LIVE: Pelicans at Jazz Pregame w/ HC Willie Green 12/28/2023

LIVE: Pelicans at Jazz Pregame w/ HC Willie Green 12/28/2023

Good good Utah on a three-game win streak longest in almost a year and a half when you look back at those two games in Salt Lake what can you glean from them versus what’s changed about this opponent um I mean they they’re still doing some of the same things they were

Doing and they’re doing them well they off they really good offensive rebounding team um they get up threes at a high level and you know they got guys that can score that can move without the basketball they can attack the paint they kick out for threes they they’re

Playing well Jordan Clarkson moving into a bench role what is he bringing to their reserve unit and what do you tell your bench to be ready for tonight instant offense uh it’s kind of what he’s done for the last four or five years um he comes in the game right away

And it doesn’t take him long to get it going so you know we we have to be aware of him and and have focus of where he is on the floor the gravity that he brings to that team and try to make his catches tough and and his shots tough Larry

Announced the Cheo around that he’d be playing tonight are you making that official here uh it’s already official if he said that no no it’s he’s a he’s a go and obviously we want to you know I don’t want to put information out there that um we’re we’re unsure of and so

Just kind of waiting to see medically where he was after practices and things like that so uh he’s been working his tail off and it’s good to have him back yeah he has not played since last time we were in Salt Lake what have you messed with him not being in in the

Reserve role um his presence on the floor first of all uh his ability to be vocal on defense to switch to red switch screens it gives us a different look when with him on the floor and then offensively um at the center position he makes us faster um his his ability to

Block shots protect the rim is a bit better and so he you know having Larry he completes our team and and that’s what we were missing yeah it seemed like early in the season he was just dealing with like an accumulation of injuries do do you sense that he has got enough time

Now to just let his his body heal and deal with all that stuff yeah that that definitely was was the plan to allow him to have time for his body to heal and um you know he’s put the work in um with the performance group and medical team

And so you know he was dealing with a number of issues and it was hard for him to be himself and so you know hopefully we can we can get him back in the fold and get him going with the uh starting five of of CJ herb B Zion and JV just

What are you seeing with that group things are doing well and and things they could be doing better collectively well we got to get off to better starts and and it’s something that we we’ve all talked about uh myself and that group what can we do to get off

The better starts and um you know on both ends of the floor we just we have to have a a better sense of UR urgency and um they’re they’re more than capable they know that and uh you know we believe in what our our team can do but

You know when we look at the tape we can’t be down four or five points in the first quarter and I’m calling timeouts and the same thing in the third and so that’s the that’s the challenge with that group is a sense of urgency and and

Get us off to Great starts he you guys announc today that Hulk was going down to the G League what are you just hoping to see from him during that time when he’s in Birmingham an opportunity to play um that’s the biggest thing for him it’s an

Opportunity to play uh continue to shoot the ball when when he’s open on the Move On The Catch uh he he have have an opportunity to you know work on the defensive things that you know he he knows that he can be better at but Hulk

Is a good player and um you know we we’re really high on him you think that’s the the the stuff you really want to see from him uh just uh having better awareness being more impactful on the defensive end I think it’s it’s uh a step of

Growth for him and in order to stay on the floor in any NBA game now I mean you you you got to be play both sides of the ball unless you are you know averaging 35 a game I mean it’s hard to take you off the floor when you can score like

That but for most of the guys you know having a balanced attack being solid offensively and solid on the defensive end how was your Christmas coach great fantastic what’ your family get up to um we we didn’t do much just open up some gifts and um have an opportunity to just

Hang out with each other and have some downtime I’ll be the like Grinch who goes back to basketball uh you just prepping for you the first half numbers are really Divergent from the second half numbers what’s your thought on on why that is for you guys I’m not

Sure just a answer why the first half are so good how about why are the first half so good um you know maybe we’re I really don’t have the answers to that like to be honest with you I mean it’s an area that we look at and we’re trying to

Solve together and uh you know that’s the goal for us is to continue to challenge ourselves to come out in the second half and be just as good and um you know we’ll see how it goes December’s going to turn out to be the biggest offensive month in NBA history

By a long shot and trending toward kind of some crazy numbers does it change your thought process on how you view what’s acceptable defensively what’s acceptable offensively is it changing your perspective on things right now um not really I I think just overall when we look at the NBA the

Offense is has been getting better and better the points are going up more and more I mean we look at the Golden State team I think they I mean I thought I think I saw a stat that they would they wouldn’t be top 10 in offense this year

And so you know the offense is going to continue to rise but in order to win at a high level I’ve said it before like you you got to have a balanced attack and what does that mean you know maybe you’re top 10 maybe attending both but

Teams that can defend will will will have a long run in the playoffs okay thank you

New Orleans Pelicans at Utah Jazz pregame interview with head coach Willie Green ahead of the Pelicans’ game on Thursday, Dec. 28 at 7:00 p.m. CT during the 2023-24 NBA season.
#NBA #Pelicans #neworleanspelicans

New Orleans Pelicans Roster
———————————————–
Jose Alvarado #15 Guard
Dyson Daniels #11 Guard
Jordan Hawkins #24 Guard
Brandon Ingram #14 Forward
Herbert Jones #5 Forward
Kira Lewis Jr. #13 Guard
E.J. Liddell #32 Forward
Naji Marshall #8 Forward
CJ McCollum #3 Guard
Trey Murphy III #25 Guard
Larry Nance Jr. #22 Forward
Dereon Seabron #0 Guard
Jonas Valanciunas #17 Center
Zion Williamson #1 Forward
Cody Zeller #44 Forward-Center

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