Why are the New Orleans Pelicans so inconsistent?
By Will Osgood
What is the Pelicans’ best lineup?
Of course there are a maze of different lineup combinations Monty Williams can choose from. And mainly because of his injuries, he’s been forced to use most of them this season. Some said lineup combos, though, have played so few minutes together, that it would be irresponsible to use them from a statistical perspective to try hammer home a point.
Just as an example of that, the combination of Davis, Anderson, Holiday, Luke Babbitt and Austin Rivers is by the data the most explosive offense that New Orleans has fielded in 2014-15, projecting out to 154.0 points per 100 possessions. But that group only played 17 minutes together, and Rivers is now nursing a baby bottle in Los Angeles as he plays for his father Doc.
There are other examples of combinations which have put together similarly proportioned buckets of grandeur awesomeness, but those units have somehow played fewer minutes together.
The numbers are pretty clear, though. Any lineup which features Ryan Anderson seems to take an immediate nose dive in DRtg. That said, the best lineup in sum seems to be that of Anderson, Davis, Dante Cunningham, Quincy Pondexter and Tyreke Evans at point guard.
That lineup has only given up 82.1 points per 100 possessions, but also only scored 101, and again it’s a very small sample size. That style is more to the liking of Monty Williams, but frankly does not fit his personnel.
It is clear there is no ideal lineup for the Pelicans. Ideally, as an entire team, they like to get up and down the court, throw alley-oops primarily to AD, attack the rim and shoot the long-range 3.
That is how this Pelicans team is built. And therein lies the problem.
Next: Monty Williams: The defensive coach