This upcoming season is the most important one in New Orleans Pelicans history. With so much riding on the line, it’s time for the Pelicans to finally start winning.
The New Orleans Pelicans cannot afford for this season to be a failure. They need to build a winning culture. Keeping DeMarcus Cousins in New Orleans is the sole priority this season, but that will happen with wins. If the Pelicans stumble and he leaves, it could be the first domino to fall in the already shaky future of basketball in the Big Easy.
It is that shaky future that clouds optimism going forward for this franchise. Yes, the Pelicans have two top-tier big men, but many are low on the ceiling of the duo. Why? Well, besides a 17-game sample last year, it’s because the Pelicans have never given pundits a reason to be optimistic.
For example, in the short future of the New Orleans Hornets/Pelicans the team has only made it past the first round once. It has also watched stars continually leave and as of now, has failed to build around two superstars (Anthony Davis and Chris Paul).
That is from two different ownerships — the first regime plaguing the team with being cheap, and the second regime trying to rush a rebuild due to old age. Both have left the Pelicans with an unfavorable view around the league.
Things such as this matter when trying to attract free agents. Having DeMarcus Cousins paired with Anthony Davis on paper seems great, but the reality is that if New Orleans truly wants to garner respect it will have to earn it by winning. Culture is a cliché term, but it does in fact matter.
On paper when comparing the Pelicans’ and Grizzlies’ rosters, New Orleans looks more talented. However, many pick the Grizzlies to finish ahead of New Orleans due to them being well-coached and experienced. They’ve proved it. The same can be said for a team like the Los Angeles Clippers, who despite losing Chris Paul, still have potential to sneak into playoffs. Why? Experience.
Pelicans players have heard the skeptics this offseason. Below is a quote from DeMarcus Cousins interview with Marc Spears of ESPN’s The Undefeated :
"“A.D. is like a little brother to me. Of course, we got that Kentucky connection. Of course, our relationship has grown since we’ve become teammates. We’re working our tails off. His mindset is to win. My mindset is to win. Whatever it takes. We’re doing defensive slides in the summer right now. We’re all in. Like I said, y’all keep counting us out and we’re going to shock a lot of people.”"
Now, here is a quote from Anthony Davis from his interview with Jim Eichenhofer of Pelicans.com:
"“I don’t really care what anyone says,” the four-time All-Star said. “We know what we’re doing, especially having an entire training camp with me, [Cousins], Jrue [Holiday], [Rajon] Rondo, and all these guys we have on our team, we feel like we have a shot against anybody. That’s our mindset coming in. We’re not worried about all the white noise and what other people are saying, more so what we’ve got to do in the locker room and on the court together.”"
The New Orleans Pelicans are adapting an “us against the world” mantra for this upcoming season. Most wouldn’t be shocked to see the Pelicans make the playoffs, but given the franchise’s history, they just need to see it before buying in.
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It’s up to the Pelicans to prove it by simply winning games.