Lemonade

By:
Published: April 13, 2017

I know the New Orleans Pelicans have not performed the way we all hoped, and maybe it’s all going to hell . . . probably not, but maybe. Whatever. Don’t care. Today, I’m making lemonade.

Pelicans

  • Davis. He’s one of the best in the League and should remain so for a while. They are adding to the talent pool around him with a different strategy.
  • Boogie. He’s also one of the best the League. We’ve seen some of what he can do, but camp and an offseason of working out can possibly lead to a leap up from where he’s at, and that’s saying a great deal.
  • Hill improved. Hill was the high dollar acquisition this offseason. He’s not a showy guy, and offense is not his strength, but he’s improved in a number of ways this season. Confidence was an issue for him. He may not be justifying that salary, but he’s playing better and may continue to improve. He seems very coachable.
  • Low turnover rate, high assist/turnover rate. Gentry’s offense relies on high volume passing, so the per possession turnover rate is important. The Pelicans fare very well there, and they also generate assists at a good rate given the number of turnovers. The assist rate itself is middlin’, but they still represent a good investment. It’ll improve if they can work out their field goals.
  • Defense. The Pelicans defense is significantly improved. We saw cherry-picking idiots trying to time the stats to make them look bad at times in the season, and we saw faux stats nerds trying to hide that they can’t actually understand basketball saying how bad their defense was early on. Well, guess what? The defense has improved.
  • Bench Value. All through the season, the Pelicans were churning the roster and ended up with some good value players. They did not keep them all, nor will they keep all the players on the roster today, but they still have the touch of finding those bench guys. We’ll see how this helps them in the offseason and beyond. Looking at how some of their castoffs are making it around the NBA can be viewed a few ways, but it has to be based on their ability to identify the value initially and bring it in.
  • Cap Flexibility. Much of this puts focus on the offseason . . . keep their talent happy, improve the offense. They are in a cap situation where they can actually get under the cap to some extent, which may open up their options to make those improvements.

Non-Pelicans

  • I’m an unabashed David West fan. For this reason, I’m for him to get a ring. If that means the Warriors get a ring, so be it. Go D-West.
  • If not them, my chaos pick is the Thunder. I have a few reasons for wanting this, but this would put the final nail in the whole “Thunder Model” coffin while driving so many people so insane. Feed me.
  • I’m happy for Lance Stephenson. I was confident he’d be fine this season, he was, and he is back out of the minimum salary ranks. He’s a fun guy. We need more fun. If it comes with a cost, he just needs to make it all worth it.
  • I hate the Mavericks.

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