The New Orleans Pelicans' Most Intriguing Squadron

Got a new column up that looks at the potential feasibility of a Jrue-Tyreke-Anderson-Davis-Asik lineup:

http://www.bourbonstreetshots.com/20...ba-basketball/

Very interested to hear what people think about how effective that lineup can be, seeing that it would (at the very least) put the team's five best players on the court (as things currently stand w/ Eric Gordon, anyway).

I would love to see that lineup. I think it all comes down to Monty.

If I were an opposing coach, I would love that line-up. I'd murder the Pels. The best shot blocker in the league will now be playing on the wing on d and the slowest player will now be played on the wing by a much quicker SF. Stretch forwards are good because they bring bigs out of the lane. Other teams will put their SF on Ryno and thus the bigs are still in the lane. Reke can't shoot the ball in the ocean so the clogged lane will not benefit him. I won't get into the best 5 players because that's opinion based mostly on dislike for certain players.

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Originally Posted by UptownFuz504

If I were an opposing coach, I would love that line-up. I'd murder the Pels. The best shot blocker in the league will now be playing on the wing on d and the slowest player will now be played on the wing by a much quicker SF. Stretch forwards are good because they bring bigs out of the lane. Other teams will put their SF on Ryno and thus the bigs are still in the lane. Reke can't shoot the ball in the ocean so the clogged lane will not benefit him. I won't get into the best 5 players because that's opinion based mostly on dislike for certain players.

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Agreed. Not sure what the fascination is with this lineup, especially with anectdotal evidence we have via the Spurs, Heat, Thunder, Clippers, etc. regarding spacing, shooting, etc. That lineup would get eaten up.


OAN: Contracts aside, Eric Gordon is still one of the five best basketball players in the State of LA. Let's not get ignorant.

I'm also not convinced Davis can guard wings with any consistency when those wings are able to dribble-drive and spot-up.

Utah attempted Derrick Favors, Paul Millsap, and Al Jefferson at the same time. Although our group could stretch the floor better, it did not go well for Utah. Not saying we won't see it, and I'm not saying it won't work but I'd be pessimistic.

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Originally Posted by DefensiveMind

Agreed. Not sure what the fascination is with this lineup, especially with anectdotal evidence we have via the Spurs, Heat, Thunder, Clippers, etc. regarding spacing, shooting, etc. That lineup would get eaten up.


OAN: Contracts aside, Eric Gordon is still one of the five best basketball players in the State of LA. Let's not get ignorant.

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I didn't want to open Pandora's box, but yeah, I agree. I honestly take all the EG reporting on BSS with a grain of salt because 90% of the writers there aren't fans and it comes out in the articles no matter how they try to spin it.

Best line up:
Jrue
Gordon
Tyreke (give him minutes at the pg position as backup as well)
Davis
Asik

Bench primary guys:
Rivers
Jimmer
Salmons
Anderson
Ajinca

Secret Weapons:
Russ Smith
Patric Young


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I wanna see this lineup for 5 minutes....
Reke OR Russ
Jimmer
Salmons
Anderson
Davis


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Originally Posted by pelicanchamp

I wanna see this lineup for 5 minutes....
Reke OR Russ
Jimmer
Salmons
Anderson
Davis


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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The other team might have a 40 pt quarter against this line-up.

I'm not married to any lineup ATM. I just hope Monty is much more experimental and much less dogmatic with his lineups, rotations and adjustments this season. It was a clear fault of his last year and every year he's been here.

I just want to see a willingness to be flexible in order to find the optimal fits going forward and to use our strengths to exploit other teams weaknesses. We have too much talent and too many matchup opportunities against different style teams to dig in with one rotation for all situations. I really don't want to see another season of Monty sticking to one rotation and playing favorites stubbornly until injury or overwhelming evidence finally forces him to switch it up.

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Originally Posted by N.O.Bronco

I'm not married to any lineup ATM. I just hope Monty is much more experimental and much less dogmatic with his lineups, rotations and adjustments this season. It was a clear fault of his last year and every year he's been here.

I just want to see a willingness to be flexible in order to find the optimal fits going forward and to use our strengths to exploit other teams weaknesses. We have too much talent and too many matchup opportunities against different style teams to dig in with one rotation for all situations. I really don't want to see another season of Monty sticking to one rotation and playing favorites stubbornly until injury or overwhelming evidence finally forces him to switch it up.

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Amen.

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Originally Posted by Jabberwalker

Utah attempted Derrick Favors, Paul Millsap, and Al Jefferson at the same time. Although our group could stretch the floor better, it did not go well for Utah. Not saying we won't see it, and I'm not saying it won't work but I'd be pessimistic.

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That group actually owned bones for the limited time they were on the floor, IIRC.

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Originally Posted by Jabberwalker

Utah attempted Derrick Favors, Paul Millsap, and Al Jefferson at the same time. Although our group could stretch the floor better, it did not go well for Utah.

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It struggled defensively, but dominated offensively, and I'd say Asik is a slight step up in rim protection from Al Jefferson.

Attachment 5715

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Originally Posted by UptownFuz504

I didn't want to open Pandora's box, but yeah, I agree. I honestly take all the EG reporting on BSS with a grain of salt because 90% of the writers there aren't fans and it comes out in the articles no matter how they try to spin it.

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I don't know what this even means. I like Eric Gordon for what he can do offensively, but last season his horrible defense outweighed anything he did offensively. This statistic speaks volumes about that:

http://espn.go.com/nba/statistics/rp...RPM/position/2

There's also the fact that the Pelicans got outscored by 6.2 points per 100 possessions with Gordon on the court, and they actually outscored opponents by 1.5 points when he wasn't playing. Gordon was just not good last season. I firmly believe he can be much better this year, but based on just last season, he hurt the team more than he helped it.

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Originally Posted by UptownFuz504

I didn't want to open Pandora's box, but yeah, I agree. I honestly take all the EG reporting on BSS with a grain of salt because 90% of the writers there aren't fans and it comes out in the articles no matter how they try to spin it.

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Don't you mean 1,000,000%? Don't you mean they want to relocate the team to Seattle, along with actual Jazz, Community Coffee, and Mr. Bingle?

Why not make up stuff that is actually worth making up? Sheesh!

Here's mine: 1,234,567,890% of UptownFuz504 comments are awesome!

See, a complete farce.

I'm not sure about the 3 big line up, yes there's the possibility of getting wasted my smaller lineups, but Anderson and Davis aren't your typical bigs, and Asik is an awesome defensive big. I think you hope that they make it incredibly hard to score on and work out a system that makes the offense reasonable, not Indiana bad. The plus side to it is that we'll probably have at least one decent mis-match on offense if they decide to go small, so here's hoping they exploit those opportunities

Take out Evans and put in Rivers or Salmons so you only have one non shooter (Asik) and I like that lineup better. Also, Salmons and Rivers are better off ball defenders.

Holiday-Rivers-Ryno-AD-Asik still has plenty of firepower, two ball handlers, and can be a really nice defensive unit. I don't mind putting Ryno on the SF actually if you have AD and Asik on the floor. Play Ryno tight on him and even if the SF blows by him, he is gonna meet AD and Asik at the rim. Good luck with that.

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Originally Posted by N.O.Bronco

I'm not married to any lineup ATM. I just hope Monty is much more experimental and much less dogmatic with his lineups, rotations and adjustments this season. It was a clear fault of his last year and every year he's been here.

I just want to see a willingness to be flexible in order to find the optimal fits going forward and to use our strengths to exploit other teams weaknesses. We have too much talent and too many matchup opportunities against different style teams to dig in with one rotation for all situations. I really don't want to see another season of Monty sticking to one rotation and playing favorites stubbornly until injury or overwhelming evidence finally forces him to switch it up.

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This is the valid part of the "fire monty" thread all summed up in one post. Good job.

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Originally Posted by Noggy

This is the valid part of the "fire monty" thread all summed up in one post. Good job.

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Monty changes lineups and rotations all the time. Especially starting around All-Star break.

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Originally Posted by Kibner

Monty changes lineups and rotations all the time. Especially starting around All-Star break.

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Is that the basketball All-Star break or the baseball All-Star break?








jk.

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Originally Posted by Kibner

Monty changes lineups and rotations all the time. Especially starting around All-Star break.

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But its not fun to talk about that. More fun to bash based on generalities and no hard evidence.

I mean, Tyreke started at 2 and 3, plus came off the bench. We started AD at Center in games, Stiemsma, Smith, and Ajinca. Roberts and Rivers alternated as the backup PG before Jrue got hurt, etc. etc.

But Monty never mixed things up. Rotations stayed the same throughout.

I love how people I come across don't even respect what kind of team we have. From the 1 to the 5 we probably have, when healthy, potentially one of the most deadliest starting fives in the league. Right now the only thing that's keeping this team from being great is that they haven't played together for a long stretch. It don't matter what starting group we put out there. As long as they learn to play both ends of the floor we will be a playoff team guaranteed. Because in this league talent is what wins games. And we have 6 legit starters, and one of those is one of the best players in the league. This season can't come fast enough. Pels gon prove a lot of people wrong.

In my opinion, pelican's biggest advantage is the luxury of having either Davis or Asik on the court for 48 minutes. Playing Asik, Davis, Anderson at the same time undermines the benefit. Frontcourt of asik and davis might not be good offensively, but pelicans are able to deploy Davis and Anderson against opposing bench units

i think while trying to piece together these lineups, it shows this team is not finished and well see one more big trade