PG Pelicans: Prunty era ends with a victory

[MickeyDavis]

Lose to Cavs, 20 page game thread. Next night crush the Pelicans, 6 page game thread.

[chonestown]

It's the damndest thing

[ShootingtheJ]

Will be really interesting to see how much Doc influences personnel. People here have said that on one of his Bill Simmons pod appearances, he mentioned that Middleton can't guard anyone anymore.

Horst will show Doc the Boston game.

[RiotPunch]

Lose to Cavs, 20 page game thread. Next night crush the Pelicans, 6 page game thread.

fo·rum
noun
1.
a place, meeting, or medium where ideas and views on a particular issue can be exchanged.

Fewer issues, fewer posts.

[Milbucks96]

Mids fans are going eat you alive. Pecking should be Giannis, Dame, then Midd.

Is that not the pecking order? Khris’s usage is way lower and it’s the lowest it’s been in almost a decade. Dame is just shooting really bad this season.

No.

How? Usage rate for these guys are.
GA:33%
DL:28%
KM:24%
Idk what else the pecking order could be.

[Karsenmitsche]

Brook also looked much better on Defense. Hopefully Doc will run the defense more like Prunty does with Giannis helping protect the rim.

Pretty sure doc was referencing this in his presser. Said he showed Giannis something that he always hated coaching against that we weren’t doing this year.

[nagawicka]

Is that not the pecking order? Khris’s usage is way lower and it’s the lowest it’s been in almost a decade. Dame is just shooting really bad this season.

No.

How? Usage rate for these guys are.
GA:33%
DL:28%
KM:24%
Idk what else the pecking order could be.

Where the usage numbers stand right now means exactly zero when the principals on the floor, as pointed out on an ongoing basis by your fellow realGM posters here, refuse to adhere to the pecking order; nor, say, would usage mean anything when a first-time head coach is unsuccessful in installing said pecking order as demanded again and again by this very board.

[tedbrogen]

As one of the biggest Midds backers (Midds Maniacs?) I do think a bit of the issue is it’s kind of a waste having all of Dame/Midds/Giannis on the floor, especially at the start of the game when everyone wants to get a rhythm.

To my eyes, Dame seems to play better if he gets a few shots up and runs a few PnRs right at the start of the game. We also know based on comments from Kidd and Bud that Midds needs to get early looks and likes them to be midrange to get his rhythm. Plus Giannis isn’t great being completely off ball because he’s not attacking/pressuring the D and if he’s at the three point line, you can help off him if there are already a bunch of bodies clogging the lane.

It can be a too many cooks in the kitchen type thing.

Options:
a) do nothing and hope Doc figures out a way to make it work
b) experiment with Midds off the bench in the Manu role. Have him come in when Giannis goes out in the first quarter. As a bonus, this makes it easier to limit his minutes. It also means he spends a bit less time out there with the already slow starters.
c) trade him for someone who is a three and D guy who doesn’t need usage and just spam the Giannis/Dame two man game. Downside is if either of those two miss a playoff game(s) it’ll be Boston 2022 series all over again where you wish you had a real third offensive option. And what could they realistically get for Midds plus Por2nd/27 2nd plus anyone else besides Dame/Giannis/Brook?

[tedbrogen]

I know garbage time doesn’t count and all that but was it me or did Marjon look really good tonight? His confidence on offense seems to be off the charts right now. And he’s staying in front of people and not hacking on D. (Can someone teach Dre to not body up guys who are already in the air please? At least until he gets a more friendly whistle)

[drone3]

I know garbage time doesn’t count and all that but was it me or did Marjon look really good tonight? His confidence on offense seems to be off the charts right now. And he’s staying in front of people and not hacking on D. (Can someone teach Dre to not body up guys who are already in the air please? At least until he gets a more friendly whistle)

Griff had Marjon in the dog house... He's finally free and ready to rumble

[JayMKE]

If Lillard was able to play off Giannis like Khris we’d be a lot better off, honestly Dame might be the one more suited for the bench so he can be the man like Bobby Portis when he comes in. That’s not going to happen, Doc has to find a way to get their games complimenting each other a lot better than it has

[HKPackFan]

Good news! In the Prunty era his team never gave up 120pts! maybe we can go back to 120-104 instead of 140-124.


BTW now that life is settling down on the Bucks board, nice to the age old debate of Khris sucks vs Khris is good at basketball. I think I've been reading about this debate on here feels like for 10 years.

[HKPackFan]

nice to see AJJ back in the rotation.

[rayallenscalves]

Mids fans are going eat you alive. Pecking should be Giannis, Dame, then Midd.

My plans for Mids would be either sixth-man, spot up corner shooter (not Dame) or the guy who brings you back younger, more athletic Dejounte.

Think you have to let Dame and Giannis run the offense with the starters.

Completely agree. LET THEM COOK!

[PG Graveyard]

I know garbage time doesn’t count and all that but was it me or did Marjon look really good tonight? His confidence on offense seems to be off the charts right now. And he’s staying in front of people and not hacking on D. (Can someone teach Dre to not body up guys who are already in the air please? At least until he gets a more friendly whistle)

Marjon had a really nice game in the G league so maybe that got him going. I hope they can find more looks for him but I have a feeling that won’t be the case anymore.

This was probably the most complete game we played all year. Really nice bounce back.

[ShootingtheJ]

I know garbage time doesn’t count and all that but was it me or did Marjon look really good tonight? His confidence on offense seems to be off the charts right now. And he’s staying in front of people and not hacking on D. (Can someone teach Dre to not body up guys who are already in the air please? At least until he gets a more friendly whistle)

Griff had Marjon in the dog house... He's finally free and ready to rumble

Marjon is clearly a worker. He's constantly growing his game.

[MickeyDavis]

Read on Twitter

[German Athens]

I really liked some of the passes Dame had to Giannis tonight. There were a couple pocket passes on cuts and then that over the top pass into traffic that I loved. It reminded me of the type of pass Khris would make to Giannis.

That’s encouraging stuff.

Also, those two pocket passes were eye opening. Giannis started to drive, the defense came to him, he kicked it to Dame who then began to drive and the defense shifted to stop him which completely opened the lane for Giannis. By the time Giannis got the ball back, he was too deep for the defense to matter at all. It was easy.

[MiltownHawkeye]

I know garbage time doesn’t count and all that but was it me or did Marjon look really good tonight? His confidence on offense seems to be off the charts right now. And he’s staying in front of people and not hacking on D. (Can someone teach Dre to not body up guys who are already in the air please? At least until he gets a more friendly whistle)

Griff had Marjon in the dog house... He's finally free and ready to rumble

Marjon is clearly a worker. He's constantly growing his game.

I've been out on Marjon for awhile but at the same time realize it's unfair to fully judge his performance based on how he played under Griffin. It seems like the open 3-point shooting is there with him at least, would be huge if he can find his niche on defense and become a rotation player.

[pifhluk23]

As one of the biggest Midds backers (Midds Maniacs?) I do think a bit of the issue is it’s kind of a waste having all of Dame/Midds/Giannis on the floor, especially at the start of the game when everyone wants to get a rhythm.

To my eyes, Dame seems to play better if he gets a few shots up and runs a few PnRs right at the start of the game. We also know based on comments from Kidd and Bud that Midds needs to get early looks and likes them to be midrange to get his rhythm. Plus Giannis isn’t great being completely off ball because he’s not attacking/pressuring the D and if he’s at the three point line, you can help off him if there are already a bunch of bodies clogging the lane.

It can be a too many cooks in the kitchen type thing.

Options:
a) do nothing and hope Doc figures out a way to make it work
b) experiment with Midds off the bench in the Manu role. Have him come in when Giannis goes out in the first quarter. As a bonus, this makes it easier to limit his minutes. It also means he spends a bit less time out there with the already slow starters.
c) trade him for someone who is a three and D guy who doesn’t need usage and just spam the Giannis/Dame two man game. Downside is if either of those two miss a playoff game(s) it’ll be Boston 2022 series all over again where you wish you had a real third offensive option. And what could they realistically get for Midds plus Por2nd/27 2nd plus anyone else besides Dame/Giannis/Brook?

I like B the best, just up to whether Midds ego can do it. Agree on C that I'd much rather have Midds then a 3&D wing if Giannis or Dame gets injured. And we all know Khris is probably going to have a 30-40 point game a couple times in a deep playoff run and you aren't getting that from anyone he's traded for. Maybe you just sub him out earlier, idk I guess it doesn't really matter until we get to the end of the season but he is the clear option of the 5 to come off the bench because Brook and Beas can't create their own shots.