More than losing games, more than getting injured, more than tinkering with style and missing the playoffs, the 2016-17 Pelicans did one thing, and it ought to impress you. These Pelicans upended the notion that the only definitive way to get better as an NBA team is to draft at the very top of several consecutive drafts and get those players (or the older ones you exchange them for) to compete for at least the duration of their first contract. By trading two mid-lottery picks and some contract flotsam for DeMarcus Cousins, the Pelicans added tremendous talent to their team. They also gave up very little, and are poised for success in the near future, provided the front office can continue to make efficient moves.
Though the Pelicans experienced decent success during the middle of the season as a small-ball, defense-first outfit, 2016-17 will be remembered for Boogie’s arrival in the Bayou. From the beginning of the season until the All-Star break, New Orleans posted a net rating of -1.4 with Davis on the court; after Cousins’ arrival, that number jumped to a +6.0. These are obviously asymmetrical sample sizes, with 780 minutes of post-All-Star playing time compared to 1,896 minutes before the break, according to NBA Wowy. However, you better believe that those results will be studied extensively in New Orleans.
This is an extremely important offseason for the Pelicans in the way they all have become important: Each passing season represents one less year of team control for Anthony Davis. The superstar big man just finished the first year of five under a contract that will pay him $25.4 million per season. This contract torments Pelicans fans; it’s a bomb in a time capsule. Now, the team’s timeline has been sped up by the assumption of Cousins into their long-term plans. The remaining four years on Davis’s deal are no longer the timeline most threatening the Pelicans.
Unfortunately, the 2016-17 season was inconclusive for many of the same reasons it was inspiring. Though Davis and his teammates found success during the winter as an excellent, switchable defense that moved the ball on the other end, that style disappeared when Cousins arrived. What replaced it was a your-turn, my-turn style that threatens far too many newly assembled squads. Coach Alvin Gentry basically ran three teams following the February trade, as detailed by ESPN’s Justin Verrier in his excellent story from late in the year on these three mirroring teams within the Pelicans’ gameplan:
"“At times it can feel like you’re watching three different teams: the new-look Pelicans, the pre-Cousins Pelicans and the Peli-Kings, if you will. But Gentry sees them as similar approaches as a team that plays toward the specialties of individual players on a second unit.”"
The problem the organization will face in developing outward from these three core styles is that they’re already hamstrung by past decisions. The last time they tried to find a long-term answer at center next to Anthony Davis, New Orleans signed Omer Asik to a four-year, $48 million deal that is already one of the worst in the NBA. Last offseason, they found help on the wing in the form of Solomon Hill, but coughed up another $48 million in a free agency wing market that favored the players.
This summer, they face decision-time on point guard Jrue Holiday, who struggled to find his place within the double-big system late in the year. Having two high-usage big men would ideally lend itself to a point guard who passes well, plays defense, and shoots. In fact, the Pelicans ran some Triangle sets with Holiday, Davis and Cousins and were extremely successful. With so much talent, Holiday should be able to figure it out, but paying him will handicap the Pelicans’ ability to spend more money in consequent offseasons. His status with the team is the most interesting thing to watch going forward, because of the up and down season, along with his price tag and worrisome injury history.
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The last thing the Pelicans wanted going into the first season of Anthony Davis’s new contract was another fresh batch of questions. The team must now pay the price of going all in on Cousins, while adapting on the fly to whatever shape this roster takes. Most NBA teams have the lessons of the fall and spring to draw from when making decisions during the summer. Following a wild and inconclusive 2016-17 season, the Pelicans will be firing off shots in the dark.