November 20th - New Orleans Pelicans vs Sacramento Kings - 6-7

[luckyman]

BI now shooting 50% from the field even with the 3 ball not falling until tonight.

That's KD territory.

[JJackisangry]

I want to see more good interplay from BI and Zion. We saw it in this one and saw it early in the season. I loved how aggressive Zion was and how willing BI was taking that 3 ball. He needs to continue spotting up now and again.

Both BI and Zion need to be willing to spot up on that 3 line when the other has the ball. Both have to be prepared to move and overlap when the other is on the ball. Zion needs to keep setting picks for BI and I would like to see BI do more of that post up layoff stuff to Zion. We need to use them both so the focus isn’t solely on one of them. We need to keep them both interested and getting good touches. We need other guys to continue to create plays for them. Lots of encouraging signs, onto the next one.

[JJackisangry]

There have been plenty of legitimate reasons to be frustrated with this team so far this season.

But we've also lost the 3rd most games due to injury in the league, and had the 2nd hardest strength of schedule iirc, so given all of that, 7-7 after 14 games isn't bad.

Especially when you're 3-1 in your last 4 games, which were all against 4 of the top 5 seeds in the conference and your only loss was to the 1 seed by 1 point.

It could have easily been ugly for Willie again or Gentry levels of ugly but we fought. We threw some games into the toilet but I?m glad we have kept it even. All I could ask for in that stretch- just some growth

[6warddude]

they played last night, so we should run them off the court early today if the team we have been seeing lately show up tonight......jose should bring some extra energy to the team that we end this game in the 3rd...i hope..

this was a fun game to enjoy...im glad they listen to me and put this game away early lol.........

i hope willie learned something from these last 2 games and thats to trust zeller against a big if you not going to play jonas to defend at the end of a game....i dont want to see dyson defending on Kat or any big to try and get a stop to win a game....

go pels

[Pelicanidae]

It could have easily been ugly for Willie again or Gentry levels of ugly but we fought. We threw some games into the toilet but I?m glad we have kept it even. All I could ask for in that stretch- just some growth

If we can just survive November around .500 (better would be great and I think we can do it, but I do realise the difficulty) I think we'll be alright.

From December 1st our schedule until the new year is (with their current records) :

- Spurs (3-11)
- Bulls (5-10)
- Wolves (10-3)
- Wizards (2-11)
- Hornets (4-9)
- Spurs (3-11)
- Grizzlies (3-10)
- Cavs (7-6)
- Rockets (6-5)
- Grizzlies (3-10)
- Jazz (4-9)
- Lakers (8-6)

There is not a single game in that list we cannot win if we play like we have done the last 4 games. 8-4 or 9-3 is not an unrealistic outcome for the month of December if we're playing like we did tonight. There's only one B2B (Spurs/Bulls) and 7 of those games are at home.

[Pelicanidae]

Jose in the postgame saying BI needs to shoot more threes lmao

[Pelicanidae]

Jose in the postgame saying BI needs to shoot more threes lmao

"He needs to shoot a lot more... if he missed those 5, I'd still want him to shoot 5 more. That's where the whole teams is at"

-- Jose Alvarado on Ingram's 5/5 night from 3 pic.twitter.com/7WepWr2Ra1

— Pelicans Film Room (@PelsFilmRoom) November 21, 2023

[neworleanshoo]

Fun night at the blender. This is a deep team.

[JJackisangry]

If we can just survive November around .500 (better would be great and I think we can do it, but I do realise the difficulty) I think we'll be alright.

From December 1st our schedule until the new year is (with their current records) :

- Spurs (3-11)
- Bulls (5-10)
- Wolves (10-3)
- Wizards (2-11)
- Hornets (4-9)
- Spurs (3-11)
- Grizzlies (3-10)
- Cavs (7-6)
- Rockets (6-5)
- Grizzlies (3-10)
- Jazz (4-9)
- Lakers (8-6)

There is not a single game in that list we cannot win if we play like we have done the last 4 games. 8-4 or 9-3 is not an unrealistic outcome for the month of December if we're playing like we did tonight. There's only one B2B (Spurs/Bulls) and 7 of those games are at home.

Talent wise we should (even missing CJ, Matt, LNJ and Trey), but we are a team that hasn’t created a winning culture yet and we have a young head coach that is still learning his way. All I can say is thank the heck for Langdon because Trey, Herb and Hawk have been stellar picks. Jose has also been a rock solid addition. He is the one guy in our org I have absolute faith in. The talent is there. Just need to start winning.

[Pelicanidae]

Talent wise we should (even missing CJ, Matt, LNJ and Trey), but we are a team that hasn’t created a winning culture yet and we have a young head coach that is still learning his way. All I can say is thank the heck for Langdon because Trey, Herb and Hawk have been stellar picks. Jose has also been a rock solid addition. He is the one guy in our org I have absolute faith in. The talent is there. Just need to start winning.

I get what you're saying, but I'm not accepting that as an excuse. You build winning culture by winning, and the head coach - while a young guy - is now 3 years in with a very experienced group of assistants behind him. We're in year 5 of the 'rebuild'. At some point you do have to start asking for results. A month of games, mostly at home, against mostly bad teams, should be a godsend and if we somehow come out of it worse than .500, I think everyone has a right to be annoyed barring further injury. Luckily, if the team keeps up the current intensity, I'm confident that they can do better.

[JJackisangry]

I get what you're saying, but I'm not accepting that as an excuse. You build winning culture by winning, and the head coach - while a young guy - is now 3 years in with a very experienced group of assistants behind him. We're in year 5 of the 'rebuild'. At some point you do have to start asking for results. A month of games, mostly at home, against mostly bad teams, should be a godsend and if we somehow come out of it worse than .500, I think everyone has a right to be annoyed barring further injury. Luckily, if the team keeps up the current intensity, I'm confident that they can do better.

I don’t think it’s much of an excuse either but it explains everything. This team kept a lame duck head coach another year because they wanted to give him a front office position. And he still ditched us. Then they signed an un-relatable head coach to coach a bunch of rookies (not really a knock on Stan but he was obviously against it) and now they decide in the third year of a rebuild (when the team is fairly built) to go after a rookie head coach. The fans deserve better. It’s utter incompetence from DG, Gale Benson and co. But, there is a light. I will take this stretch as a sign we are at least improving and hopefully ready to take that next step.

[Pelicanidae]

I don’t think it’s much of an excuse either but it explains everything. This team kept a lame duck head coach another year because they wanted to give him a front office position. And he still ditched us. Then they signed an un-relatable head coach to coach a bunch of rookies (not really a knock on Stan but he was obviously against it) and now they decide in the third year of a rebuild (when the team is fairly built) to go after a rookie head coach. The fans deserve better. It’s utter incompetence from DG, Gale Benson and co. But, there is a light. I will take this stretch as a sign we are at least improving and hopefully ready to take that next step.

Gotta demand the winning at some point, for sure, and for me, it's this season. A real playoff seed is the minimum I want, not accepting a play-in spot.

I legitimately believe that the team, when fully healthy, is a championship contender if they're playing like this. So the goal for the rest of the season is to find that consistency. Doing it for 4 games is great, but we need it for 40, 50, 60 games. That's why December is a big deal for me, it's the easiest schedule possible to get the intense reps in. Bad teams, lots of home games, only one B2B, it would be tough to design a better schedule to get reps against and to play people back into shape in (assuming that CJ and Trey return at some point in the next 6 weeks).

All the potential is there, but the deadline is close to make any last minute adjustments, so its time for potential to be realised. If it's gonna happen, it's gotta happen now. Luckily, it seems like the team has realised that too:

"We weren't on the same page before... We had a team meeting, we talked about what we want to do as a unit. That's what were gonna live and die with"

-- Zion Williamson on the teams recent success pic.twitter.com/X8kjU76teS

— Pelicans Film Room (@PelsFilmRoom) November 21, 2023

[As I See It]

BI now shooting 50% from the field even with the 3 ball not falling until tonight.

That's KD territory.

SHHHH!!!!

Many in here want to trade him for Zach LaVine.....maybe even throw in DD to sweeten the pot.

[JJackisangry]

Gotta demand the winning at some point, for sure, and for me, it's this season. A real playoff seed is the minimum I want, not accepting a play-in spot.

I legitimately believe that the team, when fully healthy, is a championship contender if they're playing like this. So the goal for the rest of the season is to find that consistency. Doing it for 4 games is great, but we need it for 40, 50, 60 games. That's why December is a big deal for me, it's the easiest schedule possible to get the intense reps in. Bad teams, lots of home games, only one B2B, it would be tough to design a better schedule to get reps against and to play people back into shape in (assuming that CJ and Trey return at some point in the next 6 weeks).

All the potential is there, but the deadline is close to make any last minute adjustments, so its time for potential to be realised. If it's gonna happen, it's gotta happen now. Luckily, it seems like the team has realised that too:

"We weren't on the same page before... We had a team meeting, we talked about what we want to do as a unit. That's what were gonna live and die with"

-- Zion Williamson on the teams recent success pic.twitter.com/X8kjU76teS

— Pelicans Film Room (@PelsFilmRoom) November 21, 2023

Agreed. Imo it has to be a legit contender or very close to or Willie needs to be on the hot seat. Way too much talent and we won’t be able to keep all of it after this year. Have to make it count

[Pelicanidae]

pic.twitter.com/FIwGFmiAcK

— ًً (@tiredharv) November 21, 2023

[As I See It]

When at full strength. LNJ or Zeller?

[sterlr]

When at full strength. LNJ or Zeller?

It depends on the match-up. LNJ can match up better against teams like the Warriors. Zeller against a team like the Wolves.

[6warddude]

When at full strength. LNJ or Zeller?

the team is better with both.....they can play in the same lineup against teams like the wolves and lakers....

nance can backup zion when we need help on the boards and some defense at this point....

[Pelicanidae]

It depends on the match-up. LNJ can match up better against teams like the Warriors. Zeller against a team like the Wolves.

To me, it's all about health.

Based on how Nance was playing before he got sat for injury, Zeller is a million times better. Nance looked and moved like a corpse out there and contributed absolutely nothing good. But, he was injured.

If we go back to his first 40 games of last year before he got injured, he was averaging 7/6/2 with a steal and a block on 61/37/72 splits and a +2.8 BPM across that span. That's an impactful backup.

The problem with Nance for me right now is wondering if he will ever be that guy again. In his last 15 games last season (after returning from injury) he was averaging 3/4/1.5 with half the stocks on, and the 3pt shooting vanished; he looked like he wasn't fully healthy and then we got confirmation after the season that he was indeed injured.

So then the whole offseason happens, he comes back this year and so far in 10 games played this season he's averaged 4/4/1 on 0.6 total stocks, shooting 48/33/50 splits; -3.3 BPM with a TO% 3x higher than his AST%. He's looked awful.

If Nance can ever get healthy again, I think he's better than Zeller in most situations (obviously sometimes height is just important) but he's just looked washed for a while, man.

[As I See It]

If anyone is interested in some mid-day comic relief, watch today's episode of "Locked in Kings".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFnqshfZFAk

[Pelicanidae]

Willie Green said CJ and Larry were full participants in practice today

— Shamit Dua (@FearTheBrown) November 21, 2023

[JJackisangry]

Willie Green said CJ and Larry were full participants in practice today

— Shamit Dua (@FearTheBrown) November 21, 2023

Great news. Hopefully CJ’s problems are mostly behind him. He was killing it

[Freyfamilyreuni]

I’m curious, when CJ does come back, should he come back as a starter? Or should we bring him in off the bench, considering how well our current starting lineup is performing?

[donato]

I’m curious, when CJ does come back, should he come back as a starter? Or should we bring him in off the bench, considering how well our current starting lineup is performing?

I would hope the bench, but you know how Willie rolls.

[Pelicanidae]

I’m curious, when CJ does come back, should he come back as a starter? Or should we bring him in off the bench, considering how well our current starting lineup is performing?

It's an interesting question.

On one hand, the current lineup is doing extremely well and are managing to outscore opponents even without conventional shooters.

On the other hand, part of that is that Dyson, Herb, and JV have all been shooting far above their usual level recently and opponents have been shooting well below average even when they get good shots, so at some point the law of averages is going to come around and punch us in the face.

So do we wait for that to happen first, or do we bench Dyson for CJ - adding a shooter with a track record and volume to the lineup - knowing you can still use the Dyson+Herb defensive tandem regularly even if they don't start together? Personally, given his contract, his vet status, the rapport he has with Green, etc, I think that CJ will get the start when he returns but it's still an interesting concept to consider.