Let’s be honest here, the New Orleans Pelicans are probably not going to make the playoffs. Even with the scope being expanded to tenth place with the play-in potential, they’re still not gonna make it. The Pellies are only four wins back on the Golden State Warriors, San Antonio Spurs, and Memphis Grizzlies but nothing about their recent form suggests that they can rip off the extended winning streak necessary to overtake any of them. The team had one four-game winning streak back in early February and that’s it. Only once since have they even won three in a row and they followed that with four straight losses. It’s not happening.

It’s been a season full of frustration because this is clearly not a bad team, it’s quite a good team in fact, yet the fluctuations between their best and worst performances are just way too regular... a player like Lonzo Ball seems to sum them up nicely with his own personal inconsistencies. Injuries haven’t helped though to be fair they’ve been one of the healthier teams overall – lots of little injuries but no major ones. And it’s that feeling that they’re underperforming which drives that frustration, a frustration which isn’t there for objectively worse teams (like the Oklahoma City Thunder for example). That’s what hope and expectations will do for ya. But while many a fanbase of rebuilding teams are satisfied to put their feet up and sip on a cheeky beverage in the knowledge that a decent draft pick is on the way, the New Orleans Pelicans faithful are in a much better place because they already have Zion Williamson.

The whole point of tanking/rebuilding is to try and acquire an All-NBA level player to lead the team to possible glory. The Pels already have one and this season cannot be considered a waste purely because of the strides that Zion has made in his second year. That alone is all that was needed. Not only the raw talent but the PowerPoint Zion thing proves what his best role is too, providing clarity in how the team should move forward. A playoff appearance would have been nice but unleashing Zion Williamson is what was necessary.

Exactly what Stan Van Gundy and David Griffin decide to do with the roster around Zion is up for grabs. Brandon Ingram is locked in long term but Lonzo Ball and Josh Hart are both restricted free agents in the offseason. James Johnson is an impending free agent which clears up a little cap space (which will be needed if they’re to match offers for Ball/Hart). Eric Bledsoe has two more years on his deal (although the second one is only partly guaranteed, apparently). There’s a nice group of young players in town on cheap deals, guys like Jaxson Hayes, Kira Lewis, and Nickeil Alexander-Walker. There are a few tricky calls to be made there and those calls will depend entirely on how guys fit with Zion.

Then there’s Steven Adams. Speaking of constant frustrations, the discourse about Kiwi Steve has been so annoying. It’s the same yarns over and over and it goes to show how fickle these narratives can be because so much of the complaining about Adams comes down to the value of his contract. There was a time early in the season when Stan Van Gundy said that Steven Adams was holding this team together, that changed after PowerPoint Zion when a few of Adams’ better attributes became less necessary (screen assists, etc) but if he were doing what he’s doing on a deal worth a quarter of the dollars then the conversation would be entirely different. Yes, soaking up heaps of cap space matters in terms of constructing a roster. But Adams’ contract coincides with Williamson’s rookie deal – not actually a coincidence – leaving the Pelicans with massive net positive value despite what, yeah, no doubt was an overpay for Steven Adams.

It’s hard to make a case that Steven Adams has been at his best this season, at least not consistently. That ankle injury that he had a month or so back didn’t end up costing him many games initially but it’s clearly been something that has continued to hamper him. But he’s hardly been bad. You can be overpaid and still be a valuable team member, you know? Contracts are about leverage within a marketplace. It’s never the case that a team’s talent and contract values are ranked in parallel.

That’s one sloppy argument. The other sloppy argument is people getting pissed at him not being the type of player they envisage he should be. It’s perception vs reality. People have ingrained ideas of what they want from a centre next to Zion and they blame Adams for not being that (despite the fact that it’s the coach’s vision which matters, not Jerry Twitterman). Having said that, the emergence of Williamson has put the entire rest of the Pelicans roster under a spotlight. Everybody is being asked: are you the ideal teammate for Zion at this position? Steven Adams’ strengths and weaknesses have been exposed by the in-construction state of the franchise, same as the rest of them. But, like, keep it in context, right? Just because he’s not a jump shooter doesn’t mean he can’t play next to Zion Williamson. That’s some mad reductive thinking.

Some Hypothetical Questions...

• Yes, it would be nice to have a five with a jump shot for spacing’s sake... but how many players with that skill set are even attainable and who among them can hold their own defensively?

• Eric Bledsoe has been by far the more disappointing of the two major trade addition starters so if they were able to replace him in the offseason with a reliable 3&D fella then does that not solve the issue and allow Adams to just focus on what he does best?

• Do traditional ideas of spacing and shooting even apply in a team run by Zion Williamson, who is statistically the most efficient paint scorer in the history of the game?

• How much of the improvements of Jaxson Hayes and Willy Hernangomez during the season would have been possible without the influence/example of Steven Adams?

• Is it merely a coincidence that the Pelicans are the top offensive rebounding team in the league and one of the best rebounding teams overall since Adams joined?

• How many other players in the league have done a defensive job on Joel Embiid like Steven Adams has this season? Are there any? And is that not an invaluable skill in a Western Conference where one has to go through Nikola Jokic, Anthony Davis, Rudy Gobert, etc?

The thing to remember is that there are moving parts everywhere on this team. All moving around the sun at the centre of the galaxy that is Zion Williamson. If you think one player is doing crap, give it a couple weeks and that might have changed completely. Guys come in and out of the rotation. Steven Adams has seen a number of little tweaks in how he’s being used, these days he’s starting to get more of a handle on playing alongside a ball-handling ZW... in the month of April his rebounds have taken a sharp rise compared to the previous couple months and there’s been a little more passing out even as his scoring has stayed similar.

There are a dozen games remaining to see things maybe spike some more, although there’s also the possibility they take it easy with a guy who has been playing through the pain barrier what with nothing really left to play for. The Didi Louzada signing suggests they’re ready to try a few things. Plus the second season with a new head coach is always easier, especially when they’ll actually get a proper pre-season next time. Hard to underestimate how much of a crutch that must have been for the Pellies this time. All of this matters when it comes to constructing a team. It goes way further than just: but can you shoot threes!?!?!

In The Clutch

This was Steven Adams succumbing to the late game woes of the Pelicans. Dunno why he’s gotten into this trend of tipping out rebounds all the time but maybe sometimes just grab the bugger and pull it into your chest. However this is just an entry point to a wider situation. The Pelicans have made a habit of doing silly things late in games which continually hold them down, silly little things that can be the difference between winning and losing. Like with Adams’ two lost tip-outs... this is one of the best rebounding teams in the comp and Adams is their leader in that regard but this happens late in a game they ended up losing against San Antonio. (By the way, controlled tip-out rebounds still go to the tipper’s box score if you’re wondering).

More examples: Only three teams have lost more turnovers in clutch situations: the Pacers, 76ers, and Bulls. Two losing teams and one of the strongest defences out there. Also the Sixers have one of the best field goal percentages in clutch situations... the Pelicans are down in the bottom third and are just as bad from three-point range. They do shoot more free throws than anyone in the clutch... but again they miss more of them than most.

These clinical shortcomings are endemic of young players who simply don’t yet have the situational experience to make the right decisions. Which is fair enough, this is how you learn. It’s not the best thing to see Steven Adams catching the bug given that he’s meant to be one of the elder statesmen... but to be fair that was only one game.

One of the wider dramas has been how they juggle the shots between Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson, and that’s been steadily shifting over the course of the season. Over the last fifteen games Williamson has shot 34/57 (59.6%) in fourth quarters. Ingram has shot 12/37 (32.4%). Williamson also has three times as many turnovers as BI though so that’s part of the drama. A drama which has probably been the major factor in the lack of post-season basketball (that and their atrociousness from the three point line at both ends) but mate come on cheer up they’ve got Zion Williamson and that’s all that matters.

ESPN: “As they try to make the play-in tournament, the Pelicans have squandered lead after lead. Saturday night's game against the Spurs was another example. The Pelicans led by five with just under four minutes to play and lost. According to ESPN Stats & Information research, it was their league-leading sixth loss this season when holding at least a five-point lead in the final five minutes of a game. Three of those have happened in the past five games (April 16 vs. Washington and April 18 vs. New York being the others)”

Sydney -> New Orleans

Hey how about this one, Sydney Kings wing Didi Louzada has signed with the New Orleans Pellies on a multi-year deal. He was originally drafted by the team back in 2019 (35th overall) and has been stashed in Aussie on a Next Star contract since. Not the flashest stats, he’s still a raw player: 8.7 pts, 3.2 reb, 1.8 ast per game shooting 38.9% overall and 26.4% from deep. However he’s made steady rises during his time in the NBL. There was a game not so long ago in which he scored 28 points shooting 6/7 from three-pointers while the Brazilian baller has bulked up in Sydney and most importantly he’s shown himself to be a legit defender, afraid of no matchup.

The Pelicans earlier in the season had Aussie Will Magnay on a two-way deal, while the Sydney Kings themselves have proved a recurring NBA pathway. Andrew Bogut obviously, going back and forth at the end of his career. Jae’Sean Tate was an import there. And of course former Kings head coach Will Weaver left not long ago to take up an assistant gig for the Rockets. As for the Next Star programme, Louzada follows the likes of LaMelo Ball, RJ Hampton, and Brian Bowen in progressing to the big league. Josh Giddey announced for the draft this week too so he’ll almost certainly be the fifth man on that list. And though he preceded the Next Star thing, Steven Adams used to play with Terrance Ferguson in OKC who was drafted out of the NBL.

A Story In Three Parts

BOX SCORES

at WASHINGTON WIZARDS (L 117-115 OT):

30 MIN | 6 PTS (1/1 FG, 4/4 FT) | 12 REB (2 OFF) | 4 AST | 2 BLK | 1 PF

at NEW YORK KNICKS (L 122-112 OT):

36 MIN | 10 PTS (5/7 FG, 0/2 FT) | 14 REB (8 OFF) | 3 AST | 1 STL | 2 TO | 2 PF

vs BROOKLYN NETS (L 134-129):

29 MIN | 7 PTS (3/5 FG, 1/2 FT) | 5 REB (0 OFF) | 1 AST | 2 BLK | 3 PF

at ORLANDO MAGIC (W 135-100):

16 MIN | 12 PTS (5/8 FG, 2/2 FT) | 9 REB (1 OFF) | 2 PF

vs SAN ANTONIO SPURS (L 110-108):

32 MIN | 4 PTS (2/3 FG, 0/2 FT) | 10 REB (4 OFF) | 1 AST | 3 STL | 3 TO | 2 PF

vs LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS (W 120-103):

DNP - Right First MTP Sprain (A toe sprain, in plain English)

SLAM DUNKS

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