New Orleans Pelicans: 3 positive takeaways from first preseason game

The New Orleans Pelicans lost their first preseason game on the road against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

It is preseason, so please relax. I’ve already seen some negative hot takes on Twitter but remember that these games are ultimately meaningless.

The game was sloppy and poorly played at times, but that is to be expected with so many new faces and the team missing Zion Williamson and Jonas Valanciunas.

Devonte’ Graham didn’t have a good outing in his first game as a Pelican, but I expect his role to change once Zion returns. The half court offense was stagnant at times and didn’t look like the .5 basketball they were talking about in training camp.

Zion Williamson fixes a lot of the problems on offense, so don’t be too alarmed, as there were many positives to take away from the game.

New Orleans Pelicans: More hustle plays

The Pelicans didn’t play with consistent defensive intensity, which is one of coach Green’s non-negotiable rules,”  but there were positive signs, especially when it came to hustle plays.

Naji Marshall had a couple of tough offensive rebounds, one on a free throw when he immediately drew a foul and got the Pelicans back to the line. Marshall, Josh Hart and Herb Jones had three offensive rebounds each and Trey Murphy III added another two.

The Pelicans ended with 19 offensive rebounds, which is impressive considering Zion and Valanciunas weren’t even in the game. These were mostly hustle plays, as the Pels were running down long rebounds and getting to a lot of 50/50 balls, especially in the first half.

I thought Jones, Murphy III and Hart were all impressive off the bench and added some energy.