Fansided

Midseason Grades for Each NBA Team

By Cody Williams

Jan 14, 2016; San Antonio, TX, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers small forward LeBron James (23) is defended by San Antonio Spurs small forward Kawhi Leonard (2) during the second half at AT&T Center. Mandatory Credit: Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 14, 2016; San Antonio, TX, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers small forward LeBron James (23) is defended by San Antonio Spurs small forward Kawhi Leonard (2) during the second half at AT&T Center. Mandatory Credit: Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports /
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Jan 2, 2016; Dallas, TX, USA; New Orleans Pelicans forward Anthony Davis (23) comes back on the court during the first half against the Dallas Mavericks at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 2, 2016; Dallas, TX, USA; New Orleans Pelicans forward Anthony Davis (23) comes back on the court during the first half against the Dallas Mavericks at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports /

12th West. New Orleans Pelicans. F. player. 69. . 14-27

The hype surrounding the New Orleans Pelicans in the preseason was probably out of control. There were numerous people around the league already crowning Anthony Davis as the next NBA MVP and saying that the Pelicans, fresh off making it into the postseason as the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference last year, were a dark horse in the West this season. If only we could have seen just how out of control that hype was.

New Orleans has been an absolute train-wreck through the first half of the 2015-16 season. Not only have they fallen tremendously short of the admittedly way-too-high expectations that they had coming into the year, but they’ve been a legitimately bad basketball team to this point in the year. Davis got off to a slower start than expect which, when coupled with the fact that this team is almost irrecoverably poorly constructed, dug them into a major hole. Even though he’s back to an All-Star form right now, the hole seems almost too big to climb out of for the Pelicans.

Davis is clearly the cornerstone of this franchise, but it’s also clear that this team isn’t going anywhere as they’re currently constructed. The first half of this season has shown that the Pelicans need to blow it up and figure out how to build around Davis with different pieces. The fact that they’ve been bad enough to prove that point means they undoubtedly deserve a failing grade.

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