CJ McCollum on Zion Williamson, Houston Rockets | New Orleans Pelicans

CJ McCollum on Zion Williamson, Houston Rockets | New Orleans Pelicans

All right so P how was the break and how much are you looking forward to the the final stretch it went too fast um it went too fast but it was good to get some time with family get some business taken care of and let the body rest a

Little bit before the ramp up and obviously we got 27 games left and looking forward to taking advantage of that what’s what’s going to be the primary focus for this team as you guys kind of prepare for that playoff run win games I guess about winning games

Figuring out ways to win games defending better and then execute um understanding that as we get closer to the playoffs the level of intensity Rises the defense is better more switching and uh it really just comes down to playing hard and executing down the stretch CJ I know

A lot was made at the beginning of the year you Brandon and Zion all sharing the floor playing together you hadn’t done that very much now that you’ve gotten a lot more games under the belt with all you three what have you kind of learned you know playing together with

You three what’s I guess the takeaways you you know been able to to the to have playing with each other on on the court I mean we we figure out how to win games when we’re healthy and even we have been healthy we figured out how to give

Ourselves a chance to be in the playoffs and um you know be be out of the playing game so I think that’s what it’s about and then as we get closer to the end it’s about finding our comfort sets our comfort actions whatever those are and

Being able to get better at them I that we can execute them down the stretch of games and find matchups and uh really just give ourselves the best chance to win I know it sounds like an obvious question but do you feel like things open up for you with them two on the

Floor the better they play the better the easier it is for me um they got to get a lot of attention um obviously he gets double lot be is getting double when he turns the back or off the off the traps pick and rolls um Step ups and

Stuff like that so that means I’m playing with a close out or with a rotation or defensive rotation so I like my chances in those situations for sure your first two years as this team obviously a a part of the playing tournament with the Pelicans um a single elimination a double elimination format

I mean there’s just an element of of chance with that are you looking at that like we got to try to avoid that just because you know I mean you want to want to be able to rest during that that time uh we haven’t been able to do that these

Last few years and and when you do play in a plan you got to go right into the playoffs with no rest so I think that makes it a little bit more difficult challenging obviously you can lose too so and your season’s over so I think for

Us it’s about taking advantage of these you know 27 games we got left wi as many as we can and just trying to control our own destiny in terms of not having to to worry about that at all that’d be good for us to be able to game plan get some

Rest and have some practices before the playoffs they have some teams below you who are very hot right now are you you standings watch at all no no I mean there so many games left I won’t start looking until it gets a little closer to the end other teams are going to win

Games you can’t really worry about that you just got to uh eat what’s in front of you you know take care of your own schedule take care of your own games wi win the games you’re supposed to win go compete in and schedule off types of

Games and and do your best why why are you shooting 42% from previous year right now your your match your career why why is it preparation reps I’m getting quality looks too I think it helps when you’re wide open a lot um as a good shooter you like to be wide open

Sometimes it allows you to really lock in focus on your form see the ball and um I think it was important empasis for me like I knew I would have to shoot more threes so I mean I would be at 45 right now if I didn’t go 1 for 11 and 1

For n finish the season before the break but I’ll get back on track and um forward to finishing the season strong strong did you did your turn back the the clock summer help at all you think like youve turned back to clock a few years well I mean just working working

Extremely hard hey don’t call I don’t even get fre McDonald’s yet no I think I always work hard I think it was just the emphasis of understanding how it’s going to be utilized I mean if you go back and look at my career I’m a career 40% three-point shooter and that’s on tough

Threes like I shoot tough threes off the dribble step backs cross overs contested fat like I shoot tough re then I get catch and shoot three too so I mean I’ve been a good shooter my whole life but like if you know you’re going to shoot 8

To 10 threes a game and you can kind of train towards that I think it makes it easier we had a long summer we lost early I got surgery I would have shot 40 last year if I didn’t tear my my my hand up and hurt my shoulder

So I should be at like 44 to be honest with you you were uh doing TV during allar you talked about accountability with this team being better uh what did it take to kind of get to that point I think time on the floor time off the

Floor um us being able to play games together and just have conversations about stuff outside of basketball I think we need to know somebody more on a personal level it’s easier to to have JJ reck on his podcast mentioned over the last nine games or so when Zion

Is initiating the action y’all are getting about 1.4 points per possession out of those kind of actions is what has that done for your spacing and why why do you think it’s been that successful well he’s really good so I think that’s part of why it’s been successful he’s

Strong he’s athletic finish ball around the basket he has a lot of gravity and he’s a willing passer you know he’ll Embrace double teams and make the right plays and uh I think JJ talked about him defensive rebounding but we’ve already you know kind of understood you know how

We can utilize him as the season progressed obviously usage is a big part of um our team and figuring out how to you know split up the usage how to make sure guys are ready for the usage and able to utilize it properly and then

Know how to make sure we can get through an entire season like it’s a long season and we can win a lot of different ways but as the season come comes closer to an end you do what you’re best at and you continue to kind of focus in on what

You’re best at what your team can be best at and one of one of our best situations is with him with the ball obviously pushing pace for spacing you know you got a 40 something per three-point shooter on one side depending on who we Sub in you got another 40% something shooter herb

Shooting 40 VI shooting more threes but it’s just a threat in general and then JV or whoever we have out there Larry shooting 40 so I think that just kind of opens things up a little bit um for everybody talk about being ready for the usage um most of the the players have

Been like right around the 30 minute Mark not playing like too many like heavy minutes do you feel like that’s an advantage going into like the back half of this the the season yeah I mean I trained to play 40 a night so I’m good with whatever it doesn’t really impact

Me I think it’s more so rotations figuring out you know uh who they want to finish games with how to do each quarter uh who to play who with but I think the important part is we want to be healthy at the right parts of the

Season and whatever we got to do to accomplish that is what we want what stands out to you about the Rockets what they were doing before they all break yeah I mean they compete um they well coached they compete they got a lot of talent Jaylen Green’s playing extremely

Well Brooks great defender uh singon is like Baby Joker farar Jr is really good they got talent Off the Bench they got the twin they got a little holiday and they got a good team they they well coached and you’re capable of beating anybody so we got to get

Ready Qui at the deadline that nothing major was done so we can exactly see how good this team is and what it can do I’m I’m just glad I didn’t have to move again um I wasn’t ready I wasn’t ready to to back up my house but in terms of

The rest of it we’re all Pros we all understand you know what goes into a season what goes into playing in the NBA and we obviously all like each other and want what’s best for each other and hopefully what’s best is us all being together and if it’s not I hope

Everybody’s great situation when that happens

New Orleans Pelicans guard CJ McCollum’s post-practice interview from Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024 ahead of tomorrow night’s game against the Houston Rockets.
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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
Matt Ryan #37 Forward
Dereon Seabron #0 Guard
Jonas Valanciunas #17 Center
Zion Williamson #1 Forward
Cody Zeller #44 Forward-Center

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