January 26th - New Orleans Pelicans vs Boston Celtics - 17-29

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Originally Posted by luckyman

If you're talking about Zion, I disagree. His footwork is pretty damn exceptional. Especially for a 19 year old rookie these days.

Now if you're talking about Jax then I agree.

**I see its about Jaxson...yes I agree.

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Then we agree.

I also thinks Jaxson will improve in all areas once he adds weight...hopefully.

Right now even the slightest bump sends him off course.

As for his shot, his wrist needs to stay straight. Looks like he bends it awkwardly toward his forehead on every shot.

Zion Williamson gives his thoughts on Kobe Bryant’s passing. Said it was hard to focus when the game started tonight. pic.twitter.com/LuxLvVcyje

— Will Guillory (@WillGuillory) January 27, 2020

Starting to see guys learn how to play their game with Zion on the floor which is good.

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Originally Posted by PelicanNation

We are nothing without Favors.

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Right? I still see others (not really on this site) with trade ideas involving Favors. Oh man. Lol

Favors is by far the teams best defensive big, can he stay healthy though

Spurs lost again.

Unfortunately the Grizzlies have conveniently hit another soft part of their schedule and hung on vs Suns.

So still 4.5 games back of 8th.

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Originally Posted by luckyman

Spurs lost again.

Unfortunately the Grizzlies have conveniently hit another soft part of their schedule and hung on vs Suns.

So still 4.5 games back of 8th.

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Suns are in front of the pels so it's a win

http://www.tankathon.com/remaining_schedule_strength
Grizz have the 4th hardest schedule remaining..they will fall

By the way look who has the easiest

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

Ingram with a bounce-back from 3 tonight but overall still another rough shooting game. That makes 5 in a row. His last 5 games:

Tonight: 5/13 (38.5%)
Denver: 3/11 (27.3%)
Spurs: 6/22 (27.3%)
Grizzlies: 6/14 (42.9%)
Clippers: 7/18 (38.9%)

Thats a total of 27/78, or 34.6%FG over the last 5 games.

Not sure what's going on with him right now. Some of it is the Zion adjustment, but as you can see this rough patch pre-dates Zion's return. If it's just a regular slump, that's okay but it's a fairly dramatic slump. Hopefully next game he can break out of it, we face Cleveland so he should be able to warm up against a soft defense.

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This is just one of those dangerous "feel" things going off the eye test.....but it feels like teams have been packing the paint against us which is really hampering BI's game. You would think our 3pt% would increase if they're packing the paint.....but I don't know. It hasn't.

Anyone else feel like the paints been crowded for us the past five games?

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Originally Posted by As I See It

Five take-aways…..

1. Fred Vinson has his work cut out
2. Three players need a membership to LA Fitness.
3. The arena's sponsor has to pony up complementary "Muscle Punch" for a few players.
4. There is a trade in the works (I suspect Okafor is involved)
5. If the team fades down the stretch, NAW needs to see the floor.

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What's setting off your spidey sense for #4 (genuinely curious for gossip, not calling you out)?

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Originally Posted by msusousaphone

This is just one of those dangerous "feel" things going off the eye test.....but it feels like teams have been packing the paint against us which is really hampering BI's game. You would think our 3pt% would increase if they're packing the paint.....but I don't know. It hasn't.

Anyone else feel like the paints been crowded for us the past five games?

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Yup. Not sure how to quantify it either, but Zion is inhaling defenders every time he rolls and gets extra attention just by being present. This opens up the perimeter, but it will take some time to adjust for everyone on the team. So I'm not too worried about Ingram having a few off nights because I think it's just him getting a feel for the new dynamic.

Ingram will be tradeable even on a big contract, if he doesnt fit with zion he will have to be moved

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Originally Posted by Speakthetruth

Ingram will be tradeable even on a big contract, if he doesnt fit with zion he will have to be moved

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I wouldn't talk about trading him just yet :hihi: Zion's only been back 3 games. Gotta at least give them till the end of the year, and then like you said, pay him anyway because he'll probably be movable if we ever went that route.

Credit to Jrue for trying to play quicker tonight. I can at least appreciate that he is trying to have less of those sluggish possessions, but he has to be able to do that consistently. I don’t think he can. He had a great night tonight though.

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Originally Posted by msusousaphone

This is just one of those dangerous "feel" things going off the eye test.....but it feels like teams have been packing the paint against us which is really hampering BI's game. You would think our 3pt% would increase if they're packing the paint.....but I don't know. It hasn't.

Anyone else feel like the paints been crowded for us the past five games?

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I dont think its a matter of teams crowding the paint because even with Zion in the lineup, you have capable shooters on the floor.

The only difference is Brandon is basically an all-star, so he's seeing more pressure and more double teams. Otherwise that mid range shot has still been there and its been open. He's just been missing it.

Thats all it is.

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Originally Posted by Speakthetruth

Ingram will be tradeable even on a big contract, if he doesnt fit with zion he will have to be moved

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Put down the glue. The damage it does is worse than meth.

Makes sense.

It just looks like everyone is getting swamped in the paint the past 5 games or so.

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Originally Posted by JJackisangry

Credit to Jrue for trying to play quicker tonight. I can at least appreciate that he is trying to have less of those sluggish possessions, but he has to be able to do that consistently. I don’t think he can. He had a great night tonight though.

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Yeah. He reallly turned it on after that shaky start.

Lol if he doesnt fit he will have to be moved. I never said move him this off sesson luckyman

An interesting spattering of games coming up. Some easynteam, average teams, and good teams.

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Originally Posted by Speakthetruth

Lol if he doesnt fit he will have to be moved. I never said move him this off sesson luckyman

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How can he not fit? He does everything you want a wing to do. Offensively he can score on all 3 levels. Can pass. Needs to get bigger but can also rebound.

If we cant make a player like that work then the guy wearing the suit needs to be moved, not the player.

favors is this team MVP hands down....

i think we need a stretch 5 to backup favors so zion can have room to operate in the paint.....at times when zion was posting up,,the player who was guarding favors out on the perimeter was cheating giving help defense or keeping zion from getting lobs..........we need a stretch 5 that can do what favors do plus stretch the floor to keep his defender at home so zion can take advantage of the mismatches he get in the paint....

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

Would have to check exactly how many days past 19 Jaxson was for his 20/10 game to see who actually had the youngest one. But still, the two of them have #1 and #2 respectively.

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According to Basketball Reference, Hayes hasn't had a 20/10 game.

Makes a huge difference when both Ingram and Jrue don't have god awful games together.

That's a recipe for success.

Good win tonight.

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Originally Posted by luckyman

Put down the glue. The damage it does is worse than meth.

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I mean he is right... Ingram is very tradeable... Under 10 Year service Max or not...


I still want to invest in him and see what he looks like with a proper dieting and weight lifting regimen.

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

Would have to check exactly how many days past 19 Jaxson was for his 20/10 game to see who actually had the youngest one. But still, the two of them have #1 and #2 respectively..

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JAX was two points short of a 20/10 against the Knicks earlier this month. Hasn't had a 20/10 yet unless you consider preseason.

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Originally Posted by Taker597

I still want to invest in him and see what he looks like with a proper dieting and weight lifting regimen.

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Kevin Durant-like, maybe? Would that be a steal!!!

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Originally Posted by Taker597

I mean he is right... Ingram is very tradeable... Under 10 Year service Max or not...


I still want to invest in him and see what he looks like with a proper dieting and weight lifting regimen.

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Ingram is tradeable like Tatum, Donovan Mitchell, Ben Simmons, Markannen. Sure technically they are very tradeable.

But if you can't make those players work, again, you are either an idiot of a team or you get rid of the guys in the suits. Period.

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Originally Posted by Speakthetruth

Favors is by far the teams best defensive big, can he stay healthy though

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Lamarcus Aldridge completely abused Favors and ate his lunch a few nights ago. Hoping that was just an off night for Favors, but Aldridge dominated him the whole game. That matchup was mostly the reason the Spurs had a lead and won the game

Another guy that needs to be locked up is Josh Hart.

As far as Ingram and Holiday, hopefully it was a case of the pressure kicking up a few notches with Zion's return. And it doesnt seem their type personalities can handle that.

Now as things return to normal they can relax and just play again.

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Originally Posted by luckyman

Another guy that needs to be locked up is Josh Hart.

As far as Ingram and Holiday, hopefully it was a case of the pressure kicking up a few notches with Zion's return. And it doesnt seem their type personalities can handle that.

Now as things return to normal they can relax and just play again.

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For me, their are only three players who are untouchable.....

Zion, Ingram, and JAX.

I would listen to any offers for anybody else on the roster.

It may just be that Ingram is dealing with an injury to his shooting hand, that may be throwing off his shot a bit. He had two fingers taped up on his right hand, and every once in a while you could see him grab his hand and wince. I think all of this angst over Ingram’s current slump is a little silly. You give this guy a max without a second thought. I think Ingram is even a safer long term bet than Zion. I hope I’m wrong, but Zion’s weight and the altitude that he gets on his vertical makes me fear for his long term viability playing an NBA schedule (his weird gait has me a bit concerned as well). Ingram seems like a pretty grounded guy that works his tail off to get better, and has a lot of natural talent. Kind of like a small forward version of AD. Hopefully he won’t become a pre-madonna ********** like AD became.

Interesting spot with the tape.

In other news, the Rockets need to do something to get back on track or they could end up as our next benchmark. Their schedule does ease up at the end, though.

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Originally Posted by As I See It

For me, their are only three players who are untouchable.....

Zion, Ingram, and JAX.

I would listen to any offers for anybody else on the roster.

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Sure you always listen but I dont see realistically getting offers for several of our players that would upgrade us when you consider not only talent but also attitude, in some cases mentorship, and overall effort. Hart falls into that category IMO. How many bench players in his price range and age get you that ability to hit 3s, play solid defence, make effort plays, and make momentum changing plays like those one man fast breaks into 2 defenders?

I like the make up of this team for the most part...think we got something special coming together

Great team win guys! Happy for Zion!

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

Zion Williamson is the youngest player in Pelicans' franchise history with a 20-point, 10-rebound game.

He's also the third Pelicans' rookie with a 20p-10r game joining Anthony Davis and Chris Paul.

Per @ESPNStatsInfo

— Andrew Lopez (@_Andrew_Lopez) January 27, 2020

Reminder that yes, Zion is younger than Jax. He doesn't turn 20 until July. He's one of the youngest players in this draft class.

Edit: I still think Lopez is wrong here. The giveaway is that Jax did have a 20/10 game, therefore Zion can't be the 3rd to have had one; he'd be the 4th.

Would have to check exactly how many days past 19 Jaxson was for his 20/10 game to see who actually had the youngest one. But still, the two of them have #1 and #2 respectively.

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When I see tweets like this, I always cringe that we officially let current incarnation of Charlotte Hornets take our history of pre-New Orleans day. Otherwise Larry Johnson and Alonzo Mourning would get their honorable mention. Both had 27 and 23 20+10 games respectively in their rookie seasons.

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Originally Posted by Zombiewoof

According to Basketball Reference, Hayes hasn't had a 20/10 game.

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Really? I could have sworn he did.

Edit: Just checked, you're absolutely right. I have no idea why I'm remembering having a 20/10 game. I think it must be the 18/10 game that I'm talking about, and I was irritated he didn't get to turn it into 20/10, so my brain just historically autocorrected it.

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Originally Posted by SonOfNOLA

Lamarcus Aldridge completely abused Favors and ate his lunch a few nights ago. Hoping that was just an off night for Favors, but Aldridge dominated him the whole game. That matchup was mostly the reason the Spurs had a lead and won the game

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I know this sounds strange but I think you'll know what I mean: you can play absolutely perfect defense and still get beaten by a good offensive player.

That's not me saying that Favors was perfect in that game, he wasn't, but just pointing out that someone scored on him a lot doesn't actually have much to do with how good he is defensively. You can make all the right defensive plays, all the right reads, be in the right place, help appropriately, etc, and still get fried. That's how the game is set up: great offense almost always beats great defense.

Having posted 21 points last game, Zion's career total rises to 58. This makes him a 0.0215 on the Baynes scale.

Here are the advanced stats from this game (I didn't post them at the time because I was tired lol):

Minimum 15 minutes played:

Best Net Rating: Derrick Favors, +23.7
Worst Net Rating: JJ Redick, -5.5 (only player with negative net rating)

Best TS%: JJ Redick, 75.9%
Worst TS%: Lonzo Ball, 40%
Best AST%: Lonzo Ball, 48.4%
Best REB%: Zion Williamson, 18.3%

Most Deflections: Derrick Favors and Jrue Holiday, both with 2
Most Screen Assists: 3, leading to 7 points*
Most 2pt Contests: Derrick Favors, with 10
Most 3pt Contests: Jrue Holiday, with 6
Most Boxouts: Derrick Favors, with 5


*Actual game leader in screen assists was Hayes, with 5 leading to 14 points, but he only played 10 minutes and so didn't meet the minutes cut-off.

Big game for Favors when it comes to impact, he's all over these leaderboards. Jrue had a good game too, as we all saw, and that's showing up as well. Zion's rebounding gets him on here, and he still had a positive net rating and everything, but his poor FT shooting dragged down his TS% much lower than his usual.

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

I know this sounds strange but I think you'll know what I mean: you can play absolutely perfect defense and still get beaten by a good offensive player.

That's not me saying that Favors was perfect in that game, he wasn't, but just pointing out that someone scored on him a lot doesn't actually have much to do with how good he is defensively. You can make all the right defensive plays, all the right reads, be in the right place, help appropriately, etc, and still get fried. That's how the game is set up: great offense almost always beats great defense.

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Translation: Trust the numbers; not your eyes.

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

Having posted 21 points last game, Zion's career total rises to 58. This makes him a 0.0215 on the Baynes scale.

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Please never stop this bit

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

I know this sounds strange but I think you'll know what I mean: you can play absolutely perfect defense and still get beaten by a good offensive player.

That's not me saying that Favors was perfect in that game, he wasn't, but just pointing out that someone scored on him a lot doesn't actually have much to do with how good he is defensively. You can make all the right defensive plays, all the right reads, be in the right place, help appropriately, etc, and still get fried. That's how the game is set up: great offense almost always beats great defense.

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I think Favors' back is bothering him. He does not look right. He looks like he is over 50 out there. There are times that it does not appear he is putting forth full effort and my guess is that he is hurting.

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Originally Posted by PELICANSFAN

I think Favors' back is bothering him. He does not look right. He looks like he is over 50 out there. There are times that it does not appear he is putting forth full effort and my guess is that he is hurting.

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No doubt. That’s why he rotated games for Utah coming off the bench sometimes. They had to implement a strict plan to keep him healthy. These back issues aren’t new and I think the Pels are really being cautious with him. I wouldn’t be surprised if Jah and Moore are traded for a taller wing and a defensive center.

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Originally Posted by PELICANSFAN

I think Favors' back is bothering him. He does not look right. He looks like he is over 50 out there. There are times that it does not appear he is putting forth full effort and my guess is that he is hurting.

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That is absolutely true. He looks hindered at times, sometimes severely sometimes only a little.

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Originally Posted by Nola3

Please never stop this bit

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It is not a bit. It is a purely a report on the progress of Zion in comparison to the Greatest Player of Our Times, Aron Baynes.

And I shall never stop.

In Zion's first 3 games, the Pels have played 3 top-12 teams in ORtg (though DEN/BOS were missing key guys).

Results in Zion's minutes (per @cleantheglass)

144 Poss
113.9 ORtg (82nd %ile)
100.7 DRtg (97th %ile)
+13.2 Net (97th %ile)
33.3% OREB% (99th %ile)
17.4% TOV% (5th %ile)

— Mason Ginsberg (@MasonGinsberg) January 27, 2020

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

It is not a bit. It is a purely a report on the progress of Zion in comparison to the Greatest Player of Our Times, Aron Baynes.

And I shall never stop.

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I’m not going to lie, I would love to have Baynes on this team.

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

I know this sounds strange but I think you'll know what I mean: you can play absolutely perfect defense and still get beaten by a good offensive player.

That's not me saying that Favors was perfect in that game, he wasn't, but just pointing out that someone scored on him a lot doesn't actually have much to do with how good he is defensively. You can make all the right defensive plays, all the right reads, be in the right place, help appropriately, etc, and still get fried. That's how the game is set up: great offense almost always beats great defense.

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Yep. And IIRC, Favors was also in illegitimate foul trouble the entire. That completely changes your defense.

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Originally Posted by Fedupfan

I’m not going to lie, I would love to have Baynes on this team.

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Baynes is really good.