New Orleans Pelicans: Power ranking the Western Conference

New Orleans Pelicans: Power ranking the Western Conference #12-10

#12- Houston Rockets

I really like the way the Rockets have rebuilt their roster on the fly. They didn’t get a ton from the James Harden trade, bottomed out last season, and after drafting Jalen Green, have a nice young roster around John Wall.

If Wall can get back to form and play a full season, the Rockets might surprise some people, as they have guys like Green, Porter Jr. and Christian Wood who can get up the floor and score.

They had a great draft grabbing Usman Garuba, Josh Christopher and Alperen Sengun to go with Green, so the Rockets could be better than people think.

I also think they will end up being one of the biggest rivals of the New Orleans Pelicans.

#11- San Antonio Spurs

The Spurs are never a team you want to count out and they too have some really talented young players.

But the Spurs lost DeMar DeRozan and replaced him with Doug McDermott while also taking a project player in Josh Primo in the draft.

I think the Spurs are one of the teams the New Orleans Pelicans could overtake in the West.

#10- Memphis Grizzlies

It’s funny to me that national media has attacked the Pelicans for their offseason, but has mostly left the Grizzlies alone even though theirs was arguably even more confusing.

The Grizzlies have made so many moves that it is hard to keep up, but did they actually get any better? They swapped centers with the Pelicans and the Pels got the better guy. They added Juancho Hernangomez in a recent trade and still have some talented young defenders around Ja Morant, but I think the Pels won that trade and will be slightly better because of it.

I also think the Pelicans got a steal in Trey Murphy III, who could end up being better than Ziaire Williams even though he was taken seven spots later in the draft.