The Wild, Wild West: A Team-By-Team Preview Of The NBA Western Conference

New Orleans Pelicans (Southwest Division)

Last year’s result: Regular Season (34-48). Missed Playoffs  

Significant players added: Omer Asik, Omri Casspi, Russ Smith (Rookie)

Significant players lost: Alonzo Gee

Projected starting lineup: Austin Rivers, Darius Miller, Tyreke Evans, Anthony Davis, Omer Asik.

Analysis: Perhaps no other team in the West is as much as a question mark as the New Orleans Pelicans.

Last season saw core contributors such as Jrue Holiday, Eric Gordon, Anthony Davis, and Ryan Anderson all plagued by injuries, some more serious than others. The roster is quite guard heavy and while a lot of lineups don’t seem like they’d really mesh together, there wasn’t enough games to make the a case for it. A healthy starting five of Holdiay, Gordon, Evans, Anderson, and Davis would be very talented, but it remains to be seen how the Holiday-Gordon-Evans trio will work off each other. It doesn’t bode well that all players are similar-type players who need to dominate the ball to contribute offensively. However, the season may hinge on how Ryan Anderson recovers from his cervical spine injury to repair a herniated disc. Anderson, one of the many highly coveted stretch fours in the league, can really stretch the floor and put a lot of stress on a team’s defensive spacing and rotations.

If Anderson recovers on time (August-October), he will allow Davis to have one-on-one match ups in the paint that he can dominate. Asik is also going to be a solid contributor off the bench, and most likely the starting center until Anderson is fully healthy. Russ Smith is also an electrifying player who had an extremely impressive college career. We will find out throughout the Summer League and regular season if his slight frame is as big as a deterrent as the scouts made it to be in the weeks before the draft.  With so much uncertainty, the Pelicans are a popular dark horse pick to sneak into the playoffs. If they can get and remain healthy I could see them becoming the eighth-seed.

Grade: B