I'm so confused. Most in here claim that the Pelicans have had a less than awe-inspiring off-season and then turn around and suggest that we end up winning 50+ this year? Interesting!!
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I'm so confused. Most in here claim that the Pelicans have had a less than awe-inspiring off-season and then turn around and suggest that we end up winning 50+ this year? Interesting!!
Last year I had visions of the gritty hard playing Bledsoe, the lights out 3pt shooting of JJ, and a healthy Adams dancing in my head only to watch it all fall apart. I'm praying that none of our new players to the team realize they just don't care anymore, that none will fall so hard to Father Time and that health will be kind to us.
My Commandments for this season:
I. Thou shalt not, yet again, overestimate the Pelicans' collective talent.
II. Remember to disregard the first 3-5 games, for they speak false truths.
III. Believe in a bad season, and hope to be proven wrong, rather than be hurt by another season of despair.
IV. Thou shalt not pay attention to the media re: Zion.
V. Thou shalt not listen to local bloggers bearing false witness that all is fine and the coaches are good, when all shows otherwise.
VI. Thou shalt not overvalue the Pelicans' young players and role players.
VII. Honor thy Announcer, Joel Myers.
VIII. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's Conference.
IX. Thou shalt not yearn for an end-of-season miracle run to make the play-in tournament.
X. Thou shalt not let crushed optimism be reinvigorated by talks of the draft and free agency.
Last edited by b_l_p; 09-21-2021 at 01:30 AM.
JJ Redick has officially retired.
After 15 seasons in the NBA, JJ Redick announced his retirement this morning.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) September 21, 2021
Yeah, it's real weird.
My personal take: we improved on a number of fronts, and combining that with internal growth should see us be a clearly better team than last year. The odds of us blowing quite so many huge late leads is also improbable and we will probably be slightly better in those cases than last year - partly because we've upgraded at some positions (see, Jonas being able to shoot FTs) but also again, just internal growth.
That correlates to us improving by a fair but not incredible amount. That's why I stick by my prediction that we'll win somewhere in the region of 43 games, with 48 ish being the very top end of our season if we get lucky in close games and 50/50 scenarios. By win percentage, we were on pace to be a 35 win team last year (of course, the season ended early so we didn't pick up those extra few wins) - I think improving from 35 to 43 is a realistic but clear improvement, without setting ourselves up for disappointment when we aren't suddenly the 2 seed.
Basketball.
I got us at 40 wins. And being in no man's land lottery pick again. Don't trust us to be healthy.
Just not super high on NAW being a legitimate starter and will have growing pains. Probably miss 20 games.
The season really rides on Zion, Ingram, and Jonas. Zion and Ingram gotta get their defense up to win games.
I think if we wanna break 0.500. NAW, and Hayes gotta have a break out seasons. TM3 keeps shocking the world and be a ROTY candidate.
That?s a lot of wishful thinking. Really too much.
If we break the 40 mark, that is because we got better defensively (and at finishing the tail end of games). I do think Willy gets more effort out of these guys than Stan which makes half the difference. We just lacked it last season and let teams steamroll us at will.
I would be very disappointed if we didn't come out a bit north of 40 wins....to me, that would mean that several of the more important players performed to a lesser degree than they should have....of course, if things go in the other direction, the win total increases accordingly.... and then there is defense....
"we might make dollars, but we don't necessarily make sense"
"always be sincere....whether you mean it or not"
I'll go with 44 wins for 7th seed and we win the play-in tourney. Have ourselves a little pyrrhic victory as we win a couple of games against some juggernaut of a team but ultimately can't overcome the bad calls....going into the offseason with most of us feeling excited and the usuals being bearish.
And great job on the commandment post b_l_p!
Last edited by msusousaphone; 09-22-2021 at 02:30 PM.
BI, Zion, and CJ had a net rating of +3 when on the court together. BI and Zion had a +13.4, BI and CJ had a +13.2, Zion and CJ was just +5.4.
BI and Zion worked. BI and CJ worked. It was CJ and Zion and all three together that didn't work.
I love how everyone just passed over the JJ Redick post. LOL.
Felt more to me like he retired last season.
From what I've heard only today in national media...the Pelicans (and Timberwolves) are a franchise in "disarray" and downgraded their roster this offseason.
One positive about being a Pels fan is that there has barely been a quiet moment over the past 10 years with the ball club.
Most of it has not been overly positive, but it's NEVER been boring
I can't imaging what it would like to be an Indiana or Charlotte fan, tbh
Before i jumped on the pels bandwagon i was a kings fan since the late 90's and somewhat still follow them till now but not as invested as i used to be... they probably have it worst in any way possible..sucks cause they probably have one of the best fans in the nba but have the worst owners and management.
The only reason they are talking about the pels is because we have zion who they want out in new orleans...we still have good pieces to turn things around so im not as worried with our situation compared to that of the kings.
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