Pelicans Continue to Install New System Against Hawks

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Published: October 10, 2015

The New Orleans Pelicans lost a preseason game to the Atlanta Hawks Friday night, 93-103. As with most preseason games, the loss does not matter in terms of predicting measuring regular season performance because so many minutes were assigned to players who would not normally get minutes, even if they stay on the team.

Here are a few things that do matter to some extent.

No New Injuries

With Asik and Ajinca being newly injured this preseason and Holiday and Pondexter still dealing with prior injury, no new injuries (yet) is something that matters. Let’s not take health for granted.

Anthony Davis

Of course Davis’ performance matters. He’s now played 42 minutes in the preseason, and has tallied up 16/32 field goals, including 2/3 from three (against the Hawks), and 4/8 from the line for a total of 38 points. He’s added 13 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 blocks with just 1 turnover and 3 fouls. Last season, Davis played 2455 minutes, took 1199 shots from the field and only 12 of those from 3 (making just 1 very important three-pointer from 30ft that, from a certain point of view, sent the team to the playoffs), with 461 free throw attempts. While these preseason numbers come with a constellation worth of asterisks, Gentry got this job in part based on getting MAD . . . More Anthony Davis . . . and he just might be delivering. Let’s keep an eye on this.

Jrue Holiday

Jrue is playing well in his limited minutes. He’s yet to record an assist, but he’s scoring and rebounding. So far, so good.

Tyreke Evans

Evans was held of out of the Pacers game, and there was much overreaction. Highlight just how bad the overreaction was is his performance against the Hawks. Evans was 8/15 shooting with 9 rebounds in just 24 minutes off the bench. Evans is a guy that will be boom or bust under Gentry, but the early returns are good. We’ll see if they are misleading.

Ryan Anderson

Anderson’s situation under Gentry is similar to that of Evans, but his early returns are highly unfavorable. Anderson has played 35 minutes, is 1/11 from the field, but has managed to grab 10 rebounds. It’s a long preseason and training camp. We’ll see if Anderson can find his shooting stroke in camp.

The Pelicans play Monday against the Bulls in Chicago at 7pm CT (UTC -5). The game is on 99.5 FM locally and on NBATV. Chicago continues to be kind of a mess, and the Pelicans are not really fielding their squad. Keep an eye out for the what may carry into the regular season and enjoy the game.

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