New Orleans Pelicans: Defining a good 2019-20 season
Brimming with as bright a future as any team in the NBA, the New Orleans Pelicans want to begin their latest era convincingly.
Trading a player the talent of Anthony Davis would send the ordinary franchise into a tailspin down the standings, but the New Orleans Pelicans didn’t come out the latest example of player empowerment barren of hope.
If anything, New Orleans’ summer has created a level of anticipation never before experienced within the organization. Future stars like Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram have this team set up nicely for the future, but established vets such as Jrue Holiday and J.J. Redick will have them scrapping for as many wins in the present.
That blend of rotation pieces is what makes the coming 2019-20 season such an interesting one for the Pelicans. Given the uber-competitive state of the Western Conference, a playoff berth still seems a bit too far out of reach for reasons that have little to do with them.
It’s why a self-generated number of wins shouldn’t define what is sure to be an entertaining season down in New Orleans. Whatever postseason fate lies ahead isn’t totally within their control, with only eight spots available and plenty more believing in their ability to control one of them.
More so, for all the talent David Griffin has assembled during his short stint as the vice president of basketball operations, plenty question marks remain scattered among various players.
Of the seven combined seasons played by the trio brought in from the Los Angeles Lakers — Ingram, Lonzo Ball and Josh Hart — only one has seen more than 70 games, Ingram during his rookie campaign.
Two back-to-back No. 2 picks and a late first-round steal, they have the potential to pose as real difference-makers for New Orleans on both sides of the ball. If none can string together months of action playing over 30 minutes a night, their impact will be minimal and their gifts will go by the wayside.
Zion’s lack of a jump shot makes it all the more important for the Pelicans to surround their face of the franchise with shooters, of which they have very few.
Considering the critiques Williamson received all summer long regarding his conditioning, it’ll be interesting to see if he can not only continue his dominance of the sport at the highest level but whether his giant muscles will help plow through the inevitable wall all rookies come face to face with.
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As the Pelicans transition into their latest iteration, their theme — for the coming season at a minimum — and what their adopted mantra should be, is progress.
Pursuing a benchmark win total is a frivolous attempt at labeling success that is more probable to fail. These guys haven’t played an NBA game together yet. Many of their biggest pieces are no older than 24. Despite the obvious upside, Alvin Gentry has his work cut out for him to establish a rotation that maximizes everyone at his disposal.
Come April, anything close to a playoff berth would put New Orleans far ahead of schedule and constitute an absolute victory in step one of its ultimate pursuit of a championship.
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More important, however, than the results of the coming season should be the cohesion and development of those with so much left to climb. Sometimes, those two go hand in hand, but it’s the latter that will more likely dictate the type of unit this Pelicans bunch hopes to become moving forward.