New Orleans Pelicans: The 5 biggest takeaways from media day

This New Orleans Pelicans squad knows it’s good enough to compete for the playoffs

Over and over again, reporters asked New Orleans Pelicans personnel if they think they can compete for the playoffs. Unsurprisingly, no one made any guarantees, but it was clear from their sentiments, they know they have the ability to get to that level.

Considering the fact that the team is relying on five first-year NBA players in their rotation, it’s quite the statement that this team even has playoff aspirations.

The idea of making the playoffs led to one of the funniest takeaways from the day, as J.J. Redick, who has appeared in the playoffs in all 13 years of his NBA career, told Williamson, “don’t [expletive] this up for me.”

Both Williamson and Redick shared the story. It was pretty funny and light coming from both parties.

However, the team is really, really interested in making a playoff push, and not just the big names on the roster.

When asked about what he wants to do in year two, Kenrich Williams said, “Man, I want to make the playoffs; that’s my personal goal.”

The team is going to be given time to grow, as Griffin said, he just wants players to “be better tomorrow,” not letting them get too low on themselves if they don’t succeed right away. While the pressure is off to that capacity, the players themselves can still keep that playoff hope, as long as they’re doing it in a healthy way.