New Orleans Pelicans: 2017-18 NBA season preview

Predictions

Other than a desire to see good basketball, there is no rational reason to expect Gentry to fully figure out the Cousins-Davis pairing. They should flow better than last year, but not so much that they don’t end up playing a lot of my-turn-your turn offense and DeMarcus-I-cannot-guard-both-your-guy-and-mine defense.

With that being said, they will have a dominant big man on the floor virtually at all times. Regardless of fit, that gives this team a decent floor. Both Cousins and Davis have proven to be good enough to keep dreadful teams from the cellar, and a team with both of them and just a little more talent should be able to sleepwalk into soft playoff contention, even out West.

Ultimately, though, they will fall short. The Warriors, Thunder, Rockets, Spurs, Wolves, Nuggets, Blazers and Jazz all present more reasons for optimism than the Pelicans, whose playoff case is more similar to that of the Clippers, Grizzlies and Mavericks: You can see it, but it is unlikely.

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I expect them to finish first in that latter group, only because Davis is far and away the best player among it. That puts them ninth in the West. With another top-10 defense and bottom-10 offense, they should be close to .500, ultimately falling short due to late-game execution issues stemming from their cluttered floor. We’ll say 39 wins.