Pelicans vs. Heat Pregame w/ Willie Green 2/23/2024

Pelicans vs. Heat Pregame w/ Willie Green 2/23/2024

Coach any update Bron uh he’s still not he’s still a nogo tonight um still not feeling well enough to play yeah um first time seeing Miami very skilled team very talented uh just your overall thoughts on them watching on tape because it’s you know playing them a

Little late in the year yeah I think um you’re hitting all of the bullet points you know direct there they’re a tough team uh they Pride themselves on being mentally tough and um you know they’re a good defensive team they’re playing through bam and Shooters around I think

They’ll get Butler back but um it’s going to be a really good test for us tonight yeah I’m glad you mentioned bam the very very good five but he’s also a willing passer and very underrated passer how does he different from other passing big men like a yic or a

Shenon uh he’s similar you know he’s similar in his ability to rebound the ball and initiate the break like some of those guys do you know we know joic does it sabonis does it as well and then you know he’s accustomed to getting double teamed especially on the post and he’s

Making plays out to Robinson and herro and those guys and they’re making shots you know if Z will be able to play he’ll go out and warm up and you know we’ll have a an answer for you guys shortly herb Jones when you just looked at his

Like efficiency numbers this year I mean he’s he’s like kind of flirting with 50 40 90 um what do you just think about the growth he showed on the offensive end and in the three years he spent with you well you know it’s a credit to Herb

The the thing about him the beauty and herb is that he’s the first one in the gym every day no matter you know what type of day we night we’ve had before he’s he’s there again you know working um driving to be the best version of himself that he can

Be and um we all trust him and we trust him on both ends of the floor and it’s it’s great to see his hard work pay off and he you know her play with the confidence that he’s playing with right now and we talked a good bit about Z

Last night uh but you know this season just because he’s been healthy so much this is the the most time you’ve been able just to be around him and been able to coach him I guess what if you learned as far as you know how you need to coach

Him how to use him within your offense and just how to you know get the most out of him just the way you talk to him from day to day it’s a continuous uh learning curve and um the challenge for Zion and myself is is to continue to have open communication

About what works and um areas that we see that we can improve and that’s the that’s the beauty in having you know High talented high IQ basketball players like Z is that you know he when he touches the floor you know you can put him on in almost

Any action offensively and he’s able to figure it out but um the biggest thing for him is like you said is working towards allowing him to be as healthy as he can each and every game and have a long season and uh you know it’s great

To have him on the floor at this point in the year and Willie going back to Christian’s question for a second have you ever seen somebody that’s enter the league worked so hard on their shooting like herb has first three years he’s in the gym probably every day multiple

Times yeah I’ve seen some I’ve definitely seen some guys throughout the course of my career that you know was like herb uh in terms of shooting you know I came in with Cal corver he comes to mind right away uh he was one of the first guys in the gym obviously he’s

He’s known as a shooter so he worked on it a ton uh but herb is special and his uh his mental toughness no matter what’s going on around him you know he’s he’s the same every day and uh uh it’s a joy to have an opportunity to coach him um

So Miami has swept this series I believe for the past three seasons what do you think um you guys can do to kind of um sorry if what do you think you guys can do specifically with this squad to kind of snap that streak

Um you know we we have to be the tougher team in between the lines that’s that’s the deal with them is uh they’ve been there before ton of experience they’ve won uh some big games big playoff moments we saw the run that they had last season so in order to beat teams

Like that got to execute for 48 minutes give yourself an opportunity to win and you have to be mentally tough coach from a defensive perspective looks like you guys are really playing at a high level and that’s been more of your identity this year would you say that’s that’s a fair statement something

That you’ve been for sure um from the moment that I got here collectively it’s something that we wanted to achieve as as a unit is to become a really solid defensive team we felt like if we could we could achieve those those type of goals it’s going to

Give us a chance to win big games have some big moments here and um we we like where we’re trending right now and uh we know it’s you know it’s a ton of work in front of us but a love that our guys are committed to it I was just going to

Follow up on that you have such a big strong front line with smaller quicker teams does that at times provide you know challenges for you with that bigger with that bigger front line and how do you counteract that yeah at times it does and um you know what allows our defense to

Be really good is that we can make adjustments and when we have to make those adjustments um our guys are ready to do it because we we we go over it in practice and you know as as best we can game like situations so you know if we

Have to go small and switch screens or we have to play some Zone um we try to work on those things so that when the game comes you know it’s not new to us you mentioned Jimmy Butler earlier when he’s on the court what’s the biggest

Thing that you have to watch for with him he’s a gamer um you know he can take you to the post he gets to the free throw line he’s he’s really good to defensively and you know if the game is close he he’s one of those guys that can close a game

Out coach uh again back to your defense you you you lead the league in three-o percentage defense I’m just wondering what are the elements that have gone into your successful defense of the three uh it’s pretty simple um as best we can try to stop teams from

Getting into the paint early and contest all shots high high contest rates and you know try to finish possessions don’t allow teams to get second opportunities because when they do that’s some of the best times to offensive rebound and swing it out to to the three-point line

So we watch it on film we work on it and um as I mentioned before it’s great to have guys that are committed to it and we got to go do it tonight

New Orleans Pelicans vs. Miami Heat pregame interview with head coach Willie Green ahead of the Pelicans’ game on Friday, Feb. 23 at 7 p.m. CT during the 2023-24 NBA season.
#NBA #Pelicans #NewOrleansPelicans
Latest NBA News & Pelicans News @ https://www.pelicans.com

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

Subscribe to the New Orleans Pelicans YT Channel: https://bit.ly/PelicansSubscribe
Add the Pelicans Schedule to your Calendar: https://calendar.pelicans.com/
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