January 19th - New Orleans Pelicans @ Utah Jazz - 5-7

[Pelicanidae]

Duncan Robinson is a RFA too, but I guess that's hoping for a little too much.

Lmao, I wish

[As I See It]

In a way, I think we spilled our momentum with the lineup change.
We likely would have still lost, but I think we would have saw a different type of ball game.

BI came out the season gate hungry. I need him to keep the focus.
He actually needs to force himself in facilitating for Zion more. Until he truly sees what he has as leverage on that end with him... it feels like he?s still missing the point of the game. More drive and inside dishes, alleys, etc. But hes still so young, he?ll see it eventually I know it.

A front line of Adams, Zion, and Ingram will never contend for anything other than the Lottery. There simply isn't enough spacing and that detracts from Zion and BI's game.

[Pelicanidae]

Players taken after Lonzo in the 2017 draft:

- Jayson Tatum
- De'Aaron Fox
- Jonathan Isaac
- Lauri Markkanen
- Donovan Mitchell
- Bam Adebayo
- John Collins
- Jarrett Allen
- OG Anunoby
- Derrick White
- Monte Morris


A handful of those guys are questionable (Markkanen, we can debate, for example) but there's an argument to be made that Lonzo is worse than every one of these guys. Imagine picking Lonzo 2nd in a draft that he may not even have been top 10 in.

[13 - 3]

A sad evening when Fletch trolls you

A live look at the #Pelicans right now in Salt Lake City.

Jazz up on NOLA 91-69 at start of 4th quarter. pic.twitter.com/uRibn6261l

— Fletcher Mackel (@FletcherWDSU) January 20, 2021

[13 - 3]

Player Names	PTS	REB	AST	STL	BLK	fg%	3pt%	FT%	to	pf	mins
Brandon Ingram	17	3	4	0	2	8/18 (44.4%)	0/1	1/2 (50%)	1	2	35
Zion Williamson	32	5	3	1	0	14/19 (73.6%)	0/1	4/6 (66.6%)	2	4	35
Steven Adams	6	9	1	1	0	3/6 (50%)	0/0	0/0	1	0	24
Eric Bledsoe	9	4	2	0	0	3/9 (33.3%)	2/4 (50.0%)	1/2 (50.0%)	1	1	24
Lonzo Ball	7	1	4	3	0	3/10 (30%)	0/6 (0.00%)	1/2 (50%)	0	2	23

We are stuck with Lonzo. Won?t even get a bag of chips with those stats

[13 - 3]

Pelicans guard play tonight as described by emojis

Kira: ������
NAW: ������
JJ: ������
Bledose: ������
Lonzo:

— Shamit Dua (@FearTheBrown) January 20, 2021

[Darkhorse985]

How much trashier does Ball have to play to get himself benched? I’d trade him for a marginal backup PG or stretch 4 and a 2nd round pick at this point.

[luckyman]

A front line of Adams, Zion, and Ingram will never contend for anything other than the Lottery. There simply isn't enough spacing and that detracts from Zion and BI's game.

It doesn't. This game had nothing to do with spacing. The Jazz had 52 bench points from their main bench guys to the Pelicans 25. Both Zion and BI can create their own space.

You just have to stop having games where Redick has 6, Hart has 8, Hayes has 2 and NAW 9.

Redick has to give you 15+ every night and Hart at least 10.

And I don't have to explain that NAW should be starting to get the most out of him. Lonzo is a ball and chain around this franchise's neck right now among other things.

[Pelicanidae]

It doesn't. This game had nothing to do with spacing. The Jazz had 52 bench points from their main bench guys to the Pelicans 25. Both Zion and BI can create their own space.

You just have to stop having games where Redick has 6, Hart has 8, Hayes has 2 and NAW 9.

Redick has to give you 15+ every night and Hart at least 10.

And I don't have to explain that NAW should be starting to get the most out of him. Lonzo is a ball and chain around this franchise's neck right now among other things.

For real.

One of most absurd things that we've had to put up with this early season is people going ''we need spacing because Zion and BI can't score efficiently if there's no spacing!'' during a game where Zion is putting up historically efficient scoring numbers on volume. Zion has proven that he can score, effectively and efficiently, even if the spacing is bad. Now, obviously in a perfect world we want it to be good, I'm not saying otherwise, but this idea that Zion can't work unless he's surrounded by snipers is wrong.

Secondly, saying that BI needs shooters around him to be maximised is backwards imo: if maximised, BI is a shooter. That's what made his explosion last year so impressive: his ability to to extend his range out consistently on high volume. This year so far that's been nonexistent, and it needs to come back, or else then we have issues.

[Pelicanidae]

We are now 5-8

What was our record after 13 games last year?

4-9.

IMPROVEMENT. We'll be undefeated by 2100.

[PeliKhan]

We are now 5-8

What was our record after 13 games last year?

4-9.

IMPROVEMENT. We'll be undefeated by 2100.

Big if true

[PaKwAn]

Of the teams that we have won against i think it's only really the spurs was a decent team... wins against the kings (bad team) okc (bad team) and raps (struggling this year)

[PaKwAn]

Games against the pacers okc and hornets hurt us as well

[AusPel]

Wins and losses is secondary to how all the pieces fit at the moment

Plus another top 5 pick won't hurt

[luckyman]

For real.

Secondly, saying that BI needs shooters around him to be maximised is backwards imo: if maximised, BI is a shooter. That's what made his explosion last year so impressive: his ability to to extend his range out consistently on high volume. This year so far that's been nonexistent, and it needs to come back, or else then we have issues.

It's been existent holy cow. The problem is it's been sporadic. At times he's been on fire and looking like a top 5 player and other times both he and the entire team looks discombobulated and confused.

Tonight was just a showcase of a team that knows exactly what it wants to do, on both ends, versus a team that seems to have no idea.

That zone they played in the 3rd was one of the worst executed zone defenses I've ever seen. The Jazz only needed 1 or 2 passes to get a WIDE open 3 point look. Meanwhile JJ comes down, go around one screen, and jacks up a contested 3. Among many.

The 2 man game between Zion and BI doesn't exist. They don't take advantage of Steven Adams enough. At one time he had Donovan Mitchell guarding him down low and they didn't even bother getting him the ball.

This is just a team that has no idea what to do or how to win. They play with ZERO confidence.

One small thing to do is start NAW. Stop the BS.

[PaKwAn]

Wins and losses is secondary to how all the pieces fit at the moment

Plus another top 5 pick won't hurt

Yep, that's why i don't get stressed with losses this year because of this coming draft... growth with the young guys and hopefully griff putting in pieces that would fit in with this team in the long run is what matters to me

[JJackisangry]

We live and die by the guards. It’s been this way for a while. Stan will have to make tough decisions. The GM will probably have to make a move at some point. We have to balance out that floor. We have to find more playmaking. Bledsoe/Ball just isn’t it. Square peg round holing for an entire season won’t make it work.

[new city champ]

Yep, that's why i don't get stressed with losses this year because of this coming draft... growth with the young guys and hopefully griff putting in pieces that would fit in with this team in the long run is what matters to me

Well, to quote John Maynard Keynes “In the long run, we’re all dead.” I’ve been a season ticket holder for more than 10 years. We get Davis. Nothing changes. We get Zion. Nothing changes. Same story every year: “Hey, just be patient.” For what? We had Davis and Holiday and still couldn’t defend anybody. We get Zion + a load of talent and picks and somehow still field a squad that can’t hit water from a boat—and can?t stop anyone else from shooting either! Man, it’s hard to get that many assets and still suck this bad. We should be better than this, straight up, period, end of story. We should be better than this by now.

[Pelicanidae]

It's been existent holy cow. The problem is it's been sporadic. At times he's been on fire and looking like a top 5 player and other times both he and the entire team looks discombobulated and confused.

Tonight was just a showcase of a team that knows exactly what it wants to do, on both ends, versus a team that seems to have no idea.

That zone they played in the 3rd was one of the worst executed zone defenses I've ever seen. The Jazz only needed 1 or 2 passes to get a WIDE open 3 point look. Meanwhile JJ comes down, go around one screen, and jacks up a contested 3. Among many.

The 2 man game between Zion and BI doesn't exist. They don't take advantage of Steven Adams enough. At one time he had Donovan Mitchell guarding him down low and they didn't even bother getting him the ball.

This is just a team that has no idea what to do or how to win. They play with ZERO confidence.

One small thing to do is start NAW. Stop the BS.

Brandon Ingram is shooting 28.1% from 3 over the last 7 games. That's what I mean by non-existent. He has been a complete non-factor as a three point shooter for a fairly long stretch now. You can say it's hyperbolic if you like, that's fine by me, but that's what I meant.

The problem with the zone isn't necessarily that it was badly executed (though it was that, also) but that it was also poorly conceived. The traditional way to beat a zone is to have capable passers who can get into the soft spots in order to exploit reactions in the defense to find shooters. So deciding to switch to a zone in order to defend dribble penetration and shooting is backwards, to me. And it's not like it was some weird zone where the norms are inverted: it was a standard approach, just employed seemingly at random. In the post-game, SVG said they were just trying to show Utah another look because of how hot they were, but showing them another look doesn't actually make sense if the new look you're showing is an even easier one.

I agree that we need to focus more on exploiting mismatches, particularly with Adams when they come about, and I also agree that we should be starting NAW next to Bledsoe, not Lonzo.

[Pelicanidae]

Man, it’s hard to get that many assets and still suck this bad.

It's precisely because we have all these assets that we suck so bad: the war chest is full and has yet to be unloaded. It makes no sense to be shocked that our opponent is still standing when we have yet to fire: that's the situation we're in right now.

[sterlr]

A front line of Adams, Zion, and Ingram will never contend for anything other than the Lottery. There simply isn't enough spacing and that detracts from Zion and BI's game.

Nope! lack of outside shooting causes the lack of spacing. Every team drops back in the paint because they don't respect our outside shooting. I've seen this alot when I used coach.

[PELICANSFAN]

Many of the open looks we got last year were as a result of pace. We have almost no pace now. This team does not seem to know how to play in a slow half-court game. Maybe it will take time or maybe it is just a bad offensive fit for the players. Seems we have had to deal with two extremes - breakneck chaotic pace or a snail's pace.

[Freyfamilyreuni]

I think the one thing that everyone can agree with is that Ball is killing us. Personally I'd rather Stan try and start JJ to see if he can jump start him. Either JJ is in a slump or his age has caught up to him. Might as well figure that out now. We need as much shooting and basketball IQ that we can get to put around BI and Zion. So maximize JJ with the starting unit while you can. I like NAW but he's so inconsistent right now that I have a hard time arguing that he should be in the starting lineup. I'd prefer to see him and kira come off the bench to see if we can build NAW's confidence playing other bench players and get Kira some more experience. If you simply must play Ball make him a back up 3 along with Josh Hart and see which one of them gets out of their shooting slump first.

[Taker597]

They really made a highlight video

[13 - 3]

They really made a highlight video

Lonzo for the NVP/Trubisky award.