Leroy’s Pome Pad
A place for my good friend, Leroy B. Mossi, to display his poems. Leroy is a Baton Rouge-based poet.
Pelicrown
A Sonnet Crown for the ‘23-’24 New Orleans Pelicans Basketball Team, who tied for the second-best season in franchise history.
It’s written on your head. I love you. I
love you. I love you. Barely have to squint
to make you out on TV, Z, which is
good. You know, my eyes aren’t in the best
shape these days. Unlike you, who gets stronger
and more powerful each game. Injuries
be damned! Keep it up Zion Williamson, son of the
Carolinas, Duke legend, I cannot
believe McDonalds named you Runner-Up
for Mr. Basketball USA to
RJ Barrett in 2018. But
let’s face it, some things don’t go our way.
Others do, like a New Orleans title.
You’re the superhero of the team, Z.
A team full of superheroes, CJ
McCollum, Bacchus giveth thee reigns to
destroy Portland every damn time. It’s
my favorite. Or is it the fact that
we both majored in journalism, bro?
El Presidente of the NBA
Players Association, senior to
Zion by nine years, one of the big three.
Y’all, he was the man at Lehigh back in
the day. Patriot League champeen! You know,
CJ led the Mountain Hawks to knock off
Duke for their first-ever NCAA
tourney win, 2012 season. Broken
bones can’t keep these Pelicans from flying.
You can’t keep these Pelicans from flying,
but Herb Jones can stop ‘em mid-flight. The type
of hustle a city can get behind,
the brand of player that sells a million
jerseys. I’ve got one in purple, green, and
gold. You know, every three you hit, my dog
and stepson run a lap around the house
with me. “Not on Herb,” they say in the streets.
It doesn’t even bother me you went
to Bama. (So did Mark Ingram––love him
too.) You grew up there, high school state champ turned
SEC Player of the year. Defense
kind of your thing all along. Your wingspan
would be something to behold with feathers.
Imagine your wingspan with feathered wings,
Naji Maurice Marshall, class clown sixth-man-
of-the-year in my book. Remember the
time you hit that three from the Wolves’ three-point
line? That was awesome. How ‘bout that time when
you had Butler by the throat? Miami
fans hate The Knife. I saw death threats on your
IG account. But you’re our hero. The
son of a pro boxer, military
school, more Wash, DC, than Baltimore, some
Jersey, some Cincy even. First Team All-
Big East as a junior at Xavier,
but you’re a Pelican since, Naji. Our
strong warrior who holds the line when called.
Speaking of strong warriors getting called,
Dyson Daniels your defense off the bench
is remarkable. That cool Australian
accent––it was a treat hearing you talk
after watching you crush it on the court
for many games with no expectations.
You’re 21 for God’s sake! Body is
resilient, back on the court in six weeks
after suffering a torn meniscus.
Added toughness must come from your Aussie
rules football days, which DBook may not have
known about when he shoved back. Both dad and
an older brother played college b-ball,
toughness is obviously in your blood.
Toughness is definitely in your blood,
BI, or is it the headband over
those wicked cornrows? I don’t need to know
the secret to that jumper to know that
it’s so sweet. Brandon Ingram, you saved us
this season, scratch that, you’ve held our regards
beyond Zion’s absence, and I’ll never
forget it. New Orleans fans can be kind
of harsh. But you’re North Carolina’s High
School Mr. Basketball, a Duke phenom
ACC Rookie of the Year. And you’ve
given us a show. If I had to do
it all over, AD’s going to the
Lakers again, a rotten NOLA death.
The #LakeShow is where good Pels go to die,
but Jose “Grand Theft Alvarado” would
never play dat. ACC Defensive
Player of the Year, first Georgia Tech ship
since 1993! Number 15,
an essential part of the team. You earned
a quadruple-double back in high school.
Only four guys have ever achieved that
in NBA play. May you become the
fifth. CJ’s backup man and much, much more.
Born in Brooklyn, Puerto Rican monster
and quick, yeah! They never see it coming.
It wouldn’t be the same NOLA Pels sans
you, more like a stealth bomber than a man.
Pelicans, no. These men are stealth bombers,
none quite like “My Name Is Jonas” the one
and only Valančiūnas, not quite Jurgis
Rudkus, a different kind of icon
from Lithuania altogether.
This one can dunk, shoot from mid-range, even
hang a three from the top of the key. I
wouldn’t leave that guy open. Can they watch
you in Russia anymore? Do they still
pull for you, the former rebounding and
blocks leader and MVP for the month
of February in the VTB
United League? Pelicans’ Cal Ripken
he shows up for every single game.
The Pels fans love a player who shows up
consistently and Larry “springboard” Nance
Jr. was the key the team needed to
win on countless occasions this year. Nance
has some big ole shoes to fill, his dad was
“The High-Ayatolla of Slamola,”
a title only achieved by winning
the first NBA dunk competition.
But y’all, Larry plays defense, he passes,
he loves hanging on the rim, reminding
all of us of his lineage, b-ball
royalty. Back in college, Nance Jr.
carried the Wyoming Cowboys to the
tourney for the first time in a decade.
Jordan Hawkins is a tournament champ.
Pelicans’ 13th overall pick in
the 2023 draft. Not enough
playing time this year had some fans whining,
and I can’t blame them. A UConn elite
sophomore, cousin of Angel Reese, you know
that one, LSU’s tough “Bayou Barbie.”
These cousins from Maryland led their teams
to championships two years back. The Hawk
put up a career-high 34 points
against the Mavs in January. We
all wondered what the heck he was doing
on the Birmingham Squadron afterward.
We got guys that play D. Don’t give me that.
He can shoot the three from deeeep and play D,
you may have guessed it, Trey Murphy III.
An ambitious player, one of only
11 college guys in the 50-
40-90 club. That’s all-time by the
way. A season with 50 percent from
the field, 40 percent from behind the
arc, and 90 from the foul stripe. When they
ask why Hawk is on the bench or in B-
Ham, I say it’s because even you played
in B-Ham a little as a rookie.
It was fun watching you play with fellow
Carolina native, Zion, this year.
Even though it’s over, next year we fly!
I kinda thought we’d see more flight than we
did, Matt Ryan, but ’24 was still
a breakout year for you, oddly enough.
Some fans still remember the sting from a
corner three you nailed for the Lakers in
2022, helped them push past the
Pels by three points in overtime. The three
specialist, Mr. New York Basketball,
a title earned in high school. Been a rough
road, undrafted in 2020, eight
teams in four years, four of them G-League, but
you’re on the path, made first NBA start,
against Detroit in April. A fighter,
not up in the air, whether you’ll stand tall.
Listen, the Zeller can’t help standing tall.
Former Hoosier, Indiana Mr.
Basketball back in 2011.
This guy has all kinds of great nicknames, like
“The Big Handsome,” or how ‘bout “the savior
of Indiana Basketball. Not quite
the savior of New Orleans, but Cody
gets out of his seat when the fans do. My
fav is “the worst slasher villain of all
time,” since after a Jalen Suggs elbow
broke his nose for the second time last year,
he has to wear the mask. Love his support,
a third-string center with Finals savvy
brings more to the team than I’ll bet he knows.
I wonder if they know how much they bring
to our lives, especially someone like
Jeremiah Robinson-Earl who could
use a nickname badly. How about “Swiss,”
or “Leatherman?” One of those gadgets that
can do whatever it’s called to do. A
Kansas native who has all the right stuff
to be great. Big East Freshman of the Year
at Villanova, Earl has two FIBA
Gold Medals, one an Under-19 World
Cup, second, an Americas Under-
18 Championship. Bro is really
young and hungry, and fits right in with us.
It’s written on our faces: We love you.
It’s written on our faces: We love you
Pelicans. You are our superheroes!
Nothing can keep New Orleans from flying.
A wingspan that hugs the Crescent City,
the strongest warriors at The Blender.
Our state flyers have toughness in their blood
and dignity, circling over the Lake
not like birds but stealth bombers from the three.
Our fans rally for a guy who shows up.
To win a tournament, you must show up
first and play defense and land the big shots.
And if you meet your match, next year we fly!
There’s no questioning the Pels’ standing tall,
they’ve given us much more than basketball.
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