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Home Z the New Orleans Pelicans podcast starts right now welcome to the Pelicans podcast I am Joe cardosi joined by the ear approachable Jim Iken Hoffer the man with the info we have some bumps in the road we will discuss my friend but uh for now we have
Some uh some big news that I guess we should uh get to right out of the gate CJ McCullum who’s been so clutch for this team especially as of late especially with the absence of tm3 uh looks like he’s going to miss a little time there Jim yeah he’s got a
Pneumothorax injury I’m not a doctor but it definitely is something that well thank you um yeah it’s definitely something that’s going to keep him out we’re not sure what the timetable is going to be for that it sounds like he’s going to continue to be evaluated to try
To figure out what’s reasonable it’s kind of one of those things that makes you just kind of sigh and be like you know every time we think that the team is getting closer to being full strength for example the game Saturday they got back that starting five that we’ been
Wanting to see um and then as soon as they play one game they’re back without that group tonight against Denver so yeah frustrating hopefully CJ will get better and hopefully we’ll be able to see him back on the court in the meantime they’re going to have to figure
Some things out yeah of course the Pelicans are used to being a little bit snake bitten uh CJ had a collapsed right long 2021 he had it with Portland missed about 18 games we’re going to hope uh for a a minimal timetable for his return here because the Pelicans are
Short-handed and going to be facing facing some uh some tough challenges coming up and uh I guess we should talk about how are we going to fill that that void that CJ has been has been filling I mean he’s been playing lights out you don’t have Trey Murphy yet still waiting
For him and so looks like some of the young players may have to step up here Jim in that absence I think I’d start with Jordan Hawkins he started in three games prior to Saturday he was he went back to a reserve role in the game against the Hawks because like I said
Earlier the the starting five that we expected was intact again unfortunately that was very brief um so I I think I don’t know if he’s going to go back in the starting lineup but you would think that based on some of what CJ does and some of what Jordan is capable of doing
That maybe he’ll play more minutes they’re going to need his three-point shooting they’re going to need his scoring so I think that’s one aspect of it um I think herb Jones has been a great player at both ends of the floor um so his defense I think is going to be
Crucial but also maybe his scoring to some extent um just coincidentally his best offensive games in his career a lot of them have come against Denver so hopefully he’ll be able to continue that against tonight um and so but I and and Dyson Daniels too is another name that
Pops to my head in terms of CJ mccollum’s out for a little bit or some stretch um who’s another guy that’s going to have to try to play some of those minutes at that position totally different player than CJ in terms of what his strengths are but nonetheless I
Think what Dyson’s able to do and maybe him making more strides in his second season there there might be more no more valuable time for that to happen than right now it seems like Dyson has the the trust of the coaching staff right now which is a big sign of his
Improvement and uh like you said man the Pelicans upcoming slate is not an easy one it starts tonight with the Denver Nuggets no slouches uh seems like uh they’ve got some trophies in their case huh yes they have a a very big one it’s not the inseason tournament it’s not the
Summer League Championship it’s the actual Larry O’Brien NBA championship so yeah I mean they’re and they’re also off to a great start you know they’re one of those teams where I feel like especially with them being from kind of a smaller or kind of a midsize Market a lot of
People throughout the summer kind of tried to chip away at them and be like well they lost Jeff Green they lost Bruce Brown they they can’t possibly be as good as they were last year plus you know the way that joic reacted to the championship they’re definitely going to
Come out of the gate kind of slow and have like a championship hangover they’re going to kind of Trot their way slowly into to the season well that hasn’t been the case at all they’re six and one they’re back a top the west standings and I think for some of the
Teams that thought you know maybe we pass them this Summer they’re watching the way the nuggets have began the season so far and been like yeah maybe we’re not maybe we still have a ways to go yeah so I mean yeah there this is a very difficult way to start this road
Trip which is going to be tough based on the teams that they have on the Slate um one thing one bit of news that we’ve heard yesterday um over the weekend Jamal Murray uh had a hamstring injury that he sustained in the game Saturday in Chicago so he’s actually out as well
Right so both teams have really CJ’s the second leading scorer stat-wise for New Orleans and Jamaal Murray is Denver’s second best scorer as well so both of those guys won’t play um Denver’s it’s going to be up to a few other guys similarly to New Orleans some younger
Players for the Nuggets some backourt guys to step up and and do more in the absence of one of their best players and and we don’t want to strike fear into the hearts of pelicans fans but to break down this upcoming slate cuz we are
Going to be on the road a bit uh of course it’s not fun to start off against Denver who seems to be just a war machine but uh there are some tough teams ahead and it is going to be a bit of a a challenge to weather this this
Stretch yeah I think the timing isn’t great in terms of CJ being out not just from the standpoint of the schedule being tough and the opponents being tough but the fact that there’s so many Western Conference games coming up that are kind of Swing games where it’s maybe
It’s almost worth more than one win or more than one game when you play the inseason tournament stuff happening yep and you know this is something I mentioned in Gus katang Gill’s favorite pelicans.com feature which is the five things to know yep um I wrote this
Morning about how the next 12 games are all against Western teams you have a three-game road trip a six-game home stand and then another three-game road trip so it’s kind of um easy to to to see in terms of very organized well neatly um but yeah for in terms of just
Shortterm this week Denver tonight Minnesota on Wednesday Houston on Friday now Houston is Houston started 0 and3 but they’ve won a couple games so they’re kind of hot or simmering um Minnesota was had kind of a shaky start but they just had they’ve had a couple
Wins in a row and always got to watch out for them yeah right um so I mean they just beat Denver last week so and then Denver like I mentioned six and one so these are three tough teams on this road trip or teams that are playing well
At least in the last few days and then on Sunday to close out um week three the way the NBA sets up the schedule Sunday the Mavericks are going to be here and the Mavericks have the second best record in the Western Conference so so
Yeah like I said not maybe not the best timing you’re playing against the number one team in the west right now in Denver at the end of the week you’re playing against the team that’s in second place but Pelicans are in fourth place right now so so they’re in that top tier as
Well it’s just going to be a matter of now can they can they maintain that especially with uh going on the road and trying to to pick up some big road wins and it’s okay to be nervous Pelicans fans this is a murderer row we’re facing
But if we can weather this stretch uh early on in the season hobbled I’m feeling pretty good if we can you know split this at least just weather it decently uh as we get closer to full strength because we are closer to having our team uh healthier and and whole as
Each week passes uh fingers crossed for CJ fingers crossed for Trey Murphy and uh you mention mentioned your your player to watch is going to be Mr Jordan Hawkins uh I guess uh I guess he’s going to have to step up it seems like graph’s been talking about Jordan Hawkins just
The the easy stroke uh it doesn’t seem like he’s second guessing his own shot lately and I guess you’re going to need him to be as as automatic and and ruthless as that yeah and before I get into kind of Jordan hawkins’s week ahead and some of the the players that he’s
Going to be matched up against wanted to play this clip from one of the podcasts that the athletic has it’s called Uh slaming jam and it’s it runs it posts on Fridays during the season um Andrew select who we’ve actually had him on the podcast in a couple years ago I think
He’s he kind of covers Oklahoma City he’s also a producer and host for the athletic um they have a bunch of really good podcasts that he’s a part of um but he saw Jordan Hawkins play in Oklahoma City last week and had a lot of really
Good things to say about him in terms of just the fit that he has with the Pelicans as well as his potential to be a big contributor down the road the good news I I saw him the other night in okoma City he contributed in a lot of
Other ways other than shooting he did take 13 threes which I loved he only hit two of them but it’s just like the ability to just get 13 to take 13 threes is just awesome I thought that was great he contributed on the board some he is
Real small he’s real skinny but he’s somebody I feel like can kind of fill out a little bit he can take different kinds of shots he passed the ball well he had a couple steals that were really timely too he he just knows how to play
And so I really like that pi for them and I think like longterm is really going to pay off because they really need shooting around their main guys in Zion and bi and I think he’s somebody that’s going to play really well and the bad news is he just had shot the ball
Well so far um he is a shooter the stroke looks really good he’s only shot 27% I expect that to go up I expect him to be like a 37 to 42% three-point shooter for his career and once he does that if he’s already contributing in other areas with his passing and his
Rebounding I think that the Pelicans may have found another really nice role player and when you get Trey Murphy back and you can play Jordan Hawkins with them I think that they may have found like a really nice core to kind of move forward forward with Zion MBI that fit
Really well because what do you need you need contributors all around but you really need shooting and I think with the bad news of him not being able to shoot it well through his first five games I just have to believe that’s going to turn around I think that he’s
Going to have a nine for 13 game here where he just explodes because he can get those shots off he’s got a quick release they’re finding him they believe in him they continue to turn back to him in a in a tough contested game in Oklahoma City so I think that he’s
Somebody that I think will really Thrive and he kind of reminded me a little bit of his teammate C.J McCollum with the way that he was able to get some of his shots off so I I think he’s going to be a really nice addition to the Pelicans especially once that three-point shot
Starts to fall well Jim just when we’re starting to get a little down I’m ready to run through a brick wall again uh I you know it’s true it it’s it sounds counterintuitive that you’re glad he’s putting up those shots he’s not making we keep hearing that we’re like and some
People are probably like really are you sure but uh the fact that the coaches are still telling them to do it uh hopefully that’s going to pay off in terms of his confidence when we need him the most right here yeah and I think the
Fact that it’s not just us you and I saying this I mean I one of the reasons I like that clip was it was someone else outside who has no stake in this saying the same thing that we’ve been talking about in terms of like we’re happy to
See him get those shots up even if he’s not making them now the good news very specific to that is that recording was on Friday and in Saturday’s game Jordan was four for eight from three-point range so maybe the the upswing has already happened maybe he’s already
Starting to to find that that stroke um he’s up to 32% from three on the season you know after that game you know um Andrew select mentioned that he was at 27% before then so um a really good performance on Saturday and something that he’s going to have to carry over
Into this week um it’s kind of an interesting mix of players you know you mentioned Jordan Hawkins is my player to watch this week CJ McCollum was actually my player to watch in week two the good news on that was he had a really good week you’re always nailing at Jim yeah
The bad news obviously was the injury that happened at the very end and um but in terms of Jordan Hawkins week three um Denver he’s going to be going up against cavius calwell Pope um it would have been even tougher if Jamal Murray was on
The floor but that’s not the case now um Minnesota one of the guards and wings that the Timberwolves have that’s just a player that a lot of guys list as one of the toughest people to guard in the league is Anthony Edwards um Houston has Jaylen green at the two guard spot and
Then Dallas of course has the combination of Luca donic and Kyrie Irving so there’s a lot of really interesting kind of maybe not one-on-one matchups but just backourt guys that that Jordan is going to have to face and so not only is you’d think his role and
His minutes will go up with CJ out but he’s also going up against a lot of really talented players in this swing of Western teams well and that’s going to be the toughest part is is he going to be able to defend well a lot of rookies
Are not pilt like that herb Jones is of course an anomaly uh but you’re you’re going to see uh hwke I guess having to play both ends there and and we got to hope for some quick growth uh what else are you looking at the keys to the
Pelicans grinding out this win I know we’re putting a lot on the young man’s shoulders but who else do you think can contribute uh to to get this Pelicans team to not have to rely on like a young gun to get all their scoring yeah one of
The players to watch for the game that’s going to be in my game day update that we’ll be posting probably late morning definitely by the early afternoon on Monday is Larry Nance junor and part of why I’m listing him and mentioning him is because his role kind
Of goes up sometimes against the Nuggets partly because of their front Court um Larry’s defensive ver versatility is very important and very valuable against Denver because they have one of the toughest most unguardable centers obviously in in jic and then they also have Aaron Gordon at power forward so
The combination of jic and Gordon is so um different those are like you couldn’t find two more stylistically different guys but the thing that’s that’s important for Larry Nance and why I think sometimes he plays more minutes against Denver is that he can handle either either of those guys defensively
I shouldn’t say I mean not handle yic try to conone contain him a little bit and and you know just be able to try to match up with some of the stuff that he does and then Larry’s also extremely athletic so that gives him a a chance to
Hold up against Aaron Gordon as well so um those are the guys I mean to me you know we talked about Jordan Hawkins extensively earlier we talked about herb um Dyson Daniels as well um I think those are probably the some of the guys that are going to need to play more this
Week or or produce more um another player too Matt Ryan um had he’s had a couple big three-point shooting games um was great in the the win against Detroit at home um he’s going to have to try to carry that on onto the road as well um I
Do feel like there will be some kind of domino effect we don’t know it’s hard to to know exactly how it’s going to be divvied up but you would think that the main guys who might have a bigger role with CJ out are going to be Hawkins
Daniels and Ryan yeah and it’s crazy that that Yoki is so unguardable because I feel like I have yic bod and I’m very Gable uh but the Pelicans are going to have their hands full and let’s hope that they can uh they can deal with it
You know I’m looking at the waters Jim and I see a ripple seems like uh Jim’s pole has been casted out there for the people and uh they can vote on it as well if you want to be a piece of Jim’s life you get to hop on X Twitter
Whatever you call it and vote on the poll yes indeed I I cast out there I you know one thing I didn’t catch any I mean it’s it’s early we’re we’re still pretty early on Monday morning I haven’t caught any fish and when I say that I mean
There hasn’t been anyone commenting yet I really do want to encourage people that they can write in votes if you’re not happy with the four candidates that I’ve put out there if you want to say like hey Jim the four guys that you gave us options to vote for as player of the
Week I don’t like any of them I want I want my own Guy and um you’re welcome to do that you’re welcome to comment and say why did you vote for a specific person but anyways the uh the poll so far and and there’s about nine hours
Left in this because I’m taking this you got some time yeah taking this up to tip off that’s what the countdown is of is going to be a lot of these polls um CJ McCollum is actually leading by a pretty good margin he’s got 50% of the votes
There’s 56 votes as I say this um herb Jones 25% Matt Ryan 21% yonas valentinus at 4% um so Props to CJ for the week that he had unfortunately he’s out now but also some of the other guys I mentioned I thought they all had a valuable piece of the
Pelicans going two and two last week beating OKC in Detroit losing to Golden State in Atlanta um but Matt Ryan 21% like I said not bad for a guy that was undrafted and that they basically signed a few days before the start of the regular continuing the turnaround of the
Name Matt Ryan in New Orleans so Wednesday’s show we will have our own Aaron Summers with us and then Friday look ahead get your uh get your glasses ready the inseason toury is going to begin and that means you get to look at one of those laser light courts again
And hey if you want to turn on some I don’t know Journey or whatever makes you feel like you’re an old skating rank show or something enjoy yourself I I think it’s fun and uh it’s going to be a lot of people’s first taste of uh the
Turny action I think a lot of people going to be playing doing some homework I did not have a roller skating reference on my bingo card for this show today so that’s very very uh nice to hear catch me at the rink rolling backwards but yeah no Friday will be the
First uh inseason game against the Houston Rockets it was interesting kind of checking in on some of the games this past Friday night obviously um since since we last spoke here the inseason tournament started for um I think it 14 different teams there were seven games Friday night the Pelicans weren’t one of
Them but they will be getting that kick started um by the way too in West Group B which is the Pelicans group um Denver beat Dallas by 11 points on Friday so and you say Jim what does it matter how much they won by right well if you if
You look at um I haven’t seen a lot of them but I’ve of the inseason tournament standings that I’ve seen there’s always a point differential listed and the reason for that is that the first tiebreaker after head-to-head record is point differential so you’re going to
See a lot of teams um maybe keep a little bit of a an eye on that um trying to run up the score a little more than he would maybe and not and and also on the other side to try to not lose games by 203 points because it would be it’ll
Be very damaging to you if you lose a game by a lot based on that so um but just interesting there’s just one game in the Pelicans group the Nuggets beat Dallas um the game Friday I think for the Pelicans and the rockets will be important because um each of those teams
Are going to have to play Dallas and Denver later in the group as well as the Clippers so you don’t want to start off with the loss against the Rockets and the rockets are saying the same thing about the Pelicans just because the competition after that is very tough and
I think we’ve talked about this briefly but um I think people have kind of figured out already that you really only have one loss that you can having the inseason tournament if you lose two you’re pretty much done as far as advancing so yeah I mean it’s it’s
Tough when everyone has each other circled on their schedule but you’re going to find out about our medal uh great Jim foe as always on the inseason tournament hey if you want to check out that Court you’ll be able to see me and Jim just roller skating to Mariah Care’s
Uh fantasy just Criss Crossing you know it’s going to be fun uh we got to get pumped somehow what a visual yeah but you always hard check someone up against the glass too it’s fine it’s fine just because I don’t want people to accuse me of being soft being roller skater you
Got to stay hard so yeah no helmet just watch out for him on the rink and by the way Joe what did you think of the uh City uniforms that the Pelicans tried it out I thought I thought they were cool man and I thought they looked I liked
Them in the photo shoots and I was like oh those look cool but I thought on the court they they looked even better I feel like that happens a lot where you’ll see it in like a marketing thing and you’re and it can be either way
Better or way worse based on the way that they look in the still photos and the the model shoots I mean they should use us in the model that’s a conversation for a different day it’s fine they don’t want someone too swole in the photos that’s okay that’s true
Yeah they they they probably wouldn’t they might skew how they look for they they don’t want Jim showing up Zion with with the delts ex you know it’s uh I thought it was cool man I like I like any change up of uniforms I like the city Edition uniforms when they came out
Anytime they get to Tinker and add a little something I think it’s fun fans love it and hopefully you’re buying up some of those jerseys in the team shop uh so check that out and by the way too um it sounds like the team store did incredibly well on Saturday in terms of
Um somebody told some some one of one of the staffers here um told me that he got like the last of a certain item there was only one left on the rack or they they had to take something from the back cuz they they had everything was off the
Shelves gone so to spare someone like Terry Tate to get a hat yeah but so that gear and and the color scheme that you mentioned it’s been very popular I really like the theme I heard um Jen hail on Saturday mention too and I’m going to have to test this out that
Those uniforms have like a purple tint in in the dark yeah it’s like a the old Batman uh colors or something yeah that’s kind of cool I I thought that um when I saw initially when I saw the those uniforms in um some kind of marketing thing or photo shoot I thought
It was like a darker blue me too tint and it’s actually kind of a black or it is black it’s a black color so um should be fun they’re going to be wearing those during the um first inseason tournament home game as well um I don’t think they
Can wear those by the way in the road games because sometimes the other team if the other team like say the Rockets City uniforms are also dark blue or black they’re not going to be able to wear pelicans have to wear white ones but um we will see those on the court on
The purple and green Court um on the 17th against Dallas well let’s roll jimothy I am ready for tonight I am ready for the schedule ahead let’s go get the Joker big thanks to Mr Jim ien offer for the sound and the research big thanks to you for listening to the
Pelicans podcast tell your friends and Pals we will talk to you once again on Wednesday and until then gos thanks for listening to the New Orleans Pelicans podcast join us three times per week on pelicans.com the Pelicans mobile app or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes we’ll see you
Next time right here on the New Orleans Pelicans Podcast
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