New Orleans Pelicans
The 2020-21 New Orleans Pelicans season can be defined by missing the playoffs and the play-in, leading to the dismissal of head coach Stan Van Gundy.
What did we learn?
Just as we suspected, SVG was not a good fit for this team.
Let go after just one season and with three more years on his deal, Stan did not get the job done and did not have the approval of his players.
Like so many but even more so than most: Time is of the essence for this franchise. You have to do everything you can to prevent another Anthony Davis situation. So if Zion doesn’t sign off on it, see ya later!
It was pretty clear that the players weren’t buying what SVG was selling. The Pelicans offense and defense never clicked at the same time. There was a miscommunication problem on defense and numerous blown double-digit leads late in games — the signs of a young and poorly coached team. Van Gundy is just too old school for such a young group of guys.
The one thing that we will give SVG credit for, however, is the unleashing of Point Zion. Stop us if you heard this one before (except you can’t): Zion is unstoppable! He’s unfuckinguardable in the paint. The sudden behemoth. And when he has the rock at the top of the key and gets a full head of steam going downhill at you, it’s like a rhinoceros with the horsepower of a thousand F350’s.
Zion has the elusiveness of a hummingbird. The spring of a kangaroo. Zion is even better than we thought he would be, shattering records left and right. His body control is superior. His passing is wildly underrated. His uber-scoring efficiency is stout and robust. Zion is 20 years old! A no doubt All-Star, we still wish that the Pellies would force feed Zion the ball more sometimes.
Somebody really needs to tell Brandon Ingram this is Zion’s team. When Zion was out at the beginning of the 2019-20 season, Ingram flourished as the Pelicans #1 option, graduating to the Slenderman, a poor man’s Kevin Durant, no longer a homeless man’s. He was the Most Improved Player in the NBA, an All-Star!
But when Zion returned, they never full coexisted. And that was more of the same this season. Ingram’s numbers stunningly look eerily similar across the board. The advanced stats say he even got a little bit better on offense but worse on defense. The defensive part checks out from the eye test. Ingram’s defense at times was a complete joke with a lack of effort and communication which is key on that end of the court.
Zion and BI need to figure out how to really play together. By all accounts it sounds like they really like each other. So at least there’s that. They have also endorsed Lonzo Ball, talking up his passing and court vision. But it was Lonzo’s newfound shot that impressed us most last season, and we think it would be wise to keep him around. (Especially since Zion wants him.)
We mentioned the offense and defense here not clicking at the same time, two ships passing in the night. The Pelicans defense started the season strong, then slipped as the Pelicans offense was #1 in the NBA in the month of February as Point Zion was first rolled out. The defense, however, was 29th in February and finished bottom-10 in the league. Yet in the month of April, the Pels finished 6th in defense while the offense went the completely opposite direction: 28th in the NBA, a rating of 108.4 after being #1 in February at 122.7 and #6 in March at 116.3.
This did have a lot to do with different players being in and out of the lineup. Josh Hart’s last game played was April 1st due to a torn ligament in his thumb. Hart is an imperative glue guy for this team. His absence was palpable the last month and a half of the season. Nickeil Alexander-Walker missed a month of ball, coinciding when Hart went down in April. N.A.W. was inconsistent when on the court, but he did have some huge games sprinkled in: three 30-point games proves there is a scoring talent lingering within.
The Steven Adams extension (2-year $35M) is just as silly if not sillier than we originally thought. He’s a great dude and teammate, but a very unideal fit next to Zion, clogging the paint and minimizing the spacing. Also not exactly a floor spacer, but we love Jaxson Hayes hops and that he can put the clamps on D, we saw it live and in color.
We missed out on getting to see Zion in that May 9th game in Charlotte, a fractured left ring finger shut down his season early, ending any slight chance the Pelicans had at sneaking into the playoffs via the play-in.
The pressure is on Griff to find the right coach and to get this roster ready to compete for a real chance at the playoffs.
Regardless of the roster that definitely needs some tweaks, SVG was never the right guy for this job.
But thank you for Point Zion, Stan!
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Did our preseason Over/Under prediction hit?
Over 35.5 wins. We were thinking Under before we saw Zion in the preseason.
Pelicans 2020-21 Record: (31-41)
Nope, our preseason Over/Under prediction did not hit.
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What’s Next?
This team still needs a new head coach. We were wholeheartedly hoping for Kenny Atkinson, but he’s headed to the Warriors to be an assistant under Steve Kerr. How about Sam Cassell?
We wouldn’t mind seeing the Pellies move up in the draft, perhaps cashing in some of the assets obtained in the Jrue Holiday deal. It’s funny, it feels like this team could use a… Jrue Holiday. In addition to the #10 pick in the draft, the Pels also have four second round draft picks.
It appears that the J.J. Redick situation was handled poorly, causing us to look even more suspiciously at the man calling the shots in Nawlins.
Eric Bledsoe should be gone, but who would want him? Not even that hair salon. One of those future first round picks will probably have to be included in a Bledsoe deal.
Lonzo and Josh Hart are both restricted free agents. Gotta keep the former baby Lakers together!
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Favorite Pelicans Highlight from the 2020-21 Season:
Can you count how many times Zanos blows right past The Joker?
