New Orleans Pelicans: The Pels need to get a lot smarter

The New Orleans Pelicans suffered an epic collapse against the Phoenix Suns in the 4th quarter, eventually losing yet another game they probably should have won.

The Pelicans have a bad habit of giving up big leads, mostly because their bench stinks, but also because they lack experience and smarts.

When Chris Paul started taking over in the 4th quarter, most of us were thinking “Here we go again!” The Pelicans blowing winnable games has become an ugly tradition this season and Chris Paul’s play highlighted one of the reasons why.

The New Orleans Pelicans’ defense is terrible and usually gets worse as the game goes on, but they also lack the ability to put teams away, often turning to isolation ball and making horrible decisions that turn a lead into a deficit, as they did against the Suns.

Paul carved up the Pelicans in the 4th and showed how basketball I.Q. is just as important as talent.

The New Orleans Pelicans need a few guys like him.

New Orleans Pelicans: The Pelicans need to get smarter

Other than Lonzo Ball, the Pelicans don’t really have anyone who you could point to as a guy who has a particularly high basketball I.Q.

The Pels make a ton of unforced mistakes, often try to force the ball where it shouldn’t be, miss assignments on defense and generally give away games through dumb plays.

They are also prone to getting beat by the same plays on defense over and over again, to the point that Stan Van Gundy must want to rip out the rest of his hair.

Some of this can be attributed to youth, as all of the Pels’ best players are young, but some of it comes down to not knowing how to play the game the right way.

Watching the Pelicans get whooped by a Detroit team that is half as talented but twice as smart really illustrated that maybe the Pels should have gone after players more in the Mason Plumlee vein when they were trying to fill out their roster.

The New Orleans Pelicans need to rebuild their bench almost completely, and when they do, they need to get smart players who know their role and how to accomplish it on the court.

I’d rather have the low-ceiling, smart guys like Plumlee than flashy guys who don’t know their role, which is something David Griffin needs to remedy.