October 23rd - New Orleans Pelicans vs Utah Jazz - 2-0

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Originally Posted by Creative

This team has heart but just CAN’T lose games like this.

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We can't lose games by 1 point when we have two starters out injured?

Jesus, what games *can* we afford to lose, if that's the standard? Not allowed to lose a game unless it's by the magic new invention of the demi-point, and even that's only allowed when one of the players has been locked in a cave in the Himalayas.

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

We can't lose games by 1 point when we have two starters out injured?

Jesus, what games *can* we afford to lose, if that's the standard? Not allowed to lose a game unless it's by the magic new invention of the demi-point, and even that's only allowed when one of the players has been locked in a cave in the Himalayas.

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Remember when I asked the board what would be more frustrating- losing winnable games or the Lakers winning games they should lose and you had this mature answer about understanding that those games happen and yada yada? Then, I said… just wait until it actually happens, others won’t be that high minded

Well….. lol

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Originally Posted by MichaelMcNamara

Remember when I asked the board what would be more frustrating- losing winnable games or the Lakers winning games they should lose and you had this mature answer about understanding that those games happen and yada yada? Then, I said… just wait until it actually happens, others won’t be that high minded

Well….. lol

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Hey, I was only answering for myself. Can't speak for anyone else.

I'm actually perfectly fine with the lose. Had no business being in there. I honestly not as upset about the rotations as I thought I would be to be honest.

Utah exploited our inability to shot block or rim protect at the rim with our bigs. They out hustle and able to get us out of rhythm for almost the entire game. The officiating didn't feel consistent at all.

How much longer do we have to wait for Herb Jones to get respected by officials like other defensive anchors around the league to gets to play physical?

Utah and Portland are undefeated. It means nothing to be honest.

I like to see us go 2-2 over the next two games. I would be very happy with that. This opening season gauntlet gonna be rough.

2-1 and I'm honestly having the best time in years.

I am trying to prepare you guys to be disappointed in the rotations for a while, because it is a conscious plan to gather enough data to be ready for the playoffs. Also, to fully understand what they need at the trade deadline.

In the moment, we often only think about the moment but the Celtics were under .500 in January last year. Dont matter - they were playing their best ball when it mattered most. And lets be honest, this team is losing their last game of the year regardless this season. The real long term goal is to learn as much as possible about as many possible things for the future, when they actually have a chance at winning their last game of the season.

The downfall of the Lakers has provided an extra luxury to be a little more patient, and they are using it. We will have a lot more frustrating nights like last night, but there is at least a reason behind it

The game highlights our biggest weakness which remains perimeter defense. Zion's return will make us much more offensively effecient, but if anything it may hurt our perimeter defense which was already pretty poor without him. I'm not sure that you can afford to play Zion and Jonas together for any considerable length of time against certain perimeter oriented teams. Since I'm pretty sure you're never going to take Zion from the starting lineup, perhaps they should consider starting Nance against some of the teams that focus on an outside shooting/driving game.

Was also some bad clock management at the end.

If you are out of timeouts, then you should be taking the GW shot or very close to it.

Was no reason to leave Utah with 8 seconds and a timeout to work with when you have none left.

Th perimeter defense was fine against Charlotte. Was fine against Utah, who shot 34%.

Quite frankly they just made some very tough shots all game. Especially that late Clarkson 3. So tip your hat to them.

Defense wins Championships!

Oh look at what Fletch did. The trade machine is back up

1. The #Pelicans home opener Sunday was fantastic

2. Despite OT loss to Jazz, Pels are for real. IMO, top 4 seed in West

3. Knowing Jazz want to win, but not too much (Wembanyama) I can’t help but think…Kelly Olynyk could be nice rotation piece in NOLA.

So…trade idea ������**♂️ pic.twitter.com/KtpiiEbhus

— Fletcher Mackel (@FletcherWDSU) October 24, 2022

Fletch will never cease his quest to add whiteness to the team

It's very possible the Lakers could be 0-6 by the time they play the Pelicans.

I still have hope things get so bad they go on a fire sale. Which includes trading AD and/or Lebron to recoup some draft capital.

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Originally Posted by Freyfamilyreuni

Our perimeter defense remains our Achilles hill.

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actually we have pretty poor rim/interior defense ( Valancuinus pitiful interior defender, wont touch any of the bigs going to the basket)

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

Fletch will never cease his quest to add whiteness to the team

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Kindly explain that racial reference, please?

My biggest concern after last nights game isnt the loss, its that almost all these guys look better without each other. Zion didnt really get going until BI left. CJ stunk until everyone was out.

I like all the guys individually, but to win a title, I think your best guys have to make your other best guys better and I just dont see how this happens with this core. I think there is too much overlap, and when that overlap is THIS talented, that is great and will lead to a lot of wins. But their regular season advantage of being able to stagger and always have a good scorer on the court gets minimized in the postseason when rotations go down and top guys play way more minutes.

I think, eventually, they will have to identify a 3rd that is just a perfect fit with Zion and Ingram. And I still dont know exactly what that is yet. We know he has to be great on D, but do you want another secondary creator or a primary creator or a catch and shoot guy? A wing, a lightning bug guard, a center? Like, if I could have anyone in the league, I think I would take healthy Embiid or Jokic over Curry. I know I wouldnt take a slow, iso heavy guy like Kawhi over everyone else. Or a guy who has to have the ball in his hand like Luka. It would be one of those 3, I think. Curry's dont exist, and the 90% form of them hurts as much on D as they help on O. For an all time player, I would take a Pippen I think

I dont know, but that was my takeaway last night is these guys almost always seemingly play better without each other. Or even when Jonas was cooking the other night, it was on post ups and offensive rebounds. Its not like someone was setting him up, making him better. I just dont get the sense that the sum will be as great as its parts come postseason.

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Originally Posted by MichaelMcNamara

My biggest concern after last nights game isnt the loss, its that almost all these guys look better without each other. Zion didnt really get going until BI left. CJ stunk until everyone was out.

I like all the guys individually, but to win a title, I think your best guys have to make your other best guys better and I just dont see how this happens with this core. I think there is too much overlap, and when that overlap is THIS talented, that is great and will lead to a lot of wins. But their regular season advantage of being able to stagger and always have a good scorer on the court gets minimized in the postseason when rotations go down and top guys play way more minutes.

I think, eventually, they will have to identify a 3rd that is just a perfect fit with Zion and Ingram. And I still dont know exactly what that is yet. We know he has to be great on D, but do you want another secondary creator or a primary creator or a catch and shoot guy? A wing, a lightning bug guard, a center? Like, if I could have anyone in the league, I think I would take healthy Embiid or Jokic over Curry. I know I wouldnt take a slow, iso heavy guy like Kawhi over everyone else. Or a guy who has to have the ball in his hand like Luka. It would be one of those 3, I think. Curry's dont exist, and the 90% form of them hurts as much on D as they help on O. For an all time player, I would take a Pippen I think

I dont know, but that was my takeaway last night is these guys almost always seemingly play better without each other. Or even when Jonas was cooking the other night, it was on post ups and offensive rebounds. Its not like someone was setting him up, making him better. I just dont get the sense that the sum will be as great as its parts come postseason.

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Very Good Take, Mac!! I have forever said it will take a floor general to orcestrate and get these guys playing better. Probably a poor analogy, but even with AD and Holiday as our constants, this the team was virtually nothing until Rondo joined the team in '18 and then fell off the cliff the next year when he left. We need a dog (in the best sense of the word), ala Tony Parker, to set the table for our 'studs'. That guy simply doesn't exist on this team (maybe Jose' one day).

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Originally Posted by As I See It

Very Good Take, Mac!! I have forever said it will take a floor general to orcestrate and get these guys playing better. Probably a poor analogy, but even with AD and Holiday as our constants, this the team was virtually nothing until Rondo joined the team in '18 and then fell off the cliff the next year when he left. We need a dog (in the best sense of the word), ala Tony Parker, to set the table for our 'studs'. That guy simply doesn't exist on this team (maybe Jose' one day).

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I don’t know if I agree. Not a floor general. I look at the Bucks, Warriors, Celtics, and Clippers - arguably the four favorites and the best teams in recent years and it’s a shared responsibility amongst multiple guys on those teams to set up the offense and create. You put a CP3 on this team, and it again minimizes everyone else more than maximizing

I see a need for more of a Joe Ingles from three years ago - a guy who can initiate some stuff but also be dangerous off the ball. In an ideal world, Daniels or the guy we take or trade for with a Lakers pick becomes that guy

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Originally Posted by MichaelMcNamara

I don’t know if I agree. Not a floor general. I look at the Bucks, Warriors, Celtics, and Clippers - arguably the four favorites and the best teams in recent years and it’s a shared responsibility amongst multiple guys on those teams to set up the offense and create. You put a CP3 on this team, and it again minimizes everyone else more than maximizing

I see a need for more of a Joe Ingles from three years ago - a guy who can initiate some stuff but also be dangerous off the ball. In an ideal world, Daniels or the guy we take or trade for with a Lakers pick becomes that guy

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I defer to your knowledge, but I truly believe as good as BI is (at least my eyes), I wonder how much more effective he would be if he didn't have to play the 'jack-of-all-trades' for this team all the time. I know it's been said that he is a 'poor man's Kevin Durant', but Durant has never been called upon to do what BI is being asked to do here in NO (Westbrook in OKC, the Golden State triumvirate, and Harden/Kyrie/Simmons in BKLN). Pete Maravich only worked on an inferior college team that went nowhere in the NCAA,

He would hate it and be worse IMO. He gets in the flow and in his rhythm by having the ball

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Originally Posted by MichaelMcNamara

He would hate it and be worse IMO. He gets in the flow and in his rhythm by having the ball

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I'll take your word for it.

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Originally Posted by MichaelMcNamara

My biggest concern after last nights game isnt the loss, its that almost all these guys look better without each other. Zion didnt really get going until BI left. CJ stunk until everyone was out.

I like all the guys individually, but to win a title, I think your best guys have to make your other best guys better and I just dont see how this happens with this core. I think there is too much overlap, and when that overlap is THIS talented, that is great and will lead to a lot of wins. But their regular season advantage of being able to stagger and always have a good scorer on the court gets minimized in the postseason when rotations go down and top guys play way more minutes.

I think, eventually, they will have to identify a 3rd that is just a perfect fit with Zion and Ingram. And I still dont know exactly what that is yet. We know he has to be great on D, but do you want another secondary creator or a primary creator or a catch and shoot guy? A wing, a lightning bug guard, a center? Like, if I could have anyone in the league, I think I would take healthy Embiid or Jokic over Curry. I know I wouldnt take a slow, iso heavy guy like Kawhi over everyone else. Or a guy who has to have the ball in his hand like Luka. It would be one of those 3, I think. Curry's dont exist, and the 90% form of them hurts as much on D as they help on O. For an all time player, I would take a Pippen I think

I dont know, but that was my takeaway last night is these guys almost always seemingly play better without each other. Or even when Jonas was cooking the other night, it was on post ups and offensive rebounds. Its not like someone was setting him up, making him better. I just dont get the sense that the sum will be as great as its parts come postseason.

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I think it's just gonna take time. Most of us (including me) want everything to happen right away. We have the talent, and the coach. We just need to let them learn each other's tendencies.

1) CJ has only played 2.5 games with Zion TOTAL. CJ has a record of 11-7 with the Pelicans with Brandon Ingram in his career.

2) B.I. went all last season with no Zion.

3) Willie has had 3 games trying to figure out how the pieces of the puzzle go together.

4) We have seen very little of Garrett Temple. This has nothing to do with my point, but it means Willie isn't a complete idiot.

5) Had Naji not KO'd his own teammate I think we would have won that game, i'm sure of it. BI and Zion both out hurt. It's just bad luck, and we barely lost.

6) The Jazz are no joke. I watched their game against the Nuggets, and their coach has them WELL prepared. They play as a team. On the road against a fired up crowd in a home opener and they didn't flinch. Sometime you gotta give props to them. Hell of a game by both teams.

Time will make it better for sure. But guys would have to drastically change the way they play to make it ideal. Like how Bosh did in Miami. And Bosh was able to find a way to go from a 25th guy to a 15 and still impact the game as much by becoming a stretch on O and a monster on D

Who of these 3 do you see doing that? You think with less usage, CJ can focus more energy on D and become a lockdown? Zion can become a stretch?

It’s too much overlap. Yes, it will be better with time but the third piece will have to be a drastically different player than CJ IMO

And FWIW - I still would make the trade for CJ, I just hope he can transition to early GSW Iggy. Be the leader and sacrifice by coming off the bench, be clutch, etc.

But someone else is the 3rd guy

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Originally Posted by MichaelMcNamara

My biggest concern after last nights game isnt the loss, its that almost all these guys look better without each other. Zion didnt really get going until BI left. CJ stunk until everyone was out.

I like all the guys individually, but to win a title, I think your best guys have to make your other best guys better and I just dont see how this happens with this core. I think there is too much overlap, and when that overlap is THIS talented, that is great and will lead to a lot of wins. But their regular season advantage of being able to stagger and always have a good scorer on the court gets minimized in the postseason when rotations go down and top guys play way more minutes.

I think, eventually, they will have to identify a 3rd that is just a perfect fit with Zion and Ingram. And I still dont know exactly what that is yet. We know he has to be great on D, but do you want another secondary creator or a primary creator or a catch and shoot guy? A wing, a lightning bug guard, a center? Like, if I could have anyone in the league, I think I would take healthy Embiid or Jokic over Curry. I know I wouldnt take a slow, iso heavy guy like Kawhi over everyone else. Or a guy who has to have the ball in his hand like Luka. It would be one of those 3, I think. Curry's dont exist, and the 90% form of them hurts as much on D as they help on O. For an all time player, I would take a Pippen I think

I dont know, but that was my takeaway last night is these guys almost always seemingly play better without each other. Or even when Jonas was cooking the other night, it was on post ups and offensive rebounds. Its not like someone was setting him up, making him better. I just dont get the sense that the sum will be as great as its parts come postseason.

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I thought of it as CJ stepping up to the moment when everyone else went down.

Their chemistry needs time to develop, for sure, but GOAT players mostly create their own looks anyway unless they can't dribble and if they can't dribble they just go stand in their spot and someone gives them the ball and their footwork/size gets them the bucket.

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

Fletch will never cease his quest to add whiteness to the team

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When did you become a racist?

Hmmmm. Mike is that you?

Hopefully Pelicans are healthy for the road trip and last night woke CJ up.

— Herb Jones, Fishing Enthusiast (@The_Fallon) October 24, 2022