November 30th - New Orleans Pelicans v Toronto Raptors - 12-8

[Pelicanidae]

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— Boppa ��**♂️ (@ihatebbls) December 1, 2022

[As I See It]

CJ can flourish off ball, but if he wants to be the guy running the offense we should at least try letting him come off the bench and lead the 2nd unit Manu Ginobli style

CJ is at his best as a 'catch and shoot' shooter. He's a step or two ahead of Graham as a orchestrater...but not by much. The ball movement comes to a complete stop when its in his hands and players stop moving too.

Now for the next two and half hours, I'm a Blazer fan!!!

[markid]

We won once more! A few games above .500!

[6warddude]

i said this last season...trey has some violence in him lol...that boy be trying to break rims smdh...

[AUSSIE_PELICAN]

Ok let?s get out of here healthy

You had to say it didn't you?
Herb hurt his ankle.

[smcgull]

I notice that no team, in the league, uses the glass as well as the Pelicans.

[hornetsrebirth]

No. There is less than a -100% chance they ever ask CJ to come off the bench.

And they'd be complete morons to ask him.

People really just getting caught up in the moment.

Its either that or change his role with the starters so that he is not the primary ball handler.

[WhyHornetsWhy]

A good opponent going on a run isn't an epic collapse. You act like they went on a 20 point run taking it from 31-11. Their biggest run was 11. That is not an epic collapse. That's overly dramatic.

That doesn?t answer my question.

I?m asking if you interpreted my statement of ?epic collapse? as me interpreting that we lost?

[luckyman]

Its either that or change his role with the starters so that he is not the primary ball handler.

As they keep playing together that will happen naturally. But he's still a career 50/40 type shooter that can't easily be found or replaced. He's a top notch player.

No need to overreact to November basketball.

[smcgull]

This board can't help itself. Whenever its a tie game people are beside themselves talking about how bad this team is

Even when the team is up by 10, some people are saying it should be by 20.

[Pelicanidae]

As they keep playing together that will happen naturally. But he's still a career 50/40 type shooter that can't easily be found or replaced. He's a top notch player.

No need to overreact to November basketball.

You can say it's just ''November basketball'' if you want, but CJ was very open and vocal all summer long about the role he pictures himself playing on this team, and that role is *on* ball, primary ball handler. He said it in podcasts and in writing, and it's been discussed as a behind-the-scenes factor by people like Shamit. The only way CJ is going to acquiesce to a tertiary role - which is the role he should have, after Zion and Ingram - is if someone actually speaks to him about it. He's not just going to 'naturally' stop doing the thing he's spent 4.5 months telling everyone he's so excited to do.

[Pelicanidae]

Just want to clarify btw, that I'm not trying to cast aspersions on CJ as a selfless player. I'm sure he is, and I'm sure that if you have that conversation with him, he would adjust.

But from his point of view, he's just spent years in Lillard's shadow. He comes to a Pelicans team which was, at the time, not a winning team and we then make the playoffs with him. Then, we come into this year and he ups his usage, ups his possessions to a career high, and ups his FGA. He's handling the ball, shooting the ball, and passing the ball more than ever. And then you look at the record and we're 13-8!

From his perspective, this is what he's always been denied, what he's always wanted, and now he's doing it and the team is winning. Whether his ballhandling is causing the winning or not is immaterial to him, very probably - the correlation has been noted, and in his head, causation is probably implied.

So why would he stop if nobody told him? Unless we go on a losing skid, I guess, but who wants that? Just talk to the guy.

[PaKwAn]

We need to pack the arena like it's opening day or the playoffs! Some posters on the raps forum were saying, a young and upcoming team like this should have the arena in full attendance and a full support from the fans.

They were also in awe of how good zion is and how they really liked herb trey and dyson.

[urboyJD]

That doesn?t answer my question.

I?m asking if you interpreted my statement of ?epic collapse? as me interpreting that we lost?

No. I interpreted based on 'epic collapse' (your words) -- which was 100% incorrect. Allowing a team go on a 11-0 run is not an epic collapse. Do you do this a lot? When you get called out on overdramatic stuff, just keep asking irrelevant questions?

[PELICANSFAN]

epic collapse

Wouldn't say that. However, it did show how important Herb is to the team. Also, showed why Graham, Temple and Hernangomez should not be on the court together. Willie was unbelievably bad when he was on the court.

[hornetsrebirth]

As they keep playing together that will happen naturally. But he's still a career 50/40 type shooter that can't easily be found or replaced. He's a top notch player.

No need to overreact to November basketball.

Ginobli was a top notch player too

[Upper Decker]

I love you Zion. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FOEDpO_5yA

[Pelicanidae]

Wouldn't say that. However, it did show how important Herb is to the team. Also, showed why Graham, Temple and Hernangomez should not be on the court together. Willie was unbelievably bad when he was on the court.

Together is being generous. Neither Billy nor Temple should touch the floor at all in any combination in 90% of games.

[PELICANSFAN]

Together is being generous. Neither Billy nor Temple should touch the floor at all in any combination in 90% of games.

Agreed. It was amazing how bad they were last night. They could not run any sort of offense and were non-existent on defense.

[Pelicanidae]

Want to know how successful Pelicans drafting has been the last few years?

This year's top BPM's for the Pelicans (guys we drafted in bold):

- Zion Williamson +5.1
- Larry Nance Jr +3.5
- Trey Murphy III + 2.9
- dyson daniels +2.3
- Brandon Ingram +1.9

Obviously BPM is only one, fairly limited metric. But still fun to noe.

Larry, Trey, dyson, and Zion also lead the team in TS%, each of them shooting at least 63%TS.

Zion and Trey are 1/2 in Win Shares too this year, though win shares are even less good as a stat than BPM is

[Pelicanidae]

Just looking over our schedule for the next month and it's a bit strange in places.

For example, in the 8 days between december 9th and 17th, we play Phoenix three times.

There are some good opportunities to pad the record though. We play Spurs and Pistons in 2 of our next 3 games, and then from december 22nd until the 28th we play OKC, Spurs, Pacers, and Wolves.

[JJackisangry]

When Zion doesn?t force it and he looks to beat his man as opposed to running through them, he is absolutely brilliant. There is a time and a place to brute force it but he is so much better when he uses his handle and speed to beat his man. He is a matchup nightmare when he wants to be.

[JJackisangry]

Also Dyson needs to keep getting minutes running the point off the bench. The sooner he gets acclimated the better because he is so promising already.

[Spec3333]

Also Dyson needs to keep getting minutes running the point off the bench. The sooner he gets acclimated the better because he is so promising already.

I am not sure the Pelicans could have had a better selection of draft picks to add to the roster in place than they have had the past 2 years:
- A absolute sniper who has learned how to attack the rim in his 2nd year.
- A lock-down defender who can change games on that side of the court.
- An UDFA who provides energy and an infectious enthusiasm off the bench.
- A very long PG with great defensive skills and vision and whose jump shot is already way ahead of schedule.

Add those guys to Zion, BI, CJ, and JV and ooooohhhh baby! Kudos to the front office for their vision and doing their homework on these draft picks.

[luckyman]

You can say it's just ''November basketball'' if you want, but CJ was very open and vocal all summer long about the role he pictures himself playing on this team, and that role is *on* ball, primary ball handler. He said it in podcasts and in writing, and it's been discussed as a behind-the-scenes factor by people like Shamit. The only way CJ is going to acquiesce to a tertiary role - which is the role he should have, after Zion and Ingram - is if someone actually speaks to him about it. He's not just going to 'naturally' stop doing the thing he's spent 4.5 months telling everyone he's so excited to do.

Well I can because it's true. And what players say vs what they will do on the court are not the same things. Players say a lot of things. Especially these days with all the pods. But if the Ls start stacking up, coaches and players will make adjustments.

And I'm pretty sure the team wanted him to have a role on ball as the team's "point guard" and he's just trying to fill that role as asked. But because it is "November basketball", these things are extremely fluid.

Zion didn't become "point Zion" until December/January of that 2020 season.

It takes time for coaches and players to acclimate to what works and what doesn't as the season moves along.