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— Andrew Smith写真家 (@DruProductions) October 3, 2019
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— Andrew Smith写真家 (@DruProductions) October 3, 2019
Basketball.
Thanks for all the content Pelicanidea..
I only really have three hobbies (basketball is one of 'em), and I have a job that never finishes late. Got plenty of time, so why not?Originally Posted by Nichols
I'm kind of lucky in that respect.
MVP..I only really have three hobbies (basketball is one of 'em), and I have a job that never finishes late. Got plenty of time, so why not?
Most Vehement Poster.
Griffin mentions he likes the idea of Nicolo Melli playing at the 5 because of the shooting and playmaking he brings.
— Will Guillory (@WillGuillory) October 3, 2019
In an interview with ESPN 100.3, David Griffin identifies Brandon Ingram as someone that's stood out to him because of his playmaking and fit in the system
— Will Guillory (@WillGuillory) October 3, 2019
https://www.nba.com/pelicans/news/ne...october-3-2019
David Griffin interview here with Todd Graffagnini. Transcription of relevant, interesting, or new information below. I'm not gonna transcribe the stuff that's been said a hundred times, just to save me a bit of time.
3 Days into training camp: thoughts?
''There's so much that I've liked. If you look at the bandwith Mrs Benson has given us with building this team and this staff, you're seeing the value of that. Having Chris Finch assume the Associate Head Coach position in the offensive role, and Jeff Bzdelik assuming the Associated Head Coach position in the defensive role, and with having them lead large segments of practice, you're seeing the value in that, and the value of having that kind of teacher. And with having Teresa Weatherspoon on deck and the impact that she's having on these guys in a player development sense has been great. Joe Boylen's entire player development team is really impressive and I think our players are recognising that as well.
Today was probably the best day that we've had in terms of energy, top to bottom. The Blue Team today consisted of JJ Redick, Jrue Holiday, Nico Melli, Brandon Ingram, playing a lot together and that group was really really efficient, so it was fun to see what it looks like when we put some of our best shooters on the floor with real play makers. I think if I had to point to one person right now that's stood out in a surprising way, it's probably Brandon Ingram, in terms of just how far along he is in terms of being fully healthy, and finding his rhythm.''
Bzdelik came over from Houston for us to do the defense. With top 10, top 5 being the goal, and with communication being so important, how's that going?
''No question, and we have guys who tend to be a little towards the quiet side, and we've got a high boiling point. We've got guys who are very much lead by example, so it's gonna be difficult for guys to step into a more vocal role initially, and once we've built some camaraderie you're going to see some more of the vocal leadership coming out, and we need that. We have a kind of quiet building right now. Kenrich Williams is someone who has really stepped out in terms of being vocal. I think what's happened with Coach Bzdelik's presence is that he's raised the level of everyone's game from the coaching perspective, and that's exciting. Coach Alvin Gentry, more than anyone else, really gives his coaching staff the power to be great and the latitude to be great, and then he reinforces what it is that they're selling.
I think what we've seen, because we do have great depth and athleticism, wanting to be top 10, top 5 in defense is fine but why not decide you wanna be number 1 in defense and then go from there? And I know that Jeff Bzdelik wants that, and he's giving no quarter to anyone, and I love that, I love the level of accountability that we have out there.''
Minutes, rotations, etc:
''I think a big part of that is the competitiveness that we have within the roster for minutes at each position. There aren't minutes right now that are a given, we have very few people who are locked into a role. We have Jrue Holiday and Derrick Favors who are locked in right now, and I think you're going to see a lot of Lonzo Ball, but after that it's where guys are really competing for them. If somebody has distanced themselves from others, in many ways it's probably Brandon, and I would have said he was pegged for a role initially but because he was coming off such a long layoff from an injury perspective, we didn't anticipate that he would be this far along already. But that's more pressure on the coaches because Brandon is clearly establishing himself from a minutes perspective.
I think what Alvin has done really well is that he's made it clear that there's going to be a level of personal responsibility with the roster, and he's going to play the people who are accretive to winning, and you look at Nicolo Melli being on that blue team that was really wreaking havoc on everyone, and it's a really tough cover when you can have a 5 out there who is as good at shooting as he is but who also has the basketball IQ of a point guard, it's a rare combination. And Derrick Favors is basically never out of position. So I think the thing that excites us the most is that we have the ability to play an awful lot of guys who can play defense first, and that makes Coach Gentry's message about defense resonate so much more.''
Griffins latest comments confirmed what Im sure I said on here before. Melli is a better candidate for a "small ball" 5 instead of Zion, who'll probably split between the 2 and 3.
Griff has also stressed, multiple times, all off-season, that Zion is a lot like Draymond Green (THE small-ball 5) and Gentry (who actually runs the rotations) mentioned playing Zion some minutes at the 5 in his post-practice media availability yesterday. So I feel like the fact that Melli will play some small ball 5 (likely) doesn't mean Zion won't log any minutes at the 5 at all. In fact, if you run Zion and Melli together as the two bigs, I'd find it fairly difficult to describe Melli as the '5' between the two of them.
That said, do you legit think Zion's going to be logging more minutes at the 2 than the 4? Cause that would be boggling to me.
Edit: I just realised the whole ''do you legit think'' thing sounds kind of aggressive and argumentative. Didn't intend that, honestly just asking if you think Zion's going to play more 2 than 4.
Last edited by Pelicanidae; 10-03-2019 at 07:46 PM.
uh oh he better be careful they just made that a hate gesture
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Actually, her comments were pretty spot on and generally positive. Yes, the vultures were circling. Even Alvin called last season a Dumpster Fire-which probably saved his job and secured a bit of sympathy from the fans. Rachel has always been a fan of New Orleans. Let's not get all excited when someone may or may not say something that isn't always rosey.
With that said, I would have never known about this and many other things had you not posted it. Thanks for your dedication.
has she? bc all I've ever seen from her was when ad can get out of there and it wasn't until we Called her out on her and espns bs last year did she start saying after every negative thing she how much she looooooved new Orleans
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Yeah I was about to say how many 6’8” guys gonna get minutes at the 5 in one game??
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I wasn't the only one who thought that her comments were incorrect and painted an incorrect portrait of the franchise and the fanbase. I do generally like Rachel Nichols more than most of the talking heads on TV, so I'm not attacking her, I just think that that particular segment was poorly written.
1) She calls David Griffin the GM. He isn't, that's Trajan Langdon, and it's been long enough for media who are supposed to know what they're talking about to know that.
2) ''There were some fans in Seattle who were already measuring the relocation moving vans'' is, frankly, a stupid comment. Nobody was discussing relocation outside of trolls on Twitter.
3) ''He's already made a team and a city feel like it matters''. Am I the only one who felt like New Orleans and the Pelicans mattered before Zion got here? I doubt it.
I get where she's coming from, and the message of ''Griff and Gentry are trying to tamp expectations, but people are still hype anyway'' is fundamentally true, but I don't think she had to wrap it in the Apocalypse scenario that she did, and act like Zion has saved us from being relocated
I just listened to Gentry's post practice presser yesterday, today, and media day. Not once did he ever mention playing Zion at the 5. Can you quote it for me in case I missed it?
The closest he came to that was saying he wants to try and play "position-less" basketball, then said Zion cant just be classified as 'a power forward, shooting forward, or as a guard.' So even then he failed to mention the position of center.
And I dont find describing Melli at the 5 difficult at all. This is a Chris Finch offense. I can easily see Melli as our "Jokic." From what I'm hearing his skill set is very similar.
And I obviously meant Zion at the 3/4 not 2/3. Been up since 5 am.
Last edited by luckyman; 10-03-2019 at 08:12 PM.
She might be a fan of New Orleans, but (and I'm sure at her employers behest) was pretty heavy in starting all the rumors of helping AD out of here ASAP. Which Im sure played a role given ADs weak mind.
And she was also on the ESPN sponsored bandwagon of trying to make Zion go back to Duke or just refuse to play here.
How soon do we forget this absolute trash, with no video or evidence to prove what she said. Which apparently means these people can say anything they want just like a gossip rag.
Nah, you're right, I misremembered, that's my bad. It was Redick in his media availability the other day who was talking about depth and he said it ''provides us with some lineup opportunities to play with Zion at the 5 or the 4, then surround him with shooting''. So that's my bad, I thought it was Gentry who said it, but nah, Redick. That moment is at about 1 minute 35 into this video, though:
I don't find it difficult to describe Melli as the 5, in general, I specifically mean when he's on the floor playing with Zion. Both of them are in that 6'8, 6'9 kind of territory, but Zion is comfortably the heavier, larger man. He's the superior rim protector, and rebounder. Given that Melli plays more from the outside in whereas Zion has a more dominant post and vertical game, if those two are the two ''bigs'' on the floor at any given moment, I think that if someone forced me to name which was the centre I'd be more inclined to say Zion than Melli.
I thought you might have meant 3/4, but then I remember that people like Gilbert Arenas were insisting that Zion needed to drop like 50lbs and play shooting guard, so I figured it was best not to assume without clarifying
Great Energy, great video!
I am keeping up with this team more than any other Pelicans/Hornets team. And that is saying something. Win or lose it should be fun watching them get better every game.
Rachel a double agent. She probably really loves the city, but she working for the company responsible for all the ugly basketball narratives so she's gotta participate in it too.
Contributor
So with no shoes, Zion is 6’6”.
https://theathletic.com/1264363/2019...king-max-deal/New Orleans Pelicans
With the NBA installing new rules for teams to verify accurate player heights, as the New York Times reported last week, here is one of the most notable entries so far: No. 1 overall pick Zion Williamson measured officially at 6-foot-6, league sources said. The phenom was listed at 6-foot-7 during his freshman season at Duke.
The extent to which this matters depends on other people's measurements. And frankly, so does whether I believe it or not.
For example, if RJ Barrett's measurements comes out with him taller than that, then sorry, I just don't buy it. I've seen them stood next to each other fifty times and Zion is just clearly taller. Unless you're making the argument that Zion wears lifts in his shoes or that RJ only ever wears sandles, it's just not true.
That said, it does mean that we can stop calling him 6'6 in general. 6'6 barefoot implies something like 6'7.5 in shoes.
This is not good. Not like a huge deal but it probably means he’s done growing. Front court height and defense is still my second biggest concern for this team outside of 3 point shooting from starting 5.
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Defense will be fine.
But yeah I just don't buy it. Unless literally everyone's height comes out lower than expected, I don't buy it. We've seen Zion stood next to 6'9 Ingram looking damn near identical.in height, he's taller than Lonzo who claims he's 6'7, he's taller than RJ Barrett's, etc etc etc. Unless that's a result of them ALL just being smaller than reported, I just don't buy that Zion hasn't grown since he was 17.
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