New Orleans wasn’t supposed to make the playoffs. The West didn’t appear to have any playoff vacancies, and if an outsider did crack the conference’s Top 8 slots, the best odds belonged to the Suns, not the Pelicans, considering that Phoenix missed the postseason with 48 wins a season ago. Yes, the Pelicans have Anthony Davis, coming off the breakout summer with Team USA we all imagined, and poised for a superstar leap in his third season — an ascension he has realized and then some.
But the constant aches and pains that hinder their collection of old-young guards and forwards make non-residents of Louisiana weary of the Pelicans in the short- and long-term. Is this LeBron in Cleveland all over again? people wonder aloud. Turning its back on first round draft picks and its ceaseless supply of faith in head coach Monty Williams have only increased the skepticism that surrounds New Orleans.
And yet, I’ve tried to be optimistic. After all, any franchise built around Davis, if nothing else, is way out ahead of the rebuilding game. I wouldn’t be the first person to suggest that surrounding Davis with established NBA talent right away is a proactive approach, and because of the relative youth of the supporting cast, it’s probable Davis and his teammates will continue to evolve together.
While New Orleans is far from “playoffs or bust”, 2015 has been a lot more interesting than we imagined in terms of the Western Conference playoff picture. Between the 24/7 injury factory in Oklahoma City…
Thunder injuries this yr: KD, Russ, Ibaka, Adams, Roberson, PJ3, Lamb, Jackson, Perkins, Jerrett, Kanter, Collison, McGary, Morrow, Novak.
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) March 21, 2015
… and the recent “you get a point guard, and you get a point guard” trade deadline spree in Phoenix, New Orleans has had more than an opening to take the No. 8 seed. Of course, New Orleans has dealt with their own injuries this season, because of course. The combination of players inactive and players defective has resulted in the seventh-worst defense by efficiency (104.8 points allowed per 100 possessions), even though New Orleans, you know, has a frontcourt that consists of Anthony Davis and Omer Asik.
The Pelicans are just 37-34 after a 2-point loss Wednesday night to the Rockets. Dwight Howard returned to the floor for the first time since January, but that’s not why New Orleans lost. (Howard was productive rebounding/defensive, as to be expected, but in just 16 minutes.) The Pelicans were up by as much as 17 points early in the first half, scoring 34 points in the first quarter and shackling James Harden with a combination of Quincy Pondexter (O.K.) and Tyreke Evans (OMG, REALLY?).
But then New Orleans fell asleep, scoring no more than 23 points in any of the remaining periods, allowing Houston to climb back into the game before halftime. Harden, per usual, ended up with 25 points, 10 rebounds and six assists.
Sidebar: It really is going to be too bad for Harden when Stephen Curry ends up winning MVP this season. Harden couldn’t have done anything more to deserve the award, lifting his Rockets into Top 4 seed without Howard for half the year. There are as many as a half dozen really, really strong MVP candidates, but the way I see it, there are only two that matter: Harden, the league’s best offensive player and most irreplaceable to his team, and Curry, who is about to champion the best two-way force the league has seen since Tim Duncan was in his 20s. Tough luck, Beard.
The Pelicans are only 10-8 since the All-Star break which, despite improved defense (101.8 defensive efficiency), is not good enough to jump the Thunder, no matter how banged up they are. It’s just too bad. Davis is having one of the greatest PER seasons in NBA history — not the end-all be-all stat, but also an incredible indication of what this guy is doing on a nightly basis. He’s the game’s best power forward, he’s leading the NBA in blocks, again, and has risen to Dirk/LaMarcus territory from mid-range in YEAR THREE.
I wanted to see this guy in the playoffs. Forgive me for saying something sacrilegious against the holy Thunder and Saint Westbrook, but I don’t need to see Westbrook burn the tread off his tires, clunking 20 shots and turning the ball over eight times, in a sweep against the Warriors. Let this Thunder season die.
No, I was longing for Davis’s debut in the playoffs. New Orleans would likely get swept too, perhaps even more violently than the Thunder will this April. But Davis in the postseason finally? That’s cancel-your-date-with-the-cute-neighbor T.V. What if he averaged 35 points? What if he won a game (or two) by himself? Call me crazy, but I’d rather see an up-and-coming team go for broke against the NBA Finals favorite than see a Thunder team scratch and claw for life as their co-astronaut leaves them stranded to die on a foreign planet.
When the Pelicans finish with 45 wins or something, they are going to have a ton of internal questions to answer. Who stays and who goes on this flawed but fixable roster? Is Monty Williams still the right coach for this team? Has Chicago finally burned its bridge with Tom Thibodeau?
Just going to keep saying it – Thibbs to New Orleans would be NBA defense's Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy http://t.co/2vPLPitlz9
— Joe Manganiello (@thatjoemags) January 29, 2015
There’s too much that we don’t know about the next 6-8 months in the NBA to guess what New Orleans will look like in 2015-16. What’s certain is that the Pelicans cannot look the same as they did this year — that would be insane. For now, let’s allow them to b(r)ow out gracefully.
