So....the Knicks won tonight.
We are the ONLY 1 win team in the league. The damned Knicks are better than us.
And the Lakers are 7-1, only losing their first game.
As Barkley says: "Turribul"
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So....the Knicks won tonight.
We are the ONLY 1 win team in the league. The damned Knicks are better than us.
And the Lakers are 7-1, only losing their first game.
As Barkley says: "Turribul"
Last edited by ragincaucasian; 11-09-2019 at 12:21 AM.
Originally Posted by ragincaucasian
Currently last on all categories on defense. Erman was not the problem.
His philosophy had two of the greatest Shooters of all time.
If that what it takes for a winning formula for Gentry. Good luck finding that.
Yeah, if we had 2 of the greatest shooters of all time, plus a DPOY level switchable big who can defend 1-5 and run the offense in the half-court, then sure, that becomes a slightly more tenable strategy.
Basketball.
Pels drives vs Toronto pic.twitter.com/ooWmSpI17N
— Shamit Dua (@FearTheBrown) November 9, 2019
Lonzo continues his stellar track record so far this season, with 0 drives to the hoop this game.
Just figured I'd go back and do some shotchart evaluation. Haven't done it for a few games, so here goes.
Ingram:Brandon Ingram Shot Chart - November 8th vs Raptors pic.twitter.com/fwgICF8wiH
— Pelicanidae (@Pelicanidae1) November 9, 2019
What's worrying about Ingram's chart from this game is something that I've discussed previously on the board. Despite being extremely hot from the outside, Ingram's been struggling to finish at a high level at the rim so far this season. His attempts are down overall (prior to the Raptors game, it was .001% away from tying his rookie season for a career low) and his efficiency at the rim is down dramatically from last season (about 8% worse). I had asked the question a few times: what happens when his absurdly hot shooting cools down a little? Not drops off a cliff, but what happens when he's shooting 40% instead of 49%, where do the extra points come from?
Well, last night we got a look at what happens when his three point shot isn't falling. He's driving to the hoop but he just couldn't manage to finish around the rim. Now, I don't expect that it will continue to be that bad. Even this was a particularly shaky game for him at the rim, but it's a sign of the change in focus we need to have for him. He's been at his best so far this year in the pick and roll, and one of the benefits of the PnR is that it provides the ballhandler with the ability to drive as well. His game won't be reliably impactful until he starts combining his shooting (which has been overall really great this year) with a heavy at-rim threat.
I don't want it to sound like I'm bagging on Ingram, because I'm not. It's just one game, and obviously this was his worst game in a Pelicans uniform so far. One game doesn't mean too much. I'm just using it to demonstrate a point about his finishing: that's one area of his game that will need to improve as his shooting cools off a little from the absurd heat that he started the year with.
Next up: Lonzo Ball.
Lonzo Ball shot chart - November 8th vs Raptors pic.twitter.com/ygWMNJXbNv
— Pelicanidae (@Pelicanidae1) November 9, 2019
This one is just kinda sad. One at-rim attempt all game, and he missed. Lonzo took as many pull-up FT line jumpers as he did layups/dunks/tip-ins/putbacks this game. This is reflected in the stat I posted above: 0 drives to the basket from the perimeter all game long. Frankly, it's just not good enough. This isn't just me being harsh either, plenty of people on the board have mentioned it, Shamit Dua has been talking about it all season so far, Lonzo just presents almost zero at-rim threat. He doesn't drive. He's not interested in driving. When the lane opens up, he's reluctant to take it, or he dribbles into a worse shot.
When Lonzo actually gets to the rim, he's finishing at a very strong rate so far this year, but that sample size is impossible to take seriously because it comes on so few attempts. Lonzo has taken barely 21% of his shots this year within 3 feet of the basket. With 74 FGAs overall, that means we're talking 16 at-rim attempts, basically. Across 8 games. 2 a game. That's just not good enough at all. I've said it before and so have others (Mythrol comes to mind here) that a point guard is MASSIVELY limited if they do not present any at-rim threat. If a point guard cannot drive, they lack a huge part of their game, and it's not just in terms of scoring; being unable to drive limits your passing in the half court because it means you cannot warp a defense with your scoring threat to draw people away from their man. Lonzo's a great passer, but huge part of the reason that his passing works best in the transition/fullcourt game instead of halfcourt is that he cannot break people down off the dribble, and he has no interest in driving.
That's a big big problem that he will need to fix fast if he wants to stick around.
Finally, let's take a look at Jrue. He finished last game with 16/6/6 with 3 steals in about 30 minutes even of play. Here's his shot chart:
Jrue Holiday Shot Chart - November 8th vs Raptors pic.twitter.com/FkeqO8kJjB
— Pelicanidae (@Pelicanidae1) November 9, 2019
Ignoring his three point shooting which has been up and down so far this season (sometimes he's hit 3 in a row, other times he can't buy a shot from deep) there is one thing in this chart that's super encouraging.
EFFICIENT FINISHING AT THE RIM!!! HOORAY!
Historically, Jrue is a very good finisher at the basket, closing in on nearly 70% in the last two seasons, a number that's generally enjoyed by guys with a lot of extra height on him. So far though, Jrue's struggled to get to the rim and finish: his attempts have been down drastically, and his percentage has been solidly worse too. Part of that is the struggle of not having an AD sized threat to draw defenders, part of it is having more men in the paint due to guys like Okafor not presenting any ability to stretch the floor, but part of it was just a seeming inability to get past people in the paint.
Last night, he looked a lot more like himself from there, driving multiple times (16 drives on the game) and finishing efficiently among the trees. Jrue shot 5 of 6 within 5 feet of the rim, which is just what we need to see.
What I need to see more of from Jrue as a scorer, aside from just working on that three ball some more, is more shots. Last game, he took 12 FGAs. That's really not enough: for comparison, Ingram took 25. There's no reason that Jrue should be taking under 15 shots in, really, any game. But especially one where he's really making it work. At several times the offense stalled, and I was just begging for us to run some clearout action on a drive for Jrue, or put Jrue or Ingram in the pick and roll with Favors, or something, and it just wasn't happening.
So, takeaways from these three shot charts:
- Ingram's 3 ball will regress a little as the season goes on, so he needs to focus on bringing his finishing back up to his normal standards. Will probably happen, not worried about it, just need to see it happen.
- Ball needs to start driving, hard and fast. He needs to be driving at least 5 times a game, preferably more, and he needs to use his size to finish hard instead of settling for awkward runners and floaters.
- Jrue needs more shots, especially if he's starting to come back into form.
- We need to run more set actions in the half-court with Jrue or Ingram as the ballhandler, since Lonzo can't break down half court defenses. Use him more like a wing.
We need to play DEFENSE all 4 quarters. Letting a team score 45 in a quarter is inexcusable.
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Lebron even playing defense again
https://www.silverscreenandroll.com/...ng-nba-ranking
Lebron played more defense last season than most people were willing to admit as well.
Yes, he's taken a step back up into being actively good, but it's not like he was garbage on D last year. He was a decent-to-middling defender overall.
Let’s see LeBron stop Zion. We will need to wait.
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Yeah that's not gonna happen. There's a big difference between ''he's taken a step back up into being actively good'' and ''he's going to stop the guy that Rudy Gobert couldn't at the rim''.
Will AD stop him? I can’t wait to see what happens.
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You know what we need?
You guys remember last season, after the AD trade request, when we knew that the playoffs were pretty much out of the picture, it was a mini-tank job to end the season, and all we cared about was the team being fun and putting it all out there on the floor every night?
And they did. They really did. We lost so much, but we fought for everything, kept everything close; we didn't have the talent to win, but that team didn't lay down for anyone.
We need that mentality back
Pelicans defensive rankings:
— Will Guillory (@WillGuillory) November 9, 2019
Defensive rating: 29th
Defensive rebounding %: 29th
Points allowed off TOs: 30th
Fast break points allowed: 30th
Points allowed in the paint: 29th
3 pointers allowed: 28th
Yikes
disgusting beyond belief.
Likely restricted minutes when Zion returns.
Won’t change until the lineups are consistent. Someone on the court always seems to be overmatched.
Agree. I think Taker even brought up at one point we had 4 SG’s on the court last night.
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