The New Orleans Pelicans are just days away from training camp and the start of the 2021-22 season.
With a bunch of new faces and the return of Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram, fans are eager to see if the Pelicans have improved from their 11th place finish last season.
New Orleans Pelicans training camp starts next week
Pelicans training camp opens on September 28th and we are now less than a month away from regular-season games, which doesn’t seem possible.
We’ve barely had time to digest this offseason before getting right back into things and the Pelicans will be learning on the fly with a new head coach and at least three new players in the starting lineup.
If the Pelicans want to make the leap into the playoffs, they need to be more consistent from night to night, and they can start building those habits right away in training camp.
Here are three areas that need focus.
The New Orleans Pelicans need non-stop effort
The biggest criticism against the Pelicans last season is that they didn’t always give maximum effort.
This probably starts with Brandon Ingram, who was sometimes accused of not playing the full 24 seconds on defense, but it filtered down through players like Eric Bledsoe, Lonzo Ball, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Jaxson Hayes and even Zion Williamson at times.
I’m hoping that the addition of hungry players like Naji Marshall will help this cause, as he was a vocal leader during Summer League and was setting the tone with his effort.
The Pelicans need to push themselves in practice and preseason and establish that this year is going to be different in regards to effort. Willie Green can do his part by rewarding players who give it and benching the ones who don’t.