LIVE: Pelicans vs. Thunder Pregame w/ HC Willie Green 1/26/2024

LIVE: Pelicans vs. Thunder Pregame w/ HC Willie Green 1/26/2024

Uh you’re a No Stranger to small Market issues and challenges you’ve also an assistant coach in larger markets the success that SGA has had Allstar last year starter this year 1113 in the vote do you think that can pave away flip the conversation a little bit for other

Small markets yeah I I believe so I mean if you look at some of the I guess smaller markets uh OKC not necessarily a big Market he’s doing fantastic uh one of the Premier players in his League you know even Milwaukee if you think about you know on a bigger scale Giannis

And what he’s done there Denver um so we’re definitely seeing some Trends and um you know that’s what it’s about it’s about these teams being able to you know covet their players and and for their players to become great and these guys are doing it so credit to them you tune

Around this morning you talked about how they’re so good in so many facets are there one or two strengths you can point to that you really have highlighted on your scouting tonight yeah for for us it’s really about taking care of the basketball offensively they do a great

Job of turning teams over and it fuels their transition opportunities um keeping them out of the paint will be major uh all of the guys on their team they look to drive kick Drive kick until they get what they want so and you know I guess the last key

Would be keep them off the free throw line uh gilges Alexander is one of the best in the league at drawing files yeah led to my question question how do you defend without fouling what’s the key there because SGA leads the league and drives to the to the

Rim just no silly fouls you know make him take tough shots and it’s Collective he’s got to see bodies from from other guys it can’t just be the the main guy guarding him you know if if he sees daylight he’s going and now it puts our

Defense in a tough spot is the second youngest team in the league in Oklahoma City is it surprising in how well they have played this year considering that their mean age it’s not for me um after playing against them last season uh you can see it coming you can

See those guys getting better and better uh Mark has done a great job Sam prey they they’ve done a fantastic job drafting their players and and their Player Development work is is paying off and um they have a style in which they play all their guys come in and they can

Contribute and there’s no there’s no surprise to me that they’re they’re as good as they are hey well do you know about Zion status for tonight um everything came back clean um you know he he he got a couple tests and he’ll go out and warm up and and that’s basically

What it comes down to he’ll go out and warm up and see how he feels so he went he went through practice and everything and took some tests and everything checked out yeah yeah he didn’t go through shoot around but he had some image and done and everything came back structurally clean

So just how much has Chad kind of changed uh what they are as a team just all the elements he adds at the center position yeah he’s uh he’s unique in the in the sense that he can pick and pop offensively he can shot fake Drive put the ball on the

Floor he can shoot threes and then defensively he does a great job of protecting the paint um which is something that they they do well he comes in and block shots uh he’s he’s having a really good uh first season Willie I think when you guys came

Came to OKC was the first week of the season and that was one of OKC’s more revelatory losses I just wonder what what stride specifically you’ve seen them take as a team since since that day confidence They’re all playing with confidence uh they have an identity like I said before gilis Alexander is

Obviously the the leader on that team in terms of his play on the floor and all the guys are just buying into their Concepts and their roles on the team and they go in every game they’re never really out of a game they’re always there and if if you’re not careful you

Think you got a 12 15 point lead here they come Willie you’re a team that really can get to the rim get layups but you’ve also shot it very well from three do you feel like the the former feeds into the ladder and and you have better shooting

Nights from behind the arc when you’re at the room more or how do those two things kind of interplay in your mind I do I I I think touching the paint putting Rim pressure allows for those easy kickouts and catching shoot threes are what we’re looking for when we have Zion

CJ uh Brandon when those guys are attacking the paint and they’re kicking out to their teammates they’re getting open looks and teams have to gravitate to to them because to your point they’re they’re all really good at getting to the basket how important is controlling the glass on both ends going to be

Tonight to kind of slow their transition game but also prevent the second chance it’s extremely important um it’s one of our Concepts that we talk about a lot you know we know our defense is solid but we can be even better when we finish possessions and we don’t give te teams

Second Chance opportunities on the flip side we want to double down on offensive rebounding so they don’t get an opportunity to get out in the open floor against us okay thank you

New Orleans Pelicans vs. Oklahoma City Thunder pregame interview with head coach Willie Green ahead of the Pelicans’ game on Friday, Jan. 26 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
E.J. Liddell #32 Forward
Naji Marshall #8 Forward
CJ McCollum #3 Guard
Trey Murphy III #25 Guard
Larry Nance Jr. #22 Forward
Jeremiah Robinson-Earl #50 Forward
Dereon Seabron #0 Guard
Jonas Valanciunas #17 Center
Zion Williamson #1 Forward
Cody Zeller #44 Forward-Center

Subscribe to the New Orleans Pelicans YT Channel: https://bit.ly/PelicansSubscribe

Latest Pelicans News and Updates: https://www.nba.com/pelicans

Latest NBA News and Updates: https://www.nba.com/

Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PelicansNBA/

Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PelicansNBA

Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pelicansnba/

Find us on Snapchat: https://www.snapchat.com/add/pelicansnba

Get the App: http://apps.yinzcam.com/nba/nop