The New Orleans Pelicans’ lack of success is the NBA’s biggest riddle
The New Orleans Pelicans’ lack of success has become the biggest riddle in the NBA.
Entering the 2020-21 NBA season, there may have not been a non-playoff team from last season with more hype than the New Orleans Pelicans. Many were assuming that their top-tier talent would win out and that this team would make the jump to relevancy this season.
Nearly three-quarters of the way through this season, however, the Pelicans haven’t made good on any of those assumptions. Instead, the Pelicans’ lack of success has become one of the NBA’s biggest riddles.
On paper, the Pelicans are everything you’d want in a young, talented team. Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson have been every bit as good as advertised this season and Lonzo Ball is having a career-year.
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Still, the Pelicans three games out of the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference and are four games under .500 with just 26 games remaining in the regular season.
Can the season be salvaged for the New Orleans Pelicans?
Zion and Ingram are both averaging over 20 points per game this season on an efficient 62 and 48 percent shooting from the field respectively. Ball is in the midst of the best season of his career thus far while averaging 14 points, six assists, and four rebounds per game.
The team traded J.J. Redick at the NBA Trade Deadline, in part due to their lack of success, but still has veteran Eric Bledsoe on the roster. They also have a veteran, successful head coach in Stan Van Gundy calling the shots in the locker room and on the sidelines.
While there are many questions about this team, there’s one clear issue that could be the culprit in the team’s lack of success. Their defense.
Even though the Pelicans have the seventh-ranked defensive rating, they have the third-worst defense in the league. Interestingly enough, they have the eighth-ranked net rating in the Western Conference, which could suggest this team isn’t as bad as their current standing.
Despite their bad defense, the Pelicans’ lack of success simply doesn’t add up. Either way, the math needs to correct itself soon rather than later or we’re going to be talking about what a disappointing season this was for New Orleans.
On paper, the New Orleans Pelicans are one of the most talented teams in the Western Conference. Whether there’s enough time for this team to recover and make the playoffs remains to be seen, but if this team gets there they could give any higher-ranked playoff team quite a headache in a seven-game series.
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Can SVG, Zion, and BI solve this riddle before the end of the season? Your guess is as good as mine at this point.