December 29th - New Orleans Pelicans @ Phoenix Suns - 2-1

[HoustonRox]

Seems as though the defensive strategy is to allow the other teams poor shooters to take 3s.

Let Crowder, Payne, and Ayton launch them. If they make them, they make them. Stick to Booker, Paul, and Bridges.

This is such a bad take. I'm not even talking about in hindsight btw.

Crowder shot 44% from 3 last season on a career high 6.4 attempts a game. Payne shot 51% from 3 in the bubble on 4 attempts a game and he's shooting 45% from 3 on 4 three point attempts a game this season. Payne has proven that he's an excellent shooter in Monty Williams system.

Both these guys who you classify as "poor shooters" shot better from 3 last season and this season than the ones you mentioned to "stick to".

From watching the game, it looks SVG took your advice. And it worked out just the way anyone with some basketball knowledge would've thought.

[HoustonRox]

My question is, we were down 40 when Zion and Ingram both had about 22 minutes of playtime. They're both about to hit 30. Why did they play a single minute after we were down 30+? Irresponsible.

The same reason the Suns played Bridges for 30 mins and Booker & Ayton for 27+ mins despite being up so much...because game ain't over.

[HoustonRox]

11 lead changes through the 1st quarter is what I honestly expect.

Two scrappy young teams with a ton to prove. Definitely a fun game so far.

How are the Suns a young team when they have a geriatric Chris Paul and Jae Crowder starting for them?

[HoustonRox]

We need to trade for Booker.

Nope, that's who we're gonna be dumping Harden for soon. He's from Arizona too and went to college there and all that. Plenty of hot college aged white girls in AZ working all the stripclubs and bars out there. It's exactly his scene and he will probably agree to a contract extension even before playing his first game for the Suns.

[Pelicanidae]

The same reason the Suns played Bridges for 30 mins and Booker & Ayton for 27+ mins despite being up so much...because game ain't over.

When you're down 30 with one quarter left, the game is over. If you think the one in however many chance of winning a single quarter by 30+ when you've been so garbage the first 36 minutes is worth the risk of injuring a franchise cornerstone, you're welcome to think it but I will have to disagree pretty intensely.

[Pelicanidae]

How are the Suns a young team when they have a geriatric Chris Paul and Jae Crowder starting for them?

They also play Booker, Ayton, Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, etc, so the average age of a player on the Suns is 26.

[Wecandothis]

What a stinker just want to erase this game from my memory.

[luckyman]

Nope, that's who we're gonna be dumping Harden for soon. He's from Arizona too and went to college there and all that. Plenty of hot college aged white girls in AZ working all the stripclubs and bars out there. It's exactly his scene and he will probably agree to a contract extension even before playing his first game for the Suns.

Pretty sure Harden is from L.A. and that scene is more Charles Barkley's thing. Harden seems really keen on BK, which is becoming that AZ scene but with some spice.

Otherwise outstanding quips.

[MichaelMcNamara]

It's kind of funny how sample sizes just don't matter to some people sometimes. Like, maybe if you asked them, in a vacuum, if you should judge a player's career on 30 games or fewer they would say no, but when they have a point they want to make it suddenly becomes acceptable.

Mr...... "I will tell you everything you need to know about draft prospects and how good they will be because I watched some AAU games and a handful of their college games"

now says we can't have an opinion on who a guy may or may not become from a small sample of NBA games. Okay, cool, thats fine. Then, I dont wanna see you make one projection or assumption in your 2021 Draft thread. Because, how could you know? How could you say anything about who may be good or who may not? Zion has at least played some NBA games. Those guys have played none. And most have played very few college games. So....you cant have a projection for them because god forbid I have a projection of Zion that he will be very good but not an all time great. Too early for that!

[13 - 3]

*Monty.

Minty

[13 - 3]

Nope, that's who we're gonna be dumping Harden for soon. He's from Arizona too and went to college there and all that. Plenty of hot college aged white girls in AZ working all the stripclubs and bars out there. It's exactly his scene and he will probably agree to a contract extension even before playing his first game for the Suns.

Not from Arizona!

[6warddude]

Mr...... "I will tell you everything you need to know about draft prospects and how good they will be because I watched some AAU games and a handful of their college games"

now says we can't have an opinion on who a guy may or may not become from a small sample of NBA games. Okay, cool, thats fine. Then, I dont wanna see you make one projection or assumption in your 2021 Draft thread. Because, how could you know? How could you say anything about who may be good or who may not? Zion has at least played some NBA games. Those guys have played none. And most have played very few college games. So....you cant have a projection for them because god forbid I have a projection of Zion that he will be very good but not an all time great. Too early for that!

nice lol....the crazy part is that he used that logic with the lakers trade and we all know how those players turned out...

[6warddude]

field goals...37/77 - 37/84

free throws....9/18 - 18/19

3 pointers... 3/24 - 19/47

rebounds... 41 - 43

the 3 ball killed us early....on to the next game....

[JJackisangry]

You know the Suns have Deandre Ayton who is one of the league's best rebounders right? And he's huge and strong as ******** so gonna be hard to box him out or move him out of the paint.

I was pointing out that it couldn?t get any more one sided. We were losing just about everywhere.

[Freyfamilyreuni]

Oof that was ugly. I'm hoping we're just seeing the effect of two a day practices in training camp focusing on defense which is sapping the players legs and affecting their shooting. Either that or Bledsoe sucks on offense and father time has caught up to JJ. As for Zion, two rebounds in close to 30 minutes just doesn't get it done. And why do so many teams seem to turn into the 2017-18 Golden State Warriors when they play us? But watching coaches like Monty and Pop fully embrace the 3 point line makes me wonder if our team as currently constructed is a dinosaur that just got hit by an ice age.

[JJackisangry]

Oof that was ugly. I'm hoping we're just seeing the effect of two a day practices in training camp focusing on defense which is sapping the players legs and affecting their shooting. Either that or Bledsoe sucks on offense and father time has caught up to JJ. As for Zion, two rebounds in close to 30 minutes just doesn't get it done. And why do so many teams seem to turn into the 2017-18 Golden State Warriors when they play us? But watching coaches like Monty and Pop fully embrace the 3 point line makes me wonder if our team as currently constructed is a dinosaur that just got hit by an ice age.

Stan still has some learning to do too as he has been out of the game for a lil bit. I bet Monty still holds a grudge and can’t wait for the opportunities to rub our noses in the dirt. I also bet it killed him when we took our starters off the floor because he wanted to make that score line even more embarrassing.

[da ThRONe]

Zion IMO has been completely mishandled since he's been with the team. Playing him last year was a mistake and playing him as a front court player is a mistake. Not imposing a strict weight limit is a mistake. Zion is 6'6 with an average wingspan. We should be developing him like a wing player.

We as a team should be in the developmental stage. We completely skipped steps and we will probably hover around the 7th-10th seed over the course of Zion's time as a Pelican.

[JJackisangry]

Bledsoe has two assists in the past two games. That is about as damning a stat as any from your starting guard. Surely Stan is taking note of that.

[luckyman]

Zion IMO has been completely mishandled since he's been with the team. Playing him last year was a mistake and playing him as a front court player is a mistake. Not imposing a strict weight limit is a mistake. Zion is 6'6 with an average wingspan. We should be developing him like a wing player.

We as a team should be in the developmental stage. We completely skipped steps and we will probably hover around the 7th-10th seed over the course of Zion's time as a Pelican.

Completely mishandled? Is Zion a basketball player or some kind of programmable cyborg?

Christ on a stick.

[Wowowowow]

Zion IMO has been completely mishandled since he's been with the team. Playing him last year was a mistake and playing him as a front court player is a mistake. Not imposing a strict weight limit is a mistake. Zion is 6'6 with an average wingspan. We should be developing him like a wing player.

We as a team should be in the developmental stage. We completely skipped steps and we will probably hover around the 7th-10th seed over the course of Zion's time as a Pelican.

Totally disagree.

What is with this doom and gloom about Zion? I?m puzzled at this, I really am.

The only thing I can make out in my head within the concoction that?s really going on is a mix of out of this world expectations X Lukas early success (who?s lowkey been playing real serious basketball since a teen) X and this glamorization of lead guard basketball. Those are the 3 things that I find hit the soft spot in discussing Zion as a player on a consistent basis underneath the surface.

Put any ?All Time Greats? first 28 games under a microscope and examine them then diss Zion with a serious face. It?s laughable.

Here?s how I am looking at it. Zion is a big. I know this because he has a gathering gallop in change of floor directions. BUT, that?s fine. It makes him who he is in his style of high efficiency basketball. I?ll take that over 41% struggle.

He?s being thrown to the fire right now in Free Safety defensive basketball. This is where we want him. He?s an instinctual player who has fast explosion speed...not necessarily running b-line quickness. He?s not a rim protector but his potential as a chaos creator is out of this world. If Zion was getting beat in triple threat stances and cooked in iso by bums - I would be right there with y?all in the worry. In iso so far this season, he?s made Siakim flounder (but ended up scoring with no help. It?s Siakim), he?s rocked OGs world, and CP3 settled for a in your face. It?s CP3. And he blocked some Spur on a slash. I might be missing a few, but that actually might be it. Cam got him one last night all alone but I like the fact that it was a goal-tending. Derozan, who likes to put poor defenders in the spin cycle, opted out this year. Zions right where we want him imo in the development of free safety defense. His deflections are improving. He?s going out on a limb more each game. Has anyone noticed that when we exchange Josh for Zion...Josh Is showing great effort defending and urgency....but the unsaid truth is that it?s only viewable to the Eye Test because the player now is attacking Josh? When Zion ?magically? becomes this deflection terror, realize all this was always staring in your face and some of y?all was just paying attention to the fluff.





Then offensively...forget about it. Again, check out the all time greats first 28 games. KD to me is the best example because he?s a goat and he spent a year in college. Check em out!
Zions only issue right now for me is sloppiness in penetrations. That?s really the only thing I?m saying come on man at the tv with the kid. But that?s only because I know he?s trying to break a glass ceiling through his gravity...because the eye test again fails to ask the number one question: why is he sloppy? Then it?s like ?oooooh....all the attention.? If Zion wasn?t getting instant doubled or Pop wasn?t game planning to stop him, I would worry. But y?all are dissing a kid who POP in his 27th game is game planning to stop? Lol think about it.

[JJackisangry]

Totally disagree.

What is with this doom and gloom about Zion? I?m puzzled at this, I really am.

The only thing I can make out in my head within the concoction that?s really going on is a mix of out of this world expectations X Lukas early success (who?s lowkey been playing real serious basketball since a teen) X and this glamorization of lead guard basketball. Those are the 3 things that I find hit the soft spot in discussing Zion as a player on a consistent basis underneath the surface.

Put any ?All Time Greats? first 28 games under a microscope and examine them then diss Zion with a serious face. It?s laughable.

Here?s how I am looking at it. Zion is a big. I know this because he has a gathering gallop in change of floor directions. BUT, that?s fine. It makes him who he is in his style of high efficiency basketball. I?ll take that over 41% struggle.

He?s being thrown to the fire right now in Free Safety defensive basketball. This is where we want him. He?s an instinctual player who has fast explosion speed...not necessarily running b-line quickness. He?s not a rim protector but his potential as a chaos creator is out of this world. If Zion was getting beat in triple threat stances and cooked in iso by bums - I would be right there with y?all in the worry. In iso so far this season, he?s made Siakim flounder (but ended up scoring with no help. It?s Siakim), he?s rocked OGs world, and CP3 settled for a in your face. It?s CP3. And he blocked some Spur on a slash. I might be missing a few, but that actually might be it. Cam got him one last night all alone but I like the fact that it was a goal-tending. Derozan, who likes to put poor defenders in the spin cycle, opted out this year. Zions right where we want him imo in the development of free safety defense. His deflections are improving. He?s going out on a limb more each game. Has anyone noticed that when we exchange Josh for Zion...Josh Is showing great effort defending and urgency....but the unsaid truth is that it?s only viewable to the Eye Test because the player now is attacking Josh? When Zion ?magically? becomes this deflection terror, realize all this was always staring in your face and some of y?all was just paying attention to the fluff.





Then offensively...forget about it. Again, check out the all time greats first 28 games. KD to me is the best example because he?s a goat and he spent a year in college. Check em out!
Zions only issue right now for me is sloppiness in penetrations. That?s really the only thing I?m saying come on man at the tv with the kid. But that?s only because I know he?s trying to break a glass ceiling through his gravity...because the eye test again fails to ask the number one question: why is he sloppy? Then it?s like ?oooooh....all the attention.? If Zion wasn?t getting instant doubled or Pop wasn?t game planning to stop him, I would worry. But y?all are dissing a kid who POP in his 27th game is game planning to stop? Lol think about it.

People are being overly harsh for sure. There are some areas he obviously needs to work on, but people are forming STRONG opinions now so they can say “I told you so” in two years time. If they are wrong you won’t hear a peep about it.

[Nola3]

People are being overly harsh for sure. There are some areas he obviously needs to work on, but people are forming STRONG opinions now so they can say “I told you so” in two years time. If they are wrong you won’t hear a peep about it.

I can't speak for others, but I have been enormously disappointed in Zion this year. I think we all had high expectations for him, and I don't think it's controversial to say that he has not met them. However, my concerns come because he has noticeably regressed from what we saw at Duke. And that's very concerning.

On offense, he can't score unless he's at the basket and has absolutely no dribble moves, which he showed hints of in college. He also has had all kinds of trouble making basic reads and has resulted in an abysmal 4-11 A/TO ratio. His shooting does not appear to have improved and the only way he has been able to score is if there is a play run specifically for him to get a head of steam going to his left. But, he's huge and athletic and has decent touch, so even if this is all he'll ever be, he's still a great second option on offense.

Defense is where his lack of development and effort really scares me. We've all harped on his inability to make rotations, but that's normal and should be expected from a 2nd year player with something like 25 NBA games under his belt. It's his unwillingness to run out on his man, his Demarcus Cousins-like refusal to get back on defense and his inability to stay in front on anyone because of his need to hop into every movement that make his defense appalling to watch. The recent uptick in steals has been somewhat encouraging, but I haven't noticed many (admittedly an anecdotal account) that have been the result of superlative intuition or fully leveraging his inhuman athleticism. Most of them that I have seen have come from random swiping, which will only continue to breed bad defensive habits.

The obvious caveat here is that I (and I think most others) are grading Zion on an insane curve. He was billed as a franchise savior and a potential successor to LeBron as the clear-cut best player in the league and he has been evaluated as such. Perhaps we need to take a step back and reconsider whether that should be our expectation or if we need to start looking at him as an athletic specimen who can absolutely take over games, but who's flaws need to be covered up in order to have a winning team. I want Zion to have a career that New Orleans basketball has never witnessed and he absolutely has the potential to surpass both AD and CP3. But his current trajectory suggests, at least to me, that those expectations are far too high unless he fixes some of his worst tendencies on the court.

[JJackisangry]

I can't speak for others, but I have been enormously disappointed in Zion this year. I think we all had high expectations for him, and I don't think it's controversial to say that he has not met them. However, my concerns come because he has noticeably regressed from what we saw at Duke. And that's very concerning.

On offense, he can't score unless he's at the basket and has absolutely no dribble moves, which he showed hints of in college. He also has had all kinds of trouble making basic reads and has resulted in an abysmal 4-11 A/TO ratio. His shooting does not appear to have improved and the only way he has been able to score is if there is a play run specifically for him to get a head of steam going to his left. But, he's huge and athletic and has decent touch, so even if this is all he'll ever be, he's still a great second option on offense.

Defense is where his lack of development and effort really scares me. We've all harped on his inability to make rotations, but that's normal and should be expected from a 2nd year player with something like 25 NBA games under his belt. It's his unwillingness to run out on his man, his Demarcus Cousins-like refusal to get back on defense and his inability to stay in front on anyone because of his need to hop into every movement that make his defense appalling to watch. The recent uptick in steals has been somewhat encouraging, but I haven't noticed many (admittedly an anecdotal account) that have been the result of superlative intuition or fully leveraging his inhuman athleticism. Most of them that I have seen have come from random swiping, which will only continue to breed bad defensive habits.

The obvious caveat here is that I (and I think most others) are grading Zion on an insane curve. He was billed as a franchise savior and a potential successor to LeBron as the clear-cut best player in the league and he has been evaluated as such. Perhaps we need to take a step back and reconsider whether that should be our expectation or if we need to start looking at him as an athletic specimen who can absolutely take over games, but who's flaws need to be covered up in order to have a winning team. I want Zion to have a career that New Orleans basketball has never witnessed and he absolutely has the potential to surpass both AD and CP3. But his current trajectory suggests, at least to me, that those expectations are far too high unless he fixes some of his worst tendencies on the court.

A lot of the criticism is fair and I don’t disagree with all of that, particularly his tendency to bite on every possession on defense and his big time limitations on offense. But if we learned anything from last year, it was that he was going to be limited (to start out his career at least). He will still be a bully of a scorer and make some very dexterous finishes and be efficient. Prior to tonight his rebounding took another step.

At the end of the day, I think people set their expectations too high. He absolutely has to become a more well rounded scorer and he has to cut some of the bad tendencies out on defense. He is far from the problem though when I see the way Bledsoe and Ball have run the offense- particularly Bledsoe. That needs to be addressed by Stan and soon. Having a backcourt that bad is detrimental to our success and development. All of the work we put into the defense will be for nothing if we are demoralized every game.

[Taker597]

Bruh... Zion has only played 28 career games through a Pandemic and knee injury . Lol..quit being an edge lord.

[Eman5805]

Jesus Christ. We haven’t even scratched the surface of his career and already were hearing mishandled this and definitive that’s.

Dude stopped and hit two jumpers that came out of nowhere. Nothing wrong with being a little concerned. But how can we mishandle him last year when not a single aspect of his career has been ideal from the injury to the bubble to the truncated offseason. It’s odd.