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The vultures of Zion Land
In year three, the legend of Zion Williamson in New Orleans feels more like a myth now. Despite what his name indicates in the meaning of the Jewish faith, Zion is far off from leading New Orleans, or anyone else, into the “promised land”. The Pelicans, clearly in distress in the absence of their No. […]
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Coach Willie Green is the Pelicans’ best asset and he needs to be given patience and time
It’s Saturday night and I’m watching the New Orleans Pelicans cut a New York Knicks lead down to five while a fierce battle happens in the fourth quarter on a night Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson are not playing. Second-round pick out of Alabama Herb Jones is harassing Julius Randle, Kira Lewis Jr. is running […]
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‘Tailor-made for Zion’: Looking at Corey Kispert and others in the upcoming draft
Improvement is absolutely necessary next season but with a promising young roster and a boat-load of picks via the Anthony Davis trade, the Pelicans have more options to explore on the path to improvement than they have had in a very long time and the 2021 NBA Draft is the first place they can start.
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Start Kira
Rookie point guard Kira Lewis Jr. is the future of the New Orleans Pelicans that future should start now. During the postgame show with David Wesley and Erin Hartigan on Fox Sports New Orleans, Wesley joked that watching the Pelicans was like being Bill Murray’s character in the 1993 film Groundhog Day in which he […]
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Patience is paying off for the Pelicans
It remains to be seen if consistency will be sustainable for the rest of the season but the ability to practice patience and not panic is the key to the most recent stretch of success for the New Orleans Pelicans as they have won 5 of their last seven games. It was hard for Pels […]
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In the wake of the blowout, the response is more important than the result for the Pelicans
Mama said there would be days like this in the NBA, although no one likes them to happen on TNT. The New Orleans Pelicans suffered their first blowout loss to the Phoenix Suns 111-86 Tuesday night on the road, marking the first real wall the squad has hit in the new era. While blowout losses […]
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Pelicans take a step towards identity
For most NBA teams in a rebuilding year, it typically takes at least a month before visual evidence of a defined identity begins to appear on the court. For the New Orleans Pelicans though, there is already evidence of a dramatic shift in identity as the young squad under new coach Stan Van Gundy is […]
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Close but no cigar: Pelicans rally against the Eastern Conference Champs falls short
There are no moral victories in professional sports and New Orleans Pelicans fans likely feel they received a lump of coal after a 111-98 loss to the Miami Heat on Christmas Day. I’ll be honest. I am actually a little surprised that this Pelicans team is competing as well as they are this early in […]
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SVG deserves a lot of credit for the Pelicans’ opening night win. His players do too.
By the time you read this, the New Orleans Pelicans will be preparing to play a highly publicized Christmas Day game on ESPN on the road to face the Miami Heat. I can’t predict the future but defeating the reigning Eastern Conference Champions will be a tough order. However, after Wednesday night’s opening 113-99 win […]
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Previewing Pelicans: A quick look at a quick offseason
With a shortened offseason followed by an abbreviated but successful preseason, the young core of the New Orleans Pelicans have turned some heads and raised some eyebrows before the team tips off against the Toronto Raptors on the road to open the regular season on Wednesday. The Pelicans looked like one of the better teams […]
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Marching through March
The New Orleans Pelicans sit at 28-36 with 18 games to play. In years past, the fan base would be eyeing the draft hard and decrying losses. This season, however, the 8th seed in the West is competitive, looking like a sub-0.500 team may make it into the Playoffs. Let’s take a look at the […]
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Living at the Deadline
Update: Now that we know the Pelicans did not get involved in a trade, keep in mind that the Pelicans can use the DPE ($3.625m) to make a waiver claim on a player in the last season of his deal. They can waive someone to make room. Frank may be the prime candidate there, but […]
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The Two Step
Apparently, “Let’s Dance!” is referring to a two-step. The return of Zion Williams has been, overall, what I expected. He’s showing quickly that the hype is justified, and that Zion is certainly a talent to watch as one that might be the best player in the NBA one day. I certainly need to see what […]
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How to Sustain This?
The New Orleans Pelican enter the Zion era at 17-27, winning 11 of their last 16. Those 11 games were not against chumps, and some were key games against teams battling the the 8th seed. I’ve used the specific term “unsustainable” to describe some of the performances of the Pelicans in this stretch. While this […]
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It’s Time
The New Orleans Pelicans enter the last third of January at 16-27, 12th in the West, and just 0.5 game ahead of the tie at 13th and 14th. The next couple of weeks is not a normal couple of weeks, however. Rather, it is full of interacting uncharacteristically important events, each with the potential disproportionately […]
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Cutting the Pelicans’ Tether
The New Orleans Pelicans sit at 14th in the West at 13-25 with their next three games are all on the road. The midpoint of the season and the likely debut of Zion provide a good time to take stock. We will be inundated with these these takes soon, but I wanted to take an […]
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Looking Up to the Bottom
The New Orleans Pelicans enter 2020 at 11-23. This is not good. Still, with more than half the season left to play, the Playoffs are not beyond discussion because of the way the bottom half of the West currently sits. Last season, the Clippers held the 8th seed in the West with 48 wins, while […]
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The Coaching Move
The New Orleans Pelicans were set to start this season in disarray, gather themselves, and fight for the eighth seed. Instead, the disarray was compounded by being short-handed, and the amount of youth has led to a performance a little north of the worst in the NBA, but not more north. At some point, it […]
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Take a Bow
It’s been around eight months since the New Orleans Pelicans hired David Griffin to be the Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations. His hiring was part of a major transformation of the franchise than included restructuring Basketball Operations, trading Anthony Davis, filling out the roster for this season and beyond including the draft of Zion […]
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Brandon Ingram is filling a void left by Anthony Davis in New Orleans
Another NBA season in New Orleans is underway after much anticipation and fans find themselves in the same situation once again as the best Pelicans player is putting up historic numbers without a significant number in the wins column to show for it. Except what is different about this situation is that very few saw […]