A personal message to all of our New Orleans Saints fans, and the die-hard members of the “Who Dat Nation”…….

XHarahan WhoDat, AKA Barry, Staff Saints Writer

In my dual capacity as both a Saints and Pelicans staff writer, I feel it’s necessary to address the NBA Pelicans for a few moments. The NBA Draft is now just 5 days away (Thursday, June 27th), and the Pelicans are picking 6th overall. With that pick, the Pelicans are expected to select point guard Trey Burke of the National Champion Michigan Wolverines, who is projected as the top point guard in the entire draft. If the Pelicans do in fact select Burke, it will be a significant move by the franchise in my opinion — one that could potentially impact their future direction for YEARS TO COME.

What most people (particularly the casual NBA fan who is more interested in the happenings of our NFL Saints) here locally fail to realize about that, is that one move alone could propel the Pelicans franchise into a “worst to first” type of scenario. How so? Well consider this fact: the New Orleans Pelicans will in fact be one of the biggest spenders in free-agency, meaning that the team can quickly become a contending team almost overnight. In fact, the combination of youth and experience that both the potential selection of Burke and the additions to the roster that free-agency will bring, will transform this team from a young upstart into one that seriously challenges anyone that they’ll face.

The key obviously is free agency (the free-agency signing period begins on Wednesday, July 2nd), where the Pelicans are expected to land any one of the top players on the market, with all of the available money under the NBA salary cap that they’ll available to them. Imagine a Pelicans team with Anthony Davis, rookie Trey Burke, and say — current free-agents Josh Smith (currently with the Atlanta Hawks) and Al Jefferson (currently with the Utah Jazz). That would be a NBA playoff team, at the worst. So as you see, in the NBA It’s much easier to turn around your franchise’s fortunes, than it is in the NFL.

Look, I know that a majority of you football fans could actually care less about basketball — I get that. But what you should consider is that the Pelicans are also a professional team of NEW ORLEANS, and that they REPRESENT US. They deserve our support, just as much as any of our other teams (the Saints and LSU Athletics). When I was a kid, a legendary player named “Pistol” Pete Maravich and his team the New Orleans Jazz, demanded as much attention as the Saints did back at the time — especially when New Orleans Jazz fans would come out in droves to the Louisiana Superdome, breaking several NBA attendance records in the process.

The sports world at that time was forced to take notice of what was going on down in NOLA: how this showman named “Pistol” Pete was doing things with a basketball that no one had ever seen before, and how he suddenly turned football-crazy New Orleans into a basketball mecca. The Pelicans need that type of support behind them, and I know that our fans are some of the best in the world……..and fully capable of doing so.

Anyway, I challenge you Saints fans to tune in on the night of the 27th, and to start paying attention to the Pelicans. And know that no matter what happens, I’ll be keeping up with them and their exploits throughout the year and beyond; providing you with the very best coverage that I possibly can………

Pic courtesy of dimemag.com and the New Orleans Pelicans

XThanks for reading guys & girls. If you like use this link to hop to our home page where you can leave an email address to get our Saints article updates sent to your email. Just sign up in the upper right column.

XX

Don’t be a stranger… WhoDat!

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