2023-24 NBA Season: New Orleans Pelicans Walking In Lockstep, Ready To “Get To It”

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Following two straight lackluster performances, the New Orleans Pelicans needed to show a pulse in their final exhibition game against the Magic in Orlando. They did so. Now as we wait for tonight’s 2023-24 opener in Memphis, what kind of expectations should we have about a core that’s tantalized at times but usually ended seasons in disappointment?

It’s honestly quite easy to sit either very high or very low about the Pelicans. They’ve been riddled with a ridiculous amount of significant injuries over the last four years, derailing any chance for sustained excellence, and Naji Marshall, Trey Murphy and Jose Alvarado are beginning the season on the sidelines. On the flip side, the Pelicans sat atop the Western Conference with the Denver Nuggets in late December, with Zion Williamson MVP chants echoing inside the Smoothie King Center walls while the team had already dealt with a myriad of injuries, and that starting lineup is locked and loaded to battle the Grizzlies.

“Yeah, we’re improving,” Willie Green said after last Friday’s practice. “We like the fact that we had the four games and then had time off to recover, practice and watch film. So we want to go into Memphis with our energy high, feeling rejuvenated and feeling like these practices really allowed us to work on our execution on both ends of the floor.”

While the vibes are good and the Pelicans feel they took advantage of the eight days between games to improve, the most recent glimpses of basketball, though, failed to inspire any great deal of confidence. The Pelicans finished the preseason with a 1-3 record. They averaged a league-worst 21.5 turnovers. No other team scored less points per game. Only the Knicks posted a worse net rating. The basketball was bad on both ends of the floor.

Then there’s the less than stellar preseason results in several categories that are supposed to echo a reworked vision of the offense, one that capitalizes on ball and man movement while focusing on three principles.

A team hoping to make greater strides from 3-point range finished in the bottom third in both attempts and conversion rate.

A team hoping to dominate the offensive glass in an effort to increase the amount of shot attempts per game finished in the bottom third of offensive rebounding percentage.

A team hoping to play with greater tempo finished in the bottom half of pace.

Not good omens of course, but we must remember that this occurred during exhibition play. What happens in games that don’t count in the standings doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll translate into the real thing for a slew of reasons: starters play limited minutes, coaches experiment a good deal more and sometimes there’s just real rust to knock off.

The Milwaukee Bucks, for instance, went 0-5 in the prior preseason but began the 2022-23 regular campaign a perfect 9-0 en route to capturing the best record in the Eastern Conference. The Boston Celtics went 2-2 and then proceeded to win 57 regular season games. The Los Angeles Lakers and Phoenix Suns went a combined 2-8, but both teams wound up in the playoffs.

“We haven’t played together a lot, in general,” CJ McCollum said on his recent podcast. “Whether we play well or not, it’s besides the point. You just want to get reps out there on the court together, figure out rotations together, figure out play calls together, or just struggle together. Sometimes that’s good too because it forces you to have to communicate, it forces you to have to talk through things, it forces you into uncomfortable positions.”

The performances in preseason did force the Pelicans to look one another in the eye and say we need to do better. The slew of turnovers and defensive breakdowns were glaring issues but nothing compared to the lack of competitive fire witnessed far too often, particularly against the Houston Rockets and Atlanta Hawks.

The Pelicans bounced back in their second go-round against the Magic, but it was the manner in which they seized their only preseason victory that stood out. Zion Williamson, who only attempted three field goals in 22 minutes against the Hawks, led the Pelicans early against the Magic — and the effort wholly came on the defensive end.

“My teammates called me up,” Williamson said. “Felt like I wasn’t going as hard. So I told them I’d be there for them. I wanted to set the tone.”

The message was well received. Williamson posted a line of 16 points, three rebounds, three assists, five steals and two blocks in 16 minutes of action against the Magic.

“He turned it up, for sure,” Green said. “It just shows what he is capable of doing. From the time the game started, you could feel his presence, like you said, on the defensive end — and it starts with that with our team. We’re a team that’s going to defend. You want to play, you get on the floor and defend. It allows you to do other things on the floor.”

This example of accepting positive criticism further added to a belief that Williamson’s recommitment to the game may indeed be genuine. He has to be great if the Pelicans plan on vying for a spot towards the top of the standings.

Last July, Williamson had an impromptu appearance on Gil’s Arena and essentially admitted to not making a full investment in his professional career to date.

“Like Coach (Mike) K(rzyzewski) taught me, I have to own up to my responsibilities,” Williamson said. “There are a lot of things I could have done better. I didn’t. I’m in the process of fixing those wrongs.”

That process involved spending more time in New Orleans during the offseason than in any previous year, working hard on his conditioning in the sweltering summer Louisiana heat. The results were evident.

Williamson and the Pelicans have shown a real commitment to getting all their ducks in a row over the last few months. In addition to each player’s individual progress, the organization echoed similar sentiments over the summer, addressing the medical side and adding James Borrego to Green’s coaching staff.

Make no mistake, all those in the building on Airline Drive are well aware that difficult tests are in store and everything still hinges on how they handle upcoming adversity.

“At some point, our feet are going to be held to the fire this season,” McCollum said on his recent podcast. “Whether you like it or not, you’re going to have a bad loss or somethings going to occur to where you’re going to have to talk, you have to communicate, you have to be able to figure some things out without the coaches. Playing in the preseason, struggling some in the preseason, coach is really not giving us play calls early on in the season and letting us figure it out on our own is important because we will have plays we can rely upon. We obviously cannot just rely upon our skill: Z, BI, JV, myself. But you want to be able to have that understanding where I look at you and you know exactly what I’m thinking, and the only way you get there is by playing games together.”

The starting lineup of CJ McCollum, Herb Jones, Brandon Ingram, Zion Williamson and Jonas Valanciunas have combined for 113 regular season minutes the last two years. That’s a mighty meager total. So expect for a learning curve to very much remain while new concepts and strategies get ironed out but understand that the bones of the Pelicans’ attack appears special.

Here is where we note that, for all the start-and-stop, hurry-up-and-wait frustrations that have clung like a fog to the New Orleans Pelicans, the trio of Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram and C.J. McCollum has actually played 172 minutes together over 10 games in the past two seasons and has actually outscored opponents by 60 points. Which, according to some sophisticated statistical analysis I’ve conducted with the help of the Elias Sports Bureau, are bigger numbers than what the Nuggets’ guys had before last season.

A comparison to the Denver Nuggets right before they took the 2022-23 season by storm, which culminated in the hoisting of the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy, is promising. It signals that the requisite talent exists in New Orleans. The key moving forward is how everything else falls into place.

“We’re still working on it,” Green said after the preseason victory over the Magic. “That’s the encouraging part. We’re not even close to where we think we can be. But like you said, a ton of talent, a ton of ability, but at the end of the day, that doesn’t matter. What matters for us is how hard we play, how hard we compete. Are we sharing the ball? Are we defending? You match our talent with that component, it lends for a special recipe.”

Good health is pivotal for any team. The Pelicans, in light of last year’s 276 games missed due to injury, illness, or health and safety protocols — the Trail Blazers led the league with 315 missed games, must change the status quo in order to make real noise in the Western Conference this season. But if things can truly come together, McCollum’s words on media day could prove prophetic one day.

There have been real indications behind the scenes that the Pelicans are ready to take that proverbial next step, improving upon last season’s 42-40 record and failure to make the playoffs. There’s no doubt they’re flying under the radar, no longer a sexy pick in the eyes of most national media due to previous let downs. Some good fortunes along the way would certainly help, but finally for the first time since David Griffin grabbed the reins of the front office, every key New Orleans participant appears to be sitting on the same page. The communication has never looked or felt better.

Now the Pelicans can move in lockstep and really focus on getting to it.

For more Pelicans talk, subscribe to The Bird Calls podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts. You can follow this author on Twitter at @OlehKosel

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