2025 NBA Draft

[Fedupfan]

This is a first for me. I wanted both these players. I really like Queen and think he can be a Naz Reid type of player for the Pels. Fears was the best PG to me available and it was a need considering Murray should be thrown out the door. Just a great draft for me. I don’t care about next years draft yet. Dumars has to assess the roster and decide who fits. We already know that he can get a first for Herb, Trey, and Zion. Let’s see who fits first. They wanted two players and went and got them. For the first time it’s not some snake oil BS. We heard they wanted these two guys weeks ago and they drafted them.

[liger420]

The only way this trade makes sense, whether or not Queen is good, is if the Pels can pick higher than 13 next year. This assumes the Bucks do not trade Freak because if he plays even without Dame, you assume they are not a lottery team next year.

This trade is made on the assumption that Murray will be healthy enough to play and want to; Zion is healthy and remains on the team; Murphy is not traded; Poole plays like he's on GSW, Herb is healthy; Messi continues to develop.

If you take BI and CJ off a healthy Pels team last year, and add Murray and Poole to it, are they a top 17 NBA team, for sure? I wouldnt make that bet.

[Fedupfan]

The only way this trade makes sense, whether or not Queen is good, is if the Pels can pick higher than 13 next year. This assumes the Bucks do not trade Freak because if he plays even without Dame, you assume they are not a lottery team next year.

This trade is made on the assumption that Murray will be healthy enough to play and want to; Zion is healthy and remains on the team; Murphy is not traded; Poole plays like he's on GSW, Herb is healthy; Messi continues to develop.

If you take BI and CJ off a healthy Pels team last year, and add Murray and Poole to it, are they a top 17 NBA team, for sure? I wouldnt make that bet.

Well they have Willie as the coach, so the roster rarely matters when the coach can’t coach.

[DroopyDawg]

[13 - 3]

?This was one of the five dumbest trades of this decade.?@BillSimmons was SPEECHLESS after the Pelicans traded away a 2026 unprotected first-round pick to move up 10 spots. pic.twitter.com/GpV3N53eBW

— The Ringer (@ringer) June 26, 2025

[ml wave]

I tried to give Dumars the benefit of the doubt, despite the game passing him up 15 years ago and a series of horrific moves in the back half of his Pistons tenure (seriously, do you know how bad he had to be for the team to fire him? as popular as he was as a player and won a ring as a GM and still got fired). I tried to overlook Weaver as GM despite his horrendous record in Detroit. When we traded CJ for Poole I thought, maybe we're going to create some roster flexibility, gather some assets, and take a year or two to rebuild. But between the trade with Indy (complete malpractice not to wait for their season to be over to make sure Hali didn't tear Achilles) and this debacle, there is no more hope. There simply cannot be any legitimate process that would lead someone to make this trade. The worst part is that these morons think we're going to be good next year--Poole, Zion, Queen, Fears...none of those players do anything without the ball in their hands, just the type of player that Willie Green hates. Which would be fine if he wasn't the coach.

[Pelicanidae]

The worst part is that these morons think we're going to be good next year--Poole, Zion, Queen, Fears...none of those players do anything without the ball in their hands, just the type of player that Willie Green hates. Which would be fine if he wasn't the coach.

It wouldn't even be the end of the world in terms of that if we had a better, more creative coach.

Poole was a chucker in WAS, sure, but he has shown he can play off-ball at least a bit in Golden State. During his final 3 years there (so basically everything after his rookie season) he shot 35% from 3 on over 1400 attempts and over 70% of those were assisted.

Zion, funnily enough, has spent a huge portion of his career (when he's been playing) forced off ball because we were playing him alongside BI, or in the post, or alongside CJ when CJ was running the point for bizarre reasons. One of the bigger complaints about Zion, in terms of how he's been used, is that we have only rarely committed to giving him the ball for extended stretches.

Fears, too. No, he has no off-ball skills so far, but he has the kind of speed and burst that makes me think he could grow into a cutter, and at least he can handle the ball when Zion is off the floor (assuming our current roster remains as it is and we don't add another ball handler). He's a rookie so playing him largely against backups and lower minutes (20mph rather than 35 type thing) kinda makes sense.

Queen is the big one who sticks out like a sore thumb. When the ball is out of his hands, he does nothing. Zero interest. I have rarely seen a player more disengaged when he's not the centrepiece. He doesn't defend the rim, really at all, partly because he's too small to be a true center and partly because he rarely tries. And offensively, while he is quite skilled (good passer, very good touch out to the FT line) he is only that when he is the one with the ball in his hands. Doesn't shoot, isn't a big vertical spacer, doesn't roll hard, doesn't really screen that much. If he isn't on ball, he doesn't care.

Now, can that change in the NBA? Of course it can! I hope it does. I really really hope it does.

But is it the best place to be at this point? Absolutely not. Do we have a coach who is creative enough offensively to try and get the best out of Queen, or reliably place Fears in a position to succeed? No, we don't. Do we have the reliable true big to cover some of the holes in someone like Queen's defense? No, we don't. Do we have the legion of shooters needed to help someone like Fears, who can't shoot at all? No, we don't.

It's a really awkward fit, with a coach who doesn't maximise this sort of thing.

Again, I hope I'm wrong. I hope that Fears becomes a nightmarish slasher whose finishing elevates enough to mean he only needs to become a mid shooter, and I hope that Queen decides to really put his effort in and becomes a much more committed off ball player who is willing to use his agility defensively too. I really hope that.

[JJackisangry]

Really the goal of the current rebuild but not really rebuild should be to bring in as many players that can compensate for Zion being off the floor and take a bit of the burden off of him. Fears should be able to do that down the line. Queen should theoretically give us some good offensive stretches and replace what we have missed without Jonas. You do want Zion being the primary piece, but you need him to stay healthy. That starts with getting a competent offensive squad that meshes. As Dae said you question whether anything will work out with this coach. I haven't seen it. Even if I disagree with what Dumars did, there is a method to the madness of bringing in offensive talent. We just have to hope either Willie has an epiphany or it meshes better than expected.

[JJackisangry]

I?m in wait and see mode but I am intrigued by the 2 picks we made tonight. It?s a new era in Pelicans basketball for better or for worse.

This is where I am at. At the end of the day, it is new potentially exciting talent to watch. Can it get any worse? I doubt it. At some point Zion will stay healthy right?

[RaisingTheBar]

I actually do like him a lot. 13 is a stretch though. Dumars got fleeced. We just have to hope he is right and makes me look like a clown for doubting this trade.

I don?t think the fact he went at 13 was a stretch at all, I think the fact we put no protections on us or Milwaukee?s pick is pretty wild.

[JJackisangry]

All I can say is I really like Queen as a player. He is very fluid and coordinated for his size. Has the potential to stretch the floor and can be an inside threat as well. While I don't think he will win ROTY, he is an actual candidate. If he adjusts to the NBA early it will be a big boon for us this year.

[DroopyDawg]

[msusousaphone]

Here's a weird tangent but kinda goes along with the "Willie isn't good at getting players to fit together" discussion....Borrego is supposed to be good at that. He was brought in with the specific idea that he would be doing that.....so what's up? Is Borrego overrated? Is Green ignoring his strategies? Is Borrego sabotaging Willie to take his job?

Really it probably comes down to the fact that our top seven players all missed anywhere from 25 to 60 games last season but it still seems like Borrego should be doing more.

[Pelicanidae]

Here's a weird tangent but kinda goes along with the "Willie isn't good at getting players to fit together" discussion....Borrego is supposed to be good at that. He was brought in with the specific idea that he would be doing that.....so what's up? Is Borrego overrated? Is Green ignoring his strategies? Is Borrego sabotaging Willie to take his job?

It's fairly well reported iirc that Green just completely ignores Borrego lmao.

And you can kinda tell; remember that one game Green was out and Borrego was the head coach and the entire team looked and played different? And it was so much more dynamic offensively.

[Pelicanidae]

Time to find out what we actually do with the 40th pick. Will we draft a complete upside gamble? Or well worn veteran college player? A balance of the two? Will we trade it? Will Dumars sell it for a photocopier?

Time to find out.

[Pelicanidae]

Kinda hard to think about who sticks out to me as being potentially there at #40. It's not a super deep draft and most of the big names I would want are gone, and Fleming's going 31st.

A couple of names I'd be interested in here, and why. There are maybe some others too but these just come to mind.

Ryan Kalkbrenner - We need a center so badly and he is a center. 7'1 at the combine, just under 247lbs, 9'4 standing reach, 7'6 wingspan, decent performance at the combine. Has improved as a shooter in college year on year (low volume though), solid rim protection numbers though nothing insane, elite finisher at the rim. Rebounds okay though nothing special for his height. Good passer, not incredible. Plays the PnR well and has slowly added some pick and pop to the game which sounds like the kind of thing we want. 5 year college player which has both advantages and disadvantages.

Sion James - Another 5 year player, Sion's kind of a Swiss Army Knife type player. Good, compact, physically strong defender, 6'5 with a 6'7 wingspan and almost 220lbs he's kinda like Dort, in some ways. Physical defender, awesome history of accumulating stocks at college, decent defensive rebounder for his size but not great on the offensive boards. Pretty good FTr which is nice. Not a great shooter but has improved across all 5 years of college, from 28% his freshman year on 25 attempts to a combined 39.4% from 3 on 188 attempts over his final two senior-age years. Wish he shot more but there is potential there; mechanics are a bit clunky but the results are coming. 81% FT shooter in his final year at Duke also, which was an improvement. Obvious downsides are age, lack of star upside, not a true lead guard, not a dynamite shooter, not really a creator. Functional, good, solid wing who will defend and hit corner shots from 3.

This is assuming guys like Reynaud and Fleming and Penda are all gone by 40. Hard to know who will be there.

[markid]

Word is Sun's trading to get the 31st pick and nabbing Fleming.

[Pelicanidae]

Celtics trading Noah Penda at No. 32 to Magic for No. 46 pick, No. 57 pick, 2 future second-round picks.

— Underdog NBA (@UnderdogNBA) June 27, 2025

Fleming gone at 31, Penda at 32 being traded to the Magic.

[Pelicanidae]

The Charlotte Hornets have selected Sion James with the No. 33 pick.

Intelligent passer, defender and energy source who supplied a young Duke team much-needed experience contributing steadily to their Final Four run. pic.twitter.com/lcRbYFJ60C

— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) June 27, 2025

Sion gone to the Hornets.

Kalkbrenner still on the board.

[bradael]

Kinda hoping for a 3/4 year productive starter at 40 over any raw *2 years away* player, especially with Fears and Queen being freshman and likely needing some time to develop. A 4 year starter more likely would be able to come in early in the season and give at least some reasonable minutes ala Herb Jones, except he ended up far exceeded expectations.

[Pelicanidae]

The Charlotte Hornets have selected Ryan Kalkbrenner with the No. 34 pick. Keeping and rostering.

Four-time Big East Defensive Player of the Year from Creighton has a huge opportunity to contribute after the Hornets traded Mark Williams yesterday. pic.twitter.com/BXtacUNF73

— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) June 27, 2025

Wow, I really got double sniped by the Hornets. Two picks in a row, they take my guys.

Maxime Reynaud to the Pels? lmao

[markid]

Kalkbrenner gone

[Pelicanidae]

The Philadelphia 76ers have selected Johni Broome with the No. 35 pick. They will be keeping and rostering this pick.

The SEC Player of the Year, Broome was one of the best players in college basketball the past 3 seasons. Brings strong physicality, skill and feel for the game. pic.twitter.com/oYdkb2Do5L

— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) June 27, 2025

Broome to Philly.

[Pelicanidae]

Adou Thiero goes at 36.

Pistons are on the clock at 37. Maxime Reynaud is still on the board.

[markid]

Time to get snipped one pick before ours