The Pelicans Can't Catch A Break...

The Pelicans just can't catch a break, as once again, before the season even gets started, we're dealing with players that are now injured. We're going to talk about what players are on the injured list as of right now, and also give you an update on some of the roster moves made throughout the weekend as we get you started inside another week of Pelicans Digest. What's going on, my people? It's Melzo, the MIC, back once again inside Pelicans Digest. Thank you so much for tapping in with us on this Monday, and I hope you had a great Columbus Day. I hope you enjoyed the holiday, and I hope you enjoyed the weekend, but I know the vibes are bad all around the city because the Saints, once again, caught another brick from the Vikings, Blame Mickey Lewis. But we ain't going to talk about that. We're going to talk about what's going on with the Pelicans, who just can't seem to catch a break as the injury bug is once again hitting this team, and we'll give you the updates about it in a matter of minutes. But first, a quick message for my friends at Anson Belt and Buckle. You know what ruins a great outfit fast? An old beat-up belt that doesn't fit right. Most guys are still wearing belts with stretched-out holes that either pinch your waist or sag and throw off your whole look. That's why I'm excited to have Anson Belt and Buckle as the sponsor of today's video. Instead of holes, Anson uses a micro-adjustable track system with quarter-inch increments so your belt fits perfectly every single time. And once you experience that kind of fit and comfort, trust me, you'll never want to wear a regular belt again. I've been wearing mine non-stop, and honestly, it's the best belt I've ever owned. once you try it trust me you'll never go back to your old belts and if you're wondering why you should trust them this is a company that's still proudly family owned and operated has earned over 40,000 five-star reviews like this one from Chad M and backs their belts with a lifetime guarantee on functionality they stand behind every product they make and once you get one you'll see why and because Anson Belt and Buckle is sponsoring today's video when you click the link in the description to build a box set you'll get two bonus pieces a buckle and a strap completely free that's three buckles and three straps which can be mixed and matched into nine unique belt combos all in one box it's an exclusive deal and you won't get it anywhere else so click the link build your set and upgrade your belt game today as we get it cracking inside this edition of Pelicans Digest as the Pelicans had practice today and uh i think it was a half day of practice due to the holiday but noticeably absent from practice was the Dojante Murray and once again it's being reported that the Dojante Murray is being placed on day-to-day precautionary not for now with a right toe contusion as Murray has been out since before the Orlando game uh last week he was being held out due to as a precaution but now it sounds like his this injury is much more serious than we thought and he's now going day to day but the Pelicans still have time to get it right with Murray as he gets ready uh and hopefully we'll have him back for the Dallas game but this also is costing the Pelicans precious time on the development of trying to get the chemistry together defensively for Jamal Mosley and offensively as well uh which is something we're going to cover this week uh especially as we get ready to head into this Dallas game um but Murray not being there is once again costing the Pelicans valuable development time in minutes and it's unfortunate because uh Murray hasn't we have given Dojante Murray more grace do we have than Zion Williamson and what i mean by that well if you take a look at his career stats so far pay attention to the games played number Dojante Murray has only played 81 or more games 80 or more games only once in his career other than that he's always been injured in some way shape or form we all know what happened last season he only got to play in 14 games uh the season before that he played in 31 games but other than that never played more than 80 games in the season for any other team that he's been on and that's unfortunate that's unfortunate it is also going to start having a lot of questions being asked about his availability i like the DeJounte Murray as a player don't get it twisted i love what he brings to the table i love his energy I love his leadership capabilities as far as helping Jeremiah Pierce develop into the point guard that he's becoming. And this is going to start making the Jeremiah Pierce starting argument even stronger if he continues to be out. Now, they have more than enough time to get right with DeJounte Murray. More than enough time. Your first home game, your first real game until next week. So you still got time to get over that right-toe contusion if you're DeJounte Murray. But I just begin to fear that, you know, this is going to start turning negative towards him as far as what he brings to the table. I know a lot of y'all have already been out on Murray. A whole lot of y'all have already been out. A whole lot of y'all have been in the comments saying that you wanted him traded. Or he should be the first, one of the first candidates at the trade deadline to get traded. But, you know, I still will hope and want to see this develop on him. Him to continue to develop and work with this team. I truly hope that. But, you know, the clock is ticking and time is running out. And it's starting to look bad out there for DeJounte Murray as he misses practice today. And we'll see tomorrow and get you know tomorrow whether or not he's going to be available for the Dallas game or if they're going to hold him out for the Washington game or they're just going to hold him out until the start of the season next Wednesday. All right. And more injury news. We're getting reports now about Pelican's guard, A.J. Johnson. he suffered a finger injury uh and he has not played in the preseason as of yet uh and we i was starting to wonder about A.J. Johnson I almost forgot he was on this team and because i was like wait a minute don't we have another guard that we can run it was supposed to be A.J. Johnson but he has not seen any action in the preseason so far due to this this finger injury and you know this can become a problem for the Pels as well because, and this more has to do with the contract status. A.J. Johnson is one of the only players who has a guaranteed contract. His contract is fully guaranteed this season. He came over in the Memphis trade for Micah Peavy and Jordan Hawkins. And so you're sort of starting to get a little thin at the guard position there because, you know, you got Fierce. You already got Murray out. You got Jordan Poole. You got Benedict Mathurin. um you got Bryce McGowans but other than that and Kobe Bufkin as of right now and if Johnson's not careful his money could go to Kobe Bufkin if he's not careful so it's gonna be interesting to see how that continues to develop with Johnson uh as we are still awaiting the chance for him to get on the floor um but because his scoring is going to be needed and his ability to get to the rim is going to be needed now his finishing at the rim is a thing to be desired it's something to be desired but he's going to be needed at some point and considering that his contract is fully guaranteed uh it could be it could read like Jordan Hawkins 2.0 all over again it could read like that all over again so we will keep an eye on AJ Johnson's situation even though it doesn't look good so far but again he has time to possibly work his way back into the rotation and possibly get his way into some games especially these two games that we got coming up this week all right also in some roster moves the Pelicans have waived center Christian Koloko this news comes on uh just the next day after the Miami Heat game where he played i believe four minutes and got two rebounds and two blocked shots looked very good defensively but when i look back and looked at that game totally off-sync offensively i mean he looked bad offensively and this was the concern and the knock on him uh going into this season and what the Pelicans felt like you know if the the Koloko were defensive defensive presence then you needed a guy like Koloko but then again why cut him so fast why cut him so fast i mean did we not get a chance did you not like what you see i know he was bad on offense in the rotation and stuff and again you can go watch that game he looked bad on offense but if you're claiming that you're building a defensive roster it would have been nice to have a big defensive guy like that if only for four minutes where you just need him to play defense, the Pelicans had waived Kaloko though and he was being real regarded as a strong locker room presence and his former teams have nothing but good things to say about him but now he's available on the open market and at the same time the Pelicans on the same day that they released Kaloko picked up Jalen Moore and gave him an Exhibit Ten contract that are now going to give him a tryout to try to make this team. Moore played a few minutes in summer league this past summer, although Moore missed all of last season with an Achilles injury The Pelicans signed him with them in September in order to gain his G League rights. Moore returned to action in July, averaging six points, four rebounds, and one steal in three games. and 19 minutes per game for the Pelicans summer league in Vegas And I think they're going to bring him in because of the DeJounte Murray situation I think that's why they're bringing him in to test him out and see where he could possibly fit in in terms of what if Murray is out prolonged or anything longer than this week. Then you have to consider and start weighing your options and what you need to see. I didn't see nothing explosive or mind-blowing about Moore in the summer league I really didn't. But this all is starting to have a cascade effect on this Pelicans preseason, which so far, you know, you got some good things Like, for one, they have been rebounding better. I think through two games, the Pelicans have 50 rebounds, which is good It would take them a week to get 50 rebounds last season but the two games they already got more rebounds than they normally would have which is a good thing the bad thing continues to be that they still are not set defensively and not effective defensively once again considering you gave up 128 points to uh miami you gave up 70 uh 60 something first half points to the Oklahoma City Thunder the first week before and you're going up against a Dallas team on Wednesday who are bringing in you know getting ready to be fully healthy and bringing all their guys back so it will be a true test but we'd like to know your thoughts on the Jontay Murray and the risk that he is now presenting for the pelicans clap back with your thoughts as we get ready to wrap up this episode of pelicans digest how worried are you about the Jontay Murray's toe type a for it's october who cares we're gonna be all right we still got time type b for i'll believe it when he's on the floor or type c for this is exactly how last season started because c is exactly how last season started with the Jontay Murray on injured reserve and your hope is that by next wednesday he won't be on injured reserve and he's going to be able to contribute clap back with your thoughts in the comments a b or c and also don't forget to hit that subscribe button if you haven't done it yet all right this is where you get the best analysis opinions and more about to do all this pelicans right here pelicans digest you can also follow us on x right now at pelicans digest over there and we'll chop it up and we'll talk about everything that's going on with the pelicans it's mel talking about those pels i'll let you tomorrow