17th November - New Orleans Pelicans VS Golden State Warriors - 3-9

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Originally Posted by Taker597

Or better yet. Stop carrying about winning and let NAW and Hayes get 20+ minutes a night to develop. Let Melli get some too. Rookies just got play.

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Just wait till we unleash Zion and Darius Miller. Nobody talks about Miller anymore. He is going to destroy when he returns.

Also gonna be honest... Jrue & Lonzo shouldn't be on the court at the same time in heavy minutes. NAW & Jrue should be the defacto combo starters by season end. Lonzo needs to come off the bench with Jackson once NAW is really ready to be a starter.

Lonzo & Jrue is just not fun to watch. Just really sloppy.

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

Also: Jax has a total of 5 fouls over his last 56 minutes of play, and it's not because he isn't getting in the way of plays. Learning to use his length really well to compliment his height, and play big despite his low weight.

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That really is impressive.

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Originally Posted by 13 - 3

Just wait till we unleash Zion and Darius Miller. Nobody talks about Miller anymore. He is going to destroy when he returns.

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Miller won't be back this season at all, and his contract is unguaranteed for next year. The reason nobody talks about him is because it's unknown whether he plays another game for the Pels at all at this point.

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Originally Posted by Taker597

Also gonna be honest... Jrue & Lonzo shouldn't be on the court at the same time in heavy minutes. NAW & Jrue should be the defacto combo starters by season end. Lonzo needs to come off the bench with Jackson once NAW is really ready to be a starter.

Lonzo & Jrue is just not fun to watch. Just really sloppy.

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Agreed. I think Lonzo's refusal to drive or to make offensive plays on the ball doesn't mesh well with Jrue's skillset, because Jrue is also someone who likes to look out for passes and secondary motion. Pairing Lonzo with Frank would act kind of as a release valve: whatever you want to say about Frank, he's not afraid or hesitant to take the shot. Lonzo will pass it, and Frank will shoot it, and there's no need for that relationship to get any more complicated than that.

Ball, JJ, and Jrue as a pseudoSF would fit skillset-wise in a small lineup......with Zion and Hayes that would be nice.

A starting lineup of Ball, JJ, Jrue, BI, and Zion would be very interesting in a boom or bust type way.

Are we ready to say that JJ should be in the starting lineup ahead of Lonzo moving forward? A starting unit of Jrue-JJ-BI-Zion-Favors would just flow so much more nicely, and it would allow Lonzo to play more freely of the bench with Frank and NAW, who are both terrific shooters.

Something is going to happen this year at the trade deadline involving Frank, Ball, or JJ (or some combination of two of them...I hope it's not Frank). The way Didi is playing down under, we have to pare the glut of guard on the team this year or enter next year with even more questions than we have now. Ultimately, I envision the squad will shake out something like this:


NAW, Holiday, Ingram, Williamson, Jax
Frank/Ball, Didi, Next year's one, Williams, Favors

Okafor,
Melli,
Gray

...and that's not to mention whoever we acquire in this year's mid-year trade mentioned above.

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Originally Posted by As I See It

NAW, Holiday, Ingram, Williamson, Jax
Frank/Ball, Didi, Next year's one, Williams, Favors

Okafor,
Melli,
Gray

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And you left out Hart. Simply far too much depth on this team. The depth really might be more of a problem in the short term because of how hard its been to figure out a rotation, but it is so promising long term.

I like the idea of Frank being JJ's successor. A Ball, Moore, and Miller trade package could be super intriguing to a team at the deadline that needs guard help and is looking to unload a big contract. A team to watch would be the Pistons. What would it take to acquire Blake Griffin, and would the Pelicans want to take on that salary? After this year, he only has 2 years left and one is a PO. The two man game of Zion and Blake would be completely absurd offensively. A package of Favors, Lonzo, and Moore could get you there hypothetically.

Ball is just so unimpressive to me.

Out of all the guys that came over in the trade he has done, by far, the least.

Ingram looks great.

Hart is always 100 % effort.

All Ball has done is be hurt, as usual.

I just don't see a fit for him here. I'd trade him for a big.

[QUOTE=pelafanatic;1511741]And you left out Hart. Simply far too much depth on this team. The depth really might be more of a problem in the short term because of how hard its been to figure out a rotation, but it is so promising long term.
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Of course you are right. Thanks for the correction.

I do think the combination of Frank and Didi (with their young legs) could become JJ successors.

About Griffin: Favors become an UFA after this year. That would open up 17MM for Griffin. Favors contract along with a Miller/Ball/Moore trade would get us there...but how much does Griffin have left in the tank?

If JJ (and NAW) and Jrue are the combo we see moving forward, I would expect to see Ball retain the starting spot to show off his fancy new shot to be trade bait.

As stated earlier, I fully believe a trade with some of our young assets/players for an all-star will go down by the teade deadline.

Well, whatever we do. We will have an elite bench in a few years. Just a lot of young talent across the board and too many picks coming down the pipeline.

Jaxson Hayes currently the only rookie drafted in the top 10 this year with a positive VORP

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Originally Posted by pelafanatic

Are we ready to say that JJ should be in the starting lineup ahead of Lonzo moving forward? A starting unit of Jrue-JJ-BI-Zion-Favors would just flow so much more nicely, and it would allow Lonzo to play more freely of the bench with Frank and NAW, who are both terrific shooters.

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YESSS, I have been calling for this. On top of JJ's and BI's excellent outside shooting and spacing they provide, BI, Zion, and Jrue are also all capable playmakers and defenders. This is a synergistic bunch and I am telling you, when they are all healthy, this lineup is a problem for every team. Then some combo of Hart, NAW, Frank, and Zo can come in and feast on second units.

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

Jaxson Hayes currently the only rookie drafted in the top 10 this year with a positive VORP

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That is very interesting. Crazy that Morant is at a 0; teams must be attacking him pretty hard on the other end. PJ Washinton is a stud, but he was drafted 12th.

Derp. I just remembered why JJ will never be a starter aside from injuries......pace.

And I know. I know. Most of you just cringed
But pace really is going to be HUGE for this team when BI and Zion are back. We will absolutely run people out of the gym and still be efficient.....if Jrue isn't handling the ball. He just gets clumsy with pace. It's not his game. Ball really is the prototypical PG for the type of game we need to run with our extremely athletic players and JJ really is the perfect 6th man.

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Originally Posted by SoCal4Pels

That is very interesting. Crazy that Morant is at a 0; teams must be attacking him pretty hard on the other end. PJ Washinton is a stud, but he was drafted 12th.

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Yeah, the rookie leader in VORP right now is Brandon Clarke, which makes sense because he was a monster in college and has only improved coming into the NBA (he's currently shooting 65/50/86, somehow, despite not being a 3pt shooter at all in college) but he was taken 21st.

Honestly, if we hadn't taken Jax (which I get, he's 3.5 years younger than Clarke, taller, longer, etc) I would have wanted Clarke. I'm shocked that he dropped to 21st overall. He was probably the second or third best player in college hoops last year, after Zion and poooooossibly after Morant, but that's highly debatable.