New Orleans Pelicans: Can their season be saved?

Can the season be salvaged for the New Orleans Pelicans? 

In an almost infinite cycle of constant sadness, the New Orleans Pelicans are again at the bottom of the Western Conference. The Pelicans have started the season 1-7 and have one of the worst Defensive Ratings in the league (26th overall). While many might say things will trend upward after Zion returns, that doesn’t appear to be the case as Social Media is having fun with Zion’s weight gain.

The Pelicans are spiraling, and the idea of a playoff berth seems slim. While it may seem quick to say their season is over, only less than ten games into the season, but that is their reality. The Pelicans have minimal upside as the team is currently constructed.

The Pelicans have three players who are averaging over 15 points per game. One is rising star Brandon Ingram who is putting in 25 points a night. Ingram is a stud, and Pelicans’ fans should be happy they returned one promising piece in the Anthony Davis trade.

The second player is Jonas Valanciunas, scoring almost 20 points per game for New Orleans and grabbing 14.5 boards. It may have been premature for general manager David Griffin to extend Jonas, but New Orleans is currently getting excellent play for their big man.

The third player is Devonte’ Graham, who New Orleans acquired via sign and trade. While the 17.1 points a game looks like a promising statistic. The poor shooting numbers make fans wonder how much longer can Graham be given the green light. He is shooting sub 40% from the field while averaging 34.2 percent from 3 and taking nine threes a game. Graham is currently 94th ranked three-point shooter in the league in percentage but in the top ten in attempts.

After these three key players, the Pelicans’ roster takes a massive dip in talent. No player puts up any statistics of note. Many players on the roster are vastly overpaid, like Josh Hart, who is making $12 million a year, or Tomáš Satoranský, who is collecting $10 million a year. While these contracts might be moveable, The Pelicans saw these as pieces worth trading in the respective AD and Lonzo Ball trades. Currently, those contracts are inefficient cap holds.

The main reason for the lack of success for The Pelicans is the absence of Zion Williamson. Anytime you lose a historically great scorer, your team is going to face a backslide. The Zion injury has many issues. One, it is once again another time in Zion’s brief career that he has had an injury sidelined him for a significant amount of time. Two during his recovery, it appears that Zion has added some weight to his already large frame. Making many wonder not only if he can shed the pounds but if this might be a lingering issue he will face for his career.

While the players have not been much help to the Pelicans’ attempts to win this season, the main issue has been the lack of foresight by David Griffin. For the second year in a row, Griffin has had to correct his mistakes in previous off-seasons. Like trading for Eric Bledsoe only to trade him away from the following offseason or trading and extending Steven Adams only to dump him the following year, attaching and losing picks along the way.

The Pelicans are in a mess, and it appears this might be the year from hell for them. With injuries and trades that have stifled any opportunity to win this year, it seems the Pelicans’ best bet is to get through this year healthy. New Orleans’ focus should be on waiting for next year and finding a new general manager to build a team around Ingram and Zion. With that superstar duo, the Pelicans can make waves in the Western Conference, and the problem is their GM has made it those two and no one else to help them.