E’Twaun Moore shines light on the Pelicans’ backcourt logjam

The first batch of offseason commentary has us pondering how exactly the backcourt rotation will settle in for the New Orleans Pelicans.

As the NBA calendar slogs through the slow doldrums of August and heads toward the start of training camp, fans and media begin to get a solidified idea of what their team will look like. It’s a time in which roles are established and rotations are set. And for the New Orleans Pelicans, it appears to be the time to establish who exactly is a point guard; in a recent interview with Basketball Insiders’ Alex Kennedy, free agent addition E’Twaun Moore outlined the expectation that he be more of a ball-handler during the upcoming season:

"“I’m working on my point guard skills – things like my decision-making and playing out of the pick-and-roll. Nowadays, 80 percent of the game is out of the pick-and-roll, so I’m just [focused on] making better decisions and making plays.”"

Moore went on to elucidate his value to the Pelicans under Alvin Gentry, saying that his versatility and success as a two-way player makes him a great fit, no matter his role. Moore sees himself as a leader in the locker room, and a valuable role player on the court. It’s hard to speak for his role off the court, but on the court, if he does indeed fill the back-up point guard role, it goes a long way in clearly defining the role of several players across the roster.

POINT GUARD

Obviously, if we can assume that Moore will start the season as the back-up point guard, that clears things up in the rotation behind him. Most succinctly, it means two things: that Tim Frazier will likely not see many minutes, and that Langston Galloway will be used most often at the two. Even if Moore starts, I would expect that his handling of the offense in the second unit means he’d be one of the first guys subbed out at the start of the half so that he can be the first to re-enter with the bench.

With both of Moore and Holiday handling big minutes loads regardless of the starting status of either player, there is little room left for Frazier to play. His smaller contract and less extensive track record are both indicators that he has a lot left to prove in order to earn minutes on a team that fancies itself a playoff contender.

SHOOTING GUARD

This all means that until Quincy Pondexter and Tyreke Evans return to the team from their respective injuries, Galloway and Hield will be the primary options at the shooting guard position. It is a nice position to be in as a team; Gentry and his staff will be able to develop a nice feel for whose rhythm and intensity is there on a nightly basis. They each bring different things to the table that will be more or less valuable based on a given matchup, and they both are young. To have both, and a deep stable behind them that includes Frazier and Alonzo Gee, is valuable. 

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Of course, we’ve been harping all offseason about how the team ought to better avoid juggling those dreaded offense/defense trade-offs that plagued its rotations throughout the previous era. By throwing Galloway and Hield into the fire to start the season, there is a chance that those paradoxes come back into play. If Hield can’t hold his own on defense or Galloway’s shot isn’t quite there right away, Gentry is back to square one in dealing with the style the team plays minute to minute.

STYLE

Relying on Moore as a ball-handler more consistently brings its own questions as well: creative crushers like three-guard lineups or extra-big switcheroos are harder to swing.

"“I think it will be great for me because he likes to play fast, get up and down the court, and that plays to my strengths. I like getting up and down and playing in transition and playing fast. He likes guys who can shoot and do multiple things. I think one of the huge reasons they wanted me to come here is because of my versatility – being able to shoot, being able to handle. It’s definitely a good fit.”"

Juggling all of those minutes makes lineups like a Moore-Galloway-Holiday troika or super big bench groups more difficult; effectively, it makes it harder to put Moore on the court with Holiday as often as you’d like. And that, as we know, can be perilous- remember the vaunted Holiday-Gordon-Reke-Ryno-AD lineup we all cried for for years? Me neither; we rarely ever actually saw it due to rigid roles and failing health.

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Of course, reading this far into an offseason interview before camp has even started is dangerous and silly. There is much to learn as we hear more from coaches and players and see it all come to fruition on the court. But we cling to evidence and suck analysis from its rind, and this week’s comments from Moore shined a smidgen of light onto a murky situation.