July 14, 2025 • 49 mins
On the New Orleans Pelicans Podcast for Monday, July 14, 2025, Jim Eichenhofer and Gus Kattengell are joined by Pelicans Radio Play-by-Play Announcer Todd Graffagnini to discuss Summer League 2025 Game 2 against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Hear from Jeremiah Fears, Antonio Reeves and Summer League head coach Corey Brewer as Graff and the guys discuss the courtside photo Pels fans are talking about!
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Episode Transcript
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(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 everyone and welcome to the New Orleans Pelicans
Podcast, the official podcast ofyour New Orleans Pelicans.
Mr. Jim, I can offer pelicans.com does Kat and go
with you here as well. Going to hear from the radio
voice of your New Orleans Pelicans, Todd Graffiti here in
a little bit. Plus, of course, head coach
(00:48):
Corey Brewer and a couple of theplayers that participated in the
second Summer League game as we will recap that since we last
checked batted with you, they played the Lakers.
In the meantime, we're going to get you ready for that and also
the back-to-back on Tuesday and Wednesday will close out the
Summer League schedule set of games on Tuesday and Wednesday
(01:10):
against the Blazers and Thunder.9:00 Tuesday, 8:30 on Wednesday.
Then depending on the standings and and such, Jim, we'll find
out when they play again. Everyone's guaranteed at least
five games, but it ties into a championship and all that.
And obviously being Owen to not going to have to worry about
Monday's championship game, but they will play a fifth game.
We just don't know when and who yet.
(01:32):
We'll find out after Wednesday. Jim, overall, First off, thanks
for, you know, coming in. You just got back yesterday.
I did. Did you sleep at all?
Did you have fun? I slept a lot on the plane.
I had a direct flight which was great, so I spent most of those
three hours asleep, so that was excellent there.
We go fun in the sun. I mean, I always hear it's the
(01:55):
dry heat. I went the last two hot is hot,
man 110112115IS still hot. But overall, what was your
experience off the basketball court?
Like, yeah, you know, Gus, I have one major regret from my
stay in Las Vegas. And it wasn't that I lost a lot
of money and I'm in debt now. It wasn't, you know, that I was
out too late one night. It was actually that on one of
(02:17):
the mornings when I went to breakfast, I saw Minnesota head
coach Chris Finch, who used to be an assistant coach here.
And my one big regret as I afterI left the restaurant, I
realized I did not thank him forwhat he did in the first round
of the playoffs against the Lakers.
I did not thank him for that. I I should have told him, like
(02:37):
on behalf of myself and pretty much everyone else in the
league, thank you for what you accomplished and how you ended
their season. So no doubt.
So yeah, it was, it was a a regretful moment that I wish I
could take back. And I tell you, the T Wolves had
a an interesting run last year once they got into postseason
after that series win against LA.
(02:58):
But yeah, look, and then your reward was to see the Lakers in
person, at least the summer league roster there.
And Brawny James, the king was there.
The king was courtside, yes. How was that?
He was sitting right in front ofme actually really, he said he
he came. I did not strategically place
myself right behind him and all the photos that took, but yeah,
you, you can see me looking around in the background and a
(03:21):
bunch there was like 17. I'm not even exaggerating.
There's like 17 people who walked out on the court after he
sat down to take a picture of him from 5 feet away.
So I was not surprised when I saw myself.
You're. A bunch of those photos.
I love that. Yeah, I was joking with people.
I said, you know, this guy already took our franchise
player in 2019. He kind of embarrassed the
(03:43):
Pelicans in the first ever NBA Cup semifinals, and now he's
going to steal my camera time aswell.
That's right. What else is this guy going to
do to to agitate me, Gus? Taking away your anonymity, now
everybody knows what you're doing the entire time the king
was there. But also, look, I kind of want
to bring this up and we'll get into the game.
Your thoughts? Haven't seen two games in person
here as well, and a couple of their workouts and all that, but
(04:06):
there was a photo that the team posted out there as well.
Man, it was really nice seeing newest members of the Pels
alongside with some of the current vets of the team
courtside watching back on Saturday.
Yeah, it's a deep Bay. Jordan Poole was there.
Trey Murphy was there, Kevon Looney was there, Jose Alvarado
and Dejonte Murray was there. Arm around Jose basketball, you
(04:30):
know, clutched in his left arm under his arm there.
I, I like that on a couple of levels.
But more importantly, are you surprised that John Tim Murray
has a basketball in his heart ready to go?
You, you know he's eager to kindof get in that.
But look man, I I saw that photoand the first thing that popped
in my head was if we Photoshop Herb and we Photoshop Zion,
that's that. That's the Pels kind of core
(04:53):
going into this season. Am I wrong on that?
No, I think you're right. I mean by the way too, I mean
it's got to have been a really tough like last six months for
Dejante Mario, if you think about that, he had the Achilles
tear on January 31st and it it is almost six months later.
So he's got to be itching to getback on the court.
I guess we'll find out later, maybe in the offseason of what
his timetable is going to be. But back to the photo.
(05:14):
And the I think they also, they also all did a video that the
Pelicans social team posted. So, yeah, I mean, it was it was
good to see those guys all together and just be reminded of
of some of the weapons that thisteam has.
And also, I do feel like after you have a season of 21 wins, it
is easy to forget how much some of these guys have accomplished
(05:36):
in their first four years of their career.
In the case of, you know, Trey Murphy, Jose Alvarado and Herb
Jones have all been here since the 2021 draft or I guess
undrafted for Jose. So yeah, they've they've won a
lot of games here. The guys that have been here.
It's just obviously didn't happen last season.
But I do like to be reminded sometimes and remind people that
(05:57):
they won 49 games two years ago.They won 42 the year before
that. They won 36 the year before that
and made the playoffs and went up against Phoenix after getting
through the play in tournament. So I mean, just happy to see a
bunch of those guys in together and looking forward to seeing
what they can do in the fall. You know, if we had much chance
on it, just give me a quick 30 to 60 seconds here.
I think it is a big deal. Herb Jones getting that contract
(06:19):
extension late last week on Miami Flu on the Radar.
A couple people's the weekend stuff.
These came out on Thursday Jim, I there was chatter on social
media knew how it works if it's on, you know, Twitter, it must
be real, which I'm being sarcastic about it, but you
know, oh, Trey Murphy is going to be Trey Herb Jones could be
Trey We know when it comes to toHerb Jones, you don't give an an
(06:41):
extension like that if a you're thinking of moving on.
I look at it as a clear message from ownership from the front
office. He's a foundational piece.
He's an integral part of our, you know, team moving forward.
We know from Willie Green last year, guys already taking steps
and to be a team leader, A-Team captain and such.
(07:03):
But when you saw that pop up across your your screen, you got
the e-mail that says, hey, contract extension Herb Jones,
what immediately popped in your head?
I mean, I, I love it because theguy's also a massive fan
favorite. I mean, he's one of the most
beloved, not just athletes in New Orleans, but I think people
just the fan base is in love with the guy.
(07:23):
And and also too, I mean, to me,I took a lot of the quote UN
quote trade rumors as more otherteams want him and not that the
Pelicans were interested in moving him anywhere else.
Same thing with Trey Murphy. It's like you start seeing his
name and trade rumors and you'relike, of course these other
teams see a team that won 21 games and they think, oh, OK,
it's it's it's yeah, it's open season now.
(07:45):
The Sharks are circling. So I mean, it, a lot of stuff
was just so worthless and I don't need to get go on a rant
here before we even get into theshow.
But yeah, no, I I was happy to see that Herb was extended.
The guy deserves it. And I mean, also, I'm not going
to get into money too much in salary cap and stuff like that.
But I mean, he's on a good deal as well.
(08:06):
So great to see. Good news for the Pelicans, Good
news. Good news for Herb Jones.
Thanks to Madeline Adams and Fox8 for having me on yesterday.
Talk about the pelts. But I mentioned our podcast and
in particular, one of the thingsthat stood out to me last year
in a season that, you know, wasn't way.
It was when we had Herb Jones's high school basketball coach on
when they were retiring his jersey and and his number over
(08:29):
there at his high school and thestories he told about him.
And I know it was a big theme ofthat podcast in particular.
But Jim it's remarkable to thinkof draft day second round that
player to now it's what third contract numbered jersey retired
in high school team leader thirddeal.
(08:51):
It's it's pretty remarkable, isn't it?
Well, I don't think anybody could have thought about that.
I mean, and also across 2, two different management groups now,
right? I mean, he was valued obviously
with David Griffin in the group there and even Tracian Langdon
and all those guys. Some of those are no longer
here. And now we have a whole nother
set of eyes and they're like, here's an extension that.
That's why I guess I'm trying topaint the picture here.
(09:12):
A remarkable time in a short amount of time.
No, no. I mean, when you're a second
round pick, a lot of these guys that get drafted in a round two
aren't even sure if they're going to make the team that
rookie season. So now, I mean, we knew I think
within a few games of his of theregular season of his rookie
year that he was going to be somebody that had staying power.
(09:33):
But it's like, I mean, now you figure this guy's going to be in
the league 1215 years after being picked in the second
round. So, so yeah, it's been it's been
really cool to see the way that he's developed over his time
that he's been here. But I mean, he was immediately,
it was his. I think it was like his second
game in the NBA. Willie Green was like this guy's
got to be in the starting lineupand there's not going to be a
(09:54):
way, there's going to be no way to keep hit this guy off the
floor because he's a crucial member of the squad, especially
defensively. I think it's interesting here
that that something that stood out when I was thinking about
this as well, Jim is, I would say when he got here too, right?
I mean, look, he's a defensive player almost reared in the
three-point circus started over the last 2-3 years where
everybody's, you know, shooting 4350 threes, whatever.
(10:17):
And then this past year, this past playoff, this past final,
so much attention on defenders, teams that have guys that can
stop and make it uncomfortable for the three-point shooters.
You look at OKC, the Champs fromLou Lou Dort to Williams to, you
know, teams now looking for defensive players and personnel.
(10:39):
So it's crazy. It's almost like the bells were
ahead of the the curve or it just happened to be that way.
But don't you find that interesting how five years ago,
like, oh man, are we going to get just a defensive guy that
doesn't score and you're going to use one of five spots for
that player to now, like you said, other teams are looking
for that defensive stock player.And I know Drew Holiday did that
for Boston and all that, but youknow, what's kind of rare, but I
(11:02):
almost feel like, you know, it makes sense, if that makes
sense. Yeah, I mean, I think teams are
going to try to copy OKC or emulate them as much as they
possibly can. And I think the difficulty in
that is it's not easy to find guys like Herb Jones.
There aren't tons of these guys walking around.
And OKC was able to basically have a rotation that had, I
(11:22):
don't know, four or five guys that are can be in from year to
year could be in the conversation for all defense.
So I mean, you, you want to try to add as many of those guys
obviously, as you possibly can. But that's a lot easier said
than done. But yeah, I mean, I think that's
one reason why Herb is so valuable here too, is I mean,
the the two previous seasons to this one, they finished sixth in
(11:43):
defensive efficiency with him being a huge part of that.
This past season, he only played20 ish games and they dropped
all the way to 29th. Is that coincidence, Gus?
I would say definitely not. Yeah.
No doubt. All right, well, let's get to
that game on Saturday. Your quick thoughts on it as the
Pels do go down to the Lakers 9481.
Antonio Reeves, the leading scorer with 20 points.
(12:04):
Another back-to-back for Derek Queen.
Jeremiah Fears, double digits for him here as well.
Overall thoughts in the game andwe'll hear from Brewer, Queen
and Fears and also Antonio Reeves.
Yeah, I think really not just Saturday, but Thursday has had a
lot of the markings, unfortunately, of what you
sometimes see in Summer League, where there's just not a lot of
(12:25):
cohesiveness. And I think even though they've
given up a probably too many points in both games, especially
for Summer League with the gamesonly 40 minutes long, the
offense has been something that has to make major strides in the
next few games that they have left.
So I mean, that's one of the biggest takeaways.
I think we talked about after the opener against Minnesota
that I wanted to see more shooting efficiency, and that
(12:48):
didn't really happen. They did.
They definitely did a better jobof reducing the turnovers after
they had way too many of those against Minnesota.
But just a bunch of areas where offensively they just need to
look better. And whether it's individually or
or team wise, that's again I think what we're going to try to
look forward to or look to see Tuesday against Portland is just
(13:09):
them making a bunch of improvements to just make the
product look a lot better. Jeremiah fears aggressiveness is
something that was talked a lot about in those first two games.
Corey Brewer on that aggressiveness.
I like the aggressiveness, but you know, we got to make some
layers. You know, it's young, young
guys. You get into the realm, you
know, we got to work on you got to look at film and make realm
(13:31):
decision. You got to make it.
You got to make it or you got tobe able to Kick It Out, which is
something he's going to learn, you know, rather than do it now
than later. So it's good that he's getting
there. I love the aggressiveness and
he's going to get better and keep getting better.
And when you think of Jeremiah fears, you probably want an
assist or two, right? And to have none in the
second-half to six overall as a team, that's, that's
(13:52):
interesting. Here's what Fears had to say.
I mean, it's, it's, it's basketball Next game is we're
going to be we're going to be a lot better.
We're going to make our shots and we're just going to go
continue to play hard. Coach Brewer on the six assists.
We got to, we got to be more ball movement.
You know, we're running stuff, but everybody's ice on, you
know, it's a little bit on me. I got to get guys, put them in
situations to move the ball. We got to run more motion stuff,
(14:15):
contacts. Jim is kind of what I've been
telling people about that. It's, it's, it's summer league,
meaning players are there to shoot, players are there to
trying to get jobs, players are trying to prove themselves.
I it's, it's, it's different, right?
When you're trying to play a regular basketball game where
you're trying to find the open shot, almost feel like here, it
(14:36):
almost doesn't allow itself to be a high assist level game.
I don't know what how. What do you make of the six
assists? Yeah, I mean it.
It can be. It can be that way.
It doesn't have to be the kind of thing where people play ISO
ball and there's not a lot of ball movement, but it does lean
that way often based on the circumstances.
So, yeah, I mean, it's I mean, it's a big negative to have that
(14:58):
few assists in a game that I mean, it's not as long as the 48
minute game, but there's still plenty of time to come up with
more than six assists. By the way, it's funny because,
you know, people talk about players.
Welcome to the NBA moment. I don't not sure how many people
saw this. If you go back and watch the
video of and listen to the the sound of his postgame Jeremiah
fears postgame on Saturday. One of the reporters, I, I, this
(15:21):
is no disrespect or offense to the to this guy.
There was a guy there who none of us knew who he was, which is
kind of besides the point. But he said to Jeremiah flat
out, he's like, hey, man, you'rethe point guard, zero assist.
Doesn't that concern you? And it was kind of funny because
you just you're so not used to people being that direct and
that like brutally straightforward.
(15:42):
So it was, I thought he that wasthe question that he answered, I
believe in that clip. But it was just kind of funny.
I thought just to hear that exchange.
And he, I thought he handled it really well because I think a
lot of players would be like, who the heck are you, man?
To be, to be a get in my face like that.
So it's. Crazy as I cut that sound and
for the first two games and and obviously the training camp
(16:02):
practices here and we've mentioned it on a podcast.
I I'm impressed man by how Jeremiah fears conducts himself.
I I don't whether it's training,whether it's a trying to be stay
positive and being that mindset regardless.
I, I I have to be happy as a bells fan.
I mean, I just it's just and again, that's what I loved about
him and Queen and I kind of mentioned it to a couple other
(16:23):
people too. This isn't man, I don't know why
they didn't go. My shot just went in there.
Just normal stuff. They were very specific, man.
I got to make a better decision.Look, they're bigger in here.
I got to pick up my game. I got to understand my non pace
here when it comes to Queen. I got like they they knew
immediately what went wrong, what they have to do, what to
correct and how to take this in stride.
(16:44):
And then right after that be like, hey, we're going to get
him next time. He was asked about Brownie
James. Like I'll beat him next time.
Like I love that. You can't teach that.
I think one of the best compliments I could give to
fears about how he carries himself is that you constantly
have to remind yourself that he's only 18.
That's what I'm getting at. Because he doesn't sound like
that at all. And just the way he kind of
handles himself, you, you're just like, this dude just is
(17:07):
just turned old enough to be able to vote.
It's unbelievable. Right.
I mean, let's be honest, he point guarded a team in the SCCI
get it? But it was just one season.
It wasn't like he's had multipletournaments of experience or,
you know, injuries or dealing with, you know, coach being
fired or hired or, or transferring.
He doesn't have a lot of experience, but he sure sounds
(17:29):
like a guy that has that AntonioReeves 20 points for him.
I, you know me, I'm a huge Antonio Reeves fan.
Again, maybe it's because we gotto call him last year and I I
thought he had some moments where he took over games last
year. What do you make out of his 20
point performance? He's a solid and I think if you
didn't know anything about basketball, the NBA do.
(17:49):
Knew none of the players and youhad to pick out somebody said to
you, OK, who's the guy who played in the NBA the most last
year besides even me? See maybe you would say probably
that number 12 guy who's making a bunch of jumpers and he's just
playing steady basketball. He had an US one of the plays I
thought was one of the best highlights of the game.
He kind of stripped Brownie James in the back court and then
(18:10):
went in for a fast break basket.So I mean, he just he just
seemed like a guy that maybe themost was unfazed by the whole
situation and just some some of the challenges of summer league
where you have a bunch of players that you're not familiar
with and it's just kind of thrown together with with only a
few practices that. Was something you and I talked
about last year when we call thegame, it just doesn't seem
(18:31):
frazzled, you know, just just calm, just.
Yeah, exactly. Just a calming aspect of it.
Reeves on his game just. Staying locked in, staying
focus, trusting in my teammates.My teammates got me open and
just going out there and competing at the highest level.
I also thought it was interesting that because of
that, that experience, he understands, you know, one year
to another right from last year to this year in a growth because
(18:53):
I want to talk about Queen real quickly and then we'll get to
talk Rafini Radio, Voice of the Pelicans, our conversation with
him and his thoughts. He didn't speak after a game.
It was fears. It was Reeves and it was coach
Brewer, but another double double.
I'm going to ask you what do we make of that?
But in specifics with Reeves to wrap him up.
I loved how at the very end he was asked about how Queen plays
(19:17):
and how Reeves and those guys and and the pace that they play
with. And you know, it's something I
know you've brought up lots of blocks, shots against them,
their aggressiveness on that. Listen to how he answers.
I might think that would come upwith time.
You know, they're definitely young.
They're 1820 years old. And, you know, coming at this
level, you know, you need a little pace.
You know, with the college pace,it's definitely different.
(19:37):
You know, you running, running, running in college.
But NBA, you know, you got to slow down.
It's an interesting comment fromhim.
Yeah, I mean, I think one of my overall thoughts about Derrick
Queen after the first two games is I think he would probably
say, like you said, he didn't speak after Saturday's games,
but after Thursday's game, he was pretty adamant about I
didn't play well. There's a lot of things I wanted
(19:58):
to do better. And I think overall that's
probably how you would view his first two games.
So I mean, I'm looking forward to the rest of Summer League in
terms of just he's still been able to be relatively productive
even though he hasn't played that well with.
Having the 2 double double S. So I mean, there's just
different parts of his game thatyou want to see him keep
improving. You know, being more of a factor
on the defensive end is definitely one of those as well.
(20:21):
But but yeah, I think he's he's adjusting just like fears to the
athleticism that he's going against.
And it's funny because I had there are several people either
on Twitter or people texting me said, you know, why does he play
so slow? Doesn't he know he has to be,
you know, he has to attack more in the NBA because it's a
different level player that he'sgoing against it.
(20:42):
It's kind of the same thing where I say about Yokich.
It's like you can't tell Yokich,OK, dude, you need to play
faster because XYZ. And again, I'm not saying that
Queen is is Yokich at all in terms of where he is in his
career, but he I just don't think he's going to be one of
those guys that is going to playdifferently.
And so but I do think that thereare probably different decisions
(21:03):
that he needs to make. And maybe he does need to speed
up his decision making with the ball.
But you you just see he's just such a you can totally see why
he was considered such a unique player because it's just such an
odd game. It's like an off time.
It's like a drummer who's like off a beat.
But it still sounds right. You know what I mean?
(21:23):
Yeah. So, but yeah, I'm looking
forward to seeing him, you know,keep improving in the rest of
summer league. I tell you, I love the drummer
reference there the the offbeat drum.
Was a music teacher, so I. Got throwing them.
Well, there you go. Yeah, I took drum lessons and
that was one thing that we had to get into off, off beats.
I love that. Here's what Fears had to say on
Queen's own page. Playing at his own page, that's
(21:43):
what make his game unique. You don't see bigs being able to
do that, them slow steps and gettoday's spots and handle the
ball the way he does. So just continue to do what you
do and we going to continue to keep supporting him and cheering
him on and keep telling him don't get down on yourself.
It's it's the start of the season and just to get your feet
on me. Get into an 18 year old point
guard. I just fear sometimes it sounds
(22:06):
a little older and Reeves on Queen.
Man, it's crazy. I never seen nothing like it.
You know, he he so he pay, he play his own pace.
I can tell you that right now. And it's definitely different.
And you don't know what he's going to do on the floor when
you defend him. So again, it's interesting.
Just remember last year in summer league, Mesi was part of
that roster, right? He was a rookie going into it.
And little did we know in the short amount of time, even
(22:29):
though there was some time and it seems like short 9 to 10
weeks before training camp, by the time the first week of the
season came in October, even Mesi became a starter.
I'm not saying anything like that but Queen, but there's
there's a lot of time before we start getting to games that
we're going to be able to see the improvements with some of
these younger players. Todd Raffenina will be calling
those games again this season, of course, for the radio side of
(22:51):
things. And he had a chance to sit down
with us earlier this morning, give us his thoughts on the
first two games and on that photo we referenced where we saw
a lot of the veteran players andmaybe that core of this Pelicans
team this season. All right, we bring in the radio
voice of your New Orleans Pelicans, Mr. Jim, I can offer
Ty Graffenini. We called you Papa Giorgio back
on Friday because we knew you were tearing up the Las Vegas
(23:12):
Strip. Graff as you can see here in the
video there, there was Jimmy. He looks like his old self man.
So either he he did get sleep orhe time traveled or something
like that. Nature.
Stayed out of the sun too. That's my.
Yeah. How hot was it, Jim?
That's it. Was about 110, yeah.
So yeah, I did. I didn't go to the pool at all.
(23:33):
I mean, I really only had one day where we, I was there.
We didn't have a game. So he was working.
So yeah, he was working. I'm.
Working well. Glad you're back, Jim.
Glad you're. Back It's good to be.
Back he he was up close in personal graph looking at those
two games. The last one taking place of
course on Saturday night and it was the Lakers 9481 double
double by Derek Queen Jeremiah fears had double digit scoring.
(23:55):
Antonio Reeves led the team and scoring.
We just touched on that in the open here.
Just your overall thoughts on that game.
Then we'll get your thoughts on the first two games and then a
photo that you know the pals posted over the weekend that
maybe we can get into here as well.
But Todd, as you see it two games in the bag.
What do you take away, especially that game against the
Lakers? I, I think that the, they played
(24:18):
a little bit better. I would have liked to have seen
a little more ball movement in the second-half and I know that
was addressed after the game. I mean, 0 assists and 1/2 is, it
is, it is tough, but I think the, the draft picks played,
played a little bit better. Even though Jeremiah Fears
really didn't shoot the ball that well, I liked his
aggressiveness in the second-half and his ability to
(24:39):
get to the rim. You know, you know, we were
talking before we came on. It's just summer league is such
a tough watch because there's really not a lot of structure to
it. And I'm just talking in general.
I'm not talking specifically thegames, because if you watch
these games, it's really a common theme.
(25:01):
You know, you got a bunch of young guys trying to impress
their coaches and front office and you know, they're they're
going a mile a minute. They're really, really speed up.
And a lot of times it's, it's out of control basketball.
And I see you and, and you see that in the turnovers that are
committed all across the, the summer league.
(25:21):
And throw on top of that, there's a whistle every 30
seconds. And I mean, you know, when, when
there's, when you can commit 10 fouls and, and it, it just kind
of lends itself to just haphazard basketball.
And you throw on top of that, again, there's just no flow to
these games because there's a whistle being blown it seems
(25:45):
every possession. So in that way, it's a little
bit of a tough watch. But you know, I, I just, I like
fears the way he's not backing down.
And I think you both noticed that in the two games.
And this is, again, something I think that's unique to the
summer league and in spurts in the regular season, but really
(26:09):
in the summer league that you'reguards are getting picked up
full court. They're really being handsy
defensively for 94 feet. And Fierce has had to deal with
that in the last couple games, which I like because he's going
to have to get used to the physicality of the NBA and he is
(26:32):
not really backed down from any of that, which is very, very
good. And that's really been a theme
for him despite him being, you know, 18 years old and having
just one year experience at Oklahoma.
He's, uh, he's really trying to take it to the defenders, which
is very good. Can he shoot the ball better?
(26:54):
Sure, but that's going to come with more experience.
But I just like the way Fears really handles himself and and
really tries to take it to the opponent.
You know, it's interesting graphyou mentioned the 10 foul thing.
It's not just that the players all get 10 fouls before they get
fouled out, but the team fouls you get 10 in 1/4 before they
(27:16):
shoot free throws. And I think it's interesting
too, because if you think about it, the 10 fouls for individuals
is so that guys don't foul out because they're out there to
play. They're not out there to sit on
the bench. Make rule makes sense.
The 10 fouls for team is there because we don't want to spend
the whole game shooting free throws.
We want to, you know, play, playbasketball, quote UN quote.
(27:36):
But I think the problem that thebyproduct of both of those rules
is though, is that there is a lot more of leeway to commit
more fouls. And it does make the game uglier
because the physicality goes up.And it's kind of one of those
things that you never think about that the the six fouls
individual, the five team fouls actually does kind of clean the
game up a little bit and make iteasier to watch because you
(27:57):
don't have brutality out there. You're well, you're exactly
right. And The thing is that they're
saying that it's going to, you know, lessen the free throws.
I haven't seen that because I'm seeing teams shoot 30 free
throws a game. I, I just, it's just, it's tough
for me. I mean it, I don't.
That's just my personal opinion.I think if they lessen the
fouls, I think that might clean it up a little bit and you can
(28:19):
have some semblance of a flow ofa basketball game, which I just
don't think you see. The thing is, is I don't think
they can lessen the fouls because as individuals and
teams, you know, you have so much more wiggle room because
you have so many fouls to give that it makes it hard for the
referees to to to lessen the fouls because of the physicality
(28:40):
goes up based on those those rules.
Yeah, and you got, and again, I'm not trying to diss the refs
here, but you got refs that really aren't NBA refs and maybe
they're, you know, figure they can go to the NBA quicker if
they call more fouls. It's just, it's just a vicious
cycle here. You know, anyway, specifically
to the Pelicans, but also just summer league overall.
(29:00):
You, you mentioned how, you know, there's just not a lot of
structure in place because you only have a few days to
practice. And maybe even more to the
point, you have guys who haven'tplayed together before.
They don't even know each other.You have to have name tags
sometimes for them to know. And, and so I think that's one
thing. I mean, what, what one thing
that you know, I'm sure the coaches after the game and we,
(29:22):
we heard this from Corey Brewer afterwards as well, say, you
know, basically there has to be more ball movement.
There has to be more. You can't have 0 assists in the
second-half, like you mentioned in six for the game is bad as
well. But I just think that a lot,
there's just a lot of adjusting going on.
And I think for both fears and queen, they they have the
ability to go one-on-one. And I think it not to make
(29:46):
excuses for them or anyone, but it does feel like when you don't
have chemistry with the team, the the the fall back is kind of
the default mode is to go one-on-one.
It feels like that's kind of happening so far.
But I mean, what have you seen too from those guys adjustment
in terms of going from college to the NBA?
It seemed like not just them, but the team overall had a lot
(30:08):
of shots blocked in these first couple games.
And to me, as I watched that, I it it, the thing I immediately
think of is like, OK, now you'regoing up against the, you're
going against guys that are 610 and can jump and can, you know,
have long arms. Whereas in college, it's like
you're not going against any of that, that level across the
board. Yeah.
And and by the way, your first point, I, I agree with
(30:31):
completely. Look, these, these guys just
they have to adjust to the NBA game.
And in in a physical sense, summer league is good because
you do have, you know, sprinkledthroughout rosters of all these
teams, players that have played in the NBA, they have NBA
(30:52):
experience and both both the games that the Pelicans have
played, Timberwolves played almost in its entirety, players
that have played for an NBA team, if not the Timberwolves,
somebody else. So I mean, you look at the
Pelicans roster, there's five guys in that roster that have
(31:13):
any type of NBA experience. They've got, I mean, Jim, you
would know this more than me. They've got to be one of the
youngest, least experienced summer league teams in the whole
deal. The guys with with NBA
experience is what Lester Quinones and Keon Brooks and.
Right. It's a lot of guys that played a
(31:34):
little bit in the second-half oflast season that was pretty much
that they. Played in NBA games.
Yeah, right. They.
Played in actual NBA games. Oh, look, I I like the fact,
excuse me, that that they're going up against these teams
that are trying to be physical with them because they're going
to have to get used to it. Fears and Queens specifically.
(31:56):
And yeah, you know, it was interesting.
The very first possession of summer league was Eve Misi
getting his shot blocked and Fears got the rebound and he
drives and he got the shot blocked by the by the, by
Behringer, the same guy, you know, he's 7/1 a lot of length.
Well, that's the NBA night in and night out.
So I, I just, I like that they're having to deal with
(32:20):
this. They're playing a ton of
minutes, guys. I mean, it's it's a 40 minute
game and Queen and Fears are on the court 2829 minutes.
So they're getting a lot of experience, which is very, very
good. They're just going to have to
continue to deal with the physicality.
But yeah, you know, you go back to your original point with the
lack of practice time and the lack of chemistry.
(32:41):
I thought that was just very, very evident in the first two
games. And and, you know, sometimes you
got to give credit to the other side as well.
Look, you know, you watched these teams play defense in
summer league. It's almost like it's the
playoffs because everyone on thefloor is trying to make an
(33:02):
impression to their coaches. It doesn't matter if it's a
draft pick or doesn't matter if it's a, you know, second or
third year. The the reason they're playing
in summer league is because they're trying to get experience
in the 1st place. So they are trying to make an
impression and they are D ING up.
Like I said, they're picking up full court and you you see a lot
(33:23):
of turnovers, a lot of transition buckets and that's
just because of the physicality of the game.
So you got to believe though, asyou know, you've got three games
left here that Fears and Queen are going to continue to
improve. Again, I would think that Derek
Queen would look at you and say I haven't done my best in the
1st two games and the guy's got a double, double in both games.
(33:46):
So I just kind of tells you whathe's capable of.
You know, Jeremiah Fears is going to shoot the ball better
than he is, but the fact that hecontinues to take shots and is
not backing down from taking those shots, that should tell
you something as well. And his ability to get to the
rim, we saw it and especially inthe second-half of that Laker
game and he was going downhill. He was finishing.
(34:09):
He's got to finish a little bit more, especially in the first
half, but he was able to get to where he wanted to go.
Now you want him to get other players involved.
Absolutely. But that's kind of a fine line.
Are you going to, would you rather take the bucket at the
rim or dish it out and, and kickand, you know, hope for three
goes in? So, you know, that's, that's a
(34:31):
two or three debate which we could get into.
But I I think those guys have done just fine as they are right
now and we'll continue to progress.
Yeah, I know. Maybe it's small as we get ready
to wrap up here, guys. I think the one thing that stood
out to me even not even on the court play, I like after both
games, Todd and Jim, both players in particular in Fears
and Queens specifically saying what happened, good and bad,
(34:54):
specifically where those turnovers came to have that
recall graph like Derrick Queen talking about spit, you know,
leaving his mouthpiece getting in his eye.
And this turnover is caused to this.
Jeremiah Fears the first play against the Lakers, he kind of
got caught in between trying to do a pick and roll with me.
See, the analysts for ESPN even brought that up.
It was an air ball shot, but it was just that indecisiveness or
(35:17):
not playing with me. So it wasn't that he couldn't
shoot. It's just trying to figure out
and all those things. But I like those guys.
Not saying for whatever reason, my shot wasn't there today.
It was specifically I got caughtup in the air specifically.
I got to make this decision. Those are things that you can
correct, right, Todd? Does it make sense?
Yeah, no, it makes perfect sense.
And that's going back to the just being comfortable and not
(35:40):
speeding yourself up when you see those errors that they're,
that they're making. It's just because they're,
they're trying to do too much. They're, you know, they're,
they're trying to do things thatthey're capable of, but they're
trying to do it so quickly that their minds and their physic
physical bodies aren't in the same wavelength.
(36:02):
If, if that makes any sense. Just they just got to calm down,
let the game slow down and they're going to be just fine
because like I said, they're trying to impress everybody.
Right you. Picked me 7th, you moved, you
moved up in the draft to pick me13th, right?
I have, I have to show everybodythat I'm worthy of your draft
(36:24):
pick. And when you start trying to
just do too much, then you see those, you know, unforced errors
occur. But again, as the game starts to
slow down, that's why you know they're going to get better in
the next in the next three games.
And of course, and you got training camp and and pre
season. So that's that's what this is
for. That's what this is for.
It's kind of like when I either miss the ball or pull my back at
(36:46):
the driver on the opening shot of a of a hole, Todd and try to
yeah, hit that drive further than I actually can.
You know what I'm talking about here.
Look, one thing I want to wrap up with here, speak with Todd
Graffini. Any voice of your New Orleans
Pelicans on the radio side of things?
Sneak Bay, Trey Murphy and you got, you know, Poole was there.
(37:07):
Looney, Kevon Looney. De.
Alvarado and Dejonte Murray all courtside watching that Lakers
game. Gentlemen, I want to ask you to
what do you, you know, make of that like that, see that I mean
that not surprised Dejonte Murray has a basketball in his
hands in the photo the team posted out there.
Todd, we'll start with you and then Jim, what do you what do
you make of the fact of seeing that?
(37:27):
Because to me, that photo and then you Photoshop Herb Jones
and Zion Williamson, that's the group that's going to determine
whether or not the Pelicans are a playoff team or not.
I agree absolutely. And you got to love it.
I mean, look, I and you hope they're hanging out constantly
off the court help. They might even get some
workouts in though, you know, we'll, we'll see about that.
(37:48):
I know they're they love their time in Vegas, but you hope
they're all going out to dinner,you know, and and then spending
as much time as they can off thecourt because on the court stuff
that's going to have to take time as well because it's a
completely different team. It's a new roster.
So their chemistry is going to be improving via practice time,
(38:11):
but off the court, that's a different thing.
It's just it's good that those guys are there supporting the
kids and, you know, giving them encouragement.
You've heard fears talk about Jordan Poole's been talking to
him and and you hear Dejonte Murray has been has been talking
to Jeremiah Fears encouraging him.
(38:32):
You know, you think about a guy like Kevon Looney who's got so
much NBA experience and as an asan NBA champion, think of what
he can do to A to a Derrick Queen as far as being a mentor
and and telling him what he needs to do both on and off the
court. So all that's very, very good.
And yeah, Gus, you're right. I mean, look, you watch this
summary like, well, this is, youknow, these are the Pelicans
(38:54):
draft picks, but the core of theteam are the guys that you
mentioned in the picture. And what they are going to be
health wise is going to determine what this team is.
And quite frankly, I really can't wait to see this team as a
whole when we get back to New Orleans and and start training
(39:14):
camp in in late September. Yeah, I, I saw a few other teams
that had pretty large contingents of players sitting
together. So it's not like this is unique
that the Pelicans did it. But for me, I, I, I just enjoyed
the reminder of the talent that this team has to just see that
group of guys sitting there together coming off a season
where you won 21 games and it feels like everyone is picking
(39:38):
the projecting the Pelicans to be 14th in the West.
You look at those group of players and you realize, you
know, as Gus said, you also haveto add Zion and Herb Jones and
other players to the mix as well.
It's just a just a good reinforcement of the fact that,
you know that there's a lot of ability and a lot of talent on
this roster. So we're going to be looking
forward to seeing it in the fall.
(40:00):
Hopefully Fears and Queen can keep making progress.
I mean, it's funny when we talk about summer league, you forget
like we still have training camp.
We still have preseason games, abunch of preseason games as
well. So this is really such a super
early step in the whole. Progression that they're going
to make. But but yeah, I I was just happy
to see the see those guys all sitting together.
(40:23):
It sounds like by the way, too, it sounds like Looney and Pool
are pretty tight from their Golden State days.
And they're also both Milwaukee natives as well, coincidentally.
So I mean that that should help as well in terms of the
chemistry. Yeah, it was, it was, it was
cool just to see those guys all sitting together.
No doubt. I just quote scrolled quickly
through the calendar graph 9 to 10 weeks before we get to that
(40:44):
week in September where we have media day.
And obviously it's a little different, a little sooner than
norm because then the team goes out to Australia.
So it's kind of around the corner.
And as you know, you'll be out there, Sir, very soon with
Saints training camp, which is next week, man, if you can
believe that. That is pretty nuts.
Anyway, thank you man for stopping by.
Real quick talk a little Pelicans basketball.
(41:05):
It's nice though, at least to see the the Pels jersey on a on
a television. We we know we're getting as as
Jim said last week, it is turning the page now.
Now we look into next season. Last season was last season.
So thanks for your time bud. All right, guys, thanks.
And staying up late tomorrow. That's right.
And the night after that? Exactly.
(41:25):
You got 9 and 830 tip times on Tuesday and Wednesday because
nothing says his. Feels like the regular season,
then a back-to-back in summer league.
Hey, you might as well get used to it because when that schedule
comes out in in August, they're they're going to be some
back-to-back. So why not?
All right. Thank you, Graff.
Appreciate it bud all. Right fellas?
(41:45):
And our thanks to the graph, they're here as well.
Jim, you've been busy not only covering these games, but also
putting out a lot of different features and specifics and
uncertain players here as well. Come on, Looney, one of the
newest players that is going to be wearing a Pelicans jersey
this year. I love his style, man.
Love his style is really good. Very easy to find him in that
photo there, right there in the middle.
And he's also big and tall. He What would you learn when you
(42:09):
pinned something up here that isnow on pelicans.com?
Once again, Golden State's radiobroadcaster Tim Roy is the MVP
for me. This week, he answered a bunch
of questions about Kevon Looney.I think one of the things that
that Tim Roy points out in the article that's up on the website
is just all of the intangible stuff that Kevon Looney brings.
(42:30):
I do think there's a bunch of stuff on the court that is
crucial that the Pelicans need pretty badly after last season
in terms of the rebounding, the defense.
He's a really good screen setter.
He's kind of one of those guys that you're going to feel it
when he sets a pic, but also just the leadership part of it
as well, that he's one of those guys that I think everyone in
Golden State respected a ton. He's not one of the first names
(42:54):
you think of when you go back and look at Golden State's run
of multiple championships. He was on the the 17 team that
won, the 18 team that repeated and then the 22 team as well.
But he's, I think in his own way, he was pretty crucial to
those teams that he was a guy that didn't need the ball and
still contributed a ton. We remember as Pelicans watchers
(43:15):
and fans and media that he had some games where he destroyed
the Pelicans on the offensive boards.
You always cringed when he got asecond chance and kicked it back
out to Curry because it felt like Curry shot about 114% on
those threes that came off of offensive rebounds where you're
scrambling to try to get back tohim and it's too late.
(43:36):
So, but I'm, I'm just looking forward to seeing what Looney
can do here and just seeing the impact that he's going to make.
Not not sure if he's going to play 3035 minutes a game.
I mean, he hasn't. He really didn't do that for
Golden State either in a in a even though he had a pretty
significant role. But I do think that there's a
lot of different areas where he he is, is needed here.
(43:56):
Let's see but what he brings to the team.
But like, like you said, I thinkthere's a lot of things on the
court and intangibles and all that and we'll see where all
these moves pan out. But it desperately seems like
there is a type of player at this that this organization is
looking to bring in and establish.
And you mentioned, you know, have a relationships with Poole
and somebody's players and seeing them on the court there.
(44:17):
I, I think the more that I'd saycohesiveness on and off the
court, the better it's going to be on the court, if that makes
any sense. Yeah, I mean, I think it is
helpful. That happiness to be around 1
of. Our, you know, it's a long
season. You want to have guys that you
want to be around because you'regoing to be spending tons of
time with them throughout the season.
So it seems like he's from, frommy read on Looney is that he's
(44:39):
not somebody who's going to be talking all the time, but he's
somebody that the players will listen to as somebody now with
CJ McCollum and Kelly Olynyk that got moved in a trade, that
he's the guy that has the most experience of anyone on this
roster with 10 years in the league.
And as we wrap up, Jim, one of the things I think that's
interesting to me is just, I guess people start to make
(44:59):
overall takes and, and thoughts and feelings of the direction
that this season may be going, or at least Joe Dumars is trying
to get going. Seth Lewis over with WWLTVI had
this to say in your remarks. And one thing that it
definitely. Seems like at least.
When it comes to the guys that have been signing, even some of
the things that we've heard is that they've added some adults
(45:22):
to the room, right? Like we we've had conversations
about who is the toughest playeron the team and their toughest
player for the last couple yearshas probably been five, 10511
and that's Jose Alvarado. Like obviously that's a big
kudos to him, but you want to add more toughness.
You want to have more guys. You want to get away from the
live Love Laugh era as far as like, I mean, sometimes you got
(45:45):
punked a little bit. And they have definitely added
some adults to the room. And I'm just really interested
to see how Jordan Poole plays off of Zion.
Like, obviously he's been in Washington the last couple
years. The Wizards are a joke in a way.
But Jordan Poole was such an integral part of that
championship run for Golden State.
You could argue that he was the second most important player or
(46:07):
maybe third most important player during that championship
behind Steph and Andrew Wiggins.And so it'll be interesting to
see that like now that things should count now that he's with
the team that is going to be going forward, how his players
affected as well as he's not going to be the first option on
any night that Zion is out thereas well as Trey Murphy.
(46:28):
I liked what Seth had to say there about Jordan Poole, but
also going back to Kevon Looney.I think the toughness part of it
I think is definitely important.There's there's definitely games
where I think at the defensive end, you can't be pushed around.
And I think he's going to help prevent that from happening.
And I think I'll be really curious.
I hope this doesn't happen. But when they play Golden State,
(46:48):
if Draymond starts doing his stuff where he's elbowing people
in the head and he's quote UN quote accidentally kicking
people, how how Looney will respond to that.
I feel like there's cases where you, you know, I think Seth
talked about kind of getting bullied, that you got to make
sure that that doesn't happen and that you stand up for
yourself. It seems like Looney is one of
those guys that is the ultimate teammate and somebody that you
(47:10):
can count on that he will not allow stuff like that to happen.
Yeah, well, I mean, yeah, Jim, you know, being a basketball
Savannah, as you are here as well, Tony, get a rebound.
Sometimes you don't know what you might kick.
I mean, you know. Yeah, I mean involuntary usage
of your limbs. It happens sometimes.
I I don't know. Yeah, I need some photographic
evidence of that on your level, Jim.
(47:31):
We're glad you're back, man. Hope you had a good time.
More importantly, you did get a a nice up and close chance to
kind of see the very, very earlystages of some of these draft
picks and other guys that have worn Pelicans jerseys like
Antonio Reeves and stuff. If you want to get a lot more of
that, go to pelicans.com. Jim has a bunch of articles on
that, plus we'll have you on Wednesday and Friday here to
(47:53):
kind of pull a little bow on, I guess the summer and then get
you ready for training camp, which again, just scrolling
through the calendar, it's about9-10 weeks away essentially.
And those players will start getting together before then.
But official training camp, official media day, first
chances to really kind of get everybody on the court.
Then they go to Australia. I know it seems like a while
(48:13):
away. It's not as far as you think
once you start thinking about it.
Yeah, we got a couple months andwe also are going to have I'm,
I'm also looking forward to the NBA schedule release, which will
happen at some point in August as well.
So yeah, we got some stuff coming up even after summer
league that we have to keep an eye on.
And then before you know, it'll be time for training camp.
But I'll be looking forward to this one.
(48:33):
As I've said many times, I want to get back to to zero and zero
and look forward to that. To making offer, Gus, Kat and
go, thank you for tuning us. And you've been listening to the
New Orleans Pelicans podcast. Thanks for listening to the New
Orleans Pelicans Podcast. Join us three times per week on
pelicans.com, the Pelicans mobile app, the iHeartRadio app,
(48:55):
or where you get your podcast. And be sure to give Jim and Gus
a follow on X at Jim under scoreI 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 everyone and welcome to the New Orleans Pelicans
Podcast, the official podcast ofyour New Orleans Pelicans.
Mr. Jim, I can offer pelicans.com does Kat and go
with you here as well. Going to hear from the radio
voice of your New Orleans Pelicans, Todd Graffiti here in
a little bit. Plus, of course, head coach
(00:48):
Corey Brewer and a couple of theplayers that participated in the
second Summer League game as we will recap that since we last
checked batted with you, they played the Lakers.
In the meantime, we're going to get you ready for that and also
the back-to-back on Tuesday and Wednesday will close out the
Summer League schedule set of games on Tuesday and Wednesday
(01:10):
against the Blazers and Thunder.9:00 Tuesday, 8:30 on Wednesday.
Then depending on the standings and and such, Jim, we'll find
out when they play again. Everyone's guaranteed at least
five games, but it ties into a championship and all that.
And obviously being Owen to not going to have to worry about
Monday's championship game, but they will play a fifth game.
We just don't know when and who yet.
(01:32):
We'll find out after Wednesday. Jim, overall, First off, thanks
for, you know, coming in. You just got back yesterday.
I did. Did you sleep at all?
Did you have fun? I slept a lot on the plane.
I had a direct flight which was great, so I spent most of those
three hours asleep, so that was excellent there.
We go fun in the sun. I mean, I always hear it's the
(01:55):
dry heat. I went the last two hot is hot,
man 110112115IS still hot. But overall, what was your
experience off the basketball court?
Like, yeah, you know, Gus, I have one major regret from my
stay in Las Vegas. And it wasn't that I lost a lot
of money and I'm in debt now. It wasn't, you know, that I was
out too late one night. It was actually that on one of
(02:17):
the mornings when I went to breakfast, I saw Minnesota head
coach Chris Finch, who used to be an assistant coach here.
And my one big regret as I afterI left the restaurant, I
realized I did not thank him forwhat he did in the first round
of the playoffs against the Lakers.
I did not thank him for that. I I should have told him, like
(02:37):
on behalf of myself and pretty much everyone else in the
league, thank you for what you accomplished and how you ended
their season. So no doubt.
So yeah, it was, it was a a regretful moment that I wish I
could take back. And I tell you, the T Wolves had
a an interesting run last year once they got into postseason
after that series win against LA.
(02:58):
But yeah, look, and then your reward was to see the Lakers in
person, at least the summer league roster there.
And Brawny James, the king was there.
The king was courtside, yes. How was that?
He was sitting right in front ofme actually really, he said he
he came. I did not strategically place
myself right behind him and all the photos that took, but yeah,
you, you can see me looking around in the background and a
(03:21):
bunch there was like 17. I'm not even exaggerating.
There's like 17 people who walked out on the court after he
sat down to take a picture of him from 5 feet away.
So I was not surprised when I saw myself.
You're. A bunch of those photos.
I love that. Yeah, I was joking with people.
I said, you know, this guy already took our franchise
player in 2019. He kind of embarrassed the
(03:43):
Pelicans in the first ever NBA Cup semifinals, and now he's
going to steal my camera time aswell.
That's right. What else is this guy going to
do to to agitate me, Gus? Taking away your anonymity, now
everybody knows what you're doing the entire time the king
was there. But also, look, I kind of want
to bring this up and we'll get into the game.
Your thoughts? Haven't seen two games in person
here as well, and a couple of their workouts and all that, but
(04:06):
there was a photo that the team posted out there as well.
Man, it was really nice seeing newest members of the Pels
alongside with some of the current vets of the team
courtside watching back on Saturday.
Yeah, it's a deep Bay. Jordan Poole was there.
Trey Murphy was there, Kevon Looney was there, Jose Alvarado
and Dejonte Murray was there. Arm around Jose basketball, you
(04:30):
know, clutched in his left arm under his arm there.
I, I like that on a couple of levels.
But more importantly, are you surprised that John Tim Murray
has a basketball in his heart ready to go?
You, you know he's eager to kindof get in that.
But look man, I I saw that photoand the first thing that popped
in my head was if we Photoshop Herb and we Photoshop Zion,
that's that. That's the Pels kind of core
(04:53):
going into this season. Am I wrong on that?
No, I think you're right. I mean by the way too, I mean
it's got to have been a really tough like last six months for
Dejante Mario, if you think about that, he had the Achilles
tear on January 31st and it it is almost six months later.
So he's got to be itching to getback on the court.
I guess we'll find out later, maybe in the offseason of what
his timetable is going to be. But back to the photo.
(05:14):
And the I think they also, they also all did a video that the
Pelicans social team posted. So, yeah, I mean, it was it was
good to see those guys all together and just be reminded of
of some of the weapons that thisteam has.
And also, I do feel like after you have a season of 21 wins, it
is easy to forget how much some of these guys have accomplished
(05:36):
in their first four years of their career.
In the case of, you know, Trey Murphy, Jose Alvarado and Herb
Jones have all been here since the 2021 draft or I guess
undrafted for Jose. So yeah, they've they've won a
lot of games here. The guys that have been here.
It's just obviously didn't happen last season.
But I do like to be reminded sometimes and remind people that
(05:57):
they won 49 games two years ago.They won 42 the year before
that. They won 36 the year before that
and made the playoffs and went up against Phoenix after getting
through the play in tournament. So I mean, just happy to see a
bunch of those guys in together and looking forward to seeing
what they can do in the fall. You know, if we had much chance
on it, just give me a quick 30 to 60 seconds here.
I think it is a big deal. Herb Jones getting that contract
(06:19):
extension late last week on Miami Flu on the Radar.
A couple people's the weekend stuff.
These came out on Thursday Jim, I there was chatter on social
media knew how it works if it's on, you know, Twitter, it must
be real, which I'm being sarcastic about it, but you
know, oh, Trey Murphy is going to be Trey Herb Jones could be
Trey We know when it comes to toHerb Jones, you don't give an an
(06:41):
extension like that if a you're thinking of moving on.
I look at it as a clear message from ownership from the front
office. He's a foundational piece.
He's an integral part of our, you know, team moving forward.
We know from Willie Green last year, guys already taking steps
and to be a team leader, A-Team captain and such.
(07:03):
But when you saw that pop up across your your screen, you got
the e-mail that says, hey, contract extension Herb Jones,
what immediately popped in your head?
I mean, I, I love it because theguy's also a massive fan
favorite. I mean, he's one of the most
beloved, not just athletes in New Orleans, but I think people
just the fan base is in love with the guy.
(07:23):
And and also too, I mean, to me,I took a lot of the quote UN
quote trade rumors as more otherteams want him and not that the
Pelicans were interested in moving him anywhere else.
Same thing with Trey Murphy. It's like you start seeing his
name and trade rumors and you'relike, of course these other
teams see a team that won 21 games and they think, oh, OK,
it's it's it's yeah, it's open season now.
(07:45):
The Sharks are circling. So I mean, it, a lot of stuff
was just so worthless and I don't need to get go on a rant
here before we even get into theshow.
But yeah, no, I I was happy to see that Herb was extended.
The guy deserves it. And I mean, also, I'm not going
to get into money too much in salary cap and stuff like that.
But I mean, he's on a good deal as well.
(08:06):
So great to see. Good news for the Pelicans, Good
news. Good news for Herb Jones.
Thanks to Madeline Adams and Fox8 for having me on yesterday.
Talk about the pelts. But I mentioned our podcast and
in particular, one of the thingsthat stood out to me last year
in a season that, you know, wasn't way.
It was when we had Herb Jones's high school basketball coach on
when they were retiring his jersey and and his number over
(08:29):
there at his high school and thestories he told about him.
And I know it was a big theme ofthat podcast in particular.
But Jim it's remarkable to thinkof draft day second round that
player to now it's what third contract numbered jersey retired
in high school team leader thirddeal.
(08:51):
It's it's pretty remarkable, isn't it?
Well, I don't think anybody could have thought about that.
I mean, and also across 2, two different management groups now,
right? I mean, he was valued obviously
with David Griffin in the group there and even Tracian Langdon
and all those guys. Some of those are no longer
here. And now we have a whole nother
set of eyes and they're like, here's an extension that.
That's why I guess I'm trying topaint the picture here.
(09:12):
A remarkable time in a short amount of time.
No, no. I mean, when you're a second
round pick, a lot of these guys that get drafted in a round two
aren't even sure if they're going to make the team that
rookie season. So now, I mean, we knew I think
within a few games of his of theregular season of his rookie
year that he was going to be somebody that had staying power.
(09:33):
But it's like, I mean, now you figure this guy's going to be in
the league 1215 years after being picked in the second
round. So, so yeah, it's been it's been
really cool to see the way that he's developed over his time
that he's been here. But I mean, he was immediately,
it was his. I think it was like his second
game in the NBA. Willie Green was like this guy's
got to be in the starting lineupand there's not going to be a
(09:54):
way, there's going to be no way to keep hit this guy off the
floor because he's a crucial member of the squad, especially
defensively. I think it's interesting here
that that something that stood out when I was thinking about
this as well, Jim is, I would say when he got here too, right?
I mean, look, he's a defensive player almost reared in the
three-point circus started over the last 2-3 years where
everybody's, you know, shooting 4350 threes, whatever.
(10:17):
And then this past year, this past playoff, this past final,
so much attention on defenders, teams that have guys that can
stop and make it uncomfortable for the three-point shooters.
You look at OKC, the Champs fromLou Lou Dort to Williams to, you
know, teams now looking for defensive players and personnel.
(10:39):
So it's crazy. It's almost like the bells were
ahead of the the curve or it just happened to be that way.
But don't you find that interesting how five years ago,
like, oh man, are we going to get just a defensive guy that
doesn't score and you're going to use one of five spots for
that player to now, like you said, other teams are looking
for that defensive stock player.And I know Drew Holiday did that
for Boston and all that, but youknow, what's kind of rare, but I
(11:02):
almost feel like, you know, it makes sense, if that makes
sense. Yeah, I mean, I think teams are
going to try to copy OKC or emulate them as much as they
possibly can. And I think the difficulty in
that is it's not easy to find guys like Herb Jones.
There aren't tons of these guys walking around.
And OKC was able to basically have a rotation that had, I
(11:22):
don't know, four or five guys that are can be in from year to
year could be in the conversation for all defense.
So I mean, you, you want to try to add as many of those guys
obviously, as you possibly can. But that's a lot easier said
than done. But yeah, I mean, I think that's
one reason why Herb is so valuable here too, is I mean,
the the two previous seasons to this one, they finished sixth in
(11:43):
defensive efficiency with him being a huge part of that.
This past season, he only played20 ish games and they dropped
all the way to 29th. Is that coincidence, Gus?
I would say definitely not. Yeah.
No doubt. All right, well, let's get to
that game on Saturday. Your quick thoughts on it as the
Pels do go down to the Lakers 9481.
Antonio Reeves, the leading scorer with 20 points.
(12:04):
Another back-to-back for Derek Queen.
Jeremiah Fears, double digits for him here as well.
Overall thoughts in the game andwe'll hear from Brewer, Queen
and Fears and also Antonio Reeves.
Yeah, I think really not just Saturday, but Thursday has had a
lot of the markings, unfortunately, of what you
sometimes see in Summer League, where there's just not a lot of
(12:25):
cohesiveness. And I think even though they've
given up a probably too many points in both games, especially
for Summer League with the gamesonly 40 minutes long, the
offense has been something that has to make major strides in the
next few games that they have left.
So I mean, that's one of the biggest takeaways.
I think we talked about after the opener against Minnesota
that I wanted to see more shooting efficiency, and that
(12:48):
didn't really happen. They did.
They definitely did a better jobof reducing the turnovers after
they had way too many of those against Minnesota.
But just a bunch of areas where offensively they just need to
look better. And whether it's individually or
or team wise, that's again I think what we're going to try to
look forward to or look to see Tuesday against Portland is just
(13:09):
them making a bunch of improvements to just make the
product look a lot better. Jeremiah fears aggressiveness is
something that was talked a lot about in those first two games.
Corey Brewer on that aggressiveness.
I like the aggressiveness, but you know, we got to make some
layers. You know, it's young, young
guys. You get into the realm, you
know, we got to work on you got to look at film and make realm
(13:31):
decision. You got to make it.
You got to make it or you got tobe able to Kick It Out, which is
something he's going to learn, you know, rather than do it now
than later. So it's good that he's getting
there. I love the aggressiveness and
he's going to get better and keep getting better.
And when you think of Jeremiah fears, you probably want an
assist or two, right? And to have none in the
second-half to six overall as a team, that's, that's
(13:52):
interesting. Here's what Fears had to say.
I mean, it's, it's, it's basketball Next game is we're
going to be we're going to be a lot better.
We're going to make our shots and we're just going to go
continue to play hard. Coach Brewer on the six assists.
We got to, we got to be more ball movement.
You know, we're running stuff, but everybody's ice on, you
know, it's a little bit on me. I got to get guys, put them in
situations to move the ball. We got to run more motion stuff,
(14:15):
contacts. Jim is kind of what I've been
telling people about that. It's, it's, it's summer league,
meaning players are there to shoot, players are there to
trying to get jobs, players are trying to prove themselves.
I it's, it's, it's different, right?
When you're trying to play a regular basketball game where
you're trying to find the open shot, almost feel like here, it
(14:36):
almost doesn't allow itself to be a high assist level game.
I don't know what how. What do you make of the six
assists? Yeah, I mean it.
It can be. It can be that way.
It doesn't have to be the kind of thing where people play ISO
ball and there's not a lot of ball movement, but it does lean
that way often based on the circumstances.
So, yeah, I mean, it's I mean, it's a big negative to have that
(14:58):
few assists in a game that I mean, it's not as long as the 48
minute game, but there's still plenty of time to come up with
more than six assists. By the way, it's funny because,
you know, people talk about players.
Welcome to the NBA moment. I don't not sure how many people
saw this. If you go back and watch the
video of and listen to the the sound of his postgame Jeremiah
fears postgame on Saturday. One of the reporters, I, I, this
(15:21):
is no disrespect or offense to the to this guy.
There was a guy there who none of us knew who he was, which is
kind of besides the point. But he said to Jeremiah flat
out, he's like, hey, man, you'rethe point guard, zero assist.
Doesn't that concern you? And it was kind of funny because
you just you're so not used to people being that direct and
that like brutally straightforward.
(15:42):
So it was, I thought he that wasthe question that he answered, I
believe in that clip. But it was just kind of funny.
I thought just to hear that exchange.
And he, I thought he handled it really well because I think a
lot of players would be like, who the heck are you, man?
To be, to be a get in my face like that.
So it's. Crazy as I cut that sound and
for the first two games and and obviously the training camp
(16:02):
practices here and we've mentioned it on a podcast.
I I'm impressed man by how Jeremiah fears conducts himself.
I I don't whether it's training,whether it's a trying to be stay
positive and being that mindset regardless.
I, I I have to be happy as a bells fan.
I mean, I just it's just and again, that's what I loved about
him and Queen and I kind of mentioned it to a couple other
(16:23):
people too. This isn't man, I don't know why
they didn't go. My shot just went in there.
Just normal stuff. They were very specific, man.
I got to make a better decision.Look, they're bigger in here.
I got to pick up my game. I got to understand my non pace
here when it comes to Queen. I got like they they knew
immediately what went wrong, what they have to do, what to
correct and how to take this in stride.
(16:44):
And then right after that be like, hey, we're going to get
him next time. He was asked about Brownie
James. Like I'll beat him next time.
Like I love that. You can't teach that.
I think one of the best compliments I could give to
fears about how he carries himself is that you constantly
have to remind yourself that he's only 18.
That's what I'm getting at. Because he doesn't sound like
that at all. And just the way he kind of
handles himself, you, you're just like, this dude just is
(17:07):
just turned old enough to be able to vote.
It's unbelievable. Right.
I mean, let's be honest, he point guarded a team in the SCCI
get it? But it was just one season.
It wasn't like he's had multipletournaments of experience or,
you know, injuries or dealing with, you know, coach being
fired or hired or, or transferring.
He doesn't have a lot of experience, but he sure sounds
(17:29):
like a guy that has that AntonioReeves 20 points for him.
I, you know me, I'm a huge Antonio Reeves fan.
Again, maybe it's because we gotto call him last year and I I
thought he had some moments where he took over games last
year. What do you make out of his 20
point performance? He's a solid and I think if you
didn't know anything about basketball, the NBA do.
(17:49):
Knew none of the players and youhad to pick out somebody said to
you, OK, who's the guy who played in the NBA the most last
year besides even me? See maybe you would say probably
that number 12 guy who's making a bunch of jumpers and he's just
playing steady basketball. He had an US one of the plays I
thought was one of the best highlights of the game.
He kind of stripped Brownie James in the back court and then
(18:10):
went in for a fast break basket.So I mean, he just he just
seemed like a guy that maybe themost was unfazed by the whole
situation and just some some of the challenges of summer league
where you have a bunch of players that you're not familiar
with and it's just kind of thrown together with with only a
few practices that. Was something you and I talked
about last year when we call thegame, it just doesn't seem
(18:31):
frazzled, you know, just just calm, just.
Yeah, exactly. Just a calming aspect of it.
Reeves on his game just. Staying locked in, staying
focus, trusting in my teammates.My teammates got me open and
just going out there and competing at the highest level.
I also thought it was interesting that because of
that, that experience, he understands, you know, one year
to another right from last year to this year in a growth because
(18:53):
I want to talk about Queen real quickly and then we'll get to
talk Rafini Radio, Voice of the Pelicans, our conversation with
him and his thoughts. He didn't speak after a game.
It was fears. It was Reeves and it was coach
Brewer, but another double double.
I'm going to ask you what do we make of that?
But in specifics with Reeves to wrap him up.
I loved how at the very end he was asked about how Queen plays
(19:17):
and how Reeves and those guys and and the pace that they play
with. And you know, it's something I
know you've brought up lots of blocks, shots against them,
their aggressiveness on that. Listen to how he answers.
I might think that would come upwith time.
You know, they're definitely young.
They're 1820 years old. And, you know, coming at this
level, you know, you need a little pace.
You know, with the college pace,it's definitely different.
(19:37):
You know, you running, running, running in college.
But NBA, you know, you got to slow down.
It's an interesting comment fromhim.
Yeah, I mean, I think one of my overall thoughts about Derrick
Queen after the first two games is I think he would probably
say, like you said, he didn't speak after Saturday's games,
but after Thursday's game, he was pretty adamant about I
didn't play well. There's a lot of things I wanted
(19:58):
to do better. And I think overall that's
probably how you would view his first two games.
So I mean, I'm looking forward to the rest of Summer League in
terms of just he's still been able to be relatively productive
even though he hasn't played that well with.
Having the 2 double double S. So I mean, there's just
different parts of his game thatyou want to see him keep
improving. You know, being more of a factor
on the defensive end is definitely one of those as well.
(20:21):
But but yeah, I think he's he's adjusting just like fears to the
athleticism that he's going against.
And it's funny because I had there are several people either
on Twitter or people texting me said, you know, why does he play
so slow? Doesn't he know he has to be,
you know, he has to attack more in the NBA because it's a
different level player that he'sgoing against it.
(20:42):
It's kind of the same thing where I say about Yokich.
It's like you can't tell Yokich,OK, dude, you need to play
faster because XYZ. And again, I'm not saying that
Queen is is Yokich at all in terms of where he is in his
career, but he I just don't think he's going to be one of
those guys that is going to playdifferently.
And so but I do think that thereare probably different decisions
(21:03):
that he needs to make. And maybe he does need to speed
up his decision making with the ball.
But you you just see he's just such a you can totally see why
he was considered such a unique player because it's just such an
odd game. It's like an off time.
It's like a drummer who's like off a beat.
But it still sounds right. You know what I mean?
(21:23):
Yeah. So, but yeah, I'm looking
forward to seeing him, you know,keep improving in the rest of
summer league. I tell you, I love the drummer
reference there the the offbeat drum.
Was a music teacher, so I. Got throwing them.
Well, there you go. Yeah, I took drum lessons and
that was one thing that we had to get into off, off beats.
I love that. Here's what Fears had to say on
Queen's own page. Playing at his own page, that's
(21:43):
what make his game unique. You don't see bigs being able to
do that, them slow steps and gettoday's spots and handle the
ball the way he does. So just continue to do what you
do and we going to continue to keep supporting him and cheering
him on and keep telling him don't get down on yourself.
It's it's the start of the season and just to get your feet
on me. Get into an 18 year old point
guard. I just fear sometimes it sounds
(22:06):
a little older and Reeves on Queen.
Man, it's crazy. I never seen nothing like it.
You know, he he so he pay, he play his own pace.
I can tell you that right now. And it's definitely different.
And you don't know what he's going to do on the floor when
you defend him. So again, it's interesting.
Just remember last year in summer league, Mesi was part of
that roster, right? He was a rookie going into it.
And little did we know in the short amount of time, even
(22:29):
though there was some time and it seems like short 9 to 10
weeks before training camp, by the time the first week of the
season came in October, even Mesi became a starter.
I'm not saying anything like that but Queen, but there's
there's a lot of time before we start getting to games that
we're going to be able to see the improvements with some of
these younger players. Todd Raffenina will be calling
those games again this season, of course, for the radio side of
(22:51):
things. And he had a chance to sit down
with us earlier this morning, give us his thoughts on the
first two games and on that photo we referenced where we saw
a lot of the veteran players andmaybe that core of this Pelicans
team this season. All right, we bring in the radio
voice of your New Orleans Pelicans, Mr. Jim, I can offer
Ty Graffenini. We called you Papa Giorgio back
on Friday because we knew you were tearing up the Las Vegas
(23:12):
Strip. Graff as you can see here in the
video there, there was Jimmy. He looks like his old self man.
So either he he did get sleep orhe time traveled or something
like that. Nature.
Stayed out of the sun too. That's my.
Yeah. How hot was it, Jim?
That's it. Was about 110, yeah.
So yeah, I did. I didn't go to the pool at all.
(23:33):
I mean, I really only had one day where we, I was there.
We didn't have a game. So he was working.
So yeah, he was working. I'm.
Working well. Glad you're back, Jim.
Glad you're. Back It's good to be.
Back he he was up close in personal graph looking at those
two games. The last one taking place of
course on Saturday night and it was the Lakers 9481 double
double by Derek Queen Jeremiah fears had double digit scoring.
(23:55):
Antonio Reeves led the team and scoring.
We just touched on that in the open here.
Just your overall thoughts on that game.
Then we'll get your thoughts on the first two games and then a
photo that you know the pals posted over the weekend that
maybe we can get into here as well.
But Todd, as you see it two games in the bag.
What do you take away, especially that game against the
Lakers? I, I think that the, they played
(24:18):
a little bit better. I would have liked to have seen
a little more ball movement in the second-half and I know that
was addressed after the game. I mean, 0 assists and 1/2 is, it
is, it is tough, but I think the, the draft picks played,
played a little bit better. Even though Jeremiah Fears
really didn't shoot the ball that well, I liked his
aggressiveness in the second-half and his ability to
(24:39):
get to the rim. You know, you know, we were
talking before we came on. It's just summer league is such
a tough watch because there's really not a lot of structure to
it. And I'm just talking in general.
I'm not talking specifically thegames, because if you watch
these games, it's really a common theme.
(25:01):
You know, you got a bunch of young guys trying to impress
their coaches and front office and you know, they're they're
going a mile a minute. They're really, really speed up.
And a lot of times it's, it's out of control basketball.
And I see you and, and you see that in the turnovers that are
committed all across the, the summer league.
(25:21):
And throw on top of that, there's a whistle every 30
seconds. And I mean, you know, when, when
there's, when you can commit 10 fouls and, and it, it just kind
of lends itself to just haphazard basketball.
And you throw on top of that, again, there's just no flow to
these games because there's a whistle being blown it seems
(25:45):
every possession. So in that way, it's a little
bit of a tough watch. But you know, I, I just, I like
fears the way he's not backing down.
And I think you both noticed that in the two games.
And this is, again, something I think that's unique to the
summer league and in spurts in the regular season, but really
(26:09):
in the summer league that you'reguards are getting picked up
full court. They're really being handsy
defensively for 94 feet. And Fierce has had to deal with
that in the last couple games, which I like because he's going
to have to get used to the physicality of the NBA and he is
(26:32):
not really backed down from any of that, which is very, very
good. And that's really been a theme
for him despite him being, you know, 18 years old and having
just one year experience at Oklahoma.
He's, uh, he's really trying to take it to the defenders, which
is very good. Can he shoot the ball better?
(26:54):
Sure, but that's going to come with more experience.
But I just like the way Fears really handles himself and and
really tries to take it to the opponent.
You know, it's interesting graphyou mentioned the 10 foul thing.
It's not just that the players all get 10 fouls before they get
fouled out, but the team fouls you get 10 in 1/4 before they
(27:16):
shoot free throws. And I think it's interesting
too, because if you think about it, the 10 fouls for individuals
is so that guys don't foul out because they're out there to
play. They're not out there to sit on
the bench. Make rule makes sense.
The 10 fouls for team is there because we don't want to spend
the whole game shooting free throws.
We want to, you know, play, playbasketball, quote UN quote.
(27:36):
But I think the problem that thebyproduct of both of those rules
is though, is that there is a lot more of leeway to commit
more fouls. And it does make the game uglier
because the physicality goes up.And it's kind of one of those
things that you never think about that the the six fouls
individual, the five team fouls actually does kind of clean the
game up a little bit and make iteasier to watch because you
(27:57):
don't have brutality out there. You're well, you're exactly
right. And The thing is that they're
saying that it's going to, you know, lessen the free throws.
I haven't seen that because I'm seeing teams shoot 30 free
throws a game. I, I just, it's just, it's tough
for me. I mean it, I don't.
That's just my personal opinion.I think if they lessen the
fouls, I think that might clean it up a little bit and you can
(28:19):
have some semblance of a flow ofa basketball game, which I just
don't think you see. The thing is, is I don't think
they can lessen the fouls because as individuals and
teams, you know, you have so much more wiggle room because
you have so many fouls to give that it makes it hard for the
referees to to to lessen the fouls because of the physicality
(28:40):
goes up based on those those rules.
Yeah, and you got, and again, I'm not trying to diss the refs
here, but you got refs that really aren't NBA refs and maybe
they're, you know, figure they can go to the NBA quicker if
they call more fouls. It's just, it's just a vicious
cycle here. You know, anyway, specifically
to the Pelicans, but also just summer league overall.
(29:00):
You, you mentioned how, you know, there's just not a lot of
structure in place because you only have a few days to
practice. And maybe even more to the
point, you have guys who haven'tplayed together before.
They don't even know each other.You have to have name tags
sometimes for them to know. And, and so I think that's one
thing. I mean, what, what one thing
that you know, I'm sure the coaches after the game and we,
(29:22):
we heard this from Corey Brewer afterwards as well, say, you
know, basically there has to be more ball movement.
There has to be more. You can't have 0 assists in the
second-half, like you mentioned in six for the game is bad as
well. But I just think that a lot,
there's just a lot of adjusting going on.
And I think for both fears and queen, they they have the
ability to go one-on-one. And I think it not to make
(29:46):
excuses for them or anyone, but it does feel like when you don't
have chemistry with the team, the the the fall back is kind of
the default mode is to go one-on-one.
It feels like that's kind of happening so far.
But I mean, what have you seen too from those guys adjustment
in terms of going from college to the NBA?
It seemed like not just them, but the team overall had a lot
(30:08):
of shots blocked in these first couple games.
And to me, as I watched that, I it it, the thing I immediately
think of is like, OK, now you'regoing up against the, you're
going against guys that are 610 and can jump and can, you know,
have long arms. Whereas in college, it's like
you're not going against any of that, that level across the
board. Yeah.
And and by the way, your first point, I, I agree with
(30:31):
completely. Look, these, these guys just
they have to adjust to the NBA game.
And in in a physical sense, summer league is good because
you do have, you know, sprinkledthroughout rosters of all these
teams, players that have played in the NBA, they have NBA
(30:52):
experience and both both the games that the Pelicans have
played, Timberwolves played almost in its entirety, players
that have played for an NBA team, if not the Timberwolves,
somebody else. So I mean, you look at the
Pelicans roster, there's five guys in that roster that have
(31:13):
any type of NBA experience. They've got, I mean, Jim, you
would know this more than me. They've got to be one of the
youngest, least experienced summer league teams in the whole
deal. The guys with with NBA
experience is what Lester Quinones and Keon Brooks and.
Right. It's a lot of guys that played a
(31:34):
little bit in the second-half oflast season that was pretty much
that they. Played in NBA games.
Yeah, right. They.
Played in actual NBA games. Oh, look, I I like the fact,
excuse me, that that they're going up against these teams
that are trying to be physical with them because they're going
to have to get used to it. Fears and Queens specifically.
(31:56):
And yeah, you know, it was interesting.
The very first possession of summer league was Eve Misi
getting his shot blocked and Fears got the rebound and he
drives and he got the shot blocked by the by the, by
Behringer, the same guy, you know, he's 7/1 a lot of length.
Well, that's the NBA night in and night out.
So I, I just, I like that they're having to deal with
(32:20):
this. They're playing a ton of
minutes, guys. I mean, it's it's a 40 minute
game and Queen and Fears are on the court 2829 minutes.
So they're getting a lot of experience, which is very, very
good. They're just going to have to
continue to deal with the physicality.
But yeah, you know, you go back to your original point with the
lack of practice time and the lack of chemistry.
(32:41):
I thought that was just very, very evident in the first two
games. And and, you know, sometimes you
got to give credit to the other side as well.
Look, you know, you watched these teams play defense in
summer league. It's almost like it's the
playoffs because everyone on thefloor is trying to make an
(33:02):
impression to their coaches. It doesn't matter if it's a
draft pick or doesn't matter if it's a, you know, second or
third year. The the reason they're playing
in summer league is because they're trying to get experience
in the 1st place. So they are trying to make an
impression and they are D ING up.
Like I said, they're picking up full court and you you see a lot
(33:23):
of turnovers, a lot of transition buckets and that's
just because of the physicality of the game.
So you got to believe though, asyou know, you've got three games
left here that Fears and Queen are going to continue to
improve. Again, I would think that Derek
Queen would look at you and say I haven't done my best in the
1st two games and the guy's got a double, double in both games.
(33:46):
So I just kind of tells you whathe's capable of.
You know, Jeremiah Fears is going to shoot the ball better
than he is, but the fact that hecontinues to take shots and is
not backing down from taking those shots, that should tell
you something as well. And his ability to get to the
rim, we saw it and especially inthe second-half of that Laker
game and he was going downhill. He was finishing.
(34:09):
He's got to finish a little bit more, especially in the first
half, but he was able to get to where he wanted to go.
Now you want him to get other players involved.
Absolutely. But that's kind of a fine line.
Are you going to, would you rather take the bucket at the
rim or dish it out and, and kickand, you know, hope for three
goes in? So, you know, that's, that's a
(34:31):
two or three debate which we could get into.
But I I think those guys have done just fine as they are right
now and we'll continue to progress.
Yeah, I know. Maybe it's small as we get ready
to wrap up here, guys. I think the one thing that stood
out to me even not even on the court play, I like after both
games, Todd and Jim, both players in particular in Fears
and Queens specifically saying what happened, good and bad,
(34:54):
specifically where those turnovers came to have that
recall graph like Derrick Queen talking about spit, you know,
leaving his mouthpiece getting in his eye.
And this turnover is caused to this.
Jeremiah Fears the first play against the Lakers, he kind of
got caught in between trying to do a pick and roll with me.
See, the analysts for ESPN even brought that up.
It was an air ball shot, but it was just that indecisiveness or
(35:17):
not playing with me. So it wasn't that he couldn't
shoot. It's just trying to figure out
and all those things. But I like those guys.
Not saying for whatever reason, my shot wasn't there today.
It was specifically I got caughtup in the air specifically.
I got to make this decision. Those are things that you can
correct, right, Todd? Does it make sense?
Yeah, no, it makes perfect sense.
And that's going back to the just being comfortable and not
(35:40):
speeding yourself up when you see those errors that they're,
that they're making. It's just because they're,
they're trying to do too much. They're, you know, they're,
they're trying to do things thatthey're capable of, but they're
trying to do it so quickly that their minds and their physic
physical bodies aren't in the same wavelength.
(36:02):
If, if that makes any sense. Just they just got to calm down,
let the game slow down and they're going to be just fine
because like I said, they're trying to impress everybody.
Right you. Picked me 7th, you moved, you
moved up in the draft to pick me13th, right?
I have, I have to show everybodythat I'm worthy of your draft
(36:24):
pick. And when you start trying to
just do too much, then you see those, you know, unforced errors
occur. But again, as the game starts to
slow down, that's why you know they're going to get better in
the next in the next three games.
And of course, and you got training camp and and pre
season. So that's that's what this is
for. That's what this is for.
It's kind of like when I either miss the ball or pull my back at
(36:46):
the driver on the opening shot of a of a hole, Todd and try to
yeah, hit that drive further than I actually can.
You know what I'm talking about here.
Look, one thing I want to wrap up with here, speak with Todd
Graffini. Any voice of your New Orleans
Pelicans on the radio side of things?
Sneak Bay, Trey Murphy and you got, you know, Poole was there.
(37:07):
Looney, Kevon Looney. De.
Alvarado and Dejonte Murray all courtside watching that Lakers
game. Gentlemen, I want to ask you to
what do you, you know, make of that like that, see that I mean
that not surprised Dejonte Murray has a basketball in his
hands in the photo the team posted out there.
Todd, we'll start with you and then Jim, what do you what do
you make of the fact of seeing that?
(37:27):
Because to me, that photo and then you Photoshop Herb Jones
and Zion Williamson, that's the group that's going to determine
whether or not the Pelicans are a playoff team or not.
I agree absolutely. And you got to love it.
I mean, look, I and you hope they're hanging out constantly
off the court help. They might even get some
workouts in though, you know, we'll, we'll see about that.
(37:48):
I know they're they love their time in Vegas, but you hope
they're all going out to dinner,you know, and and then spending
as much time as they can off thecourt because on the court stuff
that's going to have to take time as well because it's a
completely different team. It's a new roster.
So their chemistry is going to be improving via practice time,
(38:11):
but off the court, that's a different thing.
It's just it's good that those guys are there supporting the
kids and, you know, giving them encouragement.
You've heard fears talk about Jordan Poole's been talking to
him and and you hear Dejonte Murray has been has been talking
to Jeremiah Fears encouraging him.
(38:32):
You know, you think about a guy like Kevon Looney who's got so
much NBA experience and as an asan NBA champion, think of what
he can do to A to a Derrick Queen as far as being a mentor
and and telling him what he needs to do both on and off the
court. So all that's very, very good.
And yeah, Gus, you're right. I mean, look, you watch this
summary like, well, this is, youknow, these are the Pelicans
(38:54):
draft picks, but the core of theteam are the guys that you
mentioned in the picture. And what they are going to be
health wise is going to determine what this team is.
And quite frankly, I really can't wait to see this team as a
whole when we get back to New Orleans and and start training
(39:14):
camp in in late September. Yeah, I, I saw a few other teams
that had pretty large contingents of players sitting
together. So it's not like this is unique
that the Pelicans did it. But for me, I, I, I just enjoyed
the reminder of the talent that this team has to just see that
group of guys sitting there together coming off a season
where you won 21 games and it feels like everyone is picking
(39:38):
the projecting the Pelicans to be 14th in the West.
You look at those group of players and you realize, you
know, as Gus said, you also haveto add Zion and Herb Jones and
other players to the mix as well.
It's just a just a good reinforcement of the fact that,
you know that there's a lot of ability and a lot of talent on
this roster. So we're going to be looking
forward to seeing it in the fall.
(40:00):
Hopefully Fears and Queen can keep making progress.
I mean, it's funny when we talk about summer league, you forget
like we still have training camp.
We still have preseason games, abunch of preseason games as
well. So this is really such a super
early step in the whole. Progression that they're going
to make. But but yeah, I I was just happy
to see the see those guys all sitting together.
(40:23):
It sounds like by the way, too, it sounds like Looney and Pool
are pretty tight from their Golden State days.
And they're also both Milwaukee natives as well, coincidentally.
So I mean that that should help as well in terms of the
chemistry. Yeah, it was, it was, it was
cool just to see those guys all sitting together.
No doubt. I just quote scrolled quickly
through the calendar graph 9 to 10 weeks before we get to that
(40:44):
week in September where we have media day.
And obviously it's a little different, a little sooner than
norm because then the team goes out to Australia.
So it's kind of around the corner.
And as you know, you'll be out there, Sir, very soon with
Saints training camp, which is next week, man, if you can
believe that. That is pretty nuts.
Anyway, thank you man for stopping by.
Real quick talk a little Pelicans basketball.
(41:05):
It's nice though, at least to see the the Pels jersey on a on
a television. We we know we're getting as as
Jim said last week, it is turning the page now.
Now we look into next season. Last season was last season.
So thanks for your time bud. All right, guys, thanks.
And staying up late tomorrow. That's right.
And the night after that? Exactly.
(41:25):
You got 9 and 830 tip times on Tuesday and Wednesday because
nothing says his. Feels like the regular season,
then a back-to-back in summer league.
Hey, you might as well get used to it because when that schedule
comes out in in August, they're they're going to be some
back-to-back. So why not?
All right. Thank you, Graff.
Appreciate it bud all. Right fellas?
(41:45):
And our thanks to the graph, they're here as well.
Jim, you've been busy not only covering these games, but also
putting out a lot of different features and specifics and
uncertain players here as well. Come on, Looney, one of the
newest players that is going to be wearing a Pelicans jersey
this year. I love his style, man.
Love his style is really good. Very easy to find him in that
photo there, right there in the middle.
And he's also big and tall. He What would you learn when you
(42:09):
pinned something up here that isnow on pelicans.com?
Once again, Golden State's radiobroadcaster Tim Roy is the MVP
for me. This week, he answered a bunch
of questions about Kevon Looney.I think one of the things that
that Tim Roy points out in the article that's up on the website
is just all of the intangible stuff that Kevon Looney brings.
(42:30):
I do think there's a bunch of stuff on the court that is
crucial that the Pelicans need pretty badly after last season
in terms of the rebounding, the defense.
He's a really good screen setter.
He's kind of one of those guys that you're going to feel it
when he sets a pic, but also just the leadership part of it
as well, that he's one of those guys that I think everyone in
Golden State respected a ton. He's not one of the first names
(42:54):
you think of when you go back and look at Golden State's run
of multiple championships. He was on the the 17 team that
won, the 18 team that repeated and then the 22 team as well.
But he's, I think in his own way, he was pretty crucial to
those teams that he was a guy that didn't need the ball and
still contributed a ton. We remember as Pelicans watchers
(43:15):
and fans and media that he had some games where he destroyed
the Pelicans on the offensive boards.
You always cringed when he got asecond chance and kicked it back
out to Curry because it felt like Curry shot about 114% on
those threes that came off of offensive rebounds where you're
scrambling to try to get back tohim and it's too late.
(43:36):
So, but I'm, I'm just looking forward to seeing what Looney
can do here and just seeing the impact that he's going to make.
Not not sure if he's going to play 3035 minutes a game.
I mean, he hasn't. He really didn't do that for
Golden State either in a in a even though he had a pretty
significant role. But I do think that there's a
lot of different areas where he he is, is needed here.
(43:56):
Let's see but what he brings to the team.
But like, like you said, I thinkthere's a lot of things on the
court and intangibles and all that and we'll see where all
these moves pan out. But it desperately seems like
there is a type of player at this that this organization is
looking to bring in and establish.
And you mentioned, you know, have a relationships with Poole
and somebody's players and seeing them on the court there.
(44:17):
I, I think the more that I'd saycohesiveness on and off the
court, the better it's going to be on the court, if that makes
any sense. Yeah, I mean, I think it is
helpful. That happiness to be around 1
of. Our, you know, it's a long
season. You want to have guys that you
want to be around because you'regoing to be spending tons of
time with them throughout the season.
So it seems like he's from, frommy read on Looney is that he's
(44:39):
not somebody who's going to be talking all the time, but he's
somebody that the players will listen to as somebody now with
CJ McCollum and Kelly Olynyk that got moved in a trade, that
he's the guy that has the most experience of anyone on this
roster with 10 years in the league.
And as we wrap up, Jim, one of the things I think that's
interesting to me is just, I guess people start to make
(44:59):
overall takes and, and thoughts and feelings of the direction
that this season may be going, or at least Joe Dumars is trying
to get going. Seth Lewis over with WWLTVI had
this to say in your remarks. And one thing that it
definitely. Seems like at least.
When it comes to the guys that have been signing, even some of
the things that we've heard is that they've added some adults
(45:22):
to the room, right? Like we we've had conversations
about who is the toughest playeron the team and their toughest
player for the last couple yearshas probably been five, 10511
and that's Jose Alvarado. Like obviously that's a big
kudos to him, but you want to add more toughness.
You want to have more guys. You want to get away from the
live Love Laugh era as far as like, I mean, sometimes you got
(45:45):
punked a little bit. And they have definitely added
some adults to the room. And I'm just really interested
to see how Jordan Poole plays off of Zion.
Like, obviously he's been in Washington the last couple
years. The Wizards are a joke in a way.
But Jordan Poole was such an integral part of that
championship run for Golden State.
You could argue that he was the second most important player or
(46:07):
maybe third most important player during that championship
behind Steph and Andrew Wiggins.And so it'll be interesting to
see that like now that things should count now that he's with
the team that is going to be going forward, how his players
affected as well as he's not going to be the first option on
any night that Zion is out thereas well as Trey Murphy.
(46:28):
I liked what Seth had to say there about Jordan Poole, but
also going back to Kevon Looney.I think the toughness part of it
I think is definitely important.There's there's definitely games
where I think at the defensive end, you can't be pushed around.
And I think he's going to help prevent that from happening.
And I think I'll be really curious.
I hope this doesn't happen. But when they play Golden State,
(46:48):
if Draymond starts doing his stuff where he's elbowing people
in the head and he's quote UN quote accidentally kicking
people, how how Looney will respond to that.
I feel like there's cases where you, you know, I think Seth
talked about kind of getting bullied, that you got to make
sure that that doesn't happen and that you stand up for
yourself. It seems like Looney is one of
those guys that is the ultimate teammate and somebody that you
(47:10):
can count on that he will not allow stuff like that to happen.
Yeah, well, I mean, yeah, Jim, you know, being a basketball
Savannah, as you are here as well, Tony, get a rebound.
Sometimes you don't know what you might kick.
I mean, you know. Yeah, I mean involuntary usage
of your limbs. It happens sometimes.
I I don't know. Yeah, I need some photographic
evidence of that on your level, Jim.
(47:31):
We're glad you're back, man. Hope you had a good time.
More importantly, you did get a a nice up and close chance to
kind of see the very, very earlystages of some of these draft
picks and other guys that have worn Pelicans jerseys like
Antonio Reeves and stuff. If you want to get a lot more of
that, go to pelicans.com. Jim has a bunch of articles on
that, plus we'll have you on Wednesday and Friday here to
(47:53):
kind of pull a little bow on, I guess the summer and then get
you ready for training camp, which again, just scrolling
through the calendar, it's about9-10 weeks away essentially.
And those players will start getting together before then.
But official training camp, official media day, first
chances to really kind of get everybody on the court.
Then they go to Australia. I know it seems like a while
(48:13):
away. It's not as far as you think
once you start thinking about it.
Yeah, we got a couple months andwe also are going to have I'm,
I'm also looking forward to the NBA schedule release, which will
happen at some point in August as well.
So yeah, we got some stuff coming up even after summer
league that we have to keep an eye on.
And then before you know, it'll be time for training camp.
But I'll be looking forward to this one.
(48:33):
As I've said many times, I want to get back to to zero and zero
and look forward to that. To making offer, Gus, Kat and
go, thank you for tuning us. And you've been listening to the
New Orleans Pelicans podcast. Thanks for listening to the New
Orleans Pelicans Podcast. Join us three times per week on
pelicans.com, the Pelicans mobile app, the iHeartRadio app,
(48:55):
or where you get your podcast. And be sure to give Jim and Gus
a follow on X at Jim under scoreI Can offer and G Cap under
score 17. We'll see you next time right
here on the New Orleans PelicansPodcast.
Host
Jim Eichenhofer
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