New Orleans Pelicans: 3 things fans need to see vs. the Grizzlies

During the Detroit Pistons vs. New Orleans Pelicans game the other night, I noticed a distinct difference in the fanbases on Twitter.

The Pistons’ fans were ecstatic about the play of their rookies and the overall effort of their team while the Pelicans’ fans were arguing about which guy should be traded and whether Stan Van Gundy should be fired.

Part of it is expectations, as the Pistons had none coming into the season and are exceeding them while the Pelicans have largely underperformed.

It’s not the Pelicans’ record that is so surprising, as they are a young team with a new coach and lot of new players, but it’s been the way they are losing.

They are giving little effort, especially on the defensive end, playing with little urgency, and quite frankly getting punked by lesser teams.

Fans just want to see their guys play hard and care, even if they don’t get the desired results, especially when the team is young and still building.

I’ve seen more effort and passion go into arguments about Lonzo Ball on Twitter than I’ve seen on the court for the Pelicans this season and eventually fans are going to get bored of the poor results.

Here are three things we want to see against the Memphis Grizzlies.

New Orleans Pelicans: The Pels need to show they care

The Pistons out-hustled and outplayed the Pelicans all night even though they are half as talented and this needs to change.

Veterans like Eric Bledsoe shouldn’t have to be motivated to play hard but lately he’s just been going through the motions and doesn’t seem to care.

The Pelicans were down late to the Pistons but you wouldn’t have known it by the way they were walking the ball up the floor, not getting after it on defense and not communicating down the stretch.

It looked like they had a 30 point lead in a preseason game rather than being down 10 with two minutes to go against a bad team in the regular season.

Fans want to see players that care as much as they do and so far the New Orleans Pelicans have rarely given that effort.

Some of this is on Stan Van Gundy but most of it is on the players, as they shouldn’t need a coach to motivate them to give effort.