A look under the hood of the New Orleans Pelicans offense
By Tom Rizk
As of late, the New Orleans Pelicans offense has been humming along quite nicely. In fact, with the Pels producing 110.6 points per game, they are currently ranked 5th in the league in scoring with a 108.1 offensive rating. Few predicted the Pels to be this good at scoring the ball.
Of course, there are still glaring issues in regards to the Pelicans turnovers and defense. But today, I am choosing to ignore the gloomy shadows of these frustrating limitations and venture towards the glowing beacon of light that is the Pelicans outstanding bucket-getting ability.
So how are they doing it?
Shot selection:
Firstly, and most notably as of late, is their three-point shooting. To begin the season there were serious concerns regarding the Pelicans lack of firepower from deep. However, the Pelicans three-point shooting percentage (38.4%), currently ranks 4th in the league. Whilst in December they are shooting a scorching 45.4% from deep, easily good enough for best in the league during this stretch.
Besides the Pelicans red-hot three-point shooting, they have also focused in on another highly efficient area of the court, the paint. The Pelicans are currently getting 45.5% of their points in the paint this season. Not a bad idea when you have Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins on your team.
So how are the Pelicans so effective at both getting and making these shots?
Getting to their spots:
Well, that comes largely down to one of the key changes to the Pelicans offense this season. Their passing. Ranking second in the league in assists (26.4) highlights how well the Pelicans are moving the ball this season. This combined with the gravity that Davis and Cousins provide creates open lanes for cutters as well as space for shooters to spot up for an open jump shot.
The Pelicans are either cutting or spotting up a combined 30.2% of the time this season, ranking in the top 7 in the frequency of such plays. Each of these highly effective play types is yielding in a minimum of one point per possession for the pelicans, with their cuts being the most effective. The Pelicans are racking in 1.33 points per possession on cuts this season, placing them in the 89.7th percentile.
Pace:
Another aspect of the Pelicans offense that is proving rather successful is their ability to score in transition. To begin the season, many people cried out that Gentry’s system would not mesh with having two elite bigs and that instead, the Pels should slow the pace down and adopt more of a grit-and-grind style of play. But have the Pelicans even really have two bigs?
There are 165 inches (Cousins and Davis combined height) that say yes, however, they are making a combined 2.8 threes a game along with 7.6 assists. That’s not the production of typical big men. So in some ways, they are just very oversized guards (or at least can be used as such). If that’s the case maybe Gentry’s system is the right one? Or at the very least an adequate one. Chris Finch certainly seems to of managed to bring out the best in the duo so far.
This season the Pelicans are 7th in the league in the frequency they attempt to score in transition. And whilst they are rather average in their ability to convert on such plays (51.7th percentile), they are nonetheless still receiving over a point per possession for their efforts.
Post-ups:
On the other hand, for those that demanded the Pelicans dump the ball into the post every possession and just let Davis and Cousins do their thing there is good news too. The Pelicans are actually 8th in the league in the frequency of their post-ups and one of the better teams in the league at converting such plays (82.8th percentile). Nonetheless, post-ups still aren’t as effective as cuts and spot-ups which the Pelicans seem to recognize judging from their overall play type distribution.
Looking forward:
Minus some turnover issues, many of which are bound to crop up when pushing the ball at such a high pace, the Pelicans offense seems to be doing pretty okay. I mean it certainly isn’t the Pelicans defense that has given them an above .500 record coming out of the Christmas break.
Next: Pelicans Garner Momentum, Look To Add To Their Win-Streak
As long as they remain somewhere close to this level of offensive production the Pelicans are in very good shape to reach the post-season. And if they can improve their inconsistent defense even to just an around average level, then they should be in a great position to leapfrog several Western Conference foes with similar records.