New Orleans Pelicans: 2019-20 NBA season preview
By Phil Watson
Best-case scenario
The health concerns that hung like a cloud over the New Orleans Pelicans in the offseason don’t come to pass. Jrue Holiday makes a return to the All-Star Game while leading a young cast of rising stars headlined by Zion Williamson.
The Pelicans stay in the playoff hunt most of the season and with the right set of dominoes falling their way could sneak into the postseason as a No. 8 seed even in the crowded Western Conference as their young talent and veteran leadership coalesce into a run similar to that of the Brooklyn Nets in 2018-19.
Williamson is the runaway Rookie of the Year and J.J. Redick throws his hat into the Sixth Man of the Year discussions for his work as a knockdown shooter off the bench. Lonzo Ball and Brandon Ingram make strong cases for Most Improved Player and rookies Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Jaxson Hayes show the future is bright in New Orleans.
Worst-case scenario
The rebuild can’t get out of its way because the rotation is in such a state of flux with players coming and going off the inactive list due to injuries major and minor.
Holiday fails to get to the 70 games-played mark for the sixth time in the last seven seasons, Ingram and Ball both struggle to stay on the court and Williamson battles nagging issues related to translating his hulking frame into an 82-game, seven-month grind.
With so many problems keeping the rotation intact, the Pelicans struggle to come together and quickly sink toward the bottom of the Western Conference and remain there in what turns into a massive wait-’til-next-year scenario in the Big Easy, one that ultimately costs Alvin Gentry his job.