Any Golf Digest readers on this board will have to say if it’s normal for GD to publish articles on individual plays from sports that are not golf. I found this Zion article amusing:
https://www.golfdigest.com/story/zio...ot-to-the-moon
I think kenpom had a blog post about +/- a few years ago. He had a hypothetical player that was neutral as far as likelihood of his team scoring and the other team, and ran it through his magical simulation algorithms to see how much variance there was. His conclusion was that it's deeply flawed and not telling at all for a single game. For a season long in college, it was a bit useful but also subject to a good deal of randomness. For the NBA season long sample size, it finally started to show something.
Any Golf Digest readers on this board will have to say if it’s normal for GD to publish articles on individual plays from sports that are not golf. I found this Zion article amusing:
https://www.golfdigest.com/story/zio...ot-to-the-moon
The legends were Verga, Trajan and JJ. Bill McC. shot well after he left Duke -- doesn't count. Bobby Hurley shot over 40 percent -- and it was WHEN he made the shots. Maybe Tate Armstrong, who shot over 50 percent before the three-point era. Andre was not a star.
Sage Grouse
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'When I got on the bus for my first road game at Duke, I saw that every player was carrying textbooks or laptops. I coached in the SEC for 25 years, and I had never seen that before, not even once.' - David Cutcliffe to Duke alumni in Washington, DC, June 2013
Tough to get geeked out over Zion given the pall over the sports world this evening.
Zion playing a bit more and going to have a tough time going 3-3 shooting 70%+. At 4-10 now...
FT shooting a bit of an issue. If he doesn’t pick it up I could see Hack a Zion becoming a thing.
Dude blew his shoe again. Well, list it anyway.
While I doubt Nike wants a “competing brand” on their shoe, have to wonder if something like Boa laces might be a good addition for Zion.
Good to see Zion on the court to finish the game. Made his free throws late (finally) and got some high-percentage shots in the paint.
Zion owned the end of the game. His contributions were numerous and helped seal the win.
Pels are experimenting with Zion at the 5 on both offense and defense, and IMO while this can work in niche scenarios it's not optimal.
Zion on offense has always been best when in motion. He's like X-Men's Juggernaut, once he gets going he is very tough to stop. And he's a good enough playmaker that even when he can be stopped he will make the right pass.
The Pelican offense when he's in the game is not motion in poetry, it's like jagged starts and stops. They ask him to catch the ball in the post like a center -- not to playmake like sometimes at Duke but to score like a center. Zion can be successful at times this way but it's relatively low percentage (for him) when matched up against real NBA centers. His skill and athleticism advantage are most potent when he's going, not when he's stationary.
Part of it is that the team hasn't really adjusted to Zion. They seem passive when he's in the game. The passing is tentative and over-thought as opposed to instinctual. I'm sure this will come in time; we saw at Duke (and in the NBA preseason) that Zion is an amazing passer and receiver but this hasn't translated yet in the regular season.
His foul shooting needs to be way better -- 3/8 is unacceptable. With the way Zion attacks, he's going to get hacked a lot and he can make a living on the foul line. On most things, Zion has an excuse with his being a rookie and having been injured, but there's no excuse for poor foul shooting.
Defensively the Pelicans are exposed with Zion and Ingram and no real center; neither are able to effectively defend the pick and roll or variations designed to get opposing guards the layup. The Celtics attacked them relentlessly with success. Zion can play 5 on offense but on defense he's a liability there.
The ideal typical team composition for Zion is at the 4 playing with mobile teammates who can shoot and a strong defender at the 5. So maybe Ball, Holiday, Ingram, Zion and Favours.
The other thing I noticed is that Zion doesn't seem to be playing with joy the way he did at Duke. He's not smiling much. Most of the time he looks frustrated with the turnovers and fouls. He looks tentative; like he's over-thinking things vs. playing with instinct. He needs to rediscover that joy and that will translate into more consistent energy and focus on both ends of the court.
All of the above makes it sound like Zion had a terrible game, but he finished with 21 points (56% shooting), 11 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal. That's pretty good. But watching him play I just know he could have done so much better. That's great news for the Pelicans and I hope they won't settle for how they're using Zion right now.
Last edited by ice-9; 01-26-2020 at 09:16 PM.
I agree with what you point out. Zion had his moments and wound up with 21 pts 11 rebounds. Considering the 28 minutes played, the numbers are good and he is a force at times but is also a rookie with turnovers, difficulty guarding a quck experienced player and he needs to work on his foul shooting. Stilll, this is only his 3rd game after a long layoff and I expect he will progress and they figure out how to utilize him in the optimum way. Love to watch him play.
His PER would be 2nd in the league behind Greek Freak
Agree here and with ice-9 above. Zion was a force inside, especially with his insane second jumps. Overall the game was frustrating to watch with little flow on the Pelican’s offense and so many unforced turnovers.
I hope Zion’s defense improves as he shakes off the rust. The Celtics drove right at him many times and got easy looks at the rim. Maybe that is a problem with the Pelicans lack of rim protection (although Favors had a couple sweet blocks) or help D vs Zion’s individual defense.
Regardless, I still get that anticipatory feeling every time Zion touches the ball. Appointment viewing for sure!