Why this season has me excited

Wow. 1 - 9. And I don't have much faith in that turning around soon. Zion injured, again. #pelslife literally concussing ourselves. NAW played us again by having his 3rd year in a row of an amazing preseason that got our hopes up only to dud in the regular season. And where's Jax? Honestly, at this point, I think it's more likely Jax and NAW fizzle out than turn into regular rotational players. Lots of reasons to be miserable. But here is why I'm really excited long term about what I've seen in the first 10 games:

It looks like we have our future top 6 and possibly 7 spots on the roster figured out.

Let's skip the obvious "will Zion ever be healthy" argument...it's a worthy argument at this point but let's slot him and BI in as our top 2 all-stars and let's look at JV as the 3rd of our Big 3. It's totally possible for him to be that level. He was like runner up for an all-star in the past and if he was on a top team in the league, I think he would garner all-star discussion. Him and Zion SHOULD look beastly together and staggered from each other when Zion finally gets back on the court.....I mean.....imagine having one of JV or Zion on the floor all minutes of the game. Insane.

Herb Freaking Jones. Man. Herb. He's just a rookie. He is the level we were hoping NAW would reach. Not the same skillset, but the same level. He can easily be slotted on as a future starter at the least. So he's the 4th man. Easily.

Trey Murphy. He's been getting overshadowed by Herb but he's having the exact season he should have as a rookie. Showing all the right signs that he can be our 5th or 6th guy of the future. I say 6th because I just don't know how a starting lineup of Ingram, Jones, Murphy, Zion, JV would look. It seems like Graham would start with Murphy getting 6th man type min.

Which leads me to Graham. He's been up and down but, IMO, it's because he's been having to try to be the 2nd or 3rd man during this stupid start to the season. Once we get healthy and he can be the 5th/6th guy, I think he'll not just be good but great.

I said that I think we have our future top 6 or 7 because I'm 50/50 on Josh Hart. He absolutely is at a level to be the 7th man. That vet leader that's pushing the bench and bringing grit to the team. I just don't know if he gets traded with that contract of his.

And we still have Kira and Naji and others....and who knows, maybe NAW or Jax can finally put it together....but even if none of these players pan out, we FINALLY have a great starting 5 and 6th possibly 7th man moving forward into the next few seasons. In the past, we always had solid bench depth but not many top quality guys. Hitting on JV, Herb, Murphy, and Graham is course changing. This is huge and absolutely has me feeling optimistic about the next few seasons.

This is the definition of irrational optimism

But more power to you

If Josh Hart is in your top 7, you are not a good team. He is way too inconsistent and not a good shooter. Obviously he needs more time, but Trey Murphy hasn?t shown anything consistently. Graham is a 6th man. We still need a true PG, you know, like Lonzo Ball. I wasn?t a huge fan of Lonzo, but he is a ton better than the combo of Hart, Temple, and Satoransky which is who he was essentially traded for. The front office looks lost. They have all these grand plans that don?t come to fruition. Zion is hurt every year. JV was steal. BI is coming into his own, so of course he gets injured. Herb is Bruce Bowen 2.0 which would be great for us, so again, of course he gets injured. NAW, Hayes, and Kira look like players that will keep us in the bottom of the standings.

We won't have ever have a true PG. Most of the ball handling will go through Zion and BI. So Graham is perfect as a 5th man starter. Most teams' 6th man is better than their 5th starter, anyways. Graham fits pretty perfectly with Ingram, Herb, Zion, and JV.

Pels fans have been sleeping on Hart for years. He's the perfect utility guy to fit in off the bench. That being said, I'm not sold that he is here long term, but even still, having our top 6 guys panning out is better than we've had it in LOOOOONG time. If ever.

As of now our top 7 should be

1. Zion
2. Ingram
3. JV
4. Graham
5. Herb Jones
6. Josh Hart
7. Trey Murphy

If our top 3 would stay healthy, we should be a top 10 team in the west, but I won’t hold my breath. 4 through 7 still has quite a bit of question marks as I outlined above.


Based on what we have seen so far this year, our depth chart should be..

PG: Graham/Alvarado (he needs more minutes. He is the best defensive PG we have with the highest BB IQ)/Lewis/Satoransky
SG: Ingram/Murphy/NAW
SF: Jones/Temple/Didi
PF: Zion/Hart/Marshall
C: JV/Hernangomez/Hayes

Tonight’s rotation should be:

PG: Graham/Alvarado
SG: Hart/NAW/Lewis
SF: Temple/Murphy
PF: Jones/Marshall
C: JV/Hernangomez

Alvarado has shown hints of Patrick Beverley who is the type of energy/defensive player we need.

I like all that for the most part.

I'm also more optimistic about our future assets after seemingly striking gold in this draft than I've ever been before.

Trey can hit open threes, which is good

What else does he do though?

I'll bet good money Herb has a better career

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by AusPel

Trey can hit open threes, which is good

What else does he do though?

I'll bet good money Herb has a better career

---

I agree. That is why I say the jury is still out on Trey. If he can be an efficient 3 and D player, he will have a long NBA career. His peak is Harrison Barnes which would be very solid.

I'll bet good money he doesn't sniff a Barnes level career

I get a stomachache trying to turn any of that into optimism for the Pels' future. Haven't you learned your lesson, yet? We will suck next year, and the next year, and the next year, and...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by b_l_p

I get a stomachache trying to turn any of that into optimism for the Pels' future. Haven't you learned your lesson, yet? We will suck next year, and the next year, and the next year, and...

---

Name the last time we had the beginnings of a stronger top 6.

Kira is g league talent at this stage

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by All Metro

Kira is g league talent at this stage

---

I'm beginning to think that, even this, is overly optimistic.

Yeah. Kira bums me a bit because even if he started to light it up, I just don't see him fitting the team. We're not going to have a traditional PG spot. Graham fits because of his 3pt shooting....Kira just doesn't have that....yet....but he'd need some huge improvement to get there. The team is going to be Zion, BI, and JV doing there thing with a bunch of shooters and D put around them. NAW and Graham will start to be so much more consistent when they can play these roles and not have to be the creators.

All things change once BI and Zion come back. It's like the Pelicans are the crew from early DBZ and Goku and Piccolo haven't showed up yet so we're just watching Krillin and Yamcha get curb stomped while little Gohan cries about it in the background.