2 Reasons a recent criticism of the Pelicans' roster will age horribly

The New Orleans Pelicans showed a lot in their first preseason game against the Orlando Magic on Monday afternoon. In a 106-104 victory, the Pels boasted a lot of their offseason improvements, including Zion Williamson's new conditioning, Jordan Hawkins's advanced ball-handling, and new All-Star acquisition, Dejounte Murray.

Despite New Orleans's stacked roster, not everyone is a believer in their title chances or even the possibility of them making a deep playoff run. There are valid reasons for concern. Two at the forefront of the minds of the Pelicans doubters are their lack of postseason success so far in the Zion era and the new roster's glaring holes.

New Orleans has quite a few weaknesses in their construction, including three-point shooting and pure playmaking. The most pressing issue, though, has to be the absence of a reliable big-minute center. On Monday, Daniel Theis got the start over Yves Missi and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, but the Pelicans could potentially not have a true five in their starting lineup at all in the regular season.

ESPN's Brian Windhorst believes that this could be an Achilles's Heel for New Orleans. "A lot of nights they're going to be at a size differential. They can play small and have it work in short stretches but for 48 minutes over six months, I'm not sure this team is equipped to be at its absolute best"

2 reasons that size doesn't really matter for the Pelicans

1. The Pelicans can force teams to play small

In the above clip, Windhorst prefaces his quote by saying that there are a lot of massive teams in the Western Conference. Sure, a dominant offensive big man like Victor Wembanyama or Anthony Davis could wind up giving New Orleans issues on defense, but those players give pretty much every team problems.

When going against a more typical starting center, someone like Jusuf Nurkic, Deandre Ayton, or even Rudy Gobert, the Pelicans should be able to find ways to force them to go small. For example, when New Orleans goes positionless with Zion as the only big on the floor, he should be able to repeatedly punish the opposing team for trying to stick a true center on him by blowing right by them for easy buckets over and over again.

There are only a handful of big men in the league who might be able to punish the Pelicans small-ball lineup while also containing Zion — superstars like Wemby, AD, or Joel Embiid — but those athletes are equally capable of beating a traditional center. Between Theis, Missi, JRE, and Karlo Matkovic, New Orleans has plenty of big bodies they can throw at opposing fives when they need to, too, but they should be able to force teams to shrink down their lineup to match up with the Pels more often than not.

2. New Orleans has good size at the other positions

Outside of the center position, the Pelicans are not a small team by any means. Dejounte Murray, Herb Jones, Trey Murphy III, Brandon Ingram, and Zion are all big players at their primary positions. Coach Willie Green's defensive system is predicated on early rotations and active help defense, something that will be instrumental in preventing opposing teams from pounding the Pelicans in the paint. Green's play style also demands that every player share equal responsibility in rebounding.

With the Pelicans' athleticism, bulk, and length outside of the center position, coupled with Green's defensive and rebounding philosophies, New Orleans should be able to cover for their lack of a reliable five. A lineup featuring DJM, Herb, TMIII, Zion, and Theis certainly wouldn't be called small.

It's still in the Pelicans' best interest to trade for a starting-caliber center that can raise their ceiling and give them a reliable option against the likes of AD and Nikola Jokic, but writing off this team because of their center rotation is a mistake.