New Orleans Pelicans Roster Evaluations, Guide To Building Championship Core Around Zion Williamson

It has been weeks since the NBA’s official announcement to suspend the season and the basketball world still has no idea what this means with regards to the current hoops seasons at all levels. Most every league is now canceled, youth through professional, globally. When will the NBA season return this year, if ever? How will the New Orleans Pelicans’ roster look when games do resume? Fans are now getting a glimpse into the roster evaluation process and the conclusions from this season on recent editions of the Pelicans Podcast and Pelicans Playback pregame shows.

All teams are looking to fill the void of lost games. Finding ways to occupy the time normally dominated by basketball will require a bit more effort until it is safe to attend a ballgame without worrisome whispers about unsettling news reports. The uncertainty of the suspended season affects workout routines. Team practice facilities are closed. Draft scouting and international travel is at a standstill. The only benefit of this downtime is David Griffin and the rest of the front office have extra time to evaluate the current roster.

There is still hope that the season will resume in some way but there is a good chance the season must be abandoned. Griffin told Pelicans Playback, “With everything changing so quickly, everything is in a state of flux that I think it would be premature for the NBA to say what it ultimately looks like. I do know unequivocally that the league is very mindful of the idea of getting back to playing. The idea of canceling a season is not all on their minds, and we’re modeling every possible thing we can for how we can deliver a product to the fans. Quite frankly, we’re all going to need a diversion in the future. (But) until we can get to a point where we think we’ve got containment of (the coronavirus), we’re going to continue to stay locked down. Hopefully, we’ll get to a point where we can come back sooner rather than later.”

That point may never come. The 2019-20 NBA season may just have to be sacrificed for the greater good of the seasons to follow. Still, the 64-game sample size gives the front office plenty to ponder going into the next season. Fans can join the process. The New Orleans Pelicans are playing games from this past season and recording an internal podcast to accompany the re-airing. Four members of the Pelicans executive front office, Dennis Lauscha, David Griffin, Trajan Langdon, and Swin Cash, have all appeared on one of the team shows recently.

Now that the team has dealt with the initial shock of the suspended season, the preparations for what comes next begins. The problem is knowing exactly what comes next, so any other plans are in a holding pattern. The front office can still make a decision on the core of the team going forward. The best part of the evaluation is that the team kept a good attitude throughout the season. It is hard to evaluate a team littered with lethargic players.

Building An All-Star Foundation

Griffin said the team was “really tight-knit throughout the season. Even when we weren’t able to get over the hump, even when we went through a very long losing streak the guys stayed together. They weren’t pointing fingers and blaming each other and I think that’s one of the things that, when you’re struggling as a team your character, on the whole, is going to reveal itself in adversity. And, I was really pleased with our character when adversity hit: how we dealt with it, how we decided to bond together and come together and play for each other.”

The challenge now is to build a winning culture from the core of the current roster. Griffin said during his first week on the job that he wanted to methodically build a sustainable championship culture in New Orleans. Zion Williamson is the future of the New Orleans Pelicans. Barring a drastic change in the NBA/NBPA Collective Bargaining Agreement, Williamson will be in the Big Easy for the better part of the decade. As a restricted free agent, all signs point to Brandon Ingram being the other All-Star stalwart in the Pelicans’ starting lineup.

Williamson missed all but 19 games. Ingram missed some time. Both will be given plenty of patience and understanding moving forward. The coaching staff had to piece together lineups without a full roster for most of the season. Ingram kept the team in the playoff race until Williamson returned. Williamson then elevated the remaining roster. Evaluating how a player’s absence affects a team is almost a valuable as getting to watch a player run the court for 30 minutes a night. Derrick Favors stood out as a player who was able to change the team, but he may change teams again this summer.

Building a Big Man Rotation Around Zion Williamson

Finding a big man to help Williamson patrol the paint could prove the biggest challenge to building a championship roster. Griffin tweeted out that “when Jaxson Hayes masters defensive verticality at the rim, and stops getting the rookie whistle, he is going to be absolutely filthy on that end of the floor. Several examples tonight of his ability to move laterally on the perimeter.” However, Hayes is a couple of years away from being an adequate fit next to Williamson.

Griffin had some high praise for Favors, saying, “our coaches were able to have the rim protection they needed when Derrick Favors came back.” Favors did ask for a trade to New Orleans but he is an unrestricted free agent after this season’s conclusion. Favors played in only 45 games due to lingering physical ailments and taking care of his mother’s estate after she passed in late 2019. Now the only question is how much does the team value that rim protection, and will the team’s offer be competitive in the open market.

Griffin did compliment Nicolo Melli, who is under contract for next season. Griffin said  he thought the team performances, and Williamson’s effectiveness, improved with “Nicolo Melli getting more minutes, and him starting to become a key part of the rotation has been essential as well…Melli, when there is that dive thrust (by Williamson) toward the rim, (Melli) is going to be pulling bigs away from the basket. (Melli) is absolutely essential when Zion’s on the floor, from a spacing standpoint. When you see the relationship between those three growing, it just exponentially improves our team.”

Williamson, Melli, Hayes, and either Favors or a free agent replacement seem to be the four-man front-court rotation. Darius Miller and Jahlil Okafor were the other two big men on the roster this season. Okafor was a reclamation project that had a few memorable nights and a few more that were completely forgettable. He cost less than $2 million and is a serviceable fifth big for a playoff roster. Darius Miller missed the season with an injury and his contract for next year is not guaranteed. Neither Okafor nor Miller should be a big part of the team’s plans in the future.

Guards To Guide The Offense

Williamson will need the game brought to him on offense. Asking him to bring the ball up the court and create for others would be misguided tactics. Williamson is phenomenal when running the court to catch lobs and establishing early positions in the paint. Williamson will need a lead guard to get him easy buckets, many of which will be highlight dunks. Jrue Holiday prefers to play the two-guard position and will be eligible for the over-30 division next year. Holiday’s prime years do not match up with Williamson’s championship timeline.

Thankfully for New Orleans, Lonzo Ball has undeniable chemistry with Williamson and years of understanding with Ingram. Swin Cash enjoyed watching Ball’s development, telling Pelicans Playback “The biggest area of growth for me was seeing Zo smile on the court. I texted him after a game and said, ‘Nice game, but it was great to see you out there smiling.’ When he came to us, he hadn’t played in nine months, but now he’s in a rhythm. He’s feeling good, his body feels good.”

She continued, “People don’t understand what it takes mentally and physically to get back from injury. He’s put the work in, he’s worked with our assistant coaches. He’s out there on his own, getting to the basket, getting guys involved. I’m just happy to see his growth personally because as a former athlete, you always understand it’s mind over matter.” Watching Ball get more comfortable on the court and in the locker room, it is hard to disagree with that assessment.

Likewise, Griffin’s recent statements concerning Josh Hart are far beyond being just positive. “Josh Hart is absolutely our junkyard dog right now. He’s the guy setting the tone to an enormous degree by giving himself up on the defensive end. We were so blessed by his presence.” There is seemingly no end to the glowing appreciation from Griffin, as he continued. “(Hart) is showing the level of desire and passion on both sides of the ball that matters for us and sort of leading us emotionally in that way.”

Ball and Hart will be restricted free agents after next season. New Orleans cannot afford to pay both of them maximum level contracts, but only Ball might get that type of offer sheet from another team. Both Ball and Hart fit well within the New Orleans Pelicans team dynamic and the future championship timeline. Gentry has praised Ball for years and has stood up for Hart this season.

Therefore, it is safe to say that just like Ingram and Ball, the New Orleans Pelicans will likely match any offer sheet Hart might sign in free agency. If Hart approached free agency in the same manner he did when traded to New Orleans, Hart will call Griffin with an offer first.

Much like he did with Favors recently, Griffin praised JJ Redick’s veteran leadership throughout the season. Griffin also felt the same about the “presence of Kenrich Williams, having veteran defensive players. We could afford to let Didi develop in Australia.”

E’twuan Moore is also high-respected in the locker room and one of the best three-point shooters in the NBA. He is also a free agent after this season. Redick has another year on his contract and looked to have a couple more playoff run in his shooting legs. Deciding how to fill out the guard rotation behind Ball, Holiday, and Hart is not the biggest on-court priority. Ball and Holiday will do the heavy lifting with the ball handling duties, along with Ingram and Williamson. All other guards will defer to that heirarchy.

There are options to fill out the reserve unit. Finding the right mix of guys to keep the bench engaged and jovial, instead of jaded by the lack of minutes, is paramount to team chemistry. With Williamson still learning the professional game, the Pelicans need to keep the locker room an upbeat environment focused on winning, not worried about minutes and future contracts.

New Orleans Pelicans Coaching, Draft Prospect Development

The New Orleans Pelicans have several draft projects in development and the hopes are that a couple of them grow into being rotational contributors. Developing draft picks successfully frees up cap space to sign quality free agents. Balancing the development process with a playoff mandate is a challenge for the coaching staff. Evaluating Alvin Gentry and the rest of the coaching staff is part of the development and evaluation process as well.

Nickeil Alexander-Walker was expected to steal minutes from the team’s other bench guards but instead found himself benched, injured, or sent to the G-League more often than not. Didi Silva might have another year of seasoning ahead of him before he cracks the rotation but the team is cautiously optimistic that he will be ready to come stateside soon.

“We were able to get Didi really far ahead of the curve in his development,” Griffin said. “Because we knew unequivocally that Will and his staff were going to do a phenomenal job. It was a really positive thing for us that Sydney was the team Didi ended up with. His development on a very veteran team that had the best record in their league the vast majority of the season, as a starter and defensive stopper, is exactly what we wanted. The future is very bright there as a potential three-and-D stopper who can guard multiple positions.”

Alexander-Walker, Hayes, and Silva are just the first three draft prospects of the Griffin era. Sadly, making room for future free agents and draft picks means Williams, Frank Jackson, and Jahlil Okafor could be deemed surplus to requirements. Developmental projects drafted by past regimes are often the first roster casualties after all. The same fate usually awaits lame-duck coaches hired by the former executives.

Gentry has only one year left on his contract. Buying him out of that last year will cost a few million, but a contract extension would cost the team a few years and tens of millions more in salary. The front office must soon determine if Gentry is the right voice to lead this team once Williamson can legally buy a drink on Bourbon Street.

It should be a fun process. The New Orleans Pelicans have one of the most dynamic personalities on the planet on the roster, and he happens to be very good at basketball. Trajan Langdon relayed the story during a recent Pelicans Playback airing.

Langdon said, “Zion is about team first, so that’s what makes it really, really easy for our coaching staff and teammates. He told the team, ‘Just fit me in seamlessly.’ When he came back, we were playing pretty good basketball, and he didn’t want to interrupt that. It speaks a lot to the character of the young man. He knew he could help; he just wanted to fit in the best way possible. He didn’t want anyone to change. He wanted Jrue to keep attacking and B.I. to keep doing what he was doing. Guys to keep taking the shots they were taking.”

That is a refreshing attitude from the team’s superstar, especially considering the approach Anthony Davis had in New Orleans. Even dealing with the news of an abbreviated season, New Orleans basketball made some progress. The Pelicans do not need to compeltely refresh the roster, or coaching staff, to maintain playoff expectations. With Williamson’s optimistic blessing, the organziation just maintain it’s current progress, to keep shooting it’s shot at success.