FNG wrote:WolvesFan21 wrote:DLO was benched. There I said it.
Now all you Ryan haters, what do you say to that?
Ryan has been slamming DLO during the press conferences too without naming names.
Players don't like playing with DLO when he hero balls all game.
Yeah, I think if you asked Vando, Reid, Culver and Ant privately who they preferred as their PG, we can be fairly confident whom they would choose. Let's hope the league suspends DLO for a couple games for not wearing a mask on the sidelines...we would miss his scoring, but the team is much more fun to watch, win or lose, with the aggressive defense and ball movement we saw tonight.
Q said it earlier in this thread, but it's difficult for me to understand why this Pelicans team is so bad with the roster they have to play with...they appear to be loaded 1-9. Ultimately it has to be an indictment of SVG, doesn't it?
Vando is really fun to watch on both ends of the court.
Culver's shot needs a lot of work, but he is quite nifty getting to the rim...no TO's despite handling the ball often in the paint.
Loved Josh's energy tonight, but I think he forgot for one game that Ryan has asked him to avoid 3-point shots unless absolutely necessary. We're not going to win many games with Josh trying 5 threes.
Love the little things Ed Davis brings to the court, but please hurry back KAT.
I agree with you on Vando, Culver and Davis.
Yes, Vando can look really raw at times. But I think his issues simply require more playing time. He just hasn't played much basketball at the NBA or even college level because of past injuries. His upside is huge.
Culver is so frustrating precisely because of the positives you mentioned from last night. If he could only develop a consistently reliable shot from the field, including behind the arc, and the free-throw line. But even though he shot well from the field last night, his shot still looks broken and not something that will lead to consistently efficient scoring. I really hope he fixes that shot because I see the talent, which is more impressive than I thought when we drafted him.
Ed Davis is starting to get his sea legs and I'm beginning to appreciate his value. You're right about those little things he does on the court. He's not a guy I want starting or even first off the bench. But I can see him as a valuable rotation player.
Josh Okogie was himself last night. He was a tornado defensively, reeking havoc on the Pelicans with 5 steals and relentless on-ball pressure. But he was also 1-5 from behind the arc. I differ with you slightly in that I happen to think he needs to keep taking wide-open spot-up threes. I say that because that's the only way we'll ever find out for sure whether he can eventually start making them at anything approaching a reasonable clip. He doesn't have to become a scorer to be a highly valuable rotation player. He's already valuable based solely on his defense. Moreover, on the offensive end, he's already improved his body control and ability to finish inside. He's not great in that regard, but he's become good. He just needs to become reasonably adept at hitting wide-open catch-and-shoot threes.
Unlike Culver, Okogie's shot doesn't look broken mechanically. And he's always been a terrific free-throw shooter. So I can't help but conclude that Okogie could still potentially become a decent catch-and-shoot three point shooter - at least at the level of Marcus Smart. The only way that will happen, and the only way we'll ever know, is if he takes those shots consistently in real game situations. That means living with more 1-5 performances like last night until we start seeing consistent 2-5 performances. Meanwhile, we're getting stellar defense, energy and hustle as well as some scoring in the paint and free throws from him. If he continues to miss those wide-open threes then, at some point, its time to conclude he won't get better. But at age 22 in his 3rd NBA season after only 2 years in college, I think it's too early to draw that conclusion, especially in light of the fact that he was a 38% three-point shooter in both of his college seasons and has always been a good free-throw shooter. I wouldn't bet a lot of money in Vegas on him becoming a decent NBA 3-point shooter. But I'm not ready to bet against him either. And he's so important defensively and from an energy standpoint that this organization needs to focus intently on finding out.
