23rd February - New Orleans Pelicans @ Golden State Warriors - 24-32

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

different angle pic.twitter.com/g5r41f6pCu

— Jim Eichenhofer (@Jim_Eichenhofer) February 24, 2020

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Jesus Christ I just spilled my brewski in a good way!

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

different angle pic.twitter.com/g5r41f6pCu

— Jim Eichenhofer (@Jim_Eichenhofer) February 24, 2020

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Muahahahahahaha

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

different angle pic.twitter.com/g5r41f6pCu

— Jim Eichenhofer (@Jim_Eichenhofer) February 24, 2020

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It's interesting if you follow Zion related stuff on twitter, people seem to be getting annoyed with all of his coverage. The common complaint is that they are showing basic plays and only hyping it because it's Zion.

But like.... everything this dude does is a highlight! You actually can't overhype his play. Especially his post work. He's like 5 years ahead of where he should be right now by normal standards.

The step back three was my favorite play of the game last night. Yes they highlight everything he does, but dang, have you seen him play?? HE is the most entertaining NBA player I have seen in a long time.

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Originally Posted by AD-AT

It's interesting if you follow Zion related stuff on twitter, people seem to be getting annoyed with all of his coverage. The common complaint is that they are showing basic plays and only hyping it because it's Zion.

But like.... everything this dude does is a highlight! You actually can't overhype his play. Especially his post work. He's like 5 years ahead of where he should be right now by normal standards.

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I don't even listen to those complaints to be honest. I could understand if they only showed up on like, wide open layups and stuff, but they don't. You can find people complaining that they're being shown that jab step 3, or the crazy dunk in that picture. Those are totally legit highlights.

Other fans just salty tbh

Zions PIPM is now +2.11

This is 41st in the NBA. He's played 12 games.

He is just behind Favors, whose PIPM is +2.17.

Third place is Jrue Holiday, at +1.04.

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

Zions PIPM is now +2.11

This is 41st in the NBA. He's played 12 games.

He is just behind Favors, whose PIPM is +2.17.

Third place is Jrue Holiday, at +1.04.

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Yet people still think Favors is easily replaced.
Yes he doesn't do all the flashy stuff, but he does all the things that don't show up in the box score. Replace him with a shot blocking big and you more than likely lose something.

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Originally Posted by AD-AT

It's interesting if you follow Zion related stuff on twitter, people seem to be getting annoyed with all of his coverage. The common complaint is that they are showing basic plays and only hyping it because it's Zion.

But like.... everything this dude does is a highlight! You actually can't overhype his play. Especially his post work. He's like 5 years ahead of where he should be right now by normal standards.

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Those are just dumbazzes that always populate every corner of the Internet. They don’t understand that the major Twitter accounts they follow are not catering to their individual preferences. I especially hate it when Bleacher Report or something posts a crazy Soccer play and there will always be idiots that take the time out of their day to comment and tell BR to stop posting stuff about soccer cause they don’t care about it.

They also likely don’t understand basketball well enough to understand why those in the know are so in awe of this kid. The hype is warranted fellas

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Originally Posted by AUSSIE_PELICAN

Yet people still think Favors is easily replaced.
Yes he doesn't do all the flashy stuff, but he does all the things that don't show up in the box score. Replace him with a shot blocking big and you more than likely lose something.

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He's just clearly our best big on defense, and has been a very good rebounder. On a team that has been desperate for defense all year, there's a huge amount of value in being legitimately really good at that skill. That's what Favors has.

That aligns with his PIPM as well, which is much more amplified by his DPIPM than his OPIPM.

It's worth noting that Zion's PIPM of +2.11 includes being a slight (only slight!) negative on defense so far. His raw offensive PIPM is +2.59

+2.59 OPIPM is 18th in the NBA among all players. Notable players with lower OPIPM ratings than Zion include: Jayson Tatum, Brandon Ingram, Paul George, Pascal Siakam, Anthony Davis, Donovan Mitchell, D'Angelo Russell, Zach Lavine, CJ McCollum, Ben Simmons, Bam Adebayo, and Jrue Holiday.

Only the following players have a higher OPIPM than Zion: Doncic, Harden, Lillard, Trae, KAT, Giannis, Lebron, CP3, Gallinari, Kawhi, Kemba, Beal, Booker, Kyrie, Jokic, Middleton, Butler.

That's it.

Given that PIPM is a stat that stabilises at around 1000 minutes played, and therefore is very likely to continue rising until 1000 minutes is reached, it would not surprise me at all if Zion finished this year as a top 25 player by PIPM, with a top 15 OPIPM.

Which is absolutely staggeringly stupid for a 19 year old rookie.

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Originally Posted by Pilot172000

The step back three was my favorite play of the game last night. Yes they highlight everything he does, but dang, have you seen him play?? HE is the most entertaining NBA player I have seen in a long time.

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That spin move along the baseline was mine. In today's game you dont see many "bigs" able to execute that move. AD still has issues when he tries it, so its impressive to me when a 19 year old rook can.

And if folks think that is just sour grapes talk. See for yourself.

Zion at :06 mark



AD at 9:15 mark



AD got no leverage and spun right back into the defender. He's still most comfortable with one straight line move and go

Zion already has a bag of goodies down low.

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Originally Posted by luckyman

Zion already has a bag of goodies down low.

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This is what annoyed me about a lot of mainstream punditry surrounding last year's draft. A ton of people, including media members, worked on the assumption that Zion was just all about dunking everything and would take a while to adapt to the NBA, if he ever did. I remember people saying that while Zion would have the better career, RJ Barrett was going to be the better rookie because he was the guy with the better skillset from day 1.

Those people completely missed that Zion had a dynamite post game even in college, with really good foot work, quick spins, and fantastic touch pretty much anywhere within the paint. He didn't even dunk that much, only a couple of times a game.

And that's without getting into his passing, which has room to grow but is still far and away above what most bigs ever really get to. He's not Jokic or anything, but he has all the tools to navigate the double and triple teams

He's such a developed player that I'm thrilled to see what he starts adding to his game. I'm convinced he can be a decent shooter, and so far he hasn't really taken many (for good reason; nobody can stop him inside, why take a 3?) and he hasn't really had much opportunity to run the offense as a ball-handler. The defense as well, it's definitely improved as he's gotten more used to the game but I know his ceiling on that end is way higher than his current level of play.

This offense we're seeing now + above average defense + halfcourt playmaking + decent shooting? That's game over man.

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

This is what annoyed me about a lot of mainstream punditry surrounding last year's draft. A ton of people, including media members, worked on the assumption that Zion was just all about dunking everything and would take a while to adapt to the NBA, if he ever did. I remember people saying that while Zion would have the better career, RJ Barrett was going to be the better rookie because he was the guy with the better skillset from day 1.

Those people completely missed that Zion had a dynamite post game even in college, with really good foot work, quick spins, and fantastic touch pretty much anywhere within the paint. He didn't even dunk that much, only a couple of times a game.

And that's without getting into his passing, which has room to grow but is still far and away above what most bigs ever really get to. He's not Jokic or anything, but he has all the tools to navigate the double and triple teams

He's such a developed player that I'm thrilled to see what he starts adding to his game. I'm convinced he can be a decent shooter, and so far he hasn't really taken many (for good reason; nobody can stop him inside, why take a 3?) and he hasn't really had much opportunity to run the offense as a ball-handler. The defense as well, it's definitely improved as he's gotten more used to the game but I know his ceiling on that end is way higher than his current level of play.

This offense we're seeing now + above average defense + halfcourt playmaking + decent shooting? That's game over man.

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All the media morons are back tracking now. Reggie Miller did today.

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Originally Posted by luckyman

All the media morons are back tracking now. Reggie Miller did today.

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Some other ESPN show host did the other day as well. Can't remember who, exactly.

There's just no denying the greatness. It's like all those people who doubted Luka when he got drafted; all the draft analysts and scouts were saying ''guys, this one is for real, he's special''. And the media said yeah, he could play against Euro competition, but he'll never make it in the NBA. Not athletic enough, not fast enough. Zion's proving them wrong just like Luka did.

Zion, Luka, and Giannis are going to have some brutal MVP races over the next 8-10 years.

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Originally Posted by akhan786

Those are just dumbazzes that always populate every corner of the Internet. They don’t understand that the major Twitter accounts they follow are not catering to their individual preferences. I especially hate it when Bleacher Report or something posts a crazy Soccer play and there will always be idiots that take the time out of their day to comment and tell BR to stop posting stuff about soccer cause they don’t care about it.

They also likely don’t understand basketball well enough to understand why those in the know are so in awe of this kid. The hype is warranted fellas

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They understand it. A lot of it is pure jealousy as well. Zion is on our team, not theirs. Some will never come to grips with that fact.

They wish he would fade from vision, but Zion is hype personified. Same people complaining would be gloating about how much of a bust Zion is. And Lord forbid he sustains something that keeps him out for a long stretch, and they'll do the same and then some.

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Originally Posted by Eman5805

They understand it. A lot of it is pure jealousy as well. Zion is on our team, not theirs. Some will never come to grips with that fact.

They wish he would fade from vision, but Zion is hype personified. Same people complaining would be gloating about how much of a bust Zion is. And Lord forbid he sustains something that keeps him out for a long stretch, and they'll do the same and then some.

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Especially Knicks fans

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Originally Posted by Dago75

Especially Knicks fans

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I've seen Knicks fans argue all of the following:

- Zion was gifted to the Pelicans on purpose because the league loves small market teams
- RJ Barrett is still better than Zion
- Zion secretly wants to play for the Knicks (in one case, I saw someone claim he had already requested a trade lol)
- The Knicks ''deserve'' Zion because of how bad they've been lately
- Zion will be so injury plagued he won't last the length of his rookie deal

Funnily enough, I've even seen them argue several of these points at once; for example, that Zion was gifted to the Pelicans on purpose because the league loves small market teams, when truly it's the Knicks who deserve him and his play, but also he's injury plagued to the point of uselessness. Why they'd want him if he was that doomed to injury, I don't know, but Knicks fans are a strange bunch.

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

I've seen Knicks fans argue all of the following:

- Zion was gifted to the Pelicans on purpose because the league loves small market teams
- RJ Barrett is still better than Zion
- Zion secretly wants to play for the Knicks (in one case, I saw someone claim he had already requested a trade lol)
- The Knicks ''deserve'' Zion because of how bad they've been lately
- Zion will be so injury plagued he won't last the length of his rookie deal

Funnily enough, I've even seen them argue several of these points at once; for example, that Zion was gifted to the Pelicans on purpose because the league loves small market teams, when truly it's the Knicks who deserve him and his play, but also he's injury plagued to the point of uselessness. Why they'd want him if he was that doomed to injury, I don't know, but Knicks fans are a strange bunch.

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New York fans are a pretty messed up bunch. They are pretty bad with football as well...you should see the Jets fans that show up for the draft. I can only imagine that their delusion would be multiplied if the NFL had a lottery system that didnt go their way