New Orleans Pelicans: Anthony Davis, DeMarcus Cousins Can Soon Dominate League

The Anthony Davis-DeMarcus Cousins experiment got off to a rocky start, but as their chemistry with the New Orleans Pelicans builds, the former Kentucky Wildcats are starting to show that they can dominate the league together.

The Anthony Davis–DeMarcus Cousins experiment dubbed as “fire and ice” has been anything but a failure with the New Orleans Pelicans.

Of course when you just focus on the numbers thus far, they leave a lot to be desired. In the 13 games Davis and Cousins have been on the floor together, the Pelicans are just 5-8.

Offensively, when both are in the lineup, the team at times has looked stagnant and cumbersome. Through 17 post All-Star break games, the Pelicans as a team are posting an offensive efficiency rating of 103.5.

However, when Davis and Cousins are on the court together, that rating drops to 97.

In the 21.6 minutes per game that Davis and Cousins are on the floor, the Pelicans offense is averaging 44 points while shooting 40.8 percent, 31.5 percent from three and posting a plus/minus of 0.7.

When we again compare the Pelicans as a team, the numbers seem to suggest that the team is better off when one of their star bigs is out the game.

As a team the Pelicans are shooting a little better at 45.3 percent, 34.1 from three, but more importantly are posting a plus/minus of 1.9 since the All-Star break.

In many people’s minds, this has already come off as a failed experiment; with a growing narrative that the Pelicans are a better team when either Davis or Cousins are out of the game.

Substantiating the narrative even further, the New Orleans Pelicans are 3-1 when DeMarcus has been out of the lineup; either due to injury or suspension.

And in Charlotte, when Anthony Davis was leading the Pelicans in a win over the Hornets with 46 points and 21 rebounds, DeMarcus was benched in the fourth quarter and overtime. For many, that’s when the narrative starting turning into fact.

Nothing could be further from the truth. It will take time, but Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins can be a dominating force.

It’s important to remember that a lot of the aforementioned stats can be attributed to mere growing pains.

New Orleans Pelicans /

New Orleans Pelicans

For instance, New Orleans lost their first three games after the trade while posting a 95 offensive rating with the two big men on the court. But in the last six games together, the team has gone 4-2 while the offensive rating has increased to 103.5 during that span.

In the early stages of building chemistry and learning how to play together, it’s easy to tell that the pairing of Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins will not only work but has the potential to be something very special.

Both are individually dominate players and when bringing two players together of such magnitude, that in itself, can sometimes be the problem and was the case early in this pairing.

Each would take turns dominating possessions, quarters and sometimes games.

But as their chemistry continues to progress, they are learning how to dominate in tandem rather than taking turns to dominate individually.

Just having the two on the floor at the same time presents problems. Opponents can’t come off of “Boogie” to double-team Anthony Davis or vice versa; already limiting defensive options.

What makes Davis and Cousins so special are the skill-set and versatility each one has.

As I alluded to in my previous post, both players possess a versatile inside/outside game. They defend the paint well, work well off the high pick-and-roll and both can stretch the floor and expand the offense in the half court.

Now while both players play well off the pick-and-roll individually, chemistry issues arose early for the two when head coach Alvin Gentry called for double high ball screens.

Rather than one player diving towards to the basket and the other popping out on the perimeter, either both would dive or both would pop out leading to disarray on the offensive end.

However, when they run it correctly, the offense becomes a beautiful thing to watch. In the below video, Davis rolls towards the rim, while Cousins pops outside.

Look how many options open up for the offense with the ending result being a DeMarcus finding Davis inside with good position in the post for the easy finish.

We’ve already seen Cousins effectively work the hi-low game with Davis.

Davis to Cousins.

Defensively, Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins have already formed a dominant duo down low. When on the court together, the Pelicans post a 97 defensive rating which is much lower than the Pelicans overall defensive rating of 102.4 since the All-Star break.

In addition, opponents are shooting a slightly lower percentage when the two are in the lineup at 42.7 percent as opposed to 44.1 overall against the Pelicans since the trade.

Watch as the luxury of having two supreme bigs in the paints prove to be one too many for elite point guard, Damian Lillard. As he gets past Cousins, Davis is right there on the recover while Boogie is right there to collect the rebound.

Adding DeMarcus Cousins, another go-to option along with Davis and point guard Jrue Holiday, to a Pelicans team filled with overburdened role players allows everyone to be just that — role players.

Solomon Hill no longer has to be relied upon to produce more offense than he’s consistently able to. Pressure is taken off of guys like Tim Frazier and E’Twaun Moore, who now have a formidable starter and scorer playing alongside them on the second unit.

Not to mention when one of the two are out due to injury or suspension (Cousins) the other can once again become that main go-to option.

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Aside from Anthony Davis’ 46-point, 21-rebound outing against the Hornets, Cousins just last week took over the game in a win against the Memphis Grizzlies with 41 points and 16 rebounds.

While Anthony Davis nursed an illness (was questionable before the game), Boogie was leading the way down the stretch with 25 points and eight rebounds in the second half.

According to basketball-reference.com, there are 18 guys in league history to average 20-10 for a career;16 are in the Hall of Fame and the other two play for the Pelicans.

So while there are obviously still growing pains to work through for the superstar pair, there are also plenty reasons why basketball optimist are salivating at what the future holds for the New Orleans Pelicans.

In the short time they’ve been together, we’ve already seen leaps and bounds where progress and chemistry are concerned.

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And while it’s true that in the short-term, the offense has had a better flow when one of the bigs are out of the game, the long-term possibilities of having the two consistently in the lineup together can reach unstoppable levels.

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