How Good Are The New Orleans Pelicans?

How Good Are The New Orleans Pelicans?

This team is my Kink I think about them at night trying to figure out what they are I can buy into them as a pseudo title Contender on one night I’m depressed about their future the other night how good are the New Orleans Pelicans oh that’s a good one yeah I

Please go Dua our guy uh who does a great job covering the pels um was mentioning basically like Point Zion is going to determine the second half of their season which I think is a very FAS he’s back too like they fin they they get away from it and I’ve I can’t

Remember who I was listening to um mentioned this and I thought it was good which is why I’m interrupting you is that do they just not trust that Zion will be available when it matters most and that’s why they get away from point Zion so much but I agree with you

And shmit that point Zion is definitely going to Define their cealing yeah I mean it’s interesting just because they are in this mix of of top six seeds and it does still feel like they’re still kind of trying to figure themselves out a little bit and figure out their

Hierarchy so the answer to your question is I have no idea how good they are and I honestly don’t think they even know either I think they are still working through a lot of like which combinations of players work best with one another and I mean the if there’s a fundamental

Question of who should be our primary ball handler 50 games into the season that means we’ve still got a lot to figure out over these final 30 Games before the play Playoffs begin yeah they they confused the hell out of me and then you and like I appreciate that they’ve tried some stuff

Where it’s like okay you’ve seen Larry n Jr start second halves and they’ve been like the starting unup isn’t good but they’ve been good in first Hales and not so much in second halves and then it’s you want to say there’s Zion and Brandon Ingram and for some of this season it

Was true they’re just functionally hard to build around as your two players but then you dig into the data it’s like Zion’s efficiency is just a lot better this season with both Zion and valent Tunis on the floor than with one or both of them off and so yeah he might get to

The rim a little bit more but so like that confounds you like in totality and then the other thing that’s confusing as hell is just how good they are on the margins and this was the problem with them when you tie it to the trade

Deadline is and I didn’t see a lot of people calling for them to make a move there was a very clear we talked about this in our Discord plug join our Discord link is in the podcast and YouTube description that there was they had a clear need but there was no one

And it’s Rim protection that came with one or both of roll gravity or or like outside floor spacing those players are not available in drove so you weren’t going to find them but if you were G to find them they needed to be better to

Either one force you to move one of your guys who are really good or to usurp these guys in the rotation who are really good and there’s so much to like about them though and they’ve had like so ever since they dropped to I think it

Was 12 and 11 they’re one game over 500 they were injured the you know not to say the sky was falling but like The Vibes weren’t great since then they are top five in net rating with a top five offense and a top five defense herb Jones not all the data supports this

He’s better on offense like he’s hitting the corner threes those clips and the volume have gone up um he’s just I have never seen him perform this well in transition as a decisionmaker as sort of a finisher that’s been huge for them and then like Trey Murphy you know he goes

Through sort of Peaks and plunges but then it’s like you look at what he does as a shooter an off ball mover as even a guy who can keep the ball moving when he gets going downhill and you look at their individual pieces and it’s yonas

Valan chunis can carry them on a night and out outplay Al changon against the rockets in part because Zion Williams is not playing so you’re able to feed him more there’s all this functional overlap that works but it doesn’t like can you reach your Peak with it and then what is

The best version of yourself actually looking like and again we both and shmid has pointed this out time and again that it’s with points Z on but like that’s not necessarily maybe Brandon Ingram’s best bet but then it also works at times like we not at times but like

We’ve seen it work to a high degree and you love so many of the individual pieces on this roster and you can go to and they could probably do more of this the Zion plus all Shooters lineup when you’re gon to stagger him and Brandon Ingram so you do have that button to

Press there’s so much and then also just the defense just belies their personnel at this point I know herb Jones is good Trey Murphy’s solid CJ mccoll’s been good this year they’ve done a great job insulating him but he’s made great decisions when he’s kind of Defending those weak side

Corners but like you look at this team and it’s okay Zion Ingram Jonas funis and CJ McCollum are playing absurdly heavy minutes Dyson Daniels can’t always stay on the floor because of how raw he is offensively no they’re just like an elite defensive unit statistically it’s like there’s there’s so much to love

About this team but they actually I’m wondering if they have maybe this was the question to ask you do they have the highest rank range of outcomes among teams in the League this season where you could say they dipped down towards the play or they lost in the first round

But oh the Pelicans came out of the West like yeah yeah if if you’re like discounting the Sixers for injury reasons because I probably but I mean otherwise yeah probably so like you could absolutely talk yourselves into pelicans get hot go on a run figure out

Which guys work best together I mean you brought up Trey Murphy he’s only shooting 35.3% from Deep this year he shot 38.2 as a rookie 40.6 last year like if he bounces back to the high 30s or even low 40s what does that do for a

Pelicans team that you know one of the more efficient teams from Deep shooting 37.9% as a team which ranked sixth in the NBA they’re only 23rd in three-point attempts per game I know it’s something that drives shimit absolutely Bonkers as he just wants to see more Shooters around Zion and B

Or just Zion or just bi like if you can you know have guys who can fire who could shoot just get them up yeah shoot shoot efficiently and shoot in volume like you need high volume high efficiency shooters that it’s really they gotta viag get it up yeah that’s

Right that’s right exactly so yeah I’m I’m curious to see how everything coales is over these final 30 games where they end up in the standings and you know I mean they just beat the Clippers the other night and the Clippers have been one of the best teams in the NBA over

The last two months so like that’s the ceiling is they can beat the best teams in the NBA it’s just can you get make it to April in one piece with Zion in particular and then if so which of these guys are going to be in the playoff

Rotation because they frankly have too many guys that they play and not all of them are going to play in the playoffs they’re they’re so maddening and it must be maddening to cover them on a day-to-day basis of just just like well why isn’t Zion why do why does zion at

Why does zion as your point guard not coming drips and dravs but like you know like fade in Fade Out type deal and then also it has to be for you’re always you mentioned with the Zion injury it’s kind of a cliche talking point but it feels

Like you’re always waiting for the other shoe to drop with this team well is something gonna go wrong with bi or CJ or Zion even it’s a lot of people who want to see Larry an get more minutes it’s like I don’t know lar an locked 20

Minutes tonight can his knees take that type deal and it team is so fascinating and infuriating at the same like I said they’re my Kink they’re the team that just like keeps me up I’m so high on them but they can they can toy with my emotions the dial can fluctuate from

Zero to 11 on just any given moment any given possession yeah there you know you brought up Minnesota earlier as a team that how long is this course sustainable for I know shmit has been all over this as well but you know valent junis is up after this year um they’re already I

Think like 150,000 or 150 million on the books for next year if not more I’m just basing that off of spot track so once you resign JV that alone might put you either at the tax or even over the tax and are are the Pelicans willing to pay

The tax or how deep are they willing to go into the tax or do they need to make some sort of consolidation move this summer so I think these 30 games in this playoff run is going to be pretty instructive because yeah I know shmid has been banging the drum of like all

Three of the Zion bi and CJ are probably not sustainable long term so which two of them or which guy is the absolute we have to keep him is it Z on because the ceiling is so high even though you know highest ceiling of the three but lowest

Flor because the injury risk or do you play it safe and go with like bi as your lead guy and can he be the lead guy on a title team I think these are all fair questions and we’re going to find out a lot of answers about the Pelicans in the

Next couple months I saw some people were frustrated too that since they didn’t make a move at the deadline again just what was the move that would have made an impact like honestly it just when you look at this rotation but that now they don’t necessarily have tradable

Salary without dipping into the core and you mentioned like kind of the the core element of that is that was never going to happen like yes if the perfect deal came along that they could have used Jonas funis and pick and you know Jordan Hawkins or like another smaller salary

If they make a meaningful change it’s going to involve Zion Brandon ingramer CJ McCullum that’s just the like that’s how you’re going to upgrade it this point and they still have like between if they really wanted to and didn’t care about expenses they ha there’s one they’re signing trades with Jonas funis

But there’s also between Larry n and then step lading your way with tyon Daniels money and uh Jordan Hawkins money if that deal comes along but like you said they’re at 158 is what I’m seeing before the yonas valun his capitle and so if he even gets the same

Salary they are into the tax and this playoffs is also going to determine not just this team ceiling where they bow out how they bow out we’ll determine like well are we willing to go into the tax for this core and yeah if you’re not

Or even if you are what type of change needs to be made to continue furthering our progress here there’s just there’s so much at stake for them I don’t know if it’s maybe they don’t have the mo I haven’t gone through that but like the teams that have the most at stake just

This year it might it might be them

Dan and Bryan Toporek (@btoporek) of Bleacher Report, Forbes, Liberty Ballers and The NBA Podcast talk about the New Orleans Pelicans and their place in the larger NBA pecking order following the trade deadline and All-Star break. CHECK OUT THE FULL EPISODE: https://youtu.be/R8F0tGSunnM?si=–gSF6vNJNOMhyyK. SUBSCRIBE TO THE NBA PODCAST HERE: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nba-podcast–3240433.

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How Good Are The New Orleans Pelicans?

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