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Statistics, Uncertainty and Boogie
It’s always been curious to me that the NBA writers, bloggers and fans that describe themselves as “stats heads” are the ones who are the least willing to accept uncertainty. This player is bad. This system is outdated. This coach or GM is dumb. Those are very certain statements made by people who claim to […]
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New Orleans Pelicans’ Once and Future All-Star
As the Pelicans approach the All-Star break the main focus will be on Anthony Davis, and, to a lesser extent, Buddy Hield. But there is someone else in New Orleans that people should be paying an eye on. Jrue Holiday. Over the last 13 games leading into the All-Star break, Holiday has been playing fantastic, […]
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Figuring Out the Pelicans’ Identity
You’ve heard a bunch of buzzwords thrown out regarding the Pelicans this year: Defense, Pace, Switching, Blue-Collar. But another word has been popping up recently. Identity. And that’s probably the worst one to hear. Back in December, Anthony Davis told Justin Verrier of ESPN.com, “we have to figure out what team we want to be […]
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Pelicans don’t need more time, they have their identity
After a loss in San Antonio on Sunday evening, New Orleans Pelicans Head Coach, Alvin Gentry talked a bit about the Pelicans need to sort out their identity. “We’ve got to figure it out. We’ve got to figure it out in a hurry,” Gentry said. “What are we going to be? How are we going […]
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About That 4th Quarter
The New Orleans Pelicans suffered a heartbreaking loss last night to the Golden State Warriors. After scoring 94 points through three quarters New Orleans could only muster 15 points in the fourth. But the offense wasn’t as bad as it seems. Let’s take a look. The Pelicans’ offense ranks as the 6th worst in the […]
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NOLA’s Resurgence – Not Just Holiday-Related
*Note: this column was written before the Pelicans’ game against the Portland Trail Blazers on November 25th* After starting the season 0-8, the Pelicans appear to have finally started turning things around. New Orleans is 6-2 over their most recent 8 games, including wins over three of the top six teams in the Eastern Conference. The resulting […]
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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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How Jrue Holiday Will Immediately Help the Pelicans’ Offense
There is a lot of excitement on Jrue Holiday’s return to the New Orleans Pelicans tonight. While the focus has been should he start or come off the bench, the real talk should be about how he will specifically help this team. And help he will. Holiday is an excellent player, despite injuries and a […]
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Ranting and by the way, Anthony Davis isn’t helping the defense much
Before I get to the one little stats tidbit I noticed this week, I do have to express my frustration. WHY THE HELL CAN THIS TEAM NOT STAY HEALTHY?!?!? WHY IS EVERY PIECE OF GOOD NEWS FOLLOWED BY A KICK IN THE NUTS?!?!? WHY DOES EVERY FREE AGENT THIS TEAM SIGNS PROVE INCAPABLE OF PLAYING UP […]
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Anthony Davis Showing Patience on Offense
This year Anthony Davis has been an absolute banshee on the court for the New Orleans Pelicans despite their winless start. He’s third in the league in scoring per game, averaging 31.3 points per game. This is well above the 24.3 he averaged last season. And the stats show that he is having a much […]
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Examining Lineup Data – the Value of Continuity
*Note – this column was written in advance of the Pelicans’ November 10th victory against the Bucks* Key Takeaway: Pelicans lineups that have played more than 5 minutes together this season (making up ~65% of the team’s total minutes played) have outscored their opponents by 6.6 points per 100 possessions (roughly the Thunder’s net rating last […]
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The Pels’ Supporting Cast and Their Missing Second Lead
Much has been made of the Pelicans supporting cast, or apparent lack thereof, recently. If you’re on this blog, you’re sure to have heard, at least a dozen times, “I feel sorry for Anthony Davis! He has such a terrible supporting squad around him! And so they keep losing games… I hope he gets traded […]
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Finding the Perfect Pairing for Anthony Davis
So far this year the Pelicans are winless, despite Anthony Davis having two monster performances to start the year. And right now, the future doesn’t look too bright. Most people blame general manager Dell Demps. When New Orleans drafted Anthony Davis a championship or two was the expectation. He was the talent of a generation. […]
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Stats Highlights, 1st Week
*Sample size disclaimer — 3 games have been played, meaning the sample of data that we have to work with is extremely limited. However, the phrase “small sample size” in basketball is often misunderstood as “the data is useless.” The data isn’t useless — you simply can’t extrapolate with it. Statistics are still useful to describe what has […]
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Searching for Pieces
Offseason always feels like an eternity to me. After the adrenaline rush of free agency, we are exposed to the horrors of Summer League.. then we wait a few months and are rewarded with preseason pickup basketball.. I mean, NBA preseason games. There are a lot of projection models that are not, erm, high on the Pelicans […]
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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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How Are You Feeling About the Pelicans’ Off-season?
Jake Madison and Mason Ginsberg have differing opinions about the New Orleans Pelicans’ off-season. Personally, (it’s me, Jake. Hi, everyone!) I’m feeling rather lukewarm about it all. Mason is more optimistic. We emailed back and forth about it to try and illuminate the middle ground. Take a look! And let us know in the comments […]
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This disaster of a season cost Anthony Davis $24 Million Dollars
I think that puts a nice bow on the year. A complete cluster of a season that saw the Pelicans never once be able to field more than 3 of their projected starters at a time – and then never for more than a couple games – resulted in 30 wins and Anthony Davis losing […]
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Season in Review: Kendrick Perkins as the Good Influence
Kendrick Perkins’ one-year tenure on the New Orleans Pelicans cannot be evaluated by the eye test at all. In fact, you can’t use stats to say how he contributed either. That makes it hard to write a season in review on him. If you root for a team that he’s never played for you probably […]