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Observations from the New Orleans Pelicans Preseason Opener vs. Indiana Pacers

By Matt Cianfrone

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Saturday night marked the night that New Orleans Pelicans fans have been waiting all summer to see. For the first time under new head coach Alvin Gentry the Pelicans (well most of the Pelicans) took the floor for the first time in the 2015-16 season, as they took on Paul George and the Indiana Pacers in Indianapolis to open their preseason schedule. 

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It wasn’t easy to find the game being broadcast considering that neither team had a local broadcast and NBA League Pass is not available for everyone but ultimately there were ways like a Youtube stream of the contest that someone sent me in the middle of the second quarter. So here are some observations based on what exactly I saw on that stream.

  • Anthony Davis is still really, really good. Davis dominated when he was on the floor, finishing with 18 points and eight rebounds in just 16 minutes. Davis got 16 shots in that time so the Pelicans really made an effort to keep the best young player in the NBA involved. Most of all there were new Davis things happening, like his grabbing a rebound and leading a fast break that make this season so exciting. AD is going to destroy entire teams a few times this season.
  • Luke Babbitt looked great. As expected Babbitt knocked down open threes but he also utilized his pump and go game to draw free throws. He could be a nice situation weapon for New Orleans this season in the more uptempo game they will play.
  • I didn’t see any Jrue Holiday but he was reportedly pretty good which is nice.
  • Norris Cole on the other hand was horrendous. It wasn’t even the 3-11 shooting that was bad but instead the decision-making. Cole just dribbled a bunch and forced up some really ugly shots on multiple possessions, which is the worry with asking him to do much. Hopefully it was just his not being fully comfortable with the offense yet.
  • Omer Asik didn’t do much to stand out to me. The only thing he did I can think of was play hot potato with the ball one offensive possession where he had barely caught a pass before passing it right back to where the ball came from. Shane Young, a writer at Hoops Habit who was at the game, said Asik looked tentative early with the ball as well so it may just be a case of not being completely comfortable in the offense yet.
  • Alexis Ajinca left injured which isn’t great.
  • Out of the guys trying to make the roster I thought Jeff Adrien played the best but none of the players were that good. Chris Douglas-Roberts had some moments and Bryce Dejean-Jones made some threes but Adrien seemed to make the biggest impact with his work on the glass. Sean Kilpatrick STRUGGLED both shooting and handling the ball and Corey Webster was just kind of there.
  • Kendrick Perkins tried to do some stuff on offense and it was hilarious. That could end up being the best part of Pelicans blowouts this season.
  • Eric Gordon getting to the foul line eight times was really nice to see and honestly he may have deserved more free throws. If he can add to just jump shooting the Pelicans are going to be super dangerous this season.
  • Dante Cunningham took a few no hesitation threes which was a nice sign. I thought he played pretty well overall honestly.

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