Previewing New Orleans Pelicans 2016 Media Day

With the New Orleans Pelicans’ Media Day only a week and a half away, it’s time to start asking the questions we’ve wanted answers for all summer long.

If July is the exposition of the NBA calendar, September is the rising action (and you thought those plot diagrams from elementary school stopped being useful years ago!). Besides the start to most teams’ training camps, September also encompasses the true beginning to the NBA season: team media days. For the New Orleans Pelicans, that day comes soonest; on September 23rd, the Pels will invite the media into their house for divulgence, honesty, and wacky predictions. Among last year’s surprises: that Tyreke Evans would be posting up more, and that Dante Cunningham should be shooting less threes.

While last season’s media day probably veered more toward a new coaching staff struggling to make sense of a mishmash of odds and ends, this season’s ought to answer some real questions about the makeup and vision for the team. There are expectations that the team will play differently, with coach Alvin Gentry having more time to install his offensive system and defensive talent better equipped to make the transition into top assistant Darren Erman’s defensive system. However, the top of most media members’ lists of questions will be health; yet again, the Pelicans enter the season with more questions than answers in the medical room.

With the health situations of Jrue Holiday, Tyreke Evans, and Quincy Pondexter still unsettled, Gentry and the team’s executives will struggle to answer questions about their health without being too specific about their returns. Anthony Davis is set to be ready, but will have to work his way back into form after missing the last month of the season with multiple injuries. The training staff has yet to learn the rhythms and aches of the new guys. Hopefully there’s time for more than just injury talk. If there is, here are some questions that need answering:

Who will be the starting point guard?

There were questions about the backcourt rotation even before Lauren Holiday’s diagnosis took Jrue out of the running. Having added combo guards E’Twaun Moore and Langston Galloway to a rotation that already included Buddy Hield, Tim Frazier, and Holiday, someone was likely to be the odd man out. Now, it looks like the least experienced guys (Hield and Frazier) in that group will have to shoulder heavy loads each from the outset of the season.

Often, starting and finishing NBA games are separate concepts, but with question marks at small forward (can Solomon Hill provide value immediately?) and center (is Omer Asik still worth the time?), the Pelicans can ill afford to make the wrong call at point guard. Each candidate provides value in a different way: Frazier’s slashing, Moore’s calculated suave, Galloway’s bulldog effervescence. The preference that the coaches show in late September probably provide some insight into how they plan to build the rotation as a whole.

Where does Terrence Jones fit in?

Related: how much does Alexis Ajinca even play? Does Omer Asik start? How often will the team go small? Can Jones capably guard larger frontcourt players? So many places to start, but really, it comes down to the ways the Pelicans plan to use Jones.

We know the story by now: he played with AD at Kentucky, surprised and then struggled in Houston, and now arrives back at Davis’ doorstep ready to rehab his value on a one-year, minimum deal. A Jones-Davis pairing has the makings of a versatile dunkapalooza on offense and switchable block party on defense; however, that idealization relies not only on a return to form by both players, but a significant improvement. For Davis, that means holding his own against bigger players. For Jones, that means holding his own against any players.

What’s up with Tyreke Evans?

At this point, we know he won’t be ready to start the season. Past that… not much. His timeline has not been made public, but he has been replaced in the rotation. The team clearly has plans that do not include Reke. While that’s disappointing if you’re a believer in fun as the eleventh commandment, it’s inspiring if you’re a believer in efficiency winning basketball games.

Are there trades brewing? Does any team want him? It’ll surely be the sort of juicy quote a reporter attempts to pull out of the wizened Gentry’s mouth. Alas, he’s likely too smart to fall for any of that foolishness. There’s also reason to believe the team is just sitting on its hands like a kid in a museum, waiting for an answer to fall out of the sky, be it health or a phone call.

After an offseason full of personnel changes, it’s obvious that most of the questions would revolve around player roles. However, there is just as much to ponder elsewhere. The Pelicans continue to rank near the bottom of every list ranking market size and passion, and failed to acquire a marquee player this summer, unless you’re particularly bullish on a rookie Hield or a chewed up Lance Stephenson. That’s a problem without a clear solution. Oh and don’t forget: the clock is ticking on Anthony Davis’ unrestricted free agency.

Next: Pelicans can learn from New Orleans Saints

Considering that Media Days exist solely to put a microphone to the questions bubbling up in the minds of fans and media members alike all summer, it’s ideal that the Pelicans have theirs ahead of schedule. Because questions there surely are; we’ve officially arrived at step one of making sense of this jumbled fiesta of an offseason that Dell Demps has hosted.

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