LeBron James said if the Pelicans get this player they’ll be title contenders with Zion Williamson

LeBron James said if the Pelicans get this player they’ll be title contenders with Zion Williamson

LeBron James just said if the Pelicans get this player they’ll become title contenders wait what who I’ll tell you 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 ever every day welcome to another edition of locked on Pelicans the daily podcast covering your favorite team the New Orleans Pelicans in NBA part of the locked on

Podcast Network your team every day available wherever you get your podcast and available on YouTube I’m your host Pelicans Insider credential member of the media Jake Madison Nola Jake on Twitter here with y’all on this Wednesday a game day for the New Orleans Pelicans hopefully trying to get back to

Winning ways taking on the Orlando Magic we’ll talk about that game in tomorrow’s episode but LeBron James just kind of gave the Pelicans the key to becoming title contenders they go and get this player I’m cheating a little bit on this I’ll explain in a minute they can become

A title Contender that’s kind of a big deal here and it informs the Pelicans and US of what they’re likely going to do this offseason anyway and of course thank you for making lock on 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 is a Gear Up up for the playoffs hopefully avoiding the playin tournament we’ll talk more about the standings in today’s episode so please subscribe wherever you get your podcast and join almost 10,000 Pelicans fans on

YouTube as well it’s been a fun season and it’s not done yet these games matter there’s going to be some postseason action here in New Orleans so tell a friend about the show as well and be coming every day and that means you listen Monday through Friday and if you

Do let me know in the comments down below tell me at the arena where I’ll have the lock on pelet stickers to give away so let’s get into what LeBron James said and look I’m I’m cheating a little bit here LeBron James has started a podcast with JJ reck where they get into

A lot of like X’s and O’s and real in-depth kind of hoop discussion that you can really only get from two former players or coaches whove kind of been there on a daily basis and there’s a clip going around from their podcast and it really talks about how the Miami Heat

With LeBron James Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosch kind of got unlocked in the early 2010s and became title contenders and won two NBA Finals making four straight NBA Finals during that time and LeBron talked about Chris Bosch who had been a power forward a four with the Toronto

Raptors moving to being a more of a not a small ball Center but playing center for the Miami Heat and how it unlocked so many other things for that team and let them become the best version of themselves by moving Chris Bosch to the five and turning turning him into more

Of a three-point shooter it just unclogged things for the Miami Heat look when you have Dwayne Wade LeBron James two of the best drivers guys that can attack the basket like nobody’s business teams would wall off the rip but when you put Chris Bosch there and remove him

From the paint and put him in the corner or on the three-point line and he became a good three-point shooter during his time with the Miami Heat that changed things because if teams left LeBron James well then he’s going to kick it right out to Chris BOS who’s going to

Make a three and beat you and it just opened he said the lane for guys to basically do they’re called slot Cuts but basically just drive right into cut right into the middle of the paint and get a pass and that’s a really important thing for this Pelicans team right do I

Really need to tell you how like this is something that they need to be doing that they need more of no not at all right you know this that this is what they need to be doing that they need to have more Bas and all of those sorts of

Things so by Chris Bosch becoming a center it unclogged the lane for the Miami Heat which allowed them to be the best versions of themselves you can see how it applies to New Orleans so the player that the Pelicans need is not Larry n Jr not Jonas funis it’s an

Entirely different player right but it goes you know the the way teams defend Zion you’re you’re they’re Walling off the rim you saw it with nurkic and christs porzingis in the last two games they just kind of chilled in the paint and waited for Zion to drive nothing

Would work they couldn’t even get a cut coming down the middle of the lane because it was so clogged okay so you need a three-point shooting center but it goes beyond just shooting threes right Larry NS Jr actually has a very good three-point percentage this season

If you sort by player stats on nba.com and you look at just three-point percentage from qualified players Larry n Jr is fifth he’s shooting 44.1% from three but he only takes 1.1 per game so it’s not the biggest threat out there teams will live with him hitting those

Shots so you need a guy that shoots threes on decent enough volume and who’s a good rebounder too so who is that player I think the dream Target is Carl Anthony towns from the Minnesota Timberwolves but he might be ungettable their their ownership situation is weird

That’s going to be a very expensive team they’re good without towns so maybe there’s a chance you could away he would be very expensive but if the Pelicans want this sort of player they’re going to have to pay up in terms of draft picks and maybe young Talent as well

Though I don’t know if I would include herb Jones in a trade like this so say towns is ungettable what about a guy like Jared Allen he doesn’t shoot enough threes I just don’t think that would work here the vertical spacing is somewhat of a thing only somewhat but I

Don’t know if that would necessarily help the New Orleans Pelicans here especially if you don’t have guys that can get him the ball in a vertical sense there’s jiren Jackson Jr from Memphis but there is zero way that they would ever trade him away right now kind of

Same goes for christs porzingis right he would be a perfect fit we talked a lot about that with the Pelicans this off season but I doubt that Boston moves on from him they gave him an extension this past summer after trading for him but there’s a couple of other names too

There’s nicolaevich from the Chicago Bulls they’re a bit of a dumpster fire they don’t really have any direction he’s making $20 million next season could you go and get him could you find a way to do a sign and trade for yonas valent junis include someone younger and

Maybe a pick in there he shoots the three ball pretty well he does it on good volume as well so is that a guy that maybe could make a difference he’s kind of a power forward kind of a center kind of a combo but he’s taking over 4

Threes per game he gets you 10.6 rebounds he can be a very useful player to this team even if he doesn’t shoot the three ball particularly well you have other names like Isaiah Stewart who is undersized when it comes to rebound in but a good three-point shooter and a

Legitimate threat there you have Dean Wade from Cleveland that could be an option but he’s a little bit undersized and the rebounding certainly isn’t there when it comes to him Miles Turner might be the most getable depending on what the Indiana Pacers want to do and who

They view their young core as but that team has been good and fun when they’ve been healthy so I don’t necessarily know if he’s the type of guy that you could pry away there’s alurn and shenon from the Houston Rockets they need to make a decision on his future I imagine they

Will resign him he’s not that great of a shooter but he gives you playmaking so if you get the ball out to him on the wing he can playmake from there he can playmake out of the post he can be enough of a three-point shooter and he’s

A decent rebounder not a good Defender but the Pelicans defense has been good no matter who they put in so I’m not really worried when it comes to defense with any of these players you know you also have a a smaller Target name like Santi Alama from Memphis I don’t know if

He’s the best fitness necessarily but if you kind of need a Buy Low option here that’s maybe a guy that they could go at but basically what this says is you need a three-point shooting center and the Pelicans if they want to turn into true title contenders and really unlock this

Offense that’s what they’ve got to go and get this offseason I expect they’re going to do everything they can to go and find that player the problem is three-point shooting centers that are good rebounders and like adequate enough Defenders are just not readily available the Pelicans have the assets to go get

Any of them and you’ve got to make sure you get won this off season LeBron James said it right the Miami Heat went from not winning a title to winning two because they unlocked their offense even more with what they did with Chris Bosch it’s time for the Pelicans to do the

Same thing LeBron James just gave you the blueprint blueprint we already kind of knew about too I said I was cheating a little bit on the on the headline here in the title but overall it kind of speaks to a lot of what the Pelicans need to do and hopefully they’ll be able

To do it this off season because past couple of games have really taught us and given other teams the blueprint on how to beat the Pelicans when Zion Williamson’s out there on the court there’s only so much he can do even though he’s still scoring and still

Doing a good job against it and maybe that will be more small ball offense and I think you’ll see more of that with Zion at the five against the Orlando Magic we’ll probably talk about that in tomorrow’s episode of lockon pelicans another reason they’re struggling right now though it goes beyond just the

Center position they’re missing Brandon Ingram we don’t need to overthink this sometimes let’s talk about how they’re missing Brandon Ingram and how that will get fixed when they get into the postseason and when he returns and what his injury update is cuz we got a little

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Keep your ride or die alive at ebaymotors.com eligible items only exclusions apply eBay guaranteed fit only available to us customers and thank you for making lockdown Pelicans your first listen today and every day we are here Monday through Friday the number one Pelicans podcast covering everything you want to know

About this team become an every dayer that means you listen Monday through Friday to lock on Pelicans if you are let me know in the comments down below subscribe wherever you get your podcast and join almost 10,000 Pelicans fans on YouTube we are part of the locked on

Podcast Network your team every day so let’s keep talking about the Pelicans kind of struggling here and part of it is look part of it is how teams are defending Zion Williamson but you know what makes that a little bit easier when you’ve got another really

Good threat out there on the court and they’re missing Brandon Ingram right now and you can really see it I’ve said this repeatedly repeatedly when he went down injured in that game against Orlando I think it was this is not a better team without brain inam I got a lot of texts

And people asking that question and immediately it was like no no they are not and you’re really seeing it right now the ball isn’t moving as well sometimes you just need a dude who’s not scared to take shots and Brandon Ingram is not scared to take shots so while I

Don’t love some of the mid-range that he takes overall right now you need a guy that’s at least willing to shoot because we’ve seen multiple times now that there are players on the Pelicans who aren’t willing to shoot who were too scared to shoot and that’s certainly not going to

Get it done when you have a bunch of guys that are kind of terrified about that and not willing to do do that you’re not going to go very far in anything that you do so having a guy that’s kind of fearless willing to try and take over a game would be really

Useful someone that keeps the ball moving for New Orleans would be really useful we’ve seen this offense get a little bit stagnant sometimes just making a couple of shots can break you out of that but we’ve also talked about how offense turns into defense defense then turns into offense right teams are

Running against New Orleans because they’re missing a good bit right now so if Brandon Ingram takes a shot and makes a shot and he does that right that leaves your defense the opportunity to get back and get set and you’re not trying to defend in transition he’s also

The leader and assist per game for New Orleans with almost six per game 20.9 points per game 5.8 assists along with five rebounds defensively too they could have used him against a guy like Kevin Durant he’s been a good Defender this season having kind of take on the best

Perimeter backcourt player but then also having Brandon Ingram be a willing defender on some of these better Wing players too and using his size using his length and being aggressive there can help New Orleans actually generate better offense a steel a block forcing a Miss shot letting them get out and run

All of those things will help the Pelicans for where they are from these past couple games where offense at times has been really hard to come by so yes while the center position is a problem really with without a true answer for New Orleans right now look this is still

A good team here when they’re healthy they’re just not healthy right I’ve seen a lot of people saying you know at the trade deadline when the Pelicans didn’t make a move to upgrade the center position that spelled the dup no it didn’t they won a bunch of games after

That they’ beaten some good teams without that too you’re losing to really Elite teams and you don’t have Brin and Ingram your second best player arguably your first best player let’s not overthink this right this team when healthy can be really useful teams want to wall off Zion Williamson that is

Going to leave the mid-range open for Brandon Ingram look at least it’s a credible threat even if I don’t love that shot and would rather have him take threes but we’ve also seen this team not take threes well Brandon Ingam can and he makes them when he’s in kind of in

The mood to do it I guess but that’s still something that he probably would help the team with when it comes to this right you know if teams are going to leave him open for some of the mid-range shots this season on 10 to 16 feet that

Kind of awful mid-range you don’t want him taking it’s above 50% you know 16 feet to the three-point range you really don’t want him taking those shots but he’s shooting 46% that’s not a bad number to have here at least it’s a bit of a safety valve he

Has games where he misses those and it hurts New Orleans but sometimes those are just kind of like body blows a little bit in a heavyweight F that’s what they’re going to give you and you make a couple of those teams will step out at least a little bit to try and

Contest it and that’s going to open things up for Zion Williamson that allows guys to cut Baseline doesn’t help with cuts down the middle or anything like that like LeBron James was talking about but at least puts more pressure on the defense than really anyone else right now is capable

Of doing because teams are just so focused on Zion Williamson but Brandon ingrams on The Scouting Report too they could use that just keeping the ball moving the playmaking too right he has some aggression he’s not scared to attack the basket and go and try and score that’s exactly what you want to

See overall and if he can do that when they get him back then there’s a chance that you can kind of turn this around we’ll get into the standings and kind of what the Pelicans need to do to try and lock up a spot not in the playing tournament

Because I think as I’ve long said goals expectations need to adjust depending on the circumstances here well we need to adjust him maybe again we’ll look at the standings in a minute here but Brandon Ingram they expect that maybe he can make a return you know with three games

Two games remaining in the regular season to give him a little bit of a warm-up before you go into the postseason that sounds great to me that’s kind of a perfect ideal situation for New Orleans there’s some winnable games coming up they’ve proven they can

Win even without him so try and you know hold Court until he gets back try and win two of the games at the end of the regular season and you should be okay but defensively he makes them better which then makes them better offensively which is truly where he helps them too

So all of those things is Miss meaning New Orleans is missing a key play players so we can point to the center position and look Center has been a problem for New Orleans the bigger thing y’all is just missing Brandon Ingram and not having him out there on the court

But they’re going to get him back soon and I think that does fix a lot of what’s hurting New Orleans right now and kind of stabilizes them and gets them back to being a team that with the right matchup in the first round can win and could advance to the second round a

Matchup where the center position doesn’t impact you as much it’s the Clippers that’s maybe maybe the Timberwolves so they’re going to end up being okay just because they’ve lost two games at home to good teams in kind of rough fashion doesn’t mean that the season’s over by any stretch and it

Doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re a playing tournament team either but even with Brandon Ingram when he’s there in the playing tournament you maybe feel a little bit better than without him though I would like to avoid the playing tournament at all costs so hopefully he comes back sooner rather than later so

How do they avoid the playing tournament what kind of needs to happen with all of that let’s talk about the standings in the Western Conference because W those are tight those are tight and things are close but New Orleans is maybe in a better position than you think so we’ll

Look at that strength the schedule of them the opponent all those things coming up here next in today’s episode of Locked on Pelicans right now though I’m excited to tell you about Amazon Fire TV Fire TV is your your destination for sports from live games to Highlights to in-depth

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Visit Amazon / locked onfire TV and thank you for making locked on Pelicans your first listen today and every day we are here Monday through Friday part of the locked on podcast Network the number one Pelicans podcast covering everything you want to know about this Pelicans team whether it’s

The playoffs whether it’s what they need to do in the offseason the X’s and O’s the coaching we look at all of that we cover it all here so subscribe wherever you get your podcast join almost 10,000 other Pelicans fans on YouTube as well tomorrow we will break down what we see

From the Pelicans in tonight’s game against the Orlando Magic as well so be sure to come back for that two more home games on this before just one left at the end of the regular season against the Los Angeles Lakers these two games really really matter so let’s talk about

The standings and where the Pelicans are right now because things in the Western Conference in the kind of middle of all of this is is really tough right now when I’m recording this the Dallas Mavericks are now so the Los Angeles Clippers are in the fourth Seas and it

Seems certain that they are going to kind of lock that up their schedule is not as easy as Dallas but I I trust the Clippers a slight bit more than I trust the Dallas Mavericks they’ve been up and down Dallas has been all season long all season long they’ve done this where they

String together they have the longest winning streak in the NBA currently they’ve done this before then they lose a bunch of games and they Peak again then they hit a valley and back and forth and back and forth It’s not a great situation to be in they’re peing

At the right time and they’re doing it defensively which is not what they normally do it’s just still Dallas and until they don’t do stuff like this and maybe get out of the first round I’m not truly going to trust them so they’re two games behind the Clippers I think that

One really might come down to it at the end of the regular season per tangon Dallas has the 23rd easiest strength of schedule remaining they have eight games remaining including like three guaranteed wins against maybe the Pistons the Charlotte Hornets and the Atlanta Hawks but they also have tough

Games against the Rockets the Golden State Warriors the Miami Heat and the Oklahoma City Thunder all those teams are playing for something and that’s five games right there so I don’t necessarily know if they’re going to how they’re going to handle some of those tough ones and if they don’t they’re

Going to end up finishing Fifth and it’s going to leave the Clippers who do have a tough strength of schedule because they have the nuggets on there in two games against the Suns that’s going to leave them in the fourth spot I think that’s probably how that’s going to go I

Think New Orleans can hold on to the six seed they’re a half game behind Dallas now they’re a full game up on the Phoenix Suns who sit in seventh and then they’re a game and a half up on the Sacramento Kings in ninth there’s really

No danger I think at this point of the Pelicans falling to ninth that’s the Los Angeles Lakers three games behind them if New Orleans the way I kind of view it if New Orleans goes about 500 the rest of the way I think they’re going to be

Okay and be able to hold on to the six seat so that means about four and three or so if you count say the Spurs and the Trailblazers is a guaranteed win you can maybe get a win against the Orlando Magic the Sacramento Kings that’s four right there I think the Lakers are

Beatable at home at the end of the regular season you know the toughest game is probably going to be on the road at Phoenix and then on the road first night of a back-to-back against the Golden State Warriors but Golden State might also be eliminated at that time you know you have

The Houston Rockets kind of nipping at their heels but they’re only two games games back there’s a chance depending on what happens with the Golden State Warriors they have tough games coming up twice against the uh Dallas Mavericks they’re playing on Tuesday night I’m recording this before that game happens

So that could really bury them a little bit you then look at a team like Phoenix who has the toughest strength of schedule remaining none of the wins on their schedule are gimmies two games against the Timberwolves two games against the Clippers game against the Cavs the Pelicans and the Sacramento

Kings Sacramento also has a tough schedule coming up they have games against the Celtics the Thunder the Clippers the Pelicans the Knicks the Suns they have maybe two gimmies in Portland and Brooklyn but that’s a pretty rough stretch they could easily go something like two and six three and

Five during that stretch I think when you look at a lot of these teams beating each other up and that’s the ideal situation here the Pelicans could find themselves basically just kind of staying in six if they go 500 the rest of the way ideally if you go four and

Three that gets you to 49 wins that should be enough for the six seed here because that would mean Phoenix then needs to win five G uh five games and when you look at their schedule remaining where are the five wins right they have seven games left they would

Need to go five- two against kind of the toughest schedule in the league I’m not sure that that’s going to be the case for them if they split some of those they go three and three like that’s not a good situation three and four four and three right right that still puts them

Behind New Orleans as long as New Orleans doesn’t lose significant ground so taking care of homecourt these next two games against the Orlando Magic who kind of punked them last game so hopefully they come out with the right kind of attitude with that and I expect

A lot of small Ball Z at the five in this one to try and create some space in scoring you know shooting threes would be good too while you play the games we’ll see I think I think New Orleans is going to be in an okay spot it might be a little

Closer than we’d like it might come down to the final games of the regular season but they can definitely do this and I think that’s one of the most important things just get in as the six seed if that’s it that’s it you would play the Timberwolves here that’s not a bad

Position to be in if you get to the five seed you play the Clippers I like either of those two matchups the ideal scenario the ideal scenario is to be on the opposite side of the bracket from the Denver Nuggets if New Orleans is in six

And then the Denver Nuggets go to one I think it puts them on the opposite side where you then don’t need to worry about them in the next round of the playoffs so that could be an ideal situation here we’ll see how it all plays out though but it’s fun having meaningful games

Here in April which is not something that we always get so hopefully the Pelicans can take care of the Orlando Magic at home and then the Spurs on Friday and I think that’s going to put him in a real good position to avoid the play in tournament what do you think

What do you think the record they need to finish with to avoid the playing tournament let me know in the comments Down Below on YouTube and if you’re an every day or let me know in the comments Down Below on YouTube so that’s going to do it for this episode of Locked on

Pelicans part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day as always I’m your host Jake Madison Nola Jake on Twitter and I’ll be back with y’all tomorrow to recap the game

The New Orleans Pelicans are searching for answer on how to unlock the offense around Zion Williamson but LeBron James just gave the Pels the key to becoming title contenders. Jake Madison tells you why the Pels need to look at trading for Karl-Anthony Towns, Nikola Vucevic, Myles Turner, and others this offseason. Plus, when will Brandon Ingram return and how much are the Pelicans missing him? And the standings are tight in the West but if the Pelicans go 500 the rest of the way they should be okay.

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