The New Orleans Pelicans have been incredibly mediocre in the last couple of seasons since hiring Alvin Gentry as their head coach. Even with how poor they’ve performed over the course of the season, they are still a couple of games back from the final seed in the Western Conference. They were able to end 2016 on a high note with four straight wins that got them one game out of the final playoff spot. The biggest question for this team is “Why can’t they get over the hump?”
Reason #1: Being Too Much of a Copycat
One thing that the Pelicans need to do if they want to have a decent shot at making the playoffs is that they’ve tried too hard to duplicate what the Golden State Warriors have done the last couple of seasons. One of the reasons what Golden State has been doing is largely because they have tons of talent. Steph Curry has put himself towards the top of the list when it comes to long-range shooting, Klay Thompson has proved to be a good compliment to Curry, Kevin Durant’s career speaks for itself. Even Zaza Pachulia has shown he can be a good player. It’s the talent they have that helps make what they do so effective. New Orleans has a lot of small guys that are middle of the road in terms of talent and a superstar in Anthony Davis. Buddy Hield has started to come into his own in the last month or so and that could change things, but there needs to be more of an effort into changing the gameplan to fit this team’s talent.
Reason #2: Injury Bug
The Saints aren’t immune when it comes to the injury bug in New Orleans, or should I say the Greenbrier? The Pelicans have been feeling that aspect of the game in a major way with Anthony Davis and Tyreke Evans. Evans has been affected by this because the amount of playing time he’s had since returning. He’s played in only 10 games averaging only 15 minutes. He isn’t quite 100 percent and because of that this team might be missing having an explosive player alongside AD. Davis has been hurting since last season and thankfully this season he’s only missed two of the 38 games. If he can stay healthy once Evans is able to get his way back into the starting five, the Pelicans could be performing well.
Reason #3: Too Much Anthony Davis
While most of this can be largely attributed to the injury-stricken roster before Jrue Holiday’s return, but it seems like there has been way too much of AD. He leads in almost every category amongst his teammates and it’s not even close. This team needs to find a balance because what if you lose Davis for a significant amount of time? Then you have to rely on Hield, Asik, and the recently acquired Motiejunas to get things done. How much can you trust the New Orleans Pelicans without Anthony Davis? The confidence level isn’t there for most fans if this team is in a similar position that they were in at the end of last season.
-Clint Domingue