In our NBA preseason predictions, I and others picked Anthony Davis to win MVP in a breakout season, while helping the New Orleans Pelicans make some real noise the playoffs. It made a lot of sense; Davis was going into his fourth season at age 22, the same season and age at which LeBron James and Kevin Durant first showed the basketball world just how much they were capable of. James led his Cleveland Cavaliers to the NBA Finals in his fourth season, while Durant led the young Oklahoma City Thunder to their first Western Conference Finals appearance. So why wouldn’t we expect Davis to follow suit?
What’s Wrong with the New Orleans Pelicans?
Unfortunately for Pelicans fans, the team struggled right out of the gate, winning just one of its first 12 games. Nearly halfway through the season, Davis and the Pelicans still haven’t been able to recover from their awful start, sitting at just 13-26 through 39 games – 12th in the Western Conference. They’re still not that far out of the playoff picture – only four and a half game back of eight place Utah – but it’s going to be tough for the team to battle back. Some fans are even wondering if New Orleans should pull a complete tank job at this point, resting healthy players and hoping for a high draft pick. But before considering that kind of strategy, the Pelicans must wonder: why have they been so disappointing thus far? They’re talented at every position and they have a top five player in the league in Anthony Davis, so what’s the problem?
It can’t just be narrowed down to one problem; this team has had multiple major issues. Let’s take a look at the main problems that have held back the Pelicans up to this point in the season.
Injuries
In the last two and a half seasons, New Orleans has been plagued with injuries. Their starting guards, Jrue Holiday and Eric Gordon, have missed dozens of games in the last two seasons, but they’ve been healthy for the most part this year. Reserve forward Ryan Anderson also missed 81 games over the last two seasons, most of them due to a scary neck injury, but he’s missed just two this season. So who has been hurt this year for New Orleans? It starts with role players – backups Norris Cole and Alexis Ajinca, along with starting center Omer Asik, have missed a combined 34 games due to various injuries. Another key bench piece, Quincy Pondexter, is out for the entire season. Starting wing player Tyreke Evans has already missed 18 games. But worst of all, Anthony Davis has been hurt time after time, throughout his short career. Most recently, the superstar hurt his back while diving for a loose ball, too early in a game to be worth the risk. It seems that Davis just can’t stay on the floor, at least to this point in his career. Sure, he has only missed five games this season, but every game makes a difference – especially for a team that desperately needs to work on fitting its players together, the second major issue the Pelicans have had.
Team Chemistry
The Pelicans have players who can play both ends of the court at every position. Holiday, Gordon, Evans, Davis, and Asik make up a starting lineup that should be able to keep up with any five man unit in the league. But throughout history, teams have proven that being good “on paper” isn’t enough. Everyone remembers what happened to the 2012-13 Lakers and 2013-14 Nets. The chemistry issues may not be the players’ faults, as the starters haven’t played many games together over the years due to all the injuries. But these problems can’t be attributed to coaching either; Alvin Gentry replaced Monty Williams after last season, and Gentry has been considered to be an offensive guru since his days coaching the Phoenix Suns.
So why haven’t the Pelicans meshed together? Perhaps it’s simply because their players don’t fit well together, let alone complement each other’s playing styles. Evans came into the league playing point guard, and he has always needed to have the ball in his hands on offense. That’s one of the reasons that Gentry has tried playing Holiday off the bench lately – to allow both him and Evans to be the main playmaker on the floor for as much as possible. Maybe Holiday and Evans just can’t coexist.
In the frontcourt, it seems like the Pelicans can’t quite find a perfect pairing for Anthony Davis. Despite both players being known as good defenders, the Pelicans have been awful on defense when the combination of Davis and Omer Asik is in the game. But Alvin Gentry is understandably reluctant to play Davis a ton of minutes alongside Ryan Anderson, as the team fears that playing major minutes against physical centers will only lead to more injuries for Davis. Gentry will need more games to get a feel for his team in order to figure out the best lineups and combinations.
Basketball IQ
The Pelicans’ last major problem is perhaps their most perplexing one. The players will often come out of a huddle after a timeout, seemingly ready to run a set play, and they’ll completely botch it. Coaching isn’t the issue; it’s just the players’ lack of mental awareness and lack of basketball IQ. This team has way too many miscommunications and random occurrences in which players look like they’re just sleepwalking through plays. These kinds of mishaps are absolutely unacceptable for a team that wants to make the playoffs, and they’re just silly. Fortunately for New Orleans, this problem is easily fixable. If the players can focus, lock in, and get their heads screwed on straight, the Pelicans can make a strong push in the second half of the season and sneak their way into the playoffs.
