Willie Green on finding balance in the offense | Pelicans Practice 1/25/24

Willie Green on finding balance in the offense | Pelicans Practice 1/25/24

Just with the uh Improvement in the offense over the past couple weeks what have you kind of seen as the kind of the the steps y’all are taking on that end um it’s a number of things I think the Buy in from our players is extremely important which they’re doing uh for us

As a coaching staff making sure that we continue to evaluate where we are as a team and point out what’s what’s it what’s most important and so our guards rebounding is important so that we can get out and play a little faster our spacing our ability to attack the paint

And kick out for threes we definitely want to shoot more threes because we shoot it at at a good percentage so I think those are some of the factors that’s that’s tying into the reason that our offense is is taken off and then you know we’re healthy and uh I mean we

Asked you a little bit after the last game but like with a little time to adjust what you just think about Zion on the ball a little bit more and how those possessions went we thought we like what we saw uh we like the ball in his hands

Especially early and then as the game progresses you know he usually comes out and then the ball goes to be a bit more so we we’re still figuring out our team and and that’s something that we figured out after watching film and seeing what’s best for our group and it seems

To work so far good and go ahead I was just going to say both those guys are good with the ball in their hands like how do you just balance like we want to we want to make you know get you involved but like you know we don’t want

To just forget about you or anything like that you’re right and that’s the key is for us is trying to balance it and so we’re trying to go more Z early more bi you know after the first five minutes and um we’ll continue to look at it and

And if it works we’ll stick with it if it doesn’t we’ll continue to adjust but is one of the reasons in going more to Z with the ball in his hands because his teammates really seem to shoot the outside shot really well it is it’s putting the ball in his hands early in

The game allowing CJ her to feed off his gravity he does a great job of finding his teammates him and Brandon both do it and um you know he also gets to the bat he get to the free throw line you mentioned some areas that the team’s

Been playing well in but what other areas would you like to see them progress in still you know we we just talked about it as a group but you know we’ve had a number of uh so-called big games against some some some really good opponents that we just haven’t played

Our best basketball and we want to be better in that area we play against the the top tier teams you know we want to measure ourselves and see where we are and we we we haven’t been where we want to be so we got another good team coming

Up tomorrow night where we want to take care of of of our home floor what is it going to take against consistency um not coming into the game and and having moments where we’re not consistent for 48 minutes and it starts with our effort and not to divulge any

Kind of Secrets but how do you beat them because it looks like they’re tops and half Court offense defense and in transition both ends of the floor they really have no weaknesses seems well I don’t think that mean you said secret I don’t know if it

Is a secret to beating them I think you have to come in the game like I said with the with with the right mindset that we’re going to outwork out compete um we’re going to play together and they’ll they’ll make some runs when they do those are the moments that I talked

About before is we have to continue to trust over trust over trust in the things that we work on and and each other and we asked you after the game about the the decision to put Larry in coming out of halftime with the starting group I guess what do you kind of what

Did you kind of see after getting a chance to sit back and look at it and how that kind of worked out it’s it’s a short it’s a short template so far so we’ll continue to evaluate uh what it looks like and really for us we just want to

Continue to try to help help our our first our first unit and sometimes implementing Larry or getting guys out early will help that group and I I’ve asked you before about like your Evolution as a coach you think now in year or three you’re you’re more willing

To try unconventional stuff like that or or try some different looks that maybe you wouldn’t have been so willing to do in year one for sure I think having the luxury of having as many guys as we do that can come in and contribute gives me the opportunity to be more flexible in

Those areas but I definitely want to stay open-minded to what helps his team win games is it an art to figuring out how to get your combinations and your rotations just right when you have so much to work with I think it is it’s a

It’s a bit of feel that comes with it overc communicating with our players so they understand the why sometimes we do things and you want them to be on board so explaining the why making sure we get feedback it’s a little bit of science too and watching some of the numbers so

You you factor all of those all of that information in and it helps you make some of the decisions that you fear how often do you have to be mindful of that that that overom communicating part whether it be Larry and JV or Jose and hulke or that kind of

Stuff I’m I’m very mindful of it um I don’t think I could do it enough matter of fact there’s always improvements on my end to make sure I’m communicating with with our team our staff and figuring out what’s best for our group as we move forward and more to Will’s

Question we know yonas is one of the best Professionals in the league how did that conversation go with him was it easy because he is willing to do whatever it takes or he makes it easier because of who he is High character true professional understands the landscape

Of where our team is where he is as a player and at the end of the day he wants to win coach what do you make of what the Thunder have been able to do so far this season with how young a team they are they’ve been playing great

Um across the board defensively offensively uh they they they lead the league and I believe transition opportunities or transition points one of the top teams in deflections they keep teams out of the paint um they got big time players on their team that can they can all come in and contribute so

It’ll be a good test for us and we’re looking forward to

New Orleans Pelicans head coach Willie Green speaks to the media following practice on Thursday, January 25, 2024 at the Ochsner Sports Performance Center.

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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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