New Orleans Pelicans: Probable Lineups and Rotation vs. Utah Jazz

New Orleans Pelicans’ Rotations: Power Centers

Starter: Derrick Favors

Backup: Jaxson Hayes

The Pelicans won’t play more than 11 guys on most nights and Gentry will probably tighten the rotation to nine or at most ten.

If there is one thing we learned from the scrimmages, it’s that the Pelicans are not that big. Favors is a good defender but not much of a rim protector, while Hayes is tall but rail thin and gets rag dolled by any adult in the league.

Hayes played heavy minutes in the scrimmages and he showed enough to probably earn himself some run in the real games. He seemed more focused on his defense and setting screens as opposed to constantly cherry picking for poster dunks.

Hayes is a disruptor at the rim, even when he doesn’t get his hands on the ball, but his one on one defense needs a lot of work.

He looked good in small ball lineups surrounded by shooters, which will likely be his role going forward. Hayes will probably pick up a few DNP’s in the final eight games, but if he continues to focus on defending the rim, could be a weapon in the second unit.

Favors’ value to this team can’t be overstated, so he needs to stay out of foul trouble and anchor the Pels’ defense and rebounding.

Neither of the Pels’ centers play big minutes, but they will probably both get a chance against Rudy Gobert, who is a handful down low.

The New Orleans Pelicans showed that they are talented and deep, and Alvin Gentry has a lot of potential sitting on his bench.

The rotations will be filled by some combination of these 13 players and it could be different in every game.

We can’t take too much from scrimmages, but the Pelicans look deep and ready to go against the Utah Jazz on Thursday.