The New Orleans Pelicans completed their five-game preseason run on Thursday evening and things ended with a thud. Anthony Davis and company posted an ugly 0-5 record during their exhibition slate and the team lost four of its five preseason contests by double figures. As a result, whispers are circulating that it might be time to worry, at least to some degree, about the Pelicans but, in short, there is no reason for alarm.
For starters, preseason basketball isn’t always indicative of what will take place when the “bright lights” are on and that seems to be the case here. New Orleans isn’t dealing with impactful injuries, which is an unequivocally positive thing, and the Pelicans also faced a bizarre schedule in early October. Alvin Gentry’s squad faced two back-to-backs for reasons passing all understanding and, with that in mind, there is reason to think that the Pelicans produced less meaningful results than most NBA teams during a time when very little is actually meaningful.
Beyond that, the Pelicans still have Davis. The All-NBA big man reminded everyone of his brilliance with a 36-point, 15-rebound showing in the team’s final preseason game, as he dominated against the Toronto Raptors in only 31 minutes of action. While that result isn’t any more impactful than others, the mere presence of an elite player (and legitimate MVP candidate) is enough to provide confidence in what the Pelicans are trying to accomplish and it isn’t as if Davis is alone.
Jrue Holiday is (still) a tremendous two-way guard and his full array of skills were on display during the team’s encouraging postseason run. Elsewhere, the Pelicans have two additional big men worth discussing in Julius Randle and Nikola Mirotic, forming a dangerous trio in the frontcourt that should be able to stand up long-term. That isn’t to say that the Pelicans don’t have weaknesses, headlined by a lack of wing depth and question marks at the point guard position with Elfrid Payton, but the team isn’t all that different from the one that made an impressive run in April and May.
It has to be noted that DeMarcus Cousins isn’t walking through that door and the team’s offensive ceiling may not be as high as a result. Still, the Pelicans engineered a sweep victory in the playoffs without him and New Orleans posted peripheral stats worthy of a top-10 team from the moment Cousins went down early in 2018.
Make no mistake, there is some downside in New Orleans, especially when remembering that the team plays in the loaded Western Conference. The Pelicans are very reliant on Davis’ brilliance on a nightly basis and, if the sometimes injury-plagued big man can’t stay on the floor for 75 games, trouble could arrive. Still, this is a playoff-level team in the Western Conference on paper and absolutely nothing changes when inserting five exhibition data points into the mix in early-to-mid October.
The Pelicans probably aren’t in the class with the Warriors, Rockets, Jazz and Thunder as virtual playoff locks (barring health weirdness) but New Orleans finished with an identical record to both Utah and Oklahoma City last season while deploying a similar, or even less impressive roster. No team wants to finish winless in the preseason but the Pelicans just did it and, bluntly, it really doesn’t matter.
