It is pretty apparent what lineup changes need to be made.

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Devonte to the bench.

Jax to start.

Trey Murphy takes Temple’s minutes.

Surely Willie can see all this right?

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Maybe?

I think?

I hope so?

Trey should allegedly have a future with this team and in the league. Naji really doesn’t.

Trey has had among the least amount of minutes for all First round picks.

When he’s played he’s been ok. He needs to play. That’s the reasoning. Not because Naji might play marginally better in the short term.

Coach played Jax and Val together with CJ and Graham so I think he's just cycling through lineups trying to see if there's any way to have CJ and Graham on the floor together

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Naji really doesn’t.

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Based off of what? Naji was genuinely good last season. At the beginning of this year, he couldn't find his shot and deservedly got benched. But he seems to have rediscovered it now, and he's a genuinely good defender.

Now that Hart is gone, I think that Naji, Herb, Jose, and JV are our only good defenders. Defense is what we need right now.

Naji shot 35% from 3 last season.

In the first 28 games that Naji played this season, he made just four 3-pt shots. That's 4-34 -- absolutely dreadful.

In the last three games, he's 4-9 from 3-pt range. If he's found his shot again, then we absolutely need his defense on the floor.

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Tony Snell is supposed to be a solid 3&D wing and he's a career 39% 3 point shooter. He'll probably end up taking the minutes we want Trey to get, but I'd be fine giving him a tryout over more Temple/Clark.

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Snell is 30 and in decline. He definitely does not have a future role in our plans. He shot 57% from 3 last season and is only shooting 32% this season.

And, like Garrett Temple, I think that he's someone who used to be a good defender who is now just too slow.

But I would like to see him in action in a Pelicans uniform before passing final judgment.

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At the beginning of this year, he couldn't find his shot and deservedly got benched

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I thought he more got benched because he was incompetent making decisions with the ball on offense. Sure he couldn’t shoot, but he also tried to be Allen Iverson every time he touched the ball.

And looking at Naji’s missed 3s (with the eye test), I think he’s much closer to 20% in reality than 4/9 in reality. His shot still looks bad and 2 or 3 of the 5 misses havent touched rim. Trey should be playing, but not necessarily for Naji. Play Trey for Temple at least

Naji is a case of the summer league harming a players development more than helping.

He thought because he could play like Magic Johnson against subpar competition in what amounts to glorified pick up games, he could do it against real NBA players and kept forcing the issue.

Not gonna lie, there have been moments in both games where that version of Naji comes back out, like when he tried to drive into defenders on the break and turned it over instead of just hitting his outlet. But he’s mostly played under control and within his role

I think that’s what we are doing here though?

Are we trying to make the playoffs or develop our young guys? You gotta start with the big picture.

And before you say both, what happens when one runs up against the other?

Because that’s where they are with Trey in their mind it seems. Naji is the better defender and currently about equal offensively. So is priority #1 winning? Or developing Trey?

I think we all know from the CJ trade that it’s winning now. So with that is going to come sacrifices to other priorities when they run up against each other. And I think that’s currently what’s happening with Trey.

That said, I think a strong case can be made that winning now should include Trey in the rotation because of the shooting potential vs guys like Temple. Who may be a great communicator, but with Jose and hopefully Graham going off the bench, you don’t need Temple

What I'd like to see:

BI-Jose
CJ-Graham/Snell
Herb-Murphy/Naji
Hayes-Clark
Val-Hayes/Billy