New Orleans Pelicans: What is wrong with the Pelicans?
By Jason Reed
The New Orleans Pelicans added yet another loss to the record books, this time in blowout fashion to the Toronto Raptors at home on Friday night.
The start of the 2019 season has been about as disastrous as possible for the New Orleans Pelicans. After a successful preseason that carried on the promising takes from the offseason, the Pelicans have fell flat out of the gate to start the season.
The Pelicans have a 1-7 record through approximately a tenth of the NBA season, which is a far cry from the 5-0 record in the preseason, showing us yet again why the preseason does not matter.
The latest loss, which was a 122-104 blowout at home against the Toronto Raptors, a team that the Pelicans took to overtime on opening night, was the ugliest of the bunch. In a conference that is so stacked with talent, as crazy as it seems, the Pelicans might not be able to overcome a 1- start to make the playoffs.
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The Pelicans were already playoff hopefuls and this is not the start they needed. It can be perplexing, as well, as Brandon Ingram is playing great and the team is full of young talent that can contribute.
It is easy to ask what is wrong with the Pelicans, a team that had so much promise heading into the year. Thus far, there have been some bad trends that have led to these losses.
First is the impact of not having Zion Williamson, and not having Derrick Favors for some games, and that is the rebounding. Prior to Friday night, the Pelicans ranked 29th in defensive rebounds and 27th in total rebounds this season, which is a product of the team’s size.
Without Zion and Favors, the Pelicans have had to rely more on Jahlil Okafor and Jaxson Hayes, which obviously has presented its own hiccups. Typically, the Pelicans are running small-ball rotations just out of pure necessity.
The other, and perhaps the more telling of the two, is that this team is not getting to the free-throw line as much. Getting free-throw shots is huge, especially in today’s day in age, and nobody has shown us that more than James Harden.
The Pelicans rank dead last in free throws made and 29th in free throws attempted with the 24th best free throw percentage. That just is not going to cut it and that has been the difference in these games where the box scores can seem deceiving.
They’re doing just fine shooting the ball, ranking fourth in three-pointers, fifth in three-point percentage and 10th in total field goal percentage. They are around league average in steals and blocks, ranking 11th and 19th (to average out at 15th) respectively.
While the defense has not been great, it still is not among the worst in the league as it has allowed the 19th fewest points per game this season. Not great, but certainly something a team can work with and be better than 1-7.
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Some of this will improve once Zion returns, but some of it just comes down to offensive scheming and getting to the basket to in turn get to the charity stripe. Until the New Orleans Pelicans can do that, they won’t have a ton of success.