Pelicans and the Spurs, the only two teams that got more
than one player from the Top 14.So the Spurs got Carter Bryant
(13:18):
with the 14th pick and obviouslythey took Dylan Harper second.
The Pelicans got the 7th best player, Jeremiah Fears, who was
very accurately, I guess in hindsight projected at 7th by
the nba.com measurement. And then Queen was 9th.
So I mean, just that part of it I think is important.
I do think to some extent, I'm not sure how much I want to get
into this at this part of the show, but I do think the fit
(13:41):
stuff is overrated in terms of like, you want to get really
good players in and then you figure out like, OK, we even
know what these guys are going to do, what we know generally
what they do well, but we don't know how some of the different
stuff translates to the NBA. So when I hear people talking
about like, you know, you can't take care of Queen because how
does he fit in with Zion? I have like 57 questions I need
(14:02):
to have answered first before I even get to that part.
So I just think we're getting ahead of ourselves a little bit
with some of the stuff where youtalk about fit.
I mean it, I think the most important thing, especially when
you're picking at this part of the draft, is to get the best
player that you could possibly get, keep adding to your talent
base, and then go from there. I mean, there's just so many
(14:22):
questions they have to be addressed before we can even
start worrying about some of those, like minor specifics.
Yeah, no doubt. Before we get into those
specifics, I'm going to ask you because I I know you're itching
to give me your hot take or at least your your opinion on some
of the specific criticisms when it comes to one of the pals
draft picks. But but as I said, those
(14:44):
keyboard scouts, I was like to look at certain things on film.
Here's what Joe says he looks at.
You know, when you're doing this, you're not really trying
to compare to someone else. You see the skill sets that each
one of these young guys have. And what you're trying to figure
out is can that fit the style ofplay that we want to play?
And so I'll go back to this again and say this.
(15:04):
These are three high IQ basketball players.
These are three tough guys. These are three competitors and
all three of them have impacted winning.
That's really what I'm looking at.
Like to compare it to someone else maybe a little bit.
You look at that, but that's notthe primary thing you do.
You want to make sure that theseare the guys that are going to
help you win here in New Orleans.
(15:26):
All right. So that's the first time, Jim,
maybe perhaps that we're really hearing what the philosophy of a
Joe Dumars run basketball organization is.
Yeah. I mean, I think, you know, I did
not closely follow Oakland or Oakland, Oklahoma, Maryland and
Georgetown's seasons. But I mean, in the case of both
Oklahoma and Maryland, the two players that the Pelicans got in
(15:49):
the lottery, both were the best players on teams that achieved a
ton. Maryland was ninth in the final
AP poll. They made it to the Sweet 16.
Oklahoma was one of the last undefeated teams across all of
college basketball and Division One.
So, I mean, and these two guys in terms of Joe Dumars talking
about how they impact winning, Ithink, you know, you saw it was
very evident that these guys immediately came into their
(16:11):
college teams and and made a bigsplash in the win column.
No doubt. All right, let's get specific
about some of these players in in particular.
Let's start with obviously the first player that went and that
was Jeremiah Fears had this to say on the Bells drafted him.
Man, it was it was super dope. I'm in my workout.
I came down here and just from my personal experience, I
thought I did really well duringthe workout.
(16:33):
Seemed like they were kind of excited a little bit and I was
excited as well. So like Derek said, it all
worked out for for the better. I'm excited to be down here.
Got to meet some of some of my guys and man, it's going to be
super fun. We going to bring a lot to New
Orleans and it's going to be a show.
I wasn't even at the workout, Gus and I was also excited about
(16:55):
fear, so. So that should tell you.
Yeah, No, I mean, I think he's one of those guys, too.
I think that is going to be beyond his personality.
Do yourself a favor, if you're aPelicans fan, watch some video
on YouTube. It's readily available of some
of his plays and his highlights from college.
I think his style of play is going to be something that
people really embrace. Somebody who covers Oklahoma and
(17:17):
they talked about how just he, Imean, there's a video I think on
YouTube that says Jeremiah Fear is the most exciting guard in
high school basketball from whenhe was maybe a junior or senior.
And you watch just some of the crafty ball handling moves and
reverse layups and stuff that hehas.
I think he's going to be somebody that went, you might
like him now listening to him speak, but when you watch him
(17:38):
play, I think you're really going to enjoy his style.
So, Jim, one of the questions you asked about Jeremiah Fears
was the role his family played. What did you want to know?
Yeah, I thought it was interesting because speaking to
a couple of his AAU coaches and youth basketball coaches, they
talked about how his father, whose name is Jeremy Fears, got
on the court physically with him.
(17:58):
And one of the ways that he improved his ball handling was
his dad would just go out there and play defense against him,
you know, turn him different directions, make him play
against live defense. And one of the things that his
coaches talked about was that his dad was very instrumental in
his ball handling getting so good because instead of having
him just do like some of the cone drills, which he also did
(18:19):
those. But a lot of what he did was
dribble up the floor against hisolder brother, who's two years
older than him, Jeremy, Jeremy Junior and his father.
So they both believed in that. He needs to learn under game
conditions. And I think that's one of the
reasons why his ball handling isso good because he wasn't just
dribbling against air, he was dribbling against members of his
(18:39):
family. So that's why I asked that
question about the impact. I thought that was really
interesting kind of anecdote. I love that.
So while Carver eats dinner tonight, just want me to throw
like some tennis balls at him and stuff like that just so we
can work on his baseball dodgingskills and things.
You. Can let him finish dinner first
but then then throw the. Stuff out yes, that's right.
Just out of nowhere. He's coming out the shower and
watch out, you know, start toss.I love that look, as you
(19:02):
mentioned a little bit earlier, it's gonna be fun to kind of see
and, you know, the Summer leaguegames with him and and he almost
get the sense and feel he wants to prove himself.
All right, let's get to it, man.Derek Queen, your thoughts on
him? Here's what he had to say about
the Pelicans drafting him. 20 seconds.
I really wasn't sure where I wasgoing to end up at, but I'm glad
it all worked out because this is one of my favorite spots and
(19:24):
and I definitely wanted to end end up here.
And then it was just like a lot of nerve when it was going on.
And then I just kept bugging my agent and then it like I said,
it just all worked out. You have something over in
pelicans.com that we're going totease here in a quick SEC, but
just Derrick Queen more that stands out to you about the
(19:45):
criticism about it in the pic ormore about the type of player
that he is? Yeah, I'll go with for at this
point, I'll go with the type of player he is.
I just think he's really unique.I mean, his teammates call him
Baby, called him Baby Yokich at Maryland.
I think if you watch the video of him, you'll see he's not
crazy athletic. He's is, he's not quick that
(20:06):
quick either, but he he plays atlike his own pace and his
passing is really good. His his Maryland coach talked
about how just he has a methodical approach to the game
and also kind of bristled at theidea that he's not athletic
enough. And he also used the comparison
of basically, you know, he didn't use specific names, but
(20:28):
it it come brings to mind like Luka, Doncic, Shay Gill, just
Alexander in terms of that. You can't speed them up.
He's a totally different player than those guys.
Obviously different position andeverything, but there's certain
players that play at their own speed.
And you say to yourself, how is this guy so successful when it
doesn't look like he's really moving that fast or, you know,
piercing the defense at a rapid rate?
(20:48):
It when you watch the tape of Queen, you see that a lot.
Citrus say I know what Yokich almost looks like it.
Do you know where the gym is? But that's the guy's incredible,
isn't it? And he seems like he's in slow
motion, but he gets the job doneconstantly.
And is it multi multi time MVP? I'm not comparing him to Yokich
everybody. I'm just saying that that's what
the the kind of the comparison that his teammates made came
(21:09):
from. No doubt.
All right, PV on being drafted. I had a really good workout
here. I'm, I saw the type of guys this
organization likes to bring defensive minded guys.
So yeah, I thought this could bea place where I can succeed
that. So I'm just, I'm just glad they
took a chance on you. Basketball family, that's where
he comes from, right? Yeah, I think so.
And by the way, I always love itwhen a guy talks defense too,
(21:30):
because we know, I mean, the vast majority of the players who
play in the NBA, the reason, thebeginning reason that they were
considered for the league is because they're great offensive
players and they were the best player on their team.
But he has seems to have the awareness already of like, the
way that I can carve out a role in a niche is to be like Herb
Jones and focus on the defensiveend and go from there.
(21:50):
It's a very smart approach, I think.
All right, man, I got about fourminutes here, Jim, I, I got to
ask you the naysayers, the criticism.
What do you, what do you got to say about it?
I mean, Joe kind of has his own thing here and then you can give
it to me. I've.
Been doing this way too long to give credence to naysayers.
I will say this though, we're going to try our own path here.
(22:15):
We're not going to go buy any ofanyone else's playbook.
And so these are the guys that we really, really wanted as
Pelicans and we're super, super happy to have them here.
But make no mistake, we're goingto try our own path here, and
we're not planned by anybody else's book.
You're giving me 4 minutes. I might need 14, but I'm going
to do the best I can to keep it to four.
(22:37):
Now. I think it's important when we
talk about a lot of things that this is my, one of my takeaways
on the discussion about the NBA and trades and draft picks is
there's a segment of people thatI think a lot of media members,
fans belong to that I would callNBA asset Twitter.
And when I say that is they theyconsider assets more important
(22:58):
than almost any anything else. It's important to manage your
assets. It's important to value picks
properly. I get it, but I do think we're
at the point as a league where Ifeel like there's, I've kind of
half jokingly said this to people here and there lately.
There's people that think a 2032first round pick is better than
a 6th man who's on your team right now who can help you win a
(23:20):
game today. Not somebody who's in 6th grade
right now or 7th grade. Even the twenty 26th pick is in
college right now. He's not going to be, he's not
going to be able to help you wina game next.
Season. You don't even know who that is.
Right, exactly. A couple other quick points I
want to make too. I've heard a few people say the
Pelicans traded 2 first round picks for Derrick Queen.
(23:41):
Incorrect. If I call if I'm AGM and I have
the 23rd pick and I call anotherGM and say hey I got the 23rd
pick, will you trade me the 13thpick for it?
Straight up they would be like are you insane?
It's not 2 picks. The price of moving up was next
year's draft pick. So let's please get that
straight. It was one pick that they
traded, not next year's. Another point quickly, because I
(24:03):
know we don't have a lot of time, people have brought up the
point about should there have been protections on the pick.
I get it. I understand that's a reasonable
thing to say. OK.
Should it have been top 4 protected?
I understand. Here's the thing though, if
you're the other GM, would you, would you give, would you put a
top four protection on a pick knowing that you're trading this
(24:25):
year's number 13? If you give up, if you trade
that pick, but it's top 4 protected, that means the only
way that you actually improve the position of that pick is if
next year's is exactly between 5th and 12th.
So you're talking about a tight range here.
If you make it top 10 protected,it would have to be 11 or 12 in
next year's draft for that to bean improvement from the 13th
(24:47):
pick that you're trading this year, in which case it would
have to be exactly 11th or 12th for it to even be worth it.
So I think we we need to factor that into the discussion as
well. When people say that, it's like,
yeah, it would be great to have a protection on the pick.
But if you try to put that in there, maybe the other GM says
it's not worth me doing it now based on all the reasons that I
(25:08):
just listed. So those are some of my takes.
I definitely need more time to kind of lay out my my vision for
overall of some of my opinions. That's kind of in a nutshell the
way I look at it that it's we'regetting to the point where the
future stuff, what could be is always it's getting to the point
(25:29):
where anything in the future is more attractive than what we
actually have right now. So it's funny to what last thing
I'll say quickly on this to talking to football people, they
it boggles their mind. I think this is really an NBA
thing where it's like what's behind the the the mystery door
in the future is always more is always better than any present
(25:52):
thing. I think for a lot of people,
they love the the appeal of the dream of what a pick in the
future could be. But then as soon as you actually
have that player, I mean, we sawthis with Anthony Davis trade.
If you think about it, they amassed a ton of assets in the
future, but the problem is, is that eventually when those
assets come into play, when you actually have to draft a human
being who has to perform at basketball, not your vision of
(26:15):
what this potentially could be down the road when you actually
have the tangible. So now the asset has turned into
something on the court, something that is no longer, you
know, a utopian vision of what a2039 pick could be.
That's where the execution of it.
Part of it is. And I think in this case
specifically with Derrick Queen,you have a player that obviously
(26:36):
Joe Dumars and the front office love, love the guy and they want
to have him on the court in uniform next season because they
think his potential is really high.
Now, last thing, the debates about where next year's pick is
going to be very interesting. I also think valid, you know, a
team comes off a 21 win season and you're concerned that it's
(26:57):
going to be they're going to have to make a massive
improvement to not be in the lottery again next season, not
finish out of the playoffs. But the last thing I'll say on
that part of it too is you can tell me what you think about
this too, Gus, you were around, you've been around, you were on
all last season. I do think that there's people,
in fairness to them, they don't watch the Pelicans every single
game. They haven't religiously
(27:17):
followed the last few seasons. To me, I'm a little astounded.
Maybe you can accuse me of beingbiased here, a little bit of a
Homer. When I hear people say, as I've
heard a few times say, are the Pelicans even going to win 21
games next season? It blows my mind because I'm
like, that would be valid if youdidn't, if you factored out the
part that they won as of in April of 2024, which was by my
(27:39):
calendar was 16 months ago they won or 14 months ago they won 49
games. They were.
They were within an eyelash of being a top six seed.
Granted, some of the roster has changed.
I get it. But you have to factor in they
won 21 games last year because not only did they have a season
where everything that could go wrong went wrong, but I think
after everything that went wrongcould go wrong, there was still
(28:02):
more stuff after that that took place that made it result in the
21 win. So I just it frustrates me fans.
You can let me know what you think about this.
But when I hear people say are they even a 25 win team next
season with some of the players they have, I just I just don't
understand it. Like to me, that's going way too
far. I think it's it's fair.
Is it fair to say, you know, it's going to be difficult for
(28:23):
them to make the playoffs. Maybe they don't make the
playoffs. Yes, but is it just is it just,
is it reasonable to say that this team is one of the worst
teams in the league without factoring in that they had a
ridiculous amount of injuries? That's last season.
That's the part that is really frustrating to me, that we
watched this team be very competitive in recent years.
Last year was the outlier. The years before that they won
(28:45):
4942 and then 36 the year that they played Phoenix in the first
round of the playoffs. So I don't see this as a bottom
dwelling team. I see this as a team that had a
ridiculous amount of guys missedgames and that was the number
one. The probably the the eight
biggest reasons why they won 21 games was because they had guys
sidelined last year. No, no doubt.
And I think one of the things, and I get it, sometimes your
(29:05):
reputation is earned rightfully or not right.
Sometimes perception can become reality.
Wasn't Zion the number one overall pick?
I mean, he was right. I mean, and I understand he
hasn't played a playoff game. I get it.
But he was the number one overall pick and we saw in the
second-half of this past season,man, when he's healthy, he can
dominate. I, I, we did see that.
(29:25):
Sure, Trey Murphy's a guy that Imean, arguably guy's an All Star
caliber player. Now, does he, you know, become
that way or not? But what I'm saying is he's he's
not bad at basketball. Herb Jones, you mentioned the
injuries there. This is the guy that came off of
making that first team. All defense was one of the best
3 point shooters on the team theseason before that.
(29:47):
I just so I I don't know that hemaybe he just wants to fish, not
basketball. I, I it's just crazy to me
because the Pels are going to win if those three guys play and
if those three guys play well and, and look, I get it.
There's a lot of different othermoves that may be happening and
things of that nature. But I don't know man, when the
city fell in love with this teamand pushed the Phoenix Suns the
(30:09):
top seed back in the day gym. It's because of hustle defense,
kind of that tenacity, never give up sort of mentality.
I mean Willie Green's famous yougot to fight right?
Bringing in guys that have high basketball IQ and I get to have
been played bringing in guys that have showed winning though
at certain levels. That's something Joe Dumar's
brought in and bringing in guys that are excited about competing
(30:34):
in summer league when a lot of people like, call me in October.
I yeah, I can't hate, you know what I'm saying?
Like I can't. That doesn't make me upset.
I I kind of, I don't know. I'm with you.
I let's bring on the naysayers, man.
I think that's another X Factor is we don't know how much the
rookies are going to contribute,but they could have an impact.
(30:54):
And if you if you're assessing the team and saying, jeez, are
they going to win 20 games? I mean, it's possible that both
rookies could make a a dent thisseason to make them an improved
team beyond all of the veteran guys that you just listed in
terms of I'm pretty sure they didn't forget how to play
basketball over the last few months.
So, you know, another quick thing, I'll make point.
I'll make 2 in terms of the outlook of the team overall.
(31:16):
The I want to make 2 comparisonsfor the Pelicans.
One to Memphis, another to Washington.
The first one is Memphis. Memphis last season had an
injury. Two seasons ago they had such an
injury riddled season. But when when last season
started, nobody was like, oh, this is one of the worst teams
in the league because they understood that the Grizzlies
had so many injuries and that was why they went to the bottom
(31:37):
of the standings in 120 something games in the 2324
season. The Pelicans have not.
This recent version of the Pelicans has not accomplished as
much as the Grizzlies have in recent years.
I grant that the Grizzlies were a two seed a couple times in in
this decade, but I make the comparison to say that you gave
the Grizzlies a ton of benefit of the doubt because they had a
(31:59):
season where they had tons of guys injured.
But it feels like the Pelicans in a lot of circles got zero
benefit of the doubt as we go into next season in terms of
what their potential is with their roster.
Second point, when I compare them to the Wizards, what I say
is you could look at the standings and say the Pelicans
won 21 games last year. The Wizards won 19.
If you didn't know anything about basketball, you would say,
(32:20):
I guess those two teams are pretty comparable.
I guess their outlook is the same.
I mean, the Pelicans only won two more games in the Wizards.
But I do not have to sit here. It would be a, it would be a
slap in the face for me to sit here and explain to Pelicans
fans that the Pelicans probably have a little bit better roster
and outlook. And I don't mean this as a
slight to the Wizards, but I bring up that example to say you
(32:41):
can't just look at the Wizards won 19 games, the Pelicans won
21, therefore they're equally competitive going forward.
I mean, that's just ridiculous. I think I'll, I think I've, I
think I'll end there. I try not to get too upset and
emotional. I think I mostly reigned it in,
but I I think I'll stop there, Gus.
Yeah, it's OK. I hear you, man.
I before we let you go here, gotabout a minute.
(33:03):
Go ahead and tease a a, a, a in depth article on Derek Queen
coming up here. And and obviously you probably
touch on the criticism part of it.
And I look, I love the fact thatfrom Joe Dumars talking about
the Sean Timber. We're going to talk a little bit
a lot about where the team is and all the stuff is once the
summer league comes. And again, a a host of you guys
are going to be over there. So it's going to be fun podcast.
(33:25):
We'll have that for you fans. So stay with us.
But I I love the hey, we're taking things head on approach
from Joe Dumars. And I don't know if Derrick
Queen heard him on Wednesday kind of talk about that with
other aspects of the team. But I love when he was asked
about it, you know, and look, you can't hide from social media
today and what people feel or orsay and is what he had to say
(33:46):
about the criticism. You can end with that.
Yes, definitely, because I mean I'm I'm going to say, hey, I
don't think nobody in in that class ever going to be better
than me. So I block all the noise out and
then he got a lot of faith in me.
Most of those guys I beat on at high school.
(34:09):
So it don't it don't really it don't really matter, but just
got to continue. I know that the NBA is a whole
different level. So just got to continue getting
better. Don't get too big headed, don't
get too low and just and and just just beat on them next year
when they when they come, when they come in and and and make
Jonah like a JS. You know, obviously.
(34:29):
This is an audio platform, so you can't see his face, but I
thought his answer was great. And if you see his the look on
his face too, you can see he kind of has a grin the whole
time, especially when he first hears the question.
So I thought that answer was a good summary of what his
personality is like. And you mentioned the article I
wrote. It was really a lot about his
just what kind of guy he is, hissense of humor, his coach, Kevin
(34:54):
Willard. Kevin Willard, I mentioned him
earlier as the Maryland coach. I probably should put a name to
that. Kevin Willard was awesome
talking to him on the phone on Saturday before the press
conference. And he just goes through a lot
of different traits that Derek Queen has.
So I, I think it's worth reading.
I mean, I'm, I'm also a little biased because I wrote the
article, but I think it's worth checking out just to kind of
(35:16):
learn a little bit more about him.
And I had a great time speaking with Coach Willard, just
learning more about what Derek Queen is like and really also
how much Willard enjoyed coaching him for his one season
at Maryland. I love that and again, I you can
do a lot worse than than gettingguys that are described as high
level basketball like you guys, team guys, winners, people that
(35:37):
have been in positions to take, you know, shots that they can
help win games or just things ofthat nature.
And it's all about that. I I look again, we'll see what
happens, but I'm excited. I I know this next week or when
summer league starts here, we have four games we know for a
factor. We'll see the dates and times
already couple of back to backs already, which is almost like
the right season, right? And then you have that fifth
(36:00):
game is going to come. So looking forward to the
coverage again. Stay with us, Mr. Jim, I can
offer pelicans.com. When were that article and
subsequent articles coming up? Too right?
Yeah, Monday is going to Monday.It's already up, actually, the
Dairy Queen article. And then I have something I'm
working on this week about Jeremiah Fears in terms of his
background from Chicago and someof the influence that his family
(36:21):
and his youth basketball had on him.
And so look forward to that. And by the way, Gus, lastly, how
excited are we for summer leagueright now?
I've talked to a bunch of peoplewho've said, you know, based on
the combination of the draft picks and listening to them
speak at the press conference Saturday, I've heard various
people say, man, this is the most pumped.
I am to fur to watch summer league in a in a while.
(36:42):
So man, I'm looking forward to being there.
We'll be there in person for thefirst couple games in Vegas and
reporting for the podcast live from from Nevada after I get
away from the craps tables. And so I'm I'm pumped.
I'm I'm really excited and readyto go.
I know the first night of the league, July 10th, you're going
to see Cooper flag and some of the other players, but Pelicans
(37:03):
I think have one of the first ormaybe it might be the first game
that day against the Timberwolves.
So man, it's going to be fun to see these guys get out on the
court and play. And I'm looking forward to your
in depth 45 minute breakdown against the Lakers and Brawny
James. Looking forward, excellent and.
I and I will have some help. I I believe I will have some
help from someone else. We'll have, we'll have a couple
(37:24):
guests on the show out there that'll and their job for that
one will be to rein me in probably.
Well, like I said, we all know that that term, the wise guys,
right? Well, Jim Ikenhofer, Will
Guillory, Andrew Lopez, just going up and down the strip.
Who knows what's going to happen, man.
As always, been appreciated. And again, I'm with you.
Let's say I'm excited we have a little basketball to talk about
(37:46):
over the next two weeks. As always, appreciate you for
tuning us in. You've been listening to the New
Orleans Pelicans Podcast presented by New Age Products,
the official garage and outdoor kitchen provider of your New
Orleans Pelicans. Some Gus Gatenglements you might
can offer. We'll see you next time on the
New Orleans Pelicans Podcast. Thanks for listening to the New
Orleans Pelicans Podcast. Join us three times per week on
(38:07):
pelicans.com, the Pelicans mobile app, the iHeartRadio app,
or where you get your podcast. And be sure to give Jim and Gus
a follow on X and Jim under score I can offer and G cap
under score 17. We'll see you next time right
here on the New Orleans PelicansPodcast.
Host
Jim Eichenhofer
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.