Recent offensive changes

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It started with the team’s extended practice last Wednesday after their putrid loss at home against the Lakers. In that practice session, Pels coach Willie Green implored his team to play faster and with more physicality. They needed to stop allowing other teams to dictate how they play.

...The most significant adjustment in the last two games has been a re-emphasis on making Valanciunas a prominent part of the offense on the low block. The Pelicans started Friday and Sunday’s games with plays designed to get him a touch in the post. He scored on that first play in both games and carried it over into dominant performances. On Friday, Valanciunas manhandled Houston’s frontcourt on the way to 22 points and 17 rebounds, despite only getting one shot attempt in the fourth quarter. On Sunday, the Pels made sure he was featured throughout the game as he piled up 21 points and 12 rebounds.

...The coaching staff’s other adjustment in the last two games involved using CJ McCollum more as an off-ball option and allowing other players to control the offense at the top of the key.

During some of the Pels’ struggles this season, we’ve repeatedly seen McCollum and Ingram pounding the ball at the top of the key while everyone else watches. That’s the Pels offense at its very worst. It makes the team much easier to defend. In particular, it allows opponents to more easily send multiple bodies at McCollum and Ingram when they have the ball.

In these last two games, McCollum has been hunting 3-pointers in transition more often. He’s been running off screens. He’s been moving the ball rather than trying to score on his own in 1-on-1 situations. Taking on that different focus has allowed him to be more efficient in almost everything he does. While he was only 5 of 12 from the field on Friday, he followed that up with a 26-point outing on Sunday while shooting 9 of 18 from the field. It was one of the easiest 26-point games he’s had in a Pelicans uniform.

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