New Orleans Pelicans: Does Zion have a chance at Rookie of the Year?
By Eliot Clough
2. Do the Pelicans make the playoffs?
The NBA wants New Orleans in the playoffs. The Zion effect is helping quite a bit for publicity in the Big Easy.
If the league can put together the remaining games on its schedule, the Pelicans somehow finish with an above .500 record (they are currently 28-36) and pass Memphis and Portland Trail Blazers for the eighth spot in the West all on the back of Zion’s play, it would be stupid for him not to win this thing.
But let’s be real. That’s a lot.
For starters, who knows what kind of shape the players are in? All of us are cooped up in our homes, and it’s not easy to work out, let alone find the motivation to work out in times like this. The sedentary lifestyle comes naturally to a lot of us. Not to mention, Zion (and surely others on the squad) puts on weight like it’s nothing. We saw how he looked in his debut, sluggish and out of shape. Don’t be surprised if we see more of that.
To get above .500 for the first time all season, New Orleans will have to go 14-4 over their final 18 game stretch. In those 18 games, the Pels will play the San Antonio Spurs three times, the Grizzlies twice, the LA Clippers and the Utah Jazz.
The Spurs are the lone team in that group to not be in the playoff mix, but in the one matchup between San Antonio and New Orleans this season on January 22, the Spurs won at the Smoothie King Center, 121-117. This was Zion’s debut.
Lastly, the Grizzlies are 3.5 games ahead of the Pels right now. While their schedule isn’t near as favorable as New Orleans’ is, that’s still a sizable lead with just over 20 percent of the season left.
Despite being a young team, Memphis has been formidable all season. Coming off this hiatus, the team will regain two of its best young players in Jaren Jackson Jr. and Brandon Clarke. The eighth spot may technically still be up for the taking, but the Grizzlies aren’t going to just hand it over.