Dejounte Murray and not Zion Williamson might be the most important player for New Orleans Pelicans

Dejounte Murray and not Zion Williamson might be the most important player for New Orleans Pelicans

based on what dejonte Murray said in his introductory press conference yesterday he might be the most important trade the Pelicans have ever made I’ll tell you why you should be excited about what he said and what he’s going to look like on this team next year in today’s episode of Locked on Pelicans let’s go you are locked on Pelicans your daily New Orleans Pelicans podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team everyday welcome to another edition of locked on Pelicans the daily podcast covering your favorite team the New Orleans Pelicans at NBA part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day available wherever you get your podcast and available on YouTube I’m your host Pelicans Insider credential member of the media Jake Madison at Nola Jake on Twitter here with y’all on this Wednesday yet just yesterday dejonte Murray was introduced at his introductory press conference and look you talk about winning a press conference Deon Murray did it in this one answering every question you might have had and there are three themes that kind of came to the Forefront in my mind when I was listening to what he was saying and the first was making his teammates better we’re going to look at how he will do that in today’s episode of lock on Pelicans him in clutch situations can he help this team in their bad clutch record last season maybe but also maybe not there’s something that’s concerning about that and I’ll tell you what it is and then just his leadership in general really comes across we’re going to break it all down in today’s episode of Locked on pelicans and of course thank you for making locked on Pelicans your first listen today and every day we’re here Monday through Friday the number one Pelicans podcast covering everything you want to know about this team so please subscribe wherever you get your podcast join over 10,000 Pelicans fans on YouTube as well today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time download the game time app create an account and use code locked on MBA for $20 off your first purchase terms apply become an everyday that means you listen Monday through Friday every single day to lockon Pelicans if you’re an everyday let me know in the comments down below we’ll also get a do some bi trade stuff throughout the show here because of the way Brandon Ingram was referenced during this press conference too I I don’t think we need to read too much into that but let’s start with dejonte Murray because this show is going to be about him you know coming away from this press conference and this sounds a little bit hyperbolic but I feel pretty comfortable saying it you know trading for him might be the biggest trade that this Pelicans team has ever made part of that is because you know and that’s above DeMarcus Cousins other moves that they’ve made too part of that is look every single year since they’ve drafted Anthony Davis has been the most pivotal year the most important off season for the Pelicans this year is kind of no no different right when you’re kind of perpetually in like win now mode it feels that way even the year they weren’t going to be competitive they needed to get that offseason right because they were trying to trade away Anthony Davis so this year is no different the most pivotal important year I think and bringing in Murray and the things that he can do for this team really I think is going to help things significantly so let’s break that down it comes into three parts and the first is this guy is going to make his teammates better just simply on the court with his passing and the assist numbers that he does you know last year in the past two years in Atlanta it was a weird 2year stretch for him he was sharing the back court with another really high usage guy in Trey young and they really just didn’t mix and so trying to kind of parse his numbers what what makes sense what’s true what’s real can be a little bit tough but he’s going to be the starting point guard for this Pelicans team simple as that right so let’s look at his time just playing point guard him basically with out Trey young and when you look at him and Trey Young on the court together they had a negative net rating for the Atlanta Hawks last year when it was just Murray on the court without Trey young the numbers were good they had a positive net rating and when you dive into it even more so things look even better with him at point guard last year Atlanta had a better offensive rating they had fewer turnovers as well then compared to those numbers the offensive rating the turnover percentage with him at the shooting guard you know last season when he played point he assisted on 36.2% of all made baskets when he was out there on the court that ranked in the 93rd percentile and if you go back another season for him playing point guard without Trey young right when he was the point guard of that Atlanta Hawks team he was the 95th percentile of assist percentage this is someone who knows how to find his open teammates now he is not what I would call like a Luca donic like passer one of those kind of elite Shifty crafty passers this is a guy that’s just willing to get downhill attack and look for opportunities to find his teammates and he should find that plenty often here in New Orleans having a guard that’s willing to drive which you hadn’t really seen in the past here in New Orleans and try and create for others is going to be a great situation CJ McCullum is going to be wide open on the perimeter catch and shoot threat he’s going to be able to knock down those shots Trey Murphy same thing um herb Jones new number two on this team is going to be doing the same thing even because when you have and Brandon Ingram if he wants to play that role because as of now he’s still on the team as of now still on the team you have in theory a lot of spot up threats because you see dejonte Murray draw two to the ball when he is the primary facilitator out there they’re worried about him driving and attacking the basket pulling up from a short mid-range opportunity even though he needs to cut some of that out you see that from him and so he draws two to the ball you still have Zion out there who’s always going to have two guys on him that means there’s going to be wide openen Shooters look when guys are that wide open and when someone else is drawing that much attention from you you don’t need the crafty wraparound behind the back passes those type of passes where you go how do that guy do that you just simply need someone to make the right passes and he is going to do that you know his final season with the San Antonio Spurs where he was second in most improved he was an All-Star that year he averaged 9.2 assists That season those are really excellent numbers 21.1 points per game 9.2 assists 8.3 rebounds that’s an assist and two rebounds away from a triple double stat line he can definitely do this and make the team better and the numbers bear it out from his time with the Atlanta Hawks when he was the point guard on the court their offensive rating just overall was better for me what I look at with this is how was it in the half court when the game slowed down a little bit this goes to clutch situations this goes to the playoffs too what was it then well good news the offensive rating was better in the half court when he was the point guard compared to when he was the off ball guard the two guard the shooting guard and then the same thing in transition and last year splitting time with a guy like Trey young who’s a point guard who has the ball in his hands you saw dejonte Murray have 11.7 average 11.7 potential assists per game now guys got to knock down the shots Atlanta wasn’t particularly good there’s also that but 11.7 potential assists per game while he was splitting point guard duties at times now he’s going to split that here a little bit but he’s going to be the primary guy you’re going to see Zion Williamson used a little bit more off ball they’re going to still give him the ball and have it be a Zion Centric offense too because in the words of Deonte Murray that is the franchise player which is a great thing more on his leadership and kind of knowing role in the third segment of today’s show but everything with looking at his numbers means he should fit in here you know he’s good at passing the ball he’s a good scorer defensively we don’t even need to spend that much time on it but he is phenomenal in transition he likes to get out and run and given that he and Herb Jones basically have led the league in steals the past three seasons this is a team that should be able to get out in transition and run and he is an absolute killer in that as well you know at the pre at the press conference was asked how about you know of Willie Green what’s it going to look like with you know Deonte Murray and Zion Williamson in the pick and rooll and you saw Willie Green be like excited about it this team doesn’t run a ton a ton of pick and roll actions I don’t know particularly why they wouldn’t necessarily trust Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson in that but now you have someone that’s totally willing to be the pick and roll ball handler for you with Zion setting screens and then rolling to the basket just imagine that kind of simplified action right it doesn’t need to be complex and then you have Trey Murphy CJ McCollum Brandon Ingram herb Jones other shoot Jordan Hawkins all those guys out there on the perimeter to knock down those wide openen looks when three four Defenders are going to be drawn to two players you’re going to see Murray really open things up for other guys on the roster I do wonder how Zion will look a little bit more off ball we saw him struggle to adjust to that last season but that’s a problem for another day and that’s for head coach Willie Green to figure out but as a passer is orchestrating the offense the numbers back up that Murray is going to make this team better and maybe that unlocks a guy like Zion a little bit more maybe it unlocks Brandon Ingram as he said playing with a point guard maybe is what he needs that’s if he’s on the team next season more on that and then clutch situations and how Murray handles those because this team was bad at that last year I don’t know if Murray’s the answer there necessarily and I’ll explain why that’s coming up here next in today’s episode of Locked on Pelicans today’s episode of lockon pelicans is brought to you by game time it’s the summer and that means it’s Major League Baseball getting out to the ballpark having a drink having some snacks hot dogs whatever it might be no better feeling than that so if you’re traveling around you want to go check out a game you got to use my go-to ticketing app and that’s game time it takes the guesswork out of buying MLB tickets you have killer last minute deals the all-in pricing being up front I love the view from your seat you never been to the ballpark before you want to know 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guaranteed and thank you for making locked on Pelicans your first listen today and every day we’re here Monday through Friday the number one Pelicans podcast covering everything you want to know about this Pelicans team so please subscribe wherever you get your podcast join over 10,000 Pelicans fans on YouTube as well and now for your second listen locked on Saints Ross Jackson breaking down everything black and gold for he’ll be out there in Irvine for training camp which is basically around the corner we’re going to start to see some positional battles is Derek Carr going to be good this year I’m getting cautiously optimistic Ross Jackson lockd on Saints part of the lockd on podcast Network your team every day make them your second listen after lockon Pelicans being your first listen and become an every day of both of the shows listen Monday through Friday so one of the reasons that the Pelicans brought in dejonte Murray and David Griffin said this at the press conference was that he’s good in clutch situations and for a team that’s struggled in clutch situations last year they need an answer to that and as a guy that can organize the offense but go and be a bucket too right he’s not just a passer in fact he’s not much of a pure point guard in my opinion I think he’s still kind of more of a combo guard but he plays the point guard position you can see it with the scoring right 22.5 points per game you’re not just a one-dimensional guy that’s orchestrating the offense you’re doing other things too his 15 drives per game is also an important thing to look at it’s more than Brandon Ingram less than Zion Williamson this is a guy that can go and be a bucket for a team that needs to learn how to win close games having someone that can just organize the offense out there on the court I think is going to be an important thing too often in clutch situations you’ve seen teams just load up on Zion Williamson not scared of anybody else not scared of brand inam not scared of CJ McCullum you know we’ll find out if they’re going to be scared of dejonte Murray but for now it does appear the Pelicans field this maybe answers some of that by giving them a guy they can go to in clutch situations so I’m going to get into the clutch numbers here because they’re honestly not as good as you might think and that is a slight bit of concern but I’ll say why I’m not actually worried about that but clutch situations the NBA defies these there’s a very specific set of criteria and it’s the final five minutes of the game and it’s the score within five points either you’re up by five or less or you’re down down by five or less so basically four you know Five Points you’re losing in the final five minutes of the game that’s a clutch situation crunch situation clutch and crunch are used interchangeably that so basically close game in the final five minutes you can leave clutch situations and go back into them and so on and so forth one of the things Deonte Murray has a ton of experience with is playing in clutch games particularly last year 42 more than half of the Atlanta Hawks games had a clutch situation clutch minutes in them so he has a ton of experience with this but the numbers don’t bear it out to being particularly great particularly this last season it gets better the further back you go with him now there’s a lot of noise in these numbers but he had when the Atlanta Hawks had when he was on the court in clutch situations last year a negative 11.4 net rating a positive net rating of six or more is kind of required to win the NBA championship now the these are limited minutes small sample size keep that in mind but ative 11.4 net rating in clutch games last year 42 of them he shot 38.8% from the field and didn’t have a good assist turnover ratio if we extrapolated his clutch minutes out to 36 minutes so the amount of starter plays per game this is what his statline would look like and it’s not the most inspiring 23.9 points on 20 3.2 shot attempts that’s not good efficiency right there and he would have had 2.5 assists and 1.8 turnovers that’s not particularly great now Atlanta wasn’t good and it takes more than just one guy to elevate a team right like that’s something that’s important to keep in mind Atlanta these past two years has not been it so I don’t know if we want to read too much into those numbers two years ago not last season the year before with Atlanta it was better if we’re looking at them per 36 minutes 25.4 points on 20.5 shot attempts a 44.6 field goal percent that’s better now his three-point shooting and clutch situations which he probably won’t need is under 33% the past two years and a negative net rating but again the Hawks haven’t been good so make of that what you will when you look at what he does though just overall and this is just his General stance you know as a score an isolation which is what a lot of fourth quarters are in close games your guys’s just going to go and get a bucket right he was the in the as a as an ISO scorer he was in the 84th percentile he was a better isolation scorer than Trey young was last year as a spot-up shooter a catch and shoot guy right 77th percentile that’s something that I think is also important to look at and he’s also willing to take pullup threes he took last season 3.3 pull-up three the difference between pull up and spot up spot up you just catch the ball and shoot right you’re spotting up get the ball go pullup is you’re dribbling you have the ball in your hand maybe you’re running the offense trying to tell this guy to screen coming off of a screen while you’re already moving with the ball in your hands then you pull up rise shoot 3.3 pullup threes per game compare that to 1.3 for Brandon Ingram he’s also willing to drive 15 drives per game Ingram was 13 last year Zion Williamson was 17 all of these numbers by the way for him are better better than Trey young so you’ve seen him be that kind of leading score for this Atlanta Hawks team particularly when Trey young was out when he kind of gets the ball in his hands and they’re going to do that here in New Orleans he can really do some special things does he struggle maybe when there’s another high usage guy and working off ball a little bit maybe but you’re also seeing him be a decent spot up guy and we’ll get more into kind of a few other things with this in the next segment I think he’s going to kind of know his role pretty well he really seemed to buy into what they’re building here in New Orleans showing leadership like that too we’ll talk about that in the next segment you know will he and bi be able to coexist I think that’s a little bit of a question him bi Zion and CJ McCollum even kind of more questions here but these are good problems to to have and it’s going to be on head coach Willie Green and their staff to show some growth and really make this all work you know a lot of people said on Twitter and and tagged me in this cuz we’ve been talking a lot about brain Ingram being traded because again I do think it’s more likely than not and it’s something that the Pelicans are actively exploring whether you want it to or not whether he gets traded or not I don’t I don’t particularly care I just want them to put the best team out there on the court if that’s with him that’s with him if it’s not it’s what it’s not I want to see this team win and be competitive and have the best roster so whether he’s traded or not to me is kind of immaterial just do the best thing let’s see what the trade return is or what that return would then lead to right there’s no way of knowing in a vacuum right now they talked about as if bi was going to be on the team David Griffin talked about it there you know Deonte Murray said that like the day of the trade before it was announced before things got finalized brain Ingram called them they grew up going to high school all-star things together aou things together they’ve known each other for a long time they talked about it so Murray talked about as if Ingram was going to be on the team and he’s looking forward to playing with him that said If you’re trying to trade a guy talking about how we’re trying to get rid of him isn’t going to help you in your leverage or anything like that so this is exactly what a team that’s trying to trade a player would say too it’s also what a team not trying to trade a player would say which ties into that first part of it right I would not read too much into them talking about kind of Brian Ingram in the present tense and the future tense and what it’ll look like with him on the team I still think they’re going to be looking to try and deal him to kind of fill this roster out a little bit more because someone that they could have maybe gone after Paul Reed was just claimed by the Detroit Pistons New Orleans didn’t really have a shot at him in this kind of situation here so as an ISO score going back to the clutch situations the clutch numbers aren’t good but on a better team with other threats given his scoring prowess at times and how efficient he can be it leads to believe that he should be good in clutch situations for New Orleans this coming year and I think that alleviates some of the concern about those really kind of roughl looking numbers and I think that has more to do with the Atlanta Hawks than it has to do with with dejonte Murray in general so I’m excited to see what he’s going to bring to this team my biggest question about well let’s get into that my biggest question is him and Zion Williamson kind of coexisting right is it going to be a Murray and Trey young situation or is there a way for these two guys to really kind of work better together I actually think it’s going to be more of the latter based off a lot of what Murray said at his introductory press conference let’s look at that coming up here next in today’s episode of Locked on Pelicans and thank you for making locked on Pelicans your first listen today and every day we’re here Monday through Friday the number one Pelicans podcast covering everything you want to know about this Pelicans team so please subscribe wherever you get your podcast join over 10,000 Pelicans fans on YouTube as well and now for your second listen the locked on sports today 24/7 streaming Channel programmed for you every day to bring you the biggest stories without all the yelling lock on sports today brings you C Miss analysis opinions and news streaming 24/7 on YouTube or the free Amazon Fire TV channels app part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day so we are talking about Deonte Murray and his introductory press conference here for the New Orleans Pelicans pretty impressive talk about winning the press conference he absolutely did and that’s why given that I think he’s going to help organize this team on offense something they’ve needed after really struggling with that that I’m optimistic that this you could say again it’s a bit hyperbolic I’ll acknowledge that it’s the most important trade they’ve ever made most you could almost argue he’s the most important player on the team not necessarily the most valuable but the most important for everything that they want to do the real question in my mind is going to be how does he fit next to Zion Williamson like clearly he and Trey young were budding heads a little bit right there was some friction there because they both wanted to kind of do the same thing how is he and Zion Williamson going to coexist because look Zion is not like a traditional big man right you don’t view him as a pick and roll finisher though maybe he could be he’s he’s an advantage Creator if you’re looking at kind of archetype for him a guy that you know Point Zion as a thing you put the ball in his hands you let him draw multiple Defenders and you let him drive and attack and when he gets to the rim and shoots 70% there it’s near Unstoppable you want Murray to fit in around him not necessarily Zion to fit with Murray does that make sense but I also think you you know so given that he had some friction with Trey young like is that a concern should we be a little bit worried there and I think the answer to that is I think it’ll be okay like I truthfully think it’s going to be okay you know when he was up there one he and Zion clearly are building some good chemistry and a good relationship Zion Williamson was at the press conference sitting in the front row watching this he was excited about this when dejon walked in Zion weon got up they hugged each other immediately they seem to be genuinely excited about playing together that’s a really good start that is a really good start to everything M Murray also talked about and even said it when referring when you when asked about Zion Williams and he said that’s our Superstar that’s our Superstar I love this this isn’t a guy that’s coming into this team and going I’m going to be the number one guy this is my team now no he knows it’s Zion Williamson’s team and it is Zion Williamson’s team and he knows it and he wants to fit in around that now it’s a press conference we got to wait to see it on the court but we’ve learned I think Murray has learned that if he wants to succeed and win play off of Zion Williamson Zion is going to have the ball in his hands plenty of times created Murray then switches into that spot up role which he’s embraced as his three-point numbers three-point attempts have gone up every single season he has been in the league 7.1 three-point attempts last season 5.2 the year before 4.3 three the year before that than 1.7 it’s gone up compare it to Brand inam where it’s gone down fit is important around your Superstar and that is Zion Williamson here if Brandon Ingram took more threes which he chose not to do last season this is an entirely different conversation but now you have someone who knows his place alongside Zion Williams in the pecking order and it seems willing to embrace that but he also we talked about him making guys on the court better in terms of their play opening shots up for those other guys this dude has like this this work ethic and all of the intangibles I think that you’re really looking for he he said everything right he said he’s going to show up to practice every single day going 110% and he believes in leading by example you know if you want others to shoot threes and to buy into what you’re doing on the team he’s got to do it first cuz how can you go to some some how can you go to someone and be like you need to defend better if you yourself aren’t defending at a high level right the herb Jones effect you get that kind of vibe coming right off of him you know he said it’s my job to hold these guys accountable more as the point guard of the team accountability is important and you can only do that if you are doing it yourself it just adds the right type of mentality to this team I won’t go the David Griffin line of like human because I don’t know him personally though he seems like a good guy but in terms of the mentality that you want on the team as a player like he checks that box big time in my opinion and that came across that this is a guy that’s going to make everyone maybe practice a little bit harder keep Zion Williamson you know doing the right things and all of that and that gets me more excited than anything else you know this team has you know really looked to kind of put those type of people around Zion Williamson a lot going back to JJ reck right the fact that he and Murray Zion and Murray have this kind of relationship that embrac the the connection they seem to be forming mean Zion’s buying in again and again even more every day and he was pretty bought in last season so I’m excited to see a better version of Zion next year like that’s going to be one of the more important things Murray’s important but if he can get the more out of Zion that makes this acquisition even better for the Pelicans let me know what you’re thinking about dejonte Murray after the introductory press conference you decided how do you think he’s going to Fair let me know in the comments Down Below in tomorrow’s show Center options we’re going to talk Walker Kesler we’re going to talk some other options too of how the Pelicans can get a starting center without giving up too much that’s going to come up in tomorrow’s episode of lockon pelicans part of the lockon podcast Network your team every day as always I’m your host Jake Madison Nola Jake on Twitter and I’ll be back with y’all tomorrow and

Dejounte Murray was officially introduced as the newest member of the New Orleans Pelicans after his trade from the Atlanta Hawks was made official. Jake has his biggest takeaways from the press conference and came away thinking that Murray is the most important player for the Pels–even over Zion Williamson. Plus, will Brandon Ingram remain on the team or be traded away. And how does Murray make the rest of the team better and in clutch situations.

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