What end season result would make you ok with keeping B.I./Z/Willie?

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nd Round extremely competitive series that goes to a game 7.

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Consistency is all I ask for, if Willie can ever get these guys to play consistent ball then we will be golden, if he can’t then we need to get someone that can.

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What end season result would make you ok with keeping B.I./Z/Willie?

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[OC] 8 blown double digit leads in only 28 games: How Willie Green is keeping the Pelicans from reaching their full potential

Original Content

The Pelicans currently have a 16-12 record on the year, which is pretty good, right? Pelicans fans shouldn't have much to be upset about.

The problem is, of those 12 losses, the Pels led by double digits in a whopping 8 of them. 66.7%! That's just absurd. This is the most in the league by any team not named the Spurs or the Pistons. Great company! A few times, whatever - but it's become too frequent to not need to be looked into deeper. And when you look deeper, you can clearly see: this is a coaching problem.

Willie Green's inability to adjust to keep big leads is not his only issue as a coach, but it is indicative of the two largest issues he has as a coach, and I'd like to use the Pels' blown leads and specifically the Grizzlies game last night to showcase these two main issues, which are:

Willie Green is a defensive-minded coach with an offensively-oriented roster

Willie Green doesn't understand the value of spacing in the modern NBA, often leaving only 1 shooter on the floor at once

It's easy to watch the Grizzlies vs Pelicans game last night, see CJ brick 2 wide open threes, and chalk it up to "oh well, the Pels blew it".

When you dig deeper, you find a different problem, though. Those 2 bad threes in the clutch last night might distract from the fact that the Pelicans are currently 30th in the league in 3PA in the clutch, with 14.9 per 100. They are WAY behind the 29th team, who is at 22.7.

Pels 3PA in the clutch the last 3 years under Willie Green:

2021-22: 26th

2022-23: 30th

2023-24: 30th

Let's look at the minutes in the Grizzlies game last night. I've broken down the lineups based on how many high volume shooters were on the floor (Trey Murphy, CJ McCollum, and Jordan Hawkins) and how many Scorers were on the floor (Zion, Brandon Ingram, Trey Murphy, CJ McCollum, Jonas Valanciunas, Jordan Hawkins). Here's the breakdown:

Scorers:

5 Scorers on the floor: 0 minutes, 0 seconds

4 Scorers on the floor: 25 minutes, 2 seconds

3 Scorers on the floor: 15 minutes, 18 seconds

2 Scorers on the floor: 7 minutes, 25 seconds

1 Scorer on the floor: 0 minutes, 15 seconds

Shooters:

3 Shooters on the floor: 0 minutes, 0 seconds

2 Shooters on the floor: 14 minutes, 25 seconds

1 Shooter on the floor: 33 minutes, 35 seconds

 

So the Pelicans spent 16% of the game with only 2 scorers on the floor and 47% of the game with 3 or less scorers on the floor.

Not as damning as the shooters stat though: the Pelicans spent 70% of the game with only 1 high-volume shooter on the floor

And honestly, when you start matching up these categories, it gets even worse:

Of the minutes the Pelicans spent with 4 scorers on the floor, only 9 minutes and 37 seconds of that time had 2 shooters on the floor.

Which means only 20% of the game did the Pelicans have 4 scorers, 2 of which were shooters, on the floor.

And of the time the Pelicans had 3 scorers on the floor, only 4 minutes 46 seconds of that had 2 shooters on the floor.

This means the Pelicans only had 3+ scorers, 2 of which are shooters on the floor for 30% of the game

When you spend 70% of the game with only three (or less) reliable scorers on the floor, and only 1 of those scorers can space the floor, you become one of the easiest to guard offenses in the NBA. Barely an NBA level offense.

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