The EuroBasket having just ended, DNA of Sports is starting its traditional presentation, franchise by franchise, of the upcoming NBA season. Like every year, this one takes the form of a countdown, from the worst record in the league to our favorite for the title of champion.
Today, we put our suitcases in Louisiana, in New Orleans, where the Pelicans seem ready to take off again after a very badly started season, but rather well ended. Deprived of its superstar, Zion Williamson throughout the season, Willie Green’s team actually tripped over the mat from the outset with only 3 wins in their first 19 games.
But a trade just before the transfer deadline, including CJ McCollum and Larry Nance Jr. (for Josh Hart and a few other players) helped finish strong. Qualified for the “play in” with the reinforcement of McCollum to support Brandon Ingram, the Pels managed to overthrow San Antonio, then the Clippers to snatch the eighth, and last, ticket for the playoffs.
Certainly beaten in six innings by the Suns in the first round, the Pelicans have found a strong identity in their youth and their contagious energy, but also a clearer hierarchy with Ingram and McCollum at the top of the pyramid, and the Jose Alvarado, Trey Murphy III and other Herbert Jones for willingly sticking to the most thankless tasks, but so essential to the proper functioning of a team.
With 33 wins for 30 losses in the last 63 games of last season, NOLA managed to raise the bar, showing that Willie Green’s paw was beginning to impose itself on the bench. Head coach for the first time in his career, Coach Green was one of the great men of the Pels’ last season, with a real closeness to his players but also an iron fist to shake the Suns in the playoffs.
With the highly anticipated return of Zion Williamson, who made it a point to arrive in the best shape of his career for training camp, the Pels didn’t need to pick up noon to two p.m. off-season; the priority was indeed to extend Williamson, which was done as soon as possible with a new contract as big as his signatory, to the tune of 193 million dollars over five years.
Qualified in extremis in the playoffs with a team still under construction, the Pelicans can decently aim higher this season, with three All Star level players in Williamson, Ingram and McCollum and a rather well-designed workforce around this “Big Three”…
SUMMER MOVEMENTS
— Arrivals : Dyson Daniels (draft)
— Departures : Gary Clark, Tony Snell
PLAYER TO WATCH: ZION WILLIAMSON
It is necessarily to be taken with a grain of salt knowing that it comes from one of his close collaborators, but Jasper Bibbs, the physical trainer of Zion Williamson, recently declared with a smile that his client was “a better athlete than ever” after a been studious and disciplined to follow a draconian physical program.
Knowing that the last season of the phenomenal winger passed by Duke had resulted in a hurricane with 27 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists on average, two years ago, we can expect the worst for Zion’s opponents! It must be said that after having missed no less than 141 games over the first three years of his professional career, the last of which was entirely after a broken right foot, Williamson must clearly restore his image…
The other question will not necessarily concern his physical condition but rather his integration into a collective that was set up without him last season. Between the scoring of McCollum and Ingram who need the leather, Williamson will have to find his place without breaking the balance established in his absence. A great balancing act for the NOLA buffalo!
Average age: 25.5 years old
Payroll: $153.6 million (20th)
THE IDEAL SCENARIO
With a beautifully crafted five majors, transcended by the immeasurable power of Zion Williamson in position 4, the Pelicans manage to end their incredible streak of ten seasons over the last eleven with a start under 50% victory (after 10 games). Started off on the right foot, Willie Green’s men kept the momentum of the end of last season.
With their young shoots who confirm their talent, including Herb Jones who happily invites himself into the starting five, the Pels are on par with the big teams in the League, taking advantage of the outside strike force of McCollum and Ingram that of the devastating power of Williamson (even the valiant European pair Valanciunas – Hernangomez in the relay).
The mayonnaise takes all the better in the bayou as the second knives have refined their blades. The Nance, Hayes and Graham fulfill their roles as veterans well off the bench and thus offer an expanded rotation to Coach Green and his staff. Enough to travel with a certain serenity during the regular season…
Buoyed by an All-Star season for Williamson who managed a most impactful comeback, the Pelicans invite themselves to the playoffs without having to go through the “play in” and Willie Green is not far from stealing the trophy for best coach of the year…
WORST SCENARIO
Without a real playmaker at the helm since CJ McCollum is the only real ball handler, New Orleans is floundering a bit with the return of Williamson. The latter encroaches on the flowerbeds of the duo Ingram – McCollum and the chemistry of the group suffers in the middle of a winter with few victories. Worse, and despite his efforts, Williamson did not regain his incredible explosiveness and had to leave again to adjust new parameters.
At the same time, not spared by a calendar which provides them with clashes against tenors like the Nets, the Mavericks, the Suns, the Clippers, the Warriors or even the Hawks on the first nine meetings of the season, the Pelicans are quickly find themselves dropped in the Western Conference standings.
Instead of a year of confirmation, the Pels are expected to turn every game. And even more with Williamson back. Like Jose Alvarado and his improbable technique to steal balls from opposing leaders on throw-ins from the baseline, NOLA no longer advances incognito. His opponents have clearly targeted their strengths, and of course, their weaknesses.
Without much guarantee on the bench while Murphy still seems to be stagnating and rookie Dyson Daniels is not yet ready to fight in the NBA, Coach Green must face the facts and resolve to end the season gloomy. Neither playoffs nor “play in”…
| WEST CONFERENCE | ||||
| 15-Thunder | 14- Spurs | 13-Jazz | 12-Rockets | 11 – Kings |
| 10 – Blazers | 9 – Pelicans | 8 – … | 7 – … | 6 – … |
| 5 – … | 4 – … | 3 – … | 2 – … | 1 – … |
| EAST CONFERENCE | ||||
| 15 – Magic | 14 – Pacers | 13 – Plungers | 12 – Hornets | 11 – Knicks |
| 10 – Wizards | 9 – … | 8 – … | 7 – … | 6 – … |
| 5 – … | 4 – … | 3 – … | 2 – … | 1 – … |
