The New Orleans Pelicans have started 5-9, which is not what fans had in mind at the beginning of the season.
Part of this is that the Pels have a new coach, some new faces, had a short offseason and have had one of the most difficult schedules in the NBA.
Only 3 of their 14 games featured opponents that are not playoff contenders and the Pels have already played both LA teams and caught the Utah Jazz in the middle of a red-hot streak.
The Pels’ schedule will start to lighten up a bit, which should help, but they also have to play much better, it’s that simple.
After starting the season 4-2 the Pelicans have been terrible, so what exactly is causing this downward trend?
New Orleans Pelicans: Where do the Pelicans rank defensively?
Defense
Stan Van Gundy was hired to fix the Pelicans’ woeful defense and for a few games, it appeared as though he might have.
The Pelicans were one of the worst defensive teams in the league last season and SVG’s goal was to get them into the top-ten.
Through the first few games they were, and the narrative around the team was that an improved defense would be the key to the playoffs.
Since then, the narrative has changed.
In the last eight games, the Pelicans are allowing 118.1 points per game, even worse than last season. They have fallen to 24th in the league overall, and if you remove the game where the lowly Thunder scored 80 points, the Pels are dead last.
It’s been a collective effort, as they are playing poor individual defense and are also having big breakdowns as a team.
Steven Adams has played well defensively, as has Josh Hart, though he is mostly playing out of of position. Other than that, the Pelicans’ defenders have been awful, which is something that has to change if they want to turn this season around.
New Orleans Pelicans: Poor guard play is killing the Pelicans
Poor Guard Play
I wrote recently that Lonzo Ball and Eric Bledsoe were big reasons for the Pelicans’ slow start.
They have been one of the worst starting backcourts in the NBA by any measure and really aren’t doing anything to contribute to winning basketball at this point.
But it’s not just them, the Pelicans have gotten little from any of their guards this season.
The Pels play up to six guards and so far, they’ve pretty much all been terrible.
Josh Hart has played good defense but has missed a ton of wide-open shots from the corner and is currently shooting just 34 percent from 3-point range.
JJ Redick is having the worst season since his rookie year, averaging just 8.6 points and shooting an abysmal 32.4 percent from long range.
Nickeil Alexander-Walker has been wildly inconsistent, looking like an All-NBA guard one minute and reverting back to bad habits the next. He is averaging 11.1 points per game, mostly because he scored 37 against the Clippers, but hasn’t shot the ball well, averaging just 34 percent from 3-point range.
The NBA is a league dominated by wings and guards who can score. The Pels have their wing in Brandon Ingram but their guards have not been good, especially the starting backcourt, who are 25th (Lonzo) and 27th (Bledsoe) in scoring at their respective positions.
But part of this is not their fault. The Pels guards are being asked to do too much.
New Orleans Pelicans: The Pels have the NBA’s worst bench
The Bench
The New Orleans Pelicans have the worst bench in the NBA, it’s that simple.
They don’t even have a backup forward, as Nicolo Melli is unplayable and they don’t have a reserve behind Brandon Ingram.
This has left guys like Josh Hart, Lonzo Ball and Eric Bledsoe constantly defending larger players and playing out of position.
Here is where the Pelicans’ bench ranks in key categories:
Scoring: Last in the NBA with 28.7 bench points per game
Assists: 26th in the NBA
Blocks: 29th in the NBA
Differential: -7.8 per game, worst in the NBA
The Pels’ bench isn’t scoring, isn’t creating shots, isn’t stopping anyone and is basically giving the other team a double-digit lead in every game.
The New Orleans Pelicans are clearly not ready to compete at the highest level with their current roster as constructed.
They need to add some scoring punch to their bench and backcourt and find some backups for their forwards, who are carrying the team.
The New Orleans Pelicans still have time to turn things around but it needs to happen soon or we’ll be talking about lottery odds before you know it.