What are y’all’s expectations for the game against the Pacers at home on Sunday?

I realistically could see a win on Wednesday. New head coach, home game, new defensive identity. If Mosely really ingrained a defensive mentality into these guys I could expect the Pacers to struggle with our physicality and speed. I think having Zion buying into a defensive mentality could see his career progress positively; he has shown flashes of being a good perimeter defender when he tries, and I really want him to be a menace this season on that end of the court. I think the days of him being the offensive guy is over, and his numbers will take a dive, but overall he will be a more consistent and important player for us, if he can be a defense first guy who gets to the hole on offense through cutting.

What do you expect the center rotation to look like?

I would love to see Mosely buy into Yves as the main guy with Queen and Karlo coming off the bench as pair. He is the best rebounder on the team and is physical. Although he makes dumb decisions, he’s gonna be really important for us if these team has any success. I’m not really sure what to do about Queen, there is a player in there somewhere, but he is a huge negative on defense and can’t shoot. Maybe with a different roster he could be effective.

Who on the team do you expect to be taking the threes other than TMIII?

I hope that Fears comes out slinging them against the Pacers, I really think he is the future of this team, and will be the main offensive focal point down the line this season. His midrange is there, and his 3 looked good at times last year and in the preseason. If he can space, and let Zion and Murphy get to the rim the offense will be fun. I also think Herb could progress as a shooter this year (More like I really hope, if not the team needs to look to move him). I expect Bey to regress a bit this year, he wasn’t a great shooter but could definitely score. I think McGowens may have a big role off the bench.

I was sitting at the bar with some Croatian tourists during the game and they were confused by what A.D. said, so I had to tell them it was a reference to the movie Carlito’s Way, but they hadn’t seen the movie, so then I had to explain to them what the movie was about, but then they didn’t appreciate the joke A.D. was making and said they would’ve preferred that he referenced a famous Croatian movie instead.

Hello, I am currently conducting surveys for the fanbases of all 30 teams before the regular season officially starts. If you could fill out this poll once, that would be greatly appreciated. Results will be posted later on after the start of the regular season, likely around the trade deadline. Thanks! Also, none of these questions are marked as required so if you only feel like answering some, that is completely fine.

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Also PSA for anyone concerned: This poll does not require an email address to complete and does not ask for anything that could identify whoever is taking it. These are completely anonymous and you could theoretically take it multiple times, though it is asked by me for the polls sake that you only take it once. I am not affiliated with the NBA or with any media outlet revolving around the NBA in any way, I am just an independent strong fan of the game who loves surveys like these. I was able to do this last year and was thrilled to get over 2000 responses, and hope that it can be as successful this year.

Joel really do be saying it with the hard r 😭

In sum, the article discusses the Wizards plans for this season. They want to win games this year, and have the veterans with accolades to compete (AD, Trae, Middleton, Ayton). The discussion came down to the priority at certain points in the season: winning games with veterans or getting their abundance of youth on the court, particularly in crunch time. We'll have to see how that plays out.

Here, it would appear that this is the same conundrum N.O. is in. They have veterans that are here to win now (Zion, DJM, Herb, Bey, Trey, etc.). However, there is young talent they heavily invested in that will need to continue playing, particularly in meaningful games, as those did not exist last season. Missi, Fears and Queen have received a lot of playing time, but now they are all pushed back in the lineup for the veterans. (This does not apply to Missi as much because he appears to be the starting center. However, I would imagine that he will be subbed out for small lineups frequently). Mosley will have to gain direction from the FO on how to handle.

Notably, Willie Green and to an extent Borrego were saddled with this for some time. Veterans would play in front of the youth in an attempt to win games rather than develop the players recently drafted. Obviously Willie and Borrego are gone, but Mosley will have to figure out a way to remain competitive in the WL column while giving significant minutes to the 2 most recent draft picks.

https://www.nba.com/pelicans/news/preseason-postgame-wrap-pelicans-107-wizards-106

For three quarters, New Orleans and Washington treated Friday’s preseason game similarly to a regular season matchup, with starters logging relatively significant minutes. The rotations of head coaches Jamahl Mosley and Brian Keefe seemed to reflect what may be the case Wednesday, when both squads tip off their 2026-27 campaigns in separate games that count in the NBA standings. The Pelicans won those 36 minutes of exhibition hoops by double digits, showing more positive signs on the defensive end by limiting the Wizards to just 70 points and 35 percent shooting.

Also fuck AD

That's the post. We spend too much time talking about DQ forcing him to be ready sooner than he's ready to be because we gave up a first rounder for him. Fears, the actual true #1 pick, is ready now.

I saw this in MSY airport around December of last year and it was my exact style, but it was a bit out of my price range so I let it go for a minute and figured I'd mull it over and come to a decision. Unfortunately by the time I had another opportunity to stop by the store in the airport they'd already moved on past this. I was wondering if there was maybe another listing of it somewhere online that someone had found?

I think this is a little low. Nugs, Magic, Hawks (with CJ and Flemings) are rated higher.

This would seem high at first, until you glance at the rest of the league and see how bad other teams are at SG.

I think this is low as well. Trey has not made an all star team, but he's a very solid player. I think he's much better than Kon and Jaden McDaniels. How do we know if Markkanen is any good if he hasn't played in a competitive basketball game the 5 years he's been in Utah? Although Franz has an all star appearance, I think the combo of Trey and Mathurin is better than Franz and Cain with the Magic.

Notable players/teams ranked above are Nets/Randle, Knicks and Utah/JJJ. Behind are squads like Denver with Gordon, Charlotte with Naz Reid and Rockets. Bey doesn't exactly fit as a power forward, but for this exercise, the combo of Zion/Bey seems appropriate.

Not many situations deemed worse than this. It's hard to argue based on potential and performance that this duo is a bit behind. This could jump if improvement is made, but I find it hard to argue with this ranking.

In sum, they do not have a top 10 positional group. They have decent depth at each position, but no superstar to drag up the entire ranking.

Tracking the Alonzo Mourning trade from 1992 helps Hornets/Pelicans land Trey Murphy and Dejounte Murray:

• Charlotte drafts Mourning in 1992 then traded to Miami for Glen Rice
• Rice → Eddie Jones → PJ Brown → Tyson Chandler → Emeka Okafor → 2012 2nd Rd pick → draft Darius Miller
  • → Steven Adams & Eric Bledsoe → Trey Murphy
  • → 2025 1st Rd pick → Larry Nance → Dejounte Murray

https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/jamahl-mosley-radically-changing-ways-231639694.html

"Mosley is replacing Green's familiar 10-game evaluation windows with shorter, playoff-style assessments designed to identify problems before they become entrenched habits. Essentially, the philosophy is to not wait three weeks to address an issue that might cost the team a win tomorrow."

If the pelicans tear it down this year would targeting Kel’el Ware be the best fit as a center for a future team lead by Queen and Fears?

Dejounte is clearly on the decline and not the same player he once was the writing is on the wall need Fears starting by the 20th game mark or something

would you guys make this trade?

Fuck the Mavs. Game @ 19:00 CST

If anyone else wants to put up a post-game thread after, I'm likely gonna be asleep