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It Begins
The Pelicans’ long standing offseason ritual of offering a would-be starter up as a sacrifice to the basketball gods found its latest lamb, and while offerings in recent years haven’t won the gods’ favor, hope still remains that they shall one day look down upon New Orleans basketball sufferings and answer the many cries for […]
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Grainy Defense
[youtube id=”INZsZPbLdSQ” width=”620″ height=”360″] “What’s the basketball vision right now? What kind of team are they? We don’t know.” It took until the last day of the regular season, but by the time the dust settled on April 15th, 2015, the New Orleans Pelicans found themselves in possession of the final seed in […]
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Boogie and the Brow: Defense
We here at BourbonStreetShots are breaking down the Cousins acquisition in every which way possible, and I am here to talk about some on-the-court ramifications, specifically on the defensive end. Go check out some of the other pieces we have, stay informed and up to date! But back to the question at hand, how will […]
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So It Is a Center Pairing, Is It?
Amid recent reports around the Pelicans’ trade deadline activity is a message from the organization that they have made a decision regarding the future of the team: they are going to find a center to pair with Anthony Davis. Not a 4 willing to take on the duties of a 5. Not a stretch-5. A […]
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The Race For 8th
Like many Pelicans’ fans my frustration almost reached a tipping point after the all around embarrassing performance against the Brooklyn Nets. But in true Pelicans’ fashion they turned around and beat the defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers, and did so without Anthony Davis. Now fans are left even more confused as to where the team stands […]
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The Pelicans’ Offense With Jrue Holiday
*all numbers presented do not include the most recent game against the New York Knicks Defense, defense, defense. That is all that was talked about in the offseason, and for good reason. Last season the Pelicans had the 28th ranked defense with a rating of 107.3. It was abysmal. The thinking was that if the […]
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Buddy Hield Progressing In His Rookie Campaign
A collaboration between James Grayson and Graham McQueen Buddy Hield was able to accomplish something that not even Anthony Davis was able to during his rookie season, and something no Pelican or Hornet has done in New Orleans since the “Rookie Buzz” over 7 years ago. Buddy is the first Nola-rook to be awarded the […]
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Different Team, Same Results…so Far.
With 22 games down we are now over a quarter of the way through the NBA season, and the results so far haven’t been exactly what Pelicans’ fans hoped despite all the changes made to the roster over the summer. In fact, the results eerily resemble last season’s debacle. A horrid losing streak to start […]
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Solo and the Wookie
When Han Solo tried to escape from the clutches of the Imperial Navy through an asteroid field, he knew what he was getting into. With sharp-shooting Imperial TIE Fighters behind and chaotically floating balls of frozen rock in front, the margin of error for Solo was thinner than Leia’s waning patience. Chewy is always around […]
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A Holiday Weekend – How the Former Allstar Will Immediately Help the Pelicans’ Defense
During last week’s game against the Portland Trail Blazers, the best word David Wesley and Joel Meyers came up with to describe Jrue Holiday’s offense was “smooth.” After the game Alvin Gentry praised the “flow” of the offense throughout and even went on to say it was their most complete performance of the season. Yes, […]
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4 Thoughts Through 4 Games
The Pelicans have started the season a demoralizing 0-4 despite playing two very winnable games against the Denver Nuggets and the Milwaukee Bucks. In both games the Pelicans put themselves in position to win but in both cases they couldn’t “get over the hump” to pull it out. The Pelicans have paper thin margins for […]
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Some Clarity on the Glass
The 2014-15 Pelicans ranked 4th best in offensive rebounding% as Anthony Davis and Omer Asik feasted off Tyreke Evans’ wild rim running. In the 2690 minutes Evans played that year, the Pelicans had an Oreb% of 29.0, good enough for 2nd in the NBA. Davis was and is simply a monster finishing around the rim, […]
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In Need of a Holiday
The Pelicans’ Media Day was peppered with optimistic talk of the day-to-day process of improving the right way and the impact of blue-collar workers (which Alvin Gentry had to clarify as a positive term). But not too deep beneath the surface talk of promising new additions lies a pretty clear picture of what to expect: […]
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In the NO Podcast Ep. 259: Offseason Storylines
Graham and Jake get together to discuss some of the storylines surrounding the Pelicans’ offseason. We set the record straight for you guys on some takes around the league. Enjoy! Want it on Itunes? Direct download? RSS Feed? Like the Show or the Blog? Follow @BourbonStShots
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The Two Sides to the Pelicans’ Signing of Solomon Hill
There are a lot of reasons why Solomon Hill is a good signing for the Pelicans, and a lot of them don’t have anything to do with X’s, O’s, or buckets. Terrible, terrible, bad effort, not playing hard, not giving a damn. – Alvin Gentry on the team’s effort issues 12/18/2015 Solomon Hill is a […]
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An Unexpected Contributor
Who is Tyler Johnson? More and more people found themselves asking this question as the undrafted, 4-year college athlete started to earn more and more trust from Pat Riley and Eric Spoelstra this season. He earned enough trust from Spoelstra that the coach gave him 8.8 of his 24minutes/game in the 4th quarter, and enough […]
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In the NO Podcast Ep 257: Summer League and Free Agency
Nick Lewellen and I continue the In The NO takeover while Ryan Schwan enjoys a European tour. We take a look at the Summer League roster before diving into offseason needs for the Pels. Lots of name-drops. I offer my thoughts on what the Pels’ should be looking for, Nick goes into finding value in […]
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It Is up to the Front Office to Turn Davis’ “Down” Season Into a Positive
It is only slightly surprising to Pelicans fans that Anthony Davis’ name doesn’t appear on any of the 2015-16 All-NBA rosters, but it is still disappointing. As Ryan Schwann pointed out, can anyone honestly say that DeAndre Jordan or Andre Drummond were better, or played better than Anthony Davis this season? I seem to recall […]
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Replacing Eric Gordon
Eric Gordon, whether you liked the guy or not, was a huge part of this Pelicans team. His 3pt shooting last year was essential to Anthony Davis’ first playoff berth. He has been in New Orleans for 5 years, and he’s been the highest paid player on the team the entire time. He may not have […]
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A Familiar Face
If you haven’t already, you should read my piece on why replacing the wings will be incredibly important this offseason. My last suggestion for fixing the issue was getting a wing facilitator. Today I want to talk more about a shooter, and it is a name that has been talked about quite a bit by Pelicans […]