Can Pelicans ACTUALLY WIN Western Conference? | Herb Jones Best Defensive Player In NBA?

Can Pelicans ACTUALLY WIN Western Conference? | Herb Jones Best Defensive Player In NBA?

Very pleased to be joined by George Sedano ESPN Los Angeles espnnba all over there coverage good enough to join us for a couple of minutes here George it’s a pleasure man how are you hey man thanks for having me on it’s it’s our pleasure I want to start big picture

Then go nuanced if I asked you right now with a couple weeks left in the regular season what’s your opinion impression of the New Orleans Pelicans how do you describe this team I would call them frisky in the playoffs I feel like they’re one of those teams that you probably don’t want

To see because it’s going to end up being one of those long dragged out series and I feel like what we’ve seen from Zion most recently is but well stands the Miami game where he didn’t play well although the team kicked the crap out of Miami

Right um I feel like we’re getting the Zion to JJ reck’s point my colleague that we expected to see a couple years ago that we only saw in small doses and they’ve got this power player in Zion that when Brandon is healthy which you know in theory he should be here

Hopefully sooner sooner rather than later um they’ve got this Dynamic Wing player they’ve got a veteran guard like CJ McCollum like they’ve got all the ingredients so the only thing they don’t have is the experience particularly as a collective so that’s why I just call

Them frisky but man I I feel like we may be on the precipice of seeing the the team that people thought we were going to see a couple years ago I I I know the West is really tough but I am definitely afraid of them if I were any of these

Teams in the Western Conference George the West is tough no doubt but is there it feels like you tell me if I’m wrong it isn’t a year where like when everyone knew it’s Golden State and everyone’s playing for second or or the Lakers or even Denver um is there that size of a

Gap between say Denver and Minnesota and OKC and everybody else in the west I think Denver maybe but only because those five guys that they start and finish the game with are the best group of five guys there are in the league right now and we

Started to see this last year with them before they won the championship and I it’s funny I had them a ton last season so I was kind of pounding the on all these shows saying the Denver Nuggets are for real the Denver Nuggets are for real and people would just laugh at me

Like please the Denver Nuggets get out of here and they were clearly for real um and it’s because of the way they finished games and we saw that last year starting in around Christmas time they were basically from Christmas on they were the best clutch team in the sport

And that’s what they are now you get them in the last five minutes of a game Matt you better have a big lead against against them because if you don’t and it’s a close game they are going to run right through you in those last 5 minutes cuz they execute as well as

Anyone so with that said they’re not as deep as they were last year they don’t have the Bruce Browns of the world Etc they’re relying on younger guys like Watson Christian Brown right those guys Brown got obviously some run last year during the playoffs but they’re not as

Deep as they were so can they be had perhaps I don’t think they’re as inevitable as the Golden State Warriors with Kevin Durant and Steph Curry and all those guys but they are really damn good I don’t think there’s any question anyone else outside of that I think you

Can take your chances with in the Western Conference in any matchup uh there would be at least six or seven different iterations of who could end up playing Denver in the Western Conference finals and I wouldn’t call you crazy on any of them could one of them be New

Orleans it possibly could and again it’s a lot of it is matchup dependent right and we all know attrition right injuries obviously play a huge role in this but yeah I I I can absolutely see a place where the New Orleans Pelicans are playing the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals absolutely

George Sedano is with us on Twitter at Sedano y’all give him a follow I want to go I’m glad you brought up both bi and and Z let’s go a little deeper on on Zion obviously look a huge part of George is the fact that he’s healthy and

He’s playing but what is the difference for for Zion this year that’s allowed him to emerge the way that he has in the in the Upper Crust in the Western Conference of elite players it’s the weight loss to me it’s the fact that he trimmed the fat and

Gain you know and and looks leaner and meaner and to me that’s just what we’ve been asking for for a long time and look I get it man lower extremity uh injuries are really tough to de with I understand it makes it very difficult to maintain a level of shape

But I I feel like there was plenty of criticism that I felt was valid at the time about his conditioning and for whatever it took now we are at that place where he is taking it very seriously and that’s what makes them a serious threat to get to the Western

Conference Finals is that he has taken that upon himself uh whether it’s the criticism whether he took it you know on himself individually whether someone in his inner circle advised him hey man like let’s go you got to do this here we are we are at the right place now and

Hopefully Brandon can get healthy and he doesn’t miss too much time and he can be healthy as the playoff start and hopefully get a couple of games before the playoffs start so he can get himself back in in rhythm in basketball shape to give them the best chance possible but

They’re deep man they’re also really deep uh you look at that roster there are guys that may not make the playoff rotation because as we know it’s the old Pat Riley adage right uh you know trust eight Play Seven you know that’s kind of the way most coaches think about the

Playoffs so I’m curious to see what that looks like with a team that’s as deep as nor okay an obvious question but to ask you just for the sake of the conversation um how different is the team if bi is absent or Limited yeah that changes the Dynamics for sure

Um you know Brandon has played so well and you know look it’s funny we’re talking about Zion’s weight right we should talk about Brandon and what he’s done with his body and the transformation he’s had over the last several years and I remember when he was

Here in La where I live and I watched him and I was like man he’s rail thin and I never knew if he would get to a point where he would look like he looks now and he’s strong his shoulders are broad like he looks like an impressive

Specimen um when you look at just his body and I don’t think he’ll ever be LeBron um but he doesn’t need to be you know what I mean he’s bigger than Kevin Durant and we’ve seen Kevin Durant’s frame hold up pretty well for the most part so to me though

It’s if he’s not healthy then yeah it just changes the math and and they’re not one of those teams that I think can get to the Western Conference Final we got two more things George sodano is our guest one um we all have the conversation here all the time about

About herb Jones uh the pels actually have made the header on Twitter herb and the not on herb lock and everything why doesn’t the national Consciousness around the NBA understand how good herb Jones is defensively the guys never made NBA all defense which is

Crazy yeah I mean look I it I I can’t speak for other people right I have watched your team very closely for a number of years I remember the you know Zion’s rookie year I practically lived uh in the region you know what I

Mean like I lived you know I was in New Orleans all the time there’s a lot there’s a lot of national people that were that year yeah yeah so I I have and look I love your general manager I uh I you know I I would never say I’m in the

Tank for anyone but I am a big David Griffin guy I believe in what he’s built I was a Believer even when things looked ice cold for him there at times um that his vision would come to fruition and it has I think to some large extent at this point

But I I just think that when you look at those Awards a lot of it is just reputation you know what I’m saying and I’m not saying that my colleagues around the league don’t take it seriously but they are in different spots right right consistently and New

Orleans is probably not one of them on a regular basis you know what I mean whereas they’re watching a lot of Laker games or a lot of warrior games or you know you you know even that Rudy goar obviously is someone that’s gained a lot of traction because Utah had some real

Success right they were the number one seed even though they failed in the playoffs but people were watching them and seeing them regularly I don’t think we’ve gotten there with New Orleans yet um so I think unfortunately that confirmation bias kind of plays a little bit of a factor um along with reputation

Because I’ll tell you this people where I live in LA are beside themselves that Anthony Davis doesn’t get enough love I know you guys don’t love Anthony Davis down there but wrong crowd bro no no I know I know but they are they they’re they’re stun that he doesn’t get enough

Love for defensive player of the year um and and by the way I talk to the people in Miami all the time and they’re always beside themselves that babo doesn’t get uh any consideration for defensive player of the year and unfortunately that’s just kind of what it is man it’s

Very subjective it’s weird there’s a lot of people voting there was like a hundred and some odd voters and everybody kind of has a little different criteria would I put herb Jones on an all defensive team yes I’ve also seen herb Jones yeah um but you know David

Griffin was telling me about herb Jones the second he drafted him so it’s a little different perspective for me because I I’ve been following him closely because I trust your general manager uh in you know with the Pelicans so I I just think it’s that that’s a

Long ways away to go around and just say not everybody sees everyone enough I know that’s that’s one of the reasons I’m hoping aside from the obvious that this team does make a deep player front Okay last thing and your time much appreciated what what would be more

Improbable if the pels make it to the NBA finals this year or the Heats run to the finals last your team I know you obviously know a lot about um it’s it’s kind of close I gotta be honest only because the West is really hard but Miami it’s probably Miami just

A little bit because they lost the first play in game and then had to kind of work from there like they were legitimately backed up against the wall then they beat Milwaukee um you know out of the gate in the first round which I think stunned everybody

Um yeah I I would still say Miami I think there are people that that watch the NBA um particularly amongst the media that feel like I do where it’s you know a number of different iterations could potentially be the teams that would make it to the Western Conference Finals so

And I think New Orleans again with health could be one of those teams so I think that there are a number of people that feel that way I’m not alone on that is what I would say so I still think Miami is impro more improbable um it was

The first also too so I think there’s some bias there but I also don’t think we’re going to to see it again for a minute like you know what I mean like I don’t look at the teams here now uh in even in the West in the playing area and

I say to myself yeah they can get to the finals like I I I just don’t know if we’re going to see that every year like we saw last season is George sadano you’ll follow him on Twitter at sadano good stuff man thank you so much for the

Time Matt an absolute pleasure um happy to come on whenever you guys would like we’ll do it again soon thanks George take care hey thanks so much for watching watching please leave your comments I love to interact and be sure to hit the red subscribe button Below with you after with you after

Jorge Sedano of ESPN Radio joins AFR to preview the Pelicans playoff push. Are the Pelicans one of the teams others want to avoid seeing in the playoffs? How deep of a run could New Orleans make in the post season?