New Orleans Pelicans: Fixing A Stagnant Offense
By Owen Sanborn
Over the first three games of this new NBA season, two things have jumped out to me as I watch the New Orleans Pelicans.
1. Anthony Davis is freaking awesome.
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2. Since Anthony Davis is so awesome, he masks the fact that the offense the Pelicans are running is a stagnant, uncreative mess.
I am not sure if this is how coach Monty Williams and his staff intended it, but the Pelicans offense looks like something that a novice NBA 2k player would run. It cycles through lazy pick and rolls that go nowhere, minimal ball movement, and ultimately results in either Anthony Davis or Tyreke Evans receiving the ball late in the shot clock.
Although those two are supremely talented players and often bail out the rest of the offense by getting buckets, relying on this kind of offensive play is not wise. Williams and his staff have to find a better way to get all of his offensive players involved through motion and/or creative offensive sets.
Take this play for example:
Anthony Davis receives the ball at the top of the key with 15 seconds left on the shot clock and proceeds to waste away ten seconds waiting for either Eric Gordon or Jrue Holiday to pop out from a screen for an open jumper.
Instead, they get bottled up because of poor spacing (at one point they are running in the same area in unison) and Davis loses his dribble. With seven seconds left on the shot clock, Holiday receives a handoff from Davis and frantically dribbles towards the baseline as he begins to lose control of the ball.
Predictably, this possession ends in a late in the shot clock brick by Eric Gordon, but will most likely be forgotten because Anthony Davis morphs into Zeus during this juncture.
For much of last night against Memphis, New Orleans had many possessions that resembled that sort of play. On numerous occasions, Davis was able to work his magic (smartly utilizing his mid range game rather than bang with Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol) and bail out the offense.
As great as Davis is, 75 percent of the offense cannot consist of isolation because the Pelicans are not the Oklahoma City Thunder. At least not yet.
Despite the sometimes ghastly offensive play for most of the night, the Pellies did show signs of life randomly with some semblance of offensive synergy.
Notice the top-notch spacing on this play and how it results in an open lay up for Omer Asik:
Holiday initially starts the sequence with a pick and roll with Omer Asik before stalling and reversing the ball back to Davis in a crisp manner. Davis then motions towards Evans and executes a dribble handoff/pick and roll combination that sends Evans slicing inside the lane (which is when he is at his best).
Marc Gasol has to leave Asik unoccupied in the short corner to atone for the slashing Evans, which allows Tyreke to hit Asik with a nice bounce pass for the lay in.
This sequence was made possible because of the spacing in the corners by Jrue Holiday and Eric Gordon. Notice how Tayshaun Prince is glued to Holiday in the right corner as Evans drives passed him, while Mike Conley isn’t able to rotate over from the left corner until it is too late.
This type of quick-hitting offense is something that New Orleans should be able to execute more given their talented personnel.
I know most of you reading this are going to point out that the Pelicans’ offensive struggles have more to do with Memphis and their suffocating defense rather than the ineptitude of the offense. I will admit that that is a fair point, but these offensive issues have been evident throughout the season thus far.
It has just been easier for Davis and company to exploit their one on one match ups against inferior defensive teams like the Dallas Mavericks and Orlando Magic.
Coach Monty Williams and his staff have to figure out a more creative ways to create continuity amongst the offense because this young team of gunners will get themselves into trouble without some structure.