NBA - New Orleans Pelicans Media Day - 2019

You're welcome guys! Lots of exciting and interesting stuff. This might be my favourite Pelicans squad in terms of personality up and down the roster.

Dread it.
Run from it.
Destiny still arrives.@Zionwilliamson | #WBD pic.twitter.com/tTESvBXiCT

— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) October 1, 2019

Not really sure what to thing about the Pelicans playing into the whole ''Thanos'' thing that Zion has going on.

On one hand, it's cool. The whole Infinity Gauntlet thing is a cool visual, Thanos has the whole ''I am inevitable'' thing going on that's undeniably a cool phrase, and I get the whole powerful/unstoppable thing. I get it.

On the other hand, Thanos was like... the bad guy? He was essentially Space Malthus, which isn't a good thing. Maybe I'm the only one who cares about this stuff.

I personally love it.

Perfect shield for this quick to hate generation who will take his kindness and humbleness as a weakness.

Jrue Holiday been here through it all #GeauxPels pic.twitter.com/HxIgc0Ki1Y

— Justin (@PootieWayne) October 1, 2019

Going back today to transcribe the interviews that I missed during the day itself. So I'll be uploading Jrue, Lonzo, Gentry, and Griff's transcripts in short order.

Jrue's Interview:

If the playoffs are a possibility:

''I hope so. I mean, that's everybody's goal, right? To win games and make the playoffs. I've made the playoffs before and it's been great fun and it's been a great time, but it's a different scenario when everything has changed top to bottom. So, trying not to put too much pressure on us, but at the same time hold us at a standard is key, and I feel like we'll start that at training camp.''

Having been here longer than anyone else now, how does it feel seeing all these younger guys in early, developing chemistry?

''It's really fun. It's really encouraging, like I said, people like to come here and people like to work out. The energy from everybody is positive and everybody wants to get better, not just the players but the coaches, the training staff, learning each other. It's been really really cool to see all these guys come in and want the same goal, which is to get better themselves, individually, but as a team it's been inspiring. I think I came back two and a half weeks ago, but just being here every day has been really cool.''

Impressions of Zion:

''He's a kid. Normal kid who likes to have fun. You can tell that he loves the game of basketball. He's a mutant. Mutants now just coming out of the woodwork, 40 inch, 45 inch verticals dunking everywhere, so his athletic ability is out of this world. I do think that he has a lot to learn, but we'll do a good job of bringing him along.''

Thoughts on the semi-rebuild going on right in the middle of his prime:

''I think everybody wants some stability and to be able to say that they built something and were a part of it. Especially with Griff coming in, and I'm sure that everyone in here has heard him speak, he definitely makes you feel like you're part of something more than just basketball. It's like a family, so coming here and seeing how things have gone through the years, it seems very very 'on the up', and I'm glad to be a part of it.''

Lonzo Ball Interview:

Thoughts on his fit with this offensive strategy, and how his workouts have been tailored towards it:

''For me, this summer was a lot of rehab, just trying to get healthy so that I'm ready for training camp. That's what I ended up doing, and I'm fully cleared so that's great. The team is long, athletic, guys come in and work hard, so honestly we're just going to run. On offense and defense, and go from there.''

You've played on young teams with the Lakers, and with skilled vets like Lebron. What do you see when you look at this roster?

''A lot of talent. We have a great mix of the older guys and younger guys. I feel like we have everything that we need to go pretty far.''

What do you tell a hyped prospect like Zion, given that you have experience with being hyped?

''I'm just here for him, whenever he needs it. Anything he's going to go through, I've already done. So you know, I'm with him this whole year, plane rides, bus rides, through games, on the court and off the court, so he can come to me with anything. I just wanna be like a big brother to him.''

Experiences with Jrue:

''He's a captain. He's an all-star in this league. Everybody knows that. My job is to help him, get as many wins as we can.''

Not too much to transcribe here, he's done a lot of interviews and stuff this summer so a lot of the stuff he talked about has already been covered, whether on the LightHarted pod, or the Woj Pod, or the radio interviews. But still, worth keeping up with it.

David Griffin Interview:

This is a slightly unusual roster, and therefore it's a slightly unusual coaching challenge. Why is Alvin the right guy?

''Well, that's funny actually, he's going to talk to you all next and I think he'll have some thoughts on what he's seen over the last month or so. Alvin and I had a conversation about a week ago where he said 'you know, I wish somebody looked worse than the other guys. I wish somebody would make it clear that we're the ones who aren't going to play'. That hasn't been our existence this summer. We've got guys that are hungry, that are really committed, and they love playing with each other, so I think that what we're seeing right now is that we have a challenge for the coaching staff in terms of our depth, and how those pieces will all fit together. We do have a lot of youth, and we do have experience on the one hand, and I think what excites me the most is that we have 19 years old on one hand, 36 on the other, and we sort of touch on every experience level in between. So nobody has to feel like they're on an island. So I like the roster.

Relative to the Alvin portion of this, we've talked a lot about Alvin in the past and why he's the right fit. There's too many reasons for me to say all of them but the one thing I will tell you is that when I got to watch Alvin Gentry take a team in 2010 to the conference finals in Phoenix, it was a team that played not unlike we want this team to play. They played fast, but they were gritty and had an edge to them. They were identified by the fact that they had that edge and that there was a natural competitiveness within them in the roster, and I think that competitiveness is a big part of what's going to drive us. It's why we so embrace the theme of ''Won't Bow Down'', because that came from within this group, it's the way we're built, and Alvin is the perfect coach for that type of team that can play with pace offensively and still want to bring it defensively.''

Thoughts on these pre-training camp training sessions.

''Yeah so this is the 26th pre-season training camp that I've been a part of, and I've never seen all 20 roster players in market as early as this. We had some guys come and go, obviously, but we had a nucleus of 16 or 17 guys who were here for quite a while working with each other and really enjoying playing together. I've never seen that before, and I think it puts you in a good position. But it only puts you in that good position if ultimately it's bred the kind of trust level that enables you to compete every day and I hope we're working towards that.''

On Zion:

''Well, I don't know who had the opportunity to see the Jordan brand unveiling over the weekend, but in a lot of ways he's just become more comfortable in his own skin. This is a kid who was 18 years old when we drafted him, he's still a very young 19. I think Zion's just finding more comfort within himself as a man and as a person. And that's really important to us. We don't have expectations that we're foisting on him as a player. This is really about finding himself, comfort with his teammates, finding his role. And we're blessed because all he wants to do is win. He doesn't have a vision of himself that corresponds to the way people talk about him. He just wants to do whatever the coach wants him to do; he's not me oriented he's we oriented. And then you get to see someone up close like that, he's a genetic freak. He's touched by God to play this game. And we're lucky to see that, but we're in our early stages as a group, and we're learning all the things that new groups learn about each other for the first time.

I think what I'm most excited about with him, and with all of our young kids really, is that they have a sense of 'we' that's really unique, we've seen all of our rookies go out to Tulane, out to LSU, go to the Saints games, our three rookies Nickeil, Jaxson, and Zion are together a lot. And they enjoy being together, so I love the fact that they're sort of, I think Nickeil calls them a ''recruiting class'', is that right Trajan?''

That's Zion the person, but what about Zion the basketball player? Has he played?

''Oh yeah, he's played, sure he's played pickup with the guys and he's gone up and down and he puts in a great deal of work. He wants to work in the weight room, he's ridiculously good in the weight room. He's not unlike Lebron in that he gains muscle really quickly so you almost don't want him lifting weight, you want him to be doing more core strength and those types of things. But that's what they've focused on, Jason Summerlin and Aaron Nelson have done a great job with him physically, I think Zion would tell you that he's seen a lot of those benefits when they play up and down. So we've seen him as a basketball player do some shocking and stunning things. But right now it's just finding consistency in what he can give us and I believe that that starts with having consistency off the court.''

What do you think you need to see from Brandon Ingram this year, given his upcoming free agency?

''We're excited that Brandon enters this year healthy. He and Lonzo are going to be healthy and they've been full go for quite a while now off of the injuries they sustained and that was really the first hurdle for us. Let them find comfort in playing, let them be comfortable the next day, and so as we get through training camp that's what we want to see. In terms of Brandon as a player, I think he's one of many players on this team that has a level of versatility in terms of their offensive component and their defensive component. We want to see what that looks like fully engaged. And to your first question, about Alvin, I'm really comfortable that Alvin will know how to utilise those pieces, but I think it would be really early for us to say what we expect specifically out of Brandon. We just want to see him be free and easy and comfortable for a while and see what that looks like.''

What Jeff Bzdelik brings to the table:

''What's been fun to get to see with Jeff is how he's sort of ignited the coaching staff as a whole. He brings an energy and a love of teaching and coaching that's really unique so I was extremely grateful when Alvin wanted to go down that path. He was somebody that if we could have handpicked someone to bring in, Jeff would have been it. The fact that Alvin and Jeff had a relationship and continued to build on that relationship in the summer certainly put us in a good position but Jeff's the consummate teacher and that's an energy that everyone has clung to in this organisation. We can't be a team that worries about failure, we need to be next-play oriented, how do we not worry about 'this' moment and instead think about getting better every day, and I think Jeff really embodies that.''

''We wanna be a team that really stacks victories on top of each other every day, on the court and off, and we wanna get better with the mistakes that we make. If mistakes themselves are a concern for you then you're missing the opportunity to get better from them. We're in an unbelievably difficult conference, so we're going to take some lumps and it's about what we do afterwards, and I think we have guys who are about that.''

About Aaron Nelson:

''He's here by 5:30 every morning. Guys can't beat him here. And it's interesting, when you bring that level of consistency to your approach. He can be rigid in that way, but he's getting better every day and he's helping other guys get better every day. And I think what's really interesting about Aaron and his team is the way they bring objectivity into the process, so if you don't have the amount of strength and flexion that you need today, they're going to measure it tomorrow and you're going to know you're better. So that approach just feeds in and dovetails with what we're trying to do. Just be better tomorrow.''

With a team this deep, some people aren't going to get many minutes: how do you ensure guys like NAW progress even if they aren't getting minutes?

''Well, I'll tell you it's news to Nickeil that he's not going to play. A lot of young guys approach the summer in different ways, so you'll have some rookies trying to prove that they belong, you'll have some guys trying to prove that they should have been drafted in a certain place, you'll have guys trying to prove that they're worthy. Nickeil came in trying to prove ''no no no, those are my minutes''. His approach has been all about that from the very beginning. So if he doesn't end up playing minutes, that's going to be shocking to him, because that's his mindset. He is going to deliver for us in some way and he knows it.

Jaxson's different, because when we came into this, Trajan and I, we talked about the fact that maybe Jaxson is a guy that redshirts for the year. And then the last six weeks he's doing things that make us say... [laughs] well, not so fast. From a coaching staff standpoint, obviously there are going to be some growing pains relative to Jaxson because we have a group that's so deep it might be hard to find time but at the same time he's such an energetic spark plug that you think maybe that's going to give him that opportunity. But the thing that's most exciting about that group is that no matter what, you know that the three of them are going to continue to lift each other and challenge each other in a really positive way. I think that's what I'm most excited about.''

With how open the West is this year, if the Pelicans come out strong do you adapt the plan a little and maybe pursue wins a little more?

''Oh we're going to pursue wins from the get-go. We're not here to facilitate spectating. We're here to beat peoples' ***, that's what we wanna do, but we're young enough that we may not be able to deliver on that every single day, that's when we have to deliver on getting better than we were before. But we're walking in the door intending to win basketball games, they didn't put us on national TV 30 times this year so we could take a beating. That's not what we're here for. We don't have expectations of what it means to find our greatness together, so no matter how long it takes, we wanna find it. So as long as tomorrow we're closer to it than the day before, we're comfortable.''

Alvin Gentry interview:

Commitment on defense:

''As I said when we were talking, I told the guys I'd be really disappointed if we weren't a top 10, top 5 defensive team. We have the depth, we've got
guys that understand, Jeff and I spent a lot of time talking and we're on the same page where we are aggressive defensively, not reacting but making offense react to us. I'm excited about that because I think we had the depth and the guys, and for the first time I think we have the length to play guys at multiple positions, so we should be a good defensive team. So we should the impressive.''

Nickeil, Jaxson, and Zion:

''Well those guys are the same age, number one, and they've got common interests and very similar personalities. So I think they've been able to explore the city together, everywhere from the Tulane volleyball game to the Saints game. They're extremely hard workers all of them when they're on the court but we also as coaches and administrators need to let them be who they are, who are teenage guys in a great city and exploring it and having a good time.

Where is Zion compared to Summer League:

''We didn't play him in summer league and we chose to do that collectively, but I think Griff covered it, he's an extremely hard worker. He's not a me guy at all, he wants to fit in. He's made tremendous progress, you know we have Aaron nelson here and he's the best at his job anywhere, and he's made a lot of progress in a lot of areas that are going to help him on the court. He's played pickup games... I think the thing that we need to understand, and Griff didn't cover it, is that he's not here to save our franchise, he's here to be a part of what Griff has referred to as sustainable winning. He's going to be a guy who contributes but we aren't asking him to put on a cape and come save our franchise. He's going to come in and very single day he's going to work on getting better and that's the important thing right there.''

On the difficulties of managing a team with so much depth:

''I prefer it to looking down the bench and seeing no-one, so we'll figure that one out, y'know, having good players.''

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

Jrue Holiday been here through it all #GeauxPels pic.twitter.com/HxIgc0Ki1Y

— Justin (@PootieWayne) October 1, 2019

---

Man... Jrue. Tell us how you really feel about your new squad and smile. lol

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Taker597

Man... Jrue. Tell us how you really feel about your new squad and smile. lol

---

I'm so happy for him tbh. He's had a lot of rough times, physically, emotionally, professionally, during his time in New Orleans and he's always been a brilliant player and consummate professional no matter what. I'm happy for him that he finally has a happy, forward facing, progressive, and exciting team to go forward with. He deserves it.

I'm still on my "retire Jrues jersey" kick.

Here are the Videos... might not need these with Pelicanidae's work but here you go!

#TheBrotherhood in NOLA��@DukeMBB | #WBD pic.twitter.com/WFDpsK1dth

— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) October 2, 2019

The Duke Lineup!

Taking another look at this (and yes, I know I'm beating a dead horse), Zion is clearly taller than 6'6.

Ingram's 6'9'' (at minimum, possibly taller), and Zion looks a very similar height. Okafor is 6'11'', and Zion is not 5 inches shorter than him. I'm damn sure at this point that Zion, in shoes, is at least 6'8, probably closer to 6'9''.

the best story coming out of media day for me was favors telling that he told the uber guy he is a falcons fan and driver stop the car and told him that he had to get out lol......