Future is so exciting!!

[GuardianAngel25]

This team is absolutely loaded and just to start with a few of our young core 4 of the future along with Jrue. We have Ingram at just 22 years old playing like an MVP nightly and the numbers he has could easily be thrown into that race. Ingram has not just been great but incredible and the scary thing is he is only going to get better! There isn’t a skill this kid doesn’t have. Lonzo has really started to find his groove and looks to be getting more and more comfortable offensively. People need to remember he is just 22 years old and had more pressure then arguably any player in NBA history outside of LeBron James to start his career. He just rebuilt his shot about 6 months ago and so far it looks like his future shooting the ball is what everyone thought Ball would do entering the draft. His skill set fits exactly what we need at the PG position when you add in who we have around him. Hayes is starting to come into his own as well. He simply needed time while his head was spinning at first starting NBA games. His core strength and weight looks to have improved along with less pressure being there allowing him to just play with Favors return. What a good mentor for Hayes to have as well and it might not get much better than having him around. Oh yea and JAX is just 19 freaking years old!! Jrue is the perfect vet and all around combo guard to have in the locker room for these young guys. I don’t care what anyone says when he has a bad night or blah blah because when Zion comes back he will be even better suited to do what he does best. Fans were all in his MVP bandwagon and now completely turned on him lol but Griff isn’t stupid. Then there is Zion! Enough said just ZION!!

I can’t wait to see Lonzo and Jrue continue to work and grow with each other in the back court. They compliment each other so well giving us a ton of versatility with arguably the best defensive backcourt duo in the NBA. Jrue having to be the #1 option is not his game but when you make Jrue the 3a/3b option you have a championship team and soon we can do that. Not only is he best with another ball handler to help out but he now has not just 1 but 3 others in the starting lineup with him! Next to the guard duo you have arguably the best young forward duo in NBA history! Ingram and Zion who can create not only the best young forward duo the NBA has ever seen but rival the likes of George/Leonard along with Lebron/AD from the get go. These 2 as our 1a/1b with both having that Alpha dog in them and are all about team is as good as it gets!

I’m an E’Twuan Moore fan and love that he is Zions mentor but eventually his minutes are going to be NAWs and others. I think lots of contending teams can use Moore’s services and even we still can but since he will be gone after the season I see him being moved for assets and having more of those minutes go to guys like NAW/Hart/Frank. Would love to see a lineup that has Lonzo/Jrue/Ingram/Zion starting with NAW/JJ/Hart off the bench along with some obvious staggering of players together. I think for now starting Favors is best and letting Hayes come in with no pressure. I love how Gentry has been using Favors/Hayes.

This team can be so good once Zion comes back and our guys get some time to play and learn each other. I really believe if Zion comes back soon this team will make the playoffs. Gentry has this team looking completely different and like the team we all expected to see. To think how many games we lost by literally 1 play needing to go our way at the beginning of the season is just crazy and would easily have us in the playoffs right now. Gentry deserves a lot of credit keeping this team together and believing. It’s pretty obvious injuries and guys not having enough time playing with each other played a big part in our losses early on in the season. Let’s go Pels!!

Starters - ZO/JRUE/BI/ZION/JAX
Bench - NAW/JJ/HART/NICO/FAVORS
Subs - FRANK/MOORE/KENNY/CHEATHAM/OKAFOR

This group of guys minus a couple here and there along with draft picks is one hell of a team! The only players who will be getting old and in need of a replacement is Jrue and Favors which is about 4-5 years away and we have those replacements. That starting lineup is going to be our group for atleast the next 3 years imo while NAW fights for some 6th man of the year awards and eventually being Jrues replacement. JJ is someone we try to keep until he retires as a 3pt sniper even while his minutes drop. Hart is one of those bench players you keep around who can start and guard multiple positions on any night. Not a championship team who doesn’t have a player like him and we got ours! I keep Favors around as long as he can contribute to help mentor Hayes and give our bench a legit big. IMO we need to concentrate our draft picks on versatile forwards and centers. Unless we can grab LaMelo but outside of him I don’t see PG/SG/SF needing a starter or backup.. We could definitely use a backup to Zion and someone behind Hayes when Favors is gone.
ZO/BI/ZION/JAX is going to go down as one of the best core 4s of all time!

[Wowowowow]

Great post. I agree with you.

The thing I love most is the continuity between our youth and aging veterans and the makeup of that balance.
This team feels like a college team with star freshmen and juniors and seniors being the rabbis on and off the court.

This team is indeed loaded. Statistically, diving into the stats - during these last 8 or 9 games...we have been very good. Talking would be top 3, 5, or 10 in a lot of categories. And this is without Zion.

Our vets deserve praise for keeping the locker room engaged but yea Gentry deserves credit. Coaching isn’t just Xs and Os. Especially in the Pros. It’s connecting mentally and motivating. I’ll have to give him credit when he deserves it.

You said pretty much everything I would honestly say about the future.

[AusPel]

Ben Simmons has had just as much pressure

Zion will have the most doe

[GuardianAngel25]

Ben Simmons has had just as much pressure

Zion will have the most doe

Ben Simmons had half the pressure that was on Lonzo. Going to the Lakers in your hometown and expected to be the face of the franchise as the next Steph Curry and taking over for Kobe!? Ben Simmons was just the 1st pick that had pressure like any other 1st pick. You are right there will be a lot on Zion but I still don’t think as much as what Lonzo had at first in LA. It was insane if some have forgotten.

[GuardianAngel25]

Great post. I agree with you.

The thing I love most is the continuity between our youth and aging veterans and the makeup of that balance.
This team feels like a college team with star freshmen and juniors and seniors being the rabbis on and off the court.

This team is indeed loaded. Statistically, diving into the stats - during these last 8 or 9 games...we have been very good. Talking would be top 3, 5, or 10 in a lot of categories. And this is without Zion.

Our vets deserve praise for keeping the locker room engaged but yea Gentry deserves credit. Coaching isn’t just Xs and Os. Especially in the Pros. It’s connecting mentally and motivating. I’ll have to give him credit when he deserves it.

You said pretty much everything I would honestly say about the future.

It basically is a college team which is the crazy thing! I haven’t looked much into the stats but that is pretty incredible without Zion and shows this team really just needed to get healthy and time to gel together. We had the biggest roster turnover in the NBA and one of the youngest teams at that. Right before the season our best player that we have featured in practice all off season goes down. Then we lose multiple veterans and when it’s not two guys out this night it’s another fresh couple out the next night. You simply won’t win in the NBA and I don’t care what coach you have here. Now that we are healthy you are seeing the nice mix of vets we have to help the very talented young guys win games.

We haven’t had a PF on our roster to start games the entire season that would even be on another teams bench. I said it all year we won’t win games as long as we have to start Keinrich Williams at PF. Finally we decided to move Ingram there which isn’t ideal but atleast is a matchup problem for other teams and completely changes our offense and defense. Everyone in the Pels organization deserves credit right now especially Gentry. Our main problem all season was defense and that was clearly due to a lack of communication mostly due to injuries but also having so many young and new players. Even the Miami Heats big 3 looked terrible at first because they had little time to get everything right in the offseason. If we can stay relatively healthy and get Zion going to 100% at the break.. You will see one exciting team on the court that makes a serious playoff run after that all star break.

[DarkHornet]

Ben Simmons had half the pressure that was on Lonzo. Going to the Lakers in your hometown and expected to be the face of the franchise as the next Steph Curry and taking over for Kobe!? Ben Simmons was just the 1st pick that has pressure like any other. You are right there will be a lot on Zion but I still don’t think as much as what Lonzo has at 1st. It was insane if some have forgotten.

And it certainly didn't help that his dad was out there intensifying the spotlight on him. I'm so glad we haven't had to deal with that here in New Orleans to this point.

[SoCal4Pels]

Very excited also!

I'd really love to think of Zion as Draymond with hops and a shot, or Barkley with D and dimes. But regardless, if Lonzo and Jrue can get their 3pt percentages up a bit like BI was able to, the amount of gravity that Zion is going to bring should have us feasting.

Really, the Bucks should be THE blueprint for us as there isn't a better player to compare Zion to than Giannis. He's not as tall, but more explosive and probably stronger.

[13 - 3]

Let’s hope you are right G.A. We will see if we are actually improving or fools gold on this road trip.

[Pelicanidae]

Very excited also!

I'd really love to think of Zion as Draymond with hops and a shot, or Barkley with D and dimes. But regardless, if Lonzo and Jrue can get their 3pt percentages up a bit like BI was able to, the amount of gravity that Zion is going to bring should have us feasting.

Really, the Bucks should be THE blueprint for us as there isn't a better player to compare Zion to than Giannis. He's not as tall, but more explosive and probably stronger.

Barkley had dimes. He was a very talented passer.

[pelicanchamp]

Zion is going to blow us all away. It’s going to be like how Jordan totally dominated the league. Jordan and Shaq combined. Zion is going to be such a big problem for anyone and everyone. The NBA better be ready. It’s not will Zion be able to handle the NBA, it’s will the NBA be prepared to handle ZION...,,.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[SoCal4Pels]

Barkley had dimes. He was a very talented passer.

Decent, but absolutely not as good as he could have been, and I think Zion has greater potential in that regard.

Thanks for the comment though.

[Pelicanidae]

Decent, but absolutely not as good as he could have been, and I think Zion has greater potential in that regard.

Thanks for the comment though.

I do agree that Zion has greater potential. I just feel like saying ''Barkley with D and dimes'' kind of downplays Barkley's passing ability to put it on a level with his D, which was very underwhelming. You're totally right that Barkley could have been better, but for a 80s/90s PF he was very capable as a playmaker.

[da ThRONe]

This team does have a great deal of potential, but that's what happens when you land a talent like Zion. I hope we don't waste it like we did with Davis trying to push to win sooner than what is logical. We IMO already made a mistake in signing Redick and Favors and not trading Holiday. Hopefully we can move them for future assets. Because as exciting as the future is our window for huge team success is indeed in the future.

Also I hope we view Zion as a wing player moving forward not a big. Bigs don't have the same impact in today's space and pace ball. Plus Zion's a shade under 6'7 and he doesn't have really long arms. Even with all his other worldly athleticism I think he will never reach his full potential playing giving up 4-7 inches(maybe more when you factor in wingspan) on any given night.

[smcgull]

I hope they can keep all of the young players, that they want to keep. I just hope the salary cap does not come into play that much.

[6warddude]

This team does have a great deal of potential, but that's what happens when you land a talent like Zion. I hope we don't waste it like we did with Davis trying to push to win sooner than what is logical. We IMO already made a mistake in signing Redick and Favors and not trading Holiday. Hopefully we can move them for future assets. Because as exciting as the future is our window for huge team success is indeed in the future.

Also I hope we view Zion as a wing player moving forward not a big. Bigs don't have the same impact in today's space and pace ball. Plus Zion's a shade under 6'7 and he doesn't have really long arms. Even with all his other worldly athleticism I think he will never reach his full potential playing giving up 4-7 inches(maybe more when you factor in wingspan) on any given night.

todays game is why i was down with see if we can do whatever it take to draft morant and zion.....i was more down with drafting morant over zion because the last 15 titles have been won by dominating players at the 1-3 positions and i dont see that changing soon......i wanted us to move back and drain memphis picks and take morant.......trade AD and have morant,,jrue and ingram at the 1-3 positions.....send lonzo out for someone or maybe we would have kept him.....then down the line trade jrue to fill the SG spot and for depth and build around morant,,ingram and the young star that we would have traded jrue for....

[HornetGuru]

todays game is why i was down with see if we can do whatever it take to draft morant and zion.....i was more down with drafting morant over zion because the last 15 titles have been won by dominating players at the 1-3 positions and i dont see that changing soon......i wanted us to move back and drain memphis picks and take morant.......trade AD and have morant,,jrue and ingram at the 1-3 positions.....send lonzo out for someone or maybe we would have kept him.....then down the line trade jrue to fill the SG spot and for depth and build around morant,,ingram and the young star that we would have traded jrue for....

Not gonna lie, I was on the train of give up anyone and anything besides Zion and Ingram to get morant

[Wowowowow]

Im going to make my case on this just so at least it’s out there:

Basketball is a forever evolving sport. If you read up on Naismith all the way to the 50s - 60s, it was a game that was centered around a big man that dominated the game solely inside. Tracking it, what happened is that perimeter players HAD to actually work on their skill set and craft to attempt to chip at the armor of how well and Easy it was for big men to score inside (as statistically, that is the highest scoring percentage areas on the court). What then evolved the game is perimeter player’s shooting and ball handling finally catching up to at least offset the dominance that the big man had naturally beating up on the opposition inside. But understand, the Celtics, Bucks, Warriors, or Lakers who had dominating big men inside still had the BEST TEAM. The Best Teams win championships. Lebron - if we are using him as the bar for this style of play leading to champions - was beat by Tim Duncan with a better team. KG with a better team. Dwight Howard with a better team. He didn’t win a ring until he had “a better team”.

Here’s the truth about where the game is at now: big men are evolving because they had to. What we saw in the 2000s was perimeter players surpassing big men so much in skill and agility...using screens when slow footed big men couldn’t easily switch...beating big men up for the floor in transition to score before the defense was set...that it has forced and evolved the “big man” to now improve their skill set and agility to where they can now switch on defense and hold their own or be able to run up the floor quickly to not get beaten like hell in transition. All those chuckers in the 2000s like Arenas and what not feasted in an era with screens on slow footed big men and in transition while big men were galloping back. Do me a favor and go back and watch Tracy McGradys 62 point game against the Wizards and watch the scoring and the big men. Today it would be laughable.

The evolving of the game is happening in front of our eyes and it’s coming back around in full circle to where the big man can not only switch on defense and run in transition, but they now can actually shoot from the outside if needed and handle the ball more on the outside. There’s just one kicker: big men STILL can get high percentage scoring attempts inside if they are really good at it.

The titles that were won for the last 15 or so years are SUPER TEAMS. They won titles because the talent on their teams was just more than the other teams had. It had nothing to do with their style of play. It was a bunch of perimeter oriented players who decided to team up or in the Warriors case hit the jackpot with multiple all time shooters and win championships.

What makes Zion scary. What makes Giannis scary is that they are big men that have the agility to switch. Have the size to defend other bigs.. Have the skill to keep teams honest. But most importantly they get (in Zions case has shown the potential) high percentage scoring buckets inside. Perimeter oriented players can not match 70-80% inside percentages.

Zion is a big man in an era that is deep in the evolvement of positionless basketball. At the core of what it is, What your basically asking for is that Zion not shoot 70-80% inside.

[Pelicanidae]

Heliocentrism is the way the NBA often works at its highest levels. It doesn't matter what position you technically list Zion at: if you think he's capable of generating his own offense and also has the ability to create for others, then he can be listed as the 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 and he will still be the guy.

Edit: and yes, Wow is right, it's not necessarily about 1s and 3s, it's the talent surrounding said superstar. It's almost impossible to name any single champion for at least the last 30 years which didn't have a cast of supporting characters around their star to compliment their game. The only exception I can think of is the 04 Pistons, and that wasn't because they had a star that did it solo, it's because they had a squad without a star.

[Wecandothis]

Indeed Pelicans have a very bright future.Your adding a guy Zion who averaged 23 points in 27 minutes on 71% shooting in preseason.71% .That's unheard of unless your a 7 ft center just getting lob dunks.He was virtually unstoppable getting to the rim.That dynamic alone will create a lot of double teams and guys are going to be wide open for open 3's.The efficiency on offense should much improved maybe exponential.It reminds me a lot of the dynamic with Giannis where he could get to the rim at will but learned to improve his passing game and made the whole offense incredible.On paper the team looks at least like a 50 win team even with the sub par defense.

[Pelicanidae]

Indeed Pelicans have a very bright future.Your adding a guy Zion who averaged 23 points in 27 minutes on 71% shooting in preseason.71% .That's unheard of unless your a 7 ft center just getting lob dunks.He was virtually unstoppable getting to the rim.

JUst want to agree with you here.

Here's a list of players who have averaged at least 20ppg for a full season on at least 70% shooting in NBA history.

That's the list. Nobody. Nobody has ever done that. Zion might not even do it, over the course of a full year.

If you drop the numbers to 18ppg on 65% shooting, this is the list:

- Wilt Chamberlain (1966-67)
- Artis Gilmore (1981-82)

That's the list.

In fact, even if you lower it to 15ppg on 60% shooting, only 12 players have ever done that, and the only players to do it more than once in their careers are Artis Gilmore, Dwight Howard, Kevin McHale, and Shaq. All Hall of Famers.

This is efficiency at the rim like we've never seen before. Will Zion do it for full seasons? It's a big question, but the fact that we can even ask it seriously means a lot.

[GuardianAngel25]

Very exciting stat showed before the Knicks game!
Ingram this season is averaging 25.3 ppg/4.1apg/6.9rpg shooting 40% from 3pt.
Lonzo Ball last 5 games is averaging 21.2ppg/7.8apg/6.2rpg shooting 41% from 3pt.
Now Ingram has been simply incredible all year and picked up right where he left off last season before having his blood clot issue with the Lakers. I think Ball is starting to become more comfortable knowing where his teammates will be and what they want to do. As a point guard the way he plays knowing how to use his guys is more important than just about any player on the court. Everyone knows Lonzo has the talent and skill set to be a star player so I don’t understand why it’s so far fetched he becomes one. The kid has an all around game that very few players have but he just needs to continually work and fix parts of his game all players do. In one off season he has completely reworked his shot and it looks much better. Now he just needs to continue that progress while knowing when and where to shoot from. People can come at me for this one just like with Ingram but Lonzo will be a star caliber PG in the next 2 years if he stays here. If he goes elsewhere I still believe he becomes a star caliber player but not as good unless the team happens to fit him like a glove similar to here in Nola. I don’t think he’s going to be on the super star level of Ingram but Lonzo will be one of the best all around 2 way guards in the game similar to Jrue Holiday.

[GuardianAngel25]

And it certainly didn't help that his dad was out there intensifying the spotlight on him. I'm so glad we haven't had to deal with that here in New Orleans to this point.

Yes I know that was the main issue. It seems his dad has learned what is now best for his sons and himself haha. My biggest fear wasn’t Lonzos game when he came here it was his dad being upset about a small market and leaving the Lakers. That has been a complete non issue and I’m comfortable that it won’t ever be one. I originally wanted to try and make some sort of trade for another star guard using Lonzo and picks. Again not because of his talent and play but the off the court issues I feared were coming. IMO Lonzo is a big part of our future and it’s not a very big list on players I would trade him for.