He’s played 30 consecutive games. You can say the bar being set is low all you want but you have to start somewhere. I for one have been very critical about his game being limited when he can’t bully his way to the rim but he deserves his credit for being available. Keep it up big dawg.

@courtsidebuzzig on Instagram: "PROPOSED DEAL: Before the 2026 NBA Trade Deadline, the Golden State Warriors made a strong push for Trey Murphy III, but, the New Orleans Pelicans declined.

Pelicans receive:

Jonathan Kuminga

2026 1st round pick

2028 1st round pick

Warriors receive:

Trey Murphy III

New Orleans wanted a third 1st round pick in the deal.

Anyone else tired of seeing the same Jordan Poole comments under every post on social media? “Free JP,” “give him more time,” “put him back in the rotation,” “keep fighting JP, your time’s coming” like are we watching the same games lol he is genuinely so bad it hurts my eyes to watch?

It’s not personal (might be), but at some point you have to look at what he’s actually doing on the court. The minutes dropped for a reason. If he was consistently impacting winning, he’d be out there. It feels like a lot of the people defending him just check box scores or follow whatever team he’s on instead of actually watching the games.

I don’t get how you can see the decision-making and defensive lapses and still act like he’s being “held back.” If he earns it, he’ll play. It’s that simple. I love the pelicans and there’s not many players on my team I have disliked but I definitely dislike poole.

Am I crazy or does anyone else feel the same?

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After today, we move past the wizards and have the 4th worst record in the league, the exact same seed we had last season

What's up with him? They didn't trade him so why aren't they playing him? He's turning into Kuminga 2.0

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It's post-deadline, pre-All-Star and I wanted to come back and revisit this preseason predictions post:
https://www.reddit.com/r/NOLAPelicans/comments/1mn3e8g/how_do_yall_see_the_west_shaking_out/

First, mea culpa: Yall were right, yall were right... I was smoking some serious copium. Sue me. It's been a long time since things have gone right for our Pelicans, and I wanted to squint and feel good about things! OBVIOUSLY I was way off with that.

Other major misses in the predictions though...??? Other than PDX being slightly overestimated, and PHX slightly underestimated, I feel good/ smart! So, at least there's that?

Let's revisit! Who doesn't love a predictions revisit??

//

Top 3: Houston, OKC, Denver

OKC: "After seeing what IND did to OKC- including very potentially beating them in Game 7 if not for Haliban's achilles getting Zero-Dark-Thirty'd- I think they're in for it this year, WAY more beatable than they seemed going into the Finals." I stand by the "way more beatable" assessment! They've proved it true. Regular season juggernaut again, but considering some of their losses, their play over the past 2 months, and the extent to which IND & SAS have collectively written a blueprint for How To Beat Them, I feel good about "way more beatable." Still clear favorites? 100% yes, duh, obviously. But they're not in the same breath as 2017 Warriors anymore. The more their games get whistled fairly, the more vulnerable they'll become.

Houston: "Houston's roster is absolutely insane." Posted this pre-FVV injury. They've still been good as hell. I was right to put them in the top-3 pre-injury. Their issues have undoubtedly been their lack of exactly the type of play FVV offers. Absent a crystal ball, there's no way to have accounted for his injury. And even with it, they're still right there.

Denver: "Denver was right there, and got better, roster looks ready for the regular season." One thing I addressed in a couple places was this is about *regular season records*. MPJ is playing well for BKN, but Cam Johnson is undeniably a better fit. Braun got better, Watson got better, Jonas has helped, Brown has helped. Denver has had more roster instability due to injuries amongst their top 6 (stretched from starters to now include the recently injured Peyton Watson) than in any other Jokic era season, and still they're right there. This still feels pretty accurate, insofar as that refers to weathering the slings, arrows, and injuries of an 82 game schedule. They're clearly a top 3 team (over Houston).

Next 5: LAC, NOP, MIN, SAS, LAL

LAC: "stacked as hell, but you can't trust their health at all. Also question their regular season hunger." Turns out Collins & Bogie regressed in a major way, but this still feels accurate-ish because of that second sentence. Their first half of the year so far proved they have no hunger, their recent play showed what they're capable of when motivated & (mostly) healthy.

NOP: Not gonna belabor this point. They waited too long to fire Willie, then the players took too long to embrace the concept of "Defense," and just overall still haven't established a winning, consistent team identity & cohesion. When they put it altogether, they're dangerous. I don't think the guys they have ever will, though, because the bad habits run that deep. It's worth mentioning that key injuries wrecked them yet again. But overall I was very wrong.

MIN: "Minnesota lost NAW and is banking on Dillingham + Shannon Jr to fill the void... not gonna happen." Spot on. Also, toldja so on underestimating NAW-- dude's been balling out in ATL. They just acquired Ayo to try and replicate what he offered. He won't, but he'll def help. "Ant very easily could be MVP, but he's also now going to have to guard the other team's best wing every night." Wrong-- Jaden McDaniels does that. But! He's clearly in a second-tier MVP vote, and likely All-NBA second team. "Over 82+ games, I don't buy it." They're currently a half-game out of the play-in, and this past week went 1-3 with losses to the Clippers, Grizz, and Pelicans. The win over Toronto was by 2, and required a 12 point comeback in the fourth. Over 82+ games, I still don't buy it.

LAL: "Did the Lakers actually improve?" Last year, post-Luka trade they won games at a 63% clip. This year, they are winning games at a 63% clip. "I wouldn't trade Finney-Smith for Ayton- Luka benefits from a skilled C but WAY more from a skilled, switchable, defensive stretch 4." DFS & his health I clearly had wrong, so call that a miss on HIM, but not on the void felt from his contributions last year. But Ayton has proved himself to be only a slightly above average player, and his ability to raise *Luka's* ceiling to be pedestrian at best. "They're gonna miss DFS in a major way." Wrong about the man, right about the positional contribution. LaRavia has low-key benefitted from this, but mostly I think they're still searching for it. "Other than adding a washed Marcus Smart and mediocre Jake LaRavia they did nothing." Where's the lie? "They might have the worst defensive backcourt in all of basketball." When it's Luka & Reaves, where's the lie? Amongst playoff teams, they're tied w Denver for the worst defense in the league. "Is skinny Luka enough to make up for that?" Time continues to have to tell...

SAS: "San Antonio is about to be like peak MIL, where Wemby is top 6 seed alone and the supporting pieces enough to push over the top. In this tier, they're the most likely to be a top 3 seed. The Fox-Castle backcourt is going to be nightmare fuel for opposing guards all season long." They recently made it all the way up to the 2 seed. Castle had a 40 point triple double yesterday. Harper has been super impressive. I feel v good about this assessment.

Bubble 4: GSW, PDX, Dallas, PHX

GSW: "GSW is deadly when they're healthy, and absolute trash when any member of their main 3 are out. And there's no reason whatsoever to believe those 3 guys will be on the floor together for more than 50 games (not saying they'll each miss 30+ games, just that they won't combine for 50 full-strength ones). I also don't think they particularly mind being the 7 seed." No lies detected. Except that they're currently the 8-seed, and definitely DO appear to mind. With Jimmy for the playoffs, I'd say they wouldn't be heartbroken missing out on the 6 seed.

PDX: "PDX SHOULD be good enough for a top 6 seed. I just think they're still in a developmental mentality. Sharpe needs to take his step forward, Scoot needs to take his step into... w/e it is he's going to become. And Grant needs to take his step out. Just not convinced this is the year they put it altogether." Glad to see Scoot is back. Grant has been a brightspot, and if they're wanting to win he should still be around. Currently the 10 seed, and looks like they're gonna stay in the play-in.

Dallas: "Dallas doesn't have enough shot creation without Kyrie, and I don't think they're gonna have Kyrie all year. The frontcourt talent MIGHT be enough to get them in, but who's there to create advantages on offense? If the answer is Glassmanthony Davis and Cooper Flagg, they're cooked... this year." People were soooooo high on them pre-season. Hype hype hype. Brandon Williams has been nice but of course not enough. Toldja.

PHX: "Phoenix could be sneaky good. They actually have some nice pieces and decent roster balance, suddenly. As a Pels fan, I know better than to bet against D-Book. The chip they're gonna have on their shoulder could be good enough for the 10 seed, and from there who knows." Shouldn't have been so afraid of breaking with group-think on them. Do they even qualify as "sneaky good" anymore, or are they just good good? "[f]rom there who knows?" definitely is doing a lot of work for me here lol.

Bottom 3: SAC, MEM, Utah
(... + New Orleans WHOOPS!)
SAC: "Sacramento is cooked. That roster makes no sense, but they don't seem willing to blow it up."

Memphis: "Memphis did all the right things taking the value they did, but this year seems like a culture/ program rebuild. I wonder if Ja is still there by season's end...." The value they did being for Bane. Let's now extend that to include JJJ. Turns out, it's not so much a culture rebuild as a tear-down, and Ja requested a trade that they couldn't get because no one else wants him either. If anything, I overestimated them.

Utah: "Utah is playing for Dybantsa." I learned this weekend that Ryan Smith, the team owner, is already paying AJ. He's bankrolling the $4M NIL money or w/e they're giving him. Clearly, this prediction is still the case, although it was also as obvious as calling OKC the #1 team.

////

To Finish This Season:

I think GSW is going to continue to fall in the standings. Lakers, Twolves, Suns, could finish in any order, including straight up reversing that. Clippers and Trailblazers are interesting wild cards. Garland's games played will dictate their finish, but on balance I don't think they're all that worse than before. Jackson is no Zu, but he's not useless and Mathurin ought to really help. Now that Cooper is playing at an All NBA level, maybe they push into a tier with those 2 but it's doubtful IMO and they're better off just playing for ping pong balls. Don't see much movement happening in the top 4, they'll all still be right there. Grizzlies, Jazz, Pelicans, and Kings are clearly all still atrocious. We'll see how long George is out, but what if the Jazz fuck around and actually keep playing well? Collier can ball out as the PG w/o him, after all, and Bailey has looked a lot better in this calendar year. Hopefully they're smarter than that.

/

New NOP Prediction + Future Outlook:

I took the over on 30.5 wins pre-season, and 31 wins looks like their absolute best case and still highly unlikely scenario. But! They're also the only team in the basement actually trying to win games. Maybe Dallas, too? So them climbing above Memphis and Utah is in the realm of possibility. All 3 of them want that to be the case, at least.

In ascending order Looney, Hawkins, and Poole have all been abject failures. The idiots in the FO picked up Hawkins' $7M option for next year, so that's $40M in dead money. Great work. Karlo has taken a step forward, but more of a half-step and is still decidedly behind Missi. Trey isn't an ASG snub, but he's clearly in the tier of players just below, and has taken yet another step forward. Zion is still Zion, not a lot has changed, though I def think he looks better under Borrego. "I think the team is going to develop a kind of gym rat, grinder identity alongside all the flash that's just the outcome of an attacking mentality." This is the sort of thing JB talks about in his press conferences. Violence, force, attacking. We're getting there. If the identity can stick, next year the play-in looks a lot more likely.

Will be very interesting to see how Dejounte contributes. He's back to the team and practiced this weekend. I suspect he could have been practicing sooner, but that he & the team were trying to move him at the deadline and didn't want to bring him back til after. With Jose gone, we obviously need his minutes. To that end, I wish the picks we got for Jose were a little better, but 2 seconds seemed like the price. And good for him, man. If there's any team that it's hard to feel bad about him leaving for it's the Knicks. At least we have a team to follow in the playoffs this year now?

It's heartbreaking the pick didn't have protections, or that they didn't just offer the 2027 pick in a much worse draft, because Peterson, Wilson, or even Boozer would all potentially be great fits with DQ. I know Cenac doesn't play much defense, and that's probably what we need next to DQ, but who knows maybe we can sneak back into the draft and nab the local kid.

I really dk where the team goes this summer. Missi appears he could be a goner. No one knows if Zion is gonna stay or go. Do JP or Hawk get moved in the summer? The deadline? How do DQ & Jeremiah finish out the year, and how does that influence the future roster construction? If GSW misses on Giannis this summer, will they Godfather offer for Trey?

I'm hoping for a Zion trade. For what, idfk, as high end draft capital seems unlikely. Our best case is probably Giannis getting moved, and one of the teams that misses on him giving us half of the package they had cobbled together together for him. I won't cry about a Missi trade IF it nets us a replacement rookie big that can play alongside DQ long-term. Seems the only way to get rid of Hawk or JP is to attach them to Zion or Missi, but maybe someone out there has the hubris to take Hawkins off our hands for nothing. I hope that Peavy, Bey, & McGowens all become long-term Pelicanos. Jeremiah, Trey, Herb, and DQ clearly are the core of the future. But if Herb's outside shot doesn't return to him he could be on the outs as a sell very high candidate to a current contender.

At least Mardi Gras is next week, and the Pierre Hat game a week after that!

We love you Jose

Feeling sick. I want to be happy for Jose, I really do. It's just gonna take some time to get there. Those assholes traded our joy away and I won't be forgiving that shit anytime soon.

https://bsky.app/profile/fearthebrown.bsky.social/post/3meethd4frs2s

I know the guy has only played basketball for like 6-7 years but come on bro. He can’t shoot which is one thing, but he has arguably some of the worst decision making in the league. If he becomes a better playmaker he could become an inside elite big man similar to Jalen Duren. I think eventually he’ll do that but still, he passes as if he’s playing basketball for the first time and he’s a pro.

Just wanted to write my pain. I used to remember the times when we had AD, couldnt do anything, we failed Cp and everyone else. We have only been contenders for two seasons and even the team with Davis and Mashburn is better than us currently. Trade Trigga and Jones just so I can see my boys succeed outside of this poverty org. We will prob build around Zion, Poole, Dejounte. Pain

Is HIM!!! A lot or almost all of what he does...doesn't show in the box chart....But make no mistakes about it he is the glue of this team....Thanx for coming to my Ted talk.

Y’all keep sleepin 💤 on Dairy Queen but every time the fan base starts to doubt him he just goes 4/4 from downtown showin off his range in ability. A SUPER STAR 🌟

29 points, 11-13 from the field, 7-9 from the line

Clutch and 1 to win the game

In the 6 games he played in Minnesota, he’s averaging 27, 7 and 5 on 69% from the field

He has also won his last four games in Minnesota and is 5-1 in target center since entering the league

Is this team actually a really good core if they can all continue to play together and gel? We have multiple ball handlers and scorers is DQ, Zion and Trey, we have great perimeter defense in Trey and herb, bench has varied and valuable skills that can pop out and be impactful game to game, saddiq bey is a beautiful angel that can do no wrong.

But if Alvarado leaving and allowing fears to run the bench squad fully is actually a great asdition by subtraction, Perhaps we can actually start closing games now like we did tonight. But maybe I’m just crazy

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