The New Orleans Pelicans may have made a giant mistake

Earlier this summer the New Orleans Pelicans decided that continuity was the way that they were going to improve. With a plethora of their own free agents and no real avenue to sign a group of players from other rosters, New Orleans used the CBA to their advantage and brought back Omer Asik, Dante Cunningham, Luke Babbitt, Norris Cole and Alexis Ajinca, with Ajinca and Asik commanding the biggest paydays. Just eight games into the 2015-16 season, one of those contracts already looks like it may have been a big mistake.

Alexis Ajinca is one of the few Pelicans who have played eight games this season but there remain a large amount of questions about what his role really is. Ajinca is averaging just 11.3 minutes per game this season, down from 14.1 minutes last season and even that doesn’t tell the whole story. With Omer Asik having missed five of the eight games and averaging just 15.7 minutes per game this season there have been a ton of minutes available for Ajinca. And yet, he hasn’t gotten them.

There have been a few guesses as to the reasoning behind Ajinca’s lack of minutes, but nothing is clear. First it was that the Pelicans were taking it slow with Ajinca, who dealt with a sore Achilles during the summer that ended his attempt to play for France at Eurobasket before pulling a hamstring in training camp. Considering how the Pelicans handled Asik, sitting him out until he was completely ready to play after straining his calf, and the fact that Alvin Gentry hasn’t mentioned that, it doesn’t seem like health is the case.

There was also the thought that Ajinca’s six-minute stint against the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday was the Pelicans keeping him healthy to take a chunk of Asik’s minutes on Wednesday against the Hawks as the Turkish big man recovered. Then Asik played 20 minutes against the Hawks, actually increasing his minutes from Tuesday’s game. Considering that Anthony Davis missed Wednesday’s game it was startling to see Ajinca barely get on the floor.

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All of this has led to real questions about Ajinca’s place in the rotation. Considering Davis’ absence, Wednesday night make it look like Ajinca is currently the fifth big man in the Pelicans rotation behind Davis, Asik, Ryan Anderson and even Dante Cunningham. While Ajinca was always going to be the Pelicans fourth big, his falling behind Cunningham is the bigger issue. Even with Quincy Pondexter out, Gentry has felt more comfortable playing Luke Babbitt and Alonzo Gee at small forward and Cunningham at power forward instead of using Ajinca at one of the big men spots. If Gentry does truly trust Babbitt and Gee more than Ajinca it spells long-term issues for the big man once Quincy Pondexter returns.

The situation raises questions about the Pelicans decision-making. Who Ajinca was as a player was very clear when they decided to sign him to a four-year $20 million contract this summer. New Orleans knew that Ajinca was never going to be a great defensive player but was someone who could provide some offensive help, even if his post-up success from last season was a fluke. If Ajinca is being benched because of his lack of athleticism and defensive impact, what exactly did New Orleans expect when they signed him?

The prevailing thought about Ajinca is the Pelicans can just trade him to get out from under the deal and it would be no big deal. While the idea that New Orleans can trade Ajinca is correct, that doesn’t mean the Pelicans didn’t make a mistake. First of all, New Orleans wouldn’t get anything of value for Ajinca. No team is going to trade something important for a player that has fallen out of favor with his team this early in the season, especially considering the length of the contract. Second, by signing Ajinca the Pelicans eliminated themselves from the free agency of other players, both big men and not. There is an opportunity cost to every decision, and New Orleans is paying that price right now. Who exactly they may have signed is unclear, but if Ajinca can barely see the floor for a team this injured it is hard to believe there wasn’t a player the Pelicans could have signed that could be helping more. (Update: It turns out I was a bit off on the way Ajinca was re-signed. I believed that the deal used part of the Pelicans mid-level exception but after talking with Mason Ginsberg and Jake Madison, I realized it was not the case. Which makes the opportunity cost much lower to the point it isn’t a big deal.)

Next: A roundup of the Pelicans first week of action

Of course it is a long season and things can change in an instant but through the first few weeks one thing is clear. The Alexis Ajinca signing that so many panned at the time (full disclosure: I liked the deal), hasn’t started well at all. And for a team with limited flexibility right now, that isn’t a good sign.

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