https://intheno.substack.com/p/willi...year-in-review
Really good article here from Shamit on Willie Green, as a retrospective. Won't include everything but I thought these few extracts give a good flavour of the article while also putting some of Green's flaws and plus sides into perspective.
Pros:
Defense
Buy-inThe most easily identifiable hallmark during the Willie Green tenure has been defense. The Pelicans have now enjoyed back to back finishes as a top 6 defense while employing players you may not view as solid defenders. Even during the OKC series, the Pelicans held the Thunder to nearly 10 points below their season’s average offensive rating. There are elements of three point variance positively influencing the defensive rating, but the fundamentals have been sound.
Cons:Where Stan Van Gundy’s coarse demeanor quickly sapped the joy from much of the Pelicans’ roster, Green’s relatability has guys generally enjoying coming into work. There has never been a complaint of a toxic environment with Green and the “togetherness” has been a large selling point for the franchise. When Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Josh Hart were traded, both showed up to support the team the very next game. Green’s ability to connect has been lauded by hall of famers and created a stable off court environment that the Pelicans desperately needed.
Offense
Use of the cornerThe general structure of the offense includes a lamentable lack of player movement. There are also few engineered situations that put defenses in a compromised position or generate a quick basket - particularly threes. There are zero half-court lob plays in their playbook despite having a number of athletes capable of finishing above the rim if just a little creativity was involved.
Three Point FailuresThe Pelicans have spent an embarrassingly large amount of possessions spotting up their non-shooters in these corners. Valanciunas or Williamson would frequently find themselves “spaced out” in the weakside corner while an action took place on the other side of the court. Beyond the positioning of non-shooters, the Pelicans routinely failed to use them in conjunction with good shooters to distract the defense, generate easy looks, or in general pull defenders out of the paint. Van Gundy pioneered the inverted screen and roll action with Zion and JJ Redick that employed several of these principles simultaneously and yet there has been little desire from Green to go back to this look with similar shooters.
Offense dies in exchange for DefenseLast season, the Pelicans had a publicly stated goal of attempting 35 threes per game. The Pelicans reached the stated goal 16 times. This season the Pelicans decided to up the ante and made the goal 40 three point attempts per game. They reached this new benchmark only 11 times. Moreover, they would have reached last year’s benchmark of 35 attempts only 29 times - still well under half the games. This is a zero accountability operation.
Ingram's shot profile, accountability, and culturePelicans fans are well versed with Green’s tendency to play defensive vets, but the issue elevated itself this year when Green would bench Valanciunas at half time to play Nance. This concept bore the Pelicans no fruit whatsoever. The Pelicans de facto starters were a -1.1 per 100 possessions. The Nance version was -4.4 per 100 possessions.
[. . .]
The repeated defensive oriented decision making plays itself out in a predictable fashion. Players like Jordan Hawkins, Trey Murphy, Jonas Valanciunas, and Willy Hernangomez have all gotten quick hooks when they underperform on the defensive end. But “Willie Guys” like Naji Marshall, Jose Alvarado, even Josh Richardson and Garrett Temple received an incredibly long leash despite mistakes of their own. Offensive mistakes or ineffectiveness are not held to the same standard.
Again, this is a zero accountability system. A “Willie Guy” only loses their minutes after months of an idea not working. It becomes worse when it comes to Brandon Ingram specifically. Green has had no reign over Ingram’s shot diet over the past three years. Ingram has never been challenged to embrace a different playstyle and it has resulted in deteriorating impact year over year. [...]
Three years of this approach made it near impossible to make the tough decisions Green was forced to make when the season was on the line and he benched Ingram in the fourth quarter of the play-in game. If there was a consistent pattern of accountability, perhaps Ingram would have received the benching with more grace. Instead, Ingram was seeing pouting on national television and left the arena in huff. I’m told there was another incident with friction between Green and Ingram on the road after game 2. This is a culture coach without a culture. Good culture allows for accountability. Good vibes do not.
 |
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by hornetsrebirth
