re: Zion's defense

thank you, people so quick to blame everything on zion

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thank you, people so quick to blame everything on zion

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When you're a max player, yeah, you're going to get looked at to blame when we lose. I'm not going to blame a 20 year old 2nd year player to blame why we lost to the fricking Jazz yet again.

WHen i turned the game on in the 2nd quarter, the first two possessions i saw were awesome defensive possessions from Zion. He was engaged, helping, and moving to recover to his man. The defense he played in the 4th quarter was pathetic, although i will give him credit for going after several rebounds.

We shoudn't have been in the position to have to come back and win it at the end, but that's where we were, and you always look at how the game was closed.
I have no idea why Zion didn't take it to the rim when all he had back was Collins on that 2nd to last possession. It was a rare chance at being able to attack the rim without Kessler down there.
The last possession from Zion was pathetic. Giving the ball up so easily is not what i want him to do. Either force it to the rim, or patiently back it out and let someone come screen for you and attack again. Jumping in the air like a 15 year old with no idea where to go with the ball was silly.

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Zion's defense was not significantly different than the previous 4 games that you continue to bring up

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Stop



He may have given more half hearted closeouts last night than the 4 previous games combined. If not, pretty darn close.

I just don't know what you're watching if you're arguing his effort last night was anywhere near the previous 4 games.

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The difference was that our perimeter defense was significantly worse last night.

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Correct, led by Zion.

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Another difference between last night and the homestand was BI's shot chart. He was back to being predominantly mid range. He attempted 2 3 pointers and made 0. Zion had more made 3's than BI and Dyson. We only attempted 22 three pointers.

These were factors that were much bigger issues for the Pels and how they have been playing compared to last night. It is okay to say that.

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Again, I'm not the one saying it's ONLY 1 thing that is a factor and not others, that's you. Yes, what you just said was a factor.

Oddly, you admitted the difference was our perimeter defense, while observing Zion for consistently letting guys go right by him on the perimeter with zero effort to stop them, which makes no sense.

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Zion closed out to John Collins primarily. He was 2/6.

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He closed out to a bunch of dudes. I can recall just Olynk going by him 3 times.

Also, the issue isn't the guy shooting a 3. The issue is Zion giving a lazy closeout and the player driving right by him, so posting 3pt attempts is really irrelevant to that.

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Fontecchio hit one three on a Zion close out but he also missed two. Now, let's look at our wing defenders who couldn't contain penetration which led to overhelping off of Sexton, George, and Agbaji. Those three were 9/20.

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Ok, now do all the times Zion lazily closed out and let those dudes go by him. I you recall, the issue last night was letting perimeter players easily get into the paint, so again, I don't know why you're posting 3pt attempts here, that has nothing to do with Zion's issue last night.

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I get it, Zion looks bad on lazy close outs. However, this has been a problem all season. I think you are smart enough to know that Zion wasn't the main reason for our perimeter defensive failures.

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I don't think we watched the same game last night.

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Can you give examples of people blaming "everything" on Zion?

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For an immature guy that done made it and does not give a shite

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you expect more out of your best player who is also making way more than all 3 of those dudes combined.

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This is what I'm talking about. Just because he is the "star" player doesn't mean that we are not allowed to critique role players as well. Or that these losses are all on him. It's a team sport. The pelicans are a struggling, injured TEAM, yet it is only Z who people criticize after losses like these.

Z definitely plays better defense when he feels in good shape. He doesn't look to be in great shape right now and playing at altitude is a good way to reveal that.

Ideally you want your superstar franchise guy to be a two-way player, like LeBron or Jordan. Right now Z is a one-way player. At Duke he looked to be a two-way guy but we haven't seen much of that with the Pels.

Defense and rebounding are a lot about try hard. Z tends to loaf and ball watch on that side of the floor (pay attention to how often he just stands and watches after a shot goes up instead of crashing the glass). He tries in spurts but does not give consistent effort.

That said he remains a force on offense despite being limited to the interior. To be outscored by 30 (!) from the arc last night and only lose by 2 is actually somewhat impressive. Adding CJ, Trey and Ryan back into the mix will help balance out that part of the offense. If Z can stay on the floor his conditioning and defensive effort should pick up as we get into December.