Hey y’all
I just finished this video in which I discuss the Pelicans’ lack of a point guard and how it may be limiting them from achieving what we all know they can as a team. I did a lot of research for this and I’m hoping a lot of y’all may find some of this information valuable!
Please excuse the clickbait-y title, thumbnail & intro – you know how it be on youtube
If you don’t feel like watching that’s all good too, we can still watch herb jones highlights together
by herbjonesmybeloved
4 Comments
First off, that title is not even close to the click bait seen on YT. Only one word in all caps lol. Jokes aside, I think you nailed the 2 main issues that I believe would benefit most from a true PG:
* Settling the game/team when we fall behind
* Holding leads and playing smarter in the clutch
I won’t comment on the trade ideas because there’s so many different ways to look at it. The assist % numbers are interesting. It highlights the fact that we don’t have a definitive go-to playmaker. CJ, BI, and Zion have had their moments as the playmaker, but we just rotate between the 3. We even have Herb bringing the ball up at times. You brought up an interesting point about the stars making a good decision with the ball, only to rely on a role player (if they don’t find a shot for themselves). It seems like a true PG could come in and help put our stars in position, rather than the other way around. Your effort is appreciated and your calm, reasonable approach is refreshing to see in a subreddit that can be very reactionary (myself included).
The problem I have with people saying we need a true point guard, is that if you look at both the east and west and only playoffs teams, in the east it’s the pacers and hawks who have a true point guard and in the west it’s the mavericks.
True point guards don’t exist, the only ones you could reasonably say still exist that we could somehow get would be either tyus jones, who sucks defensively and has been almost unplayable in the playoffs and Chris Paul who is a cone defensively and gets injured all the time, and neither guy you want playing a lot of minutes
The coaching staff just has to do a better job of getting guys to set good screens, multiple if needed to get the favourable matchups Bi and z should get (like what Boston did against us)
But nonetheless good video 👍🏻
The Pels have an outstanding point guard named Jose Alvarado, who keyed their playoff run two years ago, and whose injury down the stretch last year derailed their playoff hopes.
Just play him.
Nope you are listing CJ as the point guard and he is t really playing point. Zion and BI are running point. The reason a true point guard will not work is because of Zion. 2 things with Zion number one is he is at the rim scoring 4 only. He cannot defend as a small ball 5. He is also poor screen setter and a below average roll man. What this means is Zion basically has to have the ball in his hands on offense because when he doesn’t teams can sag off of him and clog the lane for any other action we want to run. The offense that works with Zion with the ball is him at the top of the key have him attack the basket and score or kick since teams just sag off of him, our center and any other weaker 3 point shooter.
Imagine at the end of the game if we had a true PG and we ran Zion PG PnR. If that PG isn’t a dead eye off the dribble 3 point shooter the action is pretty much doomed. First whomever is guarding our center is camped in the paint. No reason to guard that player. Next Zion’s defender runs drop coverage with the PG man fighting over a weak screen by Zion. What the defense is giving up is a 3 point shot or a short role jumper to Zion. Guess what he won’t shoot that shot and it is questionable if he would make it.
Now let’s look at actions without Zion. PG/C PnR. They just sag off of Zion saying go ahead and pass him the ball behind the 3 point line.
What we needed is for Zion to develop defensively as a small ball center who could hold his own hedging and in drop coverage as well as improving in rebounding. Why as a small ball 5 and that D? This is why if Zion could defend at the 5 we could run CJ, Bi, Trey, Herb with Zion. Now we run a Zion BI PnR teams can’t just ignore Herb in the corner. Herb is also an excellent cutter and can slip past his man and BI is an excellent playmaker and passer. Being so tall BI can see over defenses he can either attack the basket, mid range, or hit Zion on the short role. Zion on the short role can attack or hit Herb on a cut or Trey or CJ on the above the break 3 when defenses collapse.
Defensively if Zion can hedge and recover as a small ball 5(currently he is terrible at it) it can let Herb fight over the screen and stay with the ball handler. Zion then needs to recover and be able to grab rebounds and give some rim protection. Because he is bad we switch at the end of games. This has left him or worse CJ on an island trying to defend other teams best players.
The problem isn’t a PG it is trying to build a roster around Zion with his unique skills and offensive and defensive flaws.