February 23rd - New Orleans Pelicans @ Toronto Raptors - 30-29

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Originally Posted by AD-AT

Willie is losing his ability to motivate this team. If he loses that you just have a slightly below average offensive mind at HC

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Bingo!!!!!

Not only is he not motivating anyone. He’s allowing them to be embarrassed.

Time to return the jazzmaster.


I believe early in the 3rd Trey came in on an offensive board and dunked it. And I thought, "this only seems to happen to us". Why do we not go for offensive boards like other teams do?

I still believe in Willie, but he really needs a healthier team.

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Originally Posted by donato

Time to return the jazzmaster.
I still believe in Willie, but he really needs a healthier team.

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This could be said for the last 6 years of Pelicans basketball.

How did CJ get that massive extension?

This team is trolling. What made them run the offense all of a sudden?!

No team in the league has an answer for Jonas. The ball should go through him in every single game.

Took Jonas out. Lmao.

Willie is really really bad.

This is like some type of bad dream. This is an nba coach that can’t tell why he is cutting into a lead. It’s really a bad situation for the Pels.

Coach is a complete moron.

7'0'' Jonas out....6'8'' LNJ in and Poeltl' becomes First Team All Pro.

Great coaching there, Willie

That was coaching malpractice late in the 4th quarter

Not a good loss at all. Poor shooting and no interior defense at all.

Guys gotta wake up if they don't want to be in the play in

I’d fire Willie for this game alone.

Team came alive for the last 2 min of this one and almost pulled it off. Especially BI. But that's not what you want to see after the AS break.

We need Zion and Dyson back and to get this ship right heading into the playoffs.

We can't play five on four and expect to win.

I wish our media would call willie green out in his face. Ask him why he is putting team in bad holes that are avoidable.

This game is firmly on Willie , He has regressed

This team needs a kick in the butt. This is where Willie's passive style comes short

i chalk this up as all star break hangover...

and yall cant blame graham anymore lol...

Dear Brandon,

What you are doing now is amazing. I feel like its history repeat itself all over again....a real deja' vu!! It's like watching Pete Maravich trying to consistently win with Jimmy McElroy, Paul Griffin, Rich Kelley and Aaron James at his side.

Keep on keeping on, son. because like the Pistol, you deserve better.

Best Wishes!!

kira,,CJ, ingram, nance, jonas.....just for one game just to see how it goes....

If BI puts up 36, this team should not be held to 110. But then BI's turnovers looked like he had money on the Raptors. Just awful dumb turnovers with 0 stocks isn't going to cut it.

I've been saying it for 2 years. This team needs a long active big. Was supposed to be Jax, but he still isn't strong enough. This is the #1 problem on this team.

This roster has some serious holes outside of Zion.

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Originally Posted by As I See It

That what CJ does well!! Catch in shoot. He should NEVER have the ball in his hands making decisions!!!

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Herb might have to be moved to the 2nd unit in order to pair CJ with a PG (Kira, Jose, or Dyson)

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Originally Posted by As I See It

Dear Brandon,

What you are doing now is amazing. I feel like its history repeat itself all over again....a real deja' vu!! It's like watching Pete Maravich trying to consistently win with Jimmy McElroy, Paul Griffin, Rich Kelley and Aaron James at his side.

Keep on keeping on, son. because like the Pistol, you deserve better.

Best Wishes!!

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Funny, the way I remember it Pete let those guys Gail Goodrich and Truck Robinson down with a show off between the legs pass from half court that blew his ACL.
Injuries have always killed New Orleans basketball teams.

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Originally Posted by luckyman

If BI puts up 36, this team should not be held to 110. But then BI's turnovers looked like he had money on the Raptors. Just awful dumb turnovers with 0 stocks isn't going to cut it.

I've been saying it for 2 years. This team needs a long active big. Was supposed to be Jax, but he still isn't strong enough. This is the #1 problem on this team.

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I agree with a lot a what you post, and further agree that our Bigs are lacking. But, the biggest need of this team is a PG or Coxswain to steer this boat. Right now we are rudderless. In any four consecutive possessions, you can have any of four different players in the starting lineup orchestrating (tonight: CJ, JRich, Herb, and BI). There is absolutely no continuity. With each successive possession everyone's role changes. Players start standing around and our scorers end up playing hero ball to beat the clock.

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Originally Posted by redrum

Funny, the way I remember it Pete let those guys Gail Goodrich and Truck Robinson down with a show off between the legs pass from half court that blew his ACL.
Injuries have always killed New Orleans basketball teams.

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Funny how people see things differently, huh?

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Originally Posted by DaFranchise80

Herb might have to be moved to the 2nd unit in order to pair CJ with a PG (Kira, Jose, or Dyson)

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THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Originally Posted by As I See It

Funny how people see things differently, huh?

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One season of Truck and an old outdated Goodrich for a # 1 that cost the team Magic Johnson is how I remember it.

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Originally Posted by DaFranchise80

Herb might have to be moved to the 2nd unit in order to pair CJ with a PG (Kira, Jose, or Dyson)

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Herb should be moved to the second unit ! I am not sure Willie will start Jose, Dyson, or Kira though, i think his preferred option would be Josh Richardson.
I think, Richardson, CJ, Val, Nance (until Zion returns), and BI should start. Against smaller teams Trey for Larry to add spacing..
Billy gets Nance bench minutes, with Herb, Dyson, Jose, and Naji all sprinkled in.

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Originally Posted by As I See It

One season of Truck and an old outdated Goodrich for a # 1 that cost the team Magic Johnson is how I remember it.

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Me too.
The Lakers always get the breaks!

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Originally Posted by Fedupfan

No team in the league has an answer for Jonas. The ball should go through him in every single game.

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Really ???
You been listening to Antonio Daniels a little bit to much.
Is he an adequate NBA center who can have big games..... yes.
Is Val a #1 option that offenses should revolve around ......NO.

I really wish we should've went after Poeltl along with Richardson. Without Zion i don't really see much for this team and Willie has been a disappointment this season.

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Originally Posted by DaFranchise80

Herb might have to be moved to the 2nd unit in order to pair CJ with a PG (Kira, Jose, or Dyson)

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I'm all for trying this. I understand the problems it might create on defense, but we have a more fundamental flaw with the team. Willy is adamant that the team play with pace, that it employ a .5 mentality on offense. It's not happening. The ball is sticking. Why? Because our two stars out there right now, Brandon Ingram and C.J. McCollum, are basically iso players who like to hold the ball, dribble and probe for their shot. Sometimes that's appropriate, We need their scoring chops especially at the end of the shot clock.

But neither should be orchestrating the offense. CJ should move back to his natural position at scoring guard and one of the young guys should be given a shot at starting. Personally, I'd give the job to Kira Lewis. I know he's stuck to the end of the bench right now, but I think he's looked pretty good with the minutes he's been given. Plus, I don't want to give him away this offseason without getting him at least some serious run to see what he can do with the starters. Kira would be the ideal candidate to push the pace after missed or even made shots. He could threaten opposing defenses with his speed and punish them for sagging off to double BI or CJ by taking the ball into the paint. If they still don't want to start Kira, then ok, give Jose or Dyson a shot. Just play a PG who is going to push the ball up 80%+ of the time and try to attack the defense before it can settle in and make the Pels run their half-court sets, which we can see are a real slog right now. Speed, speed, speed. It could be what we need to break us out this funk...

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Originally Posted by new city champ

I'm all for trying this. I understand the problems it might create on defense, but we have a more fundamental flaw with the team. Willy is adamant that the team play with pace, that it employ a .5 mentality on offense. It's not happening. The ball is sticking. Why? Because our two stars out there right now, Brandon Ingram and C.J. McCollum, are basically iso players who like to hold the ball, dribble and probe for their shot. Sometimes that's appropriate, We need their scoring chops especially at the end of the shot clock.

But neither should be orchestrating the offense. CJ should move back to his natural position at scoring guard and one of the young guys should be given a shot at starting. Personally, I'd give the job to Kira Lewis. I know he's stuck to the end of the bench right now, but I think he's looked pretty good with the minutes he's been given. Plus, I don't want to give him away this offseason without getting him at least some serious run to see what he can do with the starters. Kira would be the ideal candidate to push the pace after missed or even made shots. He could threaten opposing defenses with his speed and punish them for sagging off to double BI or CJ by taking the ball into the paint. If they still don't want to start Kira, then ok, give Jose or Dyson a shot. Just play a PG who is going to push the ball up 80%+ of the time and try to attack the defense before it can settle in and make the Pels run their half-court sets, which we can see are a real slog right now. Speed, speed, speed. It could be what we need to break us out this funk...

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I agree and honestly Dyson has been the best at this when he was healthy in the early part of the season. I think both CJ and BI have shown a willingness to play in a fast paced offense, but that was when we were healthy and responsibilities were clearly defined. All of the injuries have totally muddied the waters and now no one really has a clue what they are supposed to be doing in these lineups. So those two go back to what they know which is iso ball, and everyone around them just watches.

Right now it's on Willie to buckle down and get this figured out. He did a great job in camp getting this team ready for the season and it showed by climbing up to the #1 seed. The talent is there. This team sulking because of the amount of games BI and Zion have missed needs to stop, and we need to start competing again.

It was a nightmare 46 minutes of play ... in 2 minutes of playing well you won't win a game in the NBA. Pathetic loss

Yeah, it?s a little depressing right now. Watching the other top teams in the West, we suddenly don?t even seem close to them. Sacto, Memphis, Denver, the Clips, Phoenix, Dallas? I don?t see us beating any of them, certainly not in a series. Even the Lakers have pulled ahead. Right now it feels like we?ll be lucky to hang on and make the play in tourney.

And I don?t want to effing hear another word about Zion. If you can?t even compete with your best player out then you aren?t a very good team. Memphis went 20-5 without Morant last year. 20-5!

What?s really killing us is we are getting next to nothing out of Griifin?s drafts. We had two top 10 picks and 2 more picks in the top 20 in ?19 and ?20. We are getting almost nothing from any of them. Zion is hurt all the time. Kira was hurt and now can?t get on the floor. Jaxon is stuck to the bench despite our desperate need for rim protection. NAW never developed into a rotation guy. For that matter none of our other Griffin picks (Trey/Herb/Dyson or DiDi) is really moving the needle for us. Obviously Dyson is hurt and DiDi is gone, but if you step back and look at it we really aren?t getting much from our draft picks. Add to that giving up a first and four seconds for 1.5 years of poor play from Devante Graham and you have arrived at the heart of our issues. We could have drafted guys like Desmond Bane, Tyler Herro, Darius Garland, Immanuel Quickly and Tyrese Maxey. We just didn?t. And that?s the biggest reason why we can?t win when our lead guy goes down and good teams can.

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Originally Posted by new city champ

Yeah, it?s a little depressing right now. Watching the other top teams in the West, we suddenly don?t even seem close to them. Sacto, Memphis, Denver, the Clips, Phoenix, Dallas? I don?t see us beating any of them, certainly not in a series. Even the Lakers have pulled ahead. Right now it feels like we?ll be lucky to hang on and make the play in tourney.

And I don?t want to effing hear another word about Zion. If you can?t even compete with your best player out then you aren?t a very good team. Memphis went 20-5 without Morant last year. 20-5!

What?s really killing us is we are getting next to nothing out of Griifin?s drafts. We had two top 10 picks and 2 more picks in the top 20 in ?19 and ?20. We are getting almost nothing from any of them. Zion is hurt all the time. Kira was hurt and now can?t get on the floor. Jaxon is stuck to the bench despite our desperate need for rim protection. NAW never developed into a rotation guy. For that matter none of our other Griffin picks (Trey/Herb/Dyson or DiDi) is really moving the needle for us. Obviously Dyson is hurt and DiDi is gone, but if you step back and look at it we really aren?t getting much from our draft picks. Add to that giving up a first and four seconds for 1.5 years of poor play from Devante Graham and you have arrived at the heart of our issues. We could have drafted guys like Desmond Bane, Tyler Herro, Darius Garland, Immanuel Quickly and Tyrese Maxey. We just didn?t. And that?s the biggest reason why we can?t win when our lead guy goes down and good teams can.

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We simply don't develop them. There has been no continuity in our coaching and as a result, we haven't (or can't) develop them. I'm not exonerating Jax by any means, but the Pelican coaching has done nothing for him. Even Herb...he came in as a defensive juggernaut; since he got here, do you see any development?

It's not all on the selections. Part of it is the selectors.

Coaching staff is awful. I can’t remember one player they developed.

It's all gone fairly horribly since the AD trade

I just can't believe Lakers got an absolute sniper from three and a pretty tough power forward for nothing. D'Lo is a very good addition too

I've coveted Beasley for bloody years. He's a proven shooter yet we sat on our hands and offered nothing. I would have been happy spending the DG 1st on him last year

7/11 threes last game