New Orleans Pelicans: 5 Reasons To Stay Optimistic

The New Orleans Pelicans are 2-11, but don’t go writing them off just yet.

Like the Hunger Games, the odds are clearly not in the New Orleans Pelicans‘ favor. After a feel-good 2014-15 campaign that saw Anthony Davis make his first postseason appearance in an MVP-caliber year, New Orleans hasn’t done much to make anyone feel good about the Alvin Gentry era, starting off the 2015-16 season with a dismal 2-11 record.

The Pelicans are dead last in the Western Conference standings, they sport the worst point differential (-7.8) in the conference and a quick scan of their bench reveals a roster more bruised and beaten up than Ronda Rousey.

Since expanding to the 16-team playoff in 1983-84, only one of 33 teams that have started the season with a 1-11 or 0-12 record have gone on to make the playoffs. That team — the 1996-97 Phoenix Suns — made the postseason with a losing record, something that just isn’t possible in the West anymore.

All in all, it’d take nothing short of a miracle for the Pelicans to make the playoffs at this rate.

However, before we start declaring that the Pelicans are doomed 13 games into the season, there are still reasons to be optimistic — and not just because New Orleans got an impressive home win over the San Antonio Spurs on Friday.

The odds are clearly stacked against them, with nine of their next 14 games on the road and every single one of them coming against a quality opponent. By the end of that 14-game stretch, these words may have proven to be completely naive and off-base, but in the spirit of Yogi Berra, here are five reasons the Pelicans should remain optimistic.

Next: No. 5