The New Orleans Pelicans have a loaded roster with top-end young talent like Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram flanked with veteran stars like CJ McCollum and Jonas Valanciunas.
They also have a load of hungry young players like Herbert Jones, Jose Alvarado and Trey Murphy III, to which they just added Dyson Daniels, EJ Liddell and Karlo Matkovic.
The only problem is how they are going to find minutes for all of them, but as coach Willie Green said in a recent press conference, this is a problem worth having:
Willie Green on how the #Pelicans will find enough minutes with a loaded roster: “That’s a good problem to have.” pic.twitter.com/4ZNTuKg1WQ
— WWL Radio (@WWLAMFM) June 30, 2022
You can never have too much talent in the NBA, and having so many players trying to earn minutes is only going to make the Pelicans better in the long run.
New Orleans Pelicans roster: Steel sharpens steel
Willie Green rightfully recognized that having a lot of good players is not a bad thing, and is a problem most teams in the NBA wish they had.
There’s an old saying that, “steel sharpens steel,” meaning that strong things help make each other stronger, which is going to be the case with a roster that is going to have to compete for minutes.
Green said that the “players will determine” who gets minutes, and having to fight in practice every day will only make this team better, and will keep every player on his toes, as there will be someone right behind him ready to take those minutes.
This will undoubtedly benefit guys like Jaxson Hayes, who is going to be fighting rookie EJ Liddell among others to stay on the floor.
Also, there were times last season when the Pelicans were rolling out starting lineups that featured guys like Garrett Temple and Tomas Satoransky. Count me as someone who never wants to see Temple in the starting five again, which we won’t barring a catastrophe the likes of which I can’t imagine.
The Pelicans will be deep and versatile at every position, with no real glaring weakness or positional need, so if they do have injuries like last season, they should be far-better equipped to deal with them.
This is a great time to be a fan of the New Orleans Pelicans, as they are young, talented, deep and hungry to take the next step as a franchise.