New Orleans Pelicans NBA Draft Predictions | Will Pels Actually Trade Brandon Ingram?

New Orleans Pelicans NBA Draft Predictions | Will Pels Actually Trade Brandon Ingram?

our buddy Jake Madison locked on Pelicans good enough to spend a few minutes with us here how are you dude I’m doing well happy to be on talk to some hoops thanks man uh excited with the draft coming around just to see what the pels roster may start to shape up like let me start though Jake with what happened today a Swin Cash promoted now the highest ranking female executive in the NBA got some perspective there yeah I think it’s really important and you know you’ve seen a couple of departures from the Pelicans tras Lon leaving to go to Detroit and to move Swin Cash up here I think it send a message to the rest of the league one she start of very highly around the league in someone that many other teams would want in their front office and the Pelicans chose to prioritize her to keep her here I think that send a pretty strong message that despite a slightly disappointing season you have some really smart people in your front office and the way swing cash interacts with the players and what her role has kind of been here in New Orleans you saw them all on social media congratulating her excited for her getting that player Buy in is the toughest part of any NBA franchise you can deal with the X’s and O’s you can deal with the draft free agency it’s getting players to kind of buy into your culture and what you’re doing and that’s something that swing cash has been able to do so I think the Pelicans are really making a statement by moving her up and making her the highest ranking female executive in the NBA um Jake she’ll obviously be front and center with this organization tomorrow uh as the draft gets underway we could look at all the mock drafts I mean I think I saw the latest one from ESP ESPN that had him go with EES Mei the center out of Baylor um what do you is there a position or a player that you think the pels should be targeting you know I think the natural thing for them to look at is the center position Jonas valent junis is going to be gone he will not be coming back to New Orleans next season and that was a bit of a problem position for him all season long we’ve heard the rumors of them maybe trading for someone like Miles Turner from Indiana for Jared Allen from the Cleveland Cavaliers they wanted to upgrade that position for a while and while this is a weaker draft I do think there are some intriguing centers here you have a guy like khil wear from Indiana that offers Rim protection in three point shooting two areas the team needs to prioritize you have a guy like Don Holmes II from Dayton you know that’s a guy that reminds you of Nas Reed and how important he was for the Minnesota Timberwolves and the type of small ball at letic Center that I think would do well next to Zion Williamson and then you have Mei who you mentioned who’s probably the rawest out of that kind of group and I think when you look at him he’s a highflying big man that gives you vertical spacing that vertical lob threat next to Zion along with Rim protection so I think it makes sense that they naturally are targeting the center position because that’s an area that needs an overhaul for this team and when you heard David Griffin at the end of the season I’m sure you’re going to ask me about this in a second talking about how this is not a summer for complacency it’s a summer for change I think a lot of people assume it’s a Brandon Ingram trait but I think they also feel they could potentially bring Brandon Ingram back and really retool the centered position to kind of unlock some of those lineup combinations and maybe that’s an area that they address in this draft tomorrow okay uh let’s let’s go there um let’s play I I like I mean Jake doesn’t any doesn’t any roster scenario with New Orleans this offseason start with whatever you’re going to do with Brandon Ingram like don’t you have to make that clear and concise decision first before any other dominoes can fall not necessarily you know I think that’s where you would like to start and the NBA is a deadline driven leek that’s why you don’t see trades getting done till a day or two before the NBA’s trade deadline in February the draft is definitely one of those deadlines because now all of a sudden picks which just ooze potential could be anything right turn into a player and they lose value so if you’re trying to kind of maximize your assets you want to get a deal done right now before you make a pick at 21 if that you know is going to be included in a trade that said when you look at some of the bigger superstar trades around the NBA in the offseason and I look at Donovan Mitchell specifically that was done in September that was done about a month before training camp started and I think when you look at teams that make sense as potential trade partners for Brandon Ingram you know the Cleveland Cavaliers who have two guards two centers and probably need to move one of each of those guys have at least publicly said we’re not doing that we’re going to stick with the team that we have you have Atlanta that’s in a really weird spot where you have Deonte Murray Trey young who don’t fit together but also they have the number one overall pick and maybe that buys them some time before they need to make some of these changes so the most impactful move that you’re going to make is going to be a Brandon Ingram trade I don’t necessarily think that needs to be the first move that you’re going to make you know I’d say it’s maybe 50 if we see a deal get done for him this week I wouldn’t put it necessarily above that but I’d also say it’s more likely than not that he won’t be on the team at the start of the regular season and I think New Orleans is going to cast a far and wide net to try and make that change to maybe build around Zion Williamson a little bit more but I don’t necessarily think that it’s going to get done by tomorrow just because are there enough trade Partners out there to make find a deal that makes sense okay let’s go all right so you said you think bi is not on the roster at the start of the Season it is interesting to me Jake I guess just I’ve had program my brain like when I started thinking about this roster I mean you got two meast stars with Zion and bi and you have to figure out what you’re going to be able to do with those two guys so when or what would a deal like be like for for for Brandon if you were able to get it done you know I I think it depends on what they want to upgrade right there’s two areas that that are important and it’s that Center spot so you know you could probably get a deal done today with the Cleveland cavali years for Jared Allen I just don’t think that’s that’s the entire return that New Orleans wants for a player brain and Ingram’s caliber and so that’s why I think you’re maybe seeing things get held up from that but that may be changes in a month do you get a little bit desperate do the Cavaliers get a little bit desperate and how does that hit the scales a little bit towards making a deal you know possible with that but I think you know higher level guard play would be important they talked a lot about basketball IQ they maybe need more of a table setter at the guard position than CJ McCullum has been he’s just way more effective off ball not as kind of floor General CJ McCullum so you need to maybe try and find that guy and I think that’s where maybe they’re looking at that’s why you’re hearing them you know linked to the Atlanta Hawks with Trey young deante Murray two guards that do very different things but can you kind of fill that role for you a little bit more but then you also have the question of what do you do with CJ McCullum can he start do you need him to come off the bench and play a six-man rle and how does that look like you know I’ve talked about on my Show recently that I just think a Brandon ingr trade is so complicated because of what comes after that that it may take a little while to get done and so if you’ve just got to draft a guy tomorrow who’s ultimately going to get some minutes this year but probably not be a significant difference maker I think it’s okay if you end up drafting someone first and having them be a role player for you because whoever you’re going to be taking likely isn’t going to be a significant starter in that capacity so that’s why I think you could see something maybe wait a little bit or maybe they wa waiting for another Domino to fall right Paul George is out there with the Clippers what are is he going to resign with LA is he going to move there’s still maybe a little bit of uncertainty about LeBron James and what he’s gonna end up doing you know Brandon Ingram might be the fourth or fifth Domino to fall in kind of offseason chain of events so we still might need to wait a little bit uh he’s on Twitter at Nola Jake Jake Madison of course make sure you’re subscribed up to locked on Pelicans wherever you’re your podcast of course on YouTube as well great time to subscribe up if you’re not there yet with the draft being tomorrow um Jake do you think they keep that pick and make the pick in round one tomorrow as long as there’s not a brand Ingram trade yeah I I think so you know they’ve been really linked to Eve Mei and I think that’s a guy that they’re pretty high on and think they can kind of mold him into the prototypical big man you want alongside Zion leamon I’m actually expecting to see a little bit of a run on centers or like towards the later end of the lottery that 13 14 15 spot that’s going to take a guy like khil wear away from him Zach mey won’t be a available at 21 and I think they’ll be fine taking Mei there even if that’s not a guy that I particularly like you know if me’s gone if those centers are gone that might be one of the kind of higher level guards like Isaiah clier might fall I just saw a mock draft where Rob Dillingham from Kentucky who’s generally thought of as a consensus top 10 guy fell to 21 you know that could be an appealing option for New Orleans so I think they’re going to be fine picking somebody there it’ll likely be a guard or a center you know and if not none of the guys they like there is going to be available but they’ll try and trade out of this draft you know again it’s a weaker draft I think you know try and turn this pick into a future first round pick and just kick that can down the road and add another asset that you could attach to a Brandon Ingram trade later down the line I think that’s a move that also makes sense for the Pelicans why don’t you like Mei it’s too raw the the way I look at the draft you know when you when you look at draft philosophy when you’re picking in the top five you tend to just go for pure ceiling like this guy’s an all-nba guy or this guy has MVP ceiling and you don’t necessarily look at floors and I get it the draft can really be hit or miss so you’ve got to take those big swings because it’s a star driven League when you’re a team that had 49 wins and you’re drafting 21 maybe you don’t need to take that big swing when you have Zion links when you you know in theory right now have brand and Ingram and some other young guys that you particularly like we’re expecting tra Murphy to take an even bigger leak next season just get a good basketball player that can contribute right sometimes just get a solid guy that has a pretty high floor that’s going to help you year one and see what that difference can make look at the Dallas Mavericks with Derek Lively II who they took as a rookie you know he’s a higher draft pick here but he contributed on their run to the finals and was a really big important part of that I don’t see necessarily massive All-Star MVP potential in him but sometimes you just need a guy that’s going to help you win games right now and that’s the position that the Pelicans are in I could see Mei being really good in three years and that’s great except David Griffin and the rest of the front office is going to be fired by then if that’s how long it takes him to develop and you might have already traded Zion Williamson if that’s the case they need to be competitive now David Griffin has said that drafting a developmental guy I don’t think fits where they are currently here’s Jake Madison on Twitter Nola Jake y’all give him a follow um of course subscribe to to lockon Pelicans Jake before before we go what’s the thing the storyline uh that I haven’t asked you about that that the audience needs to know about going into tomorrow and obviously the next two days you know I I think the biggest thing is can they get a Brandon Ingram trade done that’s favorable to them I think there’s going to be a lot of talk around the Atlanta Hawks and I think it might also depend on what they do with the first overall pick like we don’t know who they’re taking just yet are they open to even moving that pick you know what they do with that pick might then unlock a trade for a Trey young for Deon Murray and then that’s all of a sudden very clear path towards getting a Brandon Ingram deal done so whatever happens with that number one overall pick is something I’m going to be watching because depending on what it is you might see the Pelin call Atlanta immediately after and then all of a sudden it happens really quickly and you see a Brandon Ingram trade he is Jake Madison y’all follow him on Twitter at Nola Jake and of course subscribe to the locked on Pelicans podcast wherever you at your podcast or on YouTube great time to do it obviously with the draft getting underway hey man always appreciate it all the best talk soon okay of course thanks for having me on hey thanks so much for watching please leave your comments I love to interact and be sure to hit the red subscribe button below with [Music] you with you after you [Applause] [Music]

Jake Madison of the Locked On Pelicans Podcast joins AFR to preview the NBA Draft and discuss the latest with the New Orleans Pelicans. What is the Biggest position of need for the Pelicans? Who could New Orleans potentially target? We also discuss the potential future roster for the Pelicans.

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