The wait is almost over. Pelicans basketball is almost back! Tonight, the New Orleans Pelicans take on the Memphis Grizzlies to open the season, and head coach Willie Green has shared some incredibly exciting news. During a practice that took place on Tuesday, Green provided the update fans had been waiting for about rookie big man Derik Queen.
"He’ll be evaluated after today’s practice. But it looks like he’ll be a go," said Green.
Green is implying that Queen will be available and ready to play in the team’s season opener tonight.
There couldn’t be better news than this for fans, especially with Kevon Looney being sidelined with a knee injury for the next two to three weeks. It’s not just about the excitement that Queen’s playstyle brings to the Pelicans, but also the fact that this team needs size right now with Looney out, and DQ is going to be that.
Following the Summer League, fans were worried about Queen as he looked like an unfinished product. Then, when he got hurt, that worried sky rockets as many thought this was going to make it even harder for him to get ready for his rookie year, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Based on what we’ve heard from Green and Joe Dumars, he took this time to improve his conditioning and prepare his body better for an NBA season.
While people wanna act like Queen was horrible all Summer League, he was just getting adjusted to a new pace and a new game. The skills aren’t the problem. It was always the conditioning, so if he really did work on that, the Pelicans just got an absolute beast back in their lineup.
Queen is going to ignite a fire within this team
At 20 years old, Queen led Maryland to the Sweet Sixteen in the NCAA tournament. To do that, you have to be a hell of a leader, especially while being a college freshman. Even though he’s going to be a rookie, I think DQ is going to be vocal in the New Orleans locker room and be someone who sets the tone each night.
Queen has added motivation as to why he wants this team to be successful this season. Throughout the entirety of the NBA offseason, the media mocked the Pelicans' front office and Queen because the team gave up an extremely valuable first-round pick to draft him. That being said, if you know anything about DQ, you know he’s taking this personally and will use it as fuel to ignite the fire within him and this team.
It feels like no team in the league has been dragged through the mud and disrespected during the offseason more than the Pelicans. And for them to turn all this hate and disrespect into motivation to win games and dominate, they need Queen at the forefront.
Tonight is a new chapter for the Pelicans front office and their fans, and it should be a fun one.