rebuilding,
they have CJ McCollum. We talked about Zion Williams and
it seems like we're always trying to figure out. When is
he coming back? When is he coming back? When is he coming
back? When is he coming back her? So
when you look at that New Orleans team,
what do you love? What do you say? What do they need to go?
It's so hard to get a read on them until you get Zion in that
mix, right? Like I think, by the way, you're not going to
see him this year,
but he is on Instagram throwing down between the leg off
the backboard. Or dumps. So, you know, I,
he still got his hops.
It is such a weirdly run organization and it just it's
really look mccollum's. A win now guy, he
much like we were talking about Lillard. That was. He's not
a young player anymore. Right? Like you bring him in to win
now, he's been good. Brandon Ingram is an All-Star level
player. There are good talent there. If you play those two
with Zion
and Zion can play.
70 games, give or take 65 games.
How good is this team?
They strike me as a playoff team,
but
I need to see it. Right? And Willie drain. I think has done
a great job where they
got a steal of the draft herb, Jones might be the steal of
the draft. That guy is already in a really strong defensive player
and he's starting to
provide a little offense. Like there's a lot to like there,
but I don't know what to make of them until I see them with
Zion
for an extended period of time.
Yeah, I think that's that is like the ultimate
common right there on New Orleans like refrain from
judgment until you see the team with Zion for a full season.
Yeah,
that's kind of and that's been one of the issues that we've
seen like so it's very difficult when you think about
it as an organization, you know, as fans
it's difficult because we love watching exceptional ball
players, play ball. And that's what Zion is as
an organization. You'd only imagine. Especially when you
think about rookie deals like all trying to build around like
You compliment Zion but then
you know that he's not on the court,
you know, so it is a probably a conundrum from their
perspective trying to fill this out with with contracts and
with pieces.
So talk about
not that I do not want to untie, right? That's
complicated.
And they've got a tough decision.
They've got the big decision this summer. I don't even
really think it's gonna be that much of a decision.
He's eligible. Zion is eligible for a rookie contract
extension.
In the 85 games, he's played over three years. I think it's
85. That's right around there, which is
one season out of three, basically.
He's been the best interior scorer in the league 20s,
maybe, 27 points and non 61% shooting last year. He's
a force of nature.
But I
almost it's going to be like, Joellen, beat that, I think
we've talked about this before, you,
you're going to, you know, the Sixers extended Joel and beat
after 31 games and bet that he was going to become the guy. We
now see our the Pelicans willing to make that bet on
Zion.
I think they should.
But that's my whole point though is that
it's fun. It's funny because
it's almost like a no-brainer
because there just aren't Zions like no one just makes ions.
You know I'm saying so it's like a no-brainer like bet on
him for the long run. He's so young to and this is Love with
Steve Kerr, talking about James Weisman are you know, it's like
be patient. He's like 20 years old.
So so like that's the one thing it's like look with with Zion.
They aren't Zions and we talk about players who can play for
a long period of time into their late 30s,
if that's the case and even with that stat that you
mentioned. It's not it's not a flattering stat, but you
looking at 15 more years of Zion, potentially, right? So
look, like from my perspective, you been on a guy like Zion
because you know, you're never going to
get another Zion,
you know, anytime soon.
Unless you're willing to pay
a quarter of a billion dollars,
you know, so
and can do Orleans do that. So they're in the perfect position
but it's so tough because at the same time, it's a catch-22.
You have
the dream scenario. You have one of the most remarkable
players in the world and one of the best talents in the world,
but he's not healthy. How do you build around that?
Like, it's like almost like throwing darts in the dark, you
know, like will CJ work your way over and over, you know,
look, how do you do it and
so we're watching in real time. It's a rental.
Sebastian experiment.