Per Shams.
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Per Shams.
Jrue Holiday
Lonzo Ball
Frank Jackson
Nickeil Alexander-Walker
Josh Hart
E’Twaun Moore
JJ Redick
Brandon Ingram
Kenrich Williams
Darius Miller
Zion Williamson
Nicolo Melli
Jahlil Okafor
Derrick Favors
Jaxson Hayes
That really stinks. I am sure they are doing it to give him a chance to catch on with a guaranteed contract somewhere else. However, he showed a lot of promise in the little time he was here. He's a guy who averaged 17/8 with 1.3 blocks in only 24 minutes per game. I would have liked them to at least bring him to camp.
#Pelicans roster (without 2-way contracts):
— Andrew Lopez (@_Andrew_Lopez) July 15, 2019
Jrue Holiday
Lonzo Ball
Frank Jackson
Nickeil Alexander-Walker
Josh Hart
E’Twaun Moore
JJ Redick
Brandon Ingram
Kenrich Williams
Darius Miller
Zion Williamson
Nicolo Melli
Jahlil Okafor
Derrick Favors
Jaxson Hayes
So this is where we're at right now
Edit: why am I always just a minute too late with this stuff?
I hope Melli is worth cutting Wood and the money he got
:idoh:
Really don't like the depth there.
If Favors or Okafor get injured who's taking that spot?
I think it was a little deeper then roster slots granted we are maxing out atm. I remember when they asked the coaches about him they said something about contract talks. Maybe they couldn't come to some agreement so that kinda put the ball in motion....just speculating.
I'm trusting Langdon and Griff. If they think this is the right move, then I'm just going to wait and see.
Also consider that this could be a mutual separation. We heard from Oleh Kosel and others that the reason Wood wasn't playing in SL was because of negotiations between him and the front office. It may be the case that Wood wanted his deal guaranteed (which was the rumour going around) and that the team was not a fan of doing that at this point. In that case, it could easily be the case that they decided mutually to part ways in order to give Wood a chance of getting a guaranteed deal with another team elsewhere.
Wood was good for us, he played well in the minutes he got. He didn't project to be a star, but he looked perfectly capable as a backup big off the bench who could soak up minutes and be productive in his time. Sucks to see him go, but someone had to go.
I will also note that, obviously it depends on what kind of lineups we would run, but Wood was not likely to get more than 10 or 15 minutes a game anyway, given the team's general run and gun style being more fit for medium sized lineups and the possibility of Zion playing smallball 5.
Griff said in the SL interview that they had initially planned to redshirt Hayes for this first season, but that he had impressed everyone at Summer League and in practices and that it would be hard to keep him benched all year. He also said that we shouldn't expect Hayes to play much, especially early in the season.
Given that, it could easily be that the decision of who to cut kinda got made for them when Hayes showed out in SL. Those 8, 10, maybe 15 minutes Wood may have gotten could easily go to Hayes instead, and while he wouldn't be as productive from day one, he's obviously a much better long term investment.
I never veiwed 220 lb Wood as a center. His skill set is the exact definition of a stretch 4.
Updated look at the depth chart in my opinion. pic.twitter.com/1aKorAmgCd
— David Fisher (@Fish_TBW) July 15, 2019
How insane is it that if that deep bench lineup of
Jackson/Moore/Miller/Kenny Hustle/Hayes
Could actually have been a lineup we used over the past few years, and it wouldn't have been odd. Like, during the time that we were running through 10 day contracts and G League guys, that lineup would have been much better than some of the groups we ACTUALLY ran. Now that's our deep bench.
What?
C: D-Fav, Hayes, Okafor
PF: Zion, Melli, Kenrich
SF: Ingram, Moore/Hart, Miller
SG: Redick, NAW, Moore/Hart
PG: Jrue, Lonzo, Jackson
I’m still listing this as our depth chart till I see what happens come the season. I think it puts our 10 best players, depending on Nico, on the court the most. Unless we are willing to let NAW be our backup point guard as a rookie which he has shown capable & at times needing more time IMO. Right now I give him the edge over Moore & Hart in the second team cause he has shown more talent than both of them in my eyes. Then it should be a battle between Moore & Hart for that backup small forward spot cause I think both should be in there over Miller at this point. Unless we move Moore and add us an experienced backup point guard which I think would be the best move at this point. Until that happens I’m keeping Jrue & JJ in our starting lineup.
I thought we would likely keep Wood over Kenrich since he’s quite small for the power forward position at like 6’7” 210 lbs, but he’s likely gained some pounds from whenever that weight I see on most sites was taken. In today’s NBA though you can get away with a smaller sized power forward though and we might see Brandon Ingram play there as a small ball 4 as well. IMO a Lonzo, Jrue, JJ, Ingram, & Zion lineup would likely be our 5 best players & could be extremely fun to watch in some really small minute spurts. I just hope Nico Melli is ready to give us the minutes needed as our likely 3rd or 4th big man.
lol i got to give it to you...you are hardheaded but consistent lol.....
it dont matter to you that the coach said jrue is better at off guard lol......it also dont matter to you that jrue said he is better at off guard and list the reason why........after hearing it from the player mouth, you still go against the grain and put jrue as the starting PG in your lineup lol....
I think the writing was on the wall here. Once Frank got guaranteed, the last man out came down to Chris, Kenrich, or (outside chance) Jah.
And even though I think Wood has higher potential than Kenrich, this team has a bunch of good prospects we are trying to develop, including two younger bigs in Jah and Hayes.
Kenrich is close to the perfect 10th or 11th man in any rotation. He's a good team and individual defender who can credibly guard both forward positions and switch some onto bigger and smaller players, a very good rebounder and pretty good passer, a plausible-enough shooter to not be completely left alone, and he has absolute consistency of effort to try to get 50/50 balls, cut off ball, take charges, hit the offensive boards, and make the extra pass whether he takes 1 shot or 10. He's not flashy and his skillset probably tops out at a good role player. But I think what he brings to the table has real value. And while he's a young(ish) player, he's a low maintenance guy who understands his role on the team and won't be a developmental guy you have to teach to play basketball and give developmental minutes at the same time you are trying to develop Brandon, Lonzo, Zion, Jaxson, NAW, and Frank.
I think Wood is an NBA player, and maybe could even be a starter at some point, but think that team was unlikely to be New Orleans after the draft we just had and think this is the right call.
Also doesn't matter to him that Jrue started at SG for both of the last two years, alongside Rondo and Payton.
Jrue will start at the 2. Gentry apparently loves Lonzo: Lonzo will start. It's fine if you don't like that and would prefer it to be different, but that's how it will be.
zion,,okafor,,melli and favors will be the active bigs........i think favors will have a year like randle had in this offense with his extended mins and praying that melli have a niko type of season....
I hope come January, I am writing a post to own up to being wrong on this one, as I think this might be the first misstep management has made post-AD. Why?
1. Anybody with an objective eye knows that Jaxson Hayes and all his remarkable talent is not ready for prime time in the NBA. He only has two years of significant playing experience (one year in high school and one year in college) and his teenage frame is not ready to handle 265-275 pound grown men leaning on him during an NBA season.....he simply would be overmatched physically no matter how much we may be in awe of his amazing physical skills. He is well-suited for Erie.
2. Nicolo Melli is an absolute unknown. For every European ball player that makes the transition to the NBA, there are 10 that don't. Yep, Trajan Langdon has earned my trust...but until he proves it on the court, Melli is still an unknown.
3. Thirty year old, six foot four shooting guards who are, at best, the third option at their position are a dime a dozen. Let's face it, if E'Twaun Moore is getting significant playing time, then this team is not progressing. Couple that with the fact that a six foot ten inch center/power forward, who has thus far impressed, is not so easy to come by and the choice seems obvious.
Everything they have touched so far has been gold. I truly do hope Griffin and Crew's track record continues.
I understand your doubt, but I would argue that from the perspective of the team, everything you've said can be responded to.
1) Hayes isn't ready for prime time in the NBA. That's totally true: the problem is, the role Wood fills isn't prime time in the NBA. It's the backup to the backup, who would play at most 15 minutes a night, and very probably more like 10 minutes if they get on court at all. Hayes isn't ready to handle 265-275lb centers but first of all: how many centres actually meet those criteria? According to the NBA's official data, there are only 19 players listed at 265 and up, and 2 of them are on this team: Favors and Okafor. Of the remaining 17, 3 are free agents that nobody wants, and one is out the year with injury (Nurkic). When you consider that the role Wood would be suited for would be against backups as well? Then it doesn't matter whether Hayes is physically prepared to take on, say, Steven Adams or not.
2) Nicolo Melli is an absolute unknown... to you. Trajan Langdon clearly knows and appreciates his game, and apparently NBA teams have been trying to persuade him to come over for years. Langdon's done more than enough for us to trust his judgement, but just because we don't know what Melli is like to the core doesn't mean he's clueless too, and Euroleague competition is just as good or better than US College basketball. If you can judge prospects to come out of college with a decent degree of scouting accuracy (which you can), then you can do the same for the Euroleague. Give him the chance to fail before you pencil it in as a loss.
3) E'twaun Moore can shoot, Wood can't. As a spot-minutes guy on a team that needs shooting, that alone justifies keeping Moore especially when his contract is already guaranteed and therefore would cost you money to cut/waive, whereas letting Wood go is free.
There's room for scepticism, sure, but we're talking about the 15th man on the roster. If you're legitimately viewing this as a mistake rather than just a disagreement about priorities on the margins, you're going a little overboard.
Hayes performing better than expected made this happen. They might have been considering giving him some D-league time, but after his summer league performance they feel comfortable playing him 10-15 min a game at center. With Favors getting the lion share of minutes at 5, and Okafor a capable backup, it’s hard enough to get Hayes any minutes. How could Wood ever see the floor? He doesn’t provide the spacing to pair with any of the centers.
Regarding Hayes....he needs to be playing and getting big minutes. He needs to be in Erie.
Regarding Melli….there are no absolutes in the college draft; people are burned every year. This being the case, a Euro-League translation is even murkier. The opposition he's played against does not match up physically with what he will routinely face in the NBA. But, put him on the floor and make me a believer.....I wanna be.
Regarding Moore...I'll grant you his guaranteed contract, let's trade it. If he's playing, one of the young guns (inclusive of the Laker triumvirate) is not.
Don't agree on Hayes. I've said it before and I'll say it again: if you think Hayes can't play even 10 minutes a game, while Diallo played 15 minutes a game last year and even 10 minutes a game as a rookie himself, you have to explain to me why rookie Diallo was better than rookie Hayes.
With Melli, it's true that there are no absolutes in the draft. The point wasn't ''you can absolutely evaluate talent and hit on 100% of picks'', it was that if you can do talent evaluation and justify taking a flyer on a player in the draft, which every team does nearly every year, then it's easy to justify evaluating talent and signing someone from the Euroleague which is, afterall, just as good in terms of competition and sometimes even better.
If Moore gets traded, which he very well might, it won't be until after Miller is eligible to trade as well so that their contracts can be aggregated and they can be sent out as a package deal expiring to bring in a higher value player.
In all fairness....we are not as far off as you think, but...……
….Diallo only got into 17 games as a rookie. AND: He was called upon to play because the team was so deficient....Omer Asik and Alexis Ajinza (never mind Jimmer Fredette, Solo Hill, and Luke Babbitt). Further, he was originally assigned to the D League and really didn't get an opportunity until Cousins went down. I'll argue all day that this team is much more talented throughout than any team Cheick played on.
….and there is no way you will convince me that the Euro League is 'just as good in terms of competition and sometimes even better'.
Diallo got into 17 games as a rookie, 52 games in his second year (again, 11 minutes a game) and 64 games last year (14 minutes a game).
Hayes is better now than Diallo now. If Diallo could get 14 minutes a game in 64 games last season, Hayes can get 10 minutes a night in 45-50 games this year. If you are trying to invest in Hayes' development, it is better to have him with the team, training with the team, and playing 10 minutes a night against NBA backups than it is to have him playing 30 minutes a night against G Leaguers in games that mean nothing, away from the real organisation's training staff. As I've said, if you want to convince me that Hayes isn't deserving of the same shot we gave Cheick Diallo, then you'll have to convince me that Diallo is a better player at this point. Which is unlikely to happen.
If you don't think high level Euroleague play is better than some of the terrible garbage that goes on in US College basketball at times, then I can't help you there. The gap in perception and reality is just too large.
Hayes is a better PROSPECT than Cheick Diallo. But, it's dubious that he's a better basketball player than Cheick Diallo, right now, based purely on 'on-the-court' experience. One went through the AAU regimen, was a First Team Parade All American, and the MVP in the NBPA Workouts while the other was not. Now, did Cheick plateau? Perhaps. Is Hayes NBA-ready as we speak? In this man's humble opinion...not a chance. Who will be better in time? Jaxson Hayes (but not right now).
The athleticism in D-1 is far superior than what you find in Europe. The biggest difference (in favor of your argument) is that European teams benefit from continuity, but it is sorely deficient athletically. How many kids that can't cut it in Europe find their way to the NBA? Conversely, how many NBA castoffs go to Europe to manifest a career?
The athleticism in the US College circuit is higher, sure, but does that mean the actual basketball is any better? Nope. Not at all. A lot of NBA castoffs do better in Europe or in China or whatever because the athletic standard is lower, sure, but the actual SKILLS are better in the Euroleague than in most of college. I'm not saying that if you take the best Euroleague team and play them against the best US College team, the Euroleague team will win every time. I'm saying that there is some absolute garbage tier, bottom of the basement, trash level basketball being played all around the world, and there's MORE of that in the US College system than there is in Europe. If someone performs at a high level in Europe, that is a better indication of basketball ability than performing at a high level in the lower rungs of the US College system. If you doubt that, fine, but I'm taking Luka Doncic over Aubrey Dawkins.
I'm not talking about prospects. Hayes is a better basketball player right now, today, than Cheick Diallo was in his first year, or his second year, and I think there's a real argument for him being better today.
If you're David Griffin and you have 10 minutes to give out, who do you give them to: the 24 year old (which Wood will be by game one of next season) who isn't guaranteed and therefore will cost you money to keep, and who is very probably not a part of your long term plans because you have no guarantee they'll stay after this year is up, or the 19 year old who's signed up for 4 years of cost control, is already factored into the salary spent this summer, and whose ceiling is much, much higher?
If your answer is the 24 year old, you're on a completely different page than I am.
Edit: cut out some stuff because this post was stupidly long. It's still too long, so imagine how long it was before.
With all due respect....
If I'm David Griffin, after training camp, I will give the young Mr. Hayes a one way ticket to Erie, where he will get ample floor time....a personal nutritionist....a personal trainer....and a personal coach in hopes that he can develop to a point where he might merit a return ticket to New Orleans at mid year. As you suggest, he might get third string minutes in New Orleans whereas in Erie he will get quality time. He's a nineteen year old with arguably the least amount of legitimate playing time of any lottery pick in NBA history. I would not rush this young man; it just wouldn't be fair to him.....but that's me.
hayes will not be on the active roster......zion,,melli,,okafor and favors are the 4 bigs that will be active.......if anyone thinks hayes will be active then you are saying we will have 5 bigs on the active roster and a guard or SF will have to be inactive.....
ball/ jackson
jrue/ JJ/ moore
ingram/ miller/ hart
zion/ melli
favors/ okafor
this my 12 active players......who would hayes get playing time over on this list?.......remember gentry is the coach and i believe he will play the vets that know his system and who he trust...
If anyone thinks Hayes will be active, then all they're saying is that... they listened to David Griffin when he said that they won't be redshirting him this year like they initially planned and that he'll be competing for some minutes, even though you can't play him too much.
That's obviously not what he meant. In what universe would ANYONE just draft a player and then leave him sat in a room, not playing anywhere, even the G League, for a year? Redshirting in this context obviously means not playing in the NBA and just taking the year off for G League experience and training, kind of like Didi is doing.
I don't want to just list 12 names because I think it depends on context, I think that Hayes wouldn't play all 82 anyway, and obviously there's a risk of injur to any player that could change things. The basic, day one list would look look something like:
PG: Lonzo/NAW
SG: Jrue/Redick
SF: Ingram/Miller/Hart
PF: Zion/Melli
C: Favors/Okafor/Hayes
Straight up, I don't care if Moore or Frank Jackson don't play. I don't really consider either of them to be long term parts of this team. Obviously if there's an injury, or a time where we just need to load up on shooters, or whatever, then they could play situationally or something, but if the season ends and Moore has only played in 48 games, then I don't care.
so you honestly believe gentry will have 5 bigs on the active roster?......moore will be on the active roster...gentry trust him and you should know that.......this team will not have 2 rookies naw and hayes on the active roster over moore.........
you are taking it to personal with moore and it is blocking your judgement.......its not about you...we are talking about gentry ball and we all know he will not have 5 bigs on this deep team when he is trying to make the playoffs......
I'm high-key tight, as I really like Wood and his potential. He's gonna be a good player. Hope Melli is good enough.
I think you're viewing things as if it was 1995. When you say ''5 bigs'', you're viewing PF as synonymous with C, or at least close to it. The fact is that in 2019, the two forward positions often share more in common than anything else, and viewing someone like Zion, who could play SF at times just as easily as C, as a ''big'' in the traditional sense is kind of retro. With Melli, in fact, if it weren't for the fact that there are minute distribution issues, he actually might be better off as a small forward at least on offense, even if his feet are too slow to defend other small forwards. Right now, I think it's better and more sensible to view the centre position as it's own issue, and in that case, I think having 3 guys at that spot isn't ridiculous at all.
I wouldn't be surprised if Moore was on the active roster. I'm saying that I don't think he should be.
When you say ''this team will not have 2 rookies on the active roster over Moore'', my question is why not? Hayes is completely irrelevant to whether Moore plays or not, and NAW is just better than Moore at this point.
If we're talking Gentry ball, then it makes even less sense to have Moore over NAW, because Gentry prefers switchable guards who can run, defend multiple positions, share the ball, and create offense. Moore can't do any of those things with anything like the same ability NAW can, even as a rookie.
Just as an unrelated issue, why do you use so many ................ sections, instead of any other punctuation? That's not a criticism, just wondering.
today i believe zion,,melli and favors will get all the mins at the 4 and 5...okafor will play in foul trouble and against big centers......gentry has been consistent with his rotations and 5 bigs are not it in 2019-2020....
i think your personal issue with moore is blocking you from being honest.....moore was solid last season as a starter before he got hurt and now will be better in his backup role.....moore can play defense and switch ,,hit the 3,,cut toward the basket and do his floater and score easy on that play....the dude is good as a backup and in his right position.....he had some 30pt games playing SF.....gentry trust him and that says alot that he will be on the active roster if he is on the team come October....again i think you have a personal thing against moore but gentry believes in him.........im not going to talk about naw because you going off of summer league play with him....
again i think we all should know that gentry play who he trust and moore is one of the players......i just dont see naw playing before moore.....now maybe frank if he beat out frank in camp and show he can play against real players....
hayes has alot to learn and gentry will not play that kid and we are fighting for the 8th spot.....imo i see hayes playing if we are injured at the 4 or 5 or after the break and our record is bad and im mad that im typing this.....i see hayes in the g-league developing his game....
as for the periods lol....a long time ago on here someone got mad with me and tried to clown the periods, so i just kept doing it and its a habit now......
Like I said, I think your way of judging the 4 and 5 positions is kind of anachronistic and doesn't really apply to the NBA in 2019. So we're just going to disagree on that.
It's funny, I've got you on here saying that my ''personal issue'' with Moore is stopping me being honest, and I've got people on twitter yelling at me because I said that Moore could be considered an asset :hihi: So apparently I'm in some weird limbo where I'm under and over-valuing Moore at the same time. Fantastic. Strange how that works, I guess. I do think Moore has several skills that he is good at. It's true that he's a good shooter. It's also true that he has a very good floater game. It's also true that he had some 30 point games, although what that tells you, I have no idea.
He's also undersized, not a part of our future as a franchise given that he's 30, expiring, and not a top tier player like Jrue who is valuable despite that. I think he did as well as you could expect him to guarding the 3, but he didn't actually do a very good job of it objectively, and that's why Jrue drew all the most difficult assignments at that position. Moore cannot be trusted to run an offense, is trigger-shy on his threes, has a mediocre at best handle, doesn't really rebound, etc etc. His game has huge flaws in it, and unlike a young player who we have time to develop, I'm not going to get into the habit of giving the benefit of the doubt to 30 year old expirings.
I've gathered that you see Hayes in the G League, you've said it tons of times. I still have yet to see a good justification for that, no matter whether it's you or someone else saying it. I stand by what I've said about 50 times now: if you think Hayes can't even get 10 minutes as the backup's backup, then you have to explain to me why you think he's worse than Diallo, and you also have to explain to me why you think the G League is better for developing a player than actually having them with the team, practicing with the team, and playing against real NBA competition.
I've already called for the Pelicans to move Moore to get more playing time for the younger players but there are certain truths that need to be considered.
Moore protects the ball....in fact his assist to turnover ratio is 2.00 to 1 (considered a good ratio). Interestingly, Jrue Holiday's ratio is 2.37 to 1 and Lonzo Ball's is 2.67 to 1....both well above average. Contrast these ratios with NAW's college ratio (1.23 to 1) or his summer statistics (1.38 to 1)….both below average figures. So a case could be made for NAW to be behind Moore in the pecking order. I don't necessarily think this should be the case, but I do think we all undervalue Moore's worth (myself included).