Very well written article
Printable View
Very well written article
Hey guys - Herb Jones fan here, and have been looking for a favorite NBA team for a while. I think I found one in the Pelicans. Don't know your team that well. Is he going to play a lot right away? Play at all? Thanks!
A lot? Probably not. But he has the opportunity to get some minutes. Our guard situation isn't a strength on this team, and Herb has been impressing in summer league and pre-season. If he can develop an outside shot, I think he has the makings of a decent NBA player.
ETA: I would add, Willie Green is a defensive guy, and Herb's strength is his defense. So that by itself should tell you that the Coach is going to give him a chance.
Awesome - thanks so much!
Yeah. Anyone honestly think Zion plays the first game, btw?
That would be the most surprising thing of all if Griffin was being truthful about that.
A lot? Not sure about that, but I think he'll get minutes - Willie Green (the coach) has said that he's happy to go deep into the bench at times, so I wouldn't be surprised if Herb gets run earlier than expected. I feel like a few hundred minutes across the year is a reasonable expectation, somewhere between 500 and 700? That works out at the region of playing something like 10-12 minutes a game in 45-55 games, ish, which I think is a fair view.
Meanwhile, Westbrook has been really bad in pre-season for the Lakers. Obviously pre-season is pre-season and he hasn't played much with Lebron who is a big thing for their team and so on, but there's no hiding this.
2 games so far, a total of 39 minutes, and he has produced:
Game 1: 17 minutes played, 2pts, 7rbds, 4asts, with 6 turnovers on 1/7 shooting. No FTs drawn.
Game 2: 26 minutes played, 8pts, 2rbds, 5asts, with 9 turnovers on 3/12 shooting. No FTs drawn.
So thus far, for the Lakers in pre-season, Westbrook is averaging 10pts, 4.5rbds, 4.5asts per game with 7.5TOs and shooting 21% from the floor.
He's just a horrible fit there
I remember the Heat and early installment LeBron Lakers didn’t start out so well either in preseason. They’ll probably figure it out.
Early installment Lebron Lakers missed the playoffs.
Not saying they won't pull it together - preseason is just preseason, after all, and Westbrook has barely seen the court with Lebron, but I think it's fair to call a spade and spade and acknowledge that Westbrook's fit there thus far looks about as rough as many people said it would be.
Have really only watched closely this preseason but to me this team has A LOT of complimentary players. Like, almost too many. I know Zion and Ingram will come back and that will help the complimentary guys but then you will have like 3-4 legit NBA players getting DNPs. This team feels like it needs to trade 3 guys for 1 more self creator to really do some damage
Self creators are the most sought after guys in the NBA
It's probably important to note that, with regards the Temple extension and Sato acquisition, and even with the particulars of the Hart contract, it does look like there's some intention to move off those guys, potentially using them as means to acquire a single better player at some point. That would help solidify the 'core' guys and cut out some of what looks like surplus here.
That said, never underestimate the value of having actual NBA players on the roster down low. We're the Pelicans, we have had years where we've had a really solid top 5 and then just nothing after that and the result is never the best.
It really sucks that jax got hurt, would have been nice to see more of him after the positive remarks from within the organization about him.
Russ is one of those players that need a certain lineup to maximize his talents and hide his weaknesses. This Lakers team doesn't have many of those players on it's roster.
Another game for Russ on the Lakers - this time with Lebron also playing.
His best preseason game yet for them, which is not saying much.
10pts, 10rbds, 6asts on 3/9 shooting (1/3 from 3) alongside 5 turnovers and 3 fouls, in 28 minutes.
This Zion injury bs got me a little heated.
Did they knew that Zion had little to no chance to being ready week one and just lied to us because of financial reasons? I'm glad I wasn't a sucker to buy tickets at the beginning of the season.
I almost did.
where's Mac btw?
Like I'm big mad to be honest.
Certain broken foot injuries take 4-6 months. I know because I do a lot of Ortho. Fracture anything but your metatarsals. 4 months. Why not tell the truth? I almost wasted a G to get some good ****** tickets to see bum ****** Garrett Temple and us lose by 10+.
They said it was a Jones fracture, but it's way past the recovery time from the supposed surgery that happened way back in the summer.
No more... I ain't ever buying tickets in advance ever again. I'm okay with losing, but I'm paying weeks in advance to see Zion. Then, you want pull the rug out from under me with some bs... Haven't gotten scans. He hasn't gotten scans because they know it ain't healed.
WTF... Go con someone else. I'm only buying same day tickets for now on...All I want is honesty from this organization...
Yeah. I'm not gonna comment on the first part cause that sounds patently ridiculous, but as for the second, again it doesn't look good but I'm still willing to give them the benefit of the doubt until theirs's an injury update from Griff. As difficult as it can be I'm not just going to rely on confirmation bias when information is largely absent from the discussion
I don't know what was said on these podcasts or who those people are, but one of our assistants at Alabama has a lot of Pelicans information and he has told people that Zion has been completely separate from he team this whole training camp. Barely talks to any of his teammates, didn't travel to some of the road games, isn't in film sessions at all. And this guy always keeps it 100 - not a drama seeker. He says all the Pets players know Zion wont be playing to start the season, but everyone protects him out of fear.
I am happy to get you a definition of the word barely if you can not google it yourself. But I have seen your interactions with others here the two weeks I have been glancing at this message board, and I am sure none of that would matter. You seem convinced this kid is great and all the smoke about him is made up by people with agendas, so its a waste of time. But for the other people on this board with an open mind, I personally trust this guy. And you have no track record with him or me, so I don't expect that level of trust. But if your local media is any good, you will hear similar things soon. That has been my experience with info this guy has given.
And then there?s this cryptic as hell tweet:
The Pelicans over the past 2.5 years have perpetually been the "this is fine" dog. Issue is that the fire can be seen from the outside. I just want to know if there ever gets to be a point where they say, "no, this is not fine, but we will do what we can to fix it".
— Shamit Dua (@FearTheBrown) October 14, 2021
I don't think it's cryptic at all. Shamit's made it pretty clear lately that Zion and his family aren't committing to the team/city like they should. Whether that's true or not is another story, but under that context it's pretty transparent what he's talking about.
I just don't know how much of the opinions formed are based on the information out there, or the actual dearth of concrete information out there. Either way it's exhausting, but something that's intriguing to me.
Again, just coming from one coach that is tight with a few people inside the organization, but his exact words to our group was "Zion has not been in film sessions, most meetings, and has skipped shootarounds and even some mandatory conditioning sessions. He was cleared to go to some road games that he chose not to attend, and he is barely talking to anyone inside the organization, including teammates. They all know he wont be playing to start the season, but everybody is afraid to say something because Zions group is super sensitive to him being shown in any kind of bad light"
And this coach has ALWAYS been dead on with Alabama football and basketball stuff in the past in our group chat. No reason I could see he makes some stuff up about Zion. But I know fans wont want to believe it. Just don't shoot the messenger lol!
Franchise is cursed.
I will say that the last part about everybody being afraid to say something doesn't make much sense. Media members and coaches, sure. Teamates? nahhhhhhh, that's a hard swallow. In fact, I'm surprised there hasn't been anything leaked to the public about Zion that hasn't been connected to other players. He doesn't seem tight with anyone there (maybe NAW?) IMO but no one's had any problems with him to my knowledge.
https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/st...661789705?s=20
Yep... They lied.
What bother me the most was that it wasn't just Griff lying... It was point blank Zion too.
They both lied to sell tickets. This ain't right. I was almost a sucker to drop $1000 on their word. I can handle losing just fine, but to con me. I want Griff gone. Too much lying and underhanded tactics.
You go for being ready game one to reevaluating in two weeks and no timetable to return is unacceptable.
MF, I would have probably gotten tickets anyway, because I’m heading in for the Chapelle/Rogan concert the night prior to the Kings game, but this sucks. Well, they did say two weeks, maybe they’ll reevaluate then and say he’s had a miraculous recovery. I mean, it’s possible right?
https://twitter.com/cclark_13/status...33709356634114
Eman, Griff has gone full snake oil salesman...
You said, and I quote...
I said nah, there is video of him literally in the thick of it with coaches and teammates right on camera. Barely doesn't even apply. So sue me if I don't participate in the wild stuff people love to post on here.Quote:
but one of our assistants at Alabama has a lot of Pelicans information and he has told people that Zion has been completely separate from he team this whole training camp.
As for me thinking Zion is a golden boy, maybe you need to pay closer attention. I already said I am prepared for him to miss the first 5 games or so. Meaning I did not believe he'd be ready to start the season. So I didn't believe neither he nor Griff on that one. This type thing isn't new in sports. It happens all the time. I also have criticized his on court play for his severe lack of defensive effort.
Pay better attention.
https://twitter.com/i/spaces/1ypJdERYZpVxW?s=20
You got Antonio Daniels mixing it up on twitter.
He's in 3rd quarter mood too
Green has to really find a way to coach w/o Zion and BI and Jonas is gonna have to step up early and through out.
I like Trey Murphy alot and if Zion does leave, I think we have a great leader in him. It's just we have to wait another 2 or 3 years maybe to see him get that much better.