New Orleans Pelicans: Quality Depth Causing Roster Crunch Problems

After years of lacking real roster depth, David Griffin has built arguably the deepest, most talented New Orleans Pelicans squad in franchise history.

David Griffin came to the New Orleans Pelicans with a mandate and free reign to implement his plan. Gayle Benson has signed the checks to build the infrastructure. The end result is perhaps the deepest, most talented team in franchise history.

Sure, the Chris Paul Hornets teams were pretty good. Yea, Anthony Davis helped Jrue Holiday sweep the Portland Trailblazers. Name the sixth-best player on those teams or even the fourth. Now look at the end of the bench, then glance at next season’s roster. Which team would you choose to win a seven-game series?

It’s granted that next season’s New Orleans Pelicans have the benefit of recency bias and refreshed optimism. The team has room to grow as well. Those Paul and Davis teams had reached their peak. This current squad could be the best as constructed, with room to grow.

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The team lost Anthony Davis, negating some top-end talent. However, he was replaced with Derrick Favors and JJ Redick, not to mention the Davis trade haul. Brandon Ingram was on pace to becoming a star before having his season cut short. Lonzo Ball and Josh Hart help fill out the roster’s upper-middle class.

Nicolo Melli, Darius Miller, and E’twaun Moore fill out the middle of the roster. All three are expected to be well above average shooters. Miller and Melli have shot approximately 39% from deep the last two seasons. Moore has been above 42% three of the past four seasons.

Frank Jackson is ready to provide returns on the Pelicans years-long investments. Zion Williamson dunks are ready to be unleashed upon the NBA’s rims immediately, though the rest of his game needs work. The top eleven players are all excitingly solid; half have All-Star potential.

The back end of the roster is just as impressive. The decisions for the last couple of roster spots are evidence of the team’s depth. Dell Demps never had many NBA draft picks to fill out the bench, so the team lacked potential as well. Scouring the European circuit provided only so much useful depth.

Now the New Orleans Pelicans have more talent than the roster can hold. Jaxson Hayes and Nickeil Alexander-Walker were the two best players on the court in their NBA Summer League debuts. Both could find themselves playing G-League games soon, especially Hayes.

Christian Wood has been sitting out Summer League play while negotiating his role and contract. He was very impressive at the end of last season. Arguments that those were empty stats are hollow. Dominating even garbage time minutes in the NBA is tremendously difficult.

His talents may be more deserving of the time and money the Pelicans can offer. The same goes for Kenrich Williams and Trevon Bluiett. Both have gotten spot minutes in NBA games. Neither is assured a spot on the Pelicans roster going forward.

Bluiett scored 23 points in 29 minutes against the Washington Wizards. The New Orleans Pelicans rescinded his rights before the Summer League schedule was complete. It is actually a good-faith move for both sides. Bluiett could return to the Pelicans but might have earned a backup role on a lottery team.

Williams has played 53 minutes in two games, scoring 13 points on 5-18 shooting. Along with Bluiett and Wood, Kenny Hustle rounds out the most talented last three players on the bench ever for the Pelicans.

The Pelicans have a playoff-caliber starting five with support in reserve. Alvin Gentry and Jrue Holiday can trust their depth instead of pushing their limits, leaving everyone to worry about the next injury to derail a season.

Using the roster depth to keep everyone fresh in the era of load management is necessary to survive an 82-game season. The New Orleans Pelicans finally have the roster depth to do successfully, in the efforts to keep a playoff appearance a realistic goal.