Who are the New Orleans Pelicans?

Author: Jack Gordon

Editor: Aaron Mesco

With a 13-17 record, the New Orleans Pelicans currently stand in the 11th spot in the Western Conference. They are one of the most fascinating and confusing teams in the NBA - one that raises a lot of questions.

WHAT are the Pelicans exactly? Are they contenders? Are they a lottery team? Are they trying to make the playoffs?

It’s a little difficult to understand what the goals for this team are, and what kind of play-style they want to have under Stan Van Gundy given the current roster. Turn on one of their games at any given moment, and there’s a chance that they look supremely talented and exciting; there’s also a chance that they look confused and won't stop turning the ball over. They sit in the middle of the pack in almost every statistical category, and much like a college student leaving home for the first time, the Pelicans have an identity crisis.

WHO is the Pelicans’ best player? Is it Zion or is it Ingram?

Let’s start with Ingram, who the team recently minted with a 5-year max extension in the offseason. New Orleans clearly views him as a cornerstone of the franchise, and to be fair, that’s not a crazy thing. Ingram is a talented player with skill and length and has been playing at close to an all-star level.

However, his stats are almost identical to last year, and while he’s a good player, does it seem unreasonable to ask if Ingram is actually the type of player to lead a championship team? It feels weird to think about. Some players are destined to be good players on average teams - not to say Ingram is there, but it’s something to keep in mind.

For Zion, it seems strange to feel disappointed because he’s been pretty great. He’s averaging 25 points and 7 rebounds on an absurd 62 percent from the field and has barely played 50 games in his entire career. There is no doubt that when Zion has the ball in transition or makes a move at the top of the key, he is one of the most unstoppable players in the league. Yes, everybody talks about his second jump to the point where it becomes annoying, but it’s true. His activity around the rim is elite, and there’s no question that teams panic when he has the ball, and that he still has the potential to be a generational talent.

And yet, he doesn’t look right on the floor. He still looks a little heavy, laboring down the court and playing a little more below the rim than expected. What happened to the viral in-game 360-windmill-transition dunks we saw in high school and college? He still is lacking on the defensive end and is a strange fit with Ingram and the rest of the roster. Should they build around these two guys together? That brings us to the next question…

WHY did New Orleans construct the roster like this? I thought as of 2016 we all agreed that spacing and shooting threats were an essential part of the way that basketball is now played.

While this team does happen to be in the middle of the pack in terms of their 3PT%, just take a look at their starting lineup: Zion, Ingram, and Steven Adams (who is getting $18 million a year) in the frontcourt, with Eric Bledsoe (who was the best player they hauled in from the Holiday trade) and Lonzo Ball (who for some reason we can’t decide whether or not he should be playing in the NBA) in the backcourt. Optically, that’s a really ugly team from a spacing perspective. Bledsoe and Ball actually haven’t been terrible from beyond the arc this season, but I don’t think that any defender in the league is yelling “Shooter!” when closing out on these guys. And why did the team feel the need to trade for Steven Adams with such a massive contract? I love Steven Adams, but it seems like the Pelicans overpaid for a center that doesn’t make sense on the team, in a center market where Tristan Thompson got $9 million, and Christian Wood got $13 million. This lack of spacing makes it even harder for a player like Zion to have lanes to the paint where he easily dominates.

WHERE does the team go from here?

“Well, they have a bucket full of draft picks,” you say. Okay, if you actually look at all their picks, it’s not all that awesome. Other than their own picks, it’s a lot of future picks and pick swaps with the Lakers and Bucks, who are probably going to be better than the Pelicans (just a hunch) and thus will provide pretty meaningless draft spots.

The good news is that the West is so bunched up this year that the Pelicans could easily make the playoffs if they put some games together. The bad news is that long term, the timeline for this team is not clear. They need to figure out if they want to contend, whether or not they want to keep Zion and Ingram together and answer some important questions about their future.

SPORTS ARE OUR UNIVERSE

James Harden is Going to Be A Problem

Author: Jack Gordon

Editor: Brian Symons

James Harden has been traded to the Brooklyn Nets, and I think I might need medical attention after looking at what their roster has become.

Let’s get the Harden stuff out of the way: He has been terrible in almost every single way in how he has carried himself over the past month. On Tuesday evening, he somehow made DeMarcus Cousins look like a good teammate by comparison after openly calling out his team and saying he wants out during an interview. He hasn’t been committed to the Rockets or to his teammates in any way and it’s been painfully obvious that all the players and staff in Houston just deserve better. Looking at Harden during warmups, you would think that Raymond Felton grew a beard and drank some beers before replacing him in the lineup.

Meanwhile, Kyrie Irving, aka Pablo Picasso or whichever Renaissance artist he wishes to be referred as, has been flipping off the NBA and his team at the same time. We knew that there would be bumps in the season for the Nets with Kyrie, but it’s already been happening as his perhaps well-intentioned attitude has caused him to skip games and break protocols, leaving KD hanging.

But Harden stepped over the line, and the Rockets had to move fast before Adam Silver had a heart attack watching this unfold. They shipped him to the Nets and hauled in eight draft picks(!) in return. The Nets now have a core of Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving.

This trio of players is an unbelievable, all-star game level lineup for the Nets. Perhaps it will work out, they will prove us wrong, and they will work together and be so dominant together that they win the East without a sweat.

But I don’t like it. It’s true that in 2021, the consensus in basketball is that you should just put the best five guys out on the floor, no matter the position. I also believe that if the players are good enough and smart enough, any superstars can play together successfully, no matter the position.

But for that to happen, the stars have to be unselfish. If we’ve learned anything from the past four weeks, it’s that James Harden and Kyrie Irving are currently the two most selfish players in the NBA, who are now both together in New York, a market with some of the most intense media attention you can find.

Remember when Kyrie wanted out of Cleveland? It’s almost impossible to remember why that happened, partly because there wasn’t really a clear reason in the moment why he didn’t want to play with LeBron. But I guess he wanted to be the man on his own team, so off he went to Boston, which also didn’t work out.

Now, is Kyrie expected to be the third banana behind KD and Harden? Is that even possible for him to accept? And even though they’re both great players, the duo of Harden and Kyrie together is hilariously awful on paper, second-worse perhaps only to when the Lakers assumed that Dwight Howard wouldn’t make Kobe want to jump off a cliff.

And beyond this, the Nets biggest upside coming into the season other than their two stars was the strength and energy coming off their bench. Now Caris Levert, Jarrett Allen, Taurean Prince, and Rodions Kurucs are gone. Who is supposed to be their best player after one of the three musketeers subs out of the game? Jeff Green? Tyler Johnson? Nicolas Claxton? Maybe they can convince Steve Nash or Amar’e Stoudemire to come into the game after Harden and Kyrie miss half the season for breaking more covid protocols.

This is the definition of a blockbuster trade, and it’s going to be a whirlwind down in Brooklyn. Maybe this is a genius move for the Nets; after all, they did end up with the best player. Maybe they’ll be incredible and win some championships. Maybe this team self-destructs by March. At the very least, I know that I’ll be watching.

SPORTS ARE OUR UNIVERSE

Top 5 Most Intriguing NBA Free Agents

Author: Ian Kayanja

Editor: Fran Attié

Free agency will be a bit weird this year. But what hasn’t been strange in 2020? The short NBA offseason will add a level of uncertainty to an already unusual free agency class. However, within this lackluster group, there are still five players who I feel can move the needle for any team.

1) Fred VanVleet: 17.6 PPG | 6.6 APG | 2.0 SPG - SG

VanVleet is a 26-year-old guard who, often for Toronto, made the necessary plays on offense while functioning as a defensive pest—before the NBA hiatus in March, he led the NBA in deflections. He plays hard, and can be a secondary creator on the floor in a time where playmaking is at a premium in the NBA. The only question here will be just how much VanVleet is actually worth on the market? I fear he falls into the category of being better than a Mid-Level Exception but not good enough for a max deal. I expect VanVleet to either be back with the Raptors or find himself a spot with the highest bidder.

2) Christian Wood: 13.1 PPG | 6.3 RPG | 1 BPG - PF

The most impressive aspect of Wood were his last 15 NBA games. The journeyman averaged 22.3 points and 9.6 rebounds while shooting 56.2 percent from the floor and 41 percent from three. The danger in Wood is that he could have fallen victim to being a good player on a bad team—it can't be understated how often he kept the Pistons in games they were actively trying to lose. If he ends up on a contender, his impact will be limited to the role he will play. Still, he is an intriguing young big and I fully expect him to continue improving in the 2020-21 season.

3) Jerami Grant: 12.0 PPG | 3.5 RPG | .8 BPG – PF

Grant is one of the most versatile players in the 2020 free-agent market. He can guard all five positions on the floor, and knock down open threes. Grant compiled impressive playoff games against the NBA champions Lakers, scoring 26 points in Denver's only win in the Western Conference finals. He brings athleticism and energy to whatever team he plays for, and he can move the needle for a team that is already contending.

4) Goran Dragic: 16.1 PPG | 5.1 APG | 3.2 RPG – PG

Dragic played his way into this number four spot. Before the NBA playoffs, I was unsure of his market value in free agency. During 15 playoff games, he averaged 20 points and 4.6 assists. After seeing the way he revived his offensive game in the bubble, I am sure he can have an impact on any team he goes to. He and the Heat reportedly want to work out a deal, so I wouldn't be shocked if Dragic signs a one-year contract with the Heat (giving the team max flexibility in the 2021 offseason).

5) Montrezl Harrell: 18.6 PPG | 7.1 RPG | 1.1 BPG--PF/C

Harrell won the Sixth Man of the Year after a monster season with the Clippers, and seemed to be the only piece of continuity for a team that struggled with chemistry and rhythm all season. Harrell excels in the pick-and-roll, and his chemistry on the floor with Lou Williams was paramount for the Clippers' success last season. And though he struggled to find his own rhythm in the bubble, it is important to remember that he was dealing with the death of a grandmother, which can take away from any athlete's focus. The question for him, however, is how viable can he be in the playoffs if the matchups don't favor his play? Los Angeles though, does not have any real means of improvement, and I fully expect them to re-sign Harrell for the abbreviated season.

SPORTS ARE OUR UNIVERSE