New Orleans Pelicans: How Will The Bigs Be Shuffled?

By Owen Sanborn | Oct 25, 2014

Sep 29, 2014; New Orleans, LA, USA; New Orleans pelicans forward Anthony Davis and Ryan Anderson (33) pose for a photo during the Pelicans media day at the New Orleans Pelicans practice facility. Mandatory Credit: Crystal LoGiudice-USA TODAY Sports /

As the preseason has come to its conclusion, some lingering questions remain about the New Orleans Pelicans’ roster heading into Tuesday’s opener against the Orlando Magic.

Will Anthony Davis make the HOLY CRAP, THIS GUY IS RIDICULOUS LEAP and ascend to be a top-five player in the league? If the team gets off to a slow start, will Eric Gordon and Tyreke Evans — and their hefty contracts — survive the entire season on the roster?

Is Monty Williams a good coach, or merely just a guy that can dress the part? Will Pierre the Pelican and King Cake Baby cause any more nightmares this season?

Although those are all essential questions, I would like to fixate on a potential quandary that may cause a quarrel (like how I used two words that started with “q” in the same sentence?) between players and coaches.

How will Williams and his staff choose to rotate the frontcourt lineup this season?

For starters, it is a lock that the starting front court with consist of Tyreke Evans at small forward, Anthony Davis and power forward and Omer Asik and his sweaty locks at center. However, the rotation can take many turns from there on.

During the preseason, Williams has elected to sub out Asik first in favor of Ryan Anderson, thus moving Davis to the center spot. This gives the Pelicans an optimal lineup on the offensive end with the playmaking ability of Holiday and Evans, Anderson’s floor spacing/sneaky offensive skills, Eric Gordon’s floor spacing and potential to help in any late in the shot clock crisis situations and the pure awesomeness of Davis.

Not too many defenses in the league are going to be able to contain that kind of offensive firepower.

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Despite the offensive excellence, the frontcourt tandem of Davis and Anderson would be susceptible to overpowering teams with large human beings playing at power forward and center. Think of teams like the Memphis Grizzlies with Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph or the Los Angeles Clippers with Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan.

Expect for Anderson and Davis to be a tandem when the Pelicans are looking to push the ball more against a team like the Phoenix Suns, for example.

A nutty idea that I have recently heard being thrown around in the media is the thought of playing Anderson, Davis and Asik at the same time.

The thought process being that Anderson would create more spacial symmetry on the offensive end (since playing Asik and Evans at the same time is going to cause traffic jams offensively) with his effective floor spacing and height advantage over opposing small forwards.

This scenario may seem like a fun wrinkle and a nice curveball to throw at opposing defenses every now and then, but it’s hard to envision it getting much run throughout the season. Anderson would have a difficult time matching up with athletic small forwards defensively, even if he would have Davis and Asik behind him to protect the basket.

Personally, I hope Williams attempts to play Anderson at the three some this season, just to see how things unfold. His uncanny ability to shoot the lights out for a player of his stature gives opposing defenses fits, so it is important to get him as much playing time as possible.

As for the backup bigs, Alexis Ajinca and Jeff Withey should battle for the remaining minutes at center with rookie Patric Young mostly seeing garbage time duty during blowouts.

It will be interesting to see what path Williams chooses to go when staggering the minutes of his big men. Each player has their own unique strengths and weaknesses, and it may take a few weeks or even months into the season to get into the right rhythm rotationally.

Unfortunately for Williams, ownership is operating under a playoff or bust mindset this season. He is going to have to figure things out sooner rather than later.

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