Pelicans NBA Draft highlights GM Joe Dumars' emphasis on building ‘aggressive team'

New York Times

3 days ago

NEW ORLEANS — Joe Dumars isn't wasting any time now that he has the keys to the New Orleans Pelicans organization.
In eight days, New Orleans' new lead executive has pulled off three trades and added four players who could reshape the franchise's trajectory, both present and long term.
On Wednesday night, Dumars landed two of the biggest names in the first round of the 2025 NBA Draft when he chose Oklahoma point guard Jeremiah Fears with the No. 7 pick, and he followed it by trading up from No. 23 to No. 13 to select Maryland big man Derik Queen.
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Though both have clear flaws: Fears and Queen are high-upside offensive talents who thrived in high-usage roles as true freshmen on teams short on firepower. Still, it's impossible to judge these moves without considering the other major trade New Orleans agreed to on Tuesday.
In this deal, multiple league sources told The Athletic, the Pelicans agreed to send veterans CJ McCollum and Kelly Olynyk to the Washington Wizards in exchange for Jordan Poole, Saddiq Bey and the No. 40 pick in this year's draft. That came a few days after the Pelicans agreed to send the Pacers their 2026 first-round pick in exchange for the No. 23 pick in this year's draft.
In two days, the Pelicans went from having no answers at starting point guard with Dejounte Murray sidelined with a ruptured Achilles tendon to having a lead ballhandler who can run the show this season (Poole), a point guard of the future (Fears) and an additional 2025 first-round pick.
With these moves, Dumars showed just how aggressively he plans to reshape the roster sooner rather than later. But will that aggression come back to bite him?
'It's the only way I've ever had success in this league. I've been around aggressive teams my entire life,' Dumars said on Wednesday after the first round of the draft. 'We're going to be an aggressive team. We're going to be an aggressive front office.'
Dumars didn't have to look too far outside of the box to make the Fears pick. The Oklahoma product was the best player on the board when the Pelicans' pick came up at No. 7 and he provides New Orleans with a building block that should fit well next to the other foundational pieces on the roster.
Despite being the second-youngest player in the draft, Fears is one of its most polished ball-handlers in this rookie class, with rare feel as a downhill slasher for someone who won't turn 19 until October.
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Having a point guard who gets into the paint at will should be a tremendous asset for a team that has off-ball threats such as Trey Murphy, Herb Jones and Yves Missi.
The one concern with Fears is that he shot 28.4 percent on 3-pointers in his only season at Oklahoma. Can he improve his jump shot enough to prevent defenses from helping off of him when Zion Williamson has the ball? If he can't space the floor, it may be hard for him to maintain a spot in the rotation above older players like Jose Alvarado or Jordan Hawkins.
Even with some concerns about his outside shot, it's hard to look past the fluidity and improvisational skills Fears has when the ball is in his hands. The more he can work his way into the rotation, the more dangerous the Pels will be.
'I like his skillset. The ability to get anywhere on the court like that is a unique ability,' Dumars said. 'If you're going to be a really, really good team, you have to have guys who can compromise the other team's defense. … When you do that, you've got a chance.'
Even though Queen is 6-foot-10, 248 pounds, he's also most comfortable when he's driving into the teeth of the defense and creating shots for himself and others. The potential he brings as a big man who can face the basket and punish defenses off the dribble makes him one of the most fascinating prospects in this year's draft. It's really difficult to find guys his size who can handle the ball and shoot with touch around the rim the way Queen does.
If Queen puts all the pieces of his game together, he has a chance to be special.
'I put his IQ for the game up against anybody in this draft. This is a super, super high-IQ guy,' Dumars said. 'He finds people. He has the mentality of a guard. He'll push it up. He's just got unique skills for a 6-10 big.'
But how will Queen function when the offense doesn't flow through him as much as it did at Maryland? That's the big question he'll have to answer at the next level, especially when he's surrounded by all the scoring options that already exist in New Orleans. For this Pelicans team, Queen's defense and rebounding will be far more crucial to immediate success, even if that's not the strength of his game.
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As intriguing as Queen is, it'll be tough for some to overlook how much New Orleans paid to get him. Dumars said Wednesday the Pelicans were pursuing trades to go up and get Queen as early as the No. 9 pick. Eventually, they landed on a deal that would send the No. 23 pick and an unprotected 2026 first-round pick to Atlanta in exchange for the No. 13 pick, which the Pelicans used to select Queen.
So, let's get to the biggest question New Orleans has to face coming out of this draft: Has everything they've done over the past week put them in a better or worse position as they look into a murky future?
While the Pelicans are happy about landing what they viewed as two top-10 picks in a loaded draft, it's still fair to question if the process that led them here will now force them to emphasize the importance of immediate playoff contention much more than they should with their current roster.
How could you not question a team trading away its unprotected first-round pick in the following season after going 21-61? Pulling off a trade like this is a massive gamble for a franchise that's become infamous for the never-ending bad luck that's scuttled so many seasons over the past decade.
Instead of entering summer 2026 with two first-round picks and $46 million in expiring deals between McCollum and Olynyk, the Pelicans dealt both picks and added another year of salary by swapping those expirings for the two years left on Poole's deal.
If Queen and Fears turn out to be real players, the complaints about what New Orleans gave away in these recent deals will fade. If Poole picks up where he left off last season, Dumars' vision for this team could start to take shape. Having multiple creators on the floor could suddenly make this offense much more unpredictable than it's been in the past.
'I just wanted guys who can attack the other team. It's hard to win when you've just got one guy who can compromise the other team's defense,' Dumars said. 'If you're around the league now, you better have multiple guys who can attack.'
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However, it's hard to look past the conflicting message Dumars and his front office are sending with some of these moves.
On one hand, Dumars has been smart about avoiding moves that will attach him to a roster centered around Williamson beyond this season. Some folks hate the idea of trading for Poole, but the Pels can easily dump him next summer once he becomes an expiring contract. Fears and Queen are intriguing talents, but not ideal complements to a ball-dominant paint monster like Williamson.
Sure, all three of them can work with Williamson, but it's not a big deal if they don't and the Pels decide to move on from the face of the franchise. The Pels can easily keep those guys around in a post-Zion Williamson world.
But if the Pelicans are headed to a future where they trade Williamson next summer, it's most likely because this upcoming season turned into yet another disaster. If that's the case, the Pels would be handing a lottery pick to the Hawks in 2026 as they begin their biggest rebuild since 2019. Not quite the same as beginning the last two rebuilds with the No. 1 pick.
Ultimately, Dumars' aggressive mindset should be applauded, considering how timid the Pels have looked during trade talks in recent years. Sometimes, it requires bold moves to get a team out of a rut.
To avoid handing Atlanta a 2026 lottery pick, the Pels must keep Williamson healthy and surround him with a more defensively sound roster — something they currently lack. The pressure to fight through a loaded Western Conference and earn a playoff spot with such a young, inexperienced roster might be a bigger headache than Dumars anticipates.
(Photo of Jeremiah Fears and NBA commissioner Adam Silver:)