The Anthony Davis-era for the New Orleans Pelicans deserves more scrutiny if the Los Angeles Lakers win the NBA Finals
I was avoiding writing about Anthony Davis for the longest time, but I can’t anymore. Once the season began, I chose to hold off the Davis topic because I felt like it was time for the New Orleans Pelicans to move on.
With a great young core in place, I thought that the more compelling story to follow with the Pelicans was detailing the team’s growth throughout the year rather than look at how Anthony Davis performs in Los Angeles. We all knew Davis would play outstanding ball with LeBron James this season.
Now, the Los Angeles Lakers lead the Miami Heat 3 games to 1 in the NBA Finals, and it looks like they’ll close out the series in five games for an NBA championship due to injuries hampering the Heat. As optimistic as I am about the Pelicans future with their new nucleus of talent, looking at this Lakers season in its entirety condemns the entire Anthony Davis era of Pelicans basketball.
Why the Los Angeles Lakers title makes the Anthony Davis-era look worse for the New Orleans Pelicans
The reason I believe that a Lakers’ title makes the Pelicans’ handling of Davis look worse is because of how this Lakers team came together. The Lakers already had LeBron James occupying their roster, and by trading for Davis they had essentially no one else.
Los Angeles’ front office quickly surrounded their new duo with marginal veteran role players and a solid defensive coach in Frank Vogel. The result? A top-5 defense and a championship on the horizon. Who knew it was that hard?
The Los Angeles Lakers winning amplifies the total mismanagement of Anthony Davis’ talents. Why couldn’t the Pelicans give Davis a defensive-minded coach and a stellar two-way wing? This Lakers title magnifies decisions by the previous Pelicans front office that were complete failures.
This includes draft mistakes like selecting Buddy Hield with the 6th pick while giving up first-round picks in 2017 and 2018, the hiring of an all-offense no-defense coach in Alvin Gentry, and the acquisition of DeMarcus Cousins. Too many times the Pelicans failed Davis by trying to make him something he’s not.
The selection of Hield and the run-and-gun offense from Alvin Gentry saw the Pelicans try to turn Davis into Andre Stoudamire 2.0. When the team pivoted by acquiring DeMarcus Cousins, they suddenly asked Davis to become Tim Duncan in an outdated two big system.
I think worst of all though, the Pelicans introduced the blueprint the Lakers used this season but failed to capitalize on it. I’m talking about when Cousins went down in 2018 and the Pelicans surrounded Anthony Davis with strong defender Jrue Holiday and smart role players like Rajon Rondo.
The 2018 Pelicans were a team that saw Anthony Davis thrive as the perfect modern big with an ideal perimeter complement in Jrue Holiday whose stellar defense and strong two-man game with Davis gave the Pelicans a plan going forward.
Instead of building on that, the Pelicans followed that season by taking flyers on first-round burnouts and hoping for similar success. What if instead, the team drafted a strong wing or flipped Jrue Holiday for the available Kawhi Leonard? Maybe instead of signing Julius Randle who didn’t fit with Davis, the team could’ve signed a point guard to replace Rondo.
There are a lot of what-ifs for the New Orleans Pelicans organization with Anthony Davis capturing a title. A lot of organizational failures. Overall, the team tried to make Anthony Davis be something other than himself and it failed them. We all might feel angry at Davis for leaving but instead, we should tip our cap to him winning and hope this front office doesn’t make the same mistakes with their new young core.