Now that the season is over for the New Orleans Pelicans and Zion Williamson, Jake Madison says it is safe to call the season a disappointment. But it may not be for the reasons you think. Plus, Jake looks at bright spots like Brandon Ingram’s play, Trey Murphy III’s emergence, and more.
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19 Comments
What is the biggest reason you think this season was a disappointment?
our team has pretty bad balance. We have too many guys who have their own individual strengths but the only thing we need are shooting and defense. The BIGGEST HOLE we have has to be at the center position , everyone on this team is relatively poor at contesting shots in the paint and playing with Jonas/Willy just makes everyones job defending even harder. Most of our best and biggest runs happen when jonas is off the court and larry plays good interior defense. This team thrives off stops and momentum and could easily be the best defensive team with a center helping contesting shots.
Health. This is going to be the deciding year if zion can be great or will stay injury plagued
Do we need a better coach?
If we're actually gauging this disappointment from the start to end of season, this is the most disappointing season in Pelicans/Hornets history
Zion saying he’s physically healthy, seeing him do windmills before the game, and then sit on the side lines with uninterested body language as your team is playing, some players hurt at that, with the season on the line, really rubbed me the wrong way as a fan.
If we end up not trading a big this offseason because "We DOnT KnoW HoW ThIS TEaM WOUld Be If HEAlThy" im going to kms. Our paint defense is the worst in the league and with zion its not going to get better, it might even be alot worse. Please PLease i hope for a rim protector it makes our stars job easier and SAFER.
We need a score off the bench
A bright spot for me was seeing Zion and BI improve on defense this season. Which definitely will help next season. Let's hope we don't suffer a string of injuries at the start like this season.
injuries totally tank the team
If the Pelicans can move CJ & Jonas Val. They should try to move up in the draft some, go draft one of the Thompson twins, get one sharp shooter in the 2nd round & a physically opposing big who can switch out on the perimeter , the Pelicans can be a DYNASTY! Front office has to be ABLE & WILLING to make the bold moves. CJ showed us 2 years straight he’s not the guy & his salary puts a cap to our ceiling!!!
Everyone is blaming Zion again, this will be the biggest reason if Zion is no longer a NOLA next season
This season was good for trey herb and jose
This team staying pat to open the season & expecting for everything to go right was just plain dumb. Then the expected injuries occur & they do nothing to improve at the trade deadline.
This team needs more veterans both on the coaching staff & on the court. One day Gayle will spend more $ & not worry about the luxury tax.
You need 2 more rotation players with experience & shooting ability & a 5 that can protect the rim.
Billy, Jaxson, Kira, Niji, Josh, Garrett, Jonas will not be on the roster next season.
This season we had seven (7) different players score 35 points in a game. Zion, BI, CJ, Jonas, Trey, Jose and Herb! Our balance will make us a top 3 season next year, with a few tweaks to the bottom of the roster
I notice that the overwhelming majority of the fans who believed this team was a top-4 seed or 50+ win team are the fans who grossly overrate Zion & his impact on winning.
Going into this season, I thought that if this team could get 60-70 games from BI & CJ it could win between 43-47 games. It simply didn't have the shooting or the rim protection to do much more than that. We didn't get 60 games from BI & CJ played hurt for a good chunk of the season, but we still won 42 games. So, for me, this season was a success (in a manner of speaking).
That being said, this front office (whom I believe to be among the most incompetent in the league) did not add a stitch of rim protection or 3pt shooting to the roster. And I can't help but wonder how many more games we could've won had they simply done so (even with the injuries).
All in all, I would say it was a banner year for Ingram & Trey, a solid season for Herb & CJ, & a disastrous season for the front office.
Willie Green is a nice person but it seems he doesn't know how to adjust his line up. CJ is the most inconsistent player on the team. He had some issues with injuries so why was he playing so many minutes? Playing not 100% hurt the team so why didn't Willie use others ? Zion is another problem. He will continue to be a problem if the coaching staff or trainers can't insist he has to loose weight and eat the right food..
You hear it here first: This offseason the Pelicans will trade Ingram and draft picks for Damian Lillard.
No doubt health derailed high expectations. But agree, coaching failed down the stretch.