Jamahl Mosley’s Pelicans focused on ‘correctable’ process amid historic losing streak

Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-Imagn ImagesJamahl Mosley’s Pelicans focused on ‘correctable’ process amid historic losing streak appeared first on ClutchPoints. Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here.Four games, three blowouts, countless defensive breakdowns, and one franchise record is not exactly the best start to the holiday season. However, it’s not quite panic time according to Jamahl Mosley, even though Dejounte Murray frustrations have turned an encouraging four-game winning streak into a historically ugly stretch of basketball from the Zion Williamson-led New Orleans Pelicans. They’ve given up 138+ points and have a combined 101-point deficit over their last three games, the worst stretch in franchise history. Still, in his usual calm, steady pitch, Mosley stressed that treating every outcome as a definitive high or low creates an unhealthy cycle.“If you look at it from every win, every loss is going to be the high or the low, then you’re putting yourself into a situation that you don’t want to be in,” Mosley told ClutchPoints. “And our guys know what we’re trying to accomplish. Look at the measuring stick in certain areas, where you were in each one of these games, and are you able to correct those things? And I think in each one of the games, they’re all correctable.”Watch sports LIVE with fuboTV (free trial)Identifying mistakes and actually correcting them are entirely different challenges. Either way, there is a limit to how much patience any organization can reasonably expect when its shortcomings are being exposed so dramatically.Losing close games while developing young talent is one thing. Getting overwhelmed and showing little resistance against lottery-bound opponents presents a much more troubling picture, especially for a front office chasing a postseason appearance. Poor defensive communication, inconsistent effort, careless possessions, and an inability to respond have gotten more than one coach fired.That’s why establishing the right habits is more important than any short-term wins that masked obvious flaws.“Is your process right?” Mosley asked. “And I think we’ve got to keep hitting home that we are establishing something that’s long-term versus just okay, so you won a couple games, but the process was wrong. I will not do that for where we’re trying to build and go with this organization.”The defensive failures are particularly alarming considering Mosley’s reputation for developing disciplined, physical defenses. The disconnect between what the Pelicans preached during Media Day and what is happening on the court has become impossible to ignore.“Guys aren’t happy. I’m not happy. And in that same breath, you understand it’s a part of a process of growing and getting better,” Mosley said. “I get it. We all want to be undefeated for an entire NBA season. I would love to go 82-0, but you got to learn the lessons within this. How do we start a game? How do we close a game? You have to go through these things in order to understand what your process and how it can work.”“And then, how can you balance that out as the year goes on? I think that’s so important for our guys to understand,” Mosley added. “To say to the guys that we’re going to look at this 82-game season and go by one game at a time and say it’s going to be a measuring stick of how the season is going to go. It’s hard to look at it that way. And I want our guys to really digest the importance of yes, each game matters, but also the process of what’s going on within that five-game sample.”The challenge for Mosley is no longer simply identifying what has gone wrong. It is proving that the process he continues to preach can produce tangible results with this locker room before repeated failures become accepted habits, again, under a new regime. For a franchise desperate to establish a sustainable winning culture, the distinction between growing pains and genuine regression is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.Related: Why point Zion Williamson gets ‘excellent’ grade despite Pelicans’ franchise-worst losing streakRelated: What Jamahl Mosley said about bad body language before Dejounte Murray’s crashout