Dell Demps finally gives New Orleans a good offseason
For years, the New Orleans Pelicans have been a woefully mismanaged franchise that has failed to achieve any kind of success. They have the least postseason success of any franchise in the NBA and any good player they have had has quickly departed the franchise. They have been historically unlucky and irrelevant in an NBA that often leaves middling teams behind to be forgotten about. This was all supposed to change after they won the lottery in 2012 ahead of the historically awful Charlotte Bobcats, they got Anthony Davis and were expected to finally be relevant. This hasn’t happened and it was largely because their General Manager Dell Demps operated on a year by year basis with a win-now philosophy, which made little sense considering they had the best young talent in the NBA.
Demps has held the post of General Manager since 2010 and before this years draft, he had only used one of the Pelicans six first round picks and that was on Anthony Davis. Many Pelicans fans were concerned he would again trade their pick as centers such as Nerlens Noel were being shopped. Thankfully for the loyal fans of the Smoothie King Centre, Demps decided to keep their pick and finally start building for the future. For this reason alone, we can call the Pelicans offseason a success as Demps had previously failed to try and put another young player alongside Anthony Davis in New Orleans.
Buddy Buckets:
Buddy Hield is a divisive player, for the casual fan he is a popular player because of his great shooting and his desire to take a lot of shots. Yet, many of his critics have criticised him for shooting high volume shots and not facilitating to his team mates on the offensive end. These criticisms in reality are a load of rubbish, Hield is a very good player and he will be a perfect fit in Alvin Gentry’s offence.
When New Orleans hired Gentry, they wanted him to implement his famous pace offence which is renowned for creating good looks on the perimeter. He was seen as the major reason for the Warriors being such a deadly team on the offensive end. For whatever reason, Dell Demps did not realise that to run a jump shooting offence, you need good jump shooters on the roster. Outside of Eric Gordon and Ryan Anderson, Gentry had no real shooters. Both of these guys possessed their own issues too, Gordon was streaky at best when he wasn’t on the injury table and Ryan Anderson is a poor defender.
With Buddy Hield, not only do the Pelicans inherit a lockdown shooter, but a very versatile player as Joseph Billiott of SB Nation argues in his terrific scouting report. Hield is a versatile defender and he is more than capable of driving to the basket and opening up the floor for other players to thrive. When you couple this with his insane perimeter shooting, he is a deadly player who will be a fine addition to Alvin Gentry’s system. By drafting Hield, the Pelicans have somewhat suggested they are committed to Alvin Gentry in the long term despite a very poor campaign last year.
Hield’s shooting is insanely good and although he probably won’t be that efficient at first, he should get open looks in Alvin Gentry’s system as in the words of Jarron Collins- ‘Gentry can get an open look for a corpse’. He also has some incredible statistics to go with his shooting stroke as you can see below.
Buddy Hield’s eFG% on unguarded catch and shoot jump shots this season is approaching 100%, still 70% even when guarded.
— Synergy Sports Tech (@SynergySST) March 26, 2016
Defence and Versatility:
The New Orleans Pelicans defence was a horror show for the entirety of last year and although this was partially down to injuries, they didn’t really have any versatile defenders on the roster. Anthony Davis is of course one of the more versatile defenders in the League, but the Pelicans lacked a forward who could switch onto guards after defending bigs in the post. Their first signing was Solomon Hill, and he will come in and become the versatile defender that New Orleans needs alongside Anthony Davis. Hill was an extremely popular player in Indiana due to his hustle and his desire to improve his own game. He would often matchup against tough players as he wasn’t afraid of them and this kind of attitude is what will be needed on the Pelicans defence.
His offence shouldn’t be underestimated either, the Pacers were four points better off per 100 possessions when he was on the court as he offered them a decent amount of versatility. He shot 49% on catch and shoot jumpers which is an impressive number when you consider Indiana lacked floor spacing for the majority of the year. He also performed well in the pick and roll as he ranked in the 88th percentile as the roll man. He only has a small sample size in this particular play type, but Alvin Gentry likes to run a high powered offence so Hill will find himself doing different things in the half court. One thing that should please Alvin Gentry about Hill is that he shot well from the corners, it was an area that many of the Pelicans struggled in last year. He shot 44% from the corners and Gentry’s system looks to get a lot of looks in that particular area.
Etwaun Moore is another player who gives the Pelicans good defence and versatility on the offensive end of the floor. The once unheralded Combo Guard of the Orlando Magic was discovered and improved by Tom Thibodeau and the Pelicans will look to be the main beneficiaries of this. Moore is another terrific shooter for Alvin Gentry’s system as he shot 45% from three last year as both a starter and a bench player. Moore shot 63% on catch and shoot jumpers and he ranked well as a spot up shooter as he sits in the 89th percentile. In what was a dismal season on the offensive end of the floor for Chicago, Moore provided a rare bright spot alongside Jimmy Butler.
Without speaking in cliches, the signing of Terrence Jones was the icing on top of the cake for the Pelicans, their offseason became perfect because of it. A man who often fell victim of the Rockets logjam in the front court, Jones is a terrific player and he looks a good fit alongside Anthony Davis. A 30% shooter from the three point line, Jones possesses terrific athleticism and has the ability to switch onto guards on the defensive end, he will help the Pelicans defence improve even if he only gets limited minutes.
Overall, the Pelicans had a superb offseason and Dell Demps (with the help of Danny Ferry) has finally built a roster that is sustainable for the future. He kept the draft pick and added a terrific shooter to fit Alvin Gentry’s system and the role players they added bring defence and versatility.
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