24th January - New Orleans Pelicans vs Denver Nuggets - 17-28

[Pelicanidae]

1st off, Chucker 'Twuan needs to be in seat to the right of Cheatam on the bench. Instant Ball Stopper, while running around guarding nobody. He forgot that there's 2 parts to 3&D.
2) Ingram gets to be on the court w/Zion for 8 minutes per, which are warm-up minutes to start each half.
The 4 minute Zion rule completely hinders the rhythm of the rest of the players, especially when the Z antithesis (Redick) is coming in.
3) All teams have there best player in the game down the stretch (oh, except us)
4) This team needs a true shooting #2. Jrue ain't it. He probably has the worst lay-up shooting % of anyone in the league.
I like Jrue, but this FIT is non existent .
Once this rotation is set through ZION, Jrue is square peg.

Yeah there are more problems than just Ingram, of course, and you lay most of them out here.

I'm somewhat confused about Jrue to be honest. He doesn't shoot worse at the rim than anyone in the league, not by a large margin, but his at-rim finishing is massively down on previous years. Last season, for example, he shot 66% at the rim, and this year it's only 62%. Worse, last season he shot 44% from 3-10 feet, this year it's down to 34%. That drop off has been massive, and if it had just happened for a handful of games I wouldn't really care but it's been a sustained problem.

Totally agree about the rhythm issue; Zion has been great when he's been on court (for the most part, obvious rust not withstanding) but those awkward bursts totally disrupt everyone else. Understandably. Once he's up to playing 25-30 minutes, it will be less of an issue, but will it be too late by then? Very possibly.

[Speakthetruth]

Zion is averaging 19 7 and 2 in 20 minutes per game on the court

[Pelicanidae]

Ingram from January 1st until 4 games ago: 27.9 points, 5.9 rebounds, 6 assists. 44.1%FG, 39.7%3PT, 86.8%FT

Ingram last 4 games: 16.2 points, 4.0 rebounds, 4.7 assists. 33.8%FG, 25.9%3P5, 80.5%FT.

Just a staggeringly rough couple of games for Ingram.

[JJackisangry]

Jrue is just a ball stopper on offense unfortunately. Ingram plays a lot more iso than the rest of the guys, but he tends to make his decisions quickly and often collapses defenses. Jrue gets caught screwing around on the ball too much. He almost always has one of those hop passes where he leaves the dribble and is forced into a turnover. Enough is enough.

In other news, we lost because we didn’t rebound. We didn’t box out all night. That can’t happen.

[Pelicanidae]

In other news, we lost because we didn’t rebound. We didn’t box out all night. That can’t happen.

Looking forward to the full box-out totals being released. Not expecting it to be pretty.

[Tinman]

Yeah there are more problems than just Ingram, of course, and you lay most of them out here.

I'm somewhat confused about Jrue to be honest. He doesn't shoot worse at the rim than anyone in the league, not by a large margin, but his at-rim finishing is massively down on previous years. Last season, for example, he shot 66% at the rim, and this year it's only 62%. Worse, last season he shot 44% from 3-10 feet, this year it's down to 34%. That drop off has been massive, and if it had just happened for a handful of games I wouldn't really care but it's been a sustained problem.

Totally agree about the rhythm issue; Zion has been great when he's been on court (for the most part, obvious rust not withstanding) but those awkward bursts totally disrupt everyone else. Understandably. Once he's up to playing 25-30 minutes, it will be less of an issue, but will it be too late by then? Very possibly.

Yeah, my Jrue statement a bit hyperbole, u get the gist .
And, if Gentry now has Zion for 6-7 minutes in 4th quarter, then let him come in w/ 7 minutes left & finish w/ the 1's. Also, ANDRE DRUMMOND for Holiday & Favors ( and some moving pieces) BI, Z, Zo, JJ & Drummond. Hart, Hayes, Melli & Naw in rotation. & Frank

[Speakthetruth]

I do like drummond but he clogs the paints big time

I think a guy they should have interest in is Myles turner

[Tinman]

I do like drummond but he clogs the paints big time

I think a guy they should have interest in is Myles turner

I do like Turner, but Drummond can do what Fave does on offense & is much bigger & much better rebounder & defender. I'd have no problems w/ Turner, but Defensively w/ Z & AD (huh) , man, defensively!

[ragincaucasian]

Jim Mora Nfl GIF from Jimmora GIFs

[Pelicanidae]

This game's advanced stats. Min. 15 minutes played.

Best Net Rating: Zion Williamson, +34.8
Worst Net Rating: JJ Redick, -44.8

Best TS%: JJ Redick, 82.7%. Zion in 2nd place, at 69.7%
Worst TS%: Jrue Holiday at 32.8%. Ingram in 2nd, at 46.2% (making FTs helps!)
Best AST%: Jrue Holiday, 33.3%
Best REB%: Josh Hart, 18.7%. Zion in 2nd place, at 12.5%

Most Deflections: Derrick Favors, 2, tied with Lonzo.
Most Screen Assists: Derrick Favors, 3. Nobody else had any.
Most 2pt Contests: Derrick Favors, 12.
Most 3pt Contests: Jrue, 5.
Most Boxouts: Jrue, 3. Favors and Redick both had 2.

[Pelicanidae]

Yeah, my Jrue statement a bit hyperbole, u get the gist .
And, if Gentry now has Zion for 6-7 minutes in 4th quarter, then let him come in w/ 7 minutes left & finish w/ the 1's. Also, ANDRE DRUMMOND for Holiday & Favors ( and some moving pieces) BI, Z, Zo, JJ & Drummond. Hart, Hayes, Melli & Naw in rotation. & Frank

Not a fan of that. I like Drummond more than some, but I don't think he fits this team very well at all. I get that he'd go a long way towards solving the rebounding issue, but he'd make our FT issue even worse, and he'd hurt the spacing on offense a lot.

[ragincaucasian]

This game's advanced stats. Min. 15 minutes played.

Best Net Rating: Zion Williamson, +34.8
Worst Net Rating: JJ Redick, -44.8

Best TS%: JJ Redick, 82.7%. Zion in 2nd place, at 69.7%
Worst TS%: Jrue Holiday at 32.8%. Ingram in 2nd, at 46.2% (making FTs helps!)
Best AST%: Jrue Holiday, 33.3%
Best REB%: Josh Hart, 18.7%. Zion in 2nd place, at 12.5%

Most Deflections: Derrick Favors, 2, tied with Lonzo.
Most Screen Assists: Derrick Favors, 3. Nobody else had any.
Most 2pt Contests: Derrick Favors, 12.
Most 3pt Contests: Jrue, 5.
Most Boxouts: Jrue, 3. Favors and Redick both had 2.

[Pelicanidae]

Kemba Walker says he ran home Saturday night to watch Zion’s first game, and then he called Zion “a stud.”

— Marc D'Amico (@Marc_DAmico) January 25, 2020

[Tinman]

Not a fan of that. I like Drummond more than some, but I don't think he fits this team very well at all. I get that he'd go a long way towards solving the rebounding issue, but he'd make our FT issue even worse, and he'd hurt the spacing on offense a lot.

Ok, this is not a disagreement, but an inquiring mind.>>> What does Favors give you that Drummond does not? I'm not certain of Fave's exact FT. % but it's close to 50% soooo ?

[Speakthetruth]

Ok, this is not a disagreement, but an inquiring mind.>>> What does Favors give you that Drummond does not? I'm certain of Fave's exact FT. % but it's close to 50% soooo ?

I think its more of zion and drummond fit on offense and drummond on a max deal

U dont want to clog the paint with zion

[6warddude]

Ok, this is not a disagreement, but an inquiring mind.>>> What does Favors give you that Drummond does not? I'm certain of Fave's exact FT. % but it's close to 50% soooo ?

i agree with you but it would drive me crazy when drummond is having a 15/15 game and gentry take him out to run small ball...

[Eman5805]

Kemba Walker says he ran home Saturday night to watch Zion’s first game, and then he called Zion “a stud.”

— Marc D'Amico (@Marc_DAmico) January 25, 2020

What? What Saturday?

[Pelicanidae]

What? What Saturday?

No idea. Just retweeting the tweet

[Tinman]

I think its more of zion and drummond fit on offense and drummond on a max deal

U dont want to clog the paint with zion

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Drummond has this year & a player option next year for 28million . If this is so, then Jrue/Drummond is a wash with 1 less year on Drummonds contract . I'm not following the max contract thingy that you are seeing .

[6warddude]

What? What Saturday?

they are over seas playing so i think its a day or time ahead..

[Tinman]

i agree with you but it would drive me crazy when drummond is having a 15/15 game and gentry take him out to run small ball...

Well, you got me there!

[Pelicanidae]

Ok, this is not a disagreement, but an inquiring mind.>>> What does Favors give you that Drummond does not? I'm not certain of Fave's exact FT. % but it's close to 50% soooo ?

Drummond's shooting 60% from the FT line, and for him that's a career high.

Favors is shooting 59% from the FT line, and for him that's comfortably under his career average. He shot 67% from the line over 554 games in Utah, for example.

So I think that while what they're putting up right now is fairly similar from the line, there's a reasonable expectation for Favors to trend back up towards his usual standards, whereas for Drummond this is an outlier in the positive sense and it's more likely that he'll trend down, if anything. That could totally be wrong, of course, Drummond has improved his FT shooting in general over the last 2 seasons, but that's my thought process.

Also, Favors is a better defender than Drummond by a fairly significant margin tbh.

[Speakthetruth]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Drummond has this year & a player option next year for 28million . If this is so, then Jrue/Drummond is a wash with 1 less year on Drummonds contract . I'm not following the max contract thingy that you are seeing .

Yea he would decline that player option pistons reporters says

So he would want to get paid this summmer

[Pelicanidae]

Am I going to run recklessly with small samples? Why yes, yes I am.

Pelicans DRTG with Zion on the court tonight: 82.6

Pelicans DRTG with Zion off the court tonight: 136.4

What I'm saying is, he's Ben Wallace on roids.

— Shamit Dua (@FearTheBrown) January 25, 2020

[luckyman]

Also, Favors is a better defender than Drummond by a fairly significant margin tbh.

Maybe he is, but Jokic isnt going to drive by you. Just stay put and he'll throw up that rainbow from behind his head. Not that Jokic had a great shooting night, but Favors jumping around like jack rabbit as if he was guarding Kobe.