Willie Green on Competition in NBA Western Conference | New Orleans Pelicans

Willie Green on Competition in NBA Western Conference | New Orleans Pelicans

Are you uh are you aware of all the teams below you who are hot right now do you pay attention I mean we’re getting down to the Min gry here are you watching that at all um we take a peak obviously at the standings and where we

Sit who’s in front of us who’s behind us but as best we can we try to concentrate on taking care of our business here it’s pretty weird though you’re 11 over 500 and you’re only yeah you’re only one game out of out of the play that seems almost unfair right it’s it’s

Competitive especially you know in the Western Conference teams have gotten better I think the um playin tournament or playin opportunity has made teams more competitive and so it’s going to come down to the last few games like it has the last couple Seasons first two years here involved in

The play in uh were’re able to advance out of it the first one last year could have gone either way didn’t go your way how much to that is the goal for this team of like we just don’t want to have to mess with that this year it’s

Definitely one of our goals is uh to take another step and that step for us is to not be in the play in and so you know we we kind of we can control our own destiny with ping up as many wins as we can do you think 50 is enough coach

We’ll see we’ll see um I like that number though if you can get there that’d be good will we I know you’ve been talking and touched on it having ey on brand and CJ all healthy all playing together at the same time for you how much you know when you’re trying to

Learn how this group plays and meses on the group the court together how big was it just that had that finally you know have a stretch where they’re all healthy how much of a relief was that I guess for you and for this Coes it’s a huge

Relief because it allows us to see what works what doesn’t work what groups we can play together um how to watch film get on the get on the floor practice and work on the things that those three guys will do on the floor together what what

Have I guess what are some of the takeaways when you’ve seen them that you’ve gone are that thing works or then other things you got you know I have to Ticker do you have any specifics of what works with those I’ve kind of been talking about it a little bit probably

The last couple weeks but early in the game putting the ball in Zion’s hands it’s harder to help off CJ harder to help off Brandon when he Subs out now be has the ball a bit more so we’ve been kind of tinkering with that offensively challenging that group defensively to to

Be as good as they can and playing playing with more Force to start games things like that but you know we’re we’re able to see those Concepts because for the most part they they’ve been healthy this season you talked about that defense is that the the key for

That group if they all Buy in defensively with is that the key to making this team make that next step that’s one of the keys is is buying in defensively and you know they’re they’re taking steps in the right direction but we know that it’s still Improvement

There how much do you how much do you think the The Experience from these last two years making it into the plan kind of prepar you guys for what this final stretch looks like over the last two months I think that experience it definitely pays off um and now it’s

About you know putting the work in and being ready to play these games that we have in front of us uh they’re all going to be important and it’s not the the talk that we have more time we don’t it’s a it’s a it’s a Sprint now and every team coming after Allstar

Break it’s going to look to to make some moves to put themselves in a position to have a good postseason run and so are we apart from uh dice is is everyone good to go healthwise like you expect to have everyone active tomorrow apart from Dice

Uh we’ll see we’ll see be was out today um with the illness so we we’ll see how he feels tomorrow you feel like you’re better equipped than you are you go to to to go a lot deeper the whole team just rol and tell me

I do I feel like we’re better equipped I feel like the experience that we had the first two seasons making into the playoffs we had a a stint where we played with Zion for the first time we had another postseason appearance not the playoffs but we

Played a playin game that came down to the to the wire and now having this same group back together again healthy uh familiarity with each other and going out and executing and understand the importance of the details I think that gives us an opportunity to be good really before the game against

Washington you mentioned you’re going to tighten up the rotations especially after d now you’re talking about Sprint to the end we expect to see more minutes than maybe for your start for your ke guys moving forward I think Zion Pi here in this month playing three more minutes

Game same thing with last yes that’s the goal the goal is that their minutes go up a little bit the rotation gets a little tighter um and kind of move from there and see how it works is still one of the priorities going to be to get those that

Thre man unit CJ B also the starters playing a little bit better they haven’t really turned that stage yet it seems like we’re working on it um you know we we we’re constantly talking to those guys about their production on the floor as a starting group and you know we we

We continue to try to do a good job of getting our subs in quickly so that we can put the right groups on the floor together that’s what we’re seeing more and more shortly back to you mentioned start the game a little bit uh JJ read when his former teammates

Mentioned that those actions from like the last nine games producing 1.4 possession been really effective just what do you attribute like that level of success to when you you putting the ball in in arguably one of the best players in the NBA you putting the ball in his hands

And you simplifying everything and allowing him to make decisions and he’s he’s going to look for Brandon he’s going to look for CJ he’s going to look to attack when those opportunities are there and it’s hard to you got to make some tough decisions defensively if you

Don’t help off those guys he’s going to the basket and he’s scoring if you help off those guys they’re knocking down open shots and that’s what it does for us offensiv and and you talk a lot about how how defense fuels your offense um in this situation is is there a component

Of the offense feel in the defense a little bit like allow you to like if you’re scoring at such a good rid you get back you set in half court you know you’re not worried about transition defense on the opponent cuz you’re able to just get back and just play more of a

Half cour defense it it it all ties in together for sure you know when when you run a good offense uh it’s tough for teams cuz they’re taking the ball out of the net and vice versa when when you’re getting stops it allows us to play fast and play

In the open floor with that’s some of our best basketball so it it definitely ties in together and and on the defensive side of things like sometimes when teams kind of kind of put Zion uh in a scen and roll act you guys have had him like hedging out a little bit um

That’s worked pretty well for your team just like from an analytical standpoint what do you what do you think he’s doing well in those situations and like what’s the general like idea behind like you know maybe like hgin or or Blitz in that ball well we’re challenging him to take

On those opportunities to execute the game plan and sometimes that is blitzing a screen and sometimes that’s switching and actually guarding and not have not having to be in rotations and he’s taking on a challenge I feel like our defense is solid right now and we’ll

Continue to look at it as the season progresses but it’s really about those guys taking on the challenge defensively and when they do we know that it works and one last followup with regards to that like in those situations he ends up like far away from the basket not

Necessarily in like rebounding position so is that something you can maybe like counterbalance by like okay well if he’s not in a rebounding position maybe we can get get him out and transition if there’s a Miss basket you know for sure and he’s challenges we want him to

Challenge shots if he’s if he’s above the 3-point line and he’s challenging shots obviously stay in make sure we secure the rebound but now you got whomever he’s challenging is probably a mismatch for him if we rebound now we looking for him early in the shot clock

Sure really it feel like you guys Road the last two months how good is it just to have a bit of a home stand right after the break it’s good uh it’s as much as we can be home you know sleep in our own beds not have to be on planes

And hotels you know it helps us it helps us prepar it helps us come in our our practice facility and work on things and practice uh but at the end of the day I’ve said it before we have to put the work in which we’re doing we got to come

Out and execute and we got to continue to try to stack games and win as much as we can coming down the stretch

New Orleans Pelicans head coach Willie Green’s post-practice interview from Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024 ahead of tomorrow night’s game against the Houston Rockets.
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New Orleans Pelicans Roster
———————————————–
Jose Alvarado #15 Guard
Dyson Daniels #11 Guard
Jordan Hawkins #24 Guard
Brandon Ingram #14 Forward
Herbert Jones #5 Forward
E.J. Liddell #32 Forward
Naji Marshall #8 Forward
CJ McCollum #3 Guard
Trey Murphy III #25 Guard
Larry Nance Jr. #22 Forward
Jeremiah Robinson-Earl #50 Forward
Matt Ryan #37 Forward
Dereon Seabron #0 Guard
Jonas Valanciunas #17 Center
Zion Williamson #1 Forward
Cody Zeller #44 Forward-Center

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