The highest scoring bench in the NBA last year was the Boston Celtics. That may come as a surprise to those who would have put the San Antonio Spurs or Los Angeles Lakers higher on that list. Boston had 41.8 points per game come from their reserves, more than any other team in the NBA. They were also the third most efficient bench in the league, behind only San Antonio and Indiana.The New Orleans Pelicans meanwhile, were 18th in bench scoring last year.
The scary part is they were 20th in bench efficiency in a year the team had improved production from their backup units. Sure the Pelicans only played their bench for an average of 17.3 minutes per game, but that’s only 2.4 minutes less than the Celtics, whose bench averaged almost ten points more per game than New Orleans.
That may have to change for the Pelicans to have early season success. Injuries to Quincy Pondexter, Jrue Holiday and now Alexis Ajinca put the pressure on the bench players of the Pelicans to be able to step up and fill the roles, especially with how difficult the early season will be for New Orleans. Some may argue the Pelicans just don’t rely on their bench as much as a team like Boston. The Pelicans use their minutes much more on their core five starters and average nearly eight less shots per game than the Celtics. However, the biggest stat for the Celtics bench is the difference made when playing against playoff teams last year.
While the Celtics were third in the NBA in bench efficiency overall, they were nearly two whole efficiency points higher than any other NBA team in bench efficiency against fellow playoff teams. While the Celtics had big success from their bench against everyone, their most successful moments were when they played top-tier talent. Now sure, the fantastic depth at many positions helps the Celtics, however it’s not like they are insanely deeper than New Orleans.
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Everyone last year on the first five off the bench unit for the New Orleans Pelicans can play fast and effective. From Norris Cole to Ryan Anderson all the way to Luke Babbitt. The Pelicans have the pieces to be just as effective a bench as the Boston Celtics. So, how do the Pelicans go about improving it to rival the Celtics? Well, taking a look at how Boston used their players’ strengths together is a big key.
Brad Stevens is a savant, even at his young age. In just a few years in the league he turned the Celtics into a playoff team from the brink of a complete rebuild. Taking risky but educated gambles on guys such as Isaiah Thomas and Evan Turner has helped the team build an insane amount of depth all around the board. The Celtics as a whole built their team around three major categories. The Celtics finished top-six in the league overall in assist percentage, turnover ratio and pace. Plain and simply, Boston played fast, methodical and as a team no matter who was on the floor. Luckily, the Pelicans could see some major improvement in each of those three categories going into this year.
The Pelicans are now an Alvin Gentry run team and Gentry has been known for coaching teams that have some of the highest paces in the league and so he should make major improvements in the Pelicans pace rankings. Along with that, Dell Demps did everything he could in the offseason to keep the entire roster together, so the Pelicans should have additional chemistry and ability to find each other for easy assists and less turnovers. The Pelicans have a similar makeup to Boston in the plethora of ball handlers on their bench unit, with players such as Tyreke Evans and Norris Cole. The biggest difference will come with the bigs.
Last year, Alexis Ajinca and Ryan Anderson had pretty successful seasons, however didn’t have the same success with moving the ball as Boston’s bigs like Kelly Olynyk and Jonas Jerebko. While bigs such as Anderson and Dante Cunningham can stretch the floor in similar ways to Boston’s backup bigs, they need to be able to be crisper and more decisive with their passes and decision-making. Alexis Ajinca could do better with his vision on the floor instead of his instant post-up strategy on offense.
As far as the turnovers, that will have to be taken better care of by the guards off the bench. Both Tyreke Evans and Norris Cole finished in the top five on the team in turnovers per game, and Tyreke Evans finished in first, with a whopping 3.1 turnovers a game. While his aggressiveness to the basket is huge, his decision-making comes into question a lot of times.
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All that being said, the formula for a vastly improved bench unit is there. One that may even rival the elites of the NBA, including Boston’s. The early season injuries to Ajinca and Quincy Pondexter could really mask how cohesive this unit will be farther along in the year, but in time it could really show. The New Orleans Pelicans have the talent at each position to be one that can move the ball with effectiveness, cut down on the turnovers and run up-and-down the floor under Gentry’s guidance. Being a team that can go 10-deep due to the nature of strengths each player on that bench possesses is huge. Getting a plan to put them all together to be as productive as possible was something done really well last season.
The Boston Celtics had massive success last year by creating not just a solid starting core, but a complete team overall that can compliment each other on the floor. New Orleans could very well be building their core in that same direction, with the help of Alvin Gentry. Keying in on things that other magnificent benches in the league such as Boston, San Antonio and Indiana do well could be a big key in becoming an elite bench unit. On a team that’s already experiencing how hard the injury bug can bite year after year, improving their bench unit to be one of the best in the league could very well be a massive investment long-term, and with all the tools seemingly in place, it could very well be a year to keep an eye on just how much the backups unit’s production improves over the course of what should be a very exciting new season.
Next: Our Friend Jack Maloney Joined us to Talk Celtics
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