New Orleans Pelicans: It’s Time to Unleash Alpha B.I.

The New Orleans Pelicans will need the aggressive Brandon Ingram from the beginning of the season.

The New Orleans Pelicans started the season shorthanded and may finish it that way.

With Zion Williamson attending to a family emergency, the Pels find themselves in the same position they were at the beginning of the season.

The Pelicans started out 6-22, so they don’t want to revisit that era, but they will need one aspect of it, and that’s a more aggressive Brandon Ingram.

Ingram carried the Pelicans offensively for most of the season in Zion’s absence, raised his numbers across the board and made his first All-Star team.

Ingram has been good all season, but he was getting more shots before Zion returned and was much more aggressive offensively.

If Zion has to miss any time at all, it’s Ingram who needs to step up and lead this team on the offensive end, just as he did for most of the season.

New Orleans Pelicans: Brandon Ingram needs more shots.

In the 39 games that Ingram played without Zion, he averaged 18.5 shot attempts per game, and took 20 or more attempts 16 times, which is 41% of the games played. In that time he only failed to score 20 or more points three times.

In the 17 games he’s played with Zion, Ingram’s shot attempts drop to 16.6 per game, and he only went for 20 or more attempts six times, which is 35% of the time. In those games, he failed to score 20 points or more eight times.

Ingram was putting up some monster numbers prior to Zion’s comeback, logging games of 30 or more points nine times, and putting up more than 40 points twice, including a huge 49 point effort against the Jazz, the team the Pels play in the first bubble game.

Since Zion’s return, Ingram has only put up two games of 30 or more. If the Pelicans want to stay above water while waiting for Zion to return again, they need Brandon Ingram to be more aggressive and Gentry needs to make him the focal point of the offense.

Ingram is an efficient scorer, can get his own shot and can knock them down from just about anywhere on the floor. He’s the Pelicans best scorer and they need to feed him at least 20 shots a game to maximize their offense.

Zion and Lonzo Ball get most of the headlines, but if the Pelicans make the playoffs, it will be on the back of an aggressive Brandon Ingram.