The Pelicans are developing a bench

The New Orleans Pelicans joined the NBA regular season’s second week as one of its five undefeated teams, alongside the Denver Nuggets, Toronto Raptors, Milwaukee Bucks and Detroit Pistons.

With a dominant performance on Wednesday, October 17th against the 65 win Houston Rockets, the Pelicans seemed destined to wrestle away the crown in the West’s Southwest Division.

Now, after the fact, we’ve witnessed the Rockets’ defense plummet to 30th in opponent’s points in the paint and 27th in opponent efficiency. The Pelicans managed scrappy victories over the Los Angeles Clippers and Brooklyn Nets, but their most impressive victory in hindsight may very well be their overwhelming dispatch of the 5-3 Sacramento Kings.

At 4-0, with overwhelming positivity on the cusp of overflowing, the injury bug reared its ugly head in New Orleans, and the Pelicans would fall to the Utah Jazz and Denver Nuggets trailing by as many as 28 and 17 points, respectively.

On the verge of a three-game losing streak, the Pelicans head to Golden State to face the record-breaking group that sets the NBA on fire seemingly every night. Whether Curry’s 51 points in three quarters, Durant’s 25-point fourth quarter explosion or Klay Thompson’s 14 three-pointers in 26 minutes, the Warriors use their “embarrassment of riches” to throttle and wow opponents all at the same time, and likely will do so again tonight against a Pelicans squad devoid of Elfrid Payton (ankle), Darius Miller (quadricep contusion), and MVP candidate, Anthony Davis (elbow).

The Pelicans bought themselves time to negotiate these injuries with their 4-0 start, and with slow starts to the West’s Rockets (1-5), Lakers (2-5), Thunder (2-4), and Wolves (3-4), the Pels have used their time sans Anthony Davis to develop something the Pelicans have never had before. A bench.

To know the ballad of Anthony Davis is to know the three-point shot to bury the Thunder in 2014-15, his Blazers’ sweep, and his journey to NBA relevance surrounded by the likes of Lou Amundson, Greg Stiesma, Luke Babbit, Josh Childress, Jimmer Fredette, Alexis Ajinca, Brian Roberts, Austin Rivers, and Dante Cunningham.

The Pelicans best bench, led by Tyreke Evans and Ryan Anderson in 2014-15, led the Pelicans to critical victories in Davis’ 14 game absence before settling to the Golden State Warriors as an 8th seeded victim in round one. That team’s depth provided Davis the best spark he has seen in his seven-season tenure, and it was done with Norris Cole, Quincy Pondexter and Alexis Ajinca providing meaningful minutes as Jrue Holiday, Ryan Anderson and Eric Gordon would combine to miss 86 games of their own.

The Pelicans secured their second-unit spark plug in energy man Julius Randle, but with plantar fasciitis limiting him to just over 20 minutes per game, the Pelicans head coach Alvin Gentry went to a largely untested bench against the Utah Jazz on Saturday night, with eye-opening results. A lineup comprised of Tim Frazier-Frank Jackson-Wes Johnson-E’Twaun Moore-Jahlil Okafor and Cheick Diallo took a Jazz 108-80 advantage and closed the gap in front of an awe-stricken Smoothie King Center crowd to 117-108, before Quin Snyder quickly reinserted his starters wish six minutes remaining to close a 29-9 run in just over seven minutes.

On Monday night in front of the Denver faithful, the bench mob struck again. With 3:50 remaining, Jrue Holiday’s bucket almost proved the improbable, narrowing the gap to 96-94 over a Nuggets’ squad carrying a healthy “MVP” candidate in Nikola Jokic as well as upstarts Gary Harris, Jamal Murray, and the rest of the 5-1 Denver Nuggets.

“Here’s the honest to God’s truth: Frank Jackson will be the most exciting rookie to grace the confines of the Smoothie King Center since Anthony Davis

The Pelicans general manager Dell Demps doesn’t believe in first round picks, forfeiting each one with AD the lone exception. This season, the Pelicans 31st overall pick who redshirted in 2017 (stress fracture right foot), is the closest thing the Pels have come to boasting draft acquired youth.

And there he was on Saturday and Monday night, hitting the three, attacking the basket and locking down Jamal Murray en route to 24 points in 49 combined minutes. His stellar play in a small sample size has been a definitive upgrade over veteran Ian Clark.

Former third overall pick, Jahlil Okafor, looking more spry than at any point since his rookie season, collected 20 points in 32 combined minutes, having earned the start on Monday night in place of Anthony Davis. Okafor helped the squad hold a brief 31-28 advantage to end the first quarter.

Wes Johnson, 31, acquired in an opening day salary dump from the Los Angeles Clippers may be past his best days, but back to back three-pointers from the top of the key on Saturday showed he still has the touch to get hot from time to time, and extends the Pelicans bench in the event of injuries like the one keeping Darius Miller out the past three games.

Tim Frazier was largely quiet, but leads the offensive decisively promoting the unit’s best ball movement creating open looks like the one that led to Frazier’s corner three on Monday.

Energy plug, Cheick Diallo, can be a feast or famine player as he overextends himself with extra effort, but his flair for the fling proves infectious.

Solomon Hill has been the lone exception as evidenced by the late game runs against Utah and Denver with Hill on the bench. Hill’s contract and remaining two years, $24 million indicates a stronger look is warranted after losing 69 games in 2017-18 due to a torn hamstring, but if the veteran can’t improve upon his 28% and 23% shooting, his three points, 2.5 rebounds and two assists per game in 20 minutes of action, he simply can’t see the floor. He doesn’t provide Andre Roberson level defense anymore, and even should he, the Pelicans drop in offensive rating from first to tenth when he’s on the floor, and lose what makes them special.

The New Orleans Pelicans will likely lose tonight against the Warriors, and even against the Portland Trailblazers on Thursday night, however, these games are critical for the development of the aforementioned depth. We know what the Pelicans are with a healthy Anthony Davis. The Pelicans starting lineup maintains a 35 point positive net rating, with an offensive rating of 132, and defensive of 97. The Pelicans starting unit will pose problems to the association, but until the Pelicans develop a bench, they can not truly contend. That time is now.

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