If you want to choose a player with a huge gap between the upper and lower limits and it is difficult to predict, it must be New Orleans Pelicans.
This team slightly proved their talent last season. Ingram averaged 27 points per game. The Pelicans formed a high-armed lineup with extremely high defensive strength, almost knocking down the Phoenix Suns, who are in a bad mood.
And these were all done by them in the No. 1 pick, core forward Zion Williamson did not play. They have a bunch of young core and role players, just like their opponent, Phoenix Suns' Rise Road, and before the preseason of the 2022-23 season began, they saw a little new change: Williamson loses weight and moves faster while maintaining the intensity of the confrontation.
Ingram has become stronger. He has been emphasizing weight gain since he entered the league. This year, he has finally achieved obvious results. He has become bigger and his hairstyle has been replaced with a fluffy explosive head. When he made a mid-range jump shot, his strong body vaguely makes people feel: Anthony Davis is back?
Look at the makeup photos comparison of the new season, and then look at the slender figure of last season, it is hard to imagine what Ingram has experienced in gaining weight this summer.
get back to the point. After the main players all returned, the Pelicans must go through some adjustments: CJ joined the Pelicans in the second half of last season and had never partnered with Williamson . At the same time, after joining Williamson, who takes a lot of offensive ball rights in Ingram and CJ-McCollum last season, their offensive ideas must be adjusted, and after the lineup of last season changed, the defense will also face a test.
forward holding the ball, Ingram is still the core of tactical
Through last season's playoff , it has fully proved that Ingram's holding the ball has indeed been practiced.
More importantly, Ingram also developed the organizational ability to attract defense and pass the ball to his teammates in his rhythmic offense.
For the Pelicans, this kind of organizational ability is really hard to find even with a lantern.
Among the Pelicans' Big Three, there is also a backcourt player: CJ McCollum, one of the former Trail Blazers' double guns. The Pelicans suffered a long losing streak after the start of last season. The team looked disorganized. The team's progress started with the Pelicans sending away a defender and then setting CJ McCollum as the core of the backcourt.
In the first round of last season, McCollum averaged 22.2 points per game, and scored 6.7 rebounds and 4.8 assists. Leaving Trail Blazers , it did play as a veteran and core role, but CJ's role is only icing on the cake in the system. What really made the Pelicans change was Ingram's breakthrough and jump shot, which activated the entire team in space.
Ingram, in the draft, some people predicted that the growth period of such players will be very long, and the ultimate template is a super tactical point like Durant .
Last season, the role of Ingram's core tactical points has actually been played out. The average of 5.6 assists per game is even higher than the backcourt commander McCollum.
On the court, Ingram's biggest function is to create "chaos". A forward player who can hold the ball, covers the three-point line, mid-range, and can break through the basket, no matter which defender he sends, will have some problems in defending a certain skill. This feeling of "no matter how you play, it's misplaced" a bit like his original template - Kevin Durant .
There are many people in the Pelicans who can play: CJ has very solid basic skills and shooting, Valanciunas is the few big centers in the league with independent offensive capabilities, and the Pelicans' second team is also unreasonable. The key point of this team is Ingram and CJ. Both of them have the effect of sorting out the offense and organizing in series.
Fat Tiger's offense is focused on limiting the other two stars
Here we have to introduce a new change: Fat Tiger's addition.
has two powerful players on the front line, which is undoubtedly a very top-notch configuration. There are not many similar configurations in the entire league. Bucks 's Antetokounmpo and Middleton 's , Clippers 's George and Leonard 's all belong to this category.
Fat Tiger and Leonard did not meet for many times, but in terms of confrontation, the two did compete.
If the Pelicans' opponent adopts a strategy, it will allow the Pelicans' starting three giants to form a linkage, and this team with average impact will not be able to stop it.
is like Williamson's unstoppable impact, and his problem is also very obvious: is not tall enough and his wingspan is not enough. Due to injuries, Williamson has not experienced too many games and key games.
is a player with strong impact but not very tall, usually he has strong wings to lead the frontcourt to defend, and prevent the players from rushing up, and then set up iron walls in the inside. Once Fat Tiger slowly enters the basket and does not accelerate and use his weight to create a strong impact, with Fat Tiger's height and wingspan, the height of his attack is easy to be blocked. In the season when he was healthy, he did not rush up because of his slow acceleration and did not rush up, and he took a lot of blocks.
dismantle the attack of Fat Tiger. There are basically two powerful ones.
loses the position in defense, Fat Tigers starts and accelerates after getting space, and rushes to the basket to score;
rebounds for the second time, Fat Tigers directly starts to play a second time after getting it, this is a very surprising scoring method for Fat Tigers in their second season.
But in terms of offense, it is still very necessary to rely on teammates to create space.
If Fat Tiger holds the ball by himself, the defenders will always be prepared for defense. This is not the time when Fat Tiger is most efficient. To let Fat Tiger enter the comfort zone to play, Ingram must form a connection with CJ and Williamson. Williamson is a tactical restraint. Once the defensive formation changes, it is a good opportunity to score 2 points with a dunk at the basket.
Opening match against the Nets is a big test
New Orleans Pelicans, a highly-watched growth team, the opening match will face Brooklyn Nets .
This confrontation is indeed of particularity, satisfying the fans' definition of exciting games. In terms of position, Ingram met his own template Kevin Durant, the gorgeous Irving met CJ with solid basic skills, and Ben Simmons happened to be a forward player who was very good at defensive and impactful.
Both sides are equipped with top-level scoring firepower, and defense has become the focus of winning. Whoever finds the answer to defense first will win the game.
For the Nets, limiting Williamson's starting speed and impact force is the first step. The ace solution to deal with the Big Three teams is to cut off the connection between the stars and put him in a state of fighting alone. For example, last season, Celtics found a way to make Durant play singles continuously, which restricted the Nets from being activated as a whole.
. For the Pelicans, this method also works, limiting Ingram. Even if Williamson scores continuously and gets 20+ and 30+ data in the game, the Nets are still successful and have a greater chance of winning the game.
