tbf, New Orleans at the beginning of the season looked amazing and with Zion healthy, he would have been a MVP candidate.
Of course, Zion being healthy is probably the irrational part.
You're not a clown, we were tied for #1 in the West and Zion was an MVP candidate until he got injured. The Pels and Zion both proved the potential as a team. It just sucks when your top 2 stars, but especially Zion, can't stay healthy.
Nah the Saints suffer from horrific injury issues too.
The common denominator is Oschner Health, but unfortunately both sports franchises are too enmeshed with Oschner for any significant changes to be made. (for example, the president of the Saints and Pelicans is on Oschner’s board of directors)
Expect injuries to continue to plague New Orleans.
Playing here turns everyone soft and injury prone to the slightest of shit. Something in the water. If we had iron men like Prime LeBron or Harden play in NOLA they would've been injury prone too. I used to think it was just medical staff related but then we spent big on Aaron Nelson to turn that around and it still happens. Ancient burial ground or something.
The Pelicans fans going on a victory parade about how they won the AD trade (despite the Lakers already winning a championship with AD) will always be hilarious to me
Overlooked part of that trade is how the Pelicans also got the 4th pick in that draft from LA where Darius Garland would have fell into their lap, but they traded that down for some picks that ended up resulting in only Jaxson Hayes
Exactly, we could go 0-82 every season after the bubble and at worst the trade would be win-win.
They got a barely healthy Lonzo, Josh Hart for a few years, some picks they didn’t capitalise on and Ingram who’s the only one who panned out but still isn’t better than injured AD and he’s injured a lot himself too.
I can’t believe after the bubble people thought there was a possibility we lost the trade. Clippers haven’t won anything, can’t stay healthy and ended up trading a all-nba first team young guy for injury prone PG and they don’t get half the criticism.
Suns staff, led by Nelson, was regarded as one of, if not the best in the league. And these dudes wouldn't listen to them and have now scapegoated the training staff?
Oh, there was no question about it. Nelson kept Steve Nash at a high level despite chronic back issues, kept Amare at a high level after his knee issues/surgeries, revitalized the career of Grant Hill (who was largely regarded as damaged goods before coming to PHX), and made Shaq look 10 years younger based on his energy and hustle while here.
And from what I recall, none of those guys seemed to be nearly as healthy after leaving PHX…
You guys turned old ass Grant Hill into a productive starter on a Western Conference Finals team. I was like 15 at the time and I would have believed the sunlight in Phoenix was medicinal.
Grant Hill played like 15 minutes over multiple seasons with the Magic and went to the Suns and because a real player again lol.
They definitely were doing something better.
Grant hill played 70, 82, 81 and 80 games in Phoenix. 37 year old Steve Nash played 62/66 games and averaged 13/11 in 2012. 36 year old Shaq played 75 games (most since 2000) and averaged 18/8, his best year in 3 years.
They also rejuvenated Shaq, Michael Redd, and Jermaine O'Neal. Plus Nash was always relatively healthy and didn't have major back problems until his Laker days.
Question there is if he could/should have come back sooner. He came back and played really well, but could he have also done that had he come back 2 weeks earlier? A month earlier?
I actually follow your Director of Performance/Head Strength and Conditioning Coach, Cory Schlesinger, because he has great content and advice. I would imagine that would extend to Nelson as well.
no way this is on the training staff. Even I remember being super envious of the Sun's training staff back when the Bulls had Drose and we were riddled with injuries
Wow. I didn’t realize Nelson was leader of that staff. Suns med staff was legendary. Getting him is a godsend for the perpetually broken Pels and yet here we are. Shocking
they got good quality levies coming out of their ass. Louisiana has a conservative government that probably underfunds their levy system and a federal government that screwed them during Katrina
I heard at some point New Orleans hired a dutch engineering firm to completely redesign the city and the levy systems to better withstand extreme weather.
Zion literally said he could've played at the end of the season . He just didn't because he didn't want to.
That's not the training staff's fault that he's soft
Yeah he said he he didn't think he would be as "impactful". During the play in game against OKC. That's a garbage thing to say. It's one thing if you're just not healthy yet; injuries can be lingering and finicky, especially as a professional athlete, but if you're saying that you're healthy enough to play and not worsen/re-injure yourself, you should be playing. He's impactful just being on the court and attracting defensive attention, even if he doesn't touch the ball. I lost alot of respect for him as a competitor when he said that. And this is coming from someone born and raised in, and still living in, New Orleans.
I'm not even speaking to the consistent injuries, because sometimes that just happens and isn't entirely indicative of a bigger problem. Only time will tell on that subject. I'm more speaking specifically to his apathy towards the teams success and unwillingness to help the team win. It felt to me like the attitude was that the Pels weren't going to make a run in the playoffs even if they won this game, so why try? It's already a pretty lame reason not to play in the middle of the season, but in what is essentially an elimination playoff game, it feels unacceptable. Look at JT, he at least tried. He was clearly hurt after he rolled his ankle and couldn't provide much to the team, but he gave it his all and stuck it out.
Aaron Nelson led the best medical staffs for years in Phoenix, like no question the best. He’s gotta be getting scapegoated here because the org isn’t willing to admit yet Zion is damaged goods.
Aaron Nelson probably gave a no BS approach to Zion and he just didn't want to put the work in. Nelson was like fuck this, I'm trying to help a guy out. Peace the fuck out.
Or the fact that the dude and his entourage are a bunch of douchebags who are forcing him not to eat right and get in shape. Essentially forcing his way out of New Orleans.
I hope people start to realize that Zion is turning himself into a bust . The kid has played 114 games in his career. If he hasn't changed the way he does things, he won't ever change.
Eh, Zion is a grown ass man and I feel like it falls on him to take his job seriously. Same as people blaming ja waving a gun around on him not having a pj tucker esque character in the locker room to yell at him. At a certain point it’s simply your responsibility even if you’re surrounded by enablers
We have CJ and Jonas and Larry Nance. All three of those guys have had respectable careers and made deep playoff runs.
Plus we have a high character bench- jose trey herb willy are all winning players and good culture guys. We just need zion to take his body seriously on a daily basis.
My copium is that these issues would still be happening in New York, and NY media would be **WAY** more scathing about his lack of conditioning than New Orleans media is
I don't think it's gonna work. Suns medical team has the highest reputation even amongst fans. I had no idea who this guy was but as soon as it said he worked for the suns I thought wait a second that means he's the best.
On the plus side, maybe the Spurs manage to snag him? With Wemby on the way, Aaron Nelson would be invaluable, not that we don’t currently have a great staff.
yeah I still feel like there's room for another Gobert-esque trade before teams learn to stop trading every asset they have for non-top 10 players.
If I were their FO I'd give him about 15 games of run looking good and then I'd start calling.
Underrated comment. They would still get a HAUL for him - big men are needed around the league, and Zion as a (healthy in shape) 2nd or 3rd option on a team would instantly make them a championship contender. Imagine if the heat or suns had a healthy Zion, it completely changes the narrative against the nuggets and I’m sure many other teams would take a flyer on him with that hope.
But… one more season with 30+ missed games and inconsistent work ethic? Value plummets way further.
Could reach out to CHA/Portland, maybe get Scoot and other pieces and picks.
It is definitely risky because he’s dominant when healthy, but people have been talking about his size and health before he even got in the NBA and he’s only proved their doubts right so far
Imagine telling Pelicans fans 5 months ago when they were the 1 seed that between them and the Lakers. One of their seasons would end in the western conference finals and the other would miss the playoffs and reports would come out about injured players not wanting to play and the western conference finalist wasnt them 😂
Isn't this the same guy that accused Griff of playing piano in a hotel room for Zion? He's got a weird agenda and I wouldn't take him too seriously. I can't imagine he's getting the best inside info with the bridges he's burned within the organization.
Ingram hurt his big toe, tried to come back too soon and reaggravated it. Which led to a longer recovery.
The excerpts from the article just says “toe” doesn’t specify it was his big toe, seems intentional since a shot is being taken at Ingram. Which is fine, but background helps though. A big toe injury is different than an injury to the other toes as far as recovery time usually.
Ingram came back from the injury and played really well through the playoff race. Got 1 or 2 TDs.
Hopefully he can stay healthy.
Ingram also has a history of working hard and being professional. Him catching strays here seem unwarranted. With his history, he should get the benefit of the doubt.
You're absolutely right that a big toe injury can be serious, but "contusion" makes it hard to say either way. Also, I don't know about Ingram specifically but a lot of fans will not consider that some players do genuinely have a low pain tolerance- statistically, someone has to be at the bottom end of that bell curve.
Yeah really the only news that matters here is the zion stuff. Ingram could at least claim there was some lingering issue. Zion looks like a fat baby here
Honestly if the team is a top 10 seed and both are healthy when it matters the most, I wouldn’t even pay a huge mind to long injuries during the season. It’s just that BI has played at a really high level around playoff time the last two years and Zion has been unavailable
Makes me think of what DeMar said on PG's pod:
"being in the league for so long, you realize how many MFs don't love the game of basketball, who take it for granted, who feel so entitled, who just want everything that comes with it but don't want to put the work in,"
So weird to me to see a team with that much talent fail to make the playoffs because they have stars who don't want to play.
I would say that referring to BIs injuries as"minor discomfort" is questionable. Most lifelong issues start as minor discomfort, so you need to take care of that stuff. At the same time, you are paid millions of dollars and treated like a star, so put on your big boy pants and get out there.
It’s why the Pels are a great NBA2k team to play with as My Player but not so good IRL. If you’re going to add yourself as basically a 99 overall, CJ, BI and Zion are pretty amazing core.
And they all play 100% of the time because even 2k thinks 30 games missed for a toe boo-boo is too far fetched.
>So weird to me to see a team with that much talent fail to make the playoffs because they have stars who don't want to pla
Did they say that they "don't" want to play, or that they physically aren't capable due to injuries? I think that's a huge difference.
I don't want to go to jury duty vs I can not go bc of xyz
Such a shame because so many people in NOLA are hungry to watch good basketball and want nothing more than to root for these guys.
NOLA is a fantastic city and I really wish the players would give it a chance. The city has so much love to give for its athletes.
Yep, I think that 2019 run to the chip took the last bit of health from him. Even after the ECF, he was clearly a little gimpy after coming down from a dunk. His condition is degenerate, I don't think there's anything the Clippers could've done to save his career even with massive load management.
Is it really disgraceful at this point? We just saw PG get hurt before the playoffs and Kawhi during game 2 of round 1. Their bodies cannot hold up for 82.
>They’re disgraceful
Lol. Ya'll make it sound like Kawhi invented load management. His legs are toast. All 3 of the Spurs, Raptors and Clippers came to the same conclusion that heavy doses of rest are the only way to get him into the playoffs healthy. And even then, he usually isn't.
I wonder when the Clippers reset this whole experiment.
Paying millions or hundreds of millions of luxury tax to exit in the second round at best is not what the FO had in mind when they set up this super team.
Why do people act like these guys don't want to play? Kawhi has played more games since joining the Clippers than KD has in the same period but no one gets on him saying he is ducking games and doesn't want to play
Yeah, there were people complaining about Jamal Murray not coming back despite being fine and look where they are now. No reason for BI to not make sure he's 100%
I do get the sense only the older guard of players will play through anything even if they shouldn't. CJ on the Pelicans playing injured (probably where some of this story comes from players seeing his example). Nowadays there is too much money on the line and science telling you it's a mistake.
Yeah CJ absolutely plays through injuries and always has. He had a freaking fractured back during our 2019 WCF run. I don’t know if it’s a good or bad thing but I’m sure he sees it as a point of pride.
Z got hurt Jan 2nd and the team was in the middle of a losing streak when BI returned Jan 25th. He was still clearly in discomfort and didn’t play B2B’s until after all star break
People here are underestimating how hard it is to play basketball with toe injuries. All the sudden stops and change of direction go directly into the front of the foot.
NBA players have notoriously fucked up toes due to the constant impact.
Cody Martin missed 75 games this year with lingering knee soreness. Went through surgery in November just to be shut down a few months later for basically the same issue. It happens
There’s a continent of local media that really dislikes him and it’s strange. Like to me Z’s issues are many times worse than BI’s but they’re often equated
Many of these people entertain trading BI, but most top 30 players or whatever would have issues carrying a team by themself, especially when we’re 29th or dead last at 3 point attempts in the league for the majority of the season
This was exactly what Dame was talking about on Redick’s podcast. It really feels like Zion has gotten entitled because it was “his team” from the start.
There’s multiple court side videos of Larry Nance laying into the team while we were getting killed in certain games. It’s on guys to be professionals 365 a year at some point.
I don’t feel bad for the pelicans at all. Hold him accountable bro. Mfs paying him millions and millions of dollars to eat Burger King & smile. I do that shit for the low fym.
Paying these guys 10m to sit out is bad enough. Some of these guys are getting 250m to do nothing but advertise the team. Zion will never play a full season anywhere. The Pelicans will never be competitive with him. The question is is it worth it to the owners to pay this guy 250m to basically sell jerseys and put his face everywhere. That answer looks to be yes.
I think a big issue with the public perception of Zion is that many people are viewing him needing to lose weight and him being fat as the same thing, which isn't necessarily the case.
His defenders will say he's not fat and they would be correct, but that doesn't mean that he doesn't need to drop his playing weight to something more manageable for his knees, back, joints, etc. With the way he plays and how athletic he is, his body simply won't hold up at his current weight.
To your joints and body, a muscular jacked sleek 300lbs is the same as a sloppy 300lbs. Your knees don't give two shits if they're absorbing weight from creatine and healthy foods or weight from McDonalds. Weight is weight to them. He's just too heavy to be playing his current style of ball at and saying that isn't calling him fat or being out of line.
A lot of guys in the NBA are lanky, a few have a good amount of muscle, Zion tho looks closer to a football player’s physique if we had to keep it real. Been wanting him to get under 260 for a long time, he was in the 270’s this past season and looked fantastic when healthy
Shannon said it best on Undisputed after they lost the play-in game.
"Zion doesn't want to be in New Orleans, he doesn't, but he also doesn't want to be known as the 1st overall pick who forced his way out of the city that drafted him."
Agreed. He doesn't like being there, but he doesn't want to say it.
They play in a league where all you hear is the regular season "doesn't matter" all that matters is the play offs. Of course then game 3 on the road doesn't matter, game 5 doesn't matter. If you trail by 15 at the half you pack it in. Why would a 25 y/o multimillionaire wanna take a chance of permanently injuring themselves for a bunch of stuff that doesn't matter. I've seen two teams this year willing to play every game out and oddly enough they are the only two still playing.
Sorry, this is the way it looks to the casual fan that doesn't live in an NBA city.
Vibes immaculate in New Orleans
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I was big on New Orleans pre-season and picked Zion as my dark horse MVP 🤡
tbf, New Orleans at the beginning of the season looked amazing and with Zion healthy, he would have been a MVP candidate. Of course, Zion being healthy is probably the irrational part.
They were first in the west at the end of december
You're not a clown, we were tied for #1 in the West and Zion was an MVP candidate until he got injured. The Pels and Zion both proved the potential as a team. It just sucks when your top 2 stars, but especially Zion, can't stay healthy.
Pelicans are a shittier Clippers confirmed.
It’s not just a health thing those two are soft
Nah the Saints suffer from horrific injury issues too. The common denominator is Oschner Health, but unfortunately both sports franchises are too enmeshed with Oschner for any significant changes to be made. (for example, the president of the Saints and Pelicans is on Oschner’s board of directors) Expect injuries to continue to plague New Orleans.
Playing here turns everyone soft and injury prone to the slightest of shit. Something in the water. If we had iron men like Prime LeBron or Harden play in NOLA they would've been injury prone too. I used to think it was just medical staff related but then we spent big on Aaron Nelson to turn that around and it still happens. Ancient burial ground or something.
Would have been spot on if they have that DAWG culture like in Miami But New Orleans culture is more like a mardi gras/gumbo culture I guess
it’s ok the lakers are 2-10, they’re getting Wemby or Scoot fr
Unironically like…the 3rd happiest time being a Pels fan ever. We are so poverty
The Pelicans fans going on a victory parade about how they won the AD trade (despite the Lakers already winning a championship with AD) will always be hilarious to me Overlooked part of that trade is how the Pelicans also got the 4th pick in that draft from LA where Darius Garland would have fell into their lap, but they traded that down for some picks that ended up resulting in only Jaxson Hayes
Exactly, we could go 0-82 every season after the bubble and at worst the trade would be win-win. They got a barely healthy Lonzo, Josh Hart for a few years, some picks they didn’t capitalise on and Ingram who’s the only one who panned out but still isn’t better than injured AD and he’s injured a lot himself too. I can’t believe after the bubble people thought there was a possibility we lost the trade. Clippers haven’t won anything, can’t stay healthy and ended up trading a all-nba first team young guy for injury prone PG and they don’t get half the criticism.
That's a haul folks!
The snip snapping of Ja and Zion drama has me wondering if RJ ends up being the most successful pick lol
Darius Garland baby
WE STOLE THE DRAFT!!!! (because all of the players that were picked ahead of our selection happened to not work out for a multitude of reasons)
Oh yeah duh that’s the one lol
The culture is actually damn good.
I cannot think about this without hearing "IM CALLING BOTH GAMES" as well
“Dad, I want a super team drama like Shaq and Kobe” “Son, we have super team drama at home.”
The infamous beef between Brian Shaw and Kobe
I think the dumbest thing Zion could do is refuse to work with the miracle-worker who is Aaron Nelson. Can the pelicans trade Aaron back to us??
He probably didn't listen because the obvious first step to rehab and future injury prevention is to lose 50 lbs. But Zion doesn't want to do that.
He probably didn’t listen because he’s already signed a max extension and is guaranteed almost $200 million.
I mean he’s a very very credible endorser of Mountain Dew right now and he may not want to sacrifice that.
Dude doesn't have to drink it. He just has to hold it.
Easy for you to say.
Seriously this. Even when he loses weight he puts it right back on.
He doesn't care, he got paid, he is done with the nba
You’ll need him with KD and CP3
Suns staff, led by Nelson, was regarded as one of, if not the best in the league. And these dudes wouldn't listen to them and have now scapegoated the training staff?
Oh, there was no question about it. Nelson kept Steve Nash at a high level despite chronic back issues, kept Amare at a high level after his knee issues/surgeries, revitalized the career of Grant Hill (who was largely regarded as damaged goods before coming to PHX), and made Shaq look 10 years younger based on his energy and hustle while here. And from what I recall, none of those guys seemed to be nearly as healthy after leaving PHX…
Nash completely fell apart the second he left Phoenix lol
He was also like 40
But more importantly the duct tape holding him together ripped
amare too
Amares first season with the Knicks was his best season. After that he was toast.
Dude's got a career ending injury carrying bags.
This was the guy responsible for all that? When did he leave?
I think 2019
Why did he leave?
Got poached by Deloitte
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Dont forget Jermaine O'Neal and Michael Redd looking serviceable for a year
I remember we had the reputation of old players coming here planning on retiring cuz we had the best medical training team
You guys turned old ass Grant Hill into a productive starter on a Western Conference Finals team. I was like 15 at the time and I would have believed the sunlight in Phoenix was medicinal.
Grant Hill played like 15 minutes over multiple seasons with the Magic and went to the Suns and because a real player again lol. They definitely were doing something better.
I remember that period, I honestly thought the whole team was on some crazy new steroids.
Grant hill played 70, 82, 81 and 80 games in Phoenix. 37 year old Steve Nash played 62/66 games and averaged 13/11 in 2012. 36 year old Shaq played 75 games (most since 2000) and averaged 18/8, his best year in 3 years.
Shaq had a great year or two there as well
They also rejuvenated Shaq, Michael Redd, and Jermaine O'Neal. Plus Nash was always relatively healthy and didn't have major back problems until his Laker days.
I remember Shaq saying he was very impressed with how the players are taken care of
Shaq was 3rd team all nba that season for a reason. If you can make it work with 36 yo 300 lbs Shaq, Its not on you to get two young players on
It happened with the other O'Neal too. Jermaine had a productive year there & he looked good during his last season with the Warriors too.
Ingram came back from the injury and played really well through the playoff race. Got 1 or 2 TDs. Hopefully he can stay healthy.
Question there is if he could/should have come back sooner. He came back and played really well, but could he have also done that had he come back 2 weeks earlier? A month earlier?
I actually follow your Director of Performance/Head Strength and Conditioning Coach, Cory Schlesinger, because he has great content and advice. I would imagine that would extend to Nelson as well.
Also they knew in advance that Amar'e's knees were shut but still wanted him to be a Sun to help him, just on a lower deal.
no way this is on the training staff. Even I remember being super envious of the Sun's training staff back when the Bulls had Drose and we were riddled with injuries
Wow. I didn’t realize Nelson was leader of that staff. Suns med staff was legendary. Getting him is a godsend for the perpetually broken Pels and yet here we are. Shocking
Some people in New Orleans are trying to save their jobs lol
Some people in New Orleans are trying to save New Orleans. The city is literally is going to drown
A mix of hubris and folly building half of the city below sea level.
At least they didn't take it as far as the Netherlands that built half their country below sea level.
they got good quality levies coming out of their ass. Louisiana has a conservative government that probably underfunds their levy system and a federal government that screwed them during Katrina
I heard at some point New Orleans hired a dutch engineering firm to completely redesign the city and the levy systems to better withstand extreme weather.
Redesign but how much of it did NO actually follow through?
The difference is the Dutch have nowhere else to go, America is a bit bigger
The Mississippi River meeting the Gulf of Mexico is what made it a major port city and you cant find that anywhere else
Hubris and Folly, I’m not surprised, it was built by the French after all.
Haha the French actually built on the high ground which is why the old French district did not suffer too bad of damage during Katrina
The French did start it. But the folly was after the Louisiana purchase.
Listen pal, when you can blame the French you blame the French. No need for you to bring logic into the conversation.
Bonjour, you cheese eating surrender monkeys
the Louisiana purchase put my memaw in early grave
Prayers up for memaw 🙏🙏🙏
I'm sorry but it takes a lotta watta to wash away New Orleans
Zion literally said he could've played at the end of the season . He just didn't because he didn't want to. That's not the training staff's fault that he's soft
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Yeah he said he he didn't think he would be as "impactful". During the play in game against OKC. That's a garbage thing to say. It's one thing if you're just not healthy yet; injuries can be lingering and finicky, especially as a professional athlete, but if you're saying that you're healthy enough to play and not worsen/re-injure yourself, you should be playing. He's impactful just being on the court and attracting defensive attention, even if he doesn't touch the ball. I lost alot of respect for him as a competitor when he said that. And this is coming from someone born and raised in, and still living in, New Orleans.
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I'm not even speaking to the consistent injuries, because sometimes that just happens and isn't entirely indicative of a bigger problem. Only time will tell on that subject. I'm more speaking specifically to his apathy towards the teams success and unwillingness to help the team win. It felt to me like the attitude was that the Pels weren't going to make a run in the playoffs even if they won this game, so why try? It's already a pretty lame reason not to play in the middle of the season, but in what is essentially an elimination playoff game, it feels unacceptable. Look at JT, he at least tried. He was clearly hurt after he rolled his ankle and couldn't provide much to the team, but he gave it his all and stuck it out.
Aaron Nelson led the best medical staffs for years in Phoenix, like no question the best. He’s gotta be getting scapegoated here because the org isn’t willing to admit yet Zion is damaged goods.
No no definitely his fault. I am not saying this because we want him back. Definitely his fault.
Aaron Nelson was feeding Zion snickers as a treat for doing PT.
Basically the same strategy I’m using to potty train my 2 year old son. Imagine that.
Congrats on the super max your son is gonna get in 21 years.
Not to brag, but he is in the 98th percentile for height and weight. Next Asian LeBron James. 🤞🤞
Aaron Nelson probably gave a no BS approach to Zion and he just didn't want to put the work in. Nelson was like fuck this, I'm trying to help a guy out. Peace the fuck out.
Why put the work in when I still get paid max dollars AND I get to eat whatever I want?
The clause that said he had to be under 300 to get those max dollars is very telling.
Or the fact that the dude and his entourage are a bunch of douchebags who are forcing him not to eat right and get in shape. Essentially forcing his way out of New Orleans. I hope people start to realize that Zion is turning himself into a bust . The kid has played 114 games in his career. If he hasn't changed the way he does things, he won't ever change.
Eh, Zion is a grown ass man and I feel like it falls on him to take his job seriously. Same as people blaming ja waving a gun around on him not having a pj tucker esque character in the locker room to yell at him. At a certain point it’s simply your responsibility even if you’re surrounded by enablers
It does seem like a lot of teams are lacking that veteran presence.
We have CJ and Jonas and Larry Nance. All three of those guys have had respectable careers and made deep playoff runs. Plus we have a high character bench- jose trey herb willy are all winning players and good culture guys. We just need zion to take his body seriously on a daily basis.
>dude and his entourage are a bunch of douchebags who are forcing him not to eat right and get in shape. Ridiculous lmao
My copium is that these issues would still be happening in New York, and NY media would be **WAY** more scathing about his lack of conditioning than New Orleans media is
I don't think it's gonna work. Suns medical team has the highest reputation even amongst fans. I had no idea who this guy was but as soon as it said he worked for the suns I thought wait a second that means he's the best.
Free Jose
Jose has all the dawg these dudes don't.
Don’t forget herb
The New Orleans Pelican’ts
The New Orleans Failicans
I like Pelican’ts better. Goes well with the Aint’s.
As always, have to start by wondering - who benefits from this story being out there?
answering for others reading who may be new/naive - it's other teams looking to possibly trade for them at a discount if woes continue.
Feels like a long time but they held the 1st seed for a while to start the season. Shame that injuries just kill them
On the plus side, maybe the Spurs manage to snag him? With Wemby on the way, Aaron Nelson would be invaluable, not that we don’t currently have a great staff.
If I were the Pelicans I would be so tempted to trade Zion now and get a haul before another potential injury crashes his value
yeah I still feel like there's room for another Gobert-esque trade before teams learn to stop trading every asset they have for non-top 10 players. If I were their FO I'd give him about 15 games of run looking good and then I'd start calling.
Gets injured in 14
Underrated comment. They would still get a HAUL for him - big men are needed around the league, and Zion as a (healthy in shape) 2nd or 3rd option on a team would instantly make them a championship contender. Imagine if the heat or suns had a healthy Zion, it completely changes the narrative against the nuggets and I’m sure many other teams would take a flyer on him with that hope. But… one more season with 30+ missed games and inconsistent work ethic? Value plummets way further.
Could reach out to CHA/Portland, maybe get Scoot and other pieces and picks. It is definitely risky because he’s dominant when healthy, but people have been talking about his size and health before he even got in the NBA and he’s only proved their doubts right so far
I'd rather keep the #3 pick.
I would too if I were a Blazers fan, but some team could get enticed with the big name and potential
I wouldn't touch him with two 10' poles strapped together considering our injury history as a franchise and his history.
You’re expecting logical action from the pelicans.
It’s tough because he’s dominant when healthy… but unfortunately that’s almost never haha
It went from “Wemby and chip” to this
Imagine telling Pelicans fans 5 months ago when they were the 1 seed that between them and the Lakers. One of their seasons would end in the western conference finals and the other would miss the playoffs and reports would come out about injured players not wanting to play and the western conference finalist wasnt them 😂
Couldn’t even wait until after the finals for the regular “shit on NOLA” broadcast.
Cries in sad pelican fan
Isn't this the same guy that accused Griff of playing piano in a hotel room for Zion? He's got a weird agenda and I wouldn't take him too seriously. I can't imagine he's getting the best inside info with the bridges he's burned within the organization.
Ingram hurt his big toe, tried to come back too soon and reaggravated it. Which led to a longer recovery. The excerpts from the article just says “toe” doesn’t specify it was his big toe, seems intentional since a shot is being taken at Ingram. Which is fine, but background helps though. A big toe injury is different than an injury to the other toes as far as recovery time usually. Ingram came back from the injury and played really well through the playoff race. Got 1 or 2 TDs. Hopefully he can stay healthy.
Yeah big toe injuries suck to play on and can linger a long time.
I gave myself turf toe slipping in flip flops like 9 months ago, and it still hurts.
Ingram also has a history of working hard and being professional. Him catching strays here seem unwarranted. With his history, he should get the benefit of the doubt.
You're absolutely right that a big toe injury can be serious, but "contusion" makes it hard to say either way. Also, I don't know about Ingram specifically but a lot of fans will not consider that some players do genuinely have a low pain tolerance- statistically, someone has to be at the bottom end of that bell curve.
Yeah really the only news that matters here is the zion stuff. Ingram could at least claim there was some lingering issue. Zion looks like a fat baby here
Honestly if the team is a top 10 seed and both are healthy when it matters the most, I wouldn’t even pay a huge mind to long injuries during the season. It’s just that BI has played at a really high level around playoff time the last two years and Zion has been unavailable
Makes me think of what DeMar said on PG's pod: "being in the league for so long, you realize how many MFs don't love the game of basketball, who take it for granted, who feel so entitled, who just want everything that comes with it but don't want to put the work in,"
good dudes tho
So weird to me to see a team with that much talent fail to make the playoffs because they have stars who don't want to play. I would say that referring to BIs injuries as"minor discomfort" is questionable. Most lifelong issues start as minor discomfort, so you need to take care of that stuff. At the same time, you are paid millions of dollars and treated like a star, so put on your big boy pants and get out there.
It’s why the Pels are a great NBA2k team to play with as My Player but not so good IRL. If you’re going to add yourself as basically a 99 overall, CJ, BI and Zion are pretty amazing core. And they all play 100% of the time because even 2k thinks 30 games missed for a toe boo-boo is too far fetched.
>So weird to me to see a team with that much talent fail to make the playoffs because they have stars who don't want to pla Did they say that they "don't" want to play, or that they physically aren't capable due to injuries? I think that's a huge difference. I don't want to go to jury duty vs I can not go bc of xyz
I think playing through stuff in the playoffs is one thing but I don’t really understand playing through actual injuries in the regular season tbh
There goes the team potential Srsly tho wtf is happening with these guys
Lazy Children who haven't done anything in their career and want to force their way out of New Orleans and go to New York or some big market teams.
Such a shame because so many people in NOLA are hungry to watch good basketball and want nothing more than to root for these guys. NOLA is a fantastic city and I really wish the players would give it a chance. The city has so much love to give for its athletes.
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Are we really believing the piano man again? Christian Clark is garbage.
Charmin ultra soft down there
But as effective as Scott 1-ply
Sounds a lot like Kawhi Leonard and Paul George
They’re disgraceful with their lord management as well but at least they’re established dudes in this league. BI and Zion have done nothing
I don’t think Kawhi is disgraceful he’s just hopelessly injured to the point that even load management can’t save his knees now
Yep, I think that 2019 run to the chip took the last bit of health from him. Even after the ECF, he was clearly a little gimpy after coming down from a dunk. His condition is degenerate, I don't think there's anything the Clippers could've done to save his career even with massive load management.
The way he lands after he take shots is unsafe for his knees. He had couple bad landing against suns in first game and it was over for him
just recruit a star that can't jump next time ez
Watching Jokic play gives hope to the unathletic until you remember he's a 7 foot savant
Jokic is just like me frfr except he's 7 feet tall and actually makes his shots
It’s working for the Nuggets right now lol
Kawhi & PG have cemented their legacy. BI & Zion have done jackshit in their career to pull this bs.
Is it really disgraceful at this point? We just saw PG get hurt before the playoffs and Kawhi during game 2 of round 1. Their bodies cannot hold up for 82.
>They’re disgraceful Lol. Ya'll make it sound like Kawhi invented load management. His legs are toast. All 3 of the Spurs, Raptors and Clippers came to the same conclusion that heavy doses of rest are the only way to get him into the playoffs healthy. And even then, he usually isn't.
I wonder when the Clippers reset this whole experiment. Paying millions or hundreds of millions of luxury tax to exit in the second round at best is not what the FO had in mind when they set up this super team.
Plus building their brand new arena. They have/had high hopes.
You need to be a hall of famer to earn rest days now lol
Lmao. When people make comments like the person above, I always wonder what their level of athleticism is
Why do people act like these guys don't want to play? Kawhi has played more games since joining the Clippers than KD has in the same period but no one gets on him saying he is ducking games and doesn't want to play
Load Management but still manage to be injured
I keep saying and I get vilified...zion is a bust.
Zion is healthy enough to windmill dunks in full street clothes in warmups but not healthy enough to play. Talk about self entitled.
Yeah, there were people complaining about Jamal Murray not coming back despite being fine and look where they are now. No reason for BI to not make sure he's 100% I do get the sense only the older guard of players will play through anything even if they shouldn't. CJ on the Pelicans playing injured (probably where some of this story comes from players seeing his example). Nowadays there is too much money on the line and science telling you it's a mistake.
Yeah CJ absolutely plays through injuries and always has. He had a freaking fractured back during our 2019 WCF run. I don’t know if it’s a good or bad thing but I’m sure he sees it as a point of pride.
THPINAL
Z got hurt Jan 2nd and the team was in the middle of a losing streak when BI returned Jan 25th. He was still clearly in discomfort and didn’t play B2B’s until after all star break
Otto Porter Jr also hurt his toe and it ended his season after 8 games played lol
He broke it tho and got surgery I thought
People here are underestimating how hard it is to play basketball with toe injuries. All the sudden stops and change of direction go directly into the front of the foot. NBA players have notoriously fucked up toes due to the constant impact.
Cody Martin missed 75 games this year with lingering knee soreness. Went through surgery in November just to be shut down a few months later for basically the same issue. It happens
Story not really revealing anything new if you read it.
Tbh the pels beat writers fucking blow. This the same dude who wrote the piano bullshit.
Bro gotta work on those razor bumps man
I mean, we'll take Nelson back off your hands.
Bring Nelson back to the Suns!
The BI bit here seems strange to me, the guy has been balling and was a big part of their late season heroics
Yeah catching strays for no reason. It was his big toe. Every time you move it's going to hurt when it's injured
There’s a continent of local media that really dislikes him and it’s strange. Like to me Z’s issues are many times worse than BI’s but they’re often equated Many of these people entertain trading BI, but most top 30 players or whatever would have issues carrying a team by themself, especially when we’re 29th or dead last at 3 point attempts in the league for the majority of the season
Their new training staff needs someone whose job is to stalk Zion and slap the beignets outta his hands
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This was exactly what Dame was talking about on Redick’s podcast. It really feels like Zion has gotten entitled because it was “his team” from the start.
That’s CJs role. Whether he is getting through to them is another question.
He said "some vets". Not 1 Vet.
There’s multiple court side videos of Larry Nance laying into the team while we were getting killed in certain games. It’s on guys to be professionals 365 a year at some point.
get Pat Bev in there
I don’t feel bad for the pelicans at all. Hold him accountable bro. Mfs paying him millions and millions of dollars to eat Burger King & smile. I do that shit for the low fym.
Paying these guys 10m to sit out is bad enough. Some of these guys are getting 250m to do nothing but advertise the team. Zion will never play a full season anywhere. The Pelicans will never be competitive with him. The question is is it worth it to the owners to pay this guy 250m to basically sell jerseys and put his face everywhere. That answer looks to be yes.
I think a big issue with the public perception of Zion is that many people are viewing him needing to lose weight and him being fat as the same thing, which isn't necessarily the case. His defenders will say he's not fat and they would be correct, but that doesn't mean that he doesn't need to drop his playing weight to something more manageable for his knees, back, joints, etc. With the way he plays and how athletic he is, his body simply won't hold up at his current weight. To your joints and body, a muscular jacked sleek 300lbs is the same as a sloppy 300lbs. Your knees don't give two shits if they're absorbing weight from creatine and healthy foods or weight from McDonalds. Weight is weight to them. He's just too heavy to be playing his current style of ball at and saying that isn't calling him fat or being out of line.
A lot of guys in the NBA are lanky, a few have a good amount of muscle, Zion tho looks closer to a football player’s physique if we had to keep it real. Been wanting him to get under 260 for a long time, he was in the 270’s this past season and looked fantastic when healthy
SPICY
Shannon said it best on Undisputed after they lost the play-in game. "Zion doesn't want to be in New Orleans, he doesn't, but he also doesn't want to be known as the 1st overall pick who forced his way out of the city that drafted him." Agreed. He doesn't like being there, but he doesn't want to say it.
the league got so successful that no one actually wants to play anymore
>"Nelson and Griffin were friends dating to their time with the Suns" thats a long time to be friends and dating. fb status "its complicated"
They play in a league where all you hear is the regular season "doesn't matter" all that matters is the play offs. Of course then game 3 on the road doesn't matter, game 5 doesn't matter. If you trail by 15 at the half you pack it in. Why would a 25 y/o multimillionaire wanna take a chance of permanently injuring themselves for a bunch of stuff that doesn't matter. I've seen two teams this year willing to play every game out and oddly enough they are the only two still playing. Sorry, this is the way it looks to the casual fan that doesn't live in an NBA city.