New Orleans Pelicans: The Ripple Effect Of Gordon’s Injury
By Owen Sanborn
The New Orleans Pelicans have been used to not having the services of Eric Gordon over the past few seasons. Unfortunately for both the team and the player, Gordon has not been able to stay on the court for significant amounts of time and grow into the player everyone once thought he could be.
This season is no different as Gordon will be sidelined indefinitely with a torn labrum in his shoulder. The timing of the injury is unlucky, as Gordon was just beginning to climb his way out of the shooting hole he dug himself into early on in the season.
Tuesday night was the first opportunity for the Pelicans to play without Gordon this season and Monty Williams interestingly elected to start Darius Miller in his place. Inserting the 6’8″ Miller at small forward allowed Tyreke Evans to resort to his natural position of shooting guard, a position in which he excels.
Miller predictably was underwhelming for much of the game, neglecting to score a point in 14 minutes played. Much of the struggles could be attributed to rust, but Miller simply did not look comfortable on the floor.
It was nice to see Evans back in his natural role of all-purpose shooting guard where he can feast on the NBA’s most scarce position. He answered the bell on a night where the Pelicans struggled on offense, finishing with 22 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists on 10-of-17 shooting from the field.
More from New Orleans Pelicans
- NBA Trades: This Mavericks-Pelicans swap would boost Dallas’ frontline
- NBA Trades: This Pelicans-Raptors deal would send a star to the Big Easy
- NBA Rumors: Zion’s work ethic casts doubt on his future in New Orleans
- Ranking the 10 championship-less NBA teams by closeness to title
- NBA Rumors: Zion Williamson’s days with the Pelicans may be numbered
Although Miller was dubbed the de-facto starter, the beneficiaries (at least minutes wise) of Gordon’s injury were Ryan Anderson and Austin Rivers. Anderson played a total of 30 minutes, a slight uptick from his typical amount of usage. Rivers also saw a minutes increase, playing 27 minutes compared to his typical 22 minute average.
Most Pelicans-affiliated Twitter feeds were clamoring for the upstart Rivers to get the starting nod, but I agree with Williams’ thought process of letting him continue to gain confidence by coming of the bench. Removing Rivers (or Anderson for that matter) from the bench unit would drastically hinder the second unit’s scoring ability. Relying on the likes of Jimmer Fredette, Luke Babbitt and Jeff Withey to provide quality shots sounds like an interesting venture in its own right, but most likely would not result in W’s.
A starting five consisting of Jrue Holiday, Evans, Miller, Anthony Davis and Omer Asik still has plenty of offensive punch to compete with other starting fives. Allowing Rivers and Anderson to be main cogs on the second unit gives New Orleans quick strike ability to either attack the subpar bench units of their counterparts or extend leads the starting unit has built.
Distributing minutes is a difficult proposition for an NBA coach, but Williams has done a good enough job so far this season. I appreciate when he stacks the minutes of a starter with parts of the second unit (especially when it involves playing Anderson alongside Davis) and creates a hellacious mismatch for the opponent.
Gordon’s injury will force Williams to become even more of a master juggler when it comes to player’s minutes. Rivers, Miller and Fredette will have to take on bigger roles. Maybe John Salmons makes a cameo appearance every now and then.
One thing is certain; as long as the Pelicans have The Brow at its disposal, they will be a force to be reckoned with on a nightly basis.