Willie Green's job security, the tanking question and more: Pelicans mailbag

Its been a long time coming, but the first New Orleans Pelicans mailbag of the season is finally here.

It might be a struggle for the Pels to keep their players on the floor these days, but that wont stop us from answering some of the questions you have about this teams present and future.

Lets jump right into it.

(Some questions have been edited for clarity and length.) Advertisement Do you get any sense that Willie Greens job is in jeopardy? Beyond the injuries, this team often doesnt play hard.

And why can they never run a play on offense? Bill C.

Outside of the injuries, this seems to be the main topic of discussion for many Pelicans fans in recent weeks.

Its not surprising, considering how the season has started for a team that came into the year with legitimate hopes of winning 50-plus games.

As frustrating as it may sound, its hard to feel like Greens job is in danger when hes being asked to win games with Brandon Boston Jr.

, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl and Javonte Green in the starting lineup.

Have there been a few games that slipped away this season that Green couldve done more to salvage? Perhaps.

I wrote on Wednesday about his reluctance to take timeouts at the end of the losses to the Los Angeles Lakers and Brooklyn Nets that might come back to bite this team.

Considering how tough the schedule has been lately, anyone expecting this group to be playing .500 ball with Brandon Ingram and a bunch of two-way guys has to be more realistic.

Are there areas where Green needs to improve as an in-game coach? Absolutely.

What matters more is that CJ McCollum , Jordan Hawkins and Herb Jones all have a pretty good chance of being back on the floor before the end of the month.

Dejounte Murray will also be back in the mix within the next couple weeks.

Once the Pelicans start looking like a real NBA team again, the spotlight on Green will be extremely bright.

If he cant get things turned around, then hell deserve the harsh criticism.

Some of the Pelicans struggles in close games must be a thing of the past.

Every win will make a huge difference the rest of the way.

But until some of the regular rotation guys are back on the floor, its hard to put much blame at Greens feet.

Advertisement Shouldnt the Pels be tanking given the injuries? Phil T.

With every loss the Pels suffer, the calls to Sag for Flagg or Brace for Ace will get louder.

The appeal of having a high pick in this years draft is extremely high considering the talent at the top of the board , led by Dukes Cooper Flagg and Rutgers Ace Bailey.

The easiest path to adding a superstar will always be selecting one at the top of the draft.

But as bad as their record is now, its hard for me to see the Pelicans remaining bad enough to have one of the three or four worst records in the league by the end of the season.

Like I said above, McCollum, Hawkins, Jones and Murray are all expected to be back in the lineup relatively soon.

With that much talent on the perimeter, along with Ingram and Trey Murphy III , the Pelicans will have enough to compete every night.

Not to mention, there wont be much of an appetite for taking a step back when the head coach and the lead executive, David Griffin, are already getting some heat from the fan base.

Plus, Murray, Murphy, Jones and Zion Williamson are locked in with long-term contracts.

Even if they finally pull the plug and ship Ingram to another team, the Pels would still have enough to win.

The most important thing for this team the rest of the way will be getting Murray, Murphy, Jones and Williamson on the court together as much as possible and seeing what that core looks like on both ends of the floor.

How do you find the other pieces to bring the best out of those four guys? Thats where the future of the team lies.

Besides, ask the Detroit Pistons how fun it is to watch a team tank all season and not end up with a top-3 pick.

Are all of the soft-tissue injuries, e.g., hamstring strains, just bad luck or are they a symptom of poor conditioning or poor performance by the training staff? Anonymous First off, Im not a doctor, so Im a terrible person to ask these kinds of questions.

Advertisement However, there are different kinds of soft-tissue injuries, and just because one team has two or three guys dealing with hamstring injuries at the same time doesnt mean all of them are out of shape or that the medical staff is terrible.

Its easy to point at Williamson and say his hamstring injury is because hes out of shape, but Murphy suffered a pretty severe hamstring strain on the second day of training camp.

Is anyone saying his injury was a result of being out of shape? Sometimes, injuries do tell a bigger story about how a medical staff is working or how much a player is taking care of their body.

And there are also times when injuries are just bad luck.

The one area of concern that I find hard to overlook is when a player starts suffering repeated soft-tissue injuries to the same part of the body.

Murphy hasnt dealt with hamstring injuries much during his time in the league.

But Williamson had issues with both of his hamstrings this season, and he was forced to miss the playoffs last season after suffering a hamstring injury in the Play-In Tournament against the Lakers.

He also missed four months of the 2022-23 season because of hamstring issues.

This is where its fair to start asking some serious questions: Whats been done to address these hamstring problems? How much added treatment is being put in place to make sure these problems wont continue? Is there a common issue thats been the cause behind these injuries? I dont have a problem chalking up Murrays broken thumb or Jones shoulder injury to bad luck.

But Williamsons hamstrings and the work being done to make sure they wont become an issue again is something that both he and the team have to address.

Will, where do you think Brandon Boston Jr.

will be slotted once the regulars come back? Hes done a fabulous job during this time.

Jim C.

Theres no doubt Boston has earned a spot in the regular rotation once everyone is back.

Hes proven he can knock down 3s as a catch-and-shoot guy or off the dribble.

He can make plays with the ball in the open court.

And he moves with confidence.

Advertisement If were looking at what the rotation will be once most of the guys are back, but Williamson and Alvarado are still out, Id say the starters will be Murray, McCollum, Jones, Ingram and Yves Missi .

That leaves Murphy, Javonte Green, Robinson-Earl and Boston as the top reserves.

If we had to chop the rotation down to eight guys, Id still keep Boston in over Green.

This teams need for outside shooters is too important.

I think itll get very interesting if Boston keeps playing well up until its time for Alvarado to come back.

As much as I like the idea of having a backup point guard with Bostons size and shooting, the energy Alvarado brings on defense is a crucial part of this teams identity.

His feel for playing in the passing lanes and creating turnovers is such a rare asset.

Id probably play Alvarado over Boston if push came to shove, but Boston will have some time over the next few weeks to shift my opinion and the coaching staffs.

Does the front office want to stick with Missi all year, or trade for a starting center until Missis ready? Autumn C.

Missis play has been one of the few reasons to be excited about whats going on with the Pelicans lately.

I think hes done enough to earn a chance to hold down the starting center spot the rest of the season.

Once most of the team is healthy again, I wouldnt be surprised if Green finishes a few games with Robinson-Earl or Jones at center so itll be easier for them to space the floor and switch everything on defense.

Still, Missi has proven he can bring a ton of value as a lob threat, an offensive rebounder and an energy guy.

Life will be a lot easier for him once he gets to play with guards who can create easy looks for him again.

If Ingram ends up getting moved before the trade deadline, I wouldnt be surprised if a veteran center is included in that deal to add some depth in the frontcourt.

Regardless, Missi deserves an opportunity to show what he can do as a full-time starter with some of the regulars.

The best-case scenario for this team is if they can go into the offseason and feel pretty good about Missi as the starting center going into 2025-26.

With the financial crunch the Pels will be working around, having a starting big man on a rookie-scale contract will make building out the rest of the roster a lot easier.

Advertisement Id also add that giving out assets to grab another veteran center doesnt make sense when this team still has so much work to do to get back in the playoff race.

Giving up any real assets with the hopes of saving this season would be extremely short-sighted.

Do you think the Pelicans regret not keeping the Lakers pick last year? Krishazure Although Dalton Knecht would be a fantastic fit in New Orleans, considering how tight the financial crunch was for this team last summer, it wouldve been really difficult for them to add another $3.8 million in guaranteed money to this years books.

Maybe they couldve used that first-rounder to make another deal, but we also have to remember that most teams and experts were down on last years draft.

The more sensible move was to bet on a potential Lakers collapse in 2025 (which looks unlikely now, but was hardly impossible to envision) or to have another pick in a 2025 draft that looks better and deeper.

For the folks who are into tanking for one of the top guys in this years draft, one way to move up and potentially get a top-8 pick next summer is by potentially packaging a Pels pick thats better than expected along with the extra Lakers pick New Orleans still has in its back pocket.

At the very least, Pels fans can be happy that drafting Missi at No.

21 last summer looks like a success.

(Top photo: Sean Gardner / Getty Images).

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