Don’t make a trade! Why the New Orleans Pelicans shouldn’t make a move at the NBA trade deadline

Don’t make a trade! Why the New Orleans Pelicans shouldn’t make a move at the NBA trade deadline

The trade deadline is now two weeks away and the best move for the New Orleans Pelicans is to do nothing I’ll explain why they shouldn’t shake up the roster and they should stay in Pat at the NBA’s trade deadline in two weeks in today’s episode of Locked on Pelicans let’s Go you are locked on Pelicans your daily New Orleans Pelicans podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day welcome to another edition of locked on Pelicans the daily podcast covering your favorite team the New Orleans Pelicans NBA part of the locked on podcast Network your team everyday

Available wherever you get your podcast and available on YouTube I’m your host Pelicans Insider credential member of the media Jake Madison at Nola Jake on Twitter here with y’all on this Thursday and we’re going to look at why the Pelicans should not should not make a

Trade in the next two weeks as we get towards the NBA’s trade deadline on February 8th and of course thank you for making lockdown Pelicans your first listen today and every day we are here Monday through Friday the number one Pelicans podcast breaking down everything you want to know about this

Team whether it’s the X’s and O’s and second half adjustments whether it’s CJ McCullum playing well the greatness of herb Jones or the trade talk and what’s going on around the team and where they’re looking to upgrade we cover it all so subscribe wherever you get your podcast and on YouTube become coming

Every day listen Monday through Friday we got a lot to talk about we’ll have will gillery from the athletic on tomorrow’s show break down more trade deadline talk for you and where this team can go what their ceiling is because that’s going to come up a bunch

In today’s show of what is this team truly so we cover it all here tell a friend listen Monday through Friday or if you listen one day a week listen two days a week today’s episode of lock on Pelicans is brought to you by prize piix the easiest and most exciting way to

Play daily fantasy sports go to priz pick.com lockon NBA and use code all lowercase locked on NBA for first deposit match up to $100 so why shouldn’t the Pelicans make a trade we’ve heard a lot of talk of Jared Allen upgrading the center position a guy like Deontay Murray is

Available right why should they not go for one of those guys well simply put this Pelicans team is playing well they have the ninth best defense the eighth best offense right now they’re top 10 in both of those categories this team is 26 and 18 they’re eight games above 500

They’re fifth in the western conference right now things are looking good for them you know they’ve beaten OKC they’ve beaten Minnesota they’ve beaten Denver they’ve beaten the Clippers the four teams ahead of them right they completely own the Sacramento Kings they’ve beaten Dallas twice they’re competitive with basically everyone in

The Western Conference this team has just looked good and when you look at this team are they reaching their ceiling like do we feel they have maxed out or is there still room to improve this is something I’ve said a lot here on lockdown Pelicans if you’re in every

Dayer now we’ll get more into this in a little bit later in the show I’m not exactly sure what their ceiling is but I think we can all safely say they’re not reaching it right they don’t feel like true contenders right now but they’re also they feel like a good team so look

At the play right you know CJ McCullum is having one of his best years the numbers in terms of pure counting stats points per games and things like that might not reflect that but he’s completely changed his shot profile to be even more efficient taking Mor three spacing the court for Zion Williamson

And Brandon Ingram right he is playing the most efficient basketball of his career he looks to be in the best shape of his career and he’s giving more energy on defense than he ever has before he just hit nine threes in a game the other night you do that this team

Can go really really far look at herb Jones who’s been improving you know he’s shooting close to 40% from three right now this season the attempts have gone up he’s making teams pay he works well off ball he has games where he can go for 18 to 20 points when that shot is

Falling and he’s building chemistry with Zion Williamson right you know he’s shooting closer to 50 % from the corners right now this is a guy who by all accounts is improving and then just does all of the things that he does defensively that sequence where he blocks the shot keeps the ball inbounds

Leads to a bi layup gets the steel keeps that inbounds gets the ball back then dishes a behind the back feed it’s just defensive plays turning into easy offense and he’s a catalyst from that right there’s a reason when his name was put there in kind of trade rumors even

Though they’re definitely not shopping him that there was like an uproar from the fan base about herb Jones being included you know he’s averaging three he’s taken 3.4 3 point attempts per game if we can get that number up a little bit and he shoots 40% that’s a really

Good important player for this team right you know Zion still doesn’t look like he’s exactly himself after the game against the Utah Jazz he said he’s 88 to 90% he’s still not been fully himself they haven’t run Point Zion you saw more in that game with 11 assists if he

Starts reaching potential being as explosive and he’s looking more explosive well that’s a big Improvement for this team right BR Ingram has been struggling over his past 10 games or so missing shots and he could refine his shot selection more like CJ McCullum has been which would make him more efficient

In this team more deadly Trey’s in a slump think of what this team will look like with his offense you know when he’s not like that and they’re already good that says something right they’re nowhere near reaching their potential you look at a team like Minnesota and

That team is what they are which is a good team but if the Pelicans get some things together it feels like they could surpass a team like that you also have a fail safe in yonas val chunis if guys get hurt and the defense is good right

Has been all season long no matter who’s playing the scheme there is working the coaching is working again they’ve got the sorry it’s the 10th best defense eighth best offense that’s the numbers here they have the seventh best net rating in the whole NBA over the season

If you look at it probably since that Lakers lost that number is going to be even better right they’ve had a top five offense top five defense since that Lakers lost so there by all accounts and measures saying this team is good are they perfect no there’s room

To improve but I like that I like that so much that they’re not actively at their full potential yet but it’s also good that they are you know improving if they were kind of stagnant if they weren’t impr improving if we weren’t seeing better play if we weren’t seeing

The numbers improve then we’d look at things differently with this team but they’re playing well they’re playing really good basketball right now they have a positive net rating of 5.2 on the season okay I’ve always said if you want to be a championship Contender that number needs to be you know right around

Six or better so they’re already close to that let’s pull their net rating since that lost to the Lakers on December 7th here I can pull that and I’m going to be kind of curious to see what the net rating is is it Championship Contender numbers here I

Actually don’t know and of course my internet wants to go slow right now the Pelicans have a net rating of nine exactly it’s Fourth best since that lost to the Lakers nine is definitely Championship Contender net rating number that’s your offensive rating minus your defensive rating their offensive rating

Is fifth best during that stretch the defensive rating is fifth they’re five and five with the fourth best net rate rating the team has potential to be very good why make a trade why make a trade when this is what you’re doing already and it there’s room to grow all around

That’s the simplest argument right just look at your team internally that said okay let’s look a little bit external is anyone act does an upgrade exist for this team let’s talk about that coming up here next in today’s episode of Locked on Pelicans right now though I’m excited to tell you

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Podcast covering everything you want whether it’s trade talk or why they shouldn’t there shouldn’t be any trade talk around this team whether it’s the X’s and O’s and other things here we cover it all so please subscribe wherever you get your podcast we are part of the locked on podcast Network

Your team Every Day become in every day or listen Monday through Friday and if you’re in every day or let me know in the comments Down Below on YouTube let me know if you want the team to not make a trade now that they’re playing some really good basketball as well let me

Know what you think here so we went over that this team is good I don’t know exactly what their ceiling is I really don’t and again keep that in mind because that’s going to be coming up later in this show here and I want to talk more about that kind of concept

What is truly their SE ceiling like I said I don’t feel like they could win a title this year even if things go super duper well for them but I don’t think they’re like horribly far off that doesn’t mean though that you should try and make a move right because looking at

It when you look look at names that are available is anyone actually an upgrade the biggest name that could maybe be the biggest needle mover for this team that we have talked about that sounds like he’s available or maybe not is Jared Allen right Jared Allen how much of a

Needle mover is he does he make you a true title Contender because if he doesn’t what are you doing why not just stick with what you have and don’t kind of upset the cart here right I did a show the other day on kind of like sneaky trade Target for the Pelicans but

One thing that kind of came up during that whole show and episode was like it’s kind of barren out there if you’re trying to upgrade the center position right you know any move that you likely make takes this team a step back you know Daniel Gafford isn’t an upgrade

Over yonas valent chunis right we’re going to get into a trade that ESPN proposed out there in a minute that involves Wendell Carter Jr and you go wait what it’s awful for this team so I don’t want to see them do anything where they might be taking a step back right

This team’s already doing something don’t get worse don’t make a move that’s going to make you a worse basketball team right now if you don’t think they’re a true title Contender maybe that isn’t the worst idea it’s kind of like that if you’re not first your last

Mentality but I don’t really love that approach to anything here so the other reason you could look at a move is to you know work with the salary cap and if you’re in everyday area you remember that show that I talked about where I said the first thing you’re going to see

With this team is they’re going to dump Kyo Lewis Jr to get under the luxury tax that move was like telegraphed right well now that the Pelicans duck the tax which again I think was the right move don’t pay it for Kyra Lewis Jr pay it for somebody else you know you don’t

Need to be concerned about salary cap issues right now you’re under the luxury tax it was a swing of around $18 million you know any future cap issu you have in subsequent Seasons from this one you can figure out in the offseason when you have more options and any trade right

Now using an asset even if you’re trying to kind of work on salary cap stuff limits future flexibility and if you do a move like that it’s going to look terrible ESPN is a trade right now that is yonis valent Unice and Dyson Daniels okay to Orlando for wend Wendell

Carter Jr and chuma OK I saw that and was like honestly thought I was missing something of like is Orlando including a first round pick to the Pelicans for that because the best player in that deal is valent chunis and the second best player in that deal might be Dyson Daniels that’s

The type of move you’re looking if you’re trying to kind of clear salary or something for the Pelicans in the future I hate that trade that trade is absolute garbage right wend Carter Jr right now is averaging for them now he’s coming off the bench 10.7 points per game in

6.7 rebounds he’s not a rim protector at all it’s not a shot blocker and he’s a worse rebounder than valent junis is right um okk is averaging 3.6 points per game and 2.6 rebounds that’s what you’d be looking at I hate it hate it and he’s also like an

Undersized kind of wing front Court player at 66 none of that’s good so I don’t want to see this team make a bad move that makes them worse that trade would do that right look even if we don’t think they’re title contenders their playoff team they could get out of

The first round I would enjoy winning I would enjoy this team winning a first round playoff series even if you lose in the next round with Wendell Carter Jr well you you limit what you could maybe accomplish and then maybe you don’t get that first round playoff series win so I

Don’t love something like that right like don’t start solving future problems right now when you can do it later and instead figure out what you have in this team figure out if you can make it work with valunas we’ll get into more of Val chunis in in the next segment here

Because look I definitely think there are playoff concerns around him and I want to talk about that but you got to get there first right don’t do anything that could hamper that we’ve seen some you know injury issues come up with Brandon Ingram with Zion Williamson even

With CJ JV just goes out and plays having him as that fail safe isn’t the worst thing I think you can figure out the salary and stuff later or if you do win a playoff series can you maybe make it work with JV and Larry Nance Jr

That’s what we’re going to talk about in the next segment here so I don’t want to see this team take a step back when we’re enjoying this right it’s also about building up the fan base and Gathering data points if you’re in the front office if you if you mix it up now

You might lose sight of like what could have been with that sort of thing right so I’d like them to finally be in position to like evaluate this team properly make the playoffs get everyone excited go into next season with some expectations with all of your draft Capital available all the future draft

Picks you have the Pug own all of theirs they still have a unprotected first from the Lakers and a Bucks pick as well that can all be really Val valuable and used in some young players that are intriguing so that’s the type thing that I think could be important look there

Are calls to be made on guys like Nai Marshall you know he’s going to be out of contract at the end of this season he’s a free agent do they have the money to pay him probably not but when you look at it in terms of his minutes per

Game and things like that even if he walks for nothing I don’t think it’s the end of the world right where’s n Marshall in terms of minutes he’s 10th in this on this team in minutes per game it’s probably okay if he leaves you don’t love that but you’re looking at

Him essentially being like your and somewhere between your eighth and your 10th man it’s a useful piece but you can get those kind of guns you could draft a guy that could fill a role like that right so that I think as I’m going to sneeze potentially here if you’re

Watching me on YouTube and my face just got all weird it’s coming just one I think we’re good so I don’t think you even need to trade that guy away because Naji Marshall has been useful for this team and I don’t think you’re going to get like a ton in return

For him so kind of keep the group together there seems to beem here they seem to like playing with each other and everyone’s kind of filling a valuable role right now I’d like to just see what we have and give it a go for a little bit too especially because I don’t

Really think upgrades exist like show me where the upgrade really is and that I think is kind of the issue here when it comes to looking at what they do look when you look at available players like who’s actually available so take out Jared Allen because it doesn’t appear

That he’s available aable you know what’s the actual upgrade for the Pelicans and does that player fit right and this ties into development too let’s talk about that coming up here next in today’s episode of Locked on Pelicans right now though I’m excited to tell you about hungry root it’s easy to

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Breaking down everything you want to know about this Pelicans team whether it’s trade deadline talk whether it’s going to be a great guest and will gillery coming back on the show with me tomorrow that’s going to be a lot of fun whether it’s the playoff push we’re

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Know all things New Orleans Pelicans so okay we’re talking about why they shouldn’t make a move right look at the players that are available again actually available so we’re taking Jared Allen out what’s the actual upgrade for the Pelicans I’ve heard a lot of people say they’re one of the deepest teams in

The league if not the deepest then where’s the upgrade right and does that player fit Deontay Murray’s available he fit it’s not if you’re keeping the big three of Zion Brandon Ingram and CJ McCullum you know and when you factor in development right you want Jordan Hawkins to get minutes you want Dyson

Daniels to keep growing it’s hard to find a trade that makes sense where is the biggest glaring need on this team some of you are going to say rebounding okay they’re the 11th best defensive rebounding team this season you know it’s not like they’re bad at it it might

Cost them here and there but you got to look at it over the course of a season right you know do they need more Rim protection maybe but if they did they wouldn’t have you know the 10th best defense right now they wouldn’t have the fifth best defense since December 7th

Right like for the most part things are going well I’d like them to shoot more threes they’re doing that they’re kind of improving in the areas that like you want them to improve upon so where’s the upgrade where’s the change that like truly needs to happen and I’m not sure

It exists right again we say this team is deep so where are you supposed to upgrade outside of the center position but is there actually an upgrade available there now that doesn’t mean that things are perfect I don’t want them to downgrade from yonas V chunis but he

Will absolutely be a liability on the defensive side of the ball in the playoffs if they truly want to be title contenders you probably can’t do it with him starting but one you need to get there first you need to get there first right would you take them getting to the NBA

Finals and then losing because JV was bad like yeah you would right the West is tough and yonas Tunis is absolutely going to help them in the regular season so let’s not lose sight of the journey still in front of this team we’re not at

The end of it just yet you can’t skip these steps here and two you also have Larry n Jr they started him in the second half against the Utah Jazz and he does a lot of what they want on the defensive side of the ball and he’s

Playing at a high level yeah they’re not the best rebounding team let’s say when he’s out there on the court and that might cause some issues but again it’s not like they’re bad at this this so until we get more data of like hey this doesn’t work for sure I don’t know if

You can make some of these claims just yet so this team is still working they’re still kind of accomplishing what you want to see them accomplish right now and again yeah you’re going to have issues with valent junis at a certain point in the playoffs second round Conference Finals finals whatever it

Might be what was the last time they were there right when was the last time they were there when was the last time they made a Conference Finals right rhetorical question here so until that happens like I’m not going to overthink it and be like no they need to

Do this right now like we’re just not there yet right and I think that when you look at it all is something to try and keep in mind you know yeah they’re not the best defensive rebounding I just pulled the numbers with looking at their um defensive rebounding numbers with Lar

Junor on the court and it’s not ideal I’ll definitely tell you that doing the math here it’s 72% what are they on the season 76.2 so yeah it’s not great so it’s uh there’s concerns with it but I think do what you need to do this season

Get through it and then you have maybe more options this off season when Evan Mobley comes back does Jared Allen become more Expendable for the Cleveland Cavaliers maybe that drives his price down right maybe someone else becomes available and you decide oh that’s our guy we really want to make it work those

Are the type of things that I think you start to look at right you know the Pelicans are finally in position to see what they have and retain any future assets that they need so I think it’s important for them to take this opportunity I’m fine if they move for

Jared Allen not what I would do but it’s okay if they do that right what I don’t want to see is just dumping yonas Val un for someone who’s not equal or better than him that’s going to be Wendell Carter Jr Daniel Gafford some of the other names that you know you’ve heard

Listed out there capella could be equal or better and that could be fine right but guys like aong from Atlanta like no get get out of here with that that’s GNA make them worse javil McGee could be serviceable enough but he’s not going to give you the offense at all so it really

Just depends on what you’re looking for and with all the talk around this it does worry me that the team could be in like not as great of a position as we want to see them at all so just don’t make a bad trade and you know how you

Don’t make a bad trade it’s don’t don’t make a trade at all right you know SE yakum was going to be the big name moved during the trade deadline right or trade season this year and anobi is up there as well you know Terry Rosier is the the

Third biggest one one we’ve seen so far like that’s not insane there’s and this team is improving top five in both offense and defense since that Lakers lost there’s something here figure it out get to the playoffs then determine what you need gather data make the changes this off season because

Everyone’s finally been healthy knock on wood with that right so maybe it’s not time to kind of rock the boat shake things up let me know what you think in the comments Down Below on YouTube do you want him to make a deal do you not

Want him to make a deal as there a trade Target you have in mind let me know we’re going to find what out what happens over the next two weeks and we’re going to be covering it here on the lock on Pelicans podcast the number one Pelicans podcast part of the

Lockdown podcast Network your team every day will gillery on the show tomorrow more trade deadline talk let’s see what he thinks the team ceiling could be how good they could be it’s a lot of fun when we chop it up with Will that’s going to be a great show of the athletic

Tomorrow’s episode of Locked on Pelicans that’s going to do it for this episode of Locked on Pelicans as always I’m your host Jake Madison at Nola Jake on Twitter I’ll be back with y’all tomorrow

The NBA trade deadline is two weeks away but it should effectively be over right now for the New Orleans Pelicans. Jake Madison explains why the Pels should stick with what they have in Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram rather than looking to change up their roster.

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