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Yahoo Sports’ Draft Live crew reacts to the New Orleans Pelicans acquiring Maryland big Derik Queen at No. 13 in the 2025 NBA Draft.
Here’s my question for Dairy Queen.
We know he’s skilled.
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We know he’s talented.
He can dribble the ball, he can get to the rim, can’t really shoot the ball.
So at 6’9, 6’10, what position is he because he almost gives me a tweener.
He can’t be Nas Reid because he didn’t shoot it well enough, but he can’t be the Joker because he’s not big enough and defensively he’s not great.
So what really is he?
I mean, he was successful in college.
This is a different ball game.
So to me, even though I love his skill set, I love what he brings to the table, to me he feels like a tweener, so I have a lot of questions of truly what is he?
Well, this is what I will say.
New Orleans general manager, second in charge.
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Troy Weaver.
When Troy was in Detroit, it’s two things that he had 11 of his first draft picks was Isaiah Stewart, right?
6’8.
Out of Washington tweener, small, smallish but long arms and you projected him as a defensive player who maybe could shoot down the line and it wound up working out.
He’s a valuable backup big.
The second part is especially going towards what I said earlier about them targeting Queen at 7.
2022, I believe, he looked at Jalen Duran and Jan Ivey, and the thought was, oh, you’re gonna go get Jalen Duran at 5.
He wound up getting another pick, getting IVF 5, getting Duran at 11, and that became a piece.
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Now Detroit had a lot of problems in the next couple of years and they, but the bones of that team were made through the draft and made on the back of Troy Weaver’s sort of scouting in that way.
Building a team, not so much.
Scouting really good.
Any other thoughts on Derek Queen and what his ceiling could possibly be?
I think, I think the ceiling, if he reaches his ceiling, you know, the, the, the jumper develops, he becomes a guy like Nasri who can attack closeouts with quickness.
Like he gets low as a ball.
Like he’s 6’10, but he like he plays like a guard like like just the you saw the winner he hit in the uh in the Sweet 16.
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That leaning floater and all that, I mean like he’s got a lot of ball skill, right?
So if he develops and if Zion stays healthy and if Jeremiah, we’re not and if Jeremy we’re not doing that we’re not doing that.
How does he fit with Zion?
Well, you don’t believe Zion gonna stay healthy?
You got belief.
What evidence do we have?
We have, we have no we’re playing the if, if, if, OK, if, if Jeremiah Fierce figures out his jumper, if Trey Murphy and Herb Jones come back healthy, the Pelicans are interesting.
They’re interesting, like like there’s a, a, a fit.
These guys together that works.
It’s just there’s so many ifs if if if ifs with all these guys where you don’t feel a level of confidence, but I, I actually like the overall fears queen draft for them so far.
