10. The Pelicans need Zion back, stat
The New Orleans Pelicans are 27th in points per possession since Zion Williamson suffered a hamstring injury. They’re 3-11 since Dec. 31 — fourth in the West, but only three games up on No. 13. They are in the morass.
Brandon Ingram missed all but one of those games. Any team would struggle without its two best players, but it has been striking how the entire conceit of the Pelicans collapses without Williamson blowing open holes in defenses.
The Pelicans are a paint-pounding battering ram. They don’t shoot many 3s. Defenses clog the paint against them regardless of personnel. You just don’t feel it as much with Williamson. He can dart through tight creases. If that fails, he just moves people out of the way — or watches them retreat in fear of the linebacker roaring toward them.
Without Williamson (and Ingram), every possession is a cluttered slog.
Herbert Jones Jr. is in a hellacious slump from deep. Jose Alvarado just came out of one, but he’s down to 33% after a hot start. Dyson Daniels barely looks to shoot. Defenses ignore all those guys. Without Williamson, the Pelicans are playing Larry Nance Jr. and Jaxson Hayes more at power forward. That works in doses, but it’s fragile. Nance is 11-of-28 from deep; teams don’t pay him much mind when he’s spotting up. Ditto for Hayes and Willy Hernangomez.
The main culprit in New Orleans’ cratering offense is bricky jump-shooting. There is always some bad luck baked into jump-shooting troughs, but this is something more. Worse shooters are taking harder shots. (PS: Can we please get Malik Beasley to New Orleans — or to the Memphis Grizzlies?)
At full strength, the Pelicans can compete with anyone. They are a threat to get to the conference finals or beyond. Ingram is back, and this is a major test for him. One more losing week, and New Orleans will be fighting for its life in play-in territory.
[https://www.espn.com/nba/insider/story/_/id/35535025/lakers-hachimura-big-decisions-atlanta-coby-white-transformation](https://www.espn.com/nba/insider/story/_/id/35535025/lakers-hachimura-big-decisions-atlanta-coby-white-transformation)
by eastwardpenguin
6 Comments
Welp that’ll be on Brandon to make up for all that missed time and at minimum hold the fort til Zion returns
Meh. The west being tight cuts both ways. Even if they drop “into the play in” at all star. They’ll only be a game or two out of where they are now. And I still think they’re a top 3 team in the conference
We’ll heal up and take flight post All-Star break.
I feel like Herb will bounce back this season. I refuse to believe we’ve seen him at his best.
I feel every games been close it just hasn’t bounced our way.
I mean with BI this is the same team from last year, which was a play in team not a contender.
I think the Pels need to find another scorer. That’s obvious, the defense has been pretty good recently, even star players don’t go crazy against us I mean remember when w e pretty much shut down Kyrie for three quarters against the Nets. Now who that is may change, and as well I’m aware no matter how fun this season is, our future rests on what comes of Laker Pick, that doesn’t just mean getting Wemby this draft class is loaded and there are a lot of guys the Pels can get or hell even trade for.
However in the short term this teams focus is winning this year, the west is wide open, and who knows if it will be like this again any time soon(of coarse then that would mean winning the finals, something I’m not sure we will do even with Zion against some of the eastern juggernauts). So in order to do that we need better scheming and ball placement. We had the start we did because of of and on ball movement, and great passing. As we can see this team has become complacent, to much hero ball. Drives start and end with one guy taking bad threes, or the dreaded turnover. Tempo has to increase and passing has to increase. With Zion the Pels got comfy being able to just squeeze through defenses, now we gotta go back to what we have now and that’s passing and out working the defense. Herb can remain a starter, despite what you guys think I still see him serving a purpose on this team. However I swear if I see him take a three again I’ll shit a brick. That’s Murphy’s job, and should stay that way. I think with going back to what made this team a top seed even before Zion came back is what decides our fate.
Face facts, The Pels stars cannot seem to stay on the floor. This is nothing new. Does anyone really think Zion and BI can make through 4 grueling rounds of playoffs when they can’t even make it through an entire regular season without missing long stretches of games?