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Cam Jordan
When pro defensive end Cam Jordan isn't running after quarterbacks, he's running his own businesses. He sat down with Microsoft's Jessica Hawke to learn how AI can help being.
Jessica Hawke
Innovative with how to have success and how to formulate that success. That synergy between AI and a business come together. It's like Coach's game plan as well as the player. AI is creating a perfect plan, and it's the business like, hey, we have this imperfect solution. Let's meld them together and see what happens.
Cam Jordan
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Tas Melas
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Cam Jordan
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Tas Melas
Over. Roger, wait. Is that an enterprise sales solution?
Trey Kirby
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Tas Melas
Oh yeah, baby. Is this an emergency trade for us? It is. You bet. It's the time of season. I'm Tas Melas. With me, it's the man in the middle, Trey Kirby Ayo. Hey. Oh, that's an AO in the question form.
Unnamed Host 1
A little bit of a question because, yeah, this is titled an emergency podcast. But Tas, this is more like an urgent podcast to me. The difference between going to the emergency room or going to urgent care. We can't really wait till Thursday on this one, but it also isn't worth firing up everything for an emergency podcast, nor making a whole day of it. So this is an urgent podcast as far as I'm concerned, and it might go down in history as our shortest standalone episode. I don't know how many thoughts you have on Jordan Poole and and CJ McCollum, but I can't wait to hear.
Tas Melas
It's a great description of what this is urgent because it's a trade in a bad way. A discussion in a bad way. So it's, you know, urgent slash emergency. I could see this trade being in an ER for sure because I'm a little confused as to what this is. So let's break it down the big names. Jordan Pool going to New Orleans along with Sadiq Bay and a number 40 pick in this draft going the other way, CJ McCollum, Kelly Olynyk and a future second round pick. So no monstrous names that are really going to change what these two teams are next year. But if they do change anything, Trey, it's probably in a negative way. So I'll let you start. Give me your thoughts on these two teams exchanging mainly pool for McCollum.
Unnamed Host 1
Yeah, kind of trading very similar players just of different ages I guess. Start from it. On the Washington side, CJ McCollum has come closer to making an all star team I think than Jordan Pool. Though Poole does have a championship I think we're seeing with the Wizards with this trade with Khris Middleton trade during the middle of last season, with bringing in Marcus Smart in the middle of last season the same way they brought in Brogdon at the beginning of the year. I think what we're seeing in Washington is veteranizing, right? They're bringing in these good veteran guys. Khris Middleton is a winner. Marcus Smart is a gritty defensive player. C.J. mcCollum is a great locker room guy to get around in an absolute bucket as well. Even Kelly Olenek kind of fits the mold of a guy that their youngsters can really learn from. Furthermore, these contracts are all lining up nicely from for the end of the 2526 season. So we're talking about next year. The Wizards are going to have a ton of cap space. I think Fred Katz was projecting something like 100 plus million dollars in cap spaces. They have very few deals on the books after this coming season. So this is pretty similar to that for the Wizards. They're getting off Jordan Poole's contract one year early. Getting a similar style player in C.J. mcCollum, a guy who can score without the ball and who's thrives with the ball. Surely like with Middleton, like with Marcus Smart. They've got to be hoping that these guys are able to recoup some value maybe at the trade deadline and bring in some more assets for trades and future stuff for the Wizards. I assume that's the thinking here because it seems like a lateral move. If we're talking about C.J. mcCollum and Jordan Poole, I don't know, 34 years at the beginning of next season season for C.J. and 26 years old only for Jordan Poole. So definitely the Wizards are getting a little bit older. You know, they've been at the bottom of the Eastern Conference for a few seasons. Now they want to at least start putting the building blocks of becoming a real team going forward. So I understand the move from their part. CJ McCollum Definitely a more steady veteran presence than Jordan Pool, though once we get into the New Orleans side of things, you're going to be disappointed because I'm on Jordan Pool island, buddy.
Tas Melas
Yeah. And I guess that's why a lot of people here in the stream team are asking what are the Wizards doing in that they're getting older, as you said, and getting rid of the guy who's definitely got. If you're going to talk about potential, the more potential to have a long NBA career in Jordan Poole and just have more years because he's way younger. That being said, I created a banner for this show that says what are the Pelicans doing? And there it is. Because I'm confused. Obviously for, for me, the Wizards are just getting rid of Jordan Pool. Sunk cost, get out of here. They had a two year experiment. It did not go well. And I just find it difficult for the Pelicans to really think that this is going to help their locker room, help off who they are. I, I, I, again, more potential, sure. But really, you're taking on a longer deal. Arguably a worse player. I know Jordan Poole is extremely talented, but Sage McCollum at least got it done. I'm, I'm just, I'm not sure. I think it's a longer deal. And see, and Jordan Poole just has not had a good two years. And so that's the, the confusing part. For me, it was a short experiment and, and for them to say, the Wizards to say this guy's getting paid, you know, around 33, 31 and $34 million, that's not a lot in today's NBA guaranteed money. And for them to say, no, thank you, that means they are done with the Jordan Pool experiment completely. And so that's just a terrible sign. It's a terrible sign for the Pelicans because I just don't think that this was a smart move by their new front office saying, we're given a shot on Jordan Pool to change who we are. Really. I mean, last year, a ton of injuries, they won actually 49 games the year before that. But do they think they're just going to turn this thing around with Poole and Sadiq Bay, who now their front office, Joe Dumars and Troy Weaver. I understand why Troy Weaver is doing this. He loves Sadiq Bay.
Unnamed Host 1
Did he draft Sadiq Bay?
Tas Melas
He might have he did he did. He drafted him in draft here. There is a Troy Weaver, Sadiq Bay loop here. Troy Weaver got him in Detroit, then he traded him to Atlanta. Then he was a senior advisor in Washington. He signed him in Washington, helped out there and now is Jimmy the Pelicans come on back, baby. So it's a wild loop. I think those two guys, Poole and Sadiq Bay just aren't going to add a ton. I was here in Atlanta. I know you were trade to watch Sadiq Bay who they gave up five second round picks for. And he really just is unable to stay in front of anybody defensively. He's just lost on that end. And so we're going to see a lot of that in New Orleans. He's not going to help out there. And so I just think this is a risk that you, you're, you're, I guess you're taking because you think you can turn Jordan Poole around. Well, I, I really don't get what the idea is. Wouldn't you rather have the freedom of one year and one year to be able to say we, we got some cap space? Now they have to take on the 31 and 34 million dollars in two years along with two years of Sadiq Bay, which is way cheaper. It's, it's tiny. It's like six and a half and seven million instead of an expiring CJ McCollum and an expiring Kelly Olenyk at 13. So that's $43 million that you could have expiring instead. Here we go. We're going the Jordan Pool era. And that's kind of confusing to me. But I could, I could be, I could be deemed an idiot because Jordan Pool could relive, I suppose what he did in a better environment with Golden State. But I just don't see that happening in New Orleans where they're already amidst all these problems. It doesn't seem like they got it together. So it doesn't seem like Jordan Poole is going to come fix it.
Unnamed Host 1
I don't think cap space means a lot for the Pelicans. They're not a free agency destination and they've got more problems to figure out than what free agents they're bringing in. Are they keeping on Williamson? You know, it's one extra year of contract and for the Wizards, they value the cap space. I don't know that they're going to sign anybody either or just maybe get used for leverage. Personally, I'm taking Jordan Poole over CJ McCollum at this point in their career. He's eight years younger. Poole is coming off a season where he had career highs in points, assists, steals, three point percentage. I'm not saying he's a great veteran leader, but he wasn't a joke this season. Okay, but I mean, how. Yeah, but how often are the Pelicans actually doing anything in the Western Conference with CJ McCollum leading the way? This guy is always hurt and he has taken a step back. He's at the end of his career where at least pool. Maybe he can get a little bit of rehabilitation down in New Orleans. I do not love the fit with Dejounte Murray and Zion Williamson. Sadiq Bay doesn't really factor into things for me. He's like at best a third wing for this Pelicans team. But I don't know. I don't mind rolling the dice on pool. I still think he's a talented player. There are not a lot of us here on pool island, but I like the way he plays with the ball. I think he's a good shooter off the ball as well. One extra year of contract for sure. That's going to be interesting for the Pelicans.
Unnamed Host 2
But I don't know, I. I thought.
Unnamed Host 1
Poole was actually pretty decent for the Wizards last season, even though the Wizards didn't do literally anything in the Eastern Conference. Literally the worst team. But I like the way he plays. I like the highlights for Jordan Poole. He's a big cat guy. So I think that's kind of nice as well. This, to me, people were saying it on Twitter. It felt like everybody else was making trades. So these teams are like, that seems pretty cool. Let's get in on the trade game. And maybe they were just getting bored, I don't know. But I think it's kind of. I wouldn't call it a win win or a lose lose kind of a what? What? For both teams. But if you're talking player for player, give me pool over CJ McCollum.
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Cam Jordan
When pro defensive end Cam Jordan isn't running after quarterbacks, he's running his own businesses. He sat down with Microsoft's Jessica Hawk to learn how AI can help being.
Jessica Hawke
Innovative with how to have success and how to formulate that success. That synergy between AI and a business coming together. It's like coaches game plan as well as the player. AI is creating a perfect plan and it's the business like hey, we have this imperfect solution. Let's meld them together and see what what happens.
Cam Jordan
Ready to raise your AI game? Find your winning edge at Microsoft.com challengers.
Trey Kirby
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Tas Melas
That's I think what a lot of people are feeling too. This guy obviously can drop 40 and no one would be surprised. Sadiq bey has dropped 50 in this league and that was a special special day. It's more I think a long term view that the pelicans should be taking Dumars Weaver come into this front office and they make the choice to go with these guys have who have two years guaranteed rather than being able to see what they've got this year and be able to trade these expiring deals and then move on Next year as they move on from CJ McCollum who is a great locker room guy and would move on from Kelly Olenek, again, a great locker room guy who they've traded for pool and Bay, who are not in general. I mean, I am a Jordan Poole fan. I wanted to see what he did in Washington. He came off the bench for a while for Brian Keefe and things were all right in year number one and year number two. He obviously scored and did those things, but it just seemed like the chemistry that he and Kyle Kuzma to start the season and the young guys who came in obviously did fairly well, but they got rid of Kuzma, I believe, because things were tending to fall apart there a little bit. And I think that's why the warriors, or excuse me, the wizard, said we're ready to move on from the pool era. And I said warriors because I was thinking of what the warriors had to attach to Poole to get him to Washington. And they attached a first round pick. So Washington's gotta be pretty excited that all they had to attach was a. A 40th pick to get him to New Orleans. I'm interested to see what he can do there, but I just, I am a little bit not worried. Worries is the wrong word. I mean, I will be watching it as a spectator just to see how those guys in the locker room get along. Are they going to be able to jive together? That's, that's something to me I do not expect in New Orleans.
Unnamed Host 1
Who's the leader for the Pelicans?
Tas Melas
It's a great question. Probably the guy who doesn't play Zion, I guess.
Unnamed Host 1
Yeah, that's the problem is that their main guy is unreliable at this point. Even Dejounte Murray was out of the lineup for the majority of last season. Broke his hand in game one against the Bulls, came back and got hurt once again. So, yeah, maybe if Pool is the number one guy, the number one veteran there, it's not going perfectly. But if he's the third guy, I don't think it's all that bad. And who knows if he's able to steady his game. I think this could end up being decent for New Orleans to turn CJ McCollum an expiring contract. You're not getting anything better for CJ McCollum at this point in his career. He's got such a big deal. There's not a lot of players that match up to him salary wise. I don't think anybody's going to trade a first round pick. For him, I might be proven wrong at the deadline because surely the Wizards would trade him in the future if, if somebody is going to give up a first round pick at the trade deadline. But I kind of think this is just odd for both teams. I mean, C.J. mcCollum to Jordan Poole, there's just such similar guys, you know, like you don't want them to be your number one ball handler, but they can be in a pinch. If some guys are out of the lineup, you don't necessarily want them to be your leading scorer, but there are going to be nights when either of them are leading scorers and it's just weird. I think maybe the biggest, like the biggest secondary piece is Kelly Olenek. The shooting is going to probably help the Wizards, though. You know, Kelly Olenek has been traded to a lot of different teams and everybody's always like, oh, that shooting is going to help. And guess what? It never really helps that much. The guy's a backup big man, but he can help on the inside. The Wizards have ball handlers already in Middleton, Bub Carrington, Marcus Smart. So I don't necessarily know how CJ Fits in there, but it was the same with Jordan Poole. How does he fit in there?
Unnamed Host 2
I don't know.
Unnamed Host 1
Just interesting stuff. Sometimes you just got to trade guards.
Tas Melas
Yeah. And you trade a. A guard here in C.J. mcCollum, who's I think the vice president of the NBA Pennsylvania, along with Kelly Olenk, as you said, who's very old and he can pass the ball and he'll do that for all the young guys in Washington. But unfortunately he's kind of slow on the defensive end. So he'll be a guy really, you know, a poor man's Isaiah Hartenstein, I suppose, who just will be giving it everywhere and just getting the young guys involved. I think I would just rather take that one year experiment of those two guys versus the two year experiment of what they have in New Orleans and guys who are injured, plus a pool experiment in a very, very tough Western Conference. So I'm sure Dumars and Weavers are saying, this guy's talented, we can get them in here, maybe we can change it up. But there's just. There's too many working parts, there's too many variables in that New Orleans locker room to be excited about. So I'm impressed that we got to 15 minutes or so. You know, I think it's pretty equivalent to what we did when Cam Reddish was traded. I think, I'm guessing, yeah, that was.
Unnamed Host 1
An emergency Podcast Cam Reddish, who was even traded for. He was to Knicks.
Tas Melas
To Knicks. Yeah, it was. It was a first round pick, I think. I think it was Charlotte's first round pick that the Knicks had that was going. Went to Atlanta, I think, and that's it. There's no other guys to talk about.
Unnamed Host 1
There wasn't even another guy in the trade. If we did an emergency podcast for that must have been a slow trade season.
Tas Melas
Was there a Kevin Knox involved? I. Maybe, maybe. Maybe a Kevin Knox involved. So I'm impressed. We got to 15 minutes. Is there a chance, Is there. Is there one last thing? Is there a chance that either one of these teams sniffs a plan? I mean, you'd probably think, I mean.
Unnamed Host 1
New Orleans is a lot closer than Washington is. New Orleans has a guy who can be a top five player in the NBA if he's healthy and motivated every single night. Zion is unstoppable when he plays, and he's got shooting outside of him with Poole and all the different wings they have in Trey Murphy, in Herb Jones. Assuming these guys both stick around, though, they've been in trade talks. But, I mean, New Orleans is a lot closer to making any sort of postseason appearance than the Wizards are. The wizards won, what, 18 games last year, and that was an improvement on 15 wins.
Tas Melas
Yeah, but it's the east, baby. They won 15, baby. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They won 15 two years ago. And now C.J. mcCollum could be bouncing this team up even higher than what they did last year, which was 18.
Unnamed Host 1
Yeah, I think they could win. I think right now the Wizards could win up to 23 games. Pretty exciting times in Washington. It does kind of indicate to me maybe they're looking at Ace Bailey, you know, just somebody to come in and take a whole bunch of shots. He's looking for kind of like a star making place where there's not a lot of names in front of him who are going to be getting all the touches. I mean, CJ is a high usage guy, but he is more of a sidekick kind of player than pool sometimes. Wants to be the lead dog for sure. So maybe this means they're looking at Ace Bailey going forward. I don't know. To me, this is all table setting for the Wizards on their draft picks. And then certainly going into the trade deadline, they'll be active with all these vets who might have more value to contending teams. And then of course, they're going to be very active in the free agency market in 2026.
Tas Melas
Quick circle back. It was Kevin Knox with a first round pick for Cam Reddish and Solomon Hill and a second round pick. Now that first round pick I don't think it conveyed at all because it was conditional. So really it was Kevin Knox for Cam Reddish essentially. Thanks Ash for the the heads up here. And I guess there was guys involved that we talked about. We probably talked about Solomon Hill. I mean he started playoff games so.
Unnamed Host 1
He hurt LeBron at one point in time.
Tas Melas
Good callback. Great callback. All right. We will likely be back Thursday in the studio to talk about the first night of the draft, barring any other emergency podcasts which are required like this one. But for now, Clipper Bros. You heard it here first.
Unnamed Host 3
Have a great time.
Tas Melas
Turn up.
Unnamed Host 2
Love you guys. Awesome.
Unnamed Host 1
Thanks for joining us. And remember, urgent podcasts are the new emergency podcast.
Tas Melas
They're so hot right now. Talk to you guys soon.
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Podcast Summary: No Dunks – Urgent Pod | Pelicans Acquire Jordan Poole From Wizards For CJ McCollum
Release Date: June 24, 2025
Introduction
In the June 24, 2025 episode of No Dunks, hosted by Skeets, Tas, Trey, and JD from The Athletic, the panel delves deep into a significant NBA trade: the New Orleans Pelicans acquiring Jordan Poole from the Washington Wizards in exchange for CJ McCollum, along with other assets. Titled "Urgent Pod," this episode aims to dissect the immediate and long-term implications of the trade for both franchises.
Trade Breakdown and Initial Reactions
The episode kicks off with the hosts acknowledging the urgency and unexpected nature of the trade. Tas Melas sets the stage by questioning the strategic move:
Tas Melas ([02:27]): "It's a great description of what this is urgent because it's a trade in a bad way."
The trade specifics are outlined:
Tas emphasizes that the trade doesn't involve blockbuster names but holds potential volatility for both teams.
Analysis of Washington Wizards' Strategy
The discussion shifts to Washington's motives behind the trade. The panel highlights the Wizards' strategy to veteranize their roster:
Unnamed Host 1 ([03:49]): "CJ McCollum has come closer to making an all-star team I think than Jordan Poole."
Key points include:
Tas critiques the Wizards for opting to trade Poole, a younger talent, for McCollum's veteran experience, questioning the long-term benefits.
Pelicans' Perspective and Concerns
The conversation then pivots to the Pelicans' side, with Tas expressing skepticism:
Tas Melas ([06:11]): "It was a short experiment and, and we can't say thanks with CJ McCollum completely."
Key concerns discussed:
Tas concludes that the Pelicans are taking a significant risk, hoping Poole can reignite the team's fortunes amidst existing issues.
Host Opinions and Debates
The hosts present divergent views on the trade's merit. While some appreciate Poole's offensive prowess and potential upside, others remain unconvinced about his ability to adapt to New Orleans' dynamics.
Unnamed Host 1 ([10:06]): "Personally, I'm taking Jordan Poole over CJ McCollum at this point in their career."
However, concerns about Poole's fit with the Pelicans' roster and the overall team strategy persist. The discussion also touches upon Kelly Olynyk’s role and whether his shooting ability can offset his defensive shortcomings.
Future Implications and Team Dynamics
Looking ahead, the hosts speculate on the teams' prospects:
Tas sums up the uncertainty surrounding the trade:
Tas Melas ([16:48]): "Who's the leader for the Pelicans? It's a great question. Probably the guy who doesn't play Zion, I guess."
Conclusion
The episode wraps up with the hosts acknowledging the trade's complexity and the limited time to cover all aspects in a single session. They anticipate monitoring the Pelicans' performance and chemistry in the upcoming season to fully assess the trade's impact.
Unnamed Host 1 ([23:24]): "Remember, urgent podcasts are the new emergency podcast."
The panel commits to returning for further analysis post-draft, signaling ongoing coverage of the evolving NBA landscape.
Notable Quotes
Closing Remarks
No Dunks continues to provide insightful and passionate discussions on NBA developments. This episode offers a comprehensive look into the Poole-McCollum trade, highlighting the strategic maneuvers of both the Wizards and Pelicans while presenting diverse perspectives from the hosts. For fans seeking an in-depth analysis of NBA trades and their ramifications, this episode serves as a valuable resource.