My takeaway of the pelicans after first two preseason games

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Hawkins

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should be treated like a rookie and earn his role and his minutes. That sophomore season was there for him with plenty of injuries and opportunities and thats disregarding his horrendous SL performance...just soo disappointing. Hopefully this offseason he put in some work that translates.

The biggest takeaway is that Zion looks like a completely different player.

I don't really expect his scoring to change, but he's going to set career highs in steals, assists, and rebounds. He's an elite player in every way now, which is something that hasn't been true in the past.

My Takeway on Poole. He's not a PG. He's a lead guard that can do a little bit of everything but this team will need to run the offense by committee. Poole can be a little too wild if given too much free reign.

That means a combination Trey, Zion, Herb, Jose, and Fears will take turns to lessen the load on Poole. That's not a negative since we will have multiple options with ball handling, creation, and actions for each guy.

Poole has a lot of gravity and knows how to use it to his advantage with his range, handles, and shiftiness to get where he wants on the floor. His shot diet has been impressive as it's been mostly 3s and rim and nothing in between. He's also good off ball cutting to the basket.

One thing I really like about him is his ability to draw contact and get to the line. He has a really nice bag at the basket and knows how to attack angles with good body control.

His defense... Well its not good to be frank. Like CJ, he gets swallowed up on screens and doesn't have the recovery speed to make up for it. But his 1 on 1 defense has been fine. So ideally, Poole defending a non point guard would be ideal.

The best thing I've seen is his ability to handle ball pressure... These guys were trying to ball pressure him from 94 feet and he just easily got down the floor under the control and without any sweat.

The ball movement has been nice to watch. Everyone is passing, getting into their sets, running actions, and playing with good pace. I'm really loving how Poole, Trey, and Zion are playing off each other. Bey really understands his role. He played the Herb role in game 1 and picked up his offense and aggression in game 2 when Trey was out. He's really everything i want in a back up and he's very calm and under control out there.

Murray coming off bench would actually be ideal. He's a ball dominant guard who can't space that well, but he's a do it all offensive player who is solid defensively (assuming health).

Starting 5:
Poole, Jones, Murphy, Williamson, Looney - 3 ball handlers and 2 spacers.

Then your subs out:
Murray, fears, Alvarado, Hawkins for guards
Bey and Peavy as your wings
Queen, miss, and karlo as your bigs

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He's an elite player in every way now

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It's been two games against NBL competition

Let's slow our roll here.

Random Free Spin: Christian Shumate looks super athletic and at a solid 6'6" 215 has a chance to grow into the Naji Marshall role...

I really want to see these 2 lineups this year:

3pt

Poole
Bey
Trey
Karlo
Queen

All Def

Murray
Herb
Zion
Looney
Missi

I also think we need to give Shumate a two-way deal. Let one of Dickinson or Alexander go.

Oh, I don't think Hawk should be on the roster at all.

Frankly, go all in and try and get Malik Beasley on the cheap.

Jose I'm for keeping because of what he means in the locker room and the huddles. He's the heart of the team. We can agree to disagree on him.

Dickinson, fine, I hear you. Either way Shumate on a two-way as a guy that can hustle in practice...that guy makes others better. JMO