Jason Kidd, Luka Doncic, Jayson Tatum are teaching New Orleans Pelicans lessons in NBA Finals

Jason Kidd, Luka Doncic, Jayson Tatum are teaching New Orleans Pelicans lessons in NBA Finals

what can Willie Green learn from Jason kid how do the Celtics and Mavs change how we view team building the NBA finals start this week and they big lessons to learn it’s the Tuesday 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 in 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 Nola Jake on Twitter here with y’all on this Tuesday the NBA finals start this week so let’s take a look at the Celtics the Mavericks their head coaches their players what lessons can we learn from this that apply to the New Orleans Pelicans cuz there’s a lot right betting on talent and trying to acquire good talent for your team is a big one that’s why the Mavs are here you also need growth from your head coaches I’ll talk about how Jason kid has grown some of the traits that Willie Green has that he and then other traits that he needs to go and get and we’ll kind of look at the role players too because the Celtics are an interesting study in that so please subscribe wherever you get your podcast and available on YouTube as well where there’s over 10,000 Pelicans fans and become an every dare listen Monday through Friday to lock on pelicans and if you are an every dare let me know in the comments down below so let’s start with Talent you know the Pelicans are looking at shaking up their roster potentially potentially breaking up the parrying of Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson is that the right move is it not one of the things that I’ve looked at when you’re looking at a Brandon Ingram trade and we’re going to talk more about the Sacramento Kings on Thursday day but I was just on the lock on Kings podcast on Monday and we talked about how I don’t see the Pelicans making a trade there is a bit of a spoiler alert if you’re not going to get dear and fox back in a deal because I don’t think the Pelicans are that interested in trading brain Ingram I don’t want to say for parts but for for role players not for topend talent so Harrison Barnes and Kevin herder as kind of like the core package of a trade if that’s what you’re going to get just keep Bray and Ingram but if you can go out and get star Talent Star level players that I think is worth doing and that’s when you look to the Atlanta Hawks for Deonte Murray for Trey young that’s when you look to the Cleveland Cavaliers Garland kind of Donovan Mitchell for certain that’s the type of stuff that you need to win at an NBA level and you look at the um Dallas Mavericks and they’re there because of Luca donic but also because of Kyrie Irving a guy that they took a big risk on and Tra traded for and it worked out really really well for them and now they’re in the finals here you know at the time back in February of 2023 that was a real risky move the value was at kind of an all-time low for Kyrie irvan after his stint with the Brooklyn Nets that just did not go well whatsoever didn’t really play there was just a lot of issues about personality fit is he a good teammate all of those things and Dallas is like look we got to get topend talent in here we’re going to try and make a move for him and they did and look at how it’s paying just phenomenal dividends for them right now in the NBA Finals there’s parallels here the Dallas Mavericks have taken risks just straight up risks to assemble the team that they have and get where they are the Pelicans have been a little bit risk ADV verse the past couple of years there was risk at times in trading for CJ McCullum certainly but not as big as the Dallas Mavericks but when you look at it this off season there’s some risk players out there could you trade for Donovan Mitchell no not knowing if he’d sign an extension with you and you could potentially lose him in a year that’s a risk would it be worth it quite possibly Trey young has a lot of some of the same questions around him as Kyrie Irving is he a good teammate right committed to defense maybe talented offensive player yes but you know is he a ball hog does he need the ball in his hands all of those things are kind of big question marks but look for a small Market team that wants to just win you know it maybe it depends on what you want to do you just want to get into the playoffs every year get some playoff gate revenue from the arena and go home you can do that but if you want to try and win an NBA title particularly in the Western Conference where all these teams are good or only going to try and be getting better you need to be more aggressive potentially you have to risk take those risks right and that might mean getting fired you know the people making these decisions if it doesn’t work out you lose your job that’s not an ideal thing but if you want to win an NBA title there is risk involved and you’ve just got to kind of go for it and it feels like if the Pelicans were going to do that this off season is it and so the reason I say this is if you want to make remake your roster in a significant way Trey Young’s the biggest name you could probably put I’m going to say Donovan Mitchell ends up resigning with the Cavaliers and isn’t going to get moved but Trey young if you could pry him away from the Atlanta honks in a brain and Ingram deal that feels like the type of thing that you should try and do or need to do and maybe if the Dallas Mavericks make you know win the finals or even then just making the finals maybe gives more Credence to a move like that maybe you look at that and go yes that’s a blueprint here and look at the success that they’ve had because of it it was a risk we weren’t sure and then that team tanked tanked last year too got the other player they needed more on role players in the third segment here and actually kind of with when it comes to Derrick Livy II in the second segment here too you know you you need to kind of take those risks and I think it’s time for the Pelicans to try and do it does it blow up and not work yeah possibly it didn’t look good for the Mavericks last year you know Kyrie kind of shut down during the stretch run there they lost games on purpose shut Luca down tried to kind of just keep their pick draft someone and then kind of come back strong this year and it worked and it turns out that you didn’t need a ton of those games last year between Kyrie and Luca to like build the chemistry and those things they were also injured to start the year they didn’t really play in the preseason as much as you would have liked just get topend talent and over time it will figure itself out and I definitely think there’s a lesson there for the Pelicans to look at you know you’ve seen that maybe Ingram and Zion witon don’t exactly work more on that in the third segment here and get a guy that’s gonna fit just get a guy that’s gonna fit or that’s going to be a top end talent that can help carry you Trey young to me is that guy I think Murray can be a good fit with that too but to me it’s really really all about Trey young and that’s kind of my number one guy we’ll eventually have a show it’ll probably be on Friday kind of the idealized at least my version Pelicans off season we’ll get into that in the Friday episode of lock on pelicans and I think it’s going to be that’s going to be a real fun show and I’m excited for that so that’s going to be a fun one but you’ve got to take risks the Mavericks did and now they’re in the NBA finals and even if they don’t win that’s a good season that’s a very very good season another reason they’ve had a very good season is you’ve seen a lot of coaching growth from Jason kit Willie Green has a lot of traits that Jason kid has let’s look at that and see what he needs to add and how Jason kid has grown because he was a failure earlier on and he was on the hot seat going into this year let’s take a look at what Willie Green can learn from Jason kid that’s coming up here next in today’s episode of Locked on Pelicans today’s episode of lockdown Pelicans is brought to you by FanDuel America’s number one sports book it’s winner take all time in the NBA and NHL and fanduel’s giving you a shot to bring home a big win of your own right now new customers get $150 in bonus Bets with any winning $5 bet that’s 150 bucks to bet on spreads money lines player props and more it’s the NBA Finals the pelons aren’t in it unfortunately but you want to make the game more interesting tell me what you think about the minus 5 and a half line for the Boston Celtics they’re five and a half Point favorites is Dallas going to win this game outright are they going to keep it closer than five and a half points this is a chance for you to use your sports knowledge go make the games a little bit more interesting so visit fanduel.com lockon and make every playoff shot count FanDuel America’s number one sports book and again that’s 150 bucks in bonus Bets with any winning $5 bet FanDuel the official Sportsbook of locked on and thank you for making locked on Pelicans your first listen today and every day we are 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 we are also available on YouTube as well where there’s over 10,000 Pelicans fans and tell a friend about the show we’re covering the draft trade talk free agency lessons to be learned not just yelling things like that on the show just giving you the Sports Talk Pelicans talk that you want so subscribe wherever you get your podcast for your second listen go check out Ross Jackson host of the locked on Saints podcast he and I were planning out a bunch of show over the weekend actually there’ll be some crossovers over this uh this summer and everything it’s going to be a lot of fun get up to date on all the OTAs and everything you need to know about the black and gold locked on Saints host Ross Jackson so let’s switch gears to coaching Willie Green is not I’ve said this a long time there you know if you’re an everyday or a longtime listener you know what this this little Spiel is five coaches make a difference five coaches hurt you and then there’s 20 coaches in the middle that are just like blah whatever willig Green’s in that middle part right I don’t think they actively harm or hurt you over the when you look at it over the course of the season they might make a decision in a game that costs you the win but they’re also doing things that elevate the team a little bit too look at Jason kid you know this is his third time being a head coach head coach of the Brooklyn Nets and it was a disaster head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks was fired midseason now he comes to the Dallas Mavericks makes a Conference Finals his first year they tank last year but he was on the hot seat going into this season and he delivered here I wouldn’t put him as one of the top five coaches in the league but I think when you look at that kind of middle 20 guys he’s in that top five to 10 of those so he’s a top 15 coach in the league probably between 15 and like six somewhere in that range not a bad spot to be in and when you have star Talent top level Talent like we just talked about that can get you pretty far and it has here but you look at some of the things he’s done wrong early on in his career and you see some parallels with Willie Green here you know with his struggles with the Nets with the bucks right part of it was just stubbornness a seemingly lack of like tactical adjustments and things like that relying on older players too all things that we’ve kind of talked about with Willie Green but so you know coaches improve just like players do and sometimes it’s not always that like linear progression that you would like sometimes it just takes a little bit to figure it out you know if you think Jason kid is one of the top coaches in the league he hasn’t always been that way but now he’s finally in a position where maybe he’s learned from some of these mistakes he’s adapted he’s grown he’s adjusted and he’s doing a really good job like when you look at his coaching in the playoffs some of the minute details just winning all of his challenges pretty much being really good about that you’re also seeing him find ways to kind of sneak extra rest for Kyrie Irving for Jason kid through Str for LCA donic and and Kyrie Irving through strategic use of timeouts and things like that that’s all really great and Willie Green needs to learn from some of that should be watching this and kind of seeing what Jason kid is doing what he’s challenging where is he kind of how is he kind of thinking and if Willie Green can do that and can adopt some of these things he can be better this team won 49 games 49 games and like early on with the Mavs it does feel like the Pelicans with Willie Green they were kind of winning with like the talent almost in spite of their head coach at times though I don’t think that’s fully the case with the Pelicans but was the head coach doing a ton to truly truly Elevate them Jason kid earlier on with the Mavericks even early on this season with the Mavericks was not and maybe that was some experimenting some trying some different things out but in the playoffs he’s kind of been locked in and that’s what we’re hoping to see from Willie Green this season and look Jason kid has proven that it can happen you know now they definitely have more of an identity and it’s not just okay I’m going to give the ball to Luca jic luuka go and win us the game it’s what it feels like at times here in New Orleans hey Zion just go do your Zion thing there’s a much more cohesive team could I couldn’t tell you what their offensive identity is you kind of see what they do but would you call that an offensive identity I’m not really sure I think kind of looking at that is a little bit overrated at times I think you just have good players and you’re you’re deploying them well that’s not necessarily an identity but they are doing a significantly better job or D Dallas and their coaching staff is than they were before and that’s just growth you know one of the things when it comes to Jason kid that I think is is stunning a little bit this year is how much trust there’s been in a guy like Dereck Lively II they essentially tanked to get him got the exact type of player that they needed and he has done a very very good job he’s a rookie rookie out of Duke and played a significant role this season he started 42 games played in 55 in the regular season playing almost 24 minutes per game as a rookie and when you look at him in the postseason he’s coming off the bench they’re starting Daniel Gafford but gafford’s plus minus has been bad and I don’t think you’ll really see him play nearly as much as Lively the second will in this series for a head coach in kind of a make or break year you know he got in his extension after the second round of the playoffs or after the first round of the playoffs whenever it was so he was still a little bit at risk and needed to prove it and than he did you know to trust a rookie you get where I’m going with this right that’s a pretty impressive thing and that’s something that Willie Green is going to need to do next season he’s going to need to trust these younger players a little bit more than he has you’re going to probably have to play Jordan Hawkins more than the 17.3 minutes per game right it’s almost eight minutes s minutes uh less fewer whatever it is than Derek Lively and Hawkins was probably pretty needed at times though again I don’t think he’s as good or as impactful as Lively was partially because Lively was at like more of a position of need and kind of gaping whole opportunity for the Dallas Mavericks but this goes back to time of Trey Murphy and when you look at the Pelicans with a 21st overall pick and they’re likely going to draft a big man there more on that on Friday you’re going to need to play that big man doesn’t matter you’re just going to need to play him it’s as simple as that so trusting that trusting that your front office gives you the players is important you know Jason kid talked about that you know recently during the postseason saying like we had a plan here we were you know on the same page David Griffin would probably use the word lock step with something like this the front office knew what Jason kid needed and they went out and got it in Derrik Lively in Daniel Gafford in PJ Washington they added those pieces and that was really important if Willie Green needs another type of player the front office needs to work with him to make sure they’re getting those type of guys or just telling him what to do either one but no matter what there’s going to be baring it being included in a Brandon Ingram deal probably a rookie Big Man on this team next year feel safe to say that right now you’re going to need to play him there’s no starting center right now your Center is lar n Jr that’s it you need to know that you’re going to play this guy and make sure that the front office gets the right one and then when they do you’ve got to play them Jordan Hawkins is the right piece to add to this team you know I said at draft night that might be the best fit and it’s true I stand by that even if he wasn’t going to be the best player he was going to be the best fit for what his skill set was putting it around Zion around Brandon Ingram you got to play him though and that was the issue so watching Jason kid grow is important one of the things Jason kid did early on in his career that I think was what what you see Willie Green doing is getting these role players to buy in that’s not always the easiest thing to do you see the role players b very much into what they role what their job is and just understanding their place within the team on the Dallas Mavericks I actually think you get a lot of that here in New Orleans you know this whole team fights hard look at guys like Naji Marshall Jose Alvarado right Trey Murphy Off the Bench kind of knowing his role even larance Jr knowing his role Off the Bench all of those guys go out and hustle and play hard for the head coach that’s not always the easiest thing to do so to be able to kind of get the buy and particularly on the defensive side of the ball with that a lot of that I think is Herb Jones but Willie Green getting Zion to buy in a little bit more defensively even though Zion’s publicly giv the credit to Herb Jones you know getting Brandon Ingram to buy in more defensively than he ever has been before that’s all that’s all good it’s time to just kind of grow and adapt and like level up in a sense as a head coach and if Willie Green can do that the pieces are here for this team to be significantly better next year and that can definitely start with the head coach watching you know Jason kid kind of understand this roster fully have full faith in all of the guys which Willie Green doesn’t on this team knowing exactly who to put in knowing when to challenge plays knowing how to get extra rest for his guys that’s all been pretty impressive those are things that will green and the coaching staff should be watching and I think there’s an opportunity for them to grow and improve but the Mavericks being in the finals because of Jason kid’s growth as a head coach shows that there’s hope hope at least potential for Willie Green to do the same but you also need the right role players around and that’s where we’re going to turn to the Boston Celtics because there were a lot of cries to blow up that team but they saw what they had in Jason Tatum Jaylen Brown and it was other tweaks that made the difference let’s look at that and how the Pelicans could you know approach the offseason with that in mind that’s coming up here next in today’s episode of lockon pelicans today’s episode of locked on Pelicans is brought to you by our sponsor better help look we all carry around different stressors big or small and when we keep them bottled up it can just it can just start to affect us negatively so therapy is a safe space to get things off your chest and to figure out how to work through whatever is weighing you down life doesn’t come with an instruction manual maybe you’re dealing with the you know the death of a loved one or a tough time at work or your something’s wrong in your relationship how you get through that is going to be different for everybody and you don’t always know the path forward and that’s where therapy can help getting a third-party neutral Observer of your life in there to give you that kind of advice and help you work through things can make your life better so if you’re stting thinking of starting therapy give better help a try it’s entirely online designed to be convenient flexible and suited to your schedule just fill out a brief questionnaire to get match with a licensed therapist you can switch therapists at any time for no additional charge either so get it off your chest with better help visit better help / lockon NBA to get 10% off your first month that’s betterhelp hp.com lockon NBA it’s going to get you 10% off your first month and thank you for making locked on Pelicans your first listen today and every day we are 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 tell a friend about the show make them be coming everyday which means you listen Monday through Friday do you see the parallels between Jason kid and Willie Green do you think there’s another end Coach that Willie Green reminds you of or in your opinion is Willie Green just the worst where do where do you rank him just in the league one through 30 put a number on him where would you rank Willie Green as a head coach I’m kind of curious about that now so let’s we we’ve talked about the Mavericks a lot because I think they’re kind of the team closest to the Pelicans right you know they they kind of broke up their team went through a slight little mini retool in the middle of the last season bringing in Kyrie Irving kind of built around their main guy in Luca donic their head coach grew there’s a lot of parallels there and then we get to the Boston Celtics different you know and this is an approach that the Pelicans could emulate as well this team has been so close for so long and not gotten over the hump at all and because of their costs because of how expensive that team is they’re going to be pushing the sunken apron we talked about that in a show the other day if you’re an every day why that’s bad you know there have been a lot of calls to trade one of Jason Tatum Jaylen Brown and to break those guys up you have those two together and you haven’t been able to get over the hump you lost in the finals before you’ve made the Conference Finals a lot a lot of success but no ultimate Championship that’s why there’s a lot for both those guys in terms of their legacies at stake there’s a whole lot just in terms of legacies at stake in this series no matter what but particularly for them I think they they lose this they no one’s going to believe they’re going to get over the hump and that’s because the role players around them are real real good really really good when you look at Boston and see how deep they are and the level of players they have around them the quality of players they have around them it is just flat out impressive how much talent is on that team and there’s a reason why they won the West the Eastern Conference by 14 games they won 64 games the number two seed the New York Knicks won 50 pcons won 49 by comparison the top seed in the west won 57 games it’s still seven games above them that’s how dominant Boston was this season they clinched their playoff spot they clinched the number one seed before anyone had officially clinched a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference maybe even the entire NBA actually there’s a lot of Talent there so one Boston has been aggressive trading future first round picks and things like that to go and get said Talent right trading for Drew holiday trading for Chris STS porzingis you know bringing Al Horford back trading for Derek white who ended up being an amazing acquisition for them this season they’ve been aggressive with the right role players but they easily could have split up Jaylen Brown and Jason Tatum and traded one of those guys and tried something different but they believed in that pairing together and then they went out just put better role players around them there is some similarities to the Pelicans here with that if you believe in that pairing of Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson don’t trade them and instead kind of go in a way that Dave Griffin hinted at in his end of season media availability wondering if they just haven’t put the right players around them if Tatum and brown win the title this year a lot of it’s going to be well you had to get them the right role players it’s the case for any stars right it’s going to be how much talent around them does it take for them to win a title because they’re not good enough by themselves or something like that and sure I get it but at the same point no you all need every team needs talented role players to really help them out and to try and kind of accomplish the ultimate goal which is to win an NBA title so if you are the Pelicans and you go we haven’t had the right center we haven’t had enough shooting even though they have and they don’t play it right you go and get those guys and then see don’t trade Brian Ingram for parts more on when we talk about the Sacramento Kings potential deal on Thursday’s trade Target Thursday show here on lockon Pelicans part of the lockon podcast Network your team every day that’s what Boston’s doing they said no we’re not going to do a massive shakeup we’ll bring in we you know we’ll send out kind of a fan favorite guy team favorite guy in Marcus Smart we’ll bring in Drew holiday okay we’ll bring in bring in christs porzingis who we think is going to be a better big man better suited to the style of play that we want they’ve been proven correct by all of that we’ll see if they can ultimately win the finals from it but they’ve done a very good job of adding what they needed to add it feels like so the Pelicans could look at that too if if you believe that it’s more the role players around Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson than the pairing of Brandon Ingram and Zan Williamson themselves Tatum is a two-way guy Jaylen Brown is a two-way guy they can both shoot threes they can both score they can both dish assists defense the rebounding for those guys is pretty decent as well if you think you have the the right perryan and Zion Williamson and brandan Ingram keep them and work on the role players and see if that elevates you kind of to what the Bots and Celtics did because look if the Celtics traded and we have hindsight in this but if they traded one of those two guys would they be here would they have won 64 games 14 games ahead of the number two seed in the Eastern Conference prob like probably not also helps they have a very good head coach too has a lot of like basketball IQ and like tactical Acumen so if you don’t get the right deal for bran Ingram don’t don’t just trade him for scraps 30 cents on the dollar then focus on really imp a really impactful Center that maybe you’re not going to get otherwise go after a Miles Turner then someone like that make them an offer they can’t refuse when it comes to the draft picks and things that you have that’s maybe the direction the Pelicans could go the Celtics are kind of an example of that the Dallas Mavericks are example of it on the other side of things and we get to see them play in the playoffs and maybe see which one comes out on top which makes this series for me a really interesting thing to watch do you have a a of the two teams the Mavs the Celtics one let me know your your predictions here but also do you have a a fa a preferred team building way look at the way they did things differently you know which direction do you think the Pelicans should go do you think you have a preference for one team building strategy over the other I’m kind of curious let me know in the comments down below so coming up tomorrow we’re going to look at kind of the history of the 17th pick and a couple picks around there too how often do those guys turn into star players starter players MVP level players what are the chances of the Pelin drafting an impactful player there essentially I’ll tell you what that is in tomorrow’s episode of lock on Pelicans that’s going to do it for this episode of Locked on Pelicans as always I’m your host Jake Madison Nola Jake on Twitter this is the lockon Pelicans podcast part of the lockon podcast Network your team every day and I’ll see you all tomorrow

The NBA Finals start this week between Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks and Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics. Jake Madison says there are a lot of lessons for the New Orleans Pelicans to learn from. Starting with the need to acquire top end talent. Could Trae Young have the same effect with Zion Williamson as Kyrie Irving does with the Mavs? Are there similarities between Jason Kidd and Willie Green? Plus, role players for the Pels are more important than you might think.

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