The New Orleans Pelicans interior defense must improve

The New Orleans Pelicans played basketball for the first time in 141 days last night. Pre-season basketball has no real stakes, but since the Pelicans had a tumultuous off-season, it was nice to see the team be able to get on the court. The result was not what many would have liked in the team’s first outing of the season.

A late rally proved to be for not, as the Pels fell to the Minnesota Timberwolves by a final of 117-114. Pre-season results mean very little, especially the first one of the bunch. Yet, particular signs could pop up that could signal worse issues down the line. Nothing was more glaring than the Pelicans’ inability to guard the interior as well as how slow they were to get back on that side of the ball in transition.

Brandon Ingram and Willy Herangomez started in the front-court for New Orleans, with Zion Williamson and Jonas Valanciunas missing the game with injuries. Ingram is a noted horrible defender, which has always been perplexing due to his ideal size and athleticism. A lot of it has to do with a lack of defensive tenacity, a trend that continued Monday night in the Target Center.

It’s a pre-season game, and I don’t think anyone wants Ingram to give it his all while on the court. Even then, offensive players shouldn’t be getting to the cup with ease if Ingram is the closest defender. He’s not a liability defensively, but he sure is close. It’s something Pelican fans begged to see improvement in their young stars game. His defensive play will be a story as the season goes along.

As for his starting counterpart Hernangomez, he too had a rough defensive outing. Unlike Ingram, it appears he tries hard but is often slow and physically overpowered. Wolves center Karl Anthony Towns was eating him alive when the two squared off, showing how extensive the power gap was. Hernangomez also tends to “leak” forward in the paint, which allows players to attack him faster downhill and have him retreat on his tippy-toes. It creates an imbalance, and opponents can go into his chest while pushing him backward, allowing them to absorb the contact and either draw a foul or get off a better shot attempt.

Jaxson Hayes was the only other big-man to log more than 10 minutes and had a rough night in his own right. The biggest issue he faces is what I like to call the “Hasaan Whiteside Style of Defense.” What I mean by this is, he often wants to swat the ball into the 5th row rather than playing defense in the best way suited at any given play. Hayes also is much less built than Whiteside, which is how a play like this occurs:

Hayes has some lapses where he fails to get back up the court inadequate time, leaving the team susceptible to the “home run pass” that can lead to an easy bucket. He is another one that gets caught way too far away from the basket and allows offenses to run right by him with no one protecting the rim.

It’s a pre-season game, and I’m not going to make much of a fuss about these observations. However, these are things all three players have had issues with in the past. It’s not a mystery why the New Orleans Pelicans have had abysmal defensive metrics in recent years because many of their players don’t improve in that area. This is a problem I plan to put further under the microscope if it continues as the season chugs along.