CJ McCollum on Norman Powell, Zion Williamson | Pelicans Shootaround 3/15/24

CJ McCollum on Norman Powell, Zion Williamson | Pelicans Shootaround 3/15/24

Norman pal is a guy you train with in the off season is it fun to to get to compete against him in games just what is that like yeah Norman’s a good dude I’ve known him for quite some time a really good work ethic a good human uh

Comes from a good family it’s always nice to be able to compete against him he’s having a great year probably should win six-man year um so I’m happy for him in success but against each other you know I like to try to win you know like to play well bragging rights that carry

Over to the summer but it’s always fun we were teammates in Portland and I wish him the best every night except for why is he a guy who’s just kind of gotten better you know steadily over time in the NBA he works I think uh that’s the difference between you know

Average to good good to Great is the work I think and the consistency in which you put work at I think he’s a guy who loves basketball lives the game um really really takes time to kind of figure out how to improve spend a lot of time with digs breaking down film

Working on different shots that he’s going to get in the game working on how to attack Closeouts how to draw fouls uh how to be efficient and 20 minutes 25 30 minutes how to score when you don’t you know start in games when you sit for long periods of time I think he’s

Matched with a lot of that over these last few months um have you seen Zion I guess better understand you know he needs to do XYZ in order to be the best version of himself I mean athletically he just looks incredible right now he’s been great and we’ve had a lot of

Conversations behind closed doors about what it takes to be successful um he’s been getting extra conditioning in for for months at this point I think you can see it from the explosiveness the ability to finish around the basket the pace and you know obviously Point Zion

Um is is very hard for team to deal with the strength the speed the vision um defensively you know he’s he’s been better he’s been rebounding I think all those things are a testament to him absorbing a lot of information around him and then figuring out how to best

Apply that to himself and he’s G down it’s it fun to see him like Spike shots like some of the BL shots lately it’s in it’s incredible and just the burst that he has you know when he goes from you know call it you know 0 to 60 the burst

Is crazy the Clippers have the third best offense in the league but basically 10 it’s been 10 points less against you guys are there certain things that you guys have done well defensively that against them that you want to try to carry over to tonight’s game I think

We’re just a good defensive team to be honest with you we’ve been great all year defensively especially in the half court uh we’re good in picking roles uh pretty good at protecting the rim trying to get teams off the three-point line and making them play um in the rard but

You know for us it’s about sticking to our principles every night and you know being the top five top 10 defensive team what do you draw off of the last game that you guys had if anything to take into tonight and what you guys need to

Do differently I just get off to a better start sustain a high level of of physicality throughout the game um and understand that it’s going to be another tough half court physical game where there’s a lot of switching uh Pace may not be as high because both teams play a

Little slower um against each other historically so we got to take advantage of opportunities and and uh really get back in transition thank

New Orleans Pelicans guard CJ McCollum speaks to the media following shootaround on Friday, March 15, 2024 ahead of the team’s game against the Los Angeles Clippers.

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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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