We’re only one game into the 2017-18 season and a lot of things have already happened. The New Orleans Pelicans will get the season started tonight on the road against the Memphis Grizzlies.
That being said, it seems like a perfect time to preview the season ahead for the Pelicans.
Last Season:
The second year for this team under Alvin Gentry was interesting to say the very least. After starting the season out 0-8, the Pelicans wound up grabbing DeMarcus Cousins in a trade during the All-Star Break.
There were some growing pains having two bigs like Anthony Davis and Cousins both on the same team and that led to the Pelicans ending the season at 34-48.
Quick Look at Offseason:
The Pelicans weren’t like much of the NBA in terms of grabbing big players, but they still did some things to bolster their ranks. The biggest move had to be re-signing Jrue Holiday to a big deal. What Holiday brings to this team is crucial to this team’s success this season with his ability to score from beyond the arc and the Pelicans need to have more players like him in this era of the NBA.
Another big signing had to be Rajon Rondo. While he has been a bit of a problem child on teams in the past, but the Pelicans need a veteran player that can tell it like it is. At the end of the day having a player like him become a leader of sorts might pay off even if there are some headaches from time to time.
Rondo’s Injury Could Be Huge for Early Part of Season:
Speaking of Rondo, he will be out for at least four-to-six weeks after undergoing surgery for a sports hernia. Without a player like that as another option to dish it to and be a scoring threat, it could be an issue be for this team in the early part of this season. You can just look at the schedule and the first two games inside the Smoothie King Center is against the two teams that have faced off in the NBA Finals the last three years.
“We’re gonna move the basketball regardless.” Gentry said of losing Rondo for the early part of the season, “That’s part of our DNA of what we’re trying to establish here, so you’ll see some good ball movement. We’re not really an isolation team; we’ll have that in certain situations where we have an advantage. For the most part, we want to be one of those teams that is in the real high 200s or 300 in passes per game. We do that; we’ll get a lot of assists.”
Push the Pace:
One of the things that Gentry has been working on during his time with the team has been increasing the pace that which the Pelicans play at. Look back to the playoff season from two years ago they ended the season with one of the worst ratings in terms of pace at 91.4.
Gentry has been pushing for this team to increase that and it really hasn’t worked for this team the last two seasons. They’ve been towards the top 10 in that statistic the last two seasons, but there’s not much to show for it with two straight losing seasons. The way that the NBA works in 2017 with all the analytics and how it works, you want to have a solid pace, but with some of the big guys this team has (Asik, Davis, and Cousins), having that kind of system in place might not work well.
Playoffs or Bust:
It has to be considered a do or die season for several people within the Pelicans organization. If this team misses the playoffs, it means that Gentry and Dell Demps should be fired from their respective positions and Boogie Cousins will no longer be a part of this team.
The Pelicans have a lot of elements on this team that can turn this into a playoff team and you have to like a lot of what they have. However, it’s all about the guys in the front office that could be the difference between an eight seed in the postseason or on the outside looking in.
Expectations: I like a lot of what I’ve seen in terms of offseason moves and the team chemistry that has been developing. However, my expectations for this team in the toughest conference in the league have to be missing the postseason by a couple games. If it were me running this franchise, I’d probably cut bait on Gentry and Demps.
However, getting that close in a tough conference might wind up benefiting those two if they miss out by a small margin. The biggest thing is that they can lock down Boogie for a long-term deal and if they miss the playoffs that may be easier said than done.
-Clint Domingue