NBA ranked by opponent rim frequency: Pelicans defense offers no resistance

It's no secret that the New Orleans Pelicans have been a terrible team this season. In fact, they've been the worst squad in the Western Conference through 17 games, sitting at 4-13, good for the 15th seed in the West.

It's also not a secret why the Pelicans have been so bad this year. They've played the majority of this campaign without practically their entire core, as Zion Williamson, Dejounte Murray, CJ McCollum, Herb Jones, and Trey Murphy III have all racked up absences through the first quarter of the season.

Because of the sheer number of absences that they've had to endure, it's hard to take much away from their performance so far. It's perfectly understandable and reasonable to purely write off these first batch of games due to injury. While injuries are certainly the main driving force behind their poor start, it can be a helpful exercise to look into how they're losing these shorthanded games to try to maximize their potential once their players are available again. A deeper dive into the stats shows that these injury-riddled Pelicans have been one of the worst defensive units in the NBA for this one particular reason.

Playing the Pelicans has practically been a lay-up line this season

When dealing with injuries, there are a couple of things that shorthanded NBA teams can do to try to mitigate their disadvantages, including throwing up a bunch of 3-pointers, pushing the pace, and focusing on defense to try to neutralize the talent gap. Clearly, the Pelicans have failed to pull off many upset wins this season and it's because they haven't been able to implement those strategies.

New Orleans has been absolutely horrid on defense this year, clocking in at 22nd in opponent points per game at 115.2 and 29th in defensive rating by allowing 119.5 points per 100 possessions. Of course, injuries have played a part in this as well, but it's not like every single player they've been missing is a defensive world-beater. Aside from Herb Jones and Dejounte Murray, their injury report has been filled with poor to average defenders.

There are two primary reasons why the Pelicans have been so awful on defense: poor perimeter containment on drives and a complete void of consistent rim protection. New Orleans is allowing its opponents to shoot a blazing 64.2 percent on field goals within 10 feet of the basket, which is the fifth-highest mark in the league.

Not only is their defense giving up easy shots, but the Pelicans are allowing a ton of them. 47.5 percent of their opponents' shots are coming from within 10 feet, which is the worst line in the NBA by over a full percentage point. Teams aren't settling for open short midrange jumpers against New Orleans either.

According to Cleaning the Glass (subscription required), the Pelicans' opponents shoot 39.7 percent of their shots right at the rim. That's again the worst mark in the entire league. This is something that Head Coach Willie Green and the team have to solve, regardless of who's suiting up for them.