New Orleans Pelicans: Positives and Negatives from the First Scrimmage

Here’s the good and bad from the New Orleans Pelicans’ first scrimmage.

It was great to have New Orleans Pelicans‘ basketball back, even if it was just a scrimmage.

The Brooklyn court was beautiful, the messages were powerful and in general, it was thoroughly enjoyable to have basketball back.

Of course, the complainers were loud as always, moaning about the lack of fans, the background, and one lovely human filled my timeline with complaints that Zion wasn’t playing (they must not have Internet) and that the starters didn’t play the entire game in the first scrimmage in over four months.

Internet trolls aside, it was nice to have the timeline filled with New Orleans Pelicans’ basketball for a few hours and the game provided a nice distraction from the relentless real world.

There were plenty of positives from the game, a few negatives, but overall the Pels were impressive considering the circumstances.

Here’s the good and bad from scrimmage number one. Lets start with the venue and format.

Venue and Format

The Good: I thought the court itself was very well done and that the backdrop did a good job of masking the lack of fans. The empty arena didn’t bother me at all and I thought it was an interesting perspective to be able to hear the players and bench. It was more intimate in some ways and it didn’t seem to bother the players. It really didn’t seem much different than a Detroit/Charlotte game. I know that joke has been made a million times but I’ve watched a LOT of Pistons’ games and it is true.

The Bad: I thought they could have added some more music and other arena noises. There were times, particularly during the loose balls, when the place was dead quiet and it was kind of eerie. I know they are trying to keep it neutral, but I’d be ok with the “home” team getting the “DEFENSE” chant once in awhile. I’m sure the NBA will tinker with the format to make the dead air a little less obvious.