Usually when writers talk about “space” in basketball – they are simply referring to shooting.  Put some shooters around the perimeter, and viola, teams have to guard them, there is room inside.  That is pretty much garbage though.  Competent NBA defenders know when to collapse and recover and are capable of defending 10-12 feet of space.  If you want to actually generate space, you have to make defenses move, which generate little errors, and then, you can find the guy who owns all the space.

I bring this up because the Pelicans have shooters.   Holiday, Gordon, Babbitt, Davis, Anderson – and probably Douglas – can all qualify and are available.  But if you want to see a team struggling for space, watch the Pelicans, because the teams defending them aren’t being forced to move.  Anthony Davis and Ryan Anderson post ups are all well and good – but no one is moving.  Jrue Holiday drives are nice, but for some reason this season, he only drives to shoot, not so much to pass.  This team is not getting defenses moving, which means its looks aren’t clean.

Oh, and they still suck on defense.

The situation the team is in right now aches in the pit of my stomach.  The hole is starting to feel insurmountable.  The team could go on the best win streak they have ever had and still not be .500.  If the team goes 18-11 like it did after the All-Star break last year – a pretty impressive run – they are still under .500.

It feels like they needed to snatch a couple more wins over this stretch – and haven’t been able to take advantage of the little opportunities they’ve had.

And that sucks.

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