The Western Conference Tightrope: Minnesota, New Orleans, and Portland's Offseason Maneuvers

it's Friday, you know what time it is. Frontrunner podcast collective is back on the air. I am your humble host, vince, and on today's pod we will be talking about three teams in their offseason the Minnesota Timberwolves, the New Orleans Pelicans, and we will also be talking about the Portland Trailblazers. So, and also, I want to make a kind of a promise to all the loyal listeners out there. I have listened back to a couple of like the latest podcasts and I'm going to tell you that I don't think I brought it. I did not bring it and we're going to make sure that we do that. The reason for that is because of the fact that that's what you deserve, that's what we expect from ourselves, and we want to give you the definite information, for sure, but we also want to make sure that we're entertaining you. So we're going to try to do that today and we hope that you, the loyal listening audience, are receptive to that. So that is what we promise for you from here on out, we will make sure that, uh, our content is strong, but also our content is, uh, entertaining as well. So we again, we got three teams to talk about how they spent their off season, what to look for as we start getting closer and closer to training camp. So raya is on the silent ones and twos and we are pretty much ready to go.

Twitter and the email, the reason why we are bringing these up. We want your responses. There's a couple in today's podcast Because people have emailed in. What we're going to do Is we're going to put out the email FRPCvince at gmailcom. We'll get you us. Drop a note, talk about maybe some of the things that we talked about on the podcast or something that you want to hear. But if we're, if you're discussing something in particular that we talked about on the podcast, that note is good. We are going to put it on. The other thing is twitter. We need to be better at that too. So don't even get it twisted. It's not all on you. We have to invoke and exchange ideas with you to make sure that this is going the way it's supposed to go, which is with a flow state, just a perpetual flow state of energy Me to you, you to me, and that is our podcast. It's on twitter, is frontrunner pot, is frontrunner pc, and then our producer is at rea underscore funch frpc.

So those things are out the way and now we can get into the podcast and we're going to start with the minnesota timberwolves, and the reason why we're doing that is because our guy, ant edwards, is a perpetual machine of content and we love him so much but can't wait to dive into his team and what it looks like this year. The Timberwolves are standing on a wire, strung between two skyscrapers. On one side, the joy of back-to-back trips to the Western Conference Finals. Let's give it up for our team that has gotten to the Western Conference Finals two times in a row. Now they face the Dallas Mavericks in one of those and they face the eventual champions in last year's, which is the Oklahoma City Thunder. Proof of concept that Anthony Edwards is awesome. A concept that Anthony Edwards is awesome. And when team is built around him as well as it was the last couple years, this dude can win. And he's still young. He's still so young, so much to absorb and learn. And what have you? So for a fan base who has been in a situation For a long period of time where you know there wasn't much Brightness coming into the Twin Cities, to have back to back Western Conference Finals Should be invigorating for the fan base and we hope that this year is another positive year For the T-Wolves.

Now, on the other side of that, we told you we're walking a tightrope. The cap sheet is so tight that every sneeze sounds like a tax bill, that's for sure. So, 4-1 to the Oklahoma City Thunder. There is nothing to be ashamed of. That was a wagon of a team. They are bringing back everybody. So we're in a we're in a situation where I'm not saying they're necessarily the 2016-2017 Golden State Warriors, but they're young, they're, and they still got like 14 first round draft picks to play with, so they're going to be good for a while it's. Can you catch them at the right time and what is the right time, and do you have the squad to go up against it? That's what we're going to get into today.

Now for one thing that we do know for certain, which is great the ownership clarity has finally landed. Alex rodriguez and mark lorry have the keys to the kingdom officially approved as the co-owners. That happened in the middle of the season last year. That part of the story feels stable. What doesn't feel stable is the money math, and I know you guys get sick and tired of me talking about the cap and how punitive the, the acorns are, but it's our way of life. Now we need to talk about these things because we need to take these things into consideration when we talk about moves and why things happen. That being said, as long as you have anthony edwards taking a leap into superstardom and you also got naz reed elevated from cult hero to 125 million dollar cornerstone and then you re-sign julius r Randle back on a three-year deal, nine-figure ticket, you know what I'm saying.

The continuity is the pitch. Flexibility is not in this movie, not in this movie whatsoever, because here's the deal you have made it to back-to-back Western Conference Finals, confirming that your way of doing things is the right way of doing things. You have a contending core as long as you got Anthony Edwards, as long as you have McDaniels, as long as you have Rudy Gobert and I know that Rudy Gobert is one of those people that or one of those players that we sit here and there's a lot of back and forth, a lot of vacillating between the good of rudy gobert and the bad of rudy gobert, because there is something to that and we'll get to it later on in the podcast being able to continue to build on what you already have is so important. Keeping randall and we'll get to him in a second keeping Reed on big deals. Doubling down on the front court did have its cost and that cost was Nikhil Alexander-Walker. It hurts your point of attack, defense on the perimeter and your secondary creation.

Soraya just dropped this note in the chat. Top five contracts edwards, gobert, randall, reed, mcdaniel's total about 158 million dollars, which is 102 percent of the cap. Before we even get into count of role players, you rookies and what have you. So you're over the line. But again, you got youth, you got a lot of youth. You take away, go bear. There's still a lot of youth on this squad and that's the thread that we pull from tonight. Because, yes, minnesota is good, they're very good. But good doesn't erase the apron math and the apron math doesn't care how many playoff shirts you sell in June. So we are broke, but rich in the twin cities, rich in players, broke in optionality. It's a champagne on the table without an eviction notice under the door.

So let's get to this team and how they went about their business. Last year they were 49 and 33 last year, not bad. They went on a incredible run to the Western Conference Finals before bowing out to the eventual champions, the Oklahoma City Thunder. Then they doubled down on the front court, like we said, they signed Randall to a 3 year deal totaling about $100 million. They signed Nas Reed, who is a fan favorite, to a 5 year deal for $125 million Excellent. They also took a rookie, johan Berenguer. At the 17th selection. They took a flyer on another big Rocco Zagarski, another big Rocco Zagarski, and then we had to fall off with Nikhil Alexander-Walker walking in the offseason.

So losing Nikhil Alexander-Walker is a sneaky headline to me. He was a glue of that team point of attack defender, secondary creation, and the guy could put up points and he was guarding people, the good, like the good guards in this league and holding up. So when the lights were hot, he was there. Now, without him, they're pinning their hopes on dante di vincenzo and a guy who has shown himself to be credible in the summer league. There seems to be some development still going on with him and that's Terrence Shannon jr. So they are looking for these two dudes to augment what you lost when Nikhil Alexander walked out the front door and that's the hinge. D vincenzo has the title dna, but never as a nightly 30-minute point of attack anchor. Shannon jr is a raw athlete. He has had great performances in the summer league. He's shown out a little bit in the regular season and did contribute in the postseason last year. But there's not a ton of playoff reps to bank on him. There's not something that you can sit here and go. Hey, he's shown himself to be credible. We can let Nikhil Alexander walk. We'll still be fine. I don't believe that if Devin Chenzo and Shannon jr collectively cover what you lost with nah defenses, assignments and connective offense, minnesota's Western Conference finals path is still intact if they do not.

Edwards mcdaniels gets stretched too thin. Your top favorite payroll doesn't do you any favors. Now, edwards, you pay him as much money as you possibly can. He is your super. He's your supernova star. He's making 45.5 million dollars this season. Gobert is still making 35 million. That might bea bone of contention for a lot of folks, but we are going to get to that momentarily. Randall and reed we just saw their contracts right. So you're looking at randall he's at like 33 million, and then Nas Reed is at 25 million, and then you got McDaniels as well. So you got, uh, 70% of your payroll tied in five players. Now second, akron Risk reads 25 million AAV Locks them into an Acron tightrope territory. Using the tech player MLE Would burn their remaining buffer.

Now zoom out. And the reason why I say this Is zoom out Is because we really need to talk about Rudy Gobert, because Rudy Gobert Is the reason why the optionality is not what it needs to be, with Rudy making $35 million and not being able to Help Anthony Edwards On the offensive side of the ball. This is where the problem comes into Right. This is where we sit here and go. Man, he did make us a contender. His defense and his length Still is effective On the defensive side of the ball, but, man, we don't get a lick Of offense out of him and he definitely doesn't scare the opposing defense At all. All just the way it is. Continuity versus cost, like we talked about with the back-to-back western conference finals. It does confirm. It does confirm the core's legitimacy as a as a decent title contender, as a decent title contender.

But this team Is less than 6 million Below the second acorn, which means, if you do hit the second acorn, you can't aggregate salaries In trades, you can't take back more money Than you send out and you are Locked out of many Of the little levers. Contenders love to pull mid-season Ie buyout. You do walk a fine line, but it's like being told you can't keep driving a Ferrari but you can't refuel it until April. Every mile is a stress test. Is a stress tested the thing about it?

What it comes down to, is this when you have anthony edwards and he's going to cover up a lot of your warts the problem that I have seen with the minnesota timberwolves in when they got into the later rounds of the playoffs is who else on Minnesota do you trust with consistent offense? That's the key. Who else can get you a bucket? And usually what we're asking for in more, less subtle terms is who can get a bucket by themselves, independently? A bucket getter is that julius randall? Is that mcdaniels? Is it the flamethrower dante di vincenzo? Are you really gonna ask that of terrence shannon jr? Who, yes, albeit he is a older player when it comes to being in the league for his second year? Whatever case may be, you're gonna need somebody to step up. You're gonna need somebody to show hey, I'm about this life in the playoffs.

So, ray, I dropped this note in the chat roster. Stability is the brand edwards, gobert, randall, reed, mcdaniels, conley. The flip side is the fragility, because conley is 38, gobert is 33 and you've tied 70 of your payroll in five names. That's where the cracks form. She's right on that, because here's the thing conley is still your point guard.

We have not seen enough from dillingham to say, hey, he's ready to take over. Also, he's very slight. Not only is he diminutive, he is slight, he is definitely gonna get it eat up on pick and rolls. People are going to bring him up in pick and roll offense and say, hey, we want that dude Like Luka is going to look for him. All the killers are going to look for him. Dillingham on the other side we saw it when he was in Kentucky. He can be very electric at the guard position. Get buckets, what have you? We do not know if that transcends to the NBA yet. We just don't have enough of a sample size to be able to make that judgment call at this point in time.

My hope is that and this is always the balance with this situation is when you have a team that's actually contending and I do believe that the Minnesotanesota timberwolves is one of those teams that, if everything is right with them, they're a contender. They have all the little ingredients that you would want, but I still ask the question who is the second person who can consistently get you a bucket in the playoffs, if need be? That is going to be my question all year. Now the context is clear for Minnesota. Like we just said, they are absolutely a contender. It will depend on Dante DiVincenzo, shannon Jr, or somebody else, elevating their offensive game For this, this situation, to take it to that next level.

And let's talk about how this team is actually fits together. The guard rotation. The first thing that jumps out on the page is anthony edwards. He's the franchise alpha. He's locked in for 35 minutes a night. You don't have to worry about that, dude. He's gonna get you buckets. He's gonna bring intensity. He's gonna give you all of the post game and pre-game quotes that you can possibly ask for. He's gonna do some devastating stuff on the court. There's gonna be at least two highlights from him every single game. You just know that is your sounding board. That's the dude when the ball is in his hands, in every big spot. That's what I'm talking about. Who's the other guy? Now?

It's a puzzle that our guy, chris Finch, has put together, but let's look at some of the characters in this play, shall we? Conley? You know what you got. He is a grizzle veteran. He's an efficient facilitator, but he's got to be preserved because he's slight. He's older, so you're going to need to cut his minutes, especially if you're gonna want him to run your offense in April, in May and possibly in June.

Dante Vincenzo is a glue guard, playoff trustworthy. He can light it up with the best of them when he is right and when he is hot. My whole thing with Dante DiVincenzo is is this the guy that you want to give the green light to when the lights are the brightest? That is my question. Shannon Jr another strong summer league performance position for Nas role. What's you know as far as that's concerned? Dillingham is the guy that we are looking for. He's an offensive spark. He needs to grow on defense, but he also needs to assert himself offensively. We need more out of him this upcoming season.

If you're talking about minute breakdown or whatever the case may be, do you see Conley play 24 minutes? Do you split it in half? Is Dante DiVincenzo going to get about 28 minutes a game spelling Conley Jr and also doing it on the other side, with Anthony Edwards, conley Jr and also doing it on the other side with Anthony Edwards, shannon Jr. He might be the 20 minute guy role that Nikhil Alexander Walker had. Now remember, in the playoffs Walker was actually doing even more, was actually doing even more. He's in the high 20's, sometimes low 30's Because you needed the point of attack defense that Mike Conley can no longer give you Right. So we'll see how that goes.

And then Dillingham you know he's got to show us something. He's going to be getting like 18 minutes a game, I think still, but he has to show something. You know, and that's the problem with development is that you don't get the long leash if you're turning the ball over. You know that chris finch is not going to have any hesitation. What to pull? This dude, you got to get off to good starts when you come into the game and sometimes that pressure on a young guard because he's not on a, on a team that is, let's say, they're not as committed to winning as minnesota is right at this point in time. But you're able to develop on those teams because it's like, okay, we got to see what we have and we'll go through some of the growing pains because of the fact that it's worth it to us in the end if this dude grows into what we think he can grow into.

Unfortunately, rob dillingham did not get drafted into that type of team, so it's a delicate balance. For sure, again, conley, being 38 years old, still a culture stabilizer. You saw him run effective offense when he was on the court last season. Dante DiVincenzo has some two-way reliability and it's going to be vital to what the hopes of all Timberwolves fans have in their head. But the vital piece is can Shannon Jr mimic his summer league performance?

Listen, we're not asking you to take over games or whatever the case may be. What we're asking for is consistent points, consistent three-point shooting. For is consistent points, consistent three-point shooting? Can you not be a sieve on defense or turnstile, whatever analogy you want to use but you have to grow up fast if you want to still rest for edwards and that is the key, the storylines to start with in mike collins jr. And why do I say that? It's because of the fact that he's a perfect tone setter. Setter last season you saw when he was in the lineup. Yeah, he might not be able to knock down the shot as much anymore, he might not be the quickest guard anymore, but he got them into effective offense and sometimes, with anthony edwards still being like a young stallion just roaming free, you're gonna see some glitches in the matrix with his offense. You know he's sometimes he's not gonna look for dudes, not because he's a ball hog or a trucker, it's just he's so competitive and he wants to get that gig back Because Anthony Edwards is about that life.

The guys that are backing up are Guy Mike Conley, obviously are Dillingham. That's the guy who you want to cut in and eat into those minutes. You want to cut in and eat into those minutes. Imagine being 20 and realizing every playoff scouting report has your name on it Circling red like we are coming after you. Welcome to the league, rob Dillingham, because they're going to hunt you. They're going to hunt you unmercifully. You got to be ready for the challenge, my guy. Now the wings, the ring forward squats, are stable.

Jaden McDaniels is your defensive switchboard. He is your hey man, I also be a point of attack dude. Hey man, I'm out here stealing the ball. I'm also a weak side rim protector. I do it all on the defensive side of the ball. You never have to worry about my energy level on that side. You never have to worry about me missing assignments, because I don't really do that. You don't have to worry about my calculated gambling as far as when it's when I'm stepping into a passing lane. You don't have to worry about any of that. You know why? Because I get down. I get down like that. I watch video. I'm on the ipad doing my thing on a daily basis.

The guy that you have to kind of a little bit worried about is julius randall. Julius randall could be that guy where you can say this is our scoring stability if he's allowed to handle the rock a little bit. I know how people don't love it, because it's dribble, dribble, dribble, pound the ball into the, into the court and then there's a lot of bully ball getting people into the paint. He does get purposeful paint touches on the regular, but the whole thing with him is is that he, if he's getting downhill into the paint, that could open up the offense for others. What is also pick your poison with him, because sometimes if you double him, if you blitz him, he has a propensity to turn the ball over. That's a maddening thing about julius randall and gobert is gobert okay. Sometimes he's gonna get you eight, sometimes he's gonna get you 13. Sometimes he's gonna get you you 19 on a good night, but he's not the guy that you can sit there and say we can pencil this person in for 16 points a game. He's not that guy. It really depends on the matchups. It really depends on the matchup. And then it really depends on how his teammates are looking for him. And what we do notice with minnesota and what we have noticed when he was in utah is that when he misses his first couple shots, his teammates don't go back to him. It's been a long-standing situation. Now, nazri, he can flex between the starting lineup or anchoring the bench units. He's an outside shooter. He has an inside presence. He has stuffed up his game monumentally over the last couple years. He is really a stalwart, somebody you can say, okay, he's a pillar on this team because his game is tight.

Soraya just dropped this note in the chat. The entry isn't Anthony Edwards scoring 28. It's whether Shannon Jr can credibly take Nikhil Alexander Walker's old defensive assignments and whether Dante DiVincenzo's playoff-tested versatility carries over to 28 minutes a night. That's the hinge on the Western Conference Finals. Aspirations.

We need to talk about aspirations and we'll probably have to save it for Tuesday's podcast because the Clippers are in deep trouble. They're in deep trouble, man, but getting back to minnesota here's basically what you're going to need to. Will anthony edwards take another leap up? It's even hard to think about, but is there any more juice you can squeeze out of that? Can conley's minutes be managed? Can we? Can we rely not reluctantly rely I'm talking about actual reliability on dante di vincenzo and and Dillingham to be able to allow Conley to get the requisite rest that it's going to take for him to stand up over 82 games 82 games regular season and then obviously anywhere between 20 to 24, plus postseason games that have the heightened awareness of a damn presidential debate. And who is going to take over the Nikhil Alexander Walker role? These are all questions that have to be answered.

Now a couple other things that we need to get to. We talked about their cap flexibility. They don't have any. We talked about the age that they have. We didn't mention that Randall is 30-31. So slippage is a real issue of concern. We talked about the backcourt fragility and where that leads. And then, as far as they don't have a bunch of first round picks to give up, what you see is what you get, unless you're willing to trade somebody from the core to get you different assets to fill in the roles that are necessary to be filled in Now. From a business standpoint, it's not a bad problem to have what they have right now A-Rod and Mark Lurie.

That ownership era has kept Tim Conley as long as you got Tim Conley there. That's a dude that figures stuff out. He did it in Denver and he damn sure has done it in Minnesota. This is one of those decision, one of those executive decision makers that you really are impressed with. Uh, because of the fact that he's been able to build winning programs wherever he has gone. That team that's in denver is mostly what tim conley built. I'll say that again, the team that's in denver right now is mostly what tim conley built. He saw the vision in yokich. They pulled the trigger, remember, they had nurkic and yokich and they pulled the trigger saying they had Nurkic and Jokic and they pulled the trigger saying, hey, we're gonna go ahead and ride with Jokic. People forget. Before the MVPs, before all of this stuff, there was a real debate on who do you keep and who do you not keep. They kept the right one, obviously, so the front office.

This is less about maximizing, maximizing brand and more about surviving april without the financial flexibility that choking off options in today's business. We talk, you know, we just here's the deal. We talk about the cap, we talk about the aprons all the time. The reality is this the wolves are already. They took their swing rudy, go there also what they gave up for rob dillingham to move up in the draft to get them right now they are. They're having, they're having to fold right now on their hands in the poker game. Right, because they don't have really anything to these hands that they getting right now aren't great hands, they're weak hands at this point. So you need to somehow power up somewhere.

And where do you get that person from or where can you kind of skirt around the edges and things of that nature it will come up to? Can nas reid become more than a folk hero and be more of a presence in that lineup? Can julius randall kind of turn back the hands of time and be the guy that he was in New York and give Anthony Edwards that real section option push that they need? And does Rudy Gobert's defense stay exactly where it is? Because we are at that point. Where is the cliff coming? I will be honest with this. That point, where is the cliff coming? I will be honest with this.

There aren't many moves to be made at this point unless you're willing to pull off one of the pieces that is one of the pillars of this team, and that will be hard to do. It will be very difficult to do on many reasons because, like, if you traded jade mcdaniels, now that dude is such a good defender, how do you replace that? Can you replace that? Can you replace the offense that he gives you when he makes the steal? Can you replace him? He's so vital to what you do it would be hard to give up on him. Or you can say, hey, do we get rid of dante di vincenzo and and something else, does that help us? What are you looking for in return? You can't spend more, really more, money than you put out. Can't do that. Can you find a guy that is underutilized and say, oh, he absolutely fits our system and he's going to be able to provide what Dante DiVincenzo provides? It is a tightrope app, to be certain, but it's hard when you have had back-to-back trips to the Western Conference Finals that aren't accidental. Anthony Edwards is trending towards perennial all NBA every single year. Last spring he averaged nearly 28 points per game on a strong efficiency against playoff defenses. That's not a projection, that's just reality. And when you have that reality, you have people like breakout defender Jaden McDaniels, transplanting his regular season flashes into postseason impact and guarded up switch down point of attack defender.

How do you go back? What pieces are okay if we get rid of this person? Where? What hole is being left? You got to be bold and you got to be precise when you're making these cuts and when you're making these trades. At this point in time, that is the, that is the skill set, that is the money maker and that is what they are paying tim conley to do.

Nobody said it was going to be easy nobody. But here we are. So obviously they have breached the first apron. They're about 5.9 million dollars below the second apron and they have a superstar who really wants to win and he's uber competitive and your superstar terrifies opponents. But if you had a two, you had a number two. It'll make your number one unguardable. Teams prep for edwards first and then everyone else second, and there's not one person on that on that team other than edwards that the defense is really scared of now. When he has it going, when he's going super good, he opens up everything on that offense. He unlocks everybody in the toolbox. He makes jayden mcdaniels better, dante di vincenzo better, hell. He even makes rudy gobert, who can't catch a pass to save his life, better. But it will take somebody to have independent offense to make this team really a viable threat towards the real contenders in the Western Conference Finals.

You know, I'll give my list right now. I mean it's preliminary. But I look at Oklahoma City, obviously as the defending and reigning champions. I look at the Houston Rockets and all of what they've done this offseason and I look honestly at the Denver Nuggets. Denver Nuggets are one of those teams where you sit there and you go damn they. They got Jokic and that's the still to me the baddest man on the planet and that's still, to me, the baddest man on the planet. I understand that Shea Gilchrist Alexander won the MVP last year and then won the finals MVP. I already got that. But Jokic is a different type of cat If he's good and he has weapons around him.

Look out, soraya dropped this in the chat. This is where Minnesota has to live in. A dual realities receives prove that the core is already working, but the pushback is valid because there's no one there's. There's no safety net. If regression hits, you're stuck. Boom end, the Boom End of story. The sands in our glass are dwindling.

When have you known somebody 7'2", 7'3", 285 pounds at 33 years of age like hit some sort of fountain of youth? And you know their offensive game goes up a level. No one does that. So you're looking for Anthony Edwards to take a leap. You're're looking for anthony edwards to take a leap. You're looking for jayden mcdaniels to take a leap. You're looking for shannon jr to take a leap. You're looking for rob dillingham to find his way on offense, or what have you playing in a, in a sparse role? It's very difficult, very difficult.

So now we're gonna move on to the new orleans pelicans, because we need to get to them. Okay, health is wealth. With new orleans and I don't know how many times we need to say this every single year it's still the same thing. It's still the same song. It might be the most expensive currency in the league. One more cold hamstring, one more labrum flare up and suddenly you're starting at a future where unprotected, 2026 first round pick could be headed to atlanta. That's not just bad luck, that's bad for franchise altering luck because, let's be real, nba injury reports can swing bigger than trade deadlines.

And here's the kicker this summer, the pelicans hit the reset button a little bit because they went out and they got rid of david gr Griffin. They were like we tired of this. We got to go in a new direction. Enter Joe Dumars. Oh, and not just Joe Dumars, who stepped in as president Of basketball ops Troy Weaver yes, that Troy Weaver, who was in Detroit For those years where they Absolutely sucked, he has has also come to New Orleans, followed as a senior VP, taking over for David Griffin. Their first big imprint I'm glad you asked this question pushing all their chips in the middle on draft night, climbing to the 13th position in the 2025 nba draft. The cost was an unprotected 2026 first round pick. That pick goes to atlanta now and that's in their back pocket.

It was bold, it was risky. It puts every rolled ankle, every strained shoulder under a magnifying glass. Oh and, by the way, when are injuries not on the magnifying glass? For this particular team? Only in New Orleans do you move up in the lottery and still feel like you lost? That is lottery luck in reverse.

You hear, you hear things from around the league. You talk to people and it's like I'd never seen anything like this. Why would you do this? You heard people go. That is a risky proposition that they took on. You hear that, um, they were definitely not ready to to make this bold of a move. You only do this when you're like a player away or you feel like the player that you're getting is going to make that, is going to make you make that leap into contention, or whatever the case may be. These are all the things that we heard from people who are in the league, around the league, and what have you? These are the. These are the sentiments of people who do this for a living right, not what I do for a living. I'm talking about decision makers, scouts. You know things like that, people who work in the front offices.

Now again, griffin's out. The dumars weaver uh connection is in. Saraya just dropped this in the chat. Front office live in fear of unprotected picks. Dumars and weaver took over for griffin and immediately made a swing. Betting on health would hold up long enough to make the 2025 move worth it in 2026. I don't know how they could take that risk, honestly.

Now here's. They made a lot of changes. The stability of CJ McCollum is gone, kelly Olenek walked, jordan Poole comes in. Now we'll talk about Jordan Poole momentarily. Sadiq Bae is back. They brought in Kevin Looney, who is. He is a guy who has been a warrior, not just a warrior in the sense of being a Golden State Warrior, but he's been a warrior, not just a warrior in the sense of being a gold state warrior, but he's been a warrior. This dude is always undersized, always bringing the physicality, always getting the rebounds. He is a absolute, like just a garbage, pale, tight dude, and what I mean by that. It looks ugly but it's effective. They also got jeremiah fierce, the number seven overall pick last year, fresh blood on this team, another young stallion, but jeremiah fears is like six foot one'2" and like a buck 65. I don't know how good or how impactful he's going to be early on.

And then let's start talking about the injury and volatility of this team. And where do we start? Well, we always start. Zion's availability has turned into Groundhog's Day for the Pelicans and Pelicans fans. Every fall it's the same question Is this the year that Zion Williamson plays 65 games? Last season he gave them flashes of heliocentric brilliance. But 30 games does not build into a playoff seat.

Dejounte Murray, who you traded for from Atlanta, has an Achilles tear. That happened in January of 2025, so he's not going to be back for the regular season starting in this, this upcoming season. They're going to bring him along slowly. If he comes back by December, you are super happy about that and and then he will not be playing back-to-backs for a while. Herb Jones Herb Jones, great defender, had a shoulder injury. Trey Murphy, the third, also had a shoulder injury. Trey murphy, the third, also had a shoulder injury. Are they going to be back in time to start this regular season? These are questions that we will not know until training camp opens up.

And the kicker is this this puts all the spotlight on derrick queen. Now I'm gonna tell you derrick queen Queen did nasty work in the NCAA tournament. Okay, this is another big boy, though he likes to eat. Okay, he was drafted. Everybody thought he was going to be in the top ten. He's a rookie, but he has a lot of talent. But here's the thing with with uh, derrick queen, the referendum on this dude. Why you are willing to go up 10 spots to get this dude is that you think he's going to be box office but when his conditioning has question marks on it, the same as Zion, they're already floating in this situation of sea of uncertainty that your first round draft pick, the one that you moved up for and then gave up a 2026 unprotected pick for, has conditioning issues. You don't want to hear that. You don't give away unprotected picks unless you're convinced your core is durable, and right now the pelicans durability is as shaky as it's ever been. Queen doesn't just have to develop, he has to hit early, because atlanta will happily cash in if he does not.

Let's talk about what is actual, what this actually looks like on the floor Opening night. So Jordan Poole Is now on this team and let me be Completely frank about this situation. So DeJounte Murray Nine times out of ten, will not start the season On the court With the New Orleans Pelicans. So they go get Jordan Poole who, if right, can be a very good guard. The problem with jordan pool is jordan pool believes that he is steph curry reincarnated.

We talked about cam thomas in the last podcast. We talked about his shot selection. Boy, you want to talk about somebody's shot selection or lack thereof, like as far as good shot selection is concerned, enter Jordan Poole into the chat Again. Will Trey Murphy III be ready to go starting opening day? Zion Williamson, all accounts, accounts, healthy, ready to go? And who's going to start at center? Is it going to be Kevin Looney? Is it going to be Yves Misi at center? I don't know. Putting restraints on Jordan Poole shot creation and shot selection is going to be imperative until Murray rehabs and he's ready to touch the court. Herb Jones is the glue to everything, keeping everything together defensively. Murphy's spacing is absolutely needed, like absolutely needed, so they're going to need to make sure that he's healthy and ready to go again.

I love looney's toughness, I love his character, I love what he can bring to this team. But we saw looney last year and it looked like he could barely get up and down the court. And this dude is not even 30 yet. He's just been in so many wars, you know so many. Being an undersized center, I just wonder if the body is gonna hold up. And again, another guy that you have to worry about as far as health and concerns is related to your damn pick next year.

The bench group is a is a is a mix of steady but also experimental. We got jose alvarado, who also missed times last year. He pushes the pace and also causes nothing but chaos and calamity everywhere he go. He's good for a bunch of steals. Jordan Hawkins, who I've been waiting for as far as shooter, as far as spacer, as far as good decision maker he's a great movement shooter but because of what was all in front of him, he wasn't able to get necessarily the opportunities that he needed to get.

Oh and, by the way, doeseremiah fears play this season? And I and I mean that in a, not in a facetious way I'm asking a question if you are the new orleans pelicans, you're joe dumars, you're troy weaver right, if you have this team and listen, jeremiah fears could be nasty. This dude was awesome in college. Again, there was shot selection issues that you might want to think about, but he was fearless, he did his thing. But again, he's very slight and in today's nba, being a shorter guard, a dominion to guard and also not have weight on you is a death sentence when it comes to pick and roll offense and we know everybody runs it bring this dude up to the, to the, to the, to the role of pick and roll.

We're gonna definitely get this switch. We are going to put our offensive guy on him and this is gonna be barbecue chicken season. Derek Queen is waiting on wrist clearance. He broke his wrist. They want to pair him with Zion. By the way, I'm gonna tell you right now, you will have no rim protection whatsoever if you got Zion Williamson and Derrick Queen on the court as an explosive athlete as Zion is, for some reason it did not translate to the defensive side of the ball when he got to the NBA. We have not seen it at all Now on the offensive side. It could be nasty work Point.

Zion is a real thing. His DHO stuff, his handling the ball and then getting people open shots because he's such an uber athlete he can jump out the building and everything like that. It's going to be crazy. Now Jordan Poole. Let's be real.

Jordan Poole experience is a wild card. The questions isn't that? He isn't that. Can he score it's? Does he know when not to stop scoring?

We're talking about a guy who waved off Steph Curry early in his career. You imagine that. You imagine Jordan Poole, 22 years of age, looking at Steph like, no, you ain't getting the ball this time. Player, I got this. This is all on me. That's the type of bravado this dude is bringing to New Orleans. You imagine now if he waved off Steph Curry. You think he's not gonna wave off Zion Williamson or Trey Murphy, the third Just asking the question. I can see it right now. He looks at Zion and says, nah, I got this, this is all me. I'm about to put up this 35 footer. Put this dude in his eye. And especially if Zion misses a couple weeks and Poole feels like he's the number one option by default, that's a combustible situation. And if this balance tips the wrong way and it's not just bad shots, it's a locker room side eye and long nights in the film room. And you know who is the beneficiary of this situation. That's right. Say it with me ATL, stand up. Atlanta is banking on this, bro. Just let you know.

It's not just the shot diet, it's Jordan Poole's allergic to defense situation that we got going on. He is not dejounte murray at all. He's never had the reputation of being even a net neutral defender. Zion also the same way, for as athletic as zion is, he is also considered a liability on defense. So for all his rim protect his rim pressure he still falls under the umbrella of a negative defender. That leaves Kevin Looney as your anchor. And let's be honest, looney's been undersized his whole career and he looks like he might fall apart just jogging down the court on defense. He's super savvy, but his legs aren't the same.

Your only hope check this out for new orleans pelicans fans your only hope is that dejonte murray comes back. And then You're talking about a guy who is less than 365 days away From an Achilles tear and people will always tell you You're better the second year After the Achilles tear Than you are the first year. You know Whether it's strength, whether it's believability In the injury that is over. Whatever it is, you're better the second year, which again brings me to the point why on earth? I understand that you love Derrick Queen, I get it, but damn, he's worth an unprotected 2026 first round pick.

This could go super south for the New Orleans Pelicans and if it does, if it does Andanta's in that lottery and for some reason they end up with a top four overall pick in next year's draft. I know that mrs benson has taken over the pelicans for her husband. Rest in peace, mr benson, who has owned the the saints and the pelicans, the saints for a long period of time, and I understand that mrs benson's priority is probably the saints as well. But I'm gonna tell you right now somebody is going to. But I'm going to tell you right now somebody is going to get fired for this situation. It might be Dumar survives it, but Troy Reaver doesn't. But somebody's going to go. Somebody will answer for this. If this goes sideways this upcoming year, where does this leave us?

Best part about the New Orleans Pelicans Is this they are Toronto Raptors South. Why do I say that? Alright, so Zion's making max money On his deal. There's some clauses. Whatever case may be, our guy Tphy the third, got paid. You also have um pool making 30 million ish. The pelicans are 51 million dollars over the cap before you even blink. Just saying the pelicans are below the luxury tax by about $4.2 million. They just got under $6 million Before they hit the first acre. In translation, they're over the cap and this team is super expensive For a team that is literally Battling for their play in lives this upcoming season.

We haven't even tipped off the season and I'm telling you that I believe this team is a playing team and, again, that that specter of the 2026 pick going to atlanta just is hanging over them. It's just hanging over them. So another team that has a classic cap tightrope act to deal with. Now the best part about what the pelicans have is that they have a lot of young players that are tradable. So you can either get less you know you can get further away from the cap situation. You also need to get better. You need to get better on defense. How do you do that? Is there a trade for Zion down the road? Who would trade for Zion? Especially when you look at this team and you go, zion hasn't played 60 games except one time in his career. Again, we've called that, we call the Pelicans Toronto South.

With a financial ledger like this, capped out at the tax line, you're starting. You're staring it in the face. It's not enough wins on, there's not enough stability, there's not enough injury resiliency to justify what the hell you spending on this damn team. Here is where the rubber meets the road. Every summer we talk ourselves into the pelicans being a sneaky, dangerous team. If they're healthy, that's always the caveat. If they're healthy and every spring it's the same damn thing groundhog's day ending. Why, meanwhile, it didn't exactly wait around for oklahoma city or the reigning, defending NBA champions Deeper and more confident than ever. Look at the Houston Rockets. Right, this is all of what New Orleans is going up against. Denver got better, right.

We just talked about Minnesota. How good they are. The clickers are a mess but their talent says they're probably a top 16. I even haven't I'm not mentioned golden state yet. I haven't mentioned the lakers yet. You know, I'm saying we haven't mentioned dallas yet. What about san antonio? There's a good chance that the New Orleans Pelicans could miss the playoffs and also be over 500. I'm going to say that again. There's a good chance that the Pelicans miss out on the top 10 of the Western Conference. That will get you into the play and still be over 500. Welcome to the west.

Let's talk about what we need to see for this to work. I mean, there's a lot of like if and but. How you know, squint real hard, whatever, but if this team was supposed to be a team that we would have to reckon with, the first 20 games are critical because you're gonna have to like finesse and you're gonna have to overachieve and all of these things. But herb jones and murphy are going to have to be healthy quickly into the season Murray's still going to be ramping up from that January. Achilles tear and Jordan Poole is the one carrying the usage load, next to Zion.

By the way, zion has to stay healthy. He, if he has a two stretch when he's not there, they can be 500 or less At best. So 10 and 10. 9 and 11. Out the gate Doesn't sound great, but you got to weather the storm and Zion needs to stay healthy. By the all-star break Pitcher gets a little clearer. If Zion is healthy and he's averaging 30 minutes a night Murphy's shoulder is stable and DeJounte Murray is back and he's giving you 20 plus minutes a game, the New Orleans Pelicans can then stabilize and become a middle-pack with enough uh, offensive firepower and we'll see what the defense looks like, because I don't believe in it at this point in time. They're gonna have to show it.

To me that's the best case scenario for this mid-season reality, hovering around the six to eight c range. That's if everything goes right. And when has everything gone right for the New Orleans Pelicans? I'll wait, because it doesn't happen. You know we're doing a lot of ifs. If Zion plays 65 games, if Derrick Queen is that dude, you know these are the things that we're going off of. It's a lot of ifs ands, what buts, whatever case may be.

Who wants to deal with this? New orleans pelicans fans? Let me know. Hit me up, uh, either on the email, frpcvince at gmailcom, or on twitter. Put in pelicans prediction, put that hashtag in pelicans predictions, pels predictions, whatever, and tell me what you think your team is going to look like this year. Or are you just basically watching the saints? Are you watching lsu football instead of the new orleans pelicans? I want to know. Hit me up on twitter at frontrunner pc, or hit our producer of atrea underscore fudge. Frpc. We want to know, and best ones, like I said, will hit next Tuesday's pot. Now here's one of the teams that the New Orleans Pelicans will probably be battling for that like 10th, like 9 10 playoff playing slot or whatever the case and be, and again, like I said, keep in mind Memphis. Memphis is still there lurking. San Antonio thinks they're a whole hell of a lot better. This is a reality that New Orleans has to deal with.

But let's talk about the Portland Trail Blazers for a second, shall we? Portland basketball is in a strange place right now. The prodigal son has returned Damian Lillard. He signed a three-year deal for 42 million dollars after his run in Milwaukee, and he's coming off an Achilles tear, so he's not gonna even be there this year, most likely. On the other hand, they also traded anthony simons away and you go. Well, why did he do that? Because they wanted veteran leadership.

If dame is not going to be there, drew holiday is a great citizen at 35, yes, and he's also technically returning as a blazer. Remember he was part of that deal, um, that was sent damian littler to milwaukee and then he was in portland for a cup of coffee, then got traded to boston. So they now got drew holliday under wraps. He will be a portland trailblazer. He'll actually don the uniform and play for you. Fantastic, he's also 35 years old with a hefty contract. He is not the long-term solution. He's a perfect stopgap, a vet who organizes the floor, uh guards the point of attack and he sets a tone while Scoop Henderson and Shaden Sharp keep climbing the ladder of success.

The front office basically swapped shot creation for defensive identity, and that's not an accident. The real story here is transition. Portland's last chapter was Dame CJ. This chapter is Probably Shade and sharp and what clinging can become, and the Emergence of To Nami. We love that cat. We love him. He is awesome. He does great things. Kamara is great. Tamani Kamara is awesome and I can't wait to see him with a drew holiday.

Who's gonna really bring some stability to this team? The blazers finished 36 and 46 last season. No playoffs. But if you zoom out, the story shifts From January 15th through the end of the year. Portland's defense graded out as a top five unit in the league. That's not a fluke.

Donovan Klingin, who they basically allowed DeAndre Ayton to walk. They bought him out. He is now a Laker. Donovan Klingin, they wanted to make sure he was able to get enough time on the court. Tamani camara is going to be part of this team. He's going to man some of that defensive wing stability that they're looking for. And then now, as far as the points are concerned, where's it going to come from? Anthony simons, who was an absolute stalwart on the offensive end, is now gone. Scoot Henderson has shown glimpses, he's shown flashes, but we're going to need to see some consistency out of our guy Scoot. Have we given up on Scoot? Have we sold any of our stock on Scoot Henderson? Absolutely not.

But if you told me who I thought was more promising well, shaden Sharp most definitely, and the emergence of Denny Abdia on this team as far as an offensive threat, as far as a playmaking threat, has really changed the trajectory of what portland is and what they could be. School henderson, who was a number two overall pick, his true shooting percentage went from 0.489 to 0.540. His fruit, his fleet throw rate, climbed to .301. So, going up, going up, his turnover rate is still at 19%. That has to go down. That has to go down Now. On the other hand, shaden Sharp His true shooting percentage is 55.1% On a 25% usage rate. There was significant scoring growth within sharp. We loved

it. But I think it had a lot to do with this next guy. Obvious year in Portland was a quiet gym. This dude's true shooting percentage was 0.605. He also had a usage rating of 23.2 percent and his assist rate was at 19.9. This dude was everything for courtland. And then you throw in clinging, who didn't get to necessarily do all the things he wanted to do last year, but he's definitely gonna get that chance this year to be that defensive anchor that he was showing at UConn and he showed glimpses of it last year with

Portland. So my question now is who becomes the second dude. Do you believe in the Denny Abdiya jump? Drew Holiday is going to be solid for you. He's going to be able to do what you need him to do. As far as that's concerned, making Holiday the starting guard also puts us in quite the predicament with Scoot Henderson, because a starting lineup with Drew Holiday, shaden Sharp, denny Abdiah does Grant start. I wonder about that because you could have a situation where it's Scoop Holiday Sharp Abdiah at the 4 and Klingin. But I think personally what you're going to have is a Holiday Sharp Abdiah to Monty Camara and Klingin starting 5, and then you will have scoop coming off the bench. You'll have uh grant coming off the bench and you got some other dudes there as

well. The most fascinating subplot is that the guard spot in drew's relationship with Scoot Henderson, splitting the lead guard role. Like I said, drew is 35. He doesn't have anything to prove. He is a champion twice over now. He won one with Milwaukee, he won one with Boston. My dude is certified. What he's doing is he is paying it forward to the young people. He's paying it forward to Scoot

Henderson. Scoot, with your physical attributes and your strength, can you be a defensive starboard? Can you be a point of attack defender? Can you shoot the ball reliably? These are all things that Drew Holiday Are to show Scoot Henderson and if Scoot Henderson listens, we will see the best of Scoot Henderson that we've ever seen. That 19% turnover ratio Must go down. You must value the

basketball. And then there's Shaden Sharp. Three years in the league, he's only 22. You know, I'm saying just a bright eye, young guy. 18.5 points per game. He shot 45% total. We talked about his true shooting percentage. As far as that's concerned, his PER jumped to 14.5. And his rim finishing got sharper. Now his playmaking not that great. He has an assist rate of only 11%. But that's why the front office is saying this is our bucket getter. You know saying this is our guy get buckets. That's why we got denny out here. He gets you the ball so you can shoot the

ball. Another guy that we need to talk about, because it was absolutely amazing on draft night, was when they drafted our guy Yang Hansen, out of China, 7 foot 1, 21 years of age, and the front office wants him to develop alongside Scoot and Sharp and also Donovan Klingon. Now what makes him special is this he has passing ability. That is ridiculous. He can shoot the basketball, he can score the basketball, but he is also kind of a developing what's our guy in? Alper and Shingun type? Yeah, alper and Shingun type. Yeah, and people are going to love him in Portland because he's a smart basketball player. Now Dame will be around. He'll definitely be around, but at age 35, coming off the Achilles tear in April, I don't think you'll see him this

year. But what he can provide in basically being the all-time portland trailblazer that he is and kind of showing these guys a rope around portland and how to go about your business and how to work along with the other vet and drew holiday, you can really do. You can. You really can can't do better than that at all. I really believe that. So I look forward to seeing what portland is going to do. And again, the front office made crazy moves and good moves. They cut bait with deandre ayton. They bought out and stretched his 35.5 million dollar uh dead cap over multiple years. Like I said, ayton is now a los angeles laker. Hopefully he can learn from his experiences in portland and also have a desire to play basketball would be great, you know, but that's not the, that's not the question in portland and also have a desire to play basketball would be great, you know, but that's not the that's not the question in

portland. Donovan clinging and yang hansen these dudes right here, are dudes that are hungry, ready to go that team, denny abdel, has something to prove. He was not getting a rock in washington, in the nation's capital. He was not getting a rock in Washington, in the nation's capital. Now he's getting a rock, being able to be a connective tissue piece in a lineup that definitely needs it. And then you bring along a Drew Holiday To add to that situation, a cerebral guy, somebody who's definitely going to make the right decision more times than

not. I like where this team is going. I like what they're doing. Shots out to joe cronin. I see your vision player. I see what you're trying to do. Could it all go? Could it all go bad? Yeah, 100. The young dudes can look at the old dudes and be like nah, dude, I don't want to talk to you. Shaden Sharp could take a step back, because remember what we always say about development it's not linear at all. Scoot Henderson could show that hey, it's never going to happen. You lost a real, legitimate scorer in Anthony Simons. Who replaces him who replaces that production? Are we asking denny abdia and some others to kind of step up and kind of sprinkle in and then cover up that production? Maybe I don't know, but we shall

see. But this is a team that really believes that they are trying to do something uh special. They're trying to make a move up in this western conference. But scoot henderson and shading sharp and denny aldia are gonna have to make leaps. And this is all happening in a west where you're staring down Shea and the Thunder, jokic and the Nuggets, durant and Houston, anthony Davis and Dallas, whit Cooper, flagg and Luca and LeBron in LA, and let's not forget about Jimmy Butler and Steph Curry in Golden State. It is a gauntlet in the West. Now the vets, if are listened to, these kids could go up and go up in a long

way. If they're not listened to, this can go terribly wrong and then you're back in the lottery, which wouldn't be the worst thing on the face of the planet, wouldn't be at all. The Trailblazers can win games. Their defense can guarantee that. But whether they win enough games to matter in April. That's all about whether development turns into production and fast enough to keep pace with the brutal and extremely competitive western

conference. My thoughts on this is that if you're lurking around the 10th spot, if you're lurking around having 44 wins or whatever the case, actually let's take those win totals down a little bit, because I think even like I don't think oklahoma city necessarily has to worry about this, maybe not even Houston, but everybody else, everybody else 48 wins might be a good season in the Western Conference. It might be really good Because you're going to lose games to a bunch of teams that normally you would be like oh no, this is light work for us, but the West is stacked. If our Portland Trailblazers can get themselves into a situation where they're hovering around the 10 seed, the 9 seed, whatever the case may be, we will see where that stacks them. You know, going down the stretch, I am looking forward to it because I think this is the most intriguing portland trailblazers team in quite some time. I think donovan clinging can be a defensive stalwart, a defensive

anchor. I do believe in denny abdia. Now, as far as hansen yang, or yang hansen, as far as that's concerned I am optimistic but also kind of tentative on what the production is going to be. And again, you lost anthony simons and you lost those, those, that ability to put up 24 points per game. So those those points are going to have to be made up by a group of people, and we saw that Jeremy Grant took a huge step back in regression last year. He shot the ball like absolute trash last year. Can he rebound from that? Because if he can rebound from that, that's where some of your points can be augmented from, but not take away from denny abdia's effectiveness and not take away from what drew holiday is going to be able to bring to that

team. A lot of questions to be answered, for sure, but complete optimism in the pacific northwest, absolutely, and I am here for it. I'm here for the drama and before we wrap, just a reminder. The best part of you is you make sure you're surrounding yourself with people who lift you up, who encourage you, who speak life into your goals. And if you already have folks like that in your inner circle, appreciate them, tell them. That's the stuff that matters way more than box scores and cap sheets. Frpc, we're building it together. Your takes, your questions, your debates. That's what fuels the next

conversation. The best replies end up on the next podcast and we cannot wait for that. So hit us up in the mailbag, drop a five-star rating, tap in with us on twitter or x, however you want to call it, on Twitter or X, however you want to call it, wherever you're talking hoops, we're listening and, trust me, the best ones always rise to the top. So we want to put you on. Most definitely, like our player out here saying Clay, he talked about what we talked about with Cam Thomas. As far as that's concerned, he said I cannot wait to see Cam Thomas and Porter Jr Do complete WWE Royal Rumble. Somebody's going to be thrown over the top rope for the basketball. That was awesome. I love that. Clay, you're a genius for that one, my

dog. So, with that being said, I'd like to thank serea for all the work that she does. Thank you, maya, for doing what you do, because we about to bring this blog to life. You know what I'm saying, and all the rest of the crew. So, from my family to yours, you guys have a great weekend. We will see you back on this feed tuesday. We will bring in more teams to talk about. We'll talk about the clippers and all the nonsense that's going on with them. You know I'm saying we'll do all of that, so you guys, stay easy. We will see you back on this feed on tuesday. Deuces, thank you.