What is up, fellow thermonuclear afers. I am Dana Valley coming at you
with another twenty twenty three twenty twenty four NBA team look ahead. We're on
to the New Orleans Pelicans and that means, as always, we talked to
Schmidt Duah follow him on Twitter at Fear of the Brown spelled exactly as it
sounds. He is from the in the No podcast and also the in the
No substack. You can find the links to both of those in our podcast
and YouTube descriptions. Shmidt, how are you doing? Damn my man?
I'm doing great. You know, I always cherish when you send me these
invites as the years about a kickoff, I'm like, all right, this
is I associated with good things, right. Media days are around the corner
of the NBA season's about the start, so it's like bill them, there's
the damn invite and let's do this. Let's talk Pelicans. Yes, I
was excited, you answered me. It's been tough this year because Twitter is
broken and so like I have your email now, which is great, but
like some people just don't see the d ms as much anymore. Probably I
don't pay for Twitter, so maybe that's why they don't see them, so
I'm excited to have you back. Let's start with I mean, there's so
much to start with, but I want to start with last season before really
getting into the topical stuff, which is the Trey Murphy injury. They were
a beast before the Zion injury. They had like a top They had a
top three net rating in the West coming out of the heading into the new
year, excuse me, top eight on offense and defense. Zion get you
in injured, everything kind of fades away. How much do you read into
though the first iteration of that team Zion was healthy and they didn't have picture
perfect health elsewhere. But how much do you how much stock do you place
in that? And if it's differs from how much stock do you think the
organization placed in that? When looking at how relatively quiet their offseason was,
I think they have to tread carefully with that sample size. It was impossibly
small to start with. And secondly, there was just a lot of things
they were figuring out en route to that performance that they had. One of
those things being moving Zion away from the post and putting the ball in his
hands, which is sounds something that should have been obvious from the get go,
but it apparently wasn't for this team, and but they obviously saw great
results when when they did, and it kind of put all the other pieces
in the proper place. It was kind of this organizing principle, Oh yeah,
we can get Zion the ball, and everyone else's role makes so much
more sense now, right, And I think they're excited about the prospect of
trying to replicate that, because I do think they feel like they have the
right pieces to compliment Zion and his amazing efficiency. But it's so difficult to
put all your eggs in that basket because he's only played thirty games in a
season once in his career, and so how much can you really count on
that? I don't know, And he kind of going back to this idea
of like, was that a fools gold team even when he was healthy or
not? I would say it's like I would say, they're They're not the
best team in the league as they were at that time, but there are
they are a good team with a lot of room for proven That's what I
would say. Were you or how did you feel about how quiet their off
season ended up being and didn't have a ton of spending tools to begin with.
But I think everyone want nationally wanted them to be a little bit more
aggressive, getting shooting or diversifying the front line. Surprised they weren't that aggressive.
Do you think they should have been more aggressive on the trade market?
Where do you just land on how they went about their off season? Where
the two biggest moves are With apologies to the Zeller family, it's extending Herb
Jones and adding Jordan Hawkins. Yeah, I am fairly disappointed that this is
the route that they chose to go. Again, there are two main players
do not stay healthy on a regular basis, and so I feel like they
needed to add more offensive firepower to this team, whether shooting, whether it
was creation, whether it's something else to offset some of those games missed by
those players. I felt like they needed to improve on their big man rotation.
Uh. Like you said, apologies to the Zeller family, but their
big man rotation, and this from the center position is is JV and Cody
Zeller, which JV is great, I love him. Willy Green doesn't seem
to be the biggest fan of his on court play for for for reasons unknown,
and so you know, I was hoping they would try to find a
different solution there, and they just chose to sit stay put, which is
doubly surprising because around draft time the buzz was Scoot Scoot Henderson. Pelican's interested
in Scoot Henderson. You're gonna have on that for any of our listeners in
are like you were all over Scoot, like you wanted Scool, like you
you pretty much you were ready to die on that hill of Scoot to Oh.
Absolutely, And I think that was an extremely good opportunity for them to
do a soft reset with their contractual situation right now, just to fill listeners
in. They are entering the season over the tax line. They have never
paid the tax in their franchise history. They're entering the season over the tax
line. They have very limited trade flexibility because of that, and very likely
they'll look to get under the tax, you know, mid season at some
point. We've all kind of penciled in Kyra Lewis as the guy that they're
going to use as a salary dump to get under the tax. But they
either they have other options and there's no sort of rush to do this at
the moment. They could do it as long as they get under it by
the end of the season, but they're over the tax line and they just
paid herb Jones. Zion's contract is kicked in. Brandon Ingram is up extension
eligible currently and more importantly, will be next year with the potential of hey,
if he plays decently well, he might hit all NBA and be eligible
for thirty five percent max contract. CJ has multiple years remaining, Trey Murphy
is going to be extension eligible heading into next offseason, and so you're looking
at an environment where you're you're not going to be able to generate salary flexibility.
And the new CBA is only going to be more punitive with regards to
those teams that are that have high payrolls. And and I don't anticipate the
Pelicans ever being like a Mantraus payroll team or you know, the second Apron
ever being something they'll entertain. But even even if they were underneath that threshold,
the amount of options they have are are limited. And I thought,
hey, if they traded for Scoot, they would have an opportunity. And
personally, my preference was to be clear trading brandon Ingram. And I'm of
the belief that if they had offered Ingram to Charlotte. They could have worked
out a deal. You know, maybe maybe there was some asset juggling that
needed to happen to balance the books there or whatever. But I'm of the
belief that if that piece was dangled, there would have been a deal.
They would have had the number two pick and been able to select Scoot,
And at that point you can do a soft reset. You have Scoot on
a rookie scale contract, Zion on all only a twenty five percent max contract
because he was not healthy enough to make all NBA. Oh, he's not
going to get that thirty percent rose Roull max that was in his contract,
but you know he didn't meet the eligibility requirements. You would have Trey Murphy
on a rookie scale contract, Diyson, Daniel's, Herb Jones, all of
these people, and if you needed to move away from Zion at any point,
you have a fallback option in building around Scoot and Trey Murphy. Right,
you're set for the long term. And again, if you go back
to this idea of hey, this was a really good team when Zion was
healthy, and if you look very closely, a lot of those wins came
when Brandon Ingram was not on the court when he was not healthy. And
I'm not saying that Brandon Ingram is a detrimental factor to this team or not.
But I am saying is Zion is going to drive wins when he's healthy,
regardless of who is on the court. He's that good. And so
if you're able to do that soft reset and have Scoot on the rookie scale
salary, I felt like you're extending your window, extending your flexibility, extending
your ability need to do things just down the line, and giving your shot
to be give yourself a shot to be a real championship contender rather than like
a good playoff team. I thought, that's that's something they need to make
a high upside variance play there. They obviously chose not to do that.
I think, you know the funma flip side. I was like, well,
Dame Millard's on the market. You can go get him too, right,
you have the assets to do it. Clearly, you can outbid anything
Miami can put on the table, or you know, according to heat media,
but according to to Heat media, you know, that's another guy.
But again, if you if you trade for Dame, you swing the pendulum
in the extreme opposite direction or instead of becoming lean and salary flexible and blah
blah blah blah blah. You are in the text. You are all the
way in and you're you know your your clock. It's like when Griff is
back in Cleveland with Lebron, like your clock is now you're gonna win today
and those are your options. And and honestly, like I thought, I
think Griff operates at his best under pressure when when things need to change change
rapidly. I think that is when he operates that as best. I think
when you give him ample time and all the assets in the world. Uh
maybe maybe not the you know, the most optimal decision making there, but
like in crunch time, yeah, I think Griff is like one of the
best. It's this gives like fifteen questions into the outline. But since you're
since you're there, that's the stakes though this season is it not? Is
like you're It's good that Griff operates under pressure because like this is the last
offseason you can play that like, well, look at what happened like during
this small sample size card and so what actually like if if this team is
would you trust that and you mentioned they're into the tax right now. But
even if you make trades that could either get out of the tax or maybe
a big trade, you know, it still lowers their payroll and they can
go that route. Would you if this team is good enough or looks healthy
enough, like, are they a team that could make that consolidation trade in
the middle of the year depending on the market, or is this a team
that's more likely to make such a wholesale change in one direction or the other
you're talking about a soft reset or maybe Dame would be the other direction where
it'd be a consolidation trade. They're clearly not going to be in on him
and that was always weird, like so CJ gets moved as part of that,
but Dame would be I thought would be a fun fit there. But
are they a team that you can see making a decision like that in the
middle of the year or is this very much like no, that team's not
going to do anything until the twenty twenty four offseason. I think they are
positioning themselves to take a swing in the middle of the year. I think
that's one of the reasons they're entering the season in the tax right holding on
to the Kyra Lewis contract because they're not they don't have a ton of very
movable pieces, and his five ish million dollar contract is pretty movable, especially
when you combine it with some of the other pieces, and they can reach
you a few different numbers, Yeah, depending on what they're trying to hit.
And so I think they've left the door wide open for a consolidation trade
of pushing your chips in type of trade, it's just so difficult to predict
on like who that might be or like and I feel like it's so reliant
on external circumstances, whereas my position would be and I'm obviously I'm not privy
to any of these kind of discussions. Is if you've identified a target or
two or whoever it is, you should push all your chips, said now
today, even if it means paying a premium, uh, you know,
as opposed to in February. You know that might that might cost one less
first round pick or whatever, in efforts of being the best possible team you
could be from day one, rather than trying to consolidate in February when the
trade deadline is then you have you know, two and a half odd months
to figure out, figure it all out, and then you've maked yourself in
another accuse, well excuse, We're like, oh okay, like shit,
we we only had two and a half months. We don't know what they
can be. We gotta give them more time. And it's just like,
you know, like give yourself. Like I think jobs are on the line
this season. I legitimately think that if this season doesn't work out, well,
I think they're going to review everything from their core to the management,
to coaching, all of that and if those are the stakes, then be
as good as possible day one. Like that is that is my opinion.
The trade Murphy injury, I still think something not Pelicans fans obviously, but
I think still think some people in the corners of the basketball world don't understand
how important he is to them. How big is this injury, the timeline
of it, and how do you see it kind of affecting the rotation early
on? Yeah, you know it's it stinks first and foremost. Like when
when I heard that news, it was just like great, I was trying
to have a good summer. You know, this is this is terribly He's
one of my favorite players on the team, one of my favorite players to
cover and just a very awesome young individual. And he is also by far
their best shooter on the team. And he happens to be six nine with
a forty in vertical and can you can slot him from two to four and
and and you know, just he can play any position. And that is
a skill set that works extremely well with their best players, particularly Zion,
who is the paint king, right And then if you take his volume shooting
off of the team, you know, his three point attempts makes percentages,
all of that off the team, you're left with a team that has hardly
any competent shooters. And and so, like I was hoping, one of
the big discussions on Pelicans Twitter and Pelicans media and the collective was just who
is supposed to start this season? And I'm full steam ahead on the tray
Murphy needs to start. Anything else is a you know, shortsighted decision that
doesn't make sense, because I firmly believe he's capable of being the team's third
best player this season, not just in the future. Like this season,
you know, the two best being Zion and Brandon Niggeram of course, and
I think he has legitimate star potential. So if that is the future and
you're eventually going to end up paying him, in my opinion, close to
thirty million dollars a year, then you rip the band aid off today.
You rip the band aid off, You start him. You overlap as many
minutes as possible with Zion that you can while he's healthy, because like,
if you're bringing Tray off the bench, then you're not maximizing their overlap at
all, Like you gotta in my opinion, handcuff them into their rotation,
And if Zion's on the court, then then Tray's gotta be on the court.
And so you know they're gonna go back to their original starting lineup,
which just see j Herb Jones brandon Ingram, Zion and JV And I think
they're going to be a pretty solid regular season team if Zion's healthy, like
he can, Zion can win regardless of who's on the court. I genuinely
do believe that they're just gonna have to find a way to make up for
the the shooting and the loss of possession efficiency that trade rings in other areas,
and I think the areas that they should do it in in this case
is lean all the way into offensive rebounding. They have the personnel to do
that, and lean all the way into just being super aggressive in the paint
and get into the free throw line. So those two things, well,
I think would like boost their possession efficiency and hopefully stabilize the offense until you
know trad Tray is able to get in there. So Trey Murphy comes back,
let's fast forward. What's the biggest thing that we should be watching for
from him in year three? Oh, that's a good question. I know
he's spent a lot of time working on the in between game. He views
himself as an extremely high level two level score at the rim from three point
land, very efficient in both areas. Right. He spent a good portion
of his summer being able to add counters from the mid range areas. So
if he can't get all the way to the rim and he's run off the
line, he has scoring options. So if you were to ask him,
that is what you would see. But if you were to ask him me,
I just want more offensive possessions for him. This guy had a close
to seventy percent TRU shooting in the back half of the season. I think
he finished the season like a sixty five or something, just something absurd,
and he's so far beyond the threshold of hey, he's efficient, Can we
Jenner, you know, can we generate more possessions for him, more usage
for him, and see where the efficiency drops. Like he is so far
beyond a cliff there that we need to actively find out where the drop is
going to happen. And if that you know that drop happens at seventeen shots
a game, then give him sixteen. And you want to give your most
efficient players as many offensive possessions as possible, and I don't care where they
come from, but that should be Like one of the organizing principles for this
offense is, hey, so Ion guess the ball. Yeah, I guess
the ball and feed Trey Murphy. He does feel and some of the numbers
on this were skewed, but just like he feels critical if you want to
optimize your half court attack, because even with Zion being on the floor,
they're about lead average in the half court. Their efficiency and a lot of
their stuff most average is gonna come off offensive rebounding. And so if you
want to be able to inflict your will upon teams outside of that, then
you know, lean into it as far as you want. You made a
great point while Trey Murphy's out like you to figure out how to open up
the floor and do some more damage from beyond the arc long term, and
he just feels so critical to doing that. And also you did mention we
probably won't. I would be shocked. We see a ton of like mid
range counters from him, but this team doesn't really have a three level score,
and so it's like, is he either, but is it? Like
it could be b I, but like it's definitely not CJ. It's definitely
not even like kind of zion. So it's like that development would be fairly
huge for this team if he did become like something in the vein of that.
Yeah, I mean, I think I think this team would look to
b I first and CJ secondly for the three level score role because like BI
loves the mid range and and that's his preferred area and uh and and surprisingly
so does CJ. And what they need from those two guys, and CJ
has been more willing is a willingness to shoot more threes. Uh and and
I think you know, brandon Ingram's his attempts have decreased as as the last
two seasons have gone on pretty much everything related to a three point percentage and
volume has has not been good compared to the first two years when he came
to New Orleans. You know, under Alvin Gentry and Stadmon Gundy, he
shot almost seven three's a game and almost forty percent of game. Was was
like, hey, that's that's kind of what you need from him. And
the other thing that's the decrease is is like his his aggressiveness going towards the
rim and and some of those things are complicated by not having enough space.
And there's that's where Trey Murphy enters, right, But if you got Zion
on court, you got JV on a court, you got herb Jones on
the court, there's not gonna be a lot of real estate going to the
rim. And so like, you know, b I may feel like,
all right, I just gotta kind of get going from the mid range.
And it's tough, and so the coaching staff has to find out ways to
put him in positions where he's taken more efficient shots than he currently is.
Yeah, because it does feel still like feel like he's still finding that same
battle fitting into the larger context of this team. At full strength. But
the counterpoint to that would be the team is never at full strength, and
so it's like I don't even know a picture, like, yeah, the
three point volume needs to come up. His catch and shoot volume actually dropped
last year. But okay, well, look at the amount of time Zion
was out and that he was out and that they didn't play with them.
I don't know how to make a read on long term BI with this team,
Like do you have confident confidence like the best version of the Pelicans includes
Bi as your I guess second best player, like a premier player on this
team or is that kind of the more next Desion's health Is that like the
second biggest question for this team going forward? Yeah, I feel like for
this season it needs to they This is a season that is going to ask
a lot out of Brandon Ingram, and I think it's going to ask him
to be more of the top twenty, top twenty five guy that a lot
of people see him as than Hey, I'm actually my impact is closer to
top fifty, right. I think there's a pretty big gap between being borderline
All MBA and then borderline All Star. There's a pretty big gap of players
and I think the Pelicans kind of need him to be pushed that that all
NBA threshold, and he knows what's on the line contractually for him. I
mean, this is generational wealth. This is you know, a third of
a billion dollars or however many that that's gonna be. And and so like
he closed the season out really strongly. Uh, last year, you know
something to I don't remember the exact stats, but it was something like twenty
seven points a game, like eight rebounds and nine assists or something absurd to
that effect, like kind of kind of like Lebron esque raw numbers and clearly
not the same winning. In fact, I'm not trying to compare the two
in that regard, but I think they need that Bi to be present the
whole season rather than the one that's kind of been a roller coaster for them.
And and I think, yes, that is like the second biggest question
Zion stays healthy. If BI can consistently reach that threshold, then this is
a terrifying team to play against. The Stuff with Zion is interesting. This
season, it feels like there's been more of a push to be hey,
look at this, it's pictures of Zion in shape the Pells did overhaul some
of their training staff. There was a report that Zion did the same on
his end. How much stock do you actually take place and all that,
and is the like, what is the actual concern for you or the fan
base with Zion's injury history, because there's nothing that's been chronic, and yet
there's been talk about his conditioning, his commitment to staying in shape, and
then we heard this summer, oh, we spent more time around the organization.
He was more in market than he normally was. And then it's like
I mentioned, there's nothing chronic, but everything's on the right side of his
body, and it's his right side. Though, It's like, what is
just the is it just we have to cross our fingers. Part of this
is the risk of Zion's like just physical body type. I just how do
you make sense of or how much stock do you place in everything that that's
come out this offseason. I don't put any stock in it, to be
honest, I'm firmly at the point of you need to show me, not
tell me, you know. I think it's the Zion news cycle is cyclical
with this. You know, he plays well, people are hyped, he
gets hurt, you know, concerns come out, the injury process takes longer
than it should take for him to get back on the court. In that
time, everyone has an opinion on what's going on, and so it's happened
enough times to where I'm like, Okay, cool, I know what to
expect. I know what it's like when you're on the court. I don't
doubt that you've put in the effort to get yourself where you need to be
to start the season. What I want to see is the next time you
get hurt, what happens then? You know? How how long are you
going to be out? How quickly do you know are you able to get
back on the court? Like that is what I'm really looking for. It's
not that is he going to be ready to start this season. I'm sure
he will be. He'll be fine, and if he's not, he'll play
himself in the shape and it'll be okay. But what happens when he gets
hurt again? You know, what is that recovery process going to look?
Like? How seriously is he gonna take it? How? You know,
how is the medical staff gonna approach it? Whatever that is, I don't
honestly I don't care at this point who should be responsible for the blame.
I just need to know that if you put a timeline of four weeks,
he's going to be back in four weeks. You put on the timeline in
two weeks, he's gonna be back in two weeks. Not that, Oh
hey, he tweaked to hamstring, it's four to six weeks, and then
he misses the whole season. It's like that, that is where where my
issue is? What? So two fault here? What impressed you most about
the way he was playing before he was injured? And then what is there
anything you're still watching for to be like Kenny hone, this, Kenny add
this is he goes into year five. I think the most impressive thing about
him last season is he took a massive step forward defensively, and it happened
as the season went on, because when he started the season he was very
much similar to Zion of the old. We've all seen the clips, we've
all seen the memes of him kind of being a traffic coner defense or just
unable to shuffle his feet, and there was a pretty vivid moment early early
in the season, they played Portland and Jeremy Grant isolated him and just blew
by him with ease and just dunked all over the Pelicans, and it was
like, all right, Like Zion's gotta get himself where he used to be
defensively, and as he got into more game shape, as he got his
legs underneath him, he became a guy that was legitimately impactful defensively, and
his weak side Loman rotations were insane, like they were awesome on point.
He did a really good job of covering up those holes. And the Pelicans
were the fifth best defense in the league last year. They were I want
to say they were also top five when he was healthy, if not like
top two ish, top threeish. I don't remember that exact stat What I
do know is when he was on the court, they always had elite defensive
units when he was on the court, and that, to me was a
huge question mark with him, is like, are you ever going to be
able to put a line up with him out there that is competent? Defensive
competent? That was the threshold and they blew past that threshold and it was
like, no, these lineups are more than competent, They are awesome.
They're awesome defensively, and I don't want to, you know, act like
he was the driver of those, but he was certainly an active participant and
he ended up being turning into a defensive event generator. Not quite at the
level of where he was at Duke, you know, the block and Steel's
machine that he was, but something that was resembling the guy at Duke for
sure. Yeah, Clean and Glass has them at seventh and point slot possession
before his injury, and they were better than that with him on the floor,
Like allowing if you were points per under possession. Not the end all
be all, but that's important. What's this team ends up finishing PERCYTG sixth
and point slot per possession overall, there's a lot of stuff that they I
think, you look at the roster, won not a team that I would
just predict, Hey, top seven defense right there. They do a good
job rebounding. They're not a good rim protecting team, but they limit looks
at the rim. They definitely got lucky a little on opponent three point shooting
last year, but they do on live balls for the most part, get
a good job going back. Is there like a what's the secret sauce or
the schematic element or the thing that they do to you that you think allows
them to have this, I would say a defense. It almost feels like
it outperforms their personnel on paper, unless I'm just so divorced and out of
touch with how talented these guys in the roster actually are defensively, Dyson Daniel's
notwithstanding some in love with him. The biggest thing is they prevent attempts at
the rim, so so the volume of attempts at the rim, I think
they were amongst best in the They were at one point best in the league.
I'm pretty sure that numbers top five towards the end of the season.
Now if an opponent gets to the rim, it's a different story, right
they they're amongst the worst they'll league at that. But they were really good
at limiting the most efficient shots in the league and sealing off the paint,
so that that's where it's their standout was. The other thing was, you
know, like they were the best team at opponent three point scentage, which
is shooting variants, and I don't think that's something you can like bank on.
But I do think because they played a very switch heavy lineup that was
their preferred way to close out games with Larry Nance at the five and a
bunch of long athletic wings. That the quality of three point looks that they
gave up during those lineups were a lot of these self created ISO step back
type threes that are low percentage, and they were always able to be attached
to those kind of situations. So, like, I don't I don't want
to say like they're going to replicate their best in the league up point of
three point percentage defense, but I do think their scheme played a part in
forcing more difficult looks, and sure luck helped. So what's the hope for
Herb Jones on offense at this point? He closed the year shooting well from
three on catching shoot looks, but the volume is still just kind of like
it's it's more important than ever though to juice up that kind And like I
know Pelicans fans and I've gotten into it a little bit about how we feel
about I thought he kind of regressed. Is like someone if he was going
to have the ball in space, they don't have the space to ever worry
about like Herb Jones consistently attacking closeouts and high volume. How important is it
for him just to get that three point volume up, especially with Trey Murphy
out to start the year. It's a difficult balancing act because you don't want
to give an inefficient player more volume just to get your volume. I think
it's like, Okay, if we're giving him more volume, where is it
coming from? And in that starting unit, it's coming from four better offensive
players, So it's like, Okay, they're gonna have to find what that
balance is to where like it's enough volume to where it's it's it makes the
defense respect him. But if they find out very quickly that regardless of all,
the defense is just not going to respect him, then they're gonna have
to get him involved in different ways, and volume is not the solution.
The solution, in my opinion, kind of goes back to what we talked
about earlier, is he has got to become more impactful in the glass,
particularly the offensive glass, and and you know, if he's going to be
left alone in the corner, then he's got to crash every single time.
He's just gotta crash. And then the second thing is I thought the Pelicans
left a lot of change on the table by not using their non shooters and
their shooters can like as a conjunction to free up other actions. So for
example, like Herb Jones setting screens off ball for CJ. You know you're
gonna have to the help has to pay attention to what's going on with that
action of the lest CJ is gonna get a warm up three like, he's
just gonna get good shots from that action. So kind of doing that stuff
on the weak side or just getting non shooters involved in screening actions, more
is going to choose the offense and you know, maybe you can use decoy
actions to assist with that, but yeah, it has to be, in
my opinion, attack the offensive class and be used him as a screen or
more even in direct pick and roll actions because oftentimes they're gonna hide the weakest
player on Herb Jones. So if you're hiding like a Trey Young on Herb
Jones, put him in a pick and roll like with Zion and Herb Jones,
put him in a pick and roll like I don't care who's on ball,
Like Herb Jones can run on ball screen and rolls. He can do
it, you know, but sure like get him involved in screening actions for
sure. I'm only asking this because I saw it. It felt like some
people were split on it as to why did they do it? Now?
How did you feel about the Herb Jones extension. I couldn't bring myself to
think the Pelicans just the way free agency is now that they passed on anything
moving forward, and like he's never gonna make ten percent of the salary cap.
I know there's a bunch of questions on offense, but it felt like,
I know you could have waited like that. I feel like that would
have been riskier, you know, I think like as a deal goes,
it's a fantastic deal. Like I have no qualms about, you know,
the money, the percentage, the cap he occupies, all stuff like it's
you would love to have an all NBA caliber defender at that price, Like
fantastic, the CAP's gonna rise. I don't necessarily agree that this was the
only time that they would have been able to do it, because like,
if he doesn't progress as a three point shooter, no one's gonna pay him.
Like it's it's it's this arc type of limited offensive player that's really good
at defense. Caps out at how much people are willing to pay and you
know, maybe if it would have cost two or three more million dollars a
year next year, they still would have had restricted rights on him. I
think there is a real opportunity cost this season. You know, they they
forewent for Yeah, I guess that's a word. They sacrifice their ability to
use the FULLAMLI. They sacrifice some of their trade flexibility because now they're entering
again, They're entering in the season over the tax. So you know,
they kind of have created this situation themselves in fear of he's gonna get a
crazy amount of money next offseason, which I just I just fail to see
that kind of market materializing for him unless he has hesitant to like throw these
restricted free agency offer sheets out there in the past few years too. Yeah,
I mean, look at look at look at Grant Williams, look at
PJ. Washington, who play a similar positional role, uh to Herb Jones.
Obviously not the same caliber at defenders, but you know that these are
six seven six eight forwards who can do things and I would say are probably
more talented than Herb Jones on offense. Obviously nowhere near the defenders that he
are. And and what was their market rate, right, Like who paid
them? Yeah, I mean that is of them, that is sorry,
go ahead, So so that is yeah, no, yeah, absolutely,
so that that is like kind of like my angle on this is like I
think the fear of someone throwing the bag and herb Jones is unfounded, and
I think the opportunity cost was real. So that is the only complaint to
have about it. But do I mind that herb Jones is locked in for
the next four years at like eleven million dollars a year. No, not
at all. That's a that's a great deal objectively from a money standpoint,
it's a great deal. You gotta get going. So we have to enter
the cookie cutter portion. But like, do need to ask about Dyson Daniels.
What impressed you most about his rookie season and what are you kind of
watching for the most in year two? Yeah, his defensive readiness, Uh,
just out the gate. Like one of his first games, he was
tasked with guarding Luca and he like forced three turnovers on him. And then
like he guarded Lebron and he guarded a number of like all NBA like perimeter
players and always he made life hell on him. I can't remember which game
watched the Yeah, and so he's always been able to just contribute, which
is insane for a nineteen year old to be that good defensively. I enjoyed
his rebounding. I enjoyed his ability or his desire to try creative things.
From a passing standpoint, he is another player someone to Herb where he needs
to become a factor offensively some ways, somehow, doesn't matter what it is.
I do think his pathway to being a catch a two three point player
is stronger than that of Herbs. I think Sean mchanics are great. He's
younger, he's gonna have more time to refine those mechanics. But like,
some ways, somehow, he's got to become a factor offensively, because if
he's like a three field goal attempts per game type of guy, he's just
gonna be unplayable for large stretches of the game, especially in the playoffs.
You just can't play like Matisse title sits on the bench when the game matters
the most, right, like Andre Roberson required k D and Russ to like
keep him on the court. And so you know, it's one of those
situations where you can be amazing defensively but you gotta be something offensively, like
you can't be the PJ. Tucker of guards unless you were absolutely elite and
have the right roster construction. And also any early impressions of Jordan Hawkins,
is there a chance you might even see him given the Trey Murphy injury,
what's the situation there. I think he's certainly going to have the opportunity to
showcase his abilities, and then he's brought drafted very clearly for the reason of
his elite shooting, his elite movement shooting. And I do think that this
coaching staff is relatively hesitant to play young players, especially young players who are
just not ready defensively. So his pathway to getting on the court is either
going to be being one of the best shooters this league has seen or being
ready to compete defensively. That's how he's gonna get minutes on the court.
Otherwise he's gonna be kind of stuck fighting for minutes behind the guys like Dyson
and even even Naji Marshall. Are you ready for the cookie cutter portion of
the podcast? Absolutely, are there any strengths or weaknesses about this team?
They're flying under the radar that we have not discussed yet. Strengths that we
have not discussed yet. I feel like we've covered the strengths pretty well.
I think this is a physical team that's going to live in the paint,
and when Zion's healthy, they're gonna they're gonna crush on the getting to the
free their line, crush on converting at the ram, crush on getting second
chance points. Is so I would say like we've covered that pretty well.
The weaknesses, I would say one, I would say the desire from coaching
to play their big men in the situation that warrants playing big men frequently.
They'll trot Larry Nance out there at the five against massive, massive teams and
just the Pelicans will be punished on the glass severely for for that. And
they don't necessarily have the requisite shooting because Nance is not a shooter to make
up for it. The other weaknesses, I mean, I don't think it's
fair to say health is the biggest weakness because I feel like we touched on
that. The other weakness is the three point shooting. Are they going to
be able to win the math game? And if they can't win it from
the three point line, it goes back to everything we talked about on offense,
they have to find a way to win the math game and that's going
to be a challenge all season long. Yeah, and I think, I
mean you mentioned this already driving home, but that so much of that.
I just feel like rest with Brandon Ingram at this point following the Tray Murphy
injuries, Like, dude, you need to take more than four three point
attempts for thirty six minutes on this team Like that just needs to be back
of life. The ten man rotation or the top ten, like the top
ten most players that receive minutes. It feels like there's nine locks on this
team with CJ. Ingram, Herb Joe and Zion Jonas, Jose Alvarado,
Trey Murphy, Larry Nance, and Dyson Dans unless you think the final two
spots are up for grabs. But who would you give the final spot if
you agree with those nine? I feel like it had to be Cody Zeller
a little bit. That's fun. Yeah, I feel like it had to
be Cody Zeller. The outside chance of like e J. Ladell, you
know, breaking in or I think I think Kyra Lewis is gonna have a
real opportunity to start the season again. They're holding on to him. They
could have dumped him, they could have gotten onto the tacks or holding onto
him. Jose is hurt, although it's not really a serious injury. Gets
sprained his ankle, So I don't know what his availability for camp is going
to be. But I think the reporting on that was like a death knell.
It was very weird. It's like it was a sprained ankle. Did
he was it something that was more serious? I think I think no,
it's absolutely not more serious. So like I can clarify that is it is
not a big deal. Like the Pelicans, don't think it's going to be
any kind of hindrance moving forward. But I do think Kiro will get his
fair shape to try to enter the rotation at the backup guard spot. And
so we'll see. We'll see who ends up winning that out. You have
to build a one size fits all closing unit for this team. Can't play
to the matchup. What is it? If I had to pick, I
would pick Zion Willimson, Brandon Ingram, Trey Murphy, those are my locks.
And then I would pick HERB Jones and I pick CJ. I was
I'm the fifth one. I can go between Dyson, Larry or c J.
But I want offense. I want all the offense. Give me the
offense, and so give me CJ. Is there any weirdo unconventional lineups you're
hoping to see them try this season, or even lineups you know they won't
try that you would love to see. They are probably not going to try
crazy JV lineups, But I would like lineups that feature JV and a ton
of shooting, and so it'd be like JV, c J, Trey,
b I and like throw Jordan Hawkins in there. I don't care, Like
just just JV in a kind of shooting and the focus is like you're playing
four out with this big godzilla of a human being and just let him cook,
you know, obviously like B I can do other things. But yeah,
yeah, that would be a fun one because the default one is just
and it's not weirdo enough. It's just Zion plus all the wings where it's
just like BI and Trey, Murphy and HERB. But that's the lineup that
I still want to see the most though. Yeah. The other one I
would say is there're other one is just a ginormous lineup. You start Brandon
at the point guard and then it's Trey, Herb, Zion and JV.
You're just huge, You're just humanious. I like it. That's what is
the smallest play? Is Zion the smallest player in that lineup? Yes?
By height? Yes? Love it. Love it. So as we record
this, this team's over under a set at forty four and a half.
That's September twenty fifth, which, by the way, forty four and a
half is the most common overrun, Like every team has that this year.
Are you taking the over or the under on that? I'm taking the under
on that. I just don't trust this team. I'm fully jaded at this
point. So last year I predicted fifty three wins and in December I looked
like a genius because they were on pace or like now, I'm just like,
you know, I'm prepared to be disappointed. So I think they probably
finished close to like forty two forty three give an average injury luck, and
that's probably where they're going to be. But hey, if they end up
being a lot better, I can't wait for people to tell me I'm a
hater. I cannot wait. I won't reveal my over under X. We
haven't done that pod, but I was before the Trey Murphy injury. Flirting
with this is my bold pick of like, oh, the Pelicans are gonna
make the Western Conference finals, so I am still high on the core at
full strength. The final question here is how many teams in the West would
you be prepared right now? Like which teams you're guarantee will be better in
the regular season than the Pelicans? Ironically, like that number is not huge
for me. So it's it's I have Phoenix in Denver if you want,
my answer is Phoenix in Denver. And that's like, that's like it.
You could tell me any order after that, and I would just believe it,
like oh, the King's oh, the Pelicans, Oh, the Lakers,
the Warriors, Like you tell me the thunder a third, I'll believe
it. I am one hundred percent with you. It's like it's like it's
even though I'm picking the under on the Pelicans, it's it's Phoenix in Denver,
like that that is it. And so I would say, like I
would say, yeah, that's it. Actually, you know what, that's
it. I'm not even saying that guarantee. I'm not asking you to predict
like the teams that you would guarantee that's a guarantee. That's a guarantee.
Uh. Anything else that needs to be discussed before I get you out of
here, anything else that needs to be discussed. We didn't really talk about
CJ McCullum all that much, but I think this year is another big one
for him in the sense that he was kind of shoveled in as a lead
guard for this team, and I think the best version of this team relies
on him being an off guard as someone that can leverage is shooting and let
those other two stars handle the bulk of on ball playmaking and so less c
J on ball possessions, more CJ attacking closed outs, attacking untilt the defense,
running off screens, all that kind of stuff. So I'm excited to
see that version of CJ. I hope that is how they implement him this
year. Are you able very quickly to tell our listeners or they can find
you in all the great work that you do. Yeah, you can find
me at Fear of the Brown. It's on your screen right there. And
then my substack is in the NO which is n O like New Orleans at
substack. The links to all that will be in the podcast YouTube description.
As always, SMID thank you so much for coming on and as you know,
I'll be fasting you again down the line