Pelicans Make MULTIPLE Moves...

The Pelicans make multiple moves coming off their final preseason win against the Washington Wizards. And while Sadiq Foureque had a great night, a couple of other Pelicans players are now former Pelicans. And we're going to break down who got cut from the squad today as they get ready for opening night on Wednesday inside this edition of Pelicans Digest. What's good with it, my people? It's Melzo, the MIC, back once again inside Pelicans Digest. Happy Saturday. Hope you're enjoying some of the college football out there and everything else that's going on. but we had to take a quick pause for the cause from all that and get you updated on what's going on with the Pelicans who came off a fun win last night against the Washington Wizards to wrap up the preseason, 107-105. We'll recap that inside this episode and also give you the latest updates on who got waived from the roster today. But first, a quick message for the sponsors of today's video, Anson Belt and Buckle. 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You think he gets a little ball hoggish in certain situations. Tries to take too many wild shots around in that post area. But, you know, just like last season, his efficiency is going to be needed. And I think it works better with the second unit. And it proved again last night. I know the first game, I mean, the game before that, they put him in the starting lineup with Jeremiah Fears and everybody else. But I think he is way more effective in that second unit. And it kind of showed last night. Real quick, I want to show you his shot selections from last night. Because, as you know, he gets busy on the corner threes. And he also, you know, of course, works around in that sort of in the paint area as well. And his scoring was very effective last night with about four shots at the rim, four at the mid-range, three corner threes. And he was just all over the place last night. He was just shooting well. So it's good to see Sadiq Bay continue his, I guess we could say he's rewarding us for giving him that money last season instead of taking the season off, as a lot of players are known to do. But there is some questions. There's still a lot of questions. And some of y'all are already saying, like somebody wrote on Twitter, start the bench. This was a YouTube comment. and start the bench and make the starters the second team. Well, they did do that last night. You had the starting unit of Spears with Trey and Zion and Missy. And, again, Jeremiah Fears, you can put him on any one of these units this season, and it's going to work. It's going to work. But I am much more concerned coming out of this preseason with seeing how these starters, as far as the Zion, Missy, Trey, and Herb Perry just still, it just still doesn't seem like it's working. Does that make sense? It just doesn't seem, even with Fierce out there, Fierce seemed like he had to take control of the situation from these veterans. These guys have been playing, supposedly trying to play together all these years and of course injury has kept that from happening but it just seems like that chemistry is still not there amongst that group. Herb Jones is still active and still does his thing on defense. Trey Murphy had a rough night last night. He finished with 11 points, but you can tell when Keyshawn Jones was giving him the business physically, was very physical with him last night, and he didn't really start getting on until like the third quarter and getting busy. And Zion is still in this weird space. I think he's trying to figure out what he wants to do as far as, you know, not only the three-point shooting, but work on the mid-range, my guy. Like, I think we talked about this ad nauseam that if he was to master that sort of that sort of close-to-the-basket mid-range shot instead of just trying to shoot threes or crashing into the lane like a bull in a china shop, if he was to stop doing any one of those things and probably focus a little bit more on his little mid-range shot, he could score more efficiently. So it's still kind of weird, and that's why the second unit of Fierce with Poole, Matherin, Bay, and now Carlo makes a whole lot more sense the more games we seem to get and we seem to watch with this team. So, you know, that's all I got to say about that because Sadiq Bay, once again, had a lot of scoring, but the Pelicans shooting was pretty bad last night. And we're going to take a look at that on the box score real quick because the shooting last night, especially from three, was horrendous for the Pelicans, all right? Now, rebounding still, you know, still getting there But as they had 48 rebounds You kind of want them to have about 50 rebounds in this game now If you're the Pelicans But the shooting, there you see the three-point shooting Look at that bottom line Seven of 36 from three points Seven of 36 from three points for the Pelicans last night Everybody was just shooting terribly from the three-point line And that's still a concern that's still a concern Jordan Poole was missing a whole bunch of them Trey Murphy was shooting everybody and the thing that frustrates me you probably heard me say that in the game last night on the call was was hey they're not falling stop shooting them stop shooting them we and it was just crazy last night and you hope they don't get into that habit as we go into the regular season of well just keep going just keep trying just keep trying no at some point you got to realize and that shot ain't falling until you get the wide-open looks and opportunities that you need to get comfortable to see the ball go in the basket. Stop shooting them. Stop shooting threes so much. So there's still a lot of questions about the bench and the bench fit and the depth fit because we still got a lot of depth on this team. Which groups maintain spacing? From what I saw, it was the second unit. In a lot of these preseason games, a lot of the groups that maintain their spacing, especially on defense, was the second group. Who creates when first action stalls? Well, we got Jeremiah Fierce for that. We see Jordan Poole try to take on that role in the second unit. Also, Ben Mathurin is trying to create that first action when the passing stalls out. And he'll attack the basket and try to go get a free throw. And who protects the rim behind the wings? Well, you still try to figure that out with E. Missy and Carlo Magovic right now. Because neither one of them, outside of E. Missy, is doing some protection if he's not being spaced out somewhere weird. And Carlo, you know what? I'm not going to complain. I'm not going to complain. Because at least we know that Carlo is starting to get minutes. At least we know Carlo is starting to get minutes. And from what we can see, has worked his way into the second rotation. So I'm not going to complain about that too much. But the three-point shooting is still a concern. This team is not. We said this last year, they are not a good three-point shooting team. Um, but the defensive principles, we talked about this last night as well. The defensive principles that Jamal Mosley is imposing on these guys are starting to work. They are taking effect and you have to love to see it. The third unit. Now I know you're going to argue, you know, well, look at the score. Well, the third unit, young guys still trying to figure it out. That, that unit is comprised of mostly rookies and one or two year guys. They got, and they haven't played that much time together because of this experimentation with the rotation. But I think from what I can tell and from the reports I'm reading, opening night, that roster that you saw start that game against Washington will possibly be your opening night roster, which is Fears, Murphy, Zion, and E, and Herb. I think that's going to be the starting line. Jamal Mosley led to that into this press conference, saying that this is more than likely what you're going to see. Jamal Mosley is supposed to, I mean, I'm sorry, DeJounte Murray is supposedly going to be back by the time opening night comes. But again, I think he'd have messed up the chemistry of the situation as has developed if he was to come back in with that starting group. He has to start Jeremiah Fears. Now, if he wants to start Fears with Murray, fine by me. But you have to start Jeremiah Fears opening night without a shadow of a doubt. That's why I didn't want to make this a Kobe, I mean a Jeremiah Fears episode because we already talked about how his ascension has come, but last night showed me he needs to be in the starting lineup opening night. Now, I did mention the name Kobe, and there's a reason why I said the word Kobe because Kobe Bufkin and Jalen Moore have been waived, according to the Pelicans, as of today. Pelicans waived, and this is what I talked about last night on the live stream as well. I didn't think Kobe Bufkin was going to make this roster because of the glut that you have at guard. You're very pleased with Jeremiah Fears' play. You're very pleased with Jordan Poole's defensive play. And you got Ben Mathurin. You kind of got a glut at guard. But all this week, the Pelicans have made these moves, including waving Caleb Houston, who is now with the Portland Trailblazers, I think. Hunter Dickinson got signed, and the next day he got waived. He's going to the G League. And Mark Stein is reporting today that Kobe Bufkin was waived by the Pelicans along with Jalen Moore. And, you know, Kobe Bufkin showed promise, at least in my eyes, as far as being a possible three-point threat. Adding some three-point shooting on this team, especially when you consider, like I said last night, you only hit seven three-pointers last night out of 36 attempts. But, again, I just didn't see, despite how well he's shot, I just didn't see how he could fit in with this, with what they have. As far as the big money guys that they have and the guys they're committed to. And also, you got to also consider, you know, at least two of these guys were going to get kept due to contract reasons. Which brings us to the roster picture, which now favors Trenton Wofford and A.J. Johnson. They are going to be the final guys on this list right now as far as sign. And again, I think that's why that affected Bufkin and Moore as well is because look how much money they're making. You're not taking a major risk as far as money on your salary cap with A.J. Johnson who's only making $3.2 million and Trenton Wofford who's only making $2.4 million. Plus, Wofford gave you the game-saving play last night in the game. he gave you the he gave you the game-saving play having at least being smart enough to had that veteran presence to take that charge uh to settle this game and win this game for you against washington because my argument is you still need a veteran somewhere amongst that young group of guys in your third unit and trenton wofford is that guy and trenton wofford could possibly also you could also use his services in the second unit so that's why wofford you know What's going to make the team, we kind of knew this going into this game. As for the two-way players, they are official. It's Jaron Pierre Jr., Malik Dia, and Julian Reese. They're going to be splitting time more. I probably will see Pierre playing more actual NBA games this season than maybe these guys. I think Dia and Reese will probably see more time in the G League than Pierre. Jaron Pierre Jr., unless Jaron Pierre comes out and starts, you know, and gives you a game like he did last night where he kind of didn't shoot all that well. The first couple of games he played, he shot very well. But if he starts having a little setback, then I can see them saying, all right, you got to go down there to, you know, go to Kenner. Go catch an Uber to Kenner and we'll get back to you. And we'll come pick you up later on. So, but I would like to know your thoughts because I know a lot of y'all were fans of Kobe Bufkin. and was looking forward to seeing him on the team. Did New Orleans make the right call on Bufkin? And you say, yes, the Rose were crowded. B, no, keep developing him, because I don't think he can go to the G League for us. I don't think so, because he's had a couple of years of service in the league. Or C, need that final roster first, because we still don't know what the final roster is as of right now, but as of right now, the Pelicans have their 15 plus 3, which is 15 players on contract and three on two ways. So let me know your thoughts on that one. And also one more question before we get up out of here. What matters most from what you saw in the game in Washington? Was it Sadiq Fais' scoring? Was it the defensive activity? Because they still gave up a lot of points. They still gave up over 100 points, but you still had two quarters where you kept them under 20 points. Or is it the shooting concerns? anything that concerns you let me know your thoughts in the comments as we wrap up this edition of Pelican's Digest thank you so much for tapping in with us man and listen you can follow us on X right now at Pelican's Digest to keep the conversation going and also hit that subscribe button if you haven't done it yet a lot of y'all watching hit that subscribe button baby and we'll be back soon with the next live stream we still got a whole lot of time before the Pelicans go back into action next Wednesday night I'm trying to get to Smooth King Center myself I still got to figure that out fly or drive fly or drive We got to figure that out But we will figure it out And if I don't go Well we'll be live streaming So let me know What y'all want to do man Let me know your thoughts On the game last night What you saw That impressed you What you didn't like Did we make the right moves As far as in waving guys Let me know man As we get ready For another season Of Pelicans Basketball Just a few days away We go live And we go live Thanks for tapping in with us It's Mel Talking about those Pels I holla at you