NLL | NBA | WNBA | NBA 2k19 | NLSC
Username :
Password:

NLL Insider - Team by Team: New Orleans Pelicans

by Rootsey, updated on Saturday, October 08 2016, 02:35 pm EST




2015-16 Finish: 21-61

Season Highlight:

The start of the season before a game was played was the clear highlight for the Pels. They had unloaded Pekovic, Ariza, Spencer Hawes, for Al Jefferson and Jeremy Lamb. They had the number 3 draft pick, Jahlil Okafor. Chandler Parsons and Brandon Knight were ready for the season. Cody Zeller was ready for a break out year. Kyle Korver was coming off a scorching hot shooting season. They were coming into the season off the back of a playoff appearance the year before. Everything was rosy, what could go wrong for this team. They had shooting and inside scoring, a little hustle, a creator at the point, and a bit of upside to keep everyone interested. 

Season Lowlight:

Where to start? 45 - 54 - 70 - 57 is probably a good indicator of one of the issues that the Pels ran into last season. These are the total games played by 4 key cogs in the New Orleans system. Brandon Knight, Jahlil Okafor, Chandler Parsons, Norris Cole in that order. With the scoring PG Knight gone and then key rookie Okafor going down, you couldn't blame Parsons for resting a few games. The bad news is none of these players, save Okafor, are very resilient over the course of the careers, so it may be another season in the injury ward for the Pels. 

Best Trade:

The trade of the corpse of Pek, Hawes, and Ariza for Al Jeff and J Lamb seemed like the best trade. New Orleans also sent their first rounder for 16 and received Indiana's 2016 1st and Bostons 2016 2nd.

Giving up their first in hindsight looks bad, but in the moment they would have expected to be in a similar position to where the Indiana picked ended up landing. J Lamb had a mini breakout year and Al Jeff did Al Jeff things.

Worst Trade:

Tarik Black for 3 GMs?

Part of the mega-trade Utah put together to start last season, I'm not sure what other pieces came together after or before this trade for it to make sense.
 
Other Notable Trades:

Jon Leuer for Josh McRoberts - nice pick up by New Orleans

Darren Collison & James McAdoo for Jeremy Lamb and Shane Larkin - gets the better overall player, unfortunately that player has just been found guilty of domestic violence

Timofey Mozgov, Markieff Morris, and Norris Cole for Kyle Korver and Al Jeff - Morris is still on a cheap deal and may make this trade a win for New Orleans, time will tell.

Anthony Morrow for Jon Leuer and Lucas Nogueira - Morrow replaces shooting that the team lost when trading Korver.

Jared Sullinger for Trey Burke - If Sully is retained this will be a good move. If.

Marco Belinelli and TJ Warren for Cody Zeller and Anthony Morrow - TJ Warren looked to be breaking out when this trade was made. Where does he sit on an NBA depth chart now compared to Zeller? Maybe a Push, Maybe a lose.

Mozgov and two 2nds for Nemanja Bjelica and a 1st - This might be the winningest trade now that I get to it. Mozgov expires and resigns for a mint, Bjelica locked up and they get a 1st rounder aswell.

Best Trade Mark two:

Mozgov for a 1st? Sure there is more to the deal, and Mozgov isn't bad, but he was expiring and not getting much NBA time when the trade went down. For a season that at this stage had turned sour and Blackmajestic looking to the future this ended up being a trade that netted him a mid first rounder. Now the value of the pick depends on how much you like Timothy Luwawu-Cabarrot but still he's a player that will get some run this season and will be under a nice cheap contract.

Best FA Signing:

The 99 point man - Chandler Parsons. He may have been limited to 70 games, but during those he was averaging 17.4ppg, 4.7 rpg, and even 1 bpg. A steady hand on the scoring a least kept the Pels in games a lot of the season. Now that he is a free agent again, he will be a hard man to retain.

Worst FA Signing:

Aaron Harrison - Signed in Free Agency - Didn't play a minute - Released in January. Not horrible, as you may as well take a free flyer on young guys, but he did clog up a roster spot for half the season.

Star:

Jahlil Okafor

He was outscored by Chandler Parsons on the team, but Okafor still put up 14.2 points a night and brought down 9.6 boards. He was fairly efficient too shooting 50% and even 40% from 3, on very limited shots. The only thing to let him down was his injury and suspensions. We can expect growing pains from young players, hopefully for BM, Okafor has his head screwed on right for this season.
 
Surprise:

How poorly they went considering the line up they had. While the team to start the season may not have been championship caliber, they were definitely playoff caliber in the West. No one would have predicted the Warriors led by Roy Hibbert and Harry Barnes to have been 4 games ahead of the Pels at the end of the season, but here we are. Maybe it was 2k14 engine that didn't favour a big man - inside game line up that was being pushed out, but I don't think that's going to get any better in 2k16 engine.
 
Goat:

Coaching Staff and Physios

While the players were on the court they individually seemed to perform as well as would be expected and better than they had in previous years or on different teams in the one season. This clearly didn't add up to many wins for the club though. The coaching staff needs to spend a few extra hours in the video room in preseason to make sure they have a strong plan moving forward to get some W's.

The Physio's couldn't keep the team on the floor. Or if they were on the floor it was because they were writhing in pain rather than playing a game. In this league its luck and timing of a rest night that can cause a few games to be missed. The physios in NBA land need to keep lines of communication open with GM BM to make sure players are available for selection.

Draft Report Card:

Rated C+ by those more in the know of the draft than I. As Summer League and Preseason NBA has rolled on we can see that each of the picks has some value, except for

#15 – Furkan Korkmaz young and full of potential he will stay in Turkey another year. With plans to come over next year we will have to wait and see whether such a high pick was worth it.

#17 – Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot has shown some flashes in the Preseason and may get his fair amount of game time in the league. A solid pick for his draft position.

#39 – AJ Hammons will see some game time too throughout the season, with his NBA spot stuck behind often injured Andrew Bogut, this guy may get enough run to get some improved ratings early on in the season.

#40 – Cheick Diallo had a solid summer league, but will probably spend time in the D League unless an injury gives him an opportunity.

Considering the players available a B rating is earned. There is potential there, but we have to wait at least a year to see if Furkan is not just another Frederic Weis. 

Looking to the Future:

This teams future depends a lot on the return of Sullinger and Parsons. Both have an F loyalty, so it might be a matter of choosing the favourite son for GM Blackmajestic. If Parsons is gone, there is a sizeable hole at shooting guard unless they run a too small guard rotation of Collison, Cole, and Knight, once Collison is available. If Sully moves on, BM needs to go fill that hole with an indentical player type. The front court and small forward positions look to be satisfactory and have some depth in place, but if and when injuries hit, the depth is only so deep. Maybe they let Parsons walk and hope to get him back in free agency, they have the cap space to make that work. I think they are a few shooters and a slashing guard away from making a whole team. They need to win now as they don't hold any picks until 2018, so blackmajestic needs some black magic to drive this team to be a contender.

Upcoming Free Agents:

Jared Sullinger – A player that suits the current line up well. Rebounds and can stretch the floor. Good player to keep around.

Chandler Parsons – Deep scorer and creator for the team. If he's gone the team will need to make some significant changes

Norris Cole – PG nominated player. Serviceable. Cheap. Needs to improve 3 point shooting.

Nazr Mohammed – He is still a thing?

James McAdoo (restricted) – A friend to Tate Frazier producer of The Ringer Podcasts. That's about all I know about him.

Archive

· Team by Team: Oklahoma City Thunder

· Team by Team: Atlanta Hawks

· Team by Team: Boston Celtics

· Team by Team: Orlando Magic

· Team by Team: New Orleans Pelicans

· Team by Team: Miami Heat

· Belated Draft Grades!

· Northwest Division- What's Next?

· Southwest Division- What's Next?

· Southeast Division- What's Next?

 

 

 

© 2001-2019 nbaliveleague.com | All Rights Reserved | About Us | FAQ | Sign Up | Contact Us | Site Statistics