New Orleans Pelicans: Best Move They Did, Didn’t Make

The New Orleans Pelicans hope year two of the Alvin Gentry era ends much differently than the first. Did they make the right moves to accomplish that wish? What move could they have made differently?

Each offseason 30 NBA teams strive to make the right moves to help their teams win. They want to draft and sign and trade until a championship roster stands before them.

But not every team can win — at the end of the season, every win in the league is balanced out by another squad’s loss. While October dawns bright for every fan base, an 82-game season unleashes disappointment on many.

The New Orleans Pelicans tasted that disappointment last season. New head coach Alvin Gentry was supposed to unlock new realms of potential in superstar Anthony Davis, allowing him to ascend to the very top of the league.

Instead injuries, regression, and even more injuries shattered those dreams right out of the gate.

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This offseason the Pelicans sought to add young rotation pieces to rebound and reclaim their spot in the playoffs. What was the best move they made this offseason? And what was the move they left undone?

Best Move: Letting Ryan Anderson, Eric Gordon Walk In Free Agency

On the surface, Ryan Anderson and Eric Gordon are talented NBA players with the skill sets to be a part of an elite NBA offense. Gordon is a career 38 percent shooter from long range and has averaged as many as 22.3 points per season during his final run with the Los Angeles Clippers.

Anderson has hit 37 percent of his three-pointers during his career, averaged as many as 19.3 points per game for a season and flexed his muscles as an above-average rebounder when situated inside.

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But the reality of the situation is that theoretical offense would never come to pass, because neither player can stay on the court.

Gordon hasn’t played more than 64 games since his rookie year in 2009, averaging 44 games per season since arriving in New Orleans.

Anderson, after playing 81 games during his first season with the Pelicans, has averaged 49 games played in the three seasons since.

It’s impossible to field a top-level offense when key players are not on the court. Combine their limited availability with poor defensive ability, and neither Anderson nor Gordon were worth the contracts they received from the Houston Rockets.

Both signed four-year contracts that will take them into their 30s, and for a team built around a 23-year old star, the Pelicans were right to let them walk.

In replacing the two, New Orleans went younger and cheaper at both positions.

Solomon Hill has struggled with his outside shot since entering the league three seasons ago, but during the final month of the season and the first round of the playoffs Hill showed that when slotted as a small-ball power forward he can space the floor and hit open shots.

Hill also provides more on the defensive end, combining effort and athleticism to make at least an impact while on the court. Despite playing less than 1/4 of the minutes, Hill totaled more defensive win shares than Anderson and Gordon combined last season.

He isn’t the offensive threat Ryan Anderson is, but he won’t tear a hole in the defense simply by stepping onto the court.

While the 28-year old Ryan Anderson was signed for four years, $80 million, the Pelicans secured Hill’s services for significantly less. The 25-year old forward out of Arizona will make $48 million over four years, around $8 million less annually.

Hill is entering just his fourth season in the league after the Indiana Pacers declined his fourth-year option last offseason.

Gordon was replaced initially by E’Twaun Moore and a few weeks later Langston Galloway joined the squad as well. Both Moore and Galloway served as backups to both guard positions, giving New Orleans increased flexibility when managing its rotation.

Moore hit a scorching 45 percent of his 3-point attempts last season, while Galloway hit a respectable 34 percent while shooting twice as many.

Moore is the oldest of the group at 27, entering his sixth season in the league. Galloway is only 24, entering his third season in the league, and last season showed flashes of growth still to come in his game.

Moore was signed to a four-year deal worth $34 million, while Galloway took two years at $10 million. Combined that’s the same amount per year the brittle Gordon received from Houston.

None of the players New Orleans signed this offseason will significantly change the fortunes of this team. That still rests on the shoulders of Anthony Davis. But in moving on from older, fragile players the Pelicans are seeking to build a contender on the proper timeline.

That’s the best move of their offseason.

Best Move They Didn’t Make: Swinging for the Fences in the Draft

Adding a second superstar is one of the hardest parts of building a successful team. Once a team has one superstar, they tend to see enough success that the very best players in a draft are chosen before them.

The Pelicans’ injuries last season allowed them to bottom out and acquire the No. 6 overall pick in the draft.

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That gave them the unique opportunity to draft a player with star potential. While the players with high floors to match their ceilings went before them — Ben Simmons, Brandon Ingram, perhaps Dragan Bender and Kris Dunn — two players with incredible upside fell to them at sixth.

Jamal Murray put up a high-scoring freshman year at Kentucky, dropping 20 points per game on 40 percent shooting from distance. At 6’4” Murray has the size to play either guard position, putting in most of his minutes off the ball in college.

A high school point guard, Murray certainly has the skills to run the offense given time to develop to an NBA level.

Marquese Chriss put in a unique season at Washington. As a freshman he was wildly inconsistent as a big man for the Huskies, at times splashing shots from inside and outside the arc; at others fouling himself out of the rotation early.

But his combination of length, athleticism, and shooting speak to the possibility of a coveted NBA archetype buried within, the big man who can protect the rim and space the floor.

Either of these players would have given the New Orleans Pelicans a shot at a second star, the spot Jrue Holiday has been unable to fill. Murray would have worked beautifully off the ball with Holiday in the Pelicans’ backcourt, spacing the court around Anthony Davis’ dives to the hoop.

Chriss could have been a high-energy backup to Davis at first, with the upside of pairing with him as the league’s best front line down the road.

Instead the Pelicans went for the low-ceiling option in Oklahoma guard Buddy Hield. The 2016 John Wooden Award winner for the best player in college basketball, Hield exploded his senior year into a prolific, high-volume scorer who could hit shots from anywhere on the court.

As teams focused defensive coverage on him, he developed passable playmaking abilities and he led the Sooners to a Final Four appearance.

Buddy Hield is a solid basketball player, but he will never be an NBA superstar. NBA defenders are longer and faster than those he saw in the Big 12, and Summer League showed how that was enough to throw off his game.

That isn’t to say he won’t be a great shooter, but his upside is a solid starter on a good team. He’s J.J. Redick, not Stephen Curry.

It’s possible Buddy Hield is a better player in the NBA than Murray or Chriss, as both possess significant downsides as well. Murray is slight and projects as a poor defender, while Chriss posted one of the worst rebounding rates in all of college basketball last year for players his size.

But the upside they possess is not present in Hield, and that’s where New Orleans misstepped.

Also See: Charlotte Hornets: Best Move They Did And Didn't Make

The New Orleans Pelicans had a chance to swing for the fences,and they settled for a single. That’s the sort of move that keeps a franchise hovering at adequate.