NBA Preseason Power Rankings: Where do the New Orleans Pelicans land?
By Nick Alvarez
23. San Antonio Spurs
I’ll never say that the Spurs are out of playoff contention thanks to the brilliance of head coach Gregg Popovich, but I think this year is going to be a tough one for the silver and black. I say that because the Spurs roster has one foot in the past and one in the future.
DeMar DeRozan and LaMarcus Aldridge are still around, but both players are aging and their playstyle doesn’t quite fit the modern NBA. Then you look at the young talent the Spurs have amassed in Dejonte Murray, Derrick White, Lonnie Walker IV, and Keldon Johnson and see that there’s upside but how can those players fit with the team’s veteran stars? Popovich will have to figure that out, and that’ll probably leave the Spurs in the same place they were last year.
22. Minnesota Timberwolves
Ranking the Minnesota Timberwolves was tricky because they feel like a true boom or bust team this season. We know the Timberwolves have an All-Star duo in D’Angelo Russell and Karl Anthony Towns, and the team just added 1st overall pick, Anthony Edwards, to help them win. However, there’s still a lot of questions for the Timberwolves.
Most of them surround the defensive end of the floor, are any of Minnesota’s players willing to play defense at all? I’m not so sure, and I don’t know if head coach Ryan Saunders is the coach to make this team’s defense any good either. If they can figure that out though, they should move up these rankings later.