New Orleans Pelicans: 3 overreactions to the Pels’ winless start to season
New Orleans Pelicans: The defense is terrible!
The Pelicans’ have had one of the worst team defenses in the NBA the last three seasons, so it is not a complete shock that they have started the season poorly on that end.
I will say that their effort has been disappointing at times, as I thought some new faces would bring more energy on the defensive end.
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The bright spot so far has been Herb Jones, a second round pick who has already cracked the starting lineup because of his effort on defense.
Also, it has really been the Pelicans’ offense that is the culprit, as they have turned the ball over a ton and allowed a lot of easy fast break points on the other end.
They need to do a better job of getting back in transition, that is for certain, but I don’t think the defense is as dire as people are making it out to be.
Eventually guys like Naji Marshall and Trey Murphy III are going to get more comfortable in their roles and when Zion returns the turnovers should go down, which will help the defense as well.
It hasn’t been a pretty start but no one should expect rookies to come in and immediately start locking people down on defense. They are going to take time to gel and cutting down the turnovers will be a big help.