New Orleans Pelicans have plenty of room for improvement

Though it is only the preseason, the New Orleans Pelicans find themselves falling into bad habits.

With the start of the regular season less than two weeks away, the New Orleans Pelicans look to use the preseason to fine tune any deficiencies before the games really start to matter. If the first two games are any indication, then they have a ways to go.

A big question mark this season (and frankly for the last few), is whether the Pelicans had enough outside shooting to compete with the Golden State Warriors or Houston Rockets out West. It definitely doesn’t appear that way so far. Granted, the Pelicans were without their top two three-point shooters in Nikola Mirotic and Darius Miller, but the rest of the team shot so inept it’s hard to imagine that even adding those two will make the Pelicans a top-tier three-point shooting team.

Through two games in the preseason, the Pelicans are shooting a woeful 26 percent from beyond the arc. They were already a middle of the pack team last year as they were tied for 13th in three-point shooting. Hopefully the three-point accuracy of Mirotic and Miller, both who are slated to return Friday against the New York Knicks , will become contagious among the team. Time will tell on this one, but certainly something to watch for.

What else stood out in the first two losses were opponents points in the paint. Both the Chicago Bulls and Atlanta Hawks scored 72 points in the paint. Granted, some of this may have come during garbage time in the fourth, but some of it was against the starters as well. The Pelicans had a rough time switching defensively in the first half with caused Atlanta to get free rein to the basket. In fact, 22 of the Hawks first 30 points came inside the paint. The Pelicans must do a better job of keeping their opponents away from the basket.

Lastly, its something you can never predict, but inevitably always rears it’s ugly head-the injury bug. Already down Mirotic and Miller for the first two preseason games, Julius Randle exited the game with what appeared to be a hip injury. Frank Jackson also suffered an ankle injury during the contest and is listed as day-to-day.  Jahlil Okafor is out for 1-2 weeks as he recovers from his ankle injury. Anyone healthy here?

With the start of the regular season looming, do you think the Pelicans have enough time to rectify these issues before embarking on their 82 game journey? Sound off in the comment section below and let us know what you think.