Roster Shaming the New Orleans Pelicans Doesn’t Make Sense

As the New Orleans Pelicans inch towards training camp, predictions in regards to records and standings are constant. With the roster pretty much in place, New Orleans enjoys a fun, talented, and intriguing roster. Many, however, expect the Pelicans to have a tough time putting it all together once the season begins. The narrative behind that belief just doesn’t make sense.

From a roster perspective, the New Orleans Pelicans are in uncharted territory. Unless you liked the days of Baron Davis, Jamal Mashburn, and P.J Brown., NOLA has never seen a roster with this much reasonable potential. That potential being their two top-10 basketball players in Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins.

In addition, NOLA carries arguably a top 20 NBA Guard in Jrue Holiday and a floor general in Rajon Rondo. The roster also possesses solid role players such as Soloman Hill, Ian Clark, and E’Twaun Moore. Throw in the potential of a Cheick Diallo, a possible hidden gem in Darius Miller, and the Pelicans top nine players aren’t as bad as advertised. You may not be as warm on Jordan Crawford, Omer Asik, or Alexis Ajinca, but when used properly, all can be reputable.

Don’t forget about the two wild cards in rookie Frank Jackson and injury plagued Quincy Pondexter.

Another popular concern circulating the Pelicans is leadership. It’s always a question with Cousins and has been one for Rondo over the past four years. If you look further, however, you’ll see that perception isn’t reality. Rondo was voted best teammate by his peers last season in Chicago. Though Cousins is known for his temper and tension with the media, his teammates generally have good things to say about him.

Those details aren’t as important when teams aren’t successful, unfortunately.

Winning is the ultimate cure and the ultimate shield, we see examples of that all the time. J.R Smith on a losing team is a bad shot selecting head case. On a winning team, he’s a passionate shot maker.

That brings us to the talk about the surrounding pieces around AD and Boogie.

There’s chatter about the pieces not fitting together.

The conversation mostly revolves around the concerns over who the Pels have to space the floor. This is a misguided question, however. Outside of Rajon Rondo (who shot 36% from three last year by the way) and Soloman Hill, the Pelicans surprisingly have some capable shooters to fit around their stars.

Not including injured players, big men, or rookies, the Pelicans roster shot 38 percent from 3 last year. To put that into perspective, the Indiana Pacers, who ranked 4th in all of basketball, shot 37.6 percent.

We talk a lot about the Golden State Warriors and the talent around their stars, but no one truly knew how good the role players were before they started winning. Shaun Livingston was a cast off before Golden State. Who even knew who Ian Clark was? Andre Iguodala, as great as he is, was originally paid to start and play big minutes and now he is on the bench.

JaVale McGee and Andrew Bogut were players that had underachieved professionally. In a winning environment, they became local heroes. As great as Steve Kerr’s system is, it was superstars positively influencing the guys around them. Those superstars eventually made life easier for a countless number of role players and changed the way they were viewed in NBA circles. Winning alone washed away bad memories and created good ones.

The point being, sometimes you don’t know what you have in a player until the right circumstances and situations are present. New Orleans overall doesn’t have to be Golden State as a supporting cast or from the perimeter. Above average is enough to get them by. They can leave the extraordinary to Boogie and AD, which could lead to average players performing good, and good players performing great.

This isn’t 1999 either, “Fire and Ice” do not spend all of their time posted up or around the rim. One reason the thought of AD and Boogie together was so polarizing, to begin with, was that neither of them are typical big men. They both have guard qualities, stretch the floor naturally, and are willing passers to go with their skills inside the paint. Their talents transcend what people normally think of when a front court comes to mind.

A better narrative when describing the outlook for the Pelicans may be their lack of time playing together. Questions about position changes, chemistry, and overall flow can be pointed to as valid concerns. The question is, why do we focus so hard on the possible failure instead of the positives taking place?

For example: There hasn’t been another team seen as much together during the offseason than the Pelicans. From role players to their stars, they’ve all put in extra work to get better together. Heck, they may have even started training camp a month early as almost the entire roster worked out together recently in Kentucky.

Everyone understands the road ahead in NOLA. They’re underdogs, have plenty to prove, and have gambled on things that absolutely have to pay off. The shooting and spacing should be there and even if the defense isn’t top ten this year, they should be at least respectable. What was a makeshift roster last year is a, so far, completely healthy squad this year.

Next: New Orleans Pelicans: Can Omer Asik Carve Out Any Kind of Role?

No matter how you view it, they’re some bad NBA rosters put together, and even those don’t deserve roster shame in August.

For the ones that do, the basketball universe just asks that your complaints all make sense. The ones pointed at the Pelicans don’t.