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A Critical Time for Austin Rivers
With the New Orleans Pelicans roster pretty much set, the onset of training camp and preseason is key Monty Williams to get an idea of the rotation he plans to use. Players will have an opportunity to edge out one another for limited minutes. And there is no one on the Pelicans who needs a […]
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Why The New Orleans Pelicans Shouldn’t Play Transition Basketball
It isn’t a question of pace but of getting out in transition is something Mason pointed out to me on twitter the other day. I was saying that I think the New Orleans Pelicans will play with a slower pace because of the Omer Asik trade, but Mason was right: Transition is the correct word […]
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Glory Days: Neither Team Plays Well, So The Score Is Close
Glory Days is a series that takes a look back at the 13 magical games where the New Orleans Pelicans core was healthy. For past games in this series, click here. I find the New Orleans Pelicans’ game against the Portland Trailblazers on December 21st 2013 to perhaps be my ideal game to talk about. First […]
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New Orleans Pelicans MLE Tournament: Nick Young vs. Andray Blatche
In today’s MLE Tournament, Lakers’ guard Nick Young goes head-to-head with Wizards’ big man Andray Blatche. Don’t forget to vote at the end, and for all the matchups so far, click here. Nick Young (3 years for $13 million) By Ryan Schwan I can feel you smirking right now. To you, there’s nothing I can say that […]
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New Orleans Pelicans MLE Tournament: Emeka Okafor vs. Trevor Ariza
In our first matchup of the MLE Tournament, two former players in Emeka Okafor and Trevor Ariza battle it out. Don’t forget to vote at the end, and keep up with all the matchups here. Emeka Okafor (1 year for $5.5 million) By Jake Madison When we did the draft for our MLE tournament I jumped at […]
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Season in Review: Luke Babbitt
Luke Babbitt is a tougher player to review than any other on the Pelicans in the 2013-2014 season. His limited minutes and more or less one-dimensional skill set doesn’t leave a lot of room for individual analysis. Yet, when we were signing up to review players, I jumped at the chance to take Babbitt. Let […]
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Season in Review: Al-Farouq Aminu
Before the start of Anthony Davis’s first season, our own Jason Calmes and I had a talk about Monty Williams. It was regarding his ability to develop players, and whether he deserved a contract extension. We talked about his ability to have fringe guys become rotation players in the league (Marco Belinelli), but how do […]
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Looking at the Pelicans’ Defensive Decline
In Monty Williams’ first season as head coach of the New Orleans NBA franchise the team’s MO was defense. That slow grind it out style led to a playoff berth, a 6 game series against the defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers, and a defensive ranking of 10th in the league. Since that 2010-2011 season, […]
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Pelicans Lose In Ugly Fashion to the Nuggets
And that’s putting it nicely. If you’ve seen the movie Spinal Tap, think back to their album Shark Sandwich. Remember the two word review? That was this game. I said in the Game On post that I wasn’t sure which Pelicans team we’d see tonight. Maybe they’d get a hard fought win. Or maybe it’d be a […]
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Game On: Pelicans @ Nuggets
The Pelicans kick off a 3 game road trip tonight against the Nuggets in the altitude of Denver. Not quite the same team as last season under then-coach George Karl, these new Brian Shaw Nuggets still play with the same frenetic pace, ranking 3rd in the league. Maybe indicated by their identical 32-42 records, or […]
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Pelicans Lose a Grind-It-Out Affair to the Timberwolves
The narrative about tonight could be any number of things. It could be that once Anthony Davis was ruled out the New Orleans Pelicans stood no chance against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Or it could be that the Pelicans played hard against a Wolves team which really didn’t look into the game and shot a lackluster […]
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Game On: Pelicans @ Timberwolves
The focus could be on the New Orleans Pelicans attempting to win four straight games. I say could be because (as I said yesterday) this is all about Anthony Davis right now with his two dominant performances on both ends of the court. Tonight, against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Davis will have a a slightly tougher […]
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Pelicans Beat Cavaliers, Anthony Davis Shines
As I said in the preview the rest of the season for the New Orleans Pelicans is all about Anthony Davis. But do you want to know what was so great about the 100-89 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers? Even with Anthony Davis’ huge game, it wasn’t actually all about him. Nearly everyone who played […]
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Game On: Pelicans @ Cavaliers
The Pelicans are in that precarious no mans land which NBA fans hate to see. Playoff, at least in the Western Conference, is a tremendous long shot—especially with the injuries New Orleans must still overcome. A bottom (top?) five pick might be even harder to attain given that the schedule eases up some and Jrue […]
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A Tale of Two Halves
It will surprise no one to learn that the Pelicans struggle in the second half of games—being outscored by a total of 40 points over the final two periods. I decided to look at the NBA.com/stats page and sort the splits by half. This is a high level look that focuses on the basic offensive […]
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Nuggets Streak in the 3rd Quarter, Drop the Pelicans
The New Orleans Pelicans put up a good fight against the Denver Nuggets for the first two and a half quarters. It was then that the bench decided they didn’t want to score points or stop Denver from scoring. An 8-0 run for the Nuggets in the third period turned a close game into an […]
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Game On: Pelicans @ Nuggets
The New Orleans Pelicans embark on a five game road trip tonight as they face off against the Denver Nuggets in Colorado. The Pelicans have been playing surprisingly competitive basketball since the Anthony Davis injury due to multiple role players stepping up their game. Tonight for the team to get a win against the Nuggets […]
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Pelicans Puncture Pistons’ Tires in Overtime
This was always going to be a close game. The Pelicans were facing an opponent with two solid bigmen while still without Anthony Davis. Yet that didn’t faze them and for three quarters Monty Williams’ team did exactly what it needed to: keep Detroit off the boards. Going into the 4th quarter the Pelicans held […]
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Game On: Detroit Pistons @ New Orleans Pelicans
It’d be easy to write off the next two weeks for the New Orleans Pelicans as just…I don’t know…whatever, really. Tyreke Evans is out; Anthony Davis is out; the schedule gets rougher with tough road games; the NFL playoffs are around the corner; we’re not going to see the real team; it’s the holidays; more […]
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Offensive Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes
This offseason was one of changes. From the New Orleans Hornets to the New Orleans Pelicans; Trades and free agent signings revamped the roster; Even the New Orleans Arena got a makeover. But there was another change hinted this offseason that fans needed to wait on. The team’s offense. Head coach Monty Williams wanted to […]