After a thrilling start to the pre-season with a dominant win over the up and coming Atlanta Hawks, we come to our second outing of the pre-season with a visit to Chicago.
The entire team had a pretty positive outing in our first game, with Zion showing off thunderous dunks, NAW using his limited minutes to showcase why he deserves regular season appearances, Ingram improving massively after halftime to turn a terrible night into quite a good one, and Jrue carving up the entire Atlanta defense in no time at all. Lonzo threw passes, and his reworked jumpshot actually looked pretty good, carrying him to a respectable 37.5% on the night: if he can keep that range up for a full season, that would be extremely impressive and very helpful.
Tonight we take on Chicago. I'm not going to try and dig out where they rank among all pre-season teams in pace or ORtg or something because the sample size of 1 game is not worth it. What I will do is discuss a few of their promising figures.
Chicago drafted Coby White this year, with the 7th overall pick, and he had a pretty rough outing in his first game against the Bucks. He put up 12 points, but only shot 30% from the floor, which isn't great. Still though, he's fast and difficult to defend due to that speed. Having lengthy, smart defenders like Lonzo and Jrue will help corral him.
In terms of front court, the Bulls started last game with a combination of Lauri Markkanen and Cristiano Felicio. Lauri is good, and has rim protection abilities as well as a solid three ball: he shot 50% on 8 attempts in the Bucks game, and finished with 14 and 5 in only 22 minutes. By comparison, Felicio is not good at all. He's big, and he's extremely limited in range so he's a big body that lives by the rim and therefore collects rebounds and tip ins, but he cannot defend in space whatsoever, is a poor passer with dreadful feel, and frankly should not be starting. Once the regular season comes around, I don't think he will be.
Zach Lavine can score.
As for our own team, here's the outlook:
Alvin Gentry added that the Pelicans weren’t planning on holding out any players tonight.
— Andrew Lopez (@_Andrew_Lopez) October 9, 2019
Some may play limited minutes but no one is set to be held out completely.
Sounds like pretty much everyone is a full go, with minute's restrictions in mind. That makes sense: Zion was the only player to exceed 26 minutes last game, and even he only played 29. That's what we want in pre-season. Nobody should be playing more than about 25 minutes, 30 at an absolute push. If someone hits 35 minutes in a pre-season game, something is not right.
So, here we go again, taking on the Chicago Bulls! Next game up, the Pelicans come back to New Orleans and have their pre-season Home game, so hope everyone's excited for that too.
Let's go, get the win, and have fun! #WBD
October 9th - New Orleans Pelicans @ Chicago Bulls - 1-0
Printable View
-
10-09-2019, 12:53 PMPelicanidaeOctober 9th - New Orleans Pelicans @ Chicago Bulls - 1-0
-
10-09-2019, 02:24 PMPelicanidae
Pelicans big man Derrick Favors also broke out his former Utah Jazz teammate Donovan Mitchell’s Adidas signature sneakers for tonight’s action in Chicago. Favors calls the Iron Spider edition his favorite colorway. pic.twitter.com/RYR3QGY3DE
— Eric Woodyard (@E_Woodyard) October 9, 2019 -
10-09-2019, 02:38 PMTaker597
Ready for 10 minutes of Hayes tonight. I hope he settles down. He looked super uncomfortable Monday night and a bit antzy. Also, he looked kind of discouraged at times. I hope he keeps his head up and roll with the punches. We are really counting on him turning into something big in a couple of years. I know he didn't have his sight set on being on the end of the bench, but you got to fight for it like NAW is doing.
I know Hayes probably gonna hate his diet and gym routine. He's constantly gonna be sitting on a toilet and eating till he hates food. -
10-09-2019, 02:42 PMPelicanidaeI'm hoping to see more of Hayes as well. He did look a bit antsy, but he did show several positive signs in the few minutes he got: that rebound he nearly ripped NAW's arm off to get was a sign of positive aggression on the glass, and that offensive board he caught and turned into a spin move for the layup was just obscene co-ordination for a 7 footer.Quote:
Originally Posted by Taker597
More than the fact that he was benched, I feel like what discouraged him was how the minutes got distributed. He literally didn't play until the final 5 minutes of the game despite us being up 20+ for the entire second half. Even NAW got 15 minutes, and we have way more guards than bigs. Favors didn't even play 10 minutes, and Hayes still didn't get the shot with Okafor essentially acting as starter. Hopefully that was just Gentry experimenting a bit with lineups (remember the Moore-at-point experiment in the first half? yuck) and Hayes will get more of a shot this game. Let him play some minutes with Jrue or Lonzo, people who can really set him up with opportunities. -
10-09-2019, 05:07 PMPelicanidae
�� Chicago@B_Ingram13 | @JahlilOkafor | @TheReal_NAW1 #WontBowDown pic.twitter.com/6HEqlgyZtV
— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) October 9, 2019 -
10-09-2019, 05:19 PMPelicanidae
Two pretty ambidextrous #Pelicans guards - Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Jrue Holiday - warm up from three-point range in Chicago’s United Center pic.twitter.com/oH6HrPLjql
— Jim Eichenhofer (@Jim_Eichenhofer) October 9, 2019 -
10-09-2019, 05:41 PMbahmamambaman naw is such a good shooterQuote:
Originally Posted by Pelicanidae
Sent from my SM-S903VL using Tapatalk -
10-09-2019, 05:43 PMPelicanidae
In pre-game availability, Gentry said mins for starters will remain roughly the same for next two games (at Chicago and vs. SA) and the team will try to shoot for what rotation could be in regular season for last two games.
— Andrew Lopez (@_Andrew_Lopez) October 9, 2019 -
10-09-2019, 05:46 PMbahmamambahopefully no more Moore at pointQuote:
Originally Posted by Pelicanidae
Sent from my SM-S903VL using Tapatalk -
10-09-2019, 05:48 PMPelicanidaeHopefully not. Confirming 25 minutes-ish for the starters again is fine, and I think it's the right choice, but in which combinations is the big question. Can't really allow a lineup like Moore-Redick-Hart to take the floor at the time same time. Absolutely no reliable ball handler in that trio of guards.Quote:
Originally Posted by bahmamamba
One of Lonzo, Jrue, and NAW should be on court all game long. -
10-09-2019, 05:50 PMbahmamambayeah replace Moore with naw I wanna see how those 3 workQuote:
Originally Posted by Pelicanidae
Sent from my SM-S903VL using Tapatalk -
10-09-2019, 06:05 PMPelicanidae
Just a reminder from last game :hihi:
seriously though, some wannabe hero is gonna step in and try and take a charge when Zion is rolling downhill and they're gonna have to identify him by his dental records
— Russ Bengtson (@russbengtson) October 8, 2019 -
10-09-2019, 06:05 PMPelicanidae
No Wendell means we're likely to see the End of Big Cris tonight as he tries to stop Zion at the rim and gets dunked into the core of the Earth
— TS% Eliot (@Cosmis) October 9, 2019
This seems likely to me. -
10-09-2019, 06:05 PMbahmamambaholy ******** that's hilarious [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]Quote:
Originally Posted by Pelicanidae
Sent from my SM-S903VL using Tapatalk -
10-09-2019, 06:06 PMbahmamambaa hahaha another oneQuote:
Originally Posted by Pelicanidae
Sent from my SM-S903VL using Tapatalk -
10-09-2019, 06:07 PMPelicanidaeMore of basketball twitter talking about people taking charges from ZionQuote:
Originally Posted by bahmamamba
I feel like a mother begging their son not to go to war when I think about Marcus attempting to take one
— LIFELONG PELICANS FAN MAN 69☭ (@Riffs_Man) October 9, 2019 -
10-09-2019, 06:09 PMbahmamambaokay wow these are ******** great. some of these need to be put on national TV lmaoQuote:
Originally Posted by Pelicanidae
Sent from my SM-S903VL using Tapatalk -
10-09-2019, 06:15 PMPelicanidaeIt's going to be great. Unfortunately, the Bulls don't really have anyone who is a great and dedicated rim protector without Wendell playing, nor do they have anyone who is a big charge-drawer, so we probably won't see a murder quite like that tonight.Quote:
Originally Posted by bahmamamba
On the plus side, Lebron's rate of charge-drawing has gone up dramatically as he's aged; his block rates have dropped and he's begun accepted more charges. He's now in the upper half of the league when it comes to drawing charges. And we all know AD can get block happy. So hopefully when we play LA, Lebron and AD will get put on posters. -
10-09-2019, 06:17 PMbahmamambawell that info just got me extremely exited [emoji23] it almost be as satisfying seeing smitty take out blake Griffen lolQuote:
Originally Posted by Pelicanidae
Sent from my SM-S903VL using Tapatalk -
10-09-2019, 06:25 PMramsters60
segment on the Zion Debut Tour has played a couple times, so far, on ESPN....nicely done...
-
10-09-2019, 06:26 PMPelicanidae
Tonight's starting 5 vs. Chicago on @espn #WontBowDown pic.twitter.com/5Fb7Kd8nWh
— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) October 9, 2019
Confirmed: the entire crew is starting -
10-09-2019, 06:31 PMMistaWhoDat
ESPN is all over Zion , it’s great !!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk -
10-09-2019, 06:32 PMbahmamambayou know if its on TV or?Quote:
Originally Posted by Pelicanidae
Sent from my SM-S903VL using Tapatalk -
10-09-2019, 06:32 PMbahmamambaoh but that's not supposed to happen he's in a small marketQuote:
Originally Posted by MistaWhoDat
Sent from my SM-S903VL using Tapatalk -
10-09-2019, 06:36 PMwuggie
Im legit excited for this game. ITS PRESEASON thoughhhh haha