With their 6th place in the Western Conference, without any representative at the All-Star Game in February, the Pelicans are having an excellent season. However, there are a few small stones in the shoe. The first is this inability to reverse bad situations in the last quarter. The second is the pivot position.
Or rather, to be more precise, the balance at this position. With Jonas Valanciunas and Larry Nance Jr, the franchise has a quality doublet. But if it allows Willie Green to adapt to different situations, it does not offer optimal balance with the rest of the squad.
One for rebound, the other for mobility
Proof that the coach is still looking, he has reduced the playing time of his starter, Jonas Valanciunas, for several weeks, to increase that of the former Lakers player. “Whether he plays 15 or 20 minutes, he continues to work every day and be present. We take advantage of our qualities when opportunities present themselves. He is professional”, reacts CJ McCollum on this trend concerning Lithuanian.
It must be said that it is greatly useful for rebounding and for calming down low post play. When he is aligned alongside Zion Williamson, the Pelicans dominate in defensive rebounding. With his size and impact, he will be valuable in the playoffs against the Clippers, the Nuggets or the Wolves, to respond to Ivica Zubac, Nikola Jokic and Rudy Gobert.
However, the pivot cannot offer the mobility that Larry Nance Jr. offers. In defense, the latter moves much faster. It is therefore more interesting to change on screens and thus less targeted by teams like Boston, who love to provoke and take advantage of advantageous duels.
Except that we can't have it both ways. With one, the Pelicans are more solid on the rebound and in the battle near the rim, while with the other, they gain mobility and fluidity.
What if the answer was Zion Williamson?
When Willie Green wants to find a third way, he plays even smaller and does without the two pivots to leave Zion Williamson alone under the circle. He recently did it in the second half against Boston, or at the end of the game against the Suns. “We try to play faster like that, giving Zion more space to play. We will continue to try and observe this option”, he confirms.
This has a definite advantage against teams with traditional pivots, like Phoenix: putting them in difficulty in keeping up with the local star defensively. “It was much better. There were more spaces. Jusuf Nurkic had to defend more on Zion Williamson »analyzes the coach.
This solution is not the most used but it is relatively effective, if we follow the figures (their “Net Rating” is positive, with +4.9 points). But as with Jonas Valanciunas and Larry Nance Jr, there is good and bad.
The good thing is speed, with a more liberated player. “With Zion at position 5, we can play faster. We can make stops by defending on all positions”, notes Dyson Daniels. The least good is defensive solidity and rebound control. “We have to be better at rebounding because Nurkic killed us,” continues the New Orleans player. “When we play small, everyone has to block the rebound. »
Zion Williamson is in fact not always the player most concerned with rebounding and even more so when he also has to organize the game for his teammates. He then seems to be sparing his efforts, when on the contrary he should be doing more. “Even when we play small, he is always our playmaker”recalls Willie Green.
The coach can at least be happy to have different options, with strengths to hurt opponents, but also limits. It's up to him to read situations well and not make mistakes in order to use them, especially in the playoffs when the level of play and the intensity will increase even further.
