The New Orleans Pelicans desperately need to get off to a hot start this season, to keep DeMarcus Cousins and Anthony Davis happy. Do they have the depth?
Here we are. The first and perhaps last year of the DeMarcus Cousins-Anthony Davis Twin Towers lineup. They’ve had an offseason of training together and Boogie has lost weight. As of now, we still have that fantasy of a postseason matchup between the New Orleans Pelicans and Golden State Warriors where we hope to see what Davis and Cousins could do to the weaker interior of the Dubs.
Most realistically, we’re further from that matchup and closer to what could be the ultimate destiny for this team: A blowup from top to bottom, including Davis. Who would’ve guessed this is where we’d be with the New Orleans Pelicans in 2017-18? A make-or-break season for a team who replaced the franchise’s best player since Chris Paul with Davis. He’s only 24-years-old, but will enter Year 6 on a team that has struggled to surround him with talent. New Orleans’ last-ditch effort; acquiring Sacramento Kings big man DeMarcus Cousins for rookie Buddy Hield and a first-round pick, among other assets. If the Pelicans can’t find a way for Davis and Cousins to flourish — or if the experiment falls apart naturally as due to the difficulty of a lineup featuring Twin Towers — then where do they go from here? New Orleans has had more than enough time, and while they deserve credit for landing a talent as big as Cousins, if they don’t perform well over the first 45-50 games this season, it should be time to clean house.
It sounds desperate to think a franchise with a foundation as strong as Davis would have to clean house, but the team has one winning season since 2012-13, when Davis entered the league. Potential trades for Cousins and Davis could land the Pelicans assets they can’t refuse. With every team in the West chasing the Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers, and with 2018 draft the final season for the old lottery rules, the Pelicans are incentivized to not only move on if it doesn’t work, but tank into the top part of the lottery. Outside of a 2018 second-rounder, the Pellies own all of their picks.
So, with what may be the final ride in the Davis era, let’s see what the Pelicans are working with 1-5.