With the last few weeks of the offseason winding down, the New Orleans Pelicans find themselves at a familiar but urgent crossroads. Despite bringing in new head coach Jamahl Mosley to lead the group, the Pelicans' on-court personnel remains largely unchanged from a team that won just 26 games last season.
Last year, one of the biggest issues plaguing this team was a lack of a true offensive identity, and that remains heading into the regular season.
The team's biggest priority was upgrading the center position to play alongside Zion Williamson and Derik Queen. Without a viable starting center in the rotation last year, the Pelicans suffered gravely in defending the paint and finishing off possessions with rebounding. Adding a legit big would have helped the Pelicans become a powerful interior team that could punish smaller teams late in games.
Instead, New Orleans decided to stand pat, opting to re-sign veteran center DeAndre Jordan and hoping for a giant leap from third-year center Yves Missi to play big minutes in the middle this season. That leaves the Pelicans in a weird position: they have a plethora of wings and guards, but they can't currently exploit other teams with space and shooting.
The Pelicans finished near last in three-point attempts, makes, and percentage last season. Aside from Trey Murphy III, New Orleans offers no reliable or consistent outside threat, putting immense pressure on the team to be efficient around the basket and in the midrange. That math works against the Pelicans when other teams can trade threes for twos with New Orleans.
Mosley and his staff will have to manage playing time for guys like Jordan Poole, Dejounte Murray, Herb Jones, Murphy III, Saddiq Bey, Jeremiah Fears, Micah Peavy, and others to curate lineups that work both offensively and defensively.
With Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations Joe Dumars saying he wants to see Williamson and Queen play extensively together, those other three positions will be paramount in building a true identity for the team.
The easy fix would be for players to start making outside shots. Poole is coming off one of the worst shooting seasons of his career, going just 37% from the field, the lowest since his rookie year in the league. His backcourt mate, Dejounte Murray, is only a career 33% three-point shooter, so pairing them for long stretches doesn't seem ideal.
Many think Poole and his albatross of a contract will be moved before the deadline, opening the way for further growth from their rising guard, Jeremiah Fears.
With Fears and his downhill speed, the Pelicans will need to play faster to create mismatches against an unbalanced defense. That was something Mosley adopted more than ever last season with the Magic after his team finished 14th in pace , a vast improvement over the previous two seasons in Orlando, when his teams were in the bottom five.
Mosley's different approach to pace will fit the Pelicans' makeup of ball-handlers and slashers. Mosley and his staff will need to create the right advantages on offense to succeed with the current personnel.
The Pelicans find themselves in a familiar place, trying to compensate for the lack of size inside. While they have backcourt talent, the staff must use the rest of this offseason to build a winning offensive formula by establishing a true team identity. It will be an uphill battle, but a necessary first step to turn the current tide in New Orleans.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/nba/pelicans/onsi as Biggest Pelicans' Priority Before Camp (And How to Address It) .
