Could the Pelicans be real contenders in the West? | Devine Intervention
Yahoo Sports NBA writer Dan Devine is joined by Rohan Nadkarni of Sports Illustrated to discuss the turnaround in New Orleans since the In-Season Tournament and why they could cause trouble in the playoffs. Hear the full conversation on “Devine Intervention” - part of the “Ball Don’t Lie” podcast - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen.
Video Transcript
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DAN DEVINE: The Pelicans, they are 22 and 15. They famously sort of got absolutely dismantled in front of god and everybody in the in-season tournament by the Lakers, which turned into a referendum on Zion Williamson's fitness, the level of dog that's in him, is this team, like, fundamentally broken, and whatever else. And then, since that, all they've done is go 10 and 4 with the best net rating in the league.
And I find myself watching them and thinking like, well, they finally have, like, everybody healthy. CJ McCollum is back from the small pneumothorax, Zion Williamson's been on the court. Him, Brandon Ingram, and CJ McCollum, the three of them together have played just in this past month more minutes together than they had like the entirety of the last two seasons because they just could never get those guys on the court at the same time.
They're finally starting to build some of that chemistry. They're learning how to play together in a way that makes me wonder, like, if you get that team, like, that level of depth, that level of top-end talent, could they be a monster problem for any of these teams in the west?
ROHAN NADKARNI: I don't think you're off base here at all, for a couple of reasons. One, I mean, we all have fond memories of that first-round series against the Suns a couple of years ago and what they were able to do. And that was without Zion. And what's interesting is Zion's had, you could argue, maybe like his worst season as a pro. Like his points per game are way down. It's kind of finishing is down a little bit. In turn with that, like Brandon Ingram has been their best player. And in a way, that's been good for them, he's looked really good, CJ's healthy. You mentioned that they have a better net rating than the Bucks right now.
DAN DEVINE: Which is nuts.
ROHAN NADKARNI: Yeah, it's nuts. And like, comfortably so. This is a good team. This has been a really good team. And they have the pieces, I think, to bother other teams in the west in a playoff series. I mean, they can compete with the best on a given night. And if they got a team like OKC or Minnesota in the first round, like, I'm not-- I think that's a toss up series at this point. Like that's how much faith I have in the Pelicans when everything is clicking.
And you're right. There's so much like outsized attention on Zion, and is he meeting expectations? And can he be the guy we thought he was going to be? Where's the explosiveness that since then, they've just been a good team. And that's been more important. So they're very interesting, man.