It’s been too much and not enough for the New Orleans Pelicans

The New Orleans Pelicans dropped a home game to the shorthanded Portland Trail Blazers, who were without superstar Damian Lillard.

The Pels only scored 95 points in a disappointing effort, especially after getting a tough road win in Chicago the night before. I did think this would be a low-scoring game, but failing to score 100 points at home is unacceptable.

New Orleans fell to 6-6 on the young season, which is not catastrophic by any means, especially considering they have had a tough schedule to start the season, playing mostly on the road. It showed last night, as the Pels ran out of gas in the second half and only managed to score 38 points total, even though they were playing a team that was also on the tail-end of a road back-to-back.

It’s not time to panic, but we have seen some disturbing trends over the last few games, and we are seeing too much of some things and not enough of others.

New Orleans Pelicans: Too much/not enough

Too much CJ McCollum

I have no doubt that CJ McCollum is going to turn things around, but right now he is mired in a shooting slump. He is shooting just 40 percent overall for the season and just 29 percent from 3-point range.

Last night he led the Pels with 17 shot attempts and continued to be the primary offensive initiator for the Pelicans. He hit just six of his shots, didn’t get to the free-throw line and turned the ball over five times.

McCollum isn’t a point guard and has so far struggled this season playing on the ball, which is something coach Willie Green needs to adjust.

Not enough Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram as the primary playmakers

So far coach Green has been reluctant to use Zion Williamson in the point forward role outside of the 4th quarter and that needs to change. Zion draws attention every time he touches the ball, and is far more effective moving downhill than he is as a post player.

Everyone else will benefit from his gravity, including McCollum, who could use some easy looks to get himself going.

The Pels have also fared better with Brandon Ingram initiating the offense from the top of the key, as he too draws in defenders and opens up lanes for cutters and shooters.

If the New Orleans Pelicans are not going to start a real point guard, then they need to take advantage of their two best playmakers, and that hasn’t happened nearly enough. Zion had just 14 shots last night and Ingram just 12. They only had five assists between them. These are not role players.

The two of them should be closer to 20 shots apiece and be the ones starting the offense to open up the other guys. I get that coach Green wants his team to share the ball, but you also have to let the stars create advantages.

New Orleans Pelicans: Too much/not enough

Too much Devonte’ Graham and Naji Marshall

I am not trying to scapegoat either of these guys, although I do think the New Orleans Pelicans need to make some changes to their rotation.

Neither of these players has been horrible for the New Orleans Pelicans, but they haven’t been particularly good either and both have limitations, as Graham can’t guard many players, and Naji can’t shoot.

Naji at least has size and can defend a couple of positions, but right now, Graham is pretty much useless unless he gets hot from 3-point range, as most of his shots come from there and he is only making 22 percent of his 2-point shots.

The two played a combined 14 minutes last night, so coach Green may be starting to waiver, and he should, because it’s time to inject some life into the bench.

Not enough Dyson Daniels

I don’t know what rookie Dyson Daniels did to get into his coach’s doghouse, but he couldn’t even get off the bench in the second game of a back-to-back when the Pelicans had zero energy in the second half.

Instead, coach Green shortened his rotation and gave more minutes to Jose Alvarado and Trey Murphy III, which was smart.

But count me as someone who wants to see the rookie get some minutes, especially in games where the Pels lack energy, which he has brought in the limited run he has gotten. He would give the Pelicans more options to go small with Zion or Larry Nance Jr. at center and give them a better defender than Graham.

The Pels have been one of the highest-scoring teams in the NBA but are just 16th in points allowed, so they could use a boost of defense that Daniels may be able to give them.

New Orleans Pelicans: Too much/not enough

Too much coasting for a team that hasn’t won squat

Willie Green had this to say after a recent loss:

The New Orleans Pelicans are a talented team, and they have a chance to do something special, but they can’t just expect to show up and get a win. You can use the excuse of the schedule or injuries, but we just haven’t seen complete games from the Pelicans of late.

The Pels’ defense has a bad habit of not showing up in the 3rd quarter, when they are allowing the 10th most points in the NBA. The Pels have gotten out to a lot of hot starts but aren’t keeping their foot on the gas in the 3rd quarter after building leads.

The Pelicans are 1st in the NBA in 1st-quarter defense, but then drop to 27th and 21st in the second and third quarters, so they are getting out to hot starts and then trying to coast.

You can’t coast in the NBA.

Not enough of the early-season swagger

It’s possible that we got a little too enamored with the Pelicans early in the season, though I do think the schedule has had a lot to do with their 6-6 start.

But one of the reasons they were getting so much hype is because this team was playing with swagger, they were flying around on defense, pushing the pace and feeding off each other’s energy.

We have seen far less of that over the last four games and it really starts at the defensive end. The Pelicans need everyone to buy-in, including Zion Williamson, who opposing offenses are repeatedly targeting.

The Pels are 6th in the NBA in steals per game, averaging 8.2 on the season, but that number has dropped to five over the last four games, including last night when they nabbed just three steals. Getting steals and getting out in transition is key to the Pelicans’ attack, so we need to see more of that “in your face” defense we saw early in the season, as it helps get the team rolling and makes them hard to stop.

New Orleans has five more games at home to get right and I think that they will, but we need to see some shifts in the offensive scheme, the rotation and more effort on the defensive end.