New Orleans Pelicans: Evaluating The State Of The Team

With things starting to come down to the nitty gritty, I felt the need to evaluate the state of the New Orleans Pelicans as they head down the home stretch of a potential playoff push. Regardless of how things turn out this season, it should still be considered a success.

Monty Williams has juggled the roster to keep the ship afloat while main cogs of the team are sidelined and this team has represented themselves well in a bloodbath Western Conference.

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So, let us now answer some questions from this Pelicans season thus far.

What is the mood like for the Pelicans fan base currently and do they have enough to sneak into the postseason party?

I would characterize the Pelicans’ fan base as hopeful, but they have their guard up. They are like that girl on The Bachelor that says they are ready for love and want to have a family, yet when things start to get real, they become overwhelmed and throw up a wall to protect themselves from heartbreak.

(I had Becca on my personal Fantasy Bachelor team this season and cannot believe she almost pulled out the victory for me. It was a fun ride, Becca. You are better off living in San Diego than Arlington, Iowa, anyways.)

Take a few minutes to recover from that quick Bachelor tangent …

(Waiting)

I do think this team has enough to get itself over the line believe it or not. They always show well against the top teams in the west, have Anthony Davis putting the rest of the league into a coma, Tyreke Evans is playing his true position and Eric Gordon has finally found his role. With the Thunder ailing, I think the Pellies smell that the time is now to make their move.

Why is New Orleans’ defensive efficiency rating the sixth-worst in the NBA?

You would think a team with Anthony Davis and Omer Asik manning the painted area would post better defensive numbers, right? Honestly a bunch of their defensive issues could be due to their bad luck with the injury bug.

Defense is mainly about communication, cohesion and effort, and it is difficult for everyone to get on the same page when there are new players rotating in and out of the lineup on a consistent basis.

Additionally, the rotations are not always crisp and in sync, leading to a ton of easy buckets for the opposition. There are at least two or three plays a game when a ball handler will have a free lane to the hoop for a lay up. The Pelicans’ announcers get really grumpy whenever this happens and it is easily one of the best parts of the game viewing experience.

With all of that being said, the Pelicans’ defensive rating should not be that low and I expect that number to improve whenever the roster can sustain a long period of good health.

Is Ryan Anderson ever going to return to form?

Anderson, to be fair, went through a scary injury to his neck last season and has had to go through the aches and pains of returning from that. He just hasn’t been able to get into a rhythm this season. Whenever he is able to get some positive momentum going, there is always some little nick of an injury to derail all of the progress he made.

Anderson is still an elite heat check guy capable of scoring you 15-20 points a night in my opinion, he just needs to find a way to be able to stay on the court. He feels like one of those guys that gets forgotten because of a couple of off or injury-plagued seasons and the Spurs nab him for fifty cents on the dollar (think Boris Diaw) via trade or free agency.

I am already mad thinking about this happening.

So, let’s be honest, Anthony Davis is an alien, right?

I’m going to sound like a total Anthony Davis groupie, but he really does not have many weaknesses at this point in time.

He is starting to understand when the correct time to pass up a good shot for a great shot on offense; which in turn is leading to a higher number of assists. Every now and then, he will bust out this fadeaway bank shot off of one leg (a la Dirk Nowitzki) that is unguardable and causes me to take a moment and reflect on what I just witnessed.

His midrange shot has improved drastically and the rest of the league is going to dread the day when he develops a three point shot because it is coming sooner rather than later.

I guess he can still get pushed around in the paint some against post bullies such as a Zach Randolph, but who doesn’t these days? What he lacks for in girth (he has definitely gotten stronger this year) he makes up for in length and smarts.

The scary thing about Davis is that he is just scratching the surface on figuring it all out. This is only year three…

Enjoy these next few weeks, Pelicans fans. Your young team is starting to figure things out and a date with the Golden State Warriors in the first round is beginning to look like a more real possibility with each passing day.

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