New Orleans Pelicans Early Season Stress Test

This preseason Pelican Debrief looked at the sections of the New Orleans Pelicans schedule and the way it should be approached. The next eight games will be the best early ‘set’ of games to inform fans if the first two games were fools’ gold, or if we should start saving for Finals tickets.

Starting with the Clippers on October 23, the New Orleans Pelicans will play eight straight games against expected playoff teams. After the Clippers, the Pelicans have a back-to-back set of games on the weekend against the upstart Brooklyn Nets and the Utah Jazz. Many outlets picked the Jazz to finish with a better record than the Pelicans.

After those three home games this week, the next five games are road affairs against the Golden State Warriors, Denver Nuggets, Portland Trail Blazers, San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder. All five teams are good bets for the playoffs, and the Pelicans will be tested early. This early set of games will give the new look Pelicans a chance to separate themselves from the middle of the pack contenders. If the Pelicans can make it through the first week of November with a winning record, New Orleans will be in the drivers seat for a top 4 seed.

The Dell Demps and Alvin Gentry’s coaching staff will be tested over the next two weeks. The level of competition the next two weeks might be the toughest stretch of playoff teams the Pelicans face all year.

The Clippers come into New Orleans having also beaten the Houston Rockets and the Oklahoma City Thunder sans Russell Westbrook. Doc Rivers and Alvin Gentry play drastically different styles. Controlling the tempo of the game is paramount to forcing the Clippers into uncomfortable positions.

Tobias Harris and Danilo Gallinari are the best Clippers players and they could trouble Nikola Mirotic or Julius Randle but neither should be able to contain Anthony Davis. No one in the league can, but the Clippers have Harris and Gallinari using varying approaches in their defensive assignments on Davis. Rudy Gay and LaMarcus Aldridge are likely the most formidable pairing of big men the Pelicans will face in the first ten games.

Avery Bradley and Patrick Beverly have not played well this season. Jrue Holiday and Elfrid Payton should prey upon the weak offensive threats. The rematch against Portland and the game against a still healing Thunder team loom large. Two wins against those teams will mean less pressure later in the season.

These next few games will show, and test, the importance of pace for the bench unit. Can Frank Jackson, Solomon Hill, Darius Miller, Julius Randle, Wesley Johnson, Ian Clark, and Jhalil Okafor keep up the Pelicans standard? If so, opposing team will be hard pressed to keep up for all 48 minutes. If not, the starting unit will play more tense minutes than they should, just to stave of upsets.

The importance of defensive efficiency will also be emphasized and stressed to the reserves. Lulls at the end of the third quarter on the offensive end are worrisome, but only if the second team defense is being gouged, meaning leads quickly disappearing. Scoring droughts are bound to happen offensively. Causing scoring droughts defensively helps keep lead cushions and Davis on a seat cushion in the fourth quarter.

To be better, the Pelicans second team needs to force more bad shots, provide a bit more resistance on drives to the rim, and they must rebound. Hill, Miller, Okafor, Randle, Clark and Jackson must focus on securing the ball and more offensive possessions.

Even on the first team, guard rebounds should be a focal point. Elfrid Payton and Jrue Holiday can run past players. They need wings in the corners and a screener to free a rim run. Davis and Randle can take care of the following lob.  Mirotic is bound to get more attention, so the Pelicans need at least one more gunner to sight in their scopes.

Alvin Gentry’s running offense requires a stout defense, or else it’s all just Sportcenter highlights in a lost season with a ceiling of a first round series win. The next eight games will give a glimpse into what this Pelicans team already is, and what more it can be. The Pelicans have a great chance to be 10-2 going into the winter, which would be the best start to a season in ages. Even at 9-3, the Pelicans would be in line for a top 4 seed.

The level of expectations for this season were raised in the first two games. The next two weeks worth of games will give fans, Demps, and Gentry all the sample size they need going into the long winter stretch. One trade was already completed in search of wing help. Will another be required, or is this Pelicans team, as constructed, a contender?