Will Guillory on Pelicans’ Strategy for 2024 NBA Draft | Pelicans Podcast 6/25/24

Will Guillory on Pelicans’ Strategy for 2024 NBA Draft | Pelicans Podcast 6/25/24

[Music] welcome in to the New Orleans Pelicans podcast the official podcast of your New Orleans Pelicans a podcast dedicated to everything you need to know about the squad hear from players coaches broadcasters and those who cover the NBA on a daily basis it’s time to flock up the New Orleans Pelicans podcast starts right [Music] now hello everyone and welcome to a summer edition of the New Orleans Pelicans podcast the official podcast of your New Orleans Pelicans and let’s be honest I just asked to do this so I can see jik and Hofer because if not I wouldn’t see you until October no wait a minute July we’ll get to that in a quick second that’s call the teas what’s up sir how are you I’m great Gus it’s good great to be back in the uh podcast Studio here it’s been too long it has been for sure I at least um you still know how to let me in so that’s good that’s good it’s good seeing you look um the regular season and the postseason now have come to a conclusion with the NBA draft Wednesday and Thursday for the first time ever first and second round will gillery of the athletic Louisiana sports writers association beat reporter of the year that got announced recently so I can’t wait to talk to him about his thoughts on the draft overall what the pels may do free agency all that stuff but we have to start with the most important topic ever the Lakers have a brand new head indeed they do and there was an an interesting moment or two from JJ reck’s press conference I don’t know if you saw that he was asked about you know the naysayers the negativity on social media and you know maybe he could have phrased it a little bit better but I I loved his answer in terms of I feel like when people ask coaches or athletes this this type of question seems to be rising in frequency and prominence where people say like hey the haters the negative people out there say XYZ about you how do you respond to that and the way that he succinctly um answered it I thought was probably kind of a um an example that ever other people can follow maybe without a four-letter word but I thought the way that he kind of just pointed out that just like I just don’t care and I feel like players are asked that all the time and they kind of you know kind of circle it and kind of say like well you know we we have to block out the the PE the the noise and that kind of thing but I mean I think the way that he said it was really the perfect response which is just like it’s meaningless it’s useless like it’s your focus is on trying to win games your focus isn’t try if you’re a player is trying to get better trying to help the team win and if you spend your life worried about what people on Twitter or social media are saying like I mean a certain Phoenix Suns player at from time to time throughout his career has it’s just such wasted energy and so um it was just that was an interesting part of his his initial press conference for sure where’s my pen I need to write this down June 25th Jim ien Hofer becomes a Lakers fan huh I didn’t know you would go that direction but to your point how dare you I do think it is interesting from this standpoint Jim um it set the tone as well right maybe that organization that franchise with the eyes always on them the Cornerstone stars that they do have in ad and LeBron I get I I kind of imagine if you’re that locker room I kind of like my head coach saying I don’t give a bleep and quite honestly that’s a T-shirt If I’m the Lakers I’m selling right I mean you remember a couple years ago with um with Willie Green you know you got to fight or something like that I love especially in that market that area it’s like maybe we do care too much about all these I don’t I don’t give a bleep don’t give a bleep go out there do your thing and and it’s interesting because you’re seeing a change I think in the last several years on weather an organization looking at hey you know what let’s let’s take a chance on this guy something like that like how much more of what you just said is maybe going to be the trend how do you handle the players how do you handle this increased medium where every single thing job right I mean cuz look yesterday and the day before I there’s videos you’ve seen it right the Anthony Davis Darvin ham the video you saw like basically like everyone ignored him I said Reeves walked by him again you can cut that up to make that look I don’t know if that’s the case or not but they sure made it seem like everyone thought that Darvin ham didn’t know what was going on and doing all that stuff point is that that’s reality after every single game after every quarter after something happens immediately on social media there is a clip there is a comment and then there’s a discussion right right so I I I I it’s interesting you brought that up because yeah he he did set that tone and guess what now the reporters that are covering the Lakers no they they’re going to get a brutal honest answer to them and he just actually took charge in that press conference and let them know what it’s going to be like and also maybe they know too not to ask that type of question at least not that often maybe once in a while you throw that in but I mean I feel like he’s going to have the same answer every time so you’re right but I mean for the record by the way I remain steadfast in my dislike and hatred of the Lakers so I want that to be clear but it it is interesting from afar to see JJ reck take over as a head coach of an NBA team and not just the Lakers it could have been any team from the experience that we had of the couple years that he was here including one of the seasons was covid impacted but we still got to interview him he’s one of the most interesting players that we’ve had here in the entire time that I’ve been in New Orleans because he’s extremely intelligent but he also has a very short fuse and that combination he also is very impatient with stuff that he doesn’t like whether it’s a question he doesn’t like or kind of maybe an approach a reporter is taking um we saw that repeatedly I mean I’m sure the fans even in the videos that we posted on the site saw that so it was it was really interesting to me and also really not that surprising because I remember there was multiple times when he did interviews here as a player where they had the video production guys had to go back through and bleep out stuff because they were like out of nowhere he would just start dropping F bombs in the in the interview which is so interesting because when when you normally say someone is intelligent and speaks well they they control their emotions and their language and that is not the case anyway we had to start with that obviously because it kind of just goes with everything too here we are the draft is coming up and on Sunday 5:00 pm Central Time teams can start contacting players um look it depends obviously what time of day you scroll and you see Paul George is he signing in opting in and getting traded is Jimmy Butler not playing his last days over there Kevin Durant shooting with CJ McCullum okay I just did that but anyway I just all those different as aspects of it you don’t know what’s going to happen but do you expect Jim the next five to seven days maybe make you you know text out or tweet wow did you expect some big moves I’m going to say yes because I feel like that has been more it’s been more common that that we’ve had a hectic first week of July then it’s then it’s been quiet and dormant I feel like on average there’s not every year but most of the time we do get some of these wge bombs where you’re just like what where did the heck did that come from and you you see teams that are totally remade and reconfigured based on the combination of the draft and the first part of free agency as well as some trades so I mean impossible to predict specifically what’s going to happen but I mean I definitely wouldn’t be shocked at all if there’s some seismic moves that happen in the Western Conference for example um but I I I mean I think you know one of the things I’m looking at right now in terms of the Pelicans and where they are in the Western Conference if you look back at the playoffs I feel like you know we always want to have some takeaways from what happened in the playoffs but the season overall I mean think about it that the over the course of the regular season for example Gus when you watch the Dallas Mavericks play e either against the Pelicans or in general did you feel like the Mavericks are Head and Shoulders above the Pelicans I would say no you know throughout the course of the Season you you didn’t say like this is a team that is so much better than the Pelicans that New Orleans can’t possibly get there um they end up going to the n NBA finals on the other side of the coin Golden State finished 10th did in the west they they lose the first playing game they don’t make the playoffs did you think throughout the course of the Season that Pelicans are so much better than the Warriors No so the reason I bring up those two teams as examples of the point I’m trying to make is to me it shows you the margin the margin is so small and I think a lot of teams are going to approach the offseason this way that even though everybody’s trying to hit a home run everyone’s trying to land a superstar trying to drastically upgrade their talent on their roster on paper you know we we know that that doesn’t always translate necessarily on paper to the court in the the games in the wind column but to me I think it’s it’s one it’s smart to look at this as if any team in the Western Conference if we can get incrementally better we have a chance to move up a bunch of spots from wherever we finished the previous year on the other hand the dangerous part of it is that you know that if you get a little bit worse you could also drop you know five or six spots one of the things that we’re going to talk about with Will gillery is just the depth of the Western Conference so I think that is one of the most interesting Parts about the 2024 summer in the west is that the margin the margin here is really small you know that if you get a little bit better you can jump up a bunch in the standings and maybe drastically improve your chances of going deeper in the playoffs as opposed to you know getting knocked out of the first round and in the Pelicans case getting swept but you also know that if it’s precarious on the back end as well that there’s a bunch of teams that are gunning for you the Pelicans finished seventh in the regular season they ended up as the eigh seed by winning the playin game against Sacramento but there’s a bunch of teams that were in spots you know 9 10 11 12 13 that are dangerous this year so um I think that’s going to make this offseason really interesting it’s crazy because we talked about this one of the last times one of the last weeks that we were in here in the studio doing podcast uh during that last big Homestead right here here come the Spurs you know don’t look at that record and you and I talked about what pop was trying to do there I mean that was a team that was playing hard the last two weeks of this season in winning games even though they had no shot they were setting that tone for this season and to your point look they got two picks in the top five and they got a team beat oh sorry yeah 4 and eight um they beat the PS man right I mean like they they legit win that game iami and you saw some of these other guys and that Arena was packed in San Antonio and so that to your point two teams that I can just think off the top of my head that were not in the postseason are going to be different next year whether it’s the Grizzlies with John Morant if he’s healthy and you know not suspended the Spurs are going to give you a game every single time you go in there and I keep reading that Houston is is eager to either get Marcus smart over with umaka trade that third round pick probably get something in there in every return so D again you just look in your Division and and it’s hold on you know to kind of see that so let’s get little Gill’s take on this and see what’s going on he is with the athletic covers of the heat the Pelicans the NBA let’s do that now all right time now to welcome in one of our favorite guests they’re all favorite guests though because jik can offer they pick up the phone and actually show up and be part of the podcast and I made makes us a favorite guest but also one of the Beauties uh that I get to do here today I get to introduce our next guest this way beat writer of the year for the state of Louisiana covering your New Orleans pelic is Mr will gillery the athletic ladies and gentlemen congratulations on that award this week sir thank you very much man I appreciate it it still sounds weird hearing people say it but I’ll take it um look in all honesty man one of the things that we love when we have you on and you’ve been a part of this community and and watch in and growing the NBA and being a part of it man I think so much of it is that comes across in your writing you love this game you love this sport now Jim thinks it’s just CU he like to go shoot threes during practice and you know open periods on at the gym when no one’s paying attention but in all honesty man like when you get an A war like that it’s got to feel fulfilling for you because you truly do love what you do and first off I got to say I shoot free throws as well I prioritize the fundamentals I love that guys come on now the short ch me but man like you said I love the game I’ve been loving it my whole life been watching basketball my whole life been following the pel SL Hornets ever since they came to New Orleans it’s it’s it’s you know been a crazy you know honor being able to to cover the my hometown team being able to see the fans and connect with them and having them know that I’ve got New Orleans Roots so yeah it’s a it’s a true honor and and I’m very appreciative of it yeah congratulations will you know it’s funny I’ve seen Will’s very precise shooting routine that he does you know when he gets ready for games or he gets ready for Pelicans practice and like that and there’s there was always been talk that you know that will took JJ reck’s shooting routine and he kind of modeled what JJ does but actually I think it’s the opposite I think JJ actually took Will Gill’s shooting routine and that’s how he’s prepared how he was prepared for games during his career so credit to will for that there you go well I guess that means you’re just waiting for Eric spoler to call it a day so you can go coach to Miami Heat yeah listen I don’t know if y’all clipped uh the show about the the Clippers on Hulu but I subtracted the the baked potato out of my uh routine I don’t do the baked potato but everything else me and JJ are identical in our pregame routine when I see the uh the the video stuff from the clips from that show on the Clippers I always think of if if you were a head coach I feel like you would be kind of a doc River style coach with some of the the way that you interact with the players if you know what I mean yeah I’m not much of a a raspy voice guy I don’t think I I’ve ever screamed so much that I had a raspy voice but I can see me being on my doc Vibes I don’t know if I’m doing the sauna as much as doc was doing it on the show Doc spent a lot of time in that sauna on the TV show we can have that conversation another time uh but yeah shout out to Doc and everybody else for that show I love that all so much to kind of get into here will because it’s interesting the season uh came to an end and then the postseason came and I don’t know I I think I’ve asked ask this to Jim and I’ll ask this to you here will were you expecting a different postseason I kind of felt like I was ready for a couple of six and seven games series jimy you and I looked at the Western Conference we were sure some of these were going to be tough and I was kind of surprised by the uh yawning kind of I mean am I off on that I kind of feel like this postseason wasn’t very entertaining yeah it definitely went by quick once we got to the to the conference final stage right because those those series went by so fast uh but I think you know part of it was that the East I mean we’ve talked about it a lot already but the East Boston just ended up going through it so easily just because there were so many injuries out there with the Knicks that entire team falling apart halberton getting hurt with the Pacers the Miami Heat coming in with basically their whole team hurt uh so yeah I think the East would have been way more competitive if it were for injuries but I think the the Sol but the the conclusion was basically what we knew all year was that Boston was the Domin the team they had the best roster their starting five was by far the best when those guys were healthy and you saw them you know finally put it out and you know we’ve talked about it a lot in comparison with this Pelicans team you know they were rewarded for their patience and their belief in their star guys and they finally put the right pieces around them and you saw that belief you know finally pay off yeah you know I thought the way the postseason went to it kind of felt like it just kind of just kind of crawled across the Finish Line whether it was you you know you mentioned will the last two rounds they were both they were all quick series there were none of them went more than five games but also in by the time we got to the end of the finals it felt like there were so many days between games it was just like it just felt like there was the momentum was completely taken away from the way the playoffs started not that it was ever great I I I definitely think it was one of the poor like least entertaining playoffs of the last bunch bunch of years which is not something I think we expected at all it’s just it’s just kind of interesting the way that that went but you know obviously one of the big reasons why we want to have you on today was to talk about the draft which is Wednesday night and then Thursday afternoon SL evening will be the second round um how do you characterize this draft compared to some of the previous years that you’ve covered since you’ve been the beat writer here I mean do you kind of buy into what people say in terms of you know people say that there’s not a lot of um you know that the talent is is a little bit less this year and just unpredictability of it as well yeah I mean first off you said it with the draft everything’s always unpredictable right so you might everybody talks about these guys who are in the top five but a lot of times we end up seeing a guy go in the the 10 to 15 range who ends up being a great player we saw with last year drafts with Dereck Lively right he goes to Dallas makes a huge impact on their team and they go to the finals partly because they drafted him you know in the first round last year uh so I think with this draft you’re going to hear a lot of talk of the lack of like you know headline Talent at the top of the draft nobody’s really excited about who the number one or even number two or number three picks are going to be in this draft but I do think that there’s a good bit of depth in this Draft when you go from like seven to even into the 20s I think you’re going to see a a good range of players guys who can come in to contribute you know uh in in certain roles if they go to the right situation so I think they are good players in this draft it’s just about where you get them and and what situations they go to uh so I think there are some quality players it’s just a matter of you know finding the right fit for those guys starting with the top of the draft and I I asked this with the understanding that there’s really no right right answer here and there’s really no wrong answer I think either I mean if you’re the if you’re the Hawks GM who who do you take number one right now oh man that is a tough one because we really don’t know what that Hawks team is going to look like next year right we don’t know if de jont Murray’s GNA be there we don’t know if Trey Young’s gonna be there uh they got a of decisions to make but I think personally I think the probably the safest decision will probably be you know res the the the forward out of France he’s a guy who can do a little bit of everything bring size and I think regardless of what te team you’re trying to build it’s always good just to have those big forwards who could do multiple things right we’ve seen the Pelicans have success with those type of guys with like Trey Murphy herb Jones even niji Marshall Dyson Daniels there’s always value on having big wings who can shoot the ball play defense score transition and I think he could be one of those guys so I was going to ask you do you look at the postseason and the regular season and kind of look at what’s not just trending because we talked about obviously the three-point shooting and things that nature but will to your point you can never kind of have enough of that right it’s almost like the analogy in football you can have enough good cornerbacks and receivers is that what you look at no matter what your pieces are hey can this guy defend and do those things or or do you look at what Boston has done in in the teams that were in the finals and kind of look at it from that perspective yeah I think what Boston showed us more than anything obviously they were extremely talented but they were also very versatile in the way they played right they can they can go small they can go big they can put multiple guards on the court they can put multiple wings out there I think as as important it is is to have that topend Talent you also need the ability to adjust to your opponent right I think that’s something you saw with a Minnesota team where they were perfectly built to beat a team like Denver they had the size they had the The Defenders to put on Jamal Murray that team was built to beat Denver and they pulled it off but eventually they went and played Dallas and all the things they did to build themselves up to beat Denver were made them a terrible matchup for Dallas right Dallas was able to take advantage of them constantly and they they couldn’t adjust so I think the important thing when you’re building a team is not only just having that top end talent but building that versatility into your guys and having you know that ability to switch up what you do and adjust according to your opponent and I think uh that’s extremely important when you’re building a roster having that you know that that variance and what you can do because you know playoff matchups are just like boxing matches right it’s all about Styles it’s all about matchups and a lot of times you walk in feeling like you might be the more talented team but if you can’t match up then it ends up hurting you you know one of the things that’s one of the many things I think that’s interesting about the 2024 draft is there’s a lot of years where if you go to a we s and you see an article about the draft and they have you know photos of maybe three or four of the prospects you’ll see guys that are all projected to be you know 1 2 3 4 but I feel like a lot of people don’t even know who some of these guys are that are projected to go in the top 10 this year um it’s funny like I I feel like a lot of the draft websites if you go to their banners and you see the the players that they’re kind of featuring or highlighting it’s a guy who’s projected to be maybe picked in the 20s in Zack Edy and a guy who a lot of people have going 55th in bronny James so I guess I wanted to ask you I mean these these are a couple the of the players that I think fans are the most familiar with which makes that you know unique to to this year’s draft but um in terms of Zack Edy a player that you know so many people are familiar with from his college career how do you see him do you see him as a guy who is going to be able to adjust to the NBA and kind of defy the the trend of the way things are going with you know some of those Trad traditional centers how do you kind of see his his future in the NBA I think he’s a guy who could definitely find a role I think a lot of people are kind of discounting uh what type of player he can be just because we I think we’ve all kind of trained ourselves over the goto State era of the NBA to kind of say hey big guys are are worthless come playoff time right you could play those guys off the court but I think again getting back to what we talked about with Minnesota I think you see more and more of these teams prioritizing sides prioritizing centers and I think you’re going to see a bunch of centers going the first round uh this year just because teams want to play Big of course they want to be versatile they want to have you know the the ability to stretch to the three-point line they want to run in fast break but having multiple bigs I think is going to be really important moving forward for a lot of these teams when you look at you know the Denver Nuggets the Minnesota Timberwolves the Dallas Mavericks a lot of these teams have multiple bigs that they can put on the court and I think having size and athleticism is going to be extremely important a lot of times uh teams have prioritized athleticism in recent years but I think having size it’s just going to be as important just because teams are you know doing more often throwing multiple centers out there they’re putting multiple they’re putting you know lineups out there where a typical four guy might be playing a two and they have a bigger ball handler like I said just having that ability to throw different lineups out there I think is going to be really important and I think you’re going to see a lot of teams adding bigs that could play either four or five that way you can size up and take advantage of some of these teams that you don’t want to play small all the time in terms of bronny James I feel like there’s opinions kind of all over the map as far as what his future is in in the NBA I mean where are you on him in terms of what your prognosis for his career is or or even you know what you expect will happen during the draft yeah I mean I think it’s it’s pretty clear that he’s going to get drafted May fairly obvious I thought it was hilarious he say he he goes listen guys if I was gonna Force the Lakers to take bronnie I’d make them take them at number 17 okay I’m trying to be responsible here guys and I forc them to use a first round pick on my client’s son so we should all thank Rich Paul for being so generous and not forcing the Lakers to do that uh but I do think man that the kid clearly Has Talent you know I think he he could you know contribute to a team in certain ways but I do think it’s going to take him some time to figure some things out I mean he missed you know half of his freshman season at USC due to the heart condition you know came off of the bench most of the year didn’t score much I think he’s got pretty decent athleticism uh the shot looks okay uh but I think he lacks size for the point guard for the shooting guard position I should say not really much of a ball handler at point guard so he’s got to figure out what kind of player he’s going to be I just think it’s unfortunate that he’s probably going to go into a situation where all eyes are going to be him on him constantly and and it’s so much better for a lot of these guys like we’ve seen in New Orleans where you could develop in the shadows right where people aren’t judging every single mistake you make uh and then you can come back a better player we saw this with with Dyson Daniels we’ve seen this with Trey Murphy uh the team were hoping we can see this with Jordan Hawkins where fans are kind of saying we want to see these young guys play but a lot of times it’s better for them to De develop behind the scenes to get rid of some of those warts and and you know unfortunately for bronnie James there’s no such thing as behind the scenes for him he every single time he dries a basketball there’s going to be 100 cameras in the building and I’m just hoping he’ll be able to handle it one of the things that I want to ask you to as well and cuz you you and Jim have you know phds and salary cap and understanding and all this stuff I have no idea what tiar what was it apron one or I hear the word apron I think of putting something on so I don’t get barbecue sauce flashed on me um but in all honesty look the NBA drafts go into two days this year and we kind of all joke and laugh and be like dude I can’t imagine teams are like why we here on a Thursday but is and will the second round become more important guys the question I guess for both of you the more now that this new CBA hits where you can only have so many max players and now the Max and super Maxes as we talk about bi and stuff you know could be in the 50s and 60s and things that nature like how important is it going to be will to develop to draft that second round player and and either put them in the G League or have them eventually contribute to your team because you can only spend so much money now on top tier players oh there’s no doubt it’s GNA be extremely important I think that goes for the first and second round having just cost control guys guys who you can you know plug into your lineup have them at a certain number and allow you to build in other areas I think about in the NFL the trend right where so many teams are saying I just want a rookie quarterback even if I don’t love him just so I can have a cheap quarterback and I can use that money to build out the rest of the r right and I think bringing up dere Derek Lively’s name again where Dallas is spending so much money in the back court having a center that’s cost controlled as a first round pick allows them to spread that money out elsewhere right where you can spend on your perimeter players because your Center position is is you know you know what you’re getting right there so I think that’s GNA be huge I think the Pelicans are in that category as well where they’re spending so much money on their perimeter players having a guy who can you know exactly what he’s going to be making for three four years at the center position I think it’s going to be a game Cher for them if they can find that guy and I think in the second round in particular uh looking at the Pelicans roster look at a guy like herb Jones where they grab him in the second round he’s a hit and Not only was that second round rookie contract great him being a second rounder they were able to get him at a really good contract on contract two because he was a second round pick which is a game changer for the Pelicans and now we look at herb Jones as one of the best contracts in the NBA a dude who’s the first team all NBA Defender making around 12 13 million a year where you know guys of that caliber are making around 25 million in today’s NBA so there’s no doubt you’re going to see teams you know prioritized hitting on these picks especially after you know the the top 10 top 15 because I think the discussion we’re going to have with some of these guys in this year’s draft is like man if you’re going number two number three and we don’t really love you like that are you kind of overpaid as a dud making $10 million as number three pick well you’re probably like a a number 12 pick some other drafts so that you know makes it even more crucial to be able to hit on some of these late picks where you actually feel like you’re getting value for these guys so yeah I think you’re going to see that more and more as we get deeper into this CBA and the only unfortunate part is that I think the Thunder own every single pick from now until the next decade so we’ll just be watching them draft players on the on some of these draft nights yeah I agree will I mean I think one of the things I’m interested to see how it kind of develops over the next few years is you know obviously they changed the format of the draft so that it’s two two separate days and I do Wonder to some extent If part of that was that some teams you know are prioritizing the second round more so you know just having more time to make picks I think is helpful and as you said I mean I think some of some teams see those as as more valuable maybe than they used to be based on the new CBA where you know you need to have more guys on your roster who aren’t making that much money to make sure that you have room for the guys who are making a lot of money so that you’re not you know ex seceding the going over the salary cap and going over the second apron and that kind of thing so um I’m I’m interested to see how that how that’s going to go and how if if at any there’s a impact of the fact that they making it over two days you know one of the things that I’ve heard some people talk about too for example this year is that you know you like you said will it’s not just the second round but maybe even late first round picks might be a little bit more valuable because those are guaranteed contracts but they’re they’re lower salary numbers so you know Boston has a 30th pick this year so how do they take advantage of that how do they you know is it the kind of thing where a team now because I think we saw in the past a lot of teams that were picking late first round a lot of times they would try to look to trade those because they didn’t want to have a guaranteed contract maybe on their roster whereas now you know you might say like well we need to fill a couple spaces with guys that aren’t going to be making as much money so um that’ll be interesting to see you know how that develops I know the Pelicans don’t have a lot of second round picks coming up over the next few years and they don’t have one in this draft either as as we record this on Tuesday um you know speaking of the Pelicans will um I know you’ve been on some TV shows and different stuff over the last few days where people have asked you about the draft um how do you see the them at number 21 in the first round right now I mean what do you think is most likely is it you you see it you know that they’ll keep the pick do you think that there’s a possibility that they could trade up or trade down what do you think is maybe the most likely scenario for what they do with that 21st pick yeah I think like we’ve kind of discussed already I think one of the good things about this draft especially for the Pelicans is that there are so many bigs in this draft there so many different types of bigs uh that I think I think they’re going to eventually take one of those guys I do expect them to stick at 21 maybe they’ll move up a little bit if they really like somebody but I do think they end up taking one of these bigs uh just because for everything we’ve said I think they need to add some more depth uh to that group Jonas valat Tunis is obviously an unrestricted free agent uh same is true for Tyler Zeller I believe so I think uh they got to figure out just some depth at that position finding more versatility a guy who they can commit to long term and I think it’ll be really interesting to see you know what type of guy they uh prioritize because like I said they got a lot of different types of BS they got stretch B they’ve got athletes they got guys who play defense they got projects you know guys who’ve been around for four years at College uh so I think there are a lot of different options and I think it it’ll be interesting to see what type of guy they want because it’s a discussion we’ve had for the past five years in that what’s the type of Center you want to put around Zion right and I think yeah you’ve seen that answer evolve over time with the Pelicans where they tried Derek favers they went to Stephen Adams they went to Jonas valent Tunis I think they’ve tried different guys they’ve loved the Larry nfit uh at the end of last year we saw Willie Green say hey we’ll just play Zion at Center and just put four perimeter players around them and they had a lot of success with that so I think trying to figure out who that guy is and what type of guy they want next to Zion and can they find a guy who they feel really good about playing that position for the next three four years like we’ve said so they can use the that money elsewhere to build up the roster where you want to give an extension to a Trey Murphy you want to eventually you know give Jose Alvarado a new extension you want to have money for herb Jones next contract and if you can draft that Center I I think it gives you freedom to build up the perimeter the way you want to you know obviously I don’t think any of us you know have time during the season to extensively study draft prospects and that kind of thing but um there’s been certainly a good amount of negativity about this draft but one of the things that you you just touched on will I thought was interesting is is it maybe though the kind of year where you when you are picking at 21 maybe this is a good year to pick at 21 in terms of like you mentioned if you’re looking for certain position that maybe that there’s a bunch of options and then maybe it comes down to that it’s kind of the eye of the beholder type thing where you know it’s going to there might be a bunch of different players that are possibilities at 21 for a certain position and then it just comes down to okay so what type of guy do we want do we you know what I mean that there’s a lot of different versions of of a fiveman for for example is is that kind of how you could if you’re trying to be optimistic or positive about this year’s draft is that kind of the way that maybe you look at it oh no doubt I think this is one of the first years where they were some front offices high five and because they weren’t in the top five right A lot of times we’ve seen those videos the team so excited because they jump up in the lottery this is the first year like thank God we don’t have to make the decision whether we should draft Reed Shepard at number three we don’t we don’t have we don’t have to deal with those problems we can just worry about who who who lasts through the lottery and I think I think that’s where a lot of teams feel more comfortable with this draft being in that 15 177 19 range where you don’t have to reach to get one of these guys where it’s like man I kind of like them but I don’t want to take them at eight sure you know where 21 I think you probably feel a lot better with a project or a guy who stayed four years that might be a little undersized or you know whatever a guy like Zack e who might have questions about if he can play more than 30 minutes a game you you might feel better taking him at 21 than you would at seven right so I think I think this is a draft where you feel the only question is at 21 how many of those guys last that long and I think that’s where we get into the discussion about whether the Pelicans might get that itch to move up and jump up to 14 15 to go get somebody if they really like them uh but I think a lot of that just gon to come down to how the draft plays out uh but yeah I think this is definitely a draft where you would rather be in the 15 to 25 range versus 5 to 10 it’s funny will I have a really good friend who’s a DieHard Wizards fan grew up in Washington DC and I’ve been texting him every so often I’ve been saying okay would would you be cool if the Wizards pick player X at number two and he’s like no and then I sent another name and he’s like no I’m starting to run out of guys here I feel like I’ve sent him about eight players every single one right the number two pick crazy every single player he’s like no no that’s not good enough for the number two pick I I feel like that that this that might be the one of the best ways to describe this draft is that like you said if you’re it’s not enviable to be Atlanta’s GM right now because you’re in a position where no matter who you pick there’s going to be a ton of pressure on that guy because everyone’s going to know that that was the number one pick and it doesn’t seem like there’s a lot of confidence I’ve never seen a year where I think even in 2013 which is the most comparable draft to this year in terms of the lack of excitement and hype pre-draft I I don’t think I’ve ever seen a draft where there’s not one player where everybody’s raving about him there isn’t one player where people like yeah this guy guaranteed going to be a great player I think even in 2013 there were a couple guys maybe Victor Oladipo that pretty much everybody was sold on like this guy’s going to be a really good player but it doesn’t seem like we even have that this year which is so interesting yeah and I’m I’m gonna love seeing some of these GMS try to sell their fan base in their big you know Fan event like hey bring out this guy you never heard of in most drafts he would go s but we’re really excited to take him number one this year everybody let’s bring him out there’s going to be a lot of that going on at you know some of these press conferences team trying to convince their fan base and probably themselves that they got somebody really good at number two even though in a normal draft that guy will probably be like number 10 yeah let’s hope for the sake of some of the guys that are going to be picked in the say the top five or the top eight that there aren’t a lot of viral videos from like draft watch parties from different teams where they announce the pick and everyone just sits there completely sign it’s like crickets in some of these rooms look and for people listening it’s not like we’re trying to be ug this is literally what everyone is kind of looking at and thinking about this in this draft and it’s just so weird because will there still is that that feeling of need and importance and as David Griffin said in his final press here at the end of the season it’s an arms race right in the west and other teams trying to get better I was having this discussion with a buddy earlier this morning and I’m just thinking too like you can get almost worked up when you start thinking of well I saw a report this week Houston is in win now mode Memphis is looking to trade up to number three the Spurs have two of the top five picks they can either take two good players or young players or use them to get you know veteran help and then you add Dallas who was just in the finals I I’m starting to get like you know nerves all of a sudden and you just have to breathe right but that’s the thing every team much less in your division we had even got to OKC in Minnesota in Denver and all of that you almost feel like do I have to do something does that make sense oh no doubt and I think that’s going to be the constant pressure on everybody in the West for the next few years is kind of the do you want to be like Boston do you want to remain patient do you want to believe in your guys or do you feel like you gotta jump you got to make a move to kind of keep up with everybody I think there’s gonna be that constant pressure on everybody kind of weighing the value of continuity versus Talent you know acquisition feeling like you gotta do we want to believe in Tatum m brown or do we have to go get Drew holiday right do do we want to believe in these guys or do you have to go trade that first round pick trade those three first round picks to go get starx to build yourself up I think that’s going to be the constant pressure on everybody in the west because like you mentioned not only the teams that are already really good in the west you got these team at the bottom who are coming so Victor wama is on the way he’s going to be great and he’s going to lift that team Houston has a ton of talent and and I’m not the first to say this they’re like primed for a three for one trade to trade like package a couple of those young guys and go get a star I think that might happen as early as this summer they’re dying to be competitive immediately we know John Morant is coming back with Memphis and that team’s gonna be strong once they’re fully healthy so yeah I think the West uh you said it it’s going to be an arms races con it’s going to be constant pressure on everybody to build your Rost or put your team in a position to compete because we just saw it I mean the MS were what a six seed that went to the finals I don’t think that’s going to be like an abberation for the next few years in the west I think everybody one through eight is going to be a threat to go to the finals just because all of these teams are so talented there are so many great players and like we mentioned it’s gonna be a lot of all right did you get the right matchup well that might be enough to get you to the Conference Finals uh you know on in certain years so it’s about building up your talent and putting yourself in a position uh to get to the playoffs and kind of roll the dice and see what happens uh but you know I think a lot of it is going to be dealing with failure like a team like the Pelicans you you walk away from this season feeling like man all these expectations you thought it was GNA end better and it ended real disappointing but you look around once all the dust set up and says man we had one less win than the team that went to the finals you know and it’s like do you consider it a failure or do you consider it man tough luck come back next year and maybe you’re in a better position with health with matchups that you could be that Dallas that makes a run and it and it’s hard to really make that decision as a GM do you feel like I got to make big moves to fix things or do you say well with some better luck and better position and maybe we can make that run I I think it’s gonna be tough for everybody yeah no doubt well gillery as always man we appreciate the time we’s see what takes place here over the next couple days 5:00 on Sunday teams can start contacting teams and uh I don’t know is it called Legal tampering or just when you could start contacting teams I love the term legal tampering when the NFL uses it it’s always the the goofy season nowadays and it feels like it started earlier than ever this year for whatever reason we already got the major Caruso trade with OKC yeah we got some guys already announcing that they’re not going to sign with other teams which is which is a new addition to the free agency frenzy uh but yeah it’s going to be another Crazy Summer this is what we love so I’m looking forward to it all right we see what takes place man thank you as all man appreciate the time man appreciate you guys as always we appreciate the time will Giller gives us and Jim before we wrap up here uh it was a bit since the season ended the postseason ended we do this for the draft but it won’t be that much longer until we chat again you and I’m going to be going to Las Vegas for summer league which starts the 12th through the 22nd and and look you kind of heard me mention it with Will Gill here as well I know it’s just five games I know they don’t count to a win loss record and I don’t know if you hang a banner like the Lakers did with the inseason tournament if you win it but I really do think because of the new CBA and because of injuries or because of teams almost being topheavy in terms of their contracts and stuff and I think you have to develop your players and I think it is still key on that it may not be everyone on that roster it may be a player or two for the Pelicans I think there’s a clear player that we’re going to be keeping an eye on in Vegas to see how that player develops and who do you think that is yeah I mean the last that we heard that was that Jordan Hawkins is going to be playing in summer league I’m not sure if it’s going to be for the whole thing or first couple games maybe contingent upon how he plays and if he you know excels and that kind of thing so we’ll be looking forward to to seeing him play um I’m sure there’ll be a couple other guys that we’ll we’ll be interested in but to your point Gus I mean you you know it wasn’t that long ago that there basically were just 15 roster spots in the NBA for each team and now there there’s three two-way contract guys so you have basically 18 spots that you’re trying to fill out um we’ve seen with the number of injuries across the NBA that it is important to keep developing guys and also you know we touched on this a little bit with will the way the salary cap is you always I think you it’s more important than ever that you have guys coming through the pipeline that maybe and you know Denver was an example of this the year that they won the championship they had some guys on their roster who didn’t play hardly at all but then they lose a couple guys in free agency and all of a sudden you know some of their rookies or second-year guys have to fill bigger roles so that’s important as well I mean it’s definitely not the case I do think you know to go back 15 years or so first couple times I went to Summer League there were a lot of teams that put rosters out there in Las Vegas where you were just like none of these guys are ever going to see the light of day like these guys are all go headed ticketed immediately for Europe they’re never going to be on an NBA roster but I feel like every year you go there there’s like more and more reason to pay attention to not just the Pelicans but all the teams throughout the league because there’s so few teams now where you you look at their roster when they hand those out at the beginning of summer league and say like there’s not one guy on this team that I’m interested in it’s it’s definitely the way that the two-way contracts have developed has definitely open it up for more and more opportunities for more guys to perform I I just think at the end of the day it’s development you know and look you’ve seen not only this team but okay there’s a lot of teams that are really investing in their G leagues and those teams going back and forth I mean you just mentioned a guy in Jordan Hawkins he went for a game or two I mean to be able to go there get some some action and do those things Carlo Movic you would talk about went to Europe then was brought you know Stateside to to continue his development and stuff so I do think it’s interesting from that standpoint to going to see it because we’re going to see I think four or five players that were maybe on the starting five and how how have they gotten better have they developed coming off with injuries and things of that nature so I’m excited but more importantly I get to see what you’re like in cin oh look out it’s going to be crazy yeah no I’m looking forward to it um I’m sure within the next couple weeks or so or maybe you know not too long after the draft we’ll probably get a better feel for the roster and who’s going to be there for New Orleans and specifically how they’re going to fill that out in terms of which players are going to be there and then um July 10th or so I think they’ll be starting to practice out there and then we still haven’t seen the game schedule yet which we’re actually kind of eagerly looking forward to finding out when their first game is might be on the 12th might be on the 13th might be on the 14th who knows um but it should be interesting and I’m looking forward to uh covering that and watching how the how some of the younger players on this roster progress that is Mr Jim I can off for give a follow Jim ien Hof there on X and will gillery over on X here as well thanks for both of your times and more importantly uh thank you for tuning Us in again we’ll chitchat with you sometime around summer league don’t know the schedule don’t know what we’re going to do I’m sure we’ll we’ll break it down poolside no doubt in the shade I I’m going to put that in my demands that we have to have at least one the pool yeah podp the pool there it is you can hear the splashing and and the slipping of an of a drink with an umbrella in it thanks guys all right uh we will talk to you again next time on the New Orleans Pelicans podcast thanks for listening to the New Orleans Pelicans podcast join us three times per week on pelicans.com the Pelicans mobile app the iHeart Radio App or where you get your podcast and be sure to give Jim and Gus a follow on X at gimore Ian offer and gatore 17 we’ll see you next time right here on the New Orleans Pelicans podcast

On the latest New Orleans Pelicans Podcast from Tuesday, June 25, 2024, Jim Eichenhofer and Gus Kattengell are joined by The Athletic’s Will Guillory to talk about what NBA teams around the league and the Pelicans could be doing in rounds one and two of the 2024 NBA Draft. Also the guys discuss why they think this could be a busy NBA free agency and trade period ahead of the 2024-25 NBA season.
#NBA #Pelicans #NewOrleansPelicans #podcast #pelicanspodcast
Latest NBA News & Pelicans News @ https://www.pelicans.com

00:00 – Introduction to the Pelicans Podcast
00:34 – Pelicans Podcast Summary
01:25 – New Lakers Head Coach and JJ Redick’s Press Conference
06:35 – Pelicans’ Offseason and Trade Speculations – Predicting Big Moves in Free Agency
08:13 – Western Conference Competitive Landscape
12:00 – Will Guillory Joins the Podcast
17:18 – Analysis of the 2024 NBA Draft Class
20:03 – Drafting Strategy and Player Versatility
24:07 – Bronny James’ 2024 NBA Draft predictions
26:08 – Pelicans’ Strategy for the 21st Pick and will the 2nd Round of the NBA Draft be more important with new NBA CBA?
38:01 – Western Conference Arms Race, NBA Free Agency
42:45 – Importance of Summer League for Player Development

New Orleans Pelicans Roster
———————————————–
Jose Alvarado #15 Guard
Dyson Daniels #11 Guard
Kaiser Gates #12 Forward
Jordan Hawkins #24 Guard
Brandon Ingram #14 Forward
Herbert Jones #5 Forward
Kira Lewis Jr. #13 Guard
E.J. Liddell #32 Forward
Naji Marshall #8 Forward
CJ McCollum #3 Guard
Trey Murphy III #25 Guard
Larry Nance Jr. #22 Forward/Center
Matt Ryan #37 Forward
Dereon Seabron #0 Guard
Jonas Valanciunas #17 Center
Zion Williamson #1 Forward
Cody Zeller #44 Forward/Center

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