New Orleans Pelicans: 2019-20 NBA season preview
By Phil Watson
2019-20 roster
Key additions: Zion Williamson (draft), Lonzo Ball (trade), Josh Hart (trade), Brandon Ingram (trade), Derrick Favors (trade), Nickeil Alexander-Walker (draft/trade), Jaxson Hayes (draft/trade), J.J. Redick (free agency), Nicolo Melli (undrafted international free agent)
Key subtractions: Anthony Davis (trade), Solomon Hill (trade), Cheick Diallo (free agency), Stanley Johnson (free agency), Christian Wood (free agency), Elfrid Payton (free agency), Ian Clark (free agency)
Yes, there was a lot of turnover for the Pelicans this season, with Jrue Holiday, E’Twaun Moore, Frank Jackson, Darius Miller and Jahlil Okafor the only holdovers from last season’s 33-win team, with former undrafted free agent Kenrich Williams in a battle to retain his roster spot come training camp.
Coach Alvin Gentry is back for his fifth season at the helm, but the clock could be ticking on his tenure with just one winning season on the resume since he arrived in 2015.
Gentry will be 65 early in the season, an NBA lifer who has been coaching in the league since the late 1980s, with five head coaching stints — the Miami Heat, Detroit Pistons, LAClippers, Phoenix Suns and the Pelicans — under his belt.
But in 16 seasons as an NBA head coach, Gentry has been to the playoffs just three times but became a hot commodity once again after helping the Golden State Warriors to the first of their three titles in the last five seasons as the associate head coach in 2014-15.
The Pelicans came out of draft night (and thereafter) with a lot of new talent, landing Zion Williamson with the No. 1 overall pick and landing the rights to three more rookies — No. 8 overall pick Jaxson Hayes, No. 17 overall selection Nickeil Alexander-Walker and second-rounder Didi Louzada.
Louzada is safely tucked away as a draft-and-stash, having signed in mid-July with the Sydney Kings in Australia’s National Basketball League.
Williamson is expected to step right into the starting lineup, while Alexander-Walker and Hayes will likely be brought along more slowly.
But it wasn’t just about the kids, as new executive David Griffin also acquired Derrick Favors from the Utah Jazz and signed free agent J.J. Redick to bring some veteran presence to the locker room.
But the big deal was the one that sent franchise superstar Anthony Davis to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for — deep breath — former No. 2 overall picks Lonzo Ball and Brandon Ingram, young guard Josh Hart and what could be three first-round picks.
The Pelicans acquired a top-seven protected 2021 first-round pick that becomes unprotected in 2022 and have their option of taking L.A.’s first-rounder in either 2024 or 2025, as well as holding swap rights for the Lakers’ first-round pick in 2023.
New Orleans also got a top-10 protected first-round in 2020 from the Atlanta Hawks in the deal for Hayes, Alexander-Walker and Louzada. If that selection doesn’t convey next June, it becomes second-round picks in 2021 and 2022.
So it was a big, big summer for the Pelicans and much of the focus will be on just one thing …