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Golden Goal, available anywhere you listen to podcasts. Hey yo, Hardwood Knox
listeners, I am Dan Favali coming at you at the start of an official
new era of Hardwood Knox. As some of you may have noticed, Adam
Frommel a founding member of Hardwood Knox way way back when we started, and
these were only on YouTube, and we're even worse, if you can believe
it, than they are now. He is returning in an official capacity,
so he is now the co host of the Hardwood Knox podcast once again.
Follow him on Twitter, Welcome him back at Frommel zero nine. He works
for Bleach Report. He's an editor. He's also the founder and editor in
chief of NBA Math, which often hosts this podcast or host every single one
of these podcasts. This also means that Andy Bailey will no longer be a
member of Hardwood Knocks. We wish him well. You can still check out
his work at Bleacher Report. We hope anyone who was stumbled across this because
they were members of his jazz following, we hope you stick around. We
do work really hard to pump out content, but we are moving forward.
I'm excited. There'll be more guests. Adam will have some on himself,
I'll have some on myself as we normally do, and these collective pods will
continue to be awesome. Speaking of which, we are going to chugg along
with our decade rankings series and we're up to the New Orleans Pelicans. Before
we get started, just to shout out to our sponsor as always for making
this podcast possible, bet Online dot Ag, and most importantly officially publicly welcome
back, Adam. I'm excited and I hope you are excited. Oh it's
good to be back. It's hard to believe how much has transpired since we
first started this thing. I mean it was what was it like six or
seven years ago now that we were we were doing the first episodes and and
like you said, publishing them on YouTube for a hundred people to check out,
and getting excited if if three hundred people did and uh yeah, I
mean it's it's been through multiple states, through multiple jobs, through so much
stuff, but it's I'm excited to to get to rejoin in this capacity and
to continue trying to produce good content here again As I mentioned already, I'm
excited as well, and it's for us. It's nice to reflect from those
days, which probably like twenty sixteen, twenty fifteen, around that point on
YouTube audio quality was way worse. And now here we are twenty twenty,
we're in Bleacher Report, team stream, the podcasts popping up there. You
found it a popular statistical website around NBA data. It's It's been a ride,
and I'm excited to continue going with it, and I'm glad to be
sharing it with you. I'm glad you're back, and I'm probably not as
glad to start talking about the best Pelicans players of the decade. This was
a fun one because it allowed us to be creative with who we chose,
and we both said before we recorded that we took this as an opportunity because
so many of the longest tenured players were not the highest impact players. I
would say it was an opportunity to just delve into the one season guys and
give them them rankings, and so I took that as flexibility and license throughout
this process. I did the same We've we've talked throughout every one of these
episodes, and we're probably pushing closer to twenty or so in this series at
this point about the airness concept, just how much time a player has spent
on the court for the franchise in question, for the decade in question,
which is twenty ten eleven through the present day. I think this is the
least attention I've I've paid to the Birness factor and any of them, because,
like you said, you know, we had so many role players who
didn't do much. We'll talk about one of them at the very end,
who is third in games played, six ten minutes played, and didn't appear
on a single ballot, either for us or for any of the fan submissions.
There are a couple other members of the top ten and theirness who aren't
really going to receive much love whatsoever, aside from the back end of a
couple fan ballots, because there are so many intriguing one season players, including
guys who you might typically think of in higher standing for this franchise like David
West and Chris Paul, who only have one season of eligibility for these particular
rankings just because the end of their ten years happened to coincide with the start
of this decade. So this was a fun one. I enjoyed one.
I enjoyed it. And I think one of the reasons why the Pelicans had
to be tackled in this way is because they traded their franchise superstar basically at
the top of the decade, and so that almost invites turnover thereafter. At
the same time, though, there was this rush to sort of rebuild around
Anthony Davis and become this competitor right away because he was ready right away,
and in doing so, that created more turnover because of how many iterations backfired
or how many moves were were mishandled. And so yeah, there were some
players that stayed on the team, but they either weren't the players they were
supposed to be, they wildly underachieved, they battled injuries, and so that
caused them to go look at guys elsewhere, and so it just it was
I would I don't want to say it was a turbulent decade, but it
definitely wasn't one necessarily rooted in continuity. Given the quality of the names that
are going to populate these rankings, it's somewhat staggering that the franchise only has
three playoff appearances in the last decade and has won just a single playoff series.
Like it's it's difficult to fully wrap your head around that, unless I
guess you're a New Orleans fan who has had to live through the mediocrity treadmill.
But Anthony Davis that the last part of the Chris Paul era the beginning
of the Zion Williamson brandon ingram era, it just hasn't resulted in postseason success,
and even this year, as the restart of the season looms, like,
we don't know if the Pelicans are going to be a playoff team,
especially since Zion left the bubble. How many games is he gonna end up
missing? I might I probably would have picked them to make the eight seed,
but this is just throws more variants into the equation. Can you briefly
take us through once again how the process works before we get into the number
ten player. As always, we asked you, the fans the listeners,
to submit your top ten ballots for the last decade, and a lot of
you came through for us, so thank you as always for that. We
combined all those into a composite fan ranking, and then that was treated as
one component alongside my votes and Dan's votes, and those were all combined to
form the overall composite rankings, which is what we're basing the order of this
podcast on. So eleven people appeared in the top tens of either the composite
fan vote, my own ballot, or Dan's ballot, and I think we
have to start with number eleven. Even though he just missed the cut here.
He appeared eighth on the fans vote. He did not appear on either
my ballot or Dan's ballot, though I would imagine that Dan, like myself,
gave serious consideration because his nineteen games have been that stellar And it's Zion
Williamson for me, as exciting as magnetic as his play has been only nineteen
games. You know, it's the same it's the same discussion as the Rookie
of the Year race against John Morant, Like what do you do when the
quality is so high but the sample size is so small, And even though
we gave credence to a number of one season players, there's a difference between
one season of fifty or so games, sixty or so games, even eighty
two games, and nineteen games. Yeah, I mean, I was so
tempted to put him in there, but as you already mentioned at the top,
there were a ton of quality players who their tenures weren't long, but
they were there for an entire season and had more than nineteen appearances under their
belt. For what he means to the franchise and for what he's done on
the court already, I totally understand if he's someone's number ten wherever they want
it. I don't. It'd be ridiculous if you're saying Zion's number five already.
To me, I totally get putting him in there, but I do
think there was enough. Here comes one of the favorite words, optionality,
where you probably should have went with with others. I mean, Greg Steizma
has blogged the more minutes in the Pelicans uniformed this decade than Zion Williamson,
and I think that ultimately has to matter. Sorry who Greg Stevesma so name?
I haven't heard in a long time. Zion actually did get a first
place vote from the fans, just so you know, and it didn't seem
like it was a troll ballot either, just given that Chris Paul, Anthony
Davis, Drew Holiday and Brandon Ingram joined him in the top five on that
ballot and all ten spots seemed to be taken seriously. But I think that
that like goes to show just how much he already means to this fan base
into this franchise. He appeared in every spot except fourth on at least one
fan ballot during the wedding process. Yeah, I mean, he was just
he was all over the place. Just you know, he has invigorated the
franchise that was probably struggling to find an identity after Anthony Davis wanted out and
they had to trade him away to the Lakers. I think it helps us.
The Pelicans were just obliterating opponents whenever he's on the floor, right,
I mean, there's definitely a case to consider him. I'm not going to
begrudge anyone who put him on the ballot, just given how incredible that small
sample has been. Yeah, so didn't make either of ours though, and
that ultimately displaced him from the composite. So who was number ten in the
composite? Number ten was another guy where only one season gets considered, and
that was David West. He was ninth for both you and I. He
was tenth for the fans, but we only get to count that one twenty
ten eleven season, in which he played just seventy games. He averaged eighteen
point nine point seven point six rebounds at two point three assists. It's unfortunate
that we don't get to count those first seven years of his career, which
include the only two All Star seasons of his career. But those are the
rules, and you know we made them and we're not going to break them.
No, that's where that's where you deflect. We don't make the rules,
we're just trying to follow them. Now, we do make the rules,
we can own those just the rules are bad. Yeah, look,
it was a really good season. And seventh I know these aren't the end
all be all, as we mentioned all the time, but seventh and win
shares despite only playing one season for excuse me, tenth and wind shares for
the decade and so like, that's enough to squeak him into the top ten
and immediately in my opinion. And this was a situation whereas we've already said,
we could reward guys that haven't spent as much time in the uniform because
one they were really good and two they're not really beating out anyone that deserves
it more. I don't think you can be angry that David West makes this
list instead of Zion Williamson or instead of an a Mecca Oka. For like,
that's not something that is going to rankle people. David West, though,
just like, did he ever miss along too? I don't. I
think he just shot one hundred percent from there for his career, especially not
during this season. Even though even though he didn't make the All Star team
like he did in two thousand and eight or two thousand and nine, this
was arguably as well as he played while wearing a New Orleans uniform. I
think it was the best he played on defense, maybe the best he played
on offense, given that mid range game and the passing skills that had continued
to develop. He had more of a handle on operating out of the high
post and hitting teammates in stride rather than trying to force the action. And
as as you mentioned that that long too always seemed to find nylon. He
probably doesn't deserve to be called a star or a superstar during this Age thirty
season, but he was pretty damn good, right, always an underrated passer
as you sort of already mentioned, and then just to re emphasize a long
two thing, forty nine percent shooting from sixteen feet out to the three point
line, and that accounted for basically one quarter of his shots. One of
those players where, even though the times were different, it's kind of just
like what happens if you just scooted out a few feet to the three point
line and just took more of those, Because it feels like he could have
been one of the players that that shot well from beyond the art consistently,
and we saw that towards the end of his career in his final three seasons.
And look, these accounted for, I'll say, of an incredibly small
share of his shots, but forty two point nine percent from deep in one
season with San Antonio, and then thirty seven point five percent with the Warriors
in each season that he spent there. Again, the samples incredibly small.
We're talking about nine of I think twenty five shots twenty three shots, so
those aren't a ton, but it feels like he was someone who always could
have expanded that range, and even looking at some of the more meat and
potato seasons of his career in Indiana as well, I've just still, i
don't want to say baffled because I know the game was different then, but
you know, thirteen twenty fourteen would have been that crazy to be like,
hey, David West need to launch one hundred three pointers. I don't think
so, and I would have liked to have seen him do it. At
the same time, though, he was one of those players where I don't
have as many qualms with him taking those shots, just because he was such
a consistent threat from those areas. And even if you're sacrificing from a purely
numerical standpoint points per possession by shooting forty six percent or whatever the exact number
was from sixteen feet and beyond, forcing defenses to pay attention to those spaces
matters and ups the efficiency of the offense in other areas. I think he
was above the threshold at which I'm comfortable with him taking those shots. Would
it have been nice if he stepped back and started making threes instead of twos,
Sure, but I don't think it was like a detriment to the offense
or anything that he was taking them with such frequency, given his accuracy now
when he was still looking at most of his career, particularly in New Orleans,
a power forward who can space the floor out to twenty feet or whatever
it is. That's a floor spacer during it is it is. And speaking
of floor spacers, our number nine guy in these rankings is de Marcus Cousins.
So we're actually moving from a seventy games sample to a sixty five game
sample in a Pelicans uniform. But that's just how this episode is going to
go. He was seventh in the fan vote. He was eighth for me,
he was tenth for you. Yeah, I just felt like he while
he was there. It just he played more games, I believe than David
West during this time. Oh no, he actually did not through his like
basically, I guess you would call it one season because he didn't. He
didn't finish his second season because of his injury, and then was traded during
the during the twenty seventeen All Star Game. That was a moment. I'll
always remember that he was an absolute beast before his achilles injury. The season
that he started with the New Orleans Pelicans. Look even the season that he
finished twenty five point two points, five point four assist, twelve point nine
rebounds, one point six steals, one point six blocks, and he's shooting
thirty five point four percent from three on six point one attempts per game that
year and still fifty three percent of his twos. Was someone who could put
the ball on the floor from above the break and take guys off the dribble.
That's just for someone not only a six foot ten inch big man,
but someone who had the heft that he did, just so nimble footed.
One of the most I think skilled and dominant offensive bigs in recent memories,
and definitely one of the more impactful ones in NBA history. The fact that
the Pelicans were still like fighting for their playoff lives at the time when when
he went down, I don't know if that mars this at all. Maybe
the sample size we've we've already talked about the on off splits. They could
get a little wonky with him during that one season, So I understand that
there's a level of complexity to this. But he was just as looking at
an individual level, just so absolutely dominant on offense, and so he was
an easy inclusion for me. But I just thought it almost felt like his
tenure in New Orleans ended up not really meaning anything because he didn't he didn't
come back, and he didn't do what he was intended to do, which
was put them over the top. I feel like twenty seventeen eighteen DeMarcus Cousins
was the fully idealized version of Boogie. It was everything he had worked on
throughout his tumultuous time in Sacramento coming together into just this totally dominant force.
I don't think his impact measured up with this comparison, but in terms of
the combination of physicality, finesse, overpowering power, and skill, he felt
like the closest thing that we'd seen to Shaquille O'Neill since Shaquie O'Neill, Again
not saying that he made a similar impact, but just in terms of like
playing style. In those combination of physical attributes, he was just this overwhelming
force who was so much more than just this physical specimen who could overpower opponent.
He understood how to play the game and how to leverage his skills in
the most useful way possible. And it's just such a shame that that time
was cut short, because it felt like, before those injuries and before he
moved away from the team, that he and David and Anthony Davis were really
starting to figure out how to make their partnership, not just work but excel.
That was such. That was so weird too, because the Pelicans then
go on through the playoffs and sweep the Blazers that season without DeMarcus Cousins,
And so would they have gotten out of that series with him? I would
say probably, because I don't know that their defensive approach to Damian Lillard changes
and then he clearly wasn't ready for that volume of trapping that New Orleans was
throwing at him. Does he help them though in that series at all?
They never would have beaten them, let's be honest, But does he help
them at all in that series? Again? Who they played? Was that
the Warriors? I believe that they played it was So that's just fascinating to
considers. If he's healthy, one, he's probably still there is anthy Davis
still there. That's sort of like this. There are a ton of inflection
points throughout this decade that could have directed Anthony Davis at the door. But
if the Marcus Cousins, if Darcus Cousins one never gets injured and then two
resigns, is Anthy Davis still in New Orleans? He very well could be.
It's so difficult to speculate on that, just because we don't really know
what exactly the motivations were for A. Davis's departure. I'm not sure that
we'll really ever get an honest answer to that question until he's been retired for
a while. It's possible, and I think that's the most we can give
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online wagering experts. Can you take us to number eight? We are moving
at a snail's pace. We've already spent forever on the bottom two players bottom
three. I think, honestly, I think the bottom portion of these rankings
is the most interesting, especially because the sample size is about to get even
smaller, because we're now talking about Brandon Ingram at number eight, who his
only season with the Pelicans is the one currently in progress in which he's He's
played fifty six games, and the breakout this season has been immensence spectacular and
resulted in the first of what should be at least a couple of All Star
appearances during his career. Where you know, he's more comfortable operating off the
bounce, He's more comfortable as this all around offensive weapon who can carry a
team. He's also more comfortable operating in conjunction with other primary ball handlers.
It's still only fifty six games. The fans had Ingram up at number six,
which I get because of the recency. You had him at number eight.
I had him down at number ten. I just I wasn't willing to
overlook the sample size quite as much here, just because with Cousins, it
felt like he was so dominant, and it was the result of the previous
near decade that he's spent in the NBA, and it felt so sustainable,
and I'm I'm just not quite sure I'm there yet with Ingram, especially given
the current roster composition and how much could change as Zion continues his emergence,
as Lonzo Ball continues his development into a player who unquestionably impacts the winning cause
and other things like that. He one, I've always been a brandon Ingram
stand and somebody that accounts for me putting him a little bit higher. He's
also been really good, which helps, and I echo everything you said.
The Pelicans have even now been posting photos of him hitting it off the dribble
three, and so now that some of his off the dribble twos are going
down, and he just has a more willing uh you know, touch more
from beyond the arc, off the catch, if you sprinkling and off the
dribble three, now it becomes like it almost feels like game over. And
they're like, he could do more defensively, I guess if he were stronger,
but he's still kind of a disruptor on that end, and I feel
like he could be. I do get the sense that he's probably better off
in one on one situations, but I also feel like he is smart enough
to be a good team defender as well this year, though, twenty four
point three points four point three assists per game with fifty nine true shooting prior
to this year, those are benchmarks that have only been hit by one player
in his age twenty two or younger season. You edited the article I put
this in, so I'm curious as to whether you know who that one player
is. I should, given that I just edited this last night. But
twenty four points four assists on fifty nine true shooting. One other player until
this season has done that in his age twenty two season or younger. I
mean, is it Lebron, It's Michael Jordan even better, arguably maybe about
the same. Well, yeah, let's sprinkle a little goat debate using Brandon
ingram as the launch point the springboard for it. I wonder if that's happened
since he moved on from the Lakers. The other thing I wanted to touch
on that you already hit that I think is a really big deal is his
ability to play alongside other players, and his catch and shoot three is a
big part of that. The improvement there, but that's always been a struggle
because he's always been someone who could get to his spots. Just wasn't maybe
the best finisher, and he's hitting. He's just a better shot maker this
year. That's helped his game so much because I think if you watched him,
even if you didn't necessarily like him, it was someone who seemed like
he had a feel for the game just because of how he could get to
his spots with the ball in his hands. Now you've plugged in not just
other ball handlers, but someone in Zion Williamson who does He's hit some threes
this year and I'll never forget his first game draining four four that was absolutely
spectacular. But it compromises the spacing and it's another guy who's better off with
the ball in his hands or even as a play finisher, just needs to
operate inside the arc and it's most worked. Brand Ingram's efficiency has dropped in
the minutes that he's played with Zion Williamson, but it hasn't cratered and he
hasn't been making this diminutive impact in those minutes or you haven't seen him look
terrible and moving forward, provided he's just willing to shoot threes off the catch
like Lonzo Ball is now, which is also up the Pelicans. This ends
up being what I think could be a really feckinged partnership. So the level
of improvement that that Ingram is shown this season, I really do truly believe
it's for real, and for the pelicans sake, you better hope it is
because he's getting the MAX when free agency gigs off this offseason. Yeah,
I was gonna say, assuming that he comes back on the MAX deal that
he's inevitably going to get as a restricted free agent, the pieces feel like
they're in place for the Pelicans to become like a dynastic force, assuming developments
go right, which is always a question, assuming health, which is especially
a question when Ingram and Zion Williamson are involved. But these pieces fit together
so well. If Ingram can continue developing as this off the ball weapon who
also thrives on it, If if Zion continues to just wreak havoc whenever he's
on the court, Lonzo Ball is a perfect fit next to those two more
ball dominant forwards. And I'm gonna throw Jackson Hayes in here too, because
even if he hasn't shown that much during his rookie season, what we have
seen has been really impressive and if he can be that like almost DeAndre Jordan
esque force in the middle with a bit more shooting range that fits so perfectly
next to those other incumbents. Where I diverge from you is that I'm probably
not as high yet on the fit of these of these players, just because
we have to see Lonzo Ball on Ingram like probably keep up this efficiency from
deep off the catch for another season. And Lonzo balls always bring good so
I'm not saying that they're bad, but because you have Drew Holiday, because
you have Zion linked in. And then the other thing where I diverge is,
I don't think Jackson Hayes long term can be on this team for them
to reach their best. It's not He'll probably get better on defense and more't
foul every single person known to man. But if you have, you know,
him and Zion on the court at the same time, you're giving up
a lot of spacing there. And then if Brandon Ingram or a Lonzo Ball
sort of slump off in the shooting department, that becomes an issue. And
like, look, let's just brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, Drew Holiday.
Let's all say they're good to above average shooters, but they're not like these
lights out shooters, and so if things get a little tight, I would
believe. I'm certainly open to the take though, because when you look at
individually, especially their top four guys Lonzo Brandon, Ingram, Drew Holiday,
and Zion Williamson, that just feels like a core. Looking at all the
talent collectively that can really run rough shot in the West at some point.
And you can even argue that the Pelicans already have three top thirty players at
least this season. It all depends on because look Drew and Ingram relative to
the rest of the field top thirty players. In my book, hands down,
Zion is sort of the wild card because he's played in nineteen games,
So so how do you view him? But I'm with you, but there
is still a level of skepticism where I'm fascinated to see what happens the rest
of this year, but also what happens next season. Yeah, I believe
in Lonzo's shooting improvements and that he is going to continue improving there, and
I just I trust Zion's work, ethic and drive to keep improving. It
wouldn't surprise me at all if he was a knockdown three point shooter as soon
as next year. I agree with you there too, and my guest would
be that the top four all work out. I'm just not as high on
Jackson Hayes. That just plays with a lot of energy, and maybe in
lineers without Zion you can get more out of him. I just don't think
he's going to end up being the long term answer in the starting lineup at
the five. Maybe that'll be Zion, or if it's not him, it
needs to be somebody else. I don't think it's Derrick Favors either, even
though those two have worked well together. There just needs to be more of
an element of floor spacing. I think if you're going to put Zion at
the four, well let's check Bick back in on this in about three years
and move ahead to number seven in our rankings. For the time being,
we are about to switch course dramatically because the first three, really four,
if you lude Zion players that we've talked about, are all these one season
wonders, and now we're shifting to each one more more. Where was he
in the fan ballot? He was Oh, that's right, he was not
there because he was eleventh. He was seventh for me, he was up
at fifth for you. I'm assuming that's in part due to theirness factor fifth
and minutes played, and also just because he's been such an effective specialist as
a three point shooter right and there. When you look at the different iterations
of this team that he's navigated forty point four percent from three during his time
in New Orleans, fifty one point four percent on twos. They've had him
handle the ball at the varying degrees. Doesn't need to do it so much
the past two seasons, but in the previous two there was more of that,
and then there was a time where they needed him to defend wings.
That's also something that hasn't happened so much this year in his role has declined
because they're so deep, and he clearly doesn't factor into their future. But
he's been there and he's been good. That he's a plug in play role
player, and there's a ton of value in that, particularly if they're going
to shoot as well as he does from three. When I say he provides
functional shooting, no, you don't want him, you know, firing up
coming around screens or off the dribble. Still, this all matters, and
the Pelicans have needed like stability on the margins. He's provided it. It's
because they haven't had that stability at the top that they've sort of floundered so
much during this decade. So I was a little bit surprised, or I
won't say a little bit. I'm very surprised that he finished eleven on the
fan ballot. I even get putting Zion in there, but just the theirness
and the quality role play alone, I thought it would get him there.
Now. I know the host of the in the No podcast or Blue Wire,
they are not each one More fans Shama Dua, who great analysis and
the Pelicans. I remember talking to him once and he just wasn't a each
one More guy, And so maybe there's maybe there's something there like that I'm
missing, and because it's you know, he's not like a great defender,
but he was also just overstretched in what he he was asked to do,
and so I'm not sure what there would be to just dislike if you were
expecting him to be something he wasn't. Where you think he don't live up
to his contract. I think they got him at four and thirty two.
I don't know if you would call that a steal, and I don't even
know if it can be consensus market value. I would say that it's not
this demonstrative overpay and that he's failed to live up to it. Yeah,
I mean, let's get out of the way right away that this is to
be taken with a grain of salt because basketball references positional determinations are sometimes a
little bit shaky and often just determined by height. But there's value in a
guy who's spent twenty three percent of his minutes with New Orleans at the one,
I'm sixty nine percent of the two and eight percent of the three because
he can fill so many different roles. He's capable of plugging gaps within the
starting lineup. He's capable of taking on a bigger role with those second units
and making sure that you know, these leads aren't going to be squandered when
the bench is asked to play. At the same time, it's it's easy
to forget that he exists just when you're thinking about the last decade of Pelicans.
Well, no, and that's both that's both a compliment and an insult
because his ceiling isn't particularly high. But I think there's also value and being
a forgettable player by not making mistakes. You know, it's not that he's
uninvolved and can be forgotten about, it's that you just don't worry about him
when he's on the court, both as a positive and as a negative.
That was like just a fantastic way of phrasing anything. It's okay to be
a forgettable player when you're forgettable because you didn't stand out for anything incredibly bad.
I like it. Yeah, I mean how many how many times have
we watched players who don't belong on the court at a high level NBA game
and it's like, wow, like you really stand out because you're just functioning
as a turnstyle or because you're just jacking up these two pointers and they are
not hitting anything but iron like, there's there's value into just filling your role
seamlessly and not standing out. I'm totally with you. I'm I remain flabbergasted.
Would actually be the proper word here that he was not on the fan
ballot. Yeah, he rose as high as fifth on a couple of ballots,
but for the most part he was left off, Like I can't even
remember at this point. Yes, you did have him fifth, but you
were not alone. I got you in the fan voting. There was a
huge drop off after him, like he was one of the guys who was
at least in the tier that included eleven players. But then there was a
gigantic drop off to Rajon Rondo in twelfth place. Rajon Rondo will not be
appearing in the top ten, but Tyreek Evans will be because he's checking in
at number six. He was number nine for the fans, he was number
six for me, and Dan had him all the way up at number four.
Yeah. Look, there's relative to everyone else who makes this list.
The veriness factor helped him fifth in wind shares for the decade with with the
Pelicans. He was also pleasantly seventh in minutes, so that's going to help
him as well. And yeah he was seven seven in minutes. Excuse me,
battled injuries. There another one of the like the remnants of Hey,
they tried to rebuild too quickly around Anthony Davis and expedite that thing, but
before they should have. But his years in New Orleans, you know,
the first two, and he was actually more available than I remember in New
Orleans. Eric Gordon's the one that battled a ton of injuries. But in
his two full seasons there fifteen point six points five point nine assists, shot
forty seven point two percent on twos, did not shoot the three ball well.
And then it was also kind of the boomerang because he comes back,
he comes back. In twenty seventeen, he was part of the DeMarcus Cousins
trade, or no, that they trade him that. Oh, and he
was there for full three seasons. I'm sorry, I'm looking at my wrong
note here. So three full seasons, fifteen point five point six assists,
forty seven percent on twos. I think for the as many jumpers as he
took, that's not too shabby. He only played in twenty five games in
twenty fifteen twenty sixteen, and then it was funny that they sent him back
to the to the Sacramento Kings in that DeMarcus Cousin's trade. That's just that's
the footnote doesn't really matter, so that thereness definitely works in his favor.
And I understand that he represents some of their flawed thinking, but he wasn't
like this terrible player with them. If he could have shot the three ball
better, and he did in his final full season three eight point eight percent
from three on fair volume. But if he could have shot the three ball
better, we're talking about someone who, in the lexicon of the entire NBA
just rked a lot higher, but someone who would have been infinitely more useful
to the Pelicans as well. Whenever I watched Tyreek Evans, whether it was
with the Sacramento Kings during that phenomenal rookie season, or with the Pelicans,
or you know, with Memphis or Indiana in his last season, I always
was left with the impression that he should be better at defense than he actually
was. And I think that was especially true in New Orleans, where he
was taking on an even bigger offensive role, asked to function as more of
a playmaker with some limited pieces around him, that he almost forgot that he
needed to dedicate some of his attention and energy to the defensive end. And
just given you know, his six six, two hundred and twenty pound frame,
that was you know, he was he was muscular, he was strong,
he was quick both laterally and in a straight line like it felt like
he should have been an impact defender in the backcourt who could switch on to
bigger players, and that he never was. Made him kind of disappointing in
my eyes, and I wonder if that's why I had him a little bit
lower than you here, even if the numbers seemed to indicate that he should
be higher, just like I couldn't get my own bias out of the way
here. I think that's totally fair. It was. I do remember too,
thinking when he was in Sacramento, especially New Orleans, he actually wasn't
bad during that well, he was fantastic overall that one year he spent in
Memphis, but he wasn't bad defensively that that year. But he did seem
like someone who always had the tools to be more on the less glamorous side
of the floor than he ever really was. Speaking of right defenders, though,
let's move on to Chris Paul at number five. This is very much
buoyed by the fan vote that had him at number three and even gave him
four spots in first place. I did have him exactly at number five.
You had him down at number seven, and he is the best example of
the one season star for the Pelicans in this decade. It sucks that we
can't include the first five seasons of his career as fantastic as they were,
because if we were talking about an all time New Orleans franchise rankings, he
would be number one. I don't think you can put Anthony Davis ahead of
him. You can't put Zion ahead of him yet ahead of him though,
and there's a game maybe yeah, maybe maybe even Boogie, But yeah,
I mean we're only looking at the one season before the filed trade to the
Lakers and the subsequent trade to the Clippers. And during that year he played
eighty games, he led the league in steals, he averaged fifteen point nine
points and nine point eight assists. It was not his best season. It
did lead to a playoff appearance and a first round exit for the then New
Orleans Hornets, who lost in six games to the Lakers that season. But
you know, it was tough to put him any higher than this, as
much as he meant to the franchise and as good as he was, because
we had to separate those early years from this one. Yeah, and I
when I looked at his numbers for this season, because he was always going
to kind of fall in the middle for me, I don't have qualms that
he ends up at five at all. Again, this was a ranking of
opportunity when looking at the entire franchise, I am I did not remember that
this was the year he averaged under sixteen points per game, Like Chris Paul
doesn't need to score and necessarily impact the game. But he was also kind
of you know, he has that season two and eight two thousand nine where
he's just he was a monster that year twenty two point eight points and eleven
assists. Always felt like someone who maybe should have probably scored more, where
it's like, you know, hey, Paul, you definitely could have and
probably should have taken like on that iteration of the Pelicans, what fifteen shots
a game? Definitely not eleven point six per game, which where we was
at for that year. Just still, though I know he has a weird
reputation as a teammate, although it seems like things are hitting nicely for him
in Oklahoma City, but he just such a great player, and this year
specifically, he's a case is a top ten guy. Again, there are
a lot of superstars who were injured, so that helped. But he's going
to make an All NBA team, which is just absolutely ridiculous since age thirty
four season and he just still I feel like defends with the same kind of
mentality that he had during his prime, the beginning of which was spent with
the Hornets slash this Pelicans franchise. So I Chris Paul is one of my
favorite players of all time, and even now, just his New Orleans,
just his New Orleans days just so fun to watch, and like, if
you go back and watch those highlights, you know, he's still cooking people
now, but he's just absolutely dismantled deconstructed defenses during his time in New Orleans.
So I have no qualms about him being a higher than I actually put
him. This was one where if you even had players with a larger sample
size that deserve to be here, you could justify putting Chris Paul. You
know, not Ingram, not Boogie, but Chris Paul can basically be ahead
of anybody in this lone season because he's just so damn good. There are
certain players in NBA history where you feel like, if they want to get
to a spot, they're gonna get to it in an advantageous way, and
Chris Paul is near the top of that list. I think Alan Iverson might
be at the absolute top of that list. In my opinion. But like
Paul's ability to work his pet play, you know, that lateral movement alongside
the lane to one of the elbows and then that kind of leaning, kind
of fade away jumper, Like he gets that whenever he wants now, and
he got it whenever he wants back then. Yeah, I just just so
incredibly consistent with his Like he hasn't did he ever have a bad year.
We could talk about availability because he said, but he's never had a bad
year. I mean, you know what they say, like smallest point guards
always age really well. Yeah, definitely him and Kyle is kind of defining.
Yeah. So and look, because Paul's prime basically started right away.
The fact that he's aged so well. I know they've been injuries again,
he might have cost the Rockets a series against the Warriors because the haams Re
injury, but he started out his age twenty season. So the fact that
he's just aged so well despite being the undersized point guard is actually incredibly impressive.
And really, look the shop making, you know, I think you
could it's safe to say he's lost a step on offense where just the you
know, really breaking ankles. It's still possible, but it's just a different
kind of baking of these bigs. When they switch on to him defensively,
I feel like, yes, he's not the same, but he's just it
still feels so exhaustive watching him. And that's just wild to say. This
has nothing to do with his ranking in this exercise, but I feel like
it needs to be noted. The other thing that needs to be noted is
a smart team would actually trade for him. I'm like, his contract is
not great, two years and eighty five point six million left. I think
if I'm a team though, like if Yannis signs the Supermax this year and
I'm the Heat, I'm trying to figure out a way to get Chris Paul.
Or if I'm Utah, I'm trying to figure out a way to get
you know, use Mike Conley as the salary anchor. To get Chris Paul
Milwaukee, you probably have to give up your entire team because of a lack
of salary matching pieces at the level you really need to bring back Chris Paul
salary. I'm trying to get Chris Paul too. He's so good, and
I'm just convinced of you to offer a Jannis for Chris Paul. There anyone
but Jannis or Middleton, But you basically need to trade anyone but Jannis or
Middleton. It's not that stark, but it's pretty bad. I've gone through
the scenarios. I just feel like he's going at least one of the next
two years are going to be all NBA caliber, if not both of them.
I really think that there's a chance for him to do that. I
wouldn't be surprised at all. But before we move on to number four,
since this is already going to be a ridiculously long episode about just the Pelicans,
I have to get all my soapbox for a second here, because I
still I just I hate the narrative that Chris Paul has been bad or unsuccessful
in the playoffs and that that's used to diminish his legacy or all time standing.
Like this one season with the Pelicans is such a perfect microcosm of how
he didn't necessarily have postseason success as a team, but he's sure as hell
did as an individual. If you look at his stats in the series,
the first round series against the Lakers that they lost four to two, he
averaged twenty two points six point seven rebounds, eleven point five assists, and
one point eight steals. He's got fifty four point five percent from the field
and forty seven point four percent from three. He was absolutely spectacular. He
was so fantastic on both ends of the floor. I believe it's been a
while since I've looked at this one up, but I think they outscored the
Lakers by a significant amount with him on the floor. It just wasn't enough
to swing the series. And like that's going to be held against him because
it's a first round loss. Oh no, Chris Paul lost in the playoffs
again, like as soon as you die, Like it's it's not even like
a deep analysis that's needed to kind of refute the idea that he's been bad
in the playoffs. It just requires you to go slightly below the surface level
and not just look at serious results. And this is the perfect example.
Yeah, I just when you look at the contact, some of the Clippers
collapses were just bad. That one against the Rockets. I can't remember what
year was, was that twenty fifteen, whatever it was, that was absolutely
terrible. But here's here's something of anyone who's played in at least one hundred
playoff games. Chris Paul is seventh in winshares for forty eight minutes. Again
not an end all marker, but just for reference, the six players in
front of him number six, Wilt, number five, Jerry West, number
four, Magic Johnson, number three, Kawhi Leonard number two, Lebron James,
number one, Michael Jordan, and just it's a fairly decent list.
It's okay. And look the players behind him are okay, David Robinson eight,
k D nine, Steph ten, Tim eleven. Korea lost me though
because Steph has been bad in the finals. So yeah, he was terrible
during that finals against the Cavin finals, So why is he there? Can
you actually take us too? What are we up to? Number four?
Number four? Somehow only number four and that is Eric Gordon who was number
four for the fans, number four for me and number six for you.
Probably another beneficiary of the Barness factor because he's thirteen minutes played for the decade,
behind only Drew Holiday and Anthony Davis. But he was also good,
even if he didn't really want to be in New Orleans. I just remember
that when he signed the offer sheet with Phoenix and was like, Phoenix is
where I want to be, and it just it seems like Pelicans fans genuinely
did not like him when he left. And look, part of that was
he was so unavailable there. But during his five years in New Orleans at
fall under this decade, fifty five point fifteen point three points per game,
three point three assists, did not shoot really well on two pointers forty three
point nine percent, and part of that is he's never been like the greatest
finisher at the end, but thirty nine percent on threes. So look,
I almost I wanted to put Chris Paul in front of him, but I
had a rule that Chris Paul had an average at least thirteen shot attempts per
game in his long season to use ever him, but he didn't. I
red, that's another fair role, Like we're only making fair roles for these
exercises. I'm actually impressed, though, that he ends up at number four
in the composite, just because I couldn't put him any higher than six,
specifically because it seemed like one there's the you know, relative to other people
on this list. Yes, he was available, but that's because he played
five seasons there. It's not like on average he just wasn't available, and
then it just really seems like he never connected or never wanted to be on
that team, and that the fans didn't like him, and so I couldn't
put him any higher. I even thought six might have been a little too
ambitious. I think it was partially that and also partially that he was disappointing.
He came from Los Angeles, and the expectations were so high because of
what he just accomplished on the Clippers. You know, this was a high
flying guy who could attack the basket and finish well above the rim while also
taking and making a bunch of threes off the bounce. It seemed like he
was the next, like top tier shooting guard who was going to challenge the
Dwayne Wades and Brandon Roys and you name him at the position for supremacy at
the position. And then the knee injuries kind of sapped both his availability and
some of that bounce, and it took him a little bit to adjust to
being more of a role player, but he got there by the end of
his time with New Orleans before he moved on to the Rockets. So even
if the start was disappointing, I think he ended up justifying his place there,
maybe begrudgingly, which is also going to hold it down. But it
didn't. It didn't hold him down in these rankings, which, like you,
I was surprised by. I have nothing to add on Eric Gordon.
Fan to move on Ryan Anderson. Yes, Ryan Anderson was third in the
composite. He was fifth for the Fans. He was third for both of
us. So if you want to take it away, here consistent floor spacer
at the four, thirty seven point one percent shooting while he was in New
Orleans, and he jacked over fourteen hundred threes during his seasons there. I
will say that the game passed him by very quickly, and a lot of
that was because he just he really couldn't move on defense, and he was
never gonna be. He was just never gonna be. You were never gonna
be able to keep him at the four. As the league progressed towards smaller
power forwards, it just became untenable to keep him at the four, and
you weren't going to put him at the five because that would have been a
defensive disaster. So that was kind of sad to see. But he look,
he got paid at the right time, right before he went to Houston.
And the distance on his threes, I know that was really a bigger
thing when he went to Houston, but that helped while he was in New
Orleans as well, and the consistency with which he scored. Did you want
him to do more as a rebounder, I guess maybe, but like you,
look, he was playing with Anthony Davis, like, not all those
boards are going to be available, and so it's a you know over his
role diminished a little bit towards the end of his time there, but he
spent He ended up spending I think it was four seasons there. He had
correct four seasons and sixteen points a game, and hit, like I said,
thirty seven percent of his threees, was forty six point three percent on
two's, and could always do a little bit more inside the arc than given
credit for. But the other thing that made him complicated is just not someone
who was adept at moving the ball, even from stan still positions. You
couldn't even trust him to do that, and I think that factored into why
the game ended up essentially blowing him by Yeah, I think at the beginning
of his time in New Orleans, Ryan Anderson kind of became the NBA's first
like true stretch for you know, that's a label that we can apply retroactively
to guys like Bob McAdoo or Jack Sikma or Bill Lambier, maybe even Larry
Bird, definitely drk Nevitski, but they had more to their game. I
think Anderson was one of the first, maybe the first stretched forest whose value
almost solely stemmed from his ability to provide floor spacing, both from the three
point line and from a couple of feet beyond it. But as the NBA
continued to trend towards that kind of role and having so many players who filled
that role, his inability to do other things meant that he failed to maintain
that same level of impact for very long. So as fantastic as that twenty
thirteen fourteen season was in a small sample, and then twenty fourteen fifteen,
where his shot kind of fell off a little bit, his scoring definitely fell
off it, the amount of time he spent as a star a fringe star
level player was so small that I had trouble even cementing him in this third
spot. I like pretty strongly considered moving Eric Gordon and Chris Paul above him.
They were kind of clumped together in my rankings. I don't know if
any of that rambling made sense. It all made sense, and I'm totally
with you on everything there. So I do wish he would have been able
to stick a little bit longer. But when when you can't do anything on
defense and you can't even be trusted to to really and look when you're so
far away from the basket, which I don't know if people have considered,
but when he was taking three so far away from the basket, like you
can't you don't even have that leverage of well, at least I could put
the ball on the floor and attack closeouts, you know, if you're near
the timeline, like you're not beating he's not beating anybody. So but look,
his time in New Orleans was was great. They were smart to not
resign him when he entered free agency, it turns out, but probably not
in the macro. You don't want to say that he was when you had
Anthony Davis for so much of this decade. You don't want to say that
he ended up being your third best player of the decade. Right right now,
number two, I think it's pretty obvious, and it's Drue Holiday who
was number two across the board, both in the fan ends and both of
ours. You know, he's second in minutes played by a lot, so
Eric Gordon is third at seven one hundred thirty minutes. Drew Holiday as thirteen
thousand, seven hundred eighteen. So the veriness factor clearly supports him. The
level at which he's played through multiple eras of Pelicans slash Hornets basketball is clearly
in his favor. And yet, you know, I think that four games
alone could have boosted him into this number two spot, and that's the twenty
eighteen first round series against the Portland Trailblazers in which he just thoroughly owned Damian
Lillard on both ends of the floor. You know, it felt like he
averaged thirty points per game while holding Lillard to negative points. Like the discrepancy
between the two was that great, and it's hard to make Damian Lillard look
like that, but Holiday did. And again, like those four games alone,
had he not done anything else in the New Orleans uniform, I think
those four alone would have been enough to get him some serious consideration on these
bats. He's just auto at this point and he's still in New Orleans,
so this it works. He's just an auto like twenty point seven assist per
game at this point is basically where he's at. And I've really one of
the things I've respected most about his game is how adaptable he is on offense.
Despite not being the best shooter, He's still able to blur that line
between primary option and creator and then offensive accessory's. He's hitting a lot of
unassisted threes this year. Actually, I think over forty four percent of his
three point attempts are going on assisted, which is actually up from last year,
which doesn't really make sense when you look at how many other ball handlers,
specifically Lonz of ball and brand Ingram that the Pelicans have added, But
that's a testament to what he can he can do. And then defensively,
I know people said that he's dropped off. I eat, that's fine,
but he's shouldering. He shoulders such a heavy workload on defense that I can't
begrudge like a slight decline and he's still at an all defense level this season.
And specifically, the six players he spent the most time guarding include Luca
Lebron, CJ McCollum, Shake Gildest, Alexander, Damian Lillard, and Devin
Booker. I mean, my goodness, so I know, I can't believe
those assignments are so easy. The other thing I found interesting is two way
primary usage, which is a metric developed by Nylon Calculus is Krishna Narsu.
It measures the amount of time a players spends as the number one option on
offense while guarding the other team's number one scorer. This season, Ben Simmons
is the only player in the league with a higher two way workload than Drew
Holiday. That doesn't surprise me. And he's never going to complain about it,
and he's just gonna keep being professional and keep giving it his all on
both ends. And I'm citing this season so much because it's basically a snapshot
of his time in New Orleans. Yes, he's scored less, but it
doesn't matter because he played with rotations that were in flux because he's been there
since I don't know if people remember this, but he's in the New Lands
and the Welt. He's been there since twenty thirteen, so he's had different
roles. But the fact that he's taken on so much more offensively specifically over
the last you know, three years. There was a major jump from him
in from twenty seventeen to twenty eighteen, and he's a borderline All Star in
the Western Conference, even the fact that he's maintained that level when the guard
position is so ridiculously deep across the league at this time. And I still
think though that he's I would call him the top twenty five player right now
fairly easily, and yet I still think he's somehow underappreciated. During this decade,
only four members of the New Orleans Pelicans have made at least one All
Star appearance. Chris Paul during the only season of the decade he's spent in
New Orleans, brandon Ingram during the current season, DeMarcus Cousins in twenty eighteen,
and Anthony Davis has made six All Star teams. I think that we
should just give Drew an honorary All Star appearance because he belongs on that list.
And it's, you know, I feel like so many times I advocate
for expanding all our rosters, and he's yet another example of a guy who's
just gotten screwed out of out of those kind of accolades. Because he happens
to play a loaded position in the Western Conference, which is overloaded with backcourt
talent. See. I just don't read too much into All Star appearances anymore.
So I don't feel's strong. I wish I wish that we didn't need
to And I think that's like they get cited so much your historical conversations,
and that's what I agree with. You're looking at it from the perspective of
people are going to talk about this and they're gonna mention, oh, we
only made one All Star Game in twenty thirteen and that wasn't even close to
his best basketball of his career. So hashtag Eastern Conference there. Yeah.
I mean, we're like, we're guilty of doing that too. You know,
it's so easy to look back at, you know, the sixties and
seventies and guys who we weren't around to watch play and just be like,
oh, like we're gonna dismiss him because he only made one All Star team
or he never made an All Star team, And I just I don't want
that to happen to guys like Drew Holliday and Mike Conley and and you know
other guards in the West who just haven't been Steph Curry, Russell Westbrook,
James Harden, whoever else has been there. I'm totally Holiday feels like one
of the most egregious examples. Yeah, and Mike Conley would be one in
previous years as well. Yeah, and the Jazz hope he can get back
to that level. Yeah, but that was another podcast. That was another
podcast. Needless to say, he will not be appearing in the Utah Jazz
episode of this series, either will Anthony Davis. Neither will Anthony Davis,
who is number one pretty much unanimously. He appeared second on five ballots,
third on one ballot, but other than that, you know, he was
number one for both of myself and Dan. He was number one on the
remainder of the fan votes, and he was the very obvious inclusion. I
don't there's nothing to really talk about with him in the context of his game.
But I find this incredible is that he has seventy two win shares for
the decade with the Pelicans. Holiday is second at twenty eight point six's.
That's closer to a three to one lead than it should be. That's ridiculous.
Yeah, I mean that is and carrying the franchise, and it's it
does suck the way that his tenure ended there. I am, I am,
like you, extremely pro player, but it does seem that he allowed
that to be handled poorly. I understand he was trying to inflict more of
his agency on the situation by requesting a trade eighteen months out from free agency
as opposed to one year, but to do it before the trade deadline,
and this is as he's at fault just as much as you know his actual
agents on because I'm sure this was their plan. Not giving the Pelicans enough
time to suss out a deal was disingenuous to actually getting him out of New
Orleans, and it created this awkward situation that exacerbated everything the bad feelings where
Pelicans fans. Had he requested out over the summer, or if this had
come in December, they probably would have respected it more. But because it's
say, came so close to that twenty nineteen trade deadline, it really ended
up damaging perception of his stay there. It's become about well, can you
win with Anthony Davis as your best player? And look, the NBA's at
fault, yes, yes, who can? Just to be clear, there
the NBA is at fault there too, because threatening to find the Pelicans are
not playing Anthony Davis. Now you put him in the situation where he's playing
for teamm he openly didn't want to be on, and then the fans are
booing him. Just so many levels of awkward. And it sucks that that's
how his tenure ended, because I think this could have been a situation like
Lebron leaving Cleveland the second time, where you could have just understood it,
and it was different because it's the first time and the franchise was so invested
in him. The upshot is because of the way this thing ended and where
they wound up in the lottery order. They end up with Zion Williamson,
and the slightest difference could have ended up penalizing him because if he played more
of the season, they'd be better. Had they traded him, they would
have been worse. And so it ended up working out for them, But
it was it was polarizing, fun to make jokes about and you couldn't look
away. But because of how good he actually is, and I do think
how good he actually is was sort of obfuscated by playing in New Orleans and
I've been to New Orleans. I love New Orleans. But because he wasn't
in a bigger market and consistently not in the playoffs, I wouldn't say he
was underrated because you're still going to find him consistently in the top seven NBA
player rankings. It's just now there's this perception that he can't win. It
exists mostly outside of New Orleans, even if people were you know, we're
we're resentful over how he left there, but that it sucks that that's what
we're now we're spending time talking about, is we could have done. This
is a person that we should just spend thirty seconds on here because you don't
need I'm not going to say anything about the numbers you don't already know about
his game, how the way he plays on defense, his position list to
fight, despite the fact that he's you know, a terrot actyl where he's
like seven feet and has the wingspan that goes on for infinity. That we're
talking about this at all, but that's I wonder if he is on the
ballots, you know, you talk about one that was where he was number
two or where jokes one that put him lower. If he leaves under better
circumstance. Is he just like the unanimous number one with no one but he?
I mean he should be, but like a Kemba Walker situation where you
remember him more, way more fondly than you do now right, I am
going to share one stat just for fun before we say that's all folks and
put a rap on this episode. And that's just his block standing in franchise
history. So the top five in New Orleans history for block shots, Drew
Holiday is actually fit at two sixty three, Tyson Chandler fourth at two sixty
nine, Ameca Okafer three h five, David West four thirty five, Anthony
Davis one thy one hundred and twenty one. He has more blocks than West,
Okafer, and Chandler combined. Who are the three players directly below him
in that hierarchy? And that's ridiculous. But like you said, you know,
we could spend a lot of time talking about how great Anthony Davis was
and is. We don't really need to, just because that kind of goes
without saying. And unfortunately, it did become more interesting to talk about the
exit and what that meant for his legacy and what it meant to the team
then and the ripple effects that it had on the organization, And you know,
I wish that it had happened differently. It didn't. That is what
happened, and we had to react accordingly. I'm totally with you. Do
you want to take us through some honorable mentions? Can't believe we're going over
an hour on the new orleased Pelicans a transitioning to this. You're welcome.
I can one hundred percent believe that given our history. But yes, honorable
mentions. We had each one more at eleven. On the fan vote,
we had Rajon Rondo at twelve, Alfa Rukamino at thirteen, Nikolamirotich and Omar
ashik Are tied at fourteenth. At sixteenth we had a tie between Anthony Morrow
and Paygostoyakovitch at an eighteenth. At eighteenth we had a tie between Ameca okaf,
Jj Reddick, Lonzo Ball and Robin Lopez. Twenty second we had another
big tie between alexeiy agensa Buddy Healed, Derek Favors, Jarrett Jack and Trevor
Ariza. Two way tie between Jim Or Fredet and Julius Randall for twenty seventh
Grievous Vaz and Brian Roberts at twenty ninth, then at three way tie between
Darius Miller, Gustavo Ayone and Austin Rivers for thirty First, I just want
to say I'm excited that Brian Roberts got got a vote. The other thing
I'll say, and that's how I'll lead us out. And before we get
out of your please remember to rate, review and subscribe to us wherever you
get these podcasts, even if you're not listening on iTunes. That's a great
way to help us out. Throw us a five star rating right or review.
Put whatever you want in there. Talk about Adam's huge calves, or
critique us same meme things. Talk about Frankie Lakina. I'm here for all
the Frankie smokes propaganda. We appreciate it all. But I will leave you
all until next time. And when we next record the decade ranking series,
who comes after the Pelicans? Oh, we'll be directly to the Oklahoma City
Thunder because there's no NBA franchise in between. Just just kidding. The Knicks
will be up next anyway, shout out. It might not be sober for
that episode to get through it. I'm not going to be able to be
sober for that episode. No, until next time, though, We leave
you with the shout out to the one the only Pelicans legend huge snub from
this exercise because he was sixth in minutes played for the decade, yet did
not receive a single vote on the ballot. Dante Cunningham, Sugar Ray Leonard,
Roberto Duran, Marvelous, Marvin Hagler, and Thomas Hearns. Legends whose
four way rivalry define one of the greatest errors in boxing history, relive their
decade of dominance in the new Showtime Sports documentary The Kings, a four parts
series premiering Sunday, June sixth, only on Showtime