Mind you, Rudy Gobert, down low, repeatedly signed as the Pelicans Lone All Star this season.

So can you take us inside the locker room a little bit?

Are the Pelicans now sort of Zion's team?

And how does that dynamic inside a locker room even really work?

You know, this is a great question, because it just sort of happens naturally, and this is absolutely no you.

No disrespect to Brandon Ingram, who's having a stellar year 24 points per game.

You know he's doing exactly what he needs to do.

But the pelicans, they are becoming Zion's team.

And that's not a bad thing, because I in we all know this.

The league is sort of ready made for Zion to take over.

He's a special player.

He can get you buckets without calling the play for him at the age of 20 he might still be leading the league in points.

You know, pain points per game and the reason why it's becoming, you know, Zion, Team.

Rachel's because, you know, last year as a rookie with a lot of new pieces, you're probably gonna defer more.

The veterans, especially when B.

I is having an All Star year.

And right now the team is settling in building their chemistry.

They're finding out there nice little passing pockets for Zion with a nice flow.

Also figuring out how to move off Balsa Zion can go to work.

This is the version of the pelicans that shows progress, even though it is becoming Zion team.

That's not a knock on Brandon Ingram.

It actually is showing that they're headed in the right direction because now they have two very talented players that can compete every night.

First of all, let's get it straight.

The pelicans are the King Cake Babies team, and there we go.

There we go.

Yeah, I in the way.

The way I would put it is, it's Zion's offense, and I think that's appropriate for the pelicans.

I think it slots everybody into their appropriate role, said No one is overtaxed.

No one's trying to do stuff that's even 2% outside their skill set.

You know Joe Boylan, who was an assistant for the pelicans.

He once told me that he would tell Brandon Ingram We can contend for championships here when you become our Scottie Pippen, and that's not to compare Brandon Ingram to an all time great player.

It's to say when you don't have to be the number one option on offense, when that big fella can be and you can concentrate on getting us 27 assists, play all NBA level defense.

That's when we can be special.

Look what it's done for Alonzo Ball.

He doesn't have to worry about running the half court offense.

He can be a demon in transition.

In the half court, you can skulk around and hunt for threes.

Throw the extra pass.

It puts everyone in the right spot.

This is the version of the pelicans that can be dangerous down the line.

I'm really looking forward to seeing them go through that second half schedule.

Now, after the game, we did hear from Zion's coach, Stan Van Gundy, expressing some disappointment and how he has officiated while Rudy Gobert he had a different idea on the situation.

Take a listen here.

Someday he's going to start to get the calls he deserves to get, um, you know, any game where he's not shooting 10 free throws or more?

I'm guaranteeing you in this cart.

Obviously, you know the ones that when I go straight up and I get everybody in the chest, uh, there's not much I can do about that.

You know, they talked to us about all these rules and being very cold, and it's great.

You know, uh, I've been trying to do it over the years, but when someone jumps elbow first, you know there's not much you can do.

It looks good on the highlights, but it's still an offensive foul now.

Zach coaches saying their stars don't get the calls as a tale as old as time.

But do you agree in this case, what do you want?

Hey, look, Zion, shooting free throws a game like we're a little early in Zion's career, for the reps are giving enough him enough respect.

Kind of takes, uh, and and look, Rudy, go bears like he's right.

Zion jumps into you.

You fall backwards.

I in just keeps going up, but this is in the tradition of shock.

Blake Griffin and now Zion, these physical freaks that are hard to officiate.

There's so much contact, they're so physical.

It's hard to know what to do.

I think eight free throws there.

They should be happy with that.

He's shooting 71% at the line.

They should be really happy that that's going in the right direction.

It's a little early for this kind of stuff.

To be honest.

Yeah, and for a free throws, you know, rookie.

Plus, that's a lot of respect that the league and the referees are already given to you.

Usually it's vets that sort of command, that type of free throw attempts.

And by the way, Zach, I am, too, for 2 100% from the field when it comes to getting the baby in king cake.

So, yeah, I'm represented is pretty nice.

Woo.

That is very impressive.

If you don't know how the King Cake baby works at Mardi Gras time in New Orleans, I could not urge you more to go look that up on the Internet.

But when you go all the way to King Cake baby pelicans in the search bar, just be prepared because it might be a little frightening.

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