The New Orleans Pelicans aren’t a team that can contend for a championship, but they have a key building block to rebuild around in Anthony Davis.
It’s not easy contending for a championship in the NBA.
Many teams often feel like they’re so close to tasting lasting success, but then unforeseen problems come into focus.
Players become unhappy with their living and locker room situations, the injury bug comes around and coaches and general managers become disinterested with the groundwork they have in front of them. Not to mention owners usually hold high standards of success because they’re pumping a lot of money through the pipeline and expect titles, not mediocrity.
I can see these things taking shape with the New Orleans Pelicans. Day by day it becomes more clear that this team needs a fresh start.
Eric Gordon, Jrue Holiday and Tyreke Evans haven’t been able to mesh on the court because of lingering injuries and an overall disjointed fit with one another.
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The trio have a combined real plus/minus of 1.04 according to ESPN.com. That number is largely thanks to the two-way play of Evans who’s real plus/minus currently ranks fourth among shooting guards at 2.19. That’s a nice statistic except he hasn’t even been a full-time starter at that position. Depending on who’s on the floor Evans has played point guard and small forward as well.
All three players need the ball in their hands to succeed. Gordon is a three-point shooter off the catch but he’s not the same explosive athlete at getting to the rim anymore (only 21.8 percent of his total shot attempts come within three feet of the rim, down from his career number of 28.8 percent). He shoots over half his attempts from beyond the arc, and more often that not he’s been inefficient in doing so (37.5 percent from three but only 41.3 percent from the field overall).
As for Holiday, he’ll never be the same player that he was playing with the Philadelphia 76ers. He’s a shell of himself unable to effectively blow by defenders and his jump shot isn’t always consistent. If he could ever get healthy then he’s certainly a piece to a team’s championship puzzle but by the eye test he doesn’t pass as a top-notch NBA point guard at this point in his career.
There are plenty of rumors that forward Ryan Anderson will have a new home by the trade deadline even though the Pelicans are adamantly denying it, leaving an important question that needs answering: are the Pelicans actually thinking about rebuilding?
It’s their smartest bet by far. The trio of guards don’t fit well together, Anderson’s most likely on his way out and the bench isn’t exactly filled with gems either.
What New Orleans does have, however, is a cornerstone who deserves to have a quality team built around him in Anthony Davis.
Davis isn’t your ordinary basketball player. Standing at 6-foot-10, the former No. 1 overall pick is a guard trapped in a big man’s body.
When he first entered the league Davis was an explosive athlete who could make an impact around the basket on both ends of the floor. In just two seasons time we’ve seen him expand his game out to the perimeter, especially under the tutelage of new head coach Alvin Gentry who’s pace and space system depends on Davis being an inside-outside threat to score.
Davis takes over half of his shots from outside of 10 feet of the basket and is relatively efficient from distance, shooting 34.4 percent on said attempts this season.
Those numbers are down from last year but Davis is getting used to a faster system and different style of play. In time, he’ll raise his numbers back up and improve his shooting from three-point range.
From scoring to shot blocking to being the best two-way presence at the power forward spot in the NBA, Davis’ game doesn’t have limits. He’s a player all his own and one the Pelicans are lucky to have.
Do all the pieces fit together? Can everyone co-exist under Gentry’s offense? Is it too early to hit the panic button? Quite frankly, this team has underachieved before this season. Yes, the team has experienced an unfortunate series of injuries but are those the kinds of players a title contender wants any part of?
It’s not too late to hit the reset button on this current project. A high lottery pick (Ben Simmons perhaps?) would go a long way in terms of finding Davis a true running mate to grow with instead of older players who haven’t quite lived up to their own expectations.
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The key word with all of this is patience. New Orleans needs plenty of it if they want long-time success in the NBA.