Didi in Australia

[Pelicanidae]

As we know, we used the 35th pick in this year's draft to select Didi, who was a guy that most of us (me included) knew very little about. We saw him play in Summer League, and I think that many of us were quite impressed with his defensive intensity, his three point shot, and his ability to really read the floor well. He wasn't perfect, but he showed a lot of encouraging signs, and looked a lot better than you generally expect a 35th pick to do.

Well, now this year we all also know that he's playing in Australia for the Sydney Kings in the NBL, as a draft and stash. According to Trajan Langdon, that's mostly just to keep him advancing and give him a chance to work on his English before throwing him in at the deep end, especially on a team that already has so much rookie talent to develop. So, I figured we should probably keep at least loose track on what's going on with Didi in the NBL.

.@Didi going 🆙

Hey @PelicansNBA, you drafted a good one. The @SydneyKings will keep him for #NBL20 pic.twitter.com/NsYIePKQRO

— NBL (@NBL) September 20, 2019

How bout @Didi hitting for Sydney 👀

Three triples for the Next Star ⭐️@SydneyKings #NBL20 #NBLBlitz pic.twitter.com/ijHuIGwdzX

— NBL (@NBL) September 20, 2019

Full time stat leaders:

Casper Ware - 19 points, 2 assists
Didi Louzada - 13 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists
Jae'Sean Tate - 12 points, 7 rebounds, 2 steals
Brad Newley - 11 points, 4 rebounds, 1 steal#NBLBlitz

— Sydney Kings (@SydneyKings) September 20, 2019

He's coming off the bench for them right now, and putting up 13/5/2 on 5/9 shooting, 3 of 5 from deep, in only 16 minutes of play is not bad at all.

[Nola3]

So exciting. Glad we have a thread to keep track of him. Also, shouts to him for somehow grabbing @didi

[kinglio21093]

I remember being so upset when we drafted him. That was before I took into consideration on Trajan Langdon's expertise in scouting international dudes. He won me over in Summer League. I'm so thrilled we have his rights, and I can't wait to see more of him.

[kinglio21093]

Big game for Brazilian Didi Louzada (#35 pick in 2019 NBA draft) in the NBL Blitz against the defending champions, Perth. 29 points on 8-11 shooting for 3 in 27 minutes. Also showed some creation and passing ability as well. Promising signs for the New Orleans Pelicans prospect.

— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) September 22, 2019

*insert evil laugh here*

[Pelicanidae]

He's only not on the Pels right now because they wanted to give him a season to chill and work on his English without having to stress about playing time. He looked great in Vegas.

— TS% Eliot (@Cosmis) September 22, 2019

Didi is playing really, REALLY well in Australia so far. You love to see it.

[Pelicanidae]

Show them what you're made of @Didi

> 29 PTS (10-16)
> 8/11 3PT
> 4 REB
> 3 AST@SydneyKings @PelicansNBA #NBLBlitz #NBL20 pic.twitter.com/yMoS3jPV3q

— NBL (@NBL) September 22, 2019

Just the highlights here, but wow, impressive. In this clip alone you have

- Threes off the catch and shoot
- Threes off the dribble
- Driving through traffic
- Tough finishes against defense
- Dishes under the basket in tight space
- Off-ball movement
- Perimeter penetration

So many good signs. Wish highlight clips had more defensive content, but still, this is so encouraging.

[bahmamamba]

Show them what you're made of @Didi

> 29 PTS (10-16)
> 8/11 3PT
> 4 REB
> 3 AST@SydneyKings @PelicansNBA #NBLBlitz #NBL20 pic.twitter.com/yMoS3jPV3q

— NBL (@NBL) September 22, 2019

Just the highlights here, but wow, impressive. In this clip alone you have

- Threes off the catch and shoot
- Threes off the dribble
- Driving through traffic
- Tough finishes against defense
- Dishes under the basket in tight space
- Off-ball movement
- Perimeter penetration

So many good signs. Wish highlight clips had more defensive content, but still, this is so encouraging.

his defense in sl looked pretty good. that's probably the main thing everyone is sleeping on

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[Pelicanidae]

his defense in sl looked pretty good. that's probably the main thing everyone is sleeping on

Sent from my SM-S903VL using Tapatalk

It did, he had very good positioning defensively and quick hands. That's why I'd like to see it, but without watching full NBL games, it's not really too easy to get.

[Pelicanidae]

Obviously this is still extremely early. Didi has only played 2 games in Australia so far, and it's pre-season for them. I get that. He will have bad games at some point, it's just the natural course of a season. So I'm not getting overhyped, I know that these numbers will almost certainly come down.

But through his first two games in the NBL, Didi has a TS% of 79.8%, a rbd% of 11.4%, a 2.5:1 AST/TO ratio, is putting up 1.68 points per shot, for a +44.5 net rating.

His PER is 29.8.

Again, this is not me being silly: these numbers will almost certainly drop (at least some of them, like TS% and net rating). I know not to get too excited after 2 games. But it's better to be getting these awesome early showings from Didi than to be getting terrible ones, I think we'd all agree, and he's doing well so far.

[AUSSIE_PELICAN]

Our Miller and Moore replacement next season.
At only 20 I am hoping he is still growing and he get to about 6'7".

[RhythmNathan]

Danny Green Jr!


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[DroopyDawg]

Shout out to the front office for finding these rooks.

[Pelicanidae]

Didi played his 3rd NBL game against the Illawarra Hawks, the team that currently plays host to LaMelo Ball. By all accounts, it seems to have gone pretty well for Didi.

.@Didi with another BIG GAME!

24 pts, 5 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl, 55% FG, 50% 3P!

— Sydney Kings (@SydneyKings) September 29, 2019

KINGS TOP SCORERS��

Didi Louzada - 24 pts, 5 reb, 2 stl
Brad Newley - 17 pts, 5 reb, 2 ast
Casper Ware - 14 pts, 2 ast, 2 stl
Kevin Lisch, Shaun Bruce, Jae'Sean Tate all had 10 pts each

— Sydney Kings (@SydneyKings) September 29, 2019

I can confirm Didi Louzada has burned Lamelo Ball at least 3 times tonight, treating the young prospect as a total non-factor.

— Dert (@Backtrack_Rewin) September 29, 2019

AIR DIDI. pic.twitter.com/NHwIoM5iEy

— Sydney Kings (@SydneyKings) September 29, 2019

[Pelicanidae]

Didi is now 14 of 22 on threes, through three games. That's 63.6% on 7.3 attempts a game. Again, not trying to hype too much too early, three games is a very small sample size and it's extremely likely that Didi will regress as the actual season moves on, but that's super encouraging. Three game sample sizes are always too small, but I'd rather have 3 games of excellence to start the year than 3 games of worrying horribleness.

He's averaged 22 ppg across these pre-season games, on high efficiency. Good to see.

[WildlifeAirGrp]

Olá @Didi, we see you. ��

Louzada finished with 24 points on 10 of 18 shooting, including three triples and was instrumental to the Kings’ win over the Hawks this afternoon. pic.twitter.com/Wexpmqqkbj

— Sydney Kings (@SydneyKings) September 29, 2019

[Pelicanidae]

Apparently my averages were a bit off, because the King's played a game against the New Zealand Breakers that I somehow completely missed. Not sure how that happened, I follow the Kings on twitter, as well as the NBL, and Didi, and it just never came across my feed.

Anyway, apparently Didi had a rougher night on that game, shooting only 2 for 13 (I think thats the number), but even considering that, Didi is still shooting nearly 50% from the floor and 56% from 3. Still overall very good work.

Ben Pfiefer wrote up an article on the Bird Writes which is pretty good, contains a lot of clips and video footage of Didi playing. Highlights strengths, weaknesses, and also gave me the heads up about the Breakers game I missed.

[Eman5805]

Didi will be like a first round pick next year coming to our team.

[Pelicanidae]

Didi will be like a first round pick next year coming to our team.

A couple of draft twitter guys I follow loved the Didi pick as soon as it happened, and I've even seen one guy speculate that Didi will end up as a top 15 player from this draft.

So yep, lots of enthusiasm for him.

[AUSSIE_PELICAN]

A couple of draft twitter guys I follow loved the Didi pick as soon as it happened, and I've even seen one guy speculate that Didi will end up as a top 15 player from this draft.

So yep, lots of enthusiasm for him.

Correct me if I am wrong but the Pels don't have the Lakers pick this year so only picks they have this year is their 2020 first and 2020 second?

Barring trades of course.

[Pelicanidae]

Correct me if I am wrong but the Pels don't have the Lakers pick this year so only picks they have this year is their 2020 first and 2020 second?

Barring trades of course.

I believe that is accurate, the Pels have their own 2020 picks, but not the Lakers ones.

Edit: I checked properly. Here's how our 2020 draft picks look:

- New Orleans' 2020 FRP
- Hawks 2021 FRP (via CLE) IF both Atlanta and Cleveland somehow fall out of the top 10 [so not likely]
- New Orleans Pelicans 2020 Second Round Pick
- Milwaukee Bucks' 2020 Second Round Pick
- Washington Wizards' 2020 Second Round Pick

[AUSSIE_PELICAN]

I believe that is accurate, the Pels have their own 2020 picks, but not the Lakers ones.

Edit: I checked properly. Here's how our 2020 draft picks look:

- New Orleans' 2020 FRP
- Hawks 2021 FRP (via CLE) IF both Atlanta and Cleveland somehow fall out of the top 10 [so not likely]
- New Orleans Pelicans 2020 Second Round Pick
- Milwaukee Bucks' 2020 Second Round Pick
- Washington Wizards' 2020 Second Round Pick

Thanks. Where is this info?

Also if the Pels have the Hawks 2021 FRP and either the Lakers or their pick, they have 2 FRP in 2021 potentially ?

Too many second rounders. Need to package them

[Pelicanidae]

Thanks. Where is this info?

Also if the Pels have the Hawks 2021 FRP and either the Lakers or their pick, they have 2 FRP in 2021 potentially ?

Too many second rounders. Need to package them

That's my bad, it's the Hawks 2020 FRP, not 2021, but as I said we only get if if somehow neither Atlanta or Cleveland is a top 10 pick, which is... not likely.

https://www.prosportstransactions.co...e/Pelicans.htm This is where all the info on our future drafts comes from.

We might have 2 FRPs in 2021, but it depends on the Lakers. If they are crap and they get a top 8 pick, then it transfers to us, and we have 2 FRPs. If their pick falls outside of the top 8, they keep it; Griff got reverse protections on that pick. Which is a fantastic year to have the reverse protection, because the 2021 draft looks like it's going to be absolute fire. That draft has Cade Cunningham in it, for example, who is easily a Ben Simmons/KAT level prospect at this point, with room to grow.

I agree with the second rounders, but part of the value of second rounders is that you can package them to move up. If we have 3 SRP's in next year's draft, we could easily package them to move up a few spots for someone we really like.

[AUSSIE_PELICAN]

That's my bad, it's the Hawks 2020 FRP, not 2021, but as I said we only get if if somehow neither Atlanta or Cleveland is a top 10 pick, which is... not likely.

https://www.prosportstransactions.co...e/Pelicans.htm This is where all the info on our future drafts comes from.

We might have 2 FRPs in 2021, but it depends on the Lakers. If they are crap and they get a top 8 pick, then it transfers to us, and we have 2 FRPs. If their pick falls outside of the top 8, they keep it; Griff got reverse protections on that pick. Which is a fantastic year to have the reverse protection, because the 2021 draft looks like it's going to be absolute fire. That draft has Cade Cunningham in it, for example, who is easily a Ben Simmons/KAT level prospect at this point, with room to grow.

I agree with the second rounders, but part of the value of second rounders is that you can package them to move up. If we have 3 SRP's in next year's draft, we could easily package them to move up a few spots for someone we really like.

Thank you.

[PELICANSFAN]

That's my bad, it's the Hawks 2020 FRP, not 2021, but as I said we only get if if somehow neither Atlanta or Cleveland is a top 10 pick, which is... not likely.

https://www.prosportstransactions.co...e/Pelicans.htm This is where all the info on our future drafts comes from.

We might have 2 FRPs in 2021, but it depends on the Lakers. If they are crap and they get a top 8 pick, then it transfers to us, and we have 2 FRPs. If their pick falls outside of the top 8, they keep it; Griff got reverse protections on that pick. Which is a fantastic year to have the reverse protection, because the 2021 draft looks like it's going to be absolute fire. That draft has Cade Cunningham in it, for example, who is easily a Ben Simmons/KAT level prospect at this point, with room to grow.

I agree with the second rounders, but part of the value of second rounders is that you can package them to move up. If we have 3 SRP's in next year's draft, we could easily package them to move up a few spots for someone we really like.

I think the Cavs draft position is the only one that matters (as it is top 10 protected by them). However, that is unlikely anyway. Therefore, more likely to be 2 2nd rounders - in 2021 and 2022.

[Pelicanidae]

I think the Cavs draft position is the only one that matters (as it is top 10 protected by them). However, that is unlikely anyway. Therefore, more likely to be 2 2nd rounders - in 2021 and 2022.

You're actually right, I think. I just saw the big bold underlined thing in both sections and didn't process it as the same message twice, rather than the same idea in different boxes. Either way though, you're right. Super unlikely. Cavs are going to be garbage this year.