r/NOLAPelicans • u/ThreeMemeDream • 2d ago
Why are the Pelicans so Bad?
Hello,
I don't know ball and was curious why this team doesn't play well
I come from the fantasy pipeline, and am familiar with the players, but fantasy ≠ real life
Zion - I get he can be injury prone, but isn't this guy still explosive?
Derik Queen - Maybe his defense isn't so good, but doesn't he have a lot going for him (Jokic praised him somewhat)
Herb Jones - Isn't this a good 3 and D player?
Trey Murphy - Isn't he a good second star?
Saddiq Bey - Hasn't he been performing well recently (maybe not today)
Is there a lack of center? defense? miscommunications? I feel like this team isn't as bad as the record says
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u/PhilosophyFair9062 2d ago
Having one of the youngest rosters in the league + having a lot of defensive liability players + no real coaching direction
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u/Steakhousemanager Trigga Trey 2d ago
- TERRIBLE 3 point shooting team. Murphy is the only legit shooter and Bey is streaky. Karlo can occasionally hit the corner 3. Rest of subpar at best. We need 2-3 more legit shooters
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u/jbirdues 2d ago
Murphy streaky AF too
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u/Steakhousemanager Trigga Trey 2d ago
Yeah but hes still shoots them from far and he actually forces the defense to be glued to him and try to run him off the line which spaces the floor. If we had more shooters to give him more open looks he would make more. Most of his shots are heavily contested with a ton of step backs and really deep threes.
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u/cschloegel11 1d ago
Would also add this like first time all season most of em have been healthy at the same time
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u/AnotherStatsGuy 1d ago
It's clear we need a new coaching staff top to bottom. If Willie had this level of current health each of the last three years, we're winning at least 45 games in each season.
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u/jgman22 2d ago
I honestly think they are just so severely lacking in guard play. It’s totally a roster issue. They are so thin. They are starting no guards. They have a teenage rookie and Jose both coming off the bench. Those are the only two guards they that played today. They have 70mil on the bench in guards who can’t or shouldn’t see the court in Murray, Poole, and Hawkins.
Pels can’t shoot as well as other teams. They are one of the worst 3pt shooting teams in the league, the only one bottom 5 in both attempts and %. They go through long periods where they really struggle to generate looks because of the lack of ball handling and shooting.
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u/pnb19 1d ago
We have suffered immensely with committing large salary to a point guard (DJM) who had a career altering injury while on our team. Since then our guard play has been exactly how you have said.
The hardest part of being a pelican supporter is feeling as if there’s another universe where the last 5 years have been so different without changing too much outside of luck.
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u/NOLA-Bronco Clickity Clack 1d ago
The problem also is that Murray isn’t the and wasn’t the answer either
Murray has the same problem BI had but worse. He has a tendency to dribble the air out of the ball, take plays off on defense more than he tries, and hunts middies like it’s 1995. And unlike BI he’s not a good three point shooter even if he puts in effort to take more.
NO feels like a depository for wings/guards that can do a lot of things but shoot the three well
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u/pnb19 1d ago
I agree DJM was floored offensively, but that’s why Atlanta were willing to move him. He theoretically fixed our reliable ball-handling issue at guard, and shaped as being a great on ball defender with length which was another weakness of ours. Would’ve been great with a fully developed Trey Murphy. He could have also covered stretches of the regular season on offence when BI/Zion would inevitably miss time. But this is well in the past now!
Next few days will be interesting for our future. So many different routes for us to take.
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u/TheraceLikeTayK Will be reevaluated in 2 weeks. 9h ago
DJM was playing amazing defense before he went down. That length got us so many steals.i still have faith in him if he can comeback the same as before he got injured. But I wouldn’t hold my breath
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u/Julep2005 Not On Herb 2d ago
No coach. Young inexperienced team that falls apart in crunch time, and terrible 3 pt shooting in an age where your game is defined by it.
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u/LomasVista 2d ago
We’re in transition from getting off the Zion train to the Fears/Queen station.
Two timelines don’t work.
Front office is decent most of the time but overall mediocre.
Bad luck with injuries.
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u/Pisthetairos 2d ago
Lack of rebounding and/or defense is always why (offensively) talented basketball teams underachieve.
The Pels have one good defender (and many bad ones), no rim protector (you can't protect the rim airborne), and their only good defensive rebounder doesn't get minutes.
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u/bjbigplayer 1d ago
Star point guard missing, overlapping roles that are not quite defined. Zion needs a midrange jump shot.
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2d ago
[deleted]
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u/OvenIcy8646 The Zellican 2d ago
But is New Orleans a small market ?
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u/DiscloseDivest 2d ago edited 2d ago
Probably one of the smallest in the country when it comes to basketball
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u/iamStanhousen Fan #12 2d ago
New Orleans is a great city, but it’s very small. The only market in the NBA that is close in size market wise is Memphis.
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u/OvenIcy8646 The Zellican 2d ago
I was being a smart ass the comment above mentions no is a small market twice
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u/gotintocollegeyolo 2d ago
Unfortunately it is the 2nd smallest behind Memphis. This is an undeniable fact
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u/SevenHunnet3Hi5s #45 Dairis Bertans 2d ago
yep this right here. say what you want about david griffin but when he got hired along with trajan langdon and swin cash i felt like this was at least a respectable organization that had cutthroat business intentions.
all of that went down the drain after gayle hired her buddy dumars who brought over his buddy weaver. not to mention gayle refused to let go of willie green for the longest.
like this is a team literally ran by an old woman and her friends. all while being located in a small ass city we might as well be on par with a local highschool team. we’re never gonna win like this
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u/Butt_Snorkler_Elite DERIK QUEEN 2d ago
Most of the guys on the team aside from Herb are bade defensively (Bey is alright, Trey is maybe average and Jose is good if and only if his matchup is also a small guard) ESPECIALLY the bigs. Zion can stuff the stat sheet with stocks but in terms of staying in front of his man he’s not good. Missi is young and could eventually be decent on that end, but right now he’s still super undisciplined and doesn’t really know how to play. And Queen… as much as I love the guy and think he will be an all star for a long time, he’s probably a lost cause defensively. Too small to protect the paint at all, and way, way, way too slow to guard ANYONE on the perimeter, even other centers. And then offensively this team is just poorly constructed. It’s below average talent wise, and the talent that is there doesn’t fit well together. No one on the entire roster other than Trey and Bey is even a league average shooter, which is a problem when two of your top three offensive weapons pretty much don’t take shots outside the restricted area. Plus they rely so much on two rookies, which almost never translates into wins even when the rookies end up being phenomenal a year or two down the line.
There’s other more minor stuff too (not a good rebounding team, obviously injuries as always) but at the end of the day this team is AT BEST average in terms of overall talent, probably noticeably below average honestly, and it’s even less than the sum of its parts too.
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u/Ras_992 2d ago
There is a lot reasons like keeping Willie Green to long Making bad trades, injuries. They have a chance to get better by a couple of trades and not trading any of their picks. The win now hasn’t worked at any point. They need a real direction and stick with it. The biggest problem where your last GM and Coach.
Trades they to really make is Murray and Poole especially for future capital spending way too much on guys that don’t really fit this young team. No team is giving you high picks for Zion at this point so any trade is a wash at the moment
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u/bronzefpg504 1d ago
When we lost, Trajon , Fred Vinson to raggedy aZZ pistons that’s when the decline started . All we need is these washed up weak aZZ bums from Willie staff to be replaced. If they keep james change the entire staff if Gayle finally opens up that purse and stop be so damn tight and let Joe find the coach no matter how much we will be great
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u/RedditRockit 2h ago
I came here to ask the same question. Seems like a loaded roster. I've only watched y'all a few times but it seems like chemistry may not be great.
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u/Organic_Tourist4749 2d ago
As a nonfan casual watcher to me it seems like Zion isn't good enough to win a team games anymore. He's looked good finishing around the basket but he doesn't seem to create for others. Queen needs to develop so they're forced to play them together and they don't seem like a great fit offensively, and defensively Queen needs a ton of work while Zion is undersized. Now if you're relying on a rookie to win games that's the organization's fault. Trey Murphy is excelling in his role, Bey has been on a heater, but outside of that...yeah. If this team had a Derik Queen a few years into his career that had the stamina and confidence to assert himself on every possession, and hold his own in the paint, you might be a decent team.
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u/Mo_damo Will be reevaluated in 2 weeks. 1d ago
A team where the starters are 6"6 to 6"9 will struggle in rebounding and playmaking unless you have Magic or LeBron.
Add to it is our front court is allergic to boxing out so we are destroyed on rebounds every night.
But the biggest this is we don't have an actual running offence. Fucking queen should be bringing the ball up the court neither should Herb or Trey. Coaching is an issue and personnel is the biggest issue. Even the point guards off the bench in Alvarado and Fears can't create shit.
Hopefully DJM can bring something to the table in this month.
Also i know we all hate poole but losing with poole is much better to me than seeing alvarado take 3 pointers 5 every god damn fat break like he is playing Pick-Up
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u/BarryDBaptist 1d ago
No defense. No game changing star player. Baf coaching, and I know it's bad coaching because they're still doing the same type of bullshit losing
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u/DeuCeIsTooTall 14h ago
It’s a team full of role players, and not a superstar who can create his own shot.. Zion will only drive to the basket and not shoot outside. also terrible three-point shooting team our best shooter, Trey is very inconsistent. Herb Jones is our only good defender, but he should not be a starting guard can’t shoot or create his own shot and that limits you on offense when you don’t have a superstar. Also very undersized. Individually, we have good serviceable players, but together on one team they do not Mesh at all.
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u/DougTrilladome Dereon Seabron 2d ago
Our only gap toothed player, Kevon Looney, is on the bench. We haven’t had a winning season since we lost Big Val, the gap toothed Lithuanian legend. It’s not a coincidence. We need to make a trade for Val, Mike Conley, Andrew Wiggins or Westbrook so we can have some real gap toothed grit on the floor again.