April 4th - New Orleans Pelicans vs Sacramento Kings - 40-38

[Pelicanidae]

See y'all tonight!

🕖: 7:00pm CT
📺: Bally Sports NO
📻: @995WRNO#Pelicans | @SmoothieKing pic.twitter.com/5oUJF8sMSJ

— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) April 4, 2023

After taking a break from the NBA for a little while for a whole mess of reasons, I'm back as we close in on the post-season.

Tonight the Pelicans take on the Kings, a game that is sure to be challenging but should give the team a chance to make a statement if they really have it in them.

Hello again to all.

[As I See It]

See y'all tonight!

��: 7:00pm CT
��: Bally Sports NO
��: @995WRNO#Pelicans | @SmoothieKing pic.twitter.com/5oUJF8sMSJ

— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) April 4, 2023

After taking a break from the NBA for a little while for a whole mess of reasons, I'm back as we close in on the post-season.

Tonight the Pelicans take on the Kings, a game that is sure to be challenging but should give the team a chance to make a statement if they really have it in them.

Hello again to all.

Welcome back, my friend from across the pond.

[msusousaphone]

Dae!

Woot.

[Fedupfan]

Thanks for the thread . Hope all is well with you brother. Welcome back!

[Pelicanidae]

Thanks for the thread . Hope all is well with you brother. Welcome back!

Things starting to look back up! You know how it is, sometimes the forum posting has to take a back seat.

Should be back going forward and into the playoffs.

Thanks to all for the welcomes back

[As I See It]

Things starting to look back up! You know how it is, sometimes the forum posting has to take a back seat.

Should be back going forward and into the playoffs.

Thanks to all for the welcomes back

Assuming we are not in the front end of the lottery, I'm looking at Cason Wallace, the PG from Kentucky for the Pelicans. Have you formed any opinions on the upcoming draft other than the obvious.

[Pelicanidae]

Assuming we are not in the front end of the lottery, I'm looking at Cason Wallace, the PG from Kentucky for the Pelicans. Have you formed any opinions on the upcoming draft other than the obvious.

Well, I have some opinions of course - I can't pretend that they're as robust as some of my opinions in past years because, for various reasons, I haven't been quite as intense on the draft stuff since about late January.

That said, I do like Cason Wallace, I have him around #8-#10 on my big board. I understand that the raw shooting numbers aren't that impressive but his shot selection rocks most of the time and the Kentucky guard thing is real. Obviously his defensive feel is huge and he generates steals like a monster, reminds me a lot of Alex Caruso in some ways to be honest.

Assuming we pick around #15, if Cason is there I'd be happy to take him. Jett Howard, Whitehead, Brice Sensabaugh if he's still there (unlikely, from what I've seen) are options.

Recently I've been thinking about something Shamit discussed on the In the N.O. Pod about potentially moving away from the ''good defender, see if he can score'' mindset in the draft into the ''good offensive player, let's see if he can defend'' mindset, and that's been playing on my brain. Not sure where I come down on that conversation right now, haven't really been devoting enough time to it to have a firm answer.

[As I See It]

Well, I have some opinions of course - I can't pretend that they're as robust as some of my opinions in past years because, for various reasons, I haven't been quite as intense on the draft stuff since about late January.

That said, I do like Cason Wallace, I have him around #8-#10 on my big board. I understand that the raw shooting numbers aren't that impressive but his shot selection rocks most of the time and the Kentucky guard thing is real. Obviously his defensive feel is huge and he generates steals like a monster, reminds me a lot of Alex Caruso in some ways to be honest.

Assuming we pick around #15, if Cason is there I'd be happy to take him. Jett Howard, Whitehead, Brice Sensabaugh if he's still there (unlikely, from what I've seen) are options.

Recently I've been thinking about something Shamit discussed on the In the N.O. Pod about potentially moving away from the ''good defender, see if he can score'' mindset in the draft into the ''good offensive player, let's see if he can defend'' mindset, and that's been playing on my brain. Not sure where I come down on that conversation right now, haven't really been devoting enough time to it to have a firm answer.

Darn, I was hoping he would go post-lottery. I can only dream of the defensive juggernaut that a Wallace / Herb / DD / Jose' guard quartet would be. I think that 3M3 will eventually play some guard, too, when CJ is gone.

Offense will win in the regular season, but in the playoffs, defense is the ticket.

Thanks!!

[Pelicanidae]

Darn, I was hoping he would go post-lottery. I can only dream of the defensive juggernaut that a Wallace / Herb / DD / Jose' guard tandem would be. I think that 3M3 will eventually play some guard, too, when CJ is gone.

Offense will win in the regular season, but in the playoffs, defense is the ticket.

Thanks!!

Well, I'm just saying he's 8-10 on my board. He's predicted post-lottery on Tankathon's draft mocks, and on the last ESPN mock he was 13th, so there's always a chance. I just like him a bit more than the consensus, I guess.

My top 20 right now (and some of these aren't that concrete, on a different day I might switch a few around) is:

1) Victor Wembanyama
2) Scoot Henderson
3) Amen Thompson
4) Jarace Walker
5) Ausar Thompson
6) Cam Whitmore
7) Brandon Miller
8) Cason Wallace
9) Nick Smith Jr
10) Taylor Hendricks
11) Maxwell Lewis
12) Jett Howard
13) Gradey dick
14) Keyonte George
15) dariq Whitehead
16) Anthony Black
17) Kris Murray
18) Brice Sensabaugh
19) Leonard Miller
20) Jordan Hawkins

Like I say, that's not concrete and there's a ton of flexibility in some of these spots, but that's roughly where my mind is right now for the top 20.

[stevemadden504]

I won't be able to watch the game tonight, but we need a big night by Trey hopefully another career night

[luckyman]

Willie Green says he would "ideally" like to get Zion Williamson through a practice before playing him in a game.

Williamson is expected to be re-evaluated before tomorrow's game against Memphis.

— Will Guillory (@WillGuillory) April 4, 2023

[Pelicanidae]

Willie Green says he would "ideally" like to get Zion Williamson through a practice before playing him in a game.

Williamson is expected to be re-evaluated before tomorrow's game against Memphis.

— Will Guillory (@WillGuillory) April 4, 2023

I mean, sure, but 'ideally' he would've been back a month ago, so at this point if he's ready to come back, let him come back. Cap him at 20 minutes off the bench or something.

[neworleanshoo]

So (in theory), he could practice tomorrow after this "re-evaluation" - and play that same night?

[6warddude]

we better not loose tonight....

[luckyman]

So (in theory), he could practice tomorrow after this "re-evaluation" - and play that same night?

They won't have practice tomorrow.

[luckyman]

Sac got highly embarrassed in their last game. So they'll be out to prove a few points tonight.

[Pelicanidae]

Well, that started poorly.

[Pelicanidae]

Loved that, Trey handling at the top of the key, dishes it off to a cutting BI who passes over the top to JV.

Nice and smooth.

[Pelicanidae]

Tr3y Murphy

[Pelicanidae]

BI draws the FTs

[Pelicanidae]

BI with a 26 footer

[Pelicanidae]

BI is hot yet again, a pullup middy

[Pelicanidae]

BI is hot yet again, a pullup middy

And another

[6warddude]

superstar BI...

[Pelicanidae]

Good for the timeout, we were letting ourselves get a little sped up there. No reason to let mistakes compound into new mistakes.