March 17, 2025 • 35 mins
On the latest New Orleans Pelicans Podcast for Monday, March 17, 2025, Pelicans.com’s Jim Eichenhofer and Gus Kattengell recap Saturday’s game in San Antonio and get you ready for an upcoming schedule featuring five games in eight days; starting tonight against the Detroit Pistons.
Jim gets Pels fans ready for what's to come after the season concludes and how to watch March Madness with the Pelicans in mind.
Later, Jim gives us his player of the week and play to watch to go along with his spoiler scale for this week’s games.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome in to the New Orleans Pelicans Podcast, the official
podcast of your New Orleans Pelicans, a podcast dedicated to
everything you need to know about the squad here from players, coaches, broadcasters,
and those who cover the NBA on a daily basis.
It's time to flock up. The New Orleans Pelicans Podcast
(00:29):
starts right now.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Hello and welcome once again to the New Orleans Pelicans Podcast,
your official podcast of your New Orleans Pelicans. Jim, Mike
and Off Repelicans dot Com, Gus caddandell with you here
for brand new week here in March. March seventeenth. Jim,
I don't know if you do this or not, but
when it hits the date of your birthday, I kind
of just say, okay, so many more months to the
(00:55):
next one. And the only reason I'm doing that, Jims,
because I just looked at it. Today's the Seventeenthuar seventeen
ten months from now, will be half a century old.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Fifty wow, fifty fifty.
Speaker 4 (01:05):
I actually don't do that, but yeah, that's interesting. I
definitely don't do countdowns. If anything, I try to not
look at the calendar and figure out when my birthday.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Is going to be gym. There's lots to do, there's
lots of planning. There's lots now.
Speaker 4 (01:19):
Now I avoid that like the play. Okay, it's good
for you, it's good for you.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Well I don't again, I don't know if it's a
good thing or not. But that's where we are. We're
thinking about a lot of different things here as we
get into the latter stages of the month of March,
because Jim, we're basically about a month left of the
season right now. I feel like last week, I say
we have five weeks, we have what fourteen games? Fifteen games?
Fourteen including tonight. Team's about to go on a road
(01:45):
trip here over the next week. Four games this week
if you count Sunday's game at Detroit. So we'll get
into all of that. But this past weekend the team
was in San Antonio on Saturday night. Oh by the way,
before I forget to watch part he's coming up on
Friday and Sunday, which we'll tell you about here shortly. Anyway,
taking on the Spurs and Jim, all of the highlights
(02:06):
that I cut of all of them, why do I
feel like this one might tell the story.
Speaker 5 (02:12):
Sizes up a len, It crosses him over pops one
from the nail blindfolders. But he's been doing that forever.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
Oh my goodness, no, no, no, no, no, that is bound.
Speaker 5 (02:20):
Yes, those off Trey Murphy's face from CJ. McCollum, McCollum
through the inbound literally, as my partner described, perfectly, off
of Murphy's face out of bounds San Antonio Ball eighty
two games. You think you'd see it all, and you
don't because I ain't seen that. I was about to
(02:41):
say some stuff you couldn't script, and what would.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
You want to script that.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
I really don't know what to say after that other
than I that was early, by the way, in the
first quarter kind of gives you an idea of maybe
how that game was. Head coach Willie Green.
Speaker 6 (02:58):
They were just kind of mindless plays that we know
we can be better just and you know, when you're
missing guys, our margin for air small. So we that's
an area of growth. We have to be better in
those scenarios where we have the value possessions, and we
didn't do a great job of that tonight.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Fifteen total turnovers one nineteen one fifteen was the final
So that does stand out in a four point game also, Jim,
the free throw disparity also stands out there as well. Overall,
though your thoughts on Saturday.
Speaker 4 (03:26):
Night, Yeah, I mean, I think when you talk about
the turnovers, I think every you go into every game
knowing that you're gonna have at least eight or ten,
even if everything goes great.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
But it's the ones that you can prevent.
Speaker 4 (03:38):
It's, you know, the attention to detail type stuff is
the part of it that is frustrating when you have
stuff that's sloppy. But I mean, overall, though, I they
were competitive. They played a competitive game. I mean they
ended up obviously only losing by four points, and they
were in it. I thought it was it was a
much better performance than Thursday's game against Orlando, although I
(03:59):
realize that that's not saying a lot. You were down
by thirty at halftime against the Magic, but I mean
they did things better. But it was one of those
things too, where you look at it and you say,
if you had more players available, maybe that as a win,
but as it turns out, it's it's a loss. I mean,
the Spurs didn't have Chris or they didn't have one
Ben Yama or dearon Fox, so it's like, you can't
(04:20):
really use that as an excuse either, so, but yeah,
it was.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
It was frustrating game. It was a game that they
had a chance to win.
Speaker 4 (04:26):
It was tied at halftime and it kind of went
back and forth for a while, but you end up losing.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
By four, all right, So that prevents them from what
getting the season series right.
Speaker 4 (04:37):
They had a chance to make it three years in
a row of winning the series against the Spurs, but
instead it ends up being two to two. So that's
how it ends up, and the they actually if Pelicans
lost the season series, I hate to even mention this
to all the other teams in the division, but they
ended up with a split against San Antonio.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
It just kind of tells you why the season is
the way it is. But with that said, we do
you have to start looking towards next year. Some of
the players are talking about it after the most recent
win too, that that's the goal, right to try to
get some sort of momentum going into it, and part
of that is planning and fans can play in here
as well. What do we mean by that, Well, there's
(05:14):
gonna be a lot of different things coming up over
the next couple of months. Obviously the season ends in
a month, but we have the draft, we have the lottery,
we have the draft, we have free agency, we have
Summer League. Then we'll get into training camp and obviously
they'll be in Australia and all that. So I know
it seems like it's some time aways. But again I'm
the one here sitting in there counting ten months until January,
so it's not ten hal away when it looks at it.
(05:36):
And if you've got kids, you know what I'm talking about.
The year goes by quick. So Jim's gonna do something
fun here in our next segment, we're gonna kind of
set you up for the next couple of months. And
also how to look at maybe I don't know, ten brackets,
five brackets, how many brackets do you feel? For much beast?
Speaker 4 (05:51):
You know I'm gonna disappoint you again here, Gus, you
don't feel any last couple of years, I have not
filled out any brackets because I'm happy to just root
for the underdogs. I mean, as I've watched and less
college basketball over the years, I feel, I mean, maybe
this is the opposite of how I should see it.
But because I know a lot of people just wing
it and just just like I don't know anything, but
I'm just gonna fill out this bracket and just go wild.
But I've just had less enthusiasm maybe to fill out
(06:13):
the bracket the last few years, just because I don't
watch college basketball and much during the regular season, so
I don't know what I'm talking about. And then I
treat the nca Tournament, and you know, April May leading
up to the NBA Draft is kind of a crash course.
I'm the student that hasn't paid attention all year but
has a test coming up, so and then I try
to listen to as many people as I can that
know what they're talking about and read as much as
(06:34):
I can.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
So that's pretty much the way I treat it. But
I do not.
Speaker 4 (06:37):
I have not filled out a bracket in a few years,
and I don't mind though. I actually enjoy just being
able to root for who I want to root for
instead of the stress of like, Okay, I need these
four teams to lose and I need this team to win,
and you know what I mean, I just find it more.
I don't know if more fun is the way to
put it, but it's just I don't mind not having
to worry about a bracket.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
I do feel that even if you didn't study in
a test, you would do pretty good. Thanks. You come
across as an a student to begin with, so I
do think you would do well.
Speaker 4 (07:06):
Some of my past teachers may disagree with that, but
that's okay, that's another story.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Secondly, I had a talk show for a while fourteen years,
and every year we would do a bracket challenge, right
for all our listeners. Everything my wife chooses on uniform color, okay,
uniforms that yeah. Yeah. My son when he got old
enough to understand enough to like, he goes by the mascot.
He likes animals, right, sure, yeah, so like you know
(07:31):
a tar heel versus you know, an eagle, he likes
the ego or so whatever. Right, they both consistently beat me. So,
for what it's worth, someone that talked sports for a living.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
Did you consider yourself to be an NCAA no expert
or at least like have some grasp of it though?
Speaker 2 (07:50):
So yeah, I will say this, I because JD said
it on Friday and and you kind of have hinted
at it, and I've suggested here as well as something
I do want to talk about it at some point.
I even have talked about this with Antonio Daniels and
maybe we'll find a podcast in a summer in the
offseason kind of touch on this for JD to say,
I used to watch college basketball. Now I just don't.
(08:14):
And he gave specifics, you know, style of play, the
quality of play, things that nature you too, you said
I used to watch, but I don't. I'm I mean
I knew all the chants from the cheerleader. I mean
I grew up listening to Let's go hoy, yeahs, you
know when Georgetown was I mean, college basketball was awesome.
(08:36):
And look, I have my reasons and theories on it,
which I think it'd be great to sort of have
just a you know, we're sitting at a bar, round
table sort of thing, just tossing shit, no real rhyme
or reason, but just good. Whether it's one and done,
whether it's the rise of European basketball or the growth
of the game elsewhere. Stylistically, the three point shot, there's
(08:57):
something to that, because Jim, I'm with you. I used
to know. I don't know if I actually know the
names of head coaches. Yeah, some of the time, I
don't know because a lot.
Speaker 4 (09:06):
Of coaches that I have lost track of where they are.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
I know a lot of those coaches, right, I mean
Duke from coach K to I mean, I think still
a bunch of there's a bunch of guys who coached
for twenty thirty years in the same place, and it
made you identify them with the program where they were.
Speaker 4 (09:23):
I mean, for me, Jim Beheim, Syracuse's synonymous, I.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Saw them on TV on a set. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (09:28):
And a lot of coaches have gotten out of it
for various reasons, and some of them just kind of
aged out of it as well. But yeah, I mean,
to me, the biggest and we'll talk about this some
way down somewhere down the road, but to me, the
biggest reason was actually none of what you listed, which
is the traction of the players is gone in terms
of the players would be there in the same place.
(09:48):
The star guys that you knew when you when you
talk about Georgetown, I think of you know, Patrick Ewing
and Lonzo Morning and those guys, even the greatest players
were they still were at the at the school for
two three years at least. Now, it seems like for
a lot of the best players almost all of the
best players. College is just to pass through. It's like, Okay,
well I have to check this box off. I have
to spend one year until I'm nineteen, so I'll do this.
(10:11):
It's hard to really gain the same loyalty from fan
bases and just or connection I think is a better word.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
To of way to put it. You just can't if
you're just coming through for one year.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
It's hard to really gain that appreciation unless you're you know,
I'm gonna be really biased here, unless you're Carmelo Anthony.
In the one year you're there, you win a championship.
But how often does that happen? So, I mean a
lot of these guys, they play one year, their team
gets knocked out in the NCAA tournament, maybe in the
first couple of rounds, and it's like you don't even
really have the memory of something from March that stands out,
and then the guy's already gone.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
I joke at times, but I think it's probably a
pretty good statement. I would say in this state, obviously,
football is huge, right, high school football, pro football man.
I've made the case an argument baseball is next. High
school baseball, legion baseball, travel ball, college baseball. Yeah, I
mean you had you know, I think LSU turned down NIT. Yes,
(11:09):
so you know their baseball team is what everybody football season,
when's baseball start. I mean, that's how they look at it.
And the reason I bring that up is because what
recently in the last two years ago you had the
top two players I believe it was Paul Skins, right
and Dylan Cruz that chose to play three. And the
reason I'm bringing this up because I would love to
see and I don't know, maybe I last CJ McCollum
(11:30):
one day. He is the head of the Players Association.
But I love what college baseball does. If you are good,
if because a lot of times people bring up, well
what if they're Lebron, Well, if you're Lebron, you're Lebron.
That doesn't happen. Not everybody's Lebron. But if you think
you can go straight to pro level and play have
at it. Congratulations, you're really good. If you're not three years,
(11:54):
sure during those three years. And I do think now
with the event of nil, you're getting money. You're making
it off of name, image and likeness. It's not like
you're not not getting anything anymore. So I think that
may help get this past eventually. But I think there's
a handful of different things for the player individually. You
(12:14):
can set up classes in a structure and things that
nature to help them understand what's coming, whether they're financially.
Set yourself up better also, but more importantly, growth of
the game, be coached, go through tournaments, being situations where
you know, the crowds against you or things. All these
things matter. But I think more than anything, i'll the
product to be better because you'll have that again, you'll
(12:36):
have rivalries, you'll have interest to it. I just think
everybody benefits from that. And those are two guys that
are star level. I mean, Paul Skames was in the
All Star Game in his first year, and he came
up mid season last year, so he's good. Cruise is good.
They played three years of college baseball.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
Right right.
Speaker 4 (12:53):
You know, It's interesting that something I hadn't really thought
about and definitely not something I know a ton about,
but it does strike me that for baseball, the NIL
would have a huge impact because if you have it
takes you a couple of years in most cases, not
in Skeen's case, it takes you a few years.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
To get to the majors.
Speaker 4 (13:09):
So it's like you can either have three years of
college with nil or you can be riding buses in
small towns for a couple of years on a really
small salary. So yeah, I could see how that would
make a difference. I don't think you can't really apply
the same thing to basketball, because even the guys in
the G League make a decent amount of money. The
guys that are, you know, top picks, or guys that
(13:31):
are projected to be top picks, like Scoot Henderson. It's
just a different thing, and I don't think you could
ever have You could probably never have in the NBA this.
I mean, maybe I'm wrong, but you could never have
the rule of either you go right to the NBA
or you spend three years in college. Because the teams
don't want high school players come into the NBA because
they want that one year where they can scout them
(13:52):
against stellar competition. I think there was a stretch there
when the high school players were coming directly to the
NBA where there was guys who hadn't really been tested
necessarily against the best competition they might have played in
a league where they're playing against people like me in
high school and it's like, yeah, they put up stats,
but they didn't play against anyone. So I think the
NBA just in general wants that year so that it's
(14:15):
kind of a safety net to not pick a guy
fifth in the draft and realize if he had played
a year in college, he would have been exposed as
not nearly as good or as he was hyped up
to be. So I think, I mean, theoretically though, I
mean I understand that idea, it would be interesting if
the NBA could ever wouldever implement maybe you could do
(14:35):
maybe you could do two years.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
Instead, but the difference.
Speaker 4 (14:38):
But even so, I just think that the teams, at
the end of the day, this the front offices don't
want it to be back in a situation where they
have to choose between high school kids who aren't really
proven compared to some of the college guys that at
least have gone through a season against major Division one competition.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
Yeah, like I said, it's something that would be interesting
to get a couple of different perspectives, Right, maybe Dad
who's played and again I don't know or not, but
they're in charge of the union. I mean, who better
to kind of represent how players maybe see it.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
I also think the player the league sees yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Sure.
Speaker 4 (15:12):
I also think the players don't necessarily want high school
kids coming in and taking jobs either.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Correct, That's what I'm saying. I think there's a lot
of things that you know, you could sit down and
discuss and talk about.
Speaker 4 (15:24):
There's a lot of reasons though, that the people that
are already in the league would push back against the
high school So I think as much as sometimes people
talk about it and say like, oh, don't you think
we should go back to the way it was before,
there's not a lot of public people coming.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Out and saying that's what I'm saying. But I know
from just.
Speaker 4 (15:42):
You know, talking to people and just listening that you
realize that there's too many forces I think right now
in the NBA against for some of the reasons I
just listed of having high school players being able to.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Go right to the NBA, no, no doubt about it.
But to the point that we're getting at here is
we're moving to our next segment is we're going to
be looking at March Badners. We'll be looking at these games.
We'll be looking at the draft, We'll be looking at
the draft lottery. See where the Pells wind up here
again with fourteen games remaining, and then really just kind
of where we go from here. So Jim, let's just
(16:15):
start with the most obvious here, and that is.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
What let's talk about. Where the Pelicans are.
Speaker 4 (16:21):
You know, we haven't really talked much about the draft
or the lottery so far the season, which I think
is a smart way to you don't want to talk
too early about it, you don't want to get into
I mean, they still have fourteen games left, like you said,
all but three of the remaining games in the regular
season against teams that are contenders. So they have a
game against Philadelphia, a home game against Arlotte, and then
(16:41):
a game at Brooklyn. Those are really the only three
of the remaining schedule where they're playing teams that aren't
in the race or headed to the postseason, whether that
whether it's the play in or the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
So, I mean, if you look at.
Speaker 4 (16:53):
It though, for the Pelicans in terms of the draft lottery,
right now, Pelicans have eighteen wins, they're pretty much keep
using this word, they're pretty much entrenched as a bottom
four team in the standings right now. The teams that
are right above them in the standings are Philadelphia and
Brooklyn with twenty three wins. Toronto has twenty four. So
I mean you're looking at there's a five win gap
(17:14):
just between the Pelicans and the team's right above them.
So that's why I say, I mean, unless something really
unusual happens, they're gonna be in a bottom four position
in the standings. And as a result of that, based
on the way that they do the lottery, I guess, well,
everything I say going forward will be with the understanding
of this is the way things are at the moment.
(17:35):
Things could change. Obviously, nothing is definitive. But if the
Pelicans have in the fourth what I call pre lottery slot,
if they're in the fourth pre lottery slot, the lowest
they can pick is eighth because you can only four
fall back four spots in the lottery. Now let's go
with a you know, just kind of a couple of
broad details. So the regular season ends on April thirteenth
(17:56):
against Oklahoma City. Obviously that'll be the last game the
Pelicans play. They've already and eliminated from even playing contention,
The draft lottery itself is on Monday, May twelfth, so
you got about a month between the last regular season
game and the draft lottery. The draft itself is June
twenty fifth and twenty sixth. Right now, the Pelicans do
(18:18):
not have a second round pick. So that's something important
to think about as well, and something that we're going
to factor into the pre draft evaluation stuff and whatever
reports and podcasts that we do. Of course, it is
possible that the Pelicans, it's always possible that the Pelicans
could trade into the second round. They did that last
year they didn't have a second round pick. They made
a trade they got Antonio Reeves. But as it stands
(18:40):
right now, they will have a lottery first round pick,
but no second round pick. And then July tenth is
the beginning of Summer League. I'm very grateful because once again,
I think this is a second or third in a row,
third year in a row that the Summer League does
not overlap with fourth of July. I think, just based
on the way the calendar fell, they had to push
it back a little bit from what it is.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
From some years.
Speaker 4 (19:01):
It starts, you know, July sixth, and training camp is
during fourth of July, stuff like that, so but that
won't be.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
The case this year.
Speaker 4 (19:09):
But I wanted to kind of get into again with
the understanding that the Pelicans are, you know, in the
bottom four right now, they probably can't pick any lower
than eighth if things stay the way they.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Are right now.
Speaker 4 (19:21):
Just why because you at the draft lottery, the only
thing that you can win, quote unquote win is a
top four pick. So after the fourth, after they they
draw for the first four spots, everything at that point
goes into reverse order of record. So if you have
the worst record in the league, which I think Utah
(19:41):
or Washington right now has the worst record in the league.
If you have the worst record in the league, the
worst you can pick is fifth because you can only
fall back four spots. If you don't get one of
those four top four picks that are drawn out of
the ping pong balls, then the you know, you end
up at five if you have the worst record in
the league. So that's basically the explanation for that.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Because I don't want to interrupt you, but I get
it at least twice a week. Well, if they lose
the lottery, no pick twelve, you're saying they can't pick,
they cannot, right, yep, because they if they finished in
the top four bottom four.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
Yep.
Speaker 4 (20:13):
So we're gonna probably get into this maybe a little
bit more this week. We're planning on having Will Gilliery
on on Wednesday to talk more about the NCAA Tournament
and kind of he's somebody that I talked to throughout
the season where he I don't want to put words
in his mouth. I don't think he's like watching it
twenty four to seven because obviously he has an NBA
coverage job. They has to cover the Pelicans, and he's
(20:34):
the athletic also has him on other duty, but he
watches a good amount of college of basketball. So that
was why we wanted to have him on, you know, Wednesday,
with the round of sixty four for the NCAA Tournament
is starting Thursday. Also, we need to have Will on
to defend North Carolina being included in the NCAA Tournament.
That seems like it's a controversial topic, so maybe and
I think by then, I think North Carolina plays Tuesday
(20:56):
in the first four, so by then we'll know whether
the Tar Heels are actually still playing or not. But anyways,
that's another story for another day. Just so briefly, I
wanted to kind of go through as we get ready
for the NCAA tournament this week. NBA dot Com has
a mock draft that they put out, and so this
is the top eight that they have right now. And
(21:16):
I want to couch this by saying too that if
you have any complaints with this list, it's not Gus
and I's list, it's NBA dot Com. I believe it's
Jonathan Wasserman from Bleacher Report is the one that compiles it.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
That's w A S. S E R.
Speaker 4 (21:30):
Now, I'm just kidding. If you have any beefs or whatever,
that's where this list comes from. So the top eight
the NBA dot Com right now has is Cooper Flag,
Dylan Harper, Ace Bailey, VJ. Edgecomb, Trey Johnson, Derek Queen.
Come on, Malocke, I think I'm not sure if that's
how you say it. He's a center from Duke seventh pick.
(21:51):
You're gonna be able to tell from my pronunciation that
I'm not an expert. I hope to be soon, though, Gus.
And then eighth is Jace Richardson from Michigan State. So
the interesting thing about this top eight too, is two
of these guys, Harper and Ace Bailey, the second and
third guys on this list.
Speaker 3 (22:10):
They play for Rutgers.
Speaker 4 (22:10):
Their team did not even make the NCAA tournament, so
unfortunately we're not gonna be able to see them play
in some of these huge games. But Cooper, Flagg and
Duke play Friday at one point fifty. They're gonna be
playing against a sixteen seed. The winner of a first
four game vj Edgecombe for Baylor plays at eleven to
fifteen am on Friday against Mississippi State, so a little
(22:32):
bit of a regional interest there. Trey Johnson from Texas
plays in a first four game Wednesday at eight to
ten against Xavier. Derek Queen from Maryland plays Friday at
three thirty against Grand Canyon, and then lastly, Jace Richardson
for Michigan State plays at Friday at nine o'clock against Bryant.
So it's obviously this is just totally coincidental. But all
(22:54):
of these guys, except for Trey Johnson, who plays for
Texas and play is gonna play Wednesday night in the
first four. All these other players are playing on Friday.
So Friday will be a very big day for NBA scouts.
I'm sure there will be a ton at some of
these games, with some of the prominent players that are involved.
But yeah, just the way it kind of will laid
(23:16):
out Thursday, there's not a lot from the top eight,
but Friday, all of the all six of these other
guys beyond the two Rutgers guys will be playing in games.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
Yeah, it's interesting. As I'm pulling up with a couple
of different mock drafts here as well, including to one,
E and B as opposed to seasons past game, it
does look like college basketball players will be going one, two,
and three, not you know, foreign more foreign players, and
that's bout I'm just saying, like the last two years
it was like French League, euro League players or their
their leagues.
Speaker 4 (23:44):
Yeah, I think that goes in waves. It's kind of
one of those things where you know, you go through
some stretches where there might be a few years where
it's a bunch of international guys. But yeah, that is
interesting the fact that there aren't.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
It's it's funny.
Speaker 4 (23:57):
I do think it depends on the mockra if you
look at and it probably depends on when you look
at it, but it feels like if you went back
a few weeks or even maybe a couple months, there
were a couple international guys in the top five or six,
but some of those names have dropped out, at least
on the NBA dot com version that I'm looking at.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
The one thing that hasn't changed lots of frs next
to a lot of those players. Yeah, lots of freshmen
there coming in. And it'll be interesting toos get closer
because the Pels have they look and it's been proven, right,
a lot of their guys that they've drafted too, they
love that experience. I've been able to come in and play,
and I think it's interesting to look at not just
obviously if your top three to take talent, but fit
(24:37):
is probably just going to be just as important with
this team because and it's something we'll look at as
we get closer to May and closer to June. How
do you look at whether it's draft or free agency
and adding to this team or not. Do you say, hey,
if we're healthy, we don't need much. Hey if we're healthy,
we still need this sort So I do think roster
makeup currently are the guys you have who's under contract
(24:57):
things of that nature.
Speaker 4 (24:58):
Right, Yeah, And I mean I don't have enough information
from where I'm sitting to know the whole picture of
the Pelicans, because you have so many other factors as well.
You have who's going to be a free agent, who
do you think is likely to come back? What positions
do you do you like more than others in terms
of the draft. But I mean, I think in general,
(25:19):
like setting aside the Pelicans specifics, there aren't that many
times that you get a chance to draft this high.
So I think a lot of people feel, like, in general,
not specific to New Orleans, that if you pick in
the top four, which you know, hopefully Pelicans, if the
way things end up, hopefully the Pelicans will at least
I think people would be should.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
Be happy with the top four pick.
Speaker 4 (25:38):
Yeah, like you said, you take the best guy, and
you say, when we're picking at this part of the draft,
we want somebody that is a foundation piece and we'll
figure out the details of positional fit and stuff like
that later. I mean, I think that's the way a
lot of people look at it, And I mean, hopefully
this will be the last time that we talk about
a top five pick for a long time as well. Gus,
(26:00):
So you want to you want to try to nail
that pick and get somebody that you say, is a
pillar of what you're gonna do for the next five
to ten years.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
We've heard it referenced a lot, but it does mirror
and it's almost kind of like what you would like
it to be. Right when you look at Memphis a
year ago, I mean, that was a team that was
had taken that step with John Then stuff happens to say,
you know, to say politely, you don't know, like they
didn't plan for Jot to miss the season, they didn't
plan for suspension, so you don't know what's gonna happen.
(26:31):
So to your point, take the best talent available, because
last year was kind of a season that they weren't
gonna be in the playoffs, but they have good players. Yeah,
so they get a guy in Zach Edy who absolutely
helps them. Yeah know, you know, already on the strong team.
Speaker 4 (26:46):
The interesting thing about that comparison, though, is that because
last year's draft was so weak, I think teams looked
at it a little bit more.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
They picked him I think eighth or ninth.
Speaker 4 (26:57):
Memphis they looked at a little bit more, as you know,
maybe there aren't superstar guys that we can project as
franchise changers.
Speaker 3 (27:05):
So we're happier.
Speaker 4 (27:07):
We're okay with taking a guy ninth in the draft
that fits this specific need that we have, because there
isn't a big difference between Zach Edie and maybe some
of the five or six other guys that they the
Grizzlies had in that range between say nine and fifteen
on their draft board. So whereas I think this year though,
is different because this year has a lot more of
those guys at the top of the draft that people
(27:28):
are saying, this guy has a chance to be a
multi time All Star, this guy can come in and
make a huge difference right away and especially long term.
So I think your philosophy also has to obviously change
based on what draft.
Speaker 3 (27:41):
It is and what's available.
Speaker 4 (27:42):
So I mean, if this year's draft lives up to
the high, I do think the hype on this year's
draft has come down a little bit as the season
has the college season has gone on, but I still
think that there's a ton of excitement for a handful
of the guys that are going.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
To be available at the top in general, though better
than last year. Definitely, those people believe that. Yeah, to
your point, from picking ninth, Memphis currently at forty three
and twenty five, seventh best record overall in the NBA.
So that's your point. I mean, that's not Zach eighty.
That's just you have a good team and he's coming
and helped. Let's try to do that, guy, Yeah, let's
(28:18):
follow that plan completely. Fine, So that's kind of where
we're going at directs. Anyway, excellent stuff there, Jim. Hopefully
that kind of helps you on again. We'll be with
you all the way through the lottery afterwards here as well.
We have a handful of pods post season, and we'll
be back with you around the draft, just like we
did last year Summer League and all that. So we
got you all the way up until next year when
Jim will be boxing kangaroos. I don't know if you
(28:40):
knew that I have suggested that.
Speaker 3 (28:41):
I'm training already.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
Well, it's a Monday, thankfully, Jim is always our Friday.
It's time for mister Eichenhoffer to give his Players of
the Week and a player to watch for this week,
which opted guy.
Speaker 3 (29:02):
Well, Mallory, let's start with player of the week.
Speaker 4 (29:04):
Now, there were other Pelicans players over the three games
that they played that had bigger stats and maybe more
flashier stuff.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
But you know what, this is my award.
Speaker 4 (29:12):
So on the Pelicans podcast, So I went with Carlo
Makovich just because I thought he was one of the
guys that I think drew the most attention for how
well he's played lately and just the improvement that he's made.
He averaged eleven point seven points, seven point or seven
rebounds per game, excuse me, in only twenty four minutes
per game. He also shot sixty four percent from the field.
(29:33):
He averaged one point three blocks in those three games
as well. He had a total of six offensive rebounds.
So let's give a little tip of the cap to Carlow.
I mean, there are other guys that average more points, obviously,
Cjim McCollum, Trey Murphy, but just wanted to give a
little credit to a guy who has mostly been coming
off the bench, even though he has started here and
there with some of the front court players that have
(29:55):
been out. For my player to watch over the next
four games, which is two against Detroit, two against Minnesota,
a player who actually did start the beginning of his
career playing for the Detroit Pistons, and that is Bruce Brown.
The reason I have him as the player to watch
is it feels like he's been playing a lot better lately,
and I mean the stats definitely kind of prove that
(30:17):
he over he started the last three games, he averaged
ten points, four rebounds, four assists. You know, he's kind
of a jack of all trades, very versatile, contributes in
a lot of different ways, and I think one of
the biggest things that kind of shows how much better
he's been playing lately compared to the way he was
performing when he first came in. He shot fifty two
percent from the field last week, which was thirteen of
(30:39):
twenty five from the floor in his ten games before that,
when he only started one game, he was nineteen for
sixty two, which is thirty one percent, So I mean
he was he goes from nineteen of sixty two to
thirteen of twenty five in those recent games. So Bruce
Brown is the player to watch. And then lastly, something
(31:00):
I'm always excited to do is the spoiler scale, And
once again, I feel like the schedule has kind of
hampered the spoiler scale only from the standpoint of that,
once again, there's a minimal amount of opponents that the
Pelicans are playing, even though they have four games this week,
so the only teams that show up on the spoiler
scale are Detroit and Minnesota. I went with six for
(31:21):
Detroit because I think this is definitely above average in
terms of the Pistons are in the race for a
top six where they're they're pretty cemented as a top
six team in the East, but they have a chance
to move up to fourth or fifth right now. So
these will be important games for Detroit. But then the
two games against Minnesota I have as an eight, but
I think it'll be a nine if Minnesota wins tonight.
Speaker 3 (31:43):
Against the Pacers.
Speaker 4 (31:44):
And the reason I say that is because the Timberwolves
have an eight game winning streak. If they win, They're
playing a back to back at home tonight against Indiana.
If Minnesota wins, there'll be in a nine game winning
streak going into the two consecutive games against New Orleans.
So he also locked in a really tight race with
Golden State for sixth place. So I mean we're talking
(32:05):
one of those teams potentially gets in and the other
team has to go through the play in tournament, which
makes it really interesting. I mean, the Timberwolves and Warriors
are also hot on the heels of the Lakers as well.
So I mean there's a lot at stake for the
Tea Wolves in these games coming up. So I go
with six on the spoiler scale for Detroit, eight for
the Timberwolves. But we'll put that we'll push that up
(32:25):
to a nine if Minnesota wins tonight against Indiana.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
Yeah, that's true, especially those I mean seeing him twice
right in this week's period. So look, that's a team
that we've been kind of mentioning every now and then
on our podcast. They hadn't really played like they were
last year, right, I mean everyone was already putting you,
you know, ant Man as the next m Jam and
they were calling him the next face of the league.
(32:50):
And look, he earned it last year towards the end
of the ear the way he was playing and at
tenaciousness and maybe that post game available if you call
it that. We lean back in his chair to the
locker room and said his roster and his team stunk. Yeah,
he called out everybody. I think they they played better.
Speaker 4 (33:14):
Yeah, I think they just needed to sort out some
chemistry things that they made a huge trade with Towns
for Randall.
Speaker 3 (33:20):
They had to sort that out.
Speaker 4 (33:21):
They had Dante de Vincenzo in the same deal, who
started off really poorly this season, just wasn't shooting well uncharacteristically,
and he's been as time has gone.
Speaker 3 (33:29):
On, he's played better.
Speaker 4 (33:30):
He also had an injury, Mike Conley's had had some
injury stuff. I just think they needed to sort out
some of the issues that they had and right but
right now they're playing like one of the best teams
in the league. They just came off a really impressive
win at Denver, where you know they were they won convincingly.
So yeah, and I think a lot of these teams
that are in playoff contention right now, teams that know
(33:50):
that they're going to go to the playoffs, or teams
that are fighting for seating, they look at games like
New Orleans as we have to win these games when
they when they they play against teams that are out
of the race that don't have anything to play for,
especially with when with these two games being at home
in the Target Center, these are crucial games for them
that they look at them as games that we can't
afford to lose because every game is important for them.
Speaker 3 (34:13):
At that point.
Speaker 4 (34:13):
We've reached that point in the season now where it's
getting down. I mean, by the end of this week,
the Pelicans only have ten games left, so we're really
starting to.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
Get down to the stretcherun here, hey right, fourteen including tonight's.
On that note, that is all the time. We'll see
you on Wednesday, we will try to get mister Will Giller,
very important and busy man talk a little college basketball.
Get all that underway. Friday will be with you here
as well. So have a great week, folks, and we
will see you next time on the New Orleans Pelicans Podcast.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
Thanks for listening to the New Orleans Pelicans Podcast. Join
us three times per week on Pelicans dot com, the
Pelicans mobile app, the iHeartRadio app, or where you get
your podcast, and be sure to give Jim and Guss
a follow on x at Jim Underscore I Can Offer
(34:59):
and g Kat Underscore seventeen. We'll see you next time
right here on the New Orleans Pelicans Podcast.
Welcome in to the New Orleans Pelicans Podcast, the official
podcast of your New Orleans Pelicans, a podcast dedicated to
everything you need to know about the squad here from players, coaches, broadcasters,
and those who cover the NBA on a daily basis.
It's time to flock up. The New Orleans Pelicans Podcast
(00:29):
starts right now.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Hello and welcome once again to the New Orleans Pelicans Podcast,
your official podcast of your New Orleans Pelicans. Jim, Mike
and Off Repelicans dot Com, Gus caddandell with you here
for brand new week here in March. March seventeenth. Jim,
I don't know if you do this or not, but
when it hits the date of your birthday, I kind
of just say, okay, so many more months to the
(00:55):
next one. And the only reason I'm doing that, Jims,
because I just looked at it. Today's the Seventeenthuar seventeen
ten months from now, will be half a century old.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Fifty wow, fifty fifty.
Speaker 4 (01:05):
I actually don't do that, but yeah, that's interesting. I
definitely don't do countdowns. If anything, I try to not
look at the calendar and figure out when my birthday.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Is going to be gym. There's lots to do, there's
lots of planning. There's lots now.
Speaker 4 (01:19):
Now I avoid that like the play. Okay, it's good
for you, it's good for you.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Well I don't again, I don't know if it's a
good thing or not. But that's where we are. We're
thinking about a lot of different things here as we
get into the latter stages of the month of March,
because Jim, we're basically about a month left of the
season right now. I feel like last week, I say
we have five weeks, we have what fourteen games? Fifteen games?
Fourteen including tonight. Team's about to go on a road
(01:45):
trip here over the next week. Four games this week
if you count Sunday's game at Detroit. So we'll get
into all of that. But this past weekend the team
was in San Antonio on Saturday night. Oh by the way,
before I forget to watch part he's coming up on
Friday and Sunday, which we'll tell you about here shortly. Anyway,
taking on the Spurs and Jim, all of the highlights
(02:06):
that I cut of all of them, why do I
feel like this one might tell the story.
Speaker 5 (02:12):
Sizes up a len, It crosses him over pops one
from the nail blindfolders. But he's been doing that forever.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
Oh my goodness, no, no, no, no, no, that is bound.
Speaker 5 (02:20):
Yes, those off Trey Murphy's face from CJ. McCollum, McCollum
through the inbound literally, as my partner described, perfectly, off
of Murphy's face out of bounds San Antonio Ball eighty
two games. You think you'd see it all, and you
don't because I ain't seen that. I was about to
(02:41):
say some stuff you couldn't script, and what would.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
You want to script that.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
I really don't know what to say after that other
than I that was early, by the way, in the
first quarter kind of gives you an idea of maybe
how that game was. Head coach Willie Green.
Speaker 6 (02:58):
They were just kind of mindless plays that we know
we can be better just and you know, when you're
missing guys, our margin for air small. So we that's
an area of growth. We have to be better in
those scenarios where we have the value possessions, and we
didn't do a great job of that tonight.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Fifteen total turnovers one nineteen one fifteen was the final
So that does stand out in a four point game also, Jim,
the free throw disparity also stands out there as well. Overall,
though your thoughts on Saturday.
Speaker 4 (03:26):
Night, Yeah, I mean, I think when you talk about
the turnovers, I think every you go into every game
knowing that you're gonna have at least eight or ten,
even if everything goes great.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
But it's the ones that you can prevent.
Speaker 4 (03:38):
It's, you know, the attention to detail type stuff is
the part of it that is frustrating when you have
stuff that's sloppy. But I mean, overall, though, I they
were competitive. They played a competitive game. I mean they
ended up obviously only losing by four points, and they
were in it. I thought it was it was a
much better performance than Thursday's game against Orlando, although I
(03:59):
realize that that's not saying a lot. You were down
by thirty at halftime against the Magic, but I mean
they did things better. But it was one of those
things too, where you look at it and you say,
if you had more players available, maybe that as a win,
but as it turns out, it's it's a loss. I mean,
the Spurs didn't have Chris or they didn't have one
Ben Yama or dearon Fox, so it's like, you can't
(04:20):
really use that as an excuse either, so, but yeah,
it was.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
It was frustrating game. It was a game that they
had a chance to win.
Speaker 4 (04:26):
It was tied at halftime and it kind of went
back and forth for a while, but you end up losing.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
By four, all right, So that prevents them from what
getting the season series right.
Speaker 4 (04:37):
They had a chance to make it three years in
a row of winning the series against the Spurs, but
instead it ends up being two to two. So that's
how it ends up, and the they actually if Pelicans
lost the season series, I hate to even mention this
to all the other teams in the division, but they
ended up with a split against San Antonio.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
It just kind of tells you why the season is
the way it is. But with that said, we do
you have to start looking towards next year. Some of
the players are talking about it after the most recent
win too, that that's the goal, right to try to
get some sort of momentum going into it, and part
of that is planning and fans can play in here
as well. What do we mean by that, Well, there's
(05:14):
gonna be a lot of different things coming up over
the next couple of months. Obviously the season ends in
a month, but we have the draft, we have the lottery,
we have the draft, we have free agency, we have
Summer League. Then we'll get into training camp and obviously
they'll be in Australia and all that. So I know
it seems like it's some time aways. But again I'm
the one here sitting in there counting ten months until January,
so it's not ten hal away when it looks at it.
(05:36):
And if you've got kids, you know what I'm talking about.
The year goes by quick. So Jim's gonna do something
fun here in our next segment, we're gonna kind of
set you up for the next couple of months. And
also how to look at maybe I don't know, ten brackets,
five brackets, how many brackets do you feel? For much beast?
Speaker 4 (05:51):
You know I'm gonna disappoint you again here, Gus, you
don't feel any last couple of years, I have not
filled out any brackets because I'm happy to just root
for the underdogs. I mean, as I've watched and less
college basketball over the years, I feel, I mean, maybe
this is the opposite of how I should see it.
But because I know a lot of people just wing
it and just just like I don't know anything, but
I'm just gonna fill out this bracket and just go wild.
But I've just had less enthusiasm maybe to fill out
(06:13):
the bracket the last few years, just because I don't
watch college basketball and much during the regular season, so
I don't know what I'm talking about. And then I
treat the nca Tournament, and you know, April May leading
up to the NBA Draft is kind of a crash course.
I'm the student that hasn't paid attention all year but
has a test coming up, so and then I try
to listen to as many people as I can that
know what they're talking about and read as much as
(06:34):
I can.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
So that's pretty much the way I treat it. But
I do not.
Speaker 4 (06:37):
I have not filled out a bracket in a few years,
and I don't mind though. I actually enjoy just being
able to root for who I want to root for
instead of the stress of like, Okay, I need these
four teams to lose and I need this team to win,
and you know what I mean, I just find it more.
I don't know if more fun is the way to
put it, but it's just I don't mind not having
to worry about a bracket.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
I do feel that even if you didn't study in
a test, you would do pretty good. Thanks. You come
across as an a student to begin with, so I
do think you would do well.
Speaker 4 (07:06):
Some of my past teachers may disagree with that, but
that's okay, that's another story.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Secondly, I had a talk show for a while fourteen years,
and every year we would do a bracket challenge, right
for all our listeners. Everything my wife chooses on uniform color, okay,
uniforms that yeah. Yeah. My son when he got old
enough to understand enough to like, he goes by the mascot.
He likes animals, right, sure, yeah, so like you know
(07:31):
a tar heel versus you know, an eagle, he likes
the ego or so whatever. Right, they both consistently beat me. So,
for what it's worth, someone that talked sports for a living.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
Did you consider yourself to be an NCAA no expert
or at least like have some grasp of it though?
Speaker 2 (07:50):
So yeah, I will say this, I because JD said
it on Friday and and you kind of have hinted
at it, and I've suggested here as well as something
I do want to talk about it at some point.
I even have talked about this with Antonio Daniels and
maybe we'll find a podcast in a summer in the
offseason kind of touch on this for JD to say,
I used to watch college basketball. Now I just don't.
(08:14):
And he gave specifics, you know, style of play, the
quality of play, things that nature you too, you said
I used to watch, but I don't. I'm I mean
I knew all the chants from the cheerleader. I mean
I grew up listening to Let's go hoy, yeahs, you
know when Georgetown was I mean, college basketball was awesome.
(08:36):
And look, I have my reasons and theories on it,
which I think it'd be great to sort of have
just a you know, we're sitting at a bar, round
table sort of thing, just tossing shit, no real rhyme
or reason, but just good. Whether it's one and done,
whether it's the rise of European basketball or the growth
of the game elsewhere. Stylistically, the three point shot, there's
(08:57):
something to that, because Jim, I'm with you. I used
to know. I don't know if I actually know the
names of head coaches. Yeah, some of the time, I
don't know because a lot.
Speaker 4 (09:06):
Of coaches that I have lost track of where they are.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
I know a lot of those coaches, right, I mean
Duke from coach K to I mean, I think still
a bunch of there's a bunch of guys who coached
for twenty thirty years in the same place, and it
made you identify them with the program where they were.
Speaker 4 (09:23):
I mean, for me, Jim Beheim, Syracuse's synonymous, I.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Saw them on TV on a set. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (09:28):
And a lot of coaches have gotten out of it
for various reasons, and some of them just kind of
aged out of it as well. But yeah, I mean,
to me, the biggest and we'll talk about this some
way down somewhere down the road, but to me, the
biggest reason was actually none of what you listed, which
is the traction of the players is gone in terms
of the players would be there in the same place.
(09:48):
The star guys that you knew when you when you
talk about Georgetown, I think of you know, Patrick Ewing
and Lonzo Morning and those guys, even the greatest players
were they still were at the at the school for
two three years at least. Now, it seems like for
a lot of the best players almost all of the
best players. College is just to pass through. It's like, Okay,
well I have to check this box off. I have
to spend one year until I'm nineteen, so I'll do this.
(10:11):
It's hard to really gain the same loyalty from fan
bases and just or connection I think is a better word.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
To of way to put it. You just can't if
you're just coming through for one year.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
It's hard to really gain that appreciation unless you're you know,
I'm gonna be really biased here, unless you're Carmelo Anthony.
In the one year you're there, you win a championship.
But how often does that happen? So, I mean a
lot of these guys, they play one year, their team
gets knocked out in the NCAA tournament, maybe in the
first couple of rounds, and it's like you don't even
really have the memory of something from March that stands out,
and then the guy's already gone.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
I joke at times, but I think it's probably a
pretty good statement. I would say in this state, obviously,
football is huge, right, high school football, pro football man.
I've made the case an argument baseball is next. High
school baseball, legion baseball, travel ball, college baseball. Yeah, I
mean you had you know, I think LSU turned down NIT. Yes,
(11:09):
so you know their baseball team is what everybody football season,
when's baseball start. I mean, that's how they look at it.
And the reason I bring that up is because what
recently in the last two years ago you had the
top two players I believe it was Paul Skins, right
and Dylan Cruz that chose to play three. And the
reason I'm bringing this up because I would love to
see and I don't know, maybe I last CJ McCollum
(11:30):
one day. He is the head of the Players Association.
But I love what college baseball does. If you are good,
if because a lot of times people bring up, well
what if they're Lebron, Well, if you're Lebron, you're Lebron.
That doesn't happen. Not everybody's Lebron. But if you think
you can go straight to pro level and play have
at it. Congratulations, you're really good. If you're not three years,
(11:54):
sure during those three years. And I do think now
with the event of nil, you're getting money. You're making
it off of name, image and likeness. It's not like
you're not not getting anything anymore. So I think that
may help get this past eventually. But I think there's
a handful of different things for the player individually. You
(12:14):
can set up classes in a structure and things that
nature to help them understand what's coming, whether they're financially.
Set yourself up better also, but more importantly, growth of
the game, be coached, go through tournaments, being situations where
you know, the crowds against you or things. All these
things matter. But I think more than anything, i'll the
product to be better because you'll have that again, you'll
(12:36):
have rivalries, you'll have interest to it. I just think
everybody benefits from that. And those are two guys that
are star level. I mean, Paul Skames was in the
All Star Game in his first year, and he came
up mid season last year, so he's good. Cruise is good.
They played three years of college baseball.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
Right right.
Speaker 4 (12:53):
You know, It's interesting that something I hadn't really thought
about and definitely not something I know a ton about,
but it does strike me that for baseball, the NIL
would have a huge impact because if you have it
takes you a couple of years in most cases, not
in Skeen's case, it takes you a few years.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
To get to the majors.
Speaker 4 (13:09):
So it's like you can either have three years of
college with nil or you can be riding buses in
small towns for a couple of years on a really
small salary. So yeah, I could see how that would
make a difference. I don't think you can't really apply
the same thing to basketball, because even the guys in
the G League make a decent amount of money. The
guys that are, you know, top picks, or guys that
(13:31):
are projected to be top picks, like Scoot Henderson. It's
just a different thing, and I don't think you could
ever have You could probably never have in the NBA this.
I mean, maybe I'm wrong, but you could never have
the rule of either you go right to the NBA
or you spend three years in college. Because the teams
don't want high school players come into the NBA because
they want that one year where they can scout them
(13:52):
against stellar competition. I think there was a stretch there
when the high school players were coming directly to the
NBA where there was guys who hadn't really been tested
necessarily against the best competition they might have played in
a league where they're playing against people like me in
high school and it's like, yeah, they put up stats,
but they didn't play against anyone. So I think the
NBA just in general wants that year so that it's
(14:15):
kind of a safety net to not pick a guy
fifth in the draft and realize if he had played
a year in college, he would have been exposed as
not nearly as good or as he was hyped up
to be. So I think, I mean, theoretically though, I
mean I understand that idea, it would be interesting if
the NBA could ever wouldever implement maybe you could do
(14:35):
maybe you could do two years.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
Instead, but the difference.
Speaker 4 (14:38):
But even so, I just think that the teams, at
the end of the day, this the front offices don't
want it to be back in a situation where they
have to choose between high school kids who aren't really
proven compared to some of the college guys that at
least have gone through a season against major Division one competition.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
Yeah, like I said, it's something that would be interesting
to get a couple of different perspectives, Right, maybe Dad
who's played and again I don't know or not, but
they're in charge of the union. I mean, who better
to kind of represent how players maybe see it.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
I also think the player the league sees yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Sure.
Speaker 4 (15:12):
I also think the players don't necessarily want high school
kids coming in and taking jobs either.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Correct, That's what I'm saying. I think there's a lot
of things that you know, you could sit down and
discuss and talk about.
Speaker 4 (15:24):
There's a lot of reasons though, that the people that
are already in the league would push back against the
high school So I think as much as sometimes people
talk about it and say like, oh, don't you think
we should go back to the way it was before,
there's not a lot of public people coming.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Out and saying that's what I'm saying. But I know
from just.
Speaker 4 (15:42):
You know, talking to people and just listening that you
realize that there's too many forces I think right now
in the NBA against for some of the reasons I
just listed of having high school players being able to.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Go right to the NBA, no, no doubt about it.
But to the point that we're getting at here is
we're moving to our next segment is we're going to
be looking at March Badners. We'll be looking at these games.
We'll be looking at the draft, We'll be looking at
the draft lottery. See where the Pells wind up here
again with fourteen games remaining, and then really just kind
of where we go from here. So Jim, let's just
(16:15):
start with the most obvious here, and that is.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
What let's talk about. Where the Pelicans are.
Speaker 4 (16:21):
You know, we haven't really talked much about the draft
or the lottery so far the season, which I think
is a smart way to you don't want to talk
too early about it, you don't want to get into
I mean, they still have fourteen games left, like you said,
all but three of the remaining games in the regular
season against teams that are contenders. So they have a
game against Philadelphia, a home game against Arlotte, and then
(16:41):
a game at Brooklyn. Those are really the only three
of the remaining schedule where they're playing teams that aren't
in the race or headed to the postseason, whether that
whether it's the play in or the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
So, I mean, if you look at.
Speaker 4 (16:53):
It though, for the Pelicans in terms of the draft lottery,
right now, Pelicans have eighteen wins, they're pretty much keep
using this word, they're pretty much entrenched as a bottom
four team in the standings right now. The teams that
are right above them in the standings are Philadelphia and
Brooklyn with twenty three wins. Toronto has twenty four. So
I mean you're looking at there's a five win gap
(17:14):
just between the Pelicans and the team's right above them.
So that's why I say, I mean, unless something really
unusual happens, they're gonna be in a bottom four position
in the standings. And as a result of that, based
on the way that they do the lottery, I guess, well,
everything I say going forward will be with the understanding
of this is the way things are at the moment.
(17:35):
Things could change. Obviously, nothing is definitive. But if the
Pelicans have in the fourth what I call pre lottery slot,
if they're in the fourth pre lottery slot, the lowest
they can pick is eighth because you can only four
fall back four spots in the lottery. Now let's go
with a you know, just kind of a couple of
broad details. So the regular season ends on April thirteenth
(17:56):
against Oklahoma City. Obviously that'll be the last game the
Pelicans play. They've already and eliminated from even playing contention,
The draft lottery itself is on Monday, May twelfth, so
you got about a month between the last regular season
game and the draft lottery. The draft itself is June
twenty fifth and twenty sixth. Right now, the Pelicans do
(18:18):
not have a second round pick. So that's something important
to think about as well, and something that we're going
to factor into the pre draft evaluation stuff and whatever
reports and podcasts that we do. Of course, it is
possible that the Pelicans, it's always possible that the Pelicans
could trade into the second round. They did that last
year they didn't have a second round pick. They made
a trade they got Antonio Reeves. But as it stands
(18:40):
right now, they will have a lottery first round pick,
but no second round pick. And then July tenth is
the beginning of Summer League. I'm very grateful because once again,
I think this is a second or third in a row,
third year in a row that the Summer League does
not overlap with fourth of July. I think, just based
on the way the calendar fell, they had to push
it back a little bit from what it is.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
From some years.
Speaker 4 (19:01):
It starts, you know, July sixth, and training camp is
during fourth of July, stuff like that, so but that
won't be.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
The case this year.
Speaker 4 (19:09):
But I wanted to kind of get into again with
the understanding that the Pelicans are, you know, in the
bottom four right now, they probably can't pick any lower
than eighth if things stay the way they.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Are right now.
Speaker 4 (19:21):
Just why because you at the draft lottery, the only
thing that you can win, quote unquote win is a
top four pick. So after the fourth, after they they
draw for the first four spots, everything at that point
goes into reverse order of record. So if you have
the worst record in the league, which I think Utah
(19:41):
or Washington right now has the worst record in the league.
If you have the worst record in the league, the
worst you can pick is fifth because you can only
fall back four spots. If you don't get one of
those four top four picks that are drawn out of
the ping pong balls, then the you know, you end
up at five if you have the worst record in
the league. So that's basically the explanation for that.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Because I don't want to interrupt you, but I get
it at least twice a week. Well, if they lose
the lottery, no pick twelve, you're saying they can't pick,
they cannot, right, yep, because they if they finished in
the top four bottom four.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
Yep.
Speaker 4 (20:13):
So we're gonna probably get into this maybe a little
bit more this week. We're planning on having Will Gilliery
on on Wednesday to talk more about the NCAA Tournament
and kind of he's somebody that I talked to throughout
the season where he I don't want to put words
in his mouth. I don't think he's like watching it
twenty four to seven because obviously he has an NBA
coverage job. They has to cover the Pelicans, and he's
(20:34):
the athletic also has him on other duty, but he
watches a good amount of college of basketball. So that
was why we wanted to have him on, you know, Wednesday,
with the round of sixty four for the NCAA Tournament
is starting Thursday. Also, we need to have Will on
to defend North Carolina being included in the NCAA Tournament.
That seems like it's a controversial topic, so maybe and
I think by then, I think North Carolina plays Tuesday
(20:56):
in the first four, so by then we'll know whether
the Tar Heels are actually still playing or not. But anyways,
that's another story for another day. Just so briefly, I
wanted to kind of go through as we get ready
for the NCAA tournament this week. NBA dot Com has
a mock draft that they put out, and so this
is the top eight that they have right now. And
(21:16):
I want to couch this by saying too that if
you have any complaints with this list, it's not Gus
and I's list, it's NBA dot Com. I believe it's
Jonathan Wasserman from Bleacher Report is the one that compiles it.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
That's w A S. S E R.
Speaker 4 (21:30):
Now, I'm just kidding. If you have any beefs or whatever,
that's where this list comes from. So the top eight
the NBA dot Com right now has is Cooper Flag,
Dylan Harper, Ace Bailey, VJ. Edgecomb, Trey Johnson, Derek Queen.
Come on, Malocke, I think I'm not sure if that's
how you say it. He's a center from Duke seventh pick.
(21:51):
You're gonna be able to tell from my pronunciation that
I'm not an expert. I hope to be soon, though, Gus.
And then eighth is Jace Richardson from Michigan State. So
the interesting thing about this top eight too, is two
of these guys, Harper and Ace Bailey, the second and
third guys on this list.
Speaker 3 (22:10):
They play for Rutgers.
Speaker 4 (22:10):
Their team did not even make the NCAA tournament, so
unfortunately we're not gonna be able to see them play
in some of these huge games. But Cooper, Flagg and
Duke play Friday at one point fifty. They're gonna be
playing against a sixteen seed. The winner of a first
four game vj Edgecombe for Baylor plays at eleven to
fifteen am on Friday against Mississippi State, so a little
(22:32):
bit of a regional interest there. Trey Johnson from Texas
plays in a first four game Wednesday at eight to
ten against Xavier. Derek Queen from Maryland plays Friday at
three thirty against Grand Canyon, and then lastly, Jace Richardson
for Michigan State plays at Friday at nine o'clock against Bryant.
So it's obviously this is just totally coincidental. But all
(22:54):
of these guys, except for Trey Johnson, who plays for
Texas and play is gonna play Wednesday night in the
first four. All these other players are playing on Friday.
So Friday will be a very big day for NBA scouts.
I'm sure there will be a ton at some of
these games, with some of the prominent players that are involved.
But yeah, just the way it kind of will laid
(23:16):
out Thursday, there's not a lot from the top eight,
but Friday, all of the all six of these other
guys beyond the two Rutgers guys will be playing in games.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
Yeah, it's interesting. As I'm pulling up with a couple
of different mock drafts here as well, including to one,
E and B as opposed to seasons past game, it
does look like college basketball players will be going one, two,
and three, not you know, foreign more foreign players, and
that's bout I'm just saying, like the last two years
it was like French League, euro League players or their
their leagues.
Speaker 4 (23:44):
Yeah, I think that goes in waves. It's kind of
one of those things where you know, you go through
some stretches where there might be a few years where
it's a bunch of international guys. But yeah, that is
interesting the fact that there aren't.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
It's it's funny.
Speaker 4 (23:57):
I do think it depends on the mockra if you
look at and it probably depends on when you look
at it, but it feels like if you went back
a few weeks or even maybe a couple months, there
were a couple international guys in the top five or six,
but some of those names have dropped out, at least
on the NBA dot com version that I'm looking at.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
The one thing that hasn't changed lots of frs next
to a lot of those players. Yeah, lots of freshmen
there coming in. And it'll be interesting toos get closer
because the Pels have they look and it's been proven, right,
a lot of their guys that they've drafted too, they
love that experience. I've been able to come in and play,
and I think it's interesting to look at not just
obviously if your top three to take talent, but fit
(24:37):
is probably just going to be just as important with
this team because and it's something we'll look at as
we get closer to May and closer to June. How
do you look at whether it's draft or free agency
and adding to this team or not. Do you say, hey,
if we're healthy, we don't need much. Hey if we're healthy,
we still need this sort So I do think roster
makeup currently are the guys you have who's under contract
(24:57):
things of that nature.
Speaker 4 (24:58):
Right, Yeah, And I mean I don't have enough information
from where I'm sitting to know the whole picture of
the Pelicans, because you have so many other factors as well.
You have who's going to be a free agent, who
do you think is likely to come back? What positions
do you do you like more than others in terms
of the draft. But I mean, I think in general,
(25:19):
like setting aside the Pelicans specifics, there aren't that many
times that you get a chance to draft this high.
So I think a lot of people feel, like, in general,
not specific to New Orleans, that if you pick in
the top four, which you know, hopefully Pelicans, if the
way things end up, hopefully the Pelicans will at least
I think people would be should.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
Be happy with the top four pick.
Speaker 4 (25:38):
Yeah, like you said, you take the best guy, and
you say, when we're picking at this part of the draft,
we want somebody that is a foundation piece and we'll
figure out the details of positional fit and stuff like
that later. I mean, I think that's the way a
lot of people look at it, And I mean, hopefully
this will be the last time that we talk about
a top five pick for a long time as well. Gus,
(26:00):
So you want to you want to try to nail
that pick and get somebody that you say, is a
pillar of what you're gonna do for the next five
to ten years.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
We've heard it referenced a lot, but it does mirror
and it's almost kind of like what you would like
it to be. Right when you look at Memphis a
year ago, I mean, that was a team that was
had taken that step with John Then stuff happens to say,
you know, to say politely, you don't know, like they
didn't plan for Jot to miss the season, they didn't
plan for suspension, so you don't know what's gonna happen.
(26:31):
So to your point, take the best talent available, because
last year was kind of a season that they weren't
gonna be in the playoffs, but they have good players. Yeah,
so they get a guy in Zach Edy who absolutely
helps them. Yeah know, you know, already on the strong team.
Speaker 4 (26:46):
The interesting thing about that comparison, though, is that because
last year's draft was so weak, I think teams looked
at it a little bit more.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
They picked him I think eighth or ninth.
Speaker 4 (26:57):
Memphis they looked at a little bit more, as you know,
maybe there aren't superstar guys that we can project as
franchise changers.
Speaker 3 (27:05):
So we're happier.
Speaker 4 (27:07):
We're okay with taking a guy ninth in the draft
that fits this specific need that we have, because there
isn't a big difference between Zach Edie and maybe some
of the five or six other guys that they the
Grizzlies had in that range between say nine and fifteen
on their draft board. So whereas I think this year though,
is different because this year has a lot more of
those guys at the top of the draft that people
(27:28):
are saying, this guy has a chance to be a
multi time All Star, this guy can come in and
make a huge difference right away and especially long term.
So I think your philosophy also has to obviously change
based on what draft.
Speaker 3 (27:41):
It is and what's available.
Speaker 4 (27:42):
So I mean, if this year's draft lives up to
the high, I do think the hype on this year's
draft has come down a little bit as the season
has the college season has gone on, but I still
think that there's a ton of excitement for a handful
of the guys that are going.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
To be available at the top in general, though better
than last year. Definitely, those people believe that. Yeah, to
your point, from picking ninth, Memphis currently at forty three
and twenty five, seventh best record overall in the NBA.
So that's your point. I mean, that's not Zach eighty.
That's just you have a good team and he's coming
and helped. Let's try to do that, guy, Yeah, let's
(28:18):
follow that plan completely. Fine, So that's kind of where
we're going at directs. Anyway, excellent stuff there, Jim. Hopefully
that kind of helps you on again. We'll be with
you all the way through the lottery afterwards here as well.
We have a handful of pods post season, and we'll
be back with you around the draft, just like we
did last year Summer League and all that. So we
got you all the way up until next year when
Jim will be boxing kangaroos. I don't know if you
(28:40):
knew that I have suggested that.
Speaker 3 (28:41):
I'm training already.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
Well, it's a Monday, thankfully, Jim is always our Friday.
It's time for mister Eichenhoffer to give his Players of
the Week and a player to watch for this week,
which opted guy.
Speaker 3 (29:02):
Well, Mallory, let's start with player of the week.
Speaker 4 (29:04):
Now, there were other Pelicans players over the three games
that they played that had bigger stats and maybe more
flashier stuff.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
But you know what, this is my award.
Speaker 4 (29:12):
So on the Pelicans podcast, So I went with Carlo
Makovich just because I thought he was one of the
guys that I think drew the most attention for how
well he's played lately and just the improvement that he's made.
He averaged eleven point seven points, seven point or seven
rebounds per game, excuse me, in only twenty four minutes
per game. He also shot sixty four percent from the field.
(29:33):
He averaged one point three blocks in those three games
as well. He had a total of six offensive rebounds.
So let's give a little tip of the cap to Carlow.
I mean, there are other guys that average more points, obviously,
Cjim McCollum, Trey Murphy, but just wanted to give a
little credit to a guy who has mostly been coming
off the bench, even though he has started here and
there with some of the front court players that have
(29:55):
been out. For my player to watch over the next
four games, which is two against Detroit, two against Minnesota,
a player who actually did start the beginning of his
career playing for the Detroit Pistons, and that is Bruce Brown.
The reason I have him as the player to watch
is it feels like he's been playing a lot better lately,
and I mean the stats definitely kind of prove that
(30:17):
he over he started the last three games, he averaged
ten points, four rebounds, four assists. You know, he's kind
of a jack of all trades, very versatile, contributes in
a lot of different ways, and I think one of
the biggest things that kind of shows how much better
he's been playing lately compared to the way he was
performing when he first came in. He shot fifty two
percent from the field last week, which was thirteen of
(30:39):
twenty five from the floor in his ten games before that,
when he only started one game, he was nineteen for
sixty two, which is thirty one percent, So I mean
he was he goes from nineteen of sixty two to
thirteen of twenty five in those recent games. So Bruce
Brown is the player to watch. And then lastly, something
(31:00):
I'm always excited to do is the spoiler scale, And
once again, I feel like the schedule has kind of
hampered the spoiler scale only from the standpoint of that,
once again, there's a minimal amount of opponents that the
Pelicans are playing, even though they have four games this week,
so the only teams that show up on the spoiler
scale are Detroit and Minnesota. I went with six for
(31:21):
Detroit because I think this is definitely above average in
terms of the Pistons are in the race for a
top six where they're they're pretty cemented as a top
six team in the East, but they have a chance
to move up to fourth or fifth right now. So
these will be important games for Detroit. But then the
two games against Minnesota I have as an eight, but
I think it'll be a nine if Minnesota wins tonight.
Speaker 3 (31:43):
Against the Pacers.
Speaker 4 (31:44):
And the reason I say that is because the Timberwolves
have an eight game winning streak. If they win, They're
playing a back to back at home tonight against Indiana.
If Minnesota wins, there'll be in a nine game winning
streak going into the two consecutive games against New Orleans.
So he also locked in a really tight race with
Golden State for sixth place. So I mean we're talking
(32:05):
one of those teams potentially gets in and the other
team has to go through the play in tournament, which
makes it really interesting. I mean, the Timberwolves and Warriors
are also hot on the heels of the Lakers as well.
So I mean there's a lot at stake for the
Tea Wolves in these games coming up. So I go
with six on the spoiler scale for Detroit, eight for
the Timberwolves. But we'll put that we'll push that up
(32:25):
to a nine if Minnesota wins tonight against Indiana.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
Yeah, that's true, especially those I mean seeing him twice
right in this week's period. So look, that's a team
that we've been kind of mentioning every now and then
on our podcast. They hadn't really played like they were
last year, right, I mean everyone was already putting you,
you know, ant Man as the next m Jam and
they were calling him the next face of the league.
(32:50):
And look, he earned it last year towards the end
of the ear the way he was playing and at
tenaciousness and maybe that post game available if you call
it that. We lean back in his chair to the
locker room and said his roster and his team stunk. Yeah,
he called out everybody. I think they they played better.
Speaker 4 (33:14):
Yeah, I think they just needed to sort out some
chemistry things that they made a huge trade with Towns
for Randall.
Speaker 3 (33:20):
They had to sort that out.
Speaker 4 (33:21):
They had Dante de Vincenzo in the same deal, who
started off really poorly this season, just wasn't shooting well uncharacteristically,
and he's been as time has gone.
Speaker 3 (33:29):
On, he's played better.
Speaker 4 (33:30):
He also had an injury, Mike Conley's had had some
injury stuff. I just think they needed to sort out
some of the issues that they had and right but
right now they're playing like one of the best teams
in the league. They just came off a really impressive
win at Denver, where you know they were they won convincingly.
So yeah, and I think a lot of these teams
that are in playoff contention right now, teams that know
(33:50):
that they're going to go to the playoffs, or teams
that are fighting for seating, they look at games like
New Orleans as we have to win these games when
they when they they play against teams that are out
of the race that don't have anything to play for,
especially with when with these two games being at home
in the Target Center, these are crucial games for them
that they look at them as games that we can't
afford to lose because every game is important for them.
Speaker 3 (34:13):
At that point.
Speaker 4 (34:13):
We've reached that point in the season now where it's
getting down. I mean, by the end of this week,
the Pelicans only have ten games left, so we're really
starting to.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
Get down to the stretcherun here, hey right, fourteen including tonight's.
On that note, that is all the time. We'll see
you on Wednesday, we will try to get mister Will Giller,
very important and busy man talk a little college basketball.
Get all that underway. Friday will be with you here
as well. So have a great week, folks, and we
will see you next time on the New Orleans Pelicans Podcast.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
Thanks for listening to the New Orleans Pelicans Podcast. Join
us three times per week on Pelicans dot com, the
Pelicans mobile app, the iHeartRadio app, or where you get
your podcast, and be sure to give Jim and Guss
a follow on x at Jim Underscore I Can Offer
(34:59):
and g Kat Underscore seventeen. We'll see you next time
right here on the New Orleans Pelicans Podcast.
Host
Jim Eichenhofer
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