Would Cancelling the NBA Season Benefit the New Orleans Pelicans?
Cancelling the Season Benefits the New Orleans Pelicans
As a fan, there is no way I want to see the season cancelled. We at Pelican Debrief have continued coverage of the team even when there aren’t games, so we’d like the reward of watching this season play out.
But if I owned the team I might feel differently, here’s why.
The Pelicans Were Never Really Healthy
The “Big 3” of the New Orleans Pelicans is Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram and Lonzo Ball, three guys with spotty injury histories.
Lonzo has been injured or beat up heading into the offseason every year he’s been in the league. It would be nice for him to finish a season healthy and have a full offseason to work on his game without having to overcome an injury.
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Ingram is still overcoming a serious health issue related to a blood clot and even though he’s made a full recovery, it’s something to be concerned about.
Zion missed most of the season with a knee injury and never looked to be 100 percent.
Anyone who says they didn’t wince every time Zion went down or landed funny is lying. Zion was limping all over the place, especially in the games leading up to the hiatus.
Missing the season cost Zion his conditioning and it showed, as he looked fatigued late in games and had a more pronounced limp.
It wouldn’t be the worst thing if he had a long offseason to fully recover and not risk re-injuring that knee. If the season were to resume and Zion got hurt again would it be worth it?
The New Orleans Pelicans Will Get Stronger
The Pelicans are a young team that lacks physical strength, which was evident by the way LeBron went through them like they weren’t there.
Jaxson Hayes, Ingram, Ball and even Zion can get much stronger with another offseason program of workouts and weights. Look at the way the Michael Jordan-era Bulls had to put in the time in the weight room before they were able to overcome the stronger Pistons.
If the New Orleans Pelicans want to contend in the West, they have to get stronger so teams cannot push them around in the paint, where they are 28th in the NBA in points allowed.
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Big wings were especially difficult for the Pels to stop and a cancellation would give them more time to beef up and prepare.
The Pelicans Need to Build Chemistry
The New Orleans Pelicans only had 19 games with their full team and it showed at times. Though Lonzo and Zion had started to develop a nice two-man game, the rest of the team was still trying to adjust, especially Ingram, who had become the Alpha scorer in Zion’s absence.
A longer offseason means more film, more study and more time to figure out how the pieces work.
As a pragmatist, this makes sense, but as a basketball fan, cancellation is the last thing I want.