Checking in on the undefeated New Orleans Pelicans

Offense

While the Pelicans have only played three games so far (most teams have already played four or five games), their 124.6 offensive rating, per Basketball-Reference, leads the league. Part of that is the pace and part of that is the red-hot shooting the team has displayed so far. New Orleans is shooting 51.7 percent from the field and 40 percent from 3, good for first and fourth in the NBA, respectively.

While those percentages will likely dip some, it isn’t hard to imagine the Pelicans staying top five in both categories over the long haul. The main reason they’ve shot so well has been the team’s ball movement, which bodes well for those stats remaining where they are over time. Through three games, New Orleans has also tallied 93 assists. This team is making smart passes in transition:

… and the half court:

https://twitter.com/FOXSportsNOLA/status/1052722876359430144

These numbers aren’t just pumped up by the 149 points they put on the Kings Friday night either (which, for the record, was the first time a team scored 149 in a game since 2010). The Pelicans made the Rockets’ defense look like Swiss cheese on opening night and they managed 116 points against the Clippers on Tuesday despite shooting just 43.0 percent overall.

Leading that charge has been the Davis-Mirotic-Randle frontcourt, who’ve played essentially every meaningful power forward and center minute for the Pels this year. Besides scoring 77 points per game combined, each has used his own unique skill-set to spark this offense: Randle is rebounding and finishing around the basket like a man possessed, Mirotic is spacing the floor as well as any big man in the league and Davis is doing almost everything.

Although his usage rate is around his career norm, Davis is using his gravity to create opportunities for everyone around him; his assist percentage so far is 20.8 percent, per Basketball-Reference, which is more than double his career assist percentage of 9.9 percent. Add in him confidently stroking 3s:

… and it’s clear AD has become the complete, generational player he was always destined to be.

The final reason for the offensive success the Pels have had is simply taking care of the ball. New Orleans is only averaging 12 turnovers per game, good for second-best in the league.

While Elfrid Payton and Jrue Holiday have been steady with the ball, it’s actually the frontcourt leading the way in that regard too. Davis, Randle and Mirotic all have usage rates over 26 percent, but each has a turnover percent under seven percent; they are getting plenty of chances to score and wasting almost none.