Pelicans path to contention
First of all i have to mention that myself and couple other posters have been chased away from this forum near the end of last season because we were "too negative" about this team.
That is why i will post only this post this season and wait to see how to season goes and review it.
Pelicans did some moves this season which left us with current roster, for better or worse. However if Pelicans want to contend there will be some though moves to be made in the future.
I am not a fan of DeJounte Murray as a player nor as a person(i find him too cocky considering his achievments in the NBA).
He has some major flaws in his game but the one that bothers me the most is he is one more player on our roster that doesn't know how to use the screens(which limits his penetration and playmaking). He is same as the BI in this area. He is often rejecting the screens because he didnt make the move on time or going too early and allowing defender to fight trough that screen really easy. I was mentioning it last season all the time, how the ******** we dont have an assistant on the staff that can teach our guys to use the screens. BI is bad at it, CJ is bad at it, Zion doesnt even use it most of the time. The only guy on our team that i was happy with in that area is Jordan Hawkins but only in off-ball role, on ball he is bad as the others.
Murray's 3pt shooting is the second problem. He had great numbers at the first half of the last season, shot almost 40% and then he came back to reallity. At the end it was 36% but that means that he shot last part of the season in lower 30s...
You could saw how small was the court for Zion against the Magic and it wil be even worse if we replace CJ with Ingram in starting 5.
Main reason Pelicans traded for Murray(other then just making the change) is his clutch play. However, that is also a myth. Yes, he had some nice game winners last season, but if you take a deeper dive into it you will find out that he is not that great in the area. He is shooting under 40% in the clutch and his 3s are at 25% in the clutch. He made some game winners which in my opinion were quite bad shots but just happend to go in. His assist to turnover ratio in the clutch last season is almost 1:1...
So all said we got a PG Brandon Ingram type of player which is more willing 3pt shooter(not better, just more willing). I just hope he is at least better defender, and i think he could really be if he stops gambling like he did on the Hakws.
Pelicans current roster is
PG: Murray/Alvarado
SG: CJ MCcollum/Jordan Hawkins/Javonte Green/Reeves
SF: Herb Jones/Brandon Ingram/Trey Murphy
PF: Zion/JRE/Matkovic
C: Theis/Missi
*this is not our lineup or rotation, just a roster overview
How can we go into the season with this roster? As every one of you already mentioned there is a lot of talent on that team, but not nearly enough balance or fit. BI trade made be around the corner, but may not happen at all. For the sake of an argument i will write as we are going into the season with this roster.
Biggest question out there is who is the odd man out? I am telling you right now. Daniel Theis is starting first game of the season!!!. Forget about Zion at center, Herb at center, death lineup, everything what you've heard from talking heads around the league, Pelicans are starting with a "real" center and that has to be Theis since other ones are not even G-League starting centers. Daniel Theis is a good backup center IMO, has lot of limitations but can at least offer some spacing and grit even though he is undersized by qute a lot.
He is not starting because of his quallities, he is starting because he is our only option and we can't put our best player, our franchise cornerstrone who is injury prone to play out of position and fight with other teams centers whole season.
We will play small lineups a lot this season, we will maybe close with small lineups, but we will for sure not start the game with them. Why would you let Zion fight with ********ing Mason Plumlee for a defensive rebound and at the same time expect him to be our one-man offense on the other end.
Now, when we have that cleared. Who is starting? Murray/CJ/Ingram/Jones/Murphy/Zion. That is 6 players fighting for 4 positions. Zion and Murray are safe, that leaves 4 players fighting for 2 positions. Most people would say CJ and Trey of the bench but that would leave us with Murray/Herb/Ingram/Zion/Theis as starting lineup and just look at the shooting there. Herb is the best one out there which says a lot. If CJ is on the bench, Murphy has to start, if Murphy is on the bench CJ has to start.
Murray/Herb/Trey/Zion/Theis with CJ AND Ingram off the bench? Not going to happen
Murray/CJ/Ingram/Zion/Theis with Herb and Murphy off the bench? i would give it 30% chance of happening
Murray/Herb/Ingram/Zion/Theis - this is the lineup our coaching staff is probably going with, ignoring everything i mentioned above.
And that leads me finally to say what i think is Pelicans path to contention!
Trade BI even if it means we trade him for scraps. Develop Murphy and Hawkins into their best versions and fire Willie Green and let Borrego run the show.
Let me explain. I know there is a good reason for Pelicans just too be good for next 10 years, bottom playoff/play-in team ill make the things going. Keep enough fans interested, let the money flow.
However im the type of person that would rather see us contend for 2 sesons and be in lottery for 8.
There is 0 chances that team as currently constructed is good enough to contend even for a home-court advantage in 1st round, let alone for the chip. I know Griffin doesn't want to undersell on BI since that puts his job on the line, but i think now is the time to cut the hand off to save the body.
Pelicans only way into contention is to maximise Zions potential. He showed us a lot of times what is he capable of. Imagine what he could do if the team was built around him.
- Insert Trey Murphy and Jordan Hawkins.
We traded for Murray and that is already over and we have to live with it right now, but in order to have enough spacing around Zion and still have Murray and himself out there we have to put 2 great shooters out there, and i think we could have 2 of the best in the buisiness. Murphy is probably win-now player already, but Jordan Hawkins is for sure not, and that means Pelicans have to sacrifice if they want to go on my suggested path.
Imagine what Zion could do if he had those 2 on the sides will attacking the rim? Thats my wet dream.
We have to trade Ingram for anything. Get some bodies in there, center would be great, but if not its not a problem, play this season out with what we have and try to fix it next season, maybe someone becomes availible(we will have CJs expiring then).
Murphy is already good player but he can develop into something special. He already started to put the ball on the floor which opens his shot, but he can improve it even more. He also has to improve on defense. He has all the tools and he is smart and there is no reason he can't become a great defender. Right now he is just average at best. People think he is good defender just because he is long, but sadly hasnt been true jet. He can do it, i and whole fanbase believe in him, he just needs playing time and that is why BI has to go, ASAP.
Hawkins case is not that easy. He showed some glimpses of what he coud be, but he is still raw. However, as i said, if Pels want to contend we have to develop him into a best version of himself. What is that? Top 100, top 75, top 50 player? We will see, but i really think we have something special here. His off-ball moving and shot mechanics are simply art. He also uses his gravity to put the ball on the floor and get to that midranger. He needs right coaching and playing time in order to develop his offensive game and to make it more consistent. That is why i am fan of Borrego, but more on that later.
However in order for him to be playable he has to improve on defense by quite a lot. He is already solid rebounder, he is quick and has OK wingspan, he has to add some muscle but that comes with time. There is no reason he cant be at least an average defender, if not a good one. Look at Ray Allen for example and his defensive developement trough his career. Started as an defensive liabillity and finished as really good defender. But as already mentioned, he will need playing time in order for that to happen.
And that brings us to Willie Green. Willie Green is a great guy and one of the best defensive assistant coaches in the league IMO, but as i mentioned million of times last season he is not a good HC in this league. He is just too soft and his offense is just plain and simple bad. Borrego helped a lot with that, but he is just an assistant and cant control it enough during the game. I would really like for them to switch possitions(make Borrego HC and Willie his defensive assistant), however that is not possible and that is why Wille has to go in order for Pelicans to get into contention. We all know that will not happen unless Pelicans fall into the lottery this season.
So once more, in order for Pelicans to be real contender lets say in 2-3 years, we have to fire Willie Green and develop our shooters into good to great players(they are already great shooters, just not great players).
That said, it will not happen since our GM and our coach want to keep their job more then to win a championship. My path is path of more risk. Right now we have a lot of injury insurance with our wing and guard depth, and if we trade Ingram and lets say Murphy or Zion go down we will be in deep problems. That is why they will continue to play stupid lineups that keep us average, and make stupid moves that keep us average and save the money for the owner.
And that is why i hate to be the fan of the New Orleans Pelicans.
As that LA ************** once said, That's all folks, see you next season.
That is why i will post only this post this season and wait to see how to season goes and review it.
Pelicans did some moves this season which left us with current roster, for better or worse. However if Pelicans want to contend there will be some though moves to be made in the future.
I am not a fan of DeJounte Murray as a player nor as a person(i find him too cocky considering his achievments in the NBA).
He has some major flaws in his game but the one that bothers me the most is he is one more player on our roster that doesn't know how to use the screens(which limits his penetration and playmaking). He is same as the BI in this area. He is often rejecting the screens because he didnt make the move on time or going too early and allowing defender to fight trough that screen really easy. I was mentioning it last season all the time, how the ******** we dont have an assistant on the staff that can teach our guys to use the screens. BI is bad at it, CJ is bad at it, Zion doesnt even use it most of the time. The only guy on our team that i was happy with in that area is Jordan Hawkins but only in off-ball role, on ball he is bad as the others.
Murray's 3pt shooting is the second problem. He had great numbers at the first half of the last season, shot almost 40% and then he came back to reallity. At the end it was 36% but that means that he shot last part of the season in lower 30s...
You could saw how small was the court for Zion against the Magic and it wil be even worse if we replace CJ with Ingram in starting 5.
Main reason Pelicans traded for Murray(other then just making the change) is his clutch play. However, that is also a myth. Yes, he had some nice game winners last season, but if you take a deeper dive into it you will find out that he is not that great in the area. He is shooting under 40% in the clutch and his 3s are at 25% in the clutch. He made some game winners which in my opinion were quite bad shots but just happend to go in. His assist to turnover ratio in the clutch last season is almost 1:1...
So all said we got a PG Brandon Ingram type of player which is more willing 3pt shooter(not better, just more willing). I just hope he is at least better defender, and i think he could really be if he stops gambling like he did on the Hakws.
Pelicans current roster is
PG: Murray/Alvarado
SG: CJ MCcollum/Jordan Hawkins/Javonte Green/Reeves
SF: Herb Jones/Brandon Ingram/Trey Murphy
PF: Zion/JRE/Matkovic
C: Theis/Missi
*this is not our lineup or rotation, just a roster overview
How can we go into the season with this roster? As every one of you already mentioned there is a lot of talent on that team, but not nearly enough balance or fit. BI trade made be around the corner, but may not happen at all. For the sake of an argument i will write as we are going into the season with this roster.
Biggest question out there is who is the odd man out? I am telling you right now. Daniel Theis is starting first game of the season!!!. Forget about Zion at center, Herb at center, death lineup, everything what you've heard from talking heads around the league, Pelicans are starting with a "real" center and that has to be Theis since other ones are not even G-League starting centers. Daniel Theis is a good backup center IMO, has lot of limitations but can at least offer some spacing and grit even though he is undersized by qute a lot.
He is not starting because of his quallities, he is starting because he is our only option and we can't put our best player, our franchise cornerstrone who is injury prone to play out of position and fight with other teams centers whole season.
We will play small lineups a lot this season, we will maybe close with small lineups, but we will for sure not start the game with them. Why would you let Zion fight with ********ing Mason Plumlee for a defensive rebound and at the same time expect him to be our one-man offense on the other end.
Now, when we have that cleared. Who is starting? Murray/CJ/Ingram/Jones/Murphy/Zion. That is 6 players fighting for 4 positions. Zion and Murray are safe, that leaves 4 players fighting for 2 positions. Most people would say CJ and Trey of the bench but that would leave us with Murray/Herb/Ingram/Zion/Theis as starting lineup and just look at the shooting there. Herb is the best one out there which says a lot. If CJ is on the bench, Murphy has to start, if Murphy is on the bench CJ has to start.
Murray/Herb/Trey/Zion/Theis with CJ AND Ingram off the bench? Not going to happen
Murray/CJ/Ingram/Zion/Theis with Herb and Murphy off the bench? i would give it 30% chance of happening
Murray/Herb/Ingram/Zion/Theis - this is the lineup our coaching staff is probably going with, ignoring everything i mentioned above.
And that leads me finally to say what i think is Pelicans path to contention!
Trade BI even if it means we trade him for scraps. Develop Murphy and Hawkins into their best versions and fire Willie Green and let Borrego run the show.
Let me explain. I know there is a good reason for Pelicans just too be good for next 10 years, bottom playoff/play-in team ill make the things going. Keep enough fans interested, let the money flow.
However im the type of person that would rather see us contend for 2 sesons and be in lottery for 8.
There is 0 chances that team as currently constructed is good enough to contend even for a home-court advantage in 1st round, let alone for the chip. I know Griffin doesn't want to undersell on BI since that puts his job on the line, but i think now is the time to cut the hand off to save the body.
Pelicans only way into contention is to maximise Zions potential. He showed us a lot of times what is he capable of. Imagine what he could do if the team was built around him.
- Insert Trey Murphy and Jordan Hawkins.
We traded for Murray and that is already over and we have to live with it right now, but in order to have enough spacing around Zion and still have Murray and himself out there we have to put 2 great shooters out there, and i think we could have 2 of the best in the buisiness. Murphy is probably win-now player already, but Jordan Hawkins is for sure not, and that means Pelicans have to sacrifice if they want to go on my suggested path.
Imagine what Zion could do if he had those 2 on the sides will attacking the rim? Thats my wet dream.
We have to trade Ingram for anything. Get some bodies in there, center would be great, but if not its not a problem, play this season out with what we have and try to fix it next season, maybe someone becomes availible(we will have CJs expiring then).
Murphy is already good player but he can develop into something special. He already started to put the ball on the floor which opens his shot, but he can improve it even more. He also has to improve on defense. He has all the tools and he is smart and there is no reason he can't become a great defender. Right now he is just average at best. People think he is good defender just because he is long, but sadly hasnt been true jet. He can do it, i and whole fanbase believe in him, he just needs playing time and that is why BI has to go, ASAP.
Hawkins case is not that easy. He showed some glimpses of what he coud be, but he is still raw. However, as i said, if Pels want to contend we have to develop him into a best version of himself. What is that? Top 100, top 75, top 50 player? We will see, but i really think we have something special here. His off-ball moving and shot mechanics are simply art. He also uses his gravity to put the ball on the floor and get to that midranger. He needs right coaching and playing time in order to develop his offensive game and to make it more consistent. That is why i am fan of Borrego, but more on that later.
However in order for him to be playable he has to improve on defense by quite a lot. He is already solid rebounder, he is quick and has OK wingspan, he has to add some muscle but that comes with time. There is no reason he cant be at least an average defender, if not a good one. Look at Ray Allen for example and his defensive developement trough his career. Started as an defensive liabillity and finished as really good defender. But as already mentioned, he will need playing time in order for that to happen.
And that brings us to Willie Green. Willie Green is a great guy and one of the best defensive assistant coaches in the league IMO, but as i mentioned million of times last season he is not a good HC in this league. He is just too soft and his offense is just plain and simple bad. Borrego helped a lot with that, but he is just an assistant and cant control it enough during the game. I would really like for them to switch possitions(make Borrego HC and Willie his defensive assistant), however that is not possible and that is why Wille has to go in order for Pelicans to get into contention. We all know that will not happen unless Pelicans fall into the lottery this season.
So once more, in order for Pelicans to be real contender lets say in 2-3 years, we have to fire Willie Green and develop our shooters into good to great players(they are already great shooters, just not great players).
That said, it will not happen since our GM and our coach want to keep their job more then to win a championship. My path is path of more risk. Right now we have a lot of injury insurance with our wing and guard depth, and if we trade Ingram and lets say Murphy or Zion go down we will be in deep problems. That is why they will continue to play stupid lineups that keep us average, and make stupid moves that keep us average and save the money for the owner.
And that is why i hate to be the fan of the New Orleans Pelicans.
As that LA ************** once said, That's all folks, see you next season.