As his players cheered, clapped and high-fived each other, New Orleans Pelicans coach Willie Green gave a message that made his players celebrate even more.
Shortly after the Pelicans beat one of the Western Conference’s top contenders (Los Angeles Clippers), Green lauded his players for securing a “true character win” that demonstrated they have both enough talent and chemistry to compete with the league’s championship contenders.
“It’s a bit of a measuring stick. You want to see how you match up with the best teams in the league and what you’re capable of,” Green said shortly afterwards. “It was a character win against one of the hottest teams in the league right now. The hope and goal for us is to build on this momentum.”
Only two days later, the Pelicans’ momentum stalled.
New Orleans labored through a loss against the Lakers that featured all five starters scoring at least 20 points for the third time in franchise history. The Pelicans also allowed the Lakers to score 51 second-quarter points, which tied a franchise record for most points scored in a quarter. Afterwards, Green lamented about the team’s “lack of defensive physicality” and how both he and his players “got frustrated with some of the calls.”
“We have to be consistent with the defensive end of the ball,” Green said. “That comes down to mindset. Tonight we didn’t bring it. That’s the deal. You have to bring it consistently.”
The Pelicans have since rebounded with wins against two sub. 500 opponents (Portland, Memphis). Perhaps the same outcome happens when New Orleans (32-22) visits the Washington Wizards (9-44) on Wednesday. Nonetheless, the Pelicans’ dueling identities during their recent two-game trip in LA encapsulates their uncertain potential.
After appearing in the NBA Playoffs only once in the past four seasons since drafting Zion Williamson amid inconsistent health and team chemistry, will the New Orleans Pelicans finally make a deep postseason run? Or will the sixth-seeded Pelicans get lost once again in a crowded Western Conference?
Certainly, the Pelicans’ outcome largely hinges on health. New Orleans’ players have missed a combined 131 games due to injuries and illnesses. New Orleans’ main three players in Williamson, McCollum and Brandon Ingram have played 11 out of a possible 54 games together amid overlapping injuries to Williamson (11 games; mostly left foot), McCollum (12, mostly right lung) and Ingram (four, mostly right knee).
On Monday, the Pelicans announced that guard Dyson Daniels is sidelined without a definitive timetable after tearing the lateral meniscus in his left knee.
New Orleans has not become as plagued with injuries as in past seasons, though. Ingram and McCollum are no longer nursing any significant ailments. The Pelicans have had at least one of those players appear in all of their games. Therefore, the Pelicans’ playoff fortunes do not just depend on health. It also hinges on their chemistry and other intangibles.
Related: New Orleans Pelicans standing in Sportsnaut’s NBA power rankings
New Orleans Pelicans looking to be consistent, make noise in NBA Playoffs
“Continuously to make ourselves uncomfortable,” Green said. “That’s extreme work ethic. That’s accountability on all of our parts. That’s being the best in practice and the best at shootarounds and vocal when we need to be. When we do those things, we can hopefully reach our potential as a team.”
Shortly after the Pelicans have shown their potential, however, they have also realized their own limitations.
Following a 1-4 start, New Orleans suffered a five-game losing streak. Williamson publicly expressed frustration with lacking a consistent playmaking role. New Orleans then had a players’ only meeting where everyone shared their candor about the team’s problems and potential solutions.
“it was needed for people to get some stuff off their chest with the direction of our team and what we’re going to do,” Ingram said. “From that point on, we’ve had some ups and downs. But we know what our intentions are. We know what we want to do.”
As Ingram alluded to, however, that hasn’t resulted in sustained success. New Orleans won eight of its next 12 games following its meeting and advanced to the inaugural NBA Cup. Then, the Pelicans suffered a 44-point loss to the Lakers.
“It was embarrassing, quite frankly, to lose like we lost on national TV,” Green said. “Our effort wasn’t at a high level to what we’re accustomed to playing. It wasn’t our standard, and we had some honest discussions about this is not who we want to be and we don’t want to allow this one game to determine our whole season.”
The Pelicans have since gone 20-11, giving them more promising signs than red flags that they can become a legitimate playoff contender.
After fielding criticism with how he has taken care of his body with both his dieting and training, Williamson has received strong reviews with his work ethic this season. McCollum observed that Williamson has embraced his advice to “stack the days.” Ingram added that Williamson “is taking things more seriously and making sure he’s doing his conditioning [work] before and after games.
Not only has that helped Williamson become more durable. It has helped him thrive in an expanded playmaking role. He has averaged 22.3 points on 58.7% shooting, 5.5 rebounds and a career-high 3.8 assists. He also ranks second in the NBA in points in the paint (17.3)
“My movements are aggressive,” Williamson said. “I just may not score. I may get an open shot for my teammate. Whether they’re making it or not, the defense at some point has to respect that I’m making that pass. When the game opens up and when it’s time to get to it, I’m going to get to it.”
Ingram has adopted a similar mindset. While averaging 21.6 points, he remains on pace to finish with career-highs in shooting percentage (49.1%) and assists per game (5.8). Green, McCollum and Ingram himself have partly attributed his growth with devoting more time toward rest and recovery in between his disciplined workouts. Ingram also has shown more efficiency with how he blends his attacking, mid-range jumper, 3-point shot and passing together.
“I just see how defenses close out,” Ingram said. “Sometimes they close out short because they know that midrange is part of my game. So they try to take it off. So, that’s the time to shoot the 3 ball. When guys are overly aggressive, I can get all the way to the rim. I think my midrange is always there. I think I can always create that in transition or posting up, whatever it is. But it depends on how aggressive the defense is guarding me. Sometimes, defenses guard me from 94 feet. Sometimes, they let me get to the 3-point line. Sometimes, they deny me. It’s different every single night.”
Ingram faces various defensive coverages partly because of McCollum’s presence. The Pelicans raved about McCollum’s training regimen, which he said mostly consisted of 3-point shooting workouts, conditioning drills and film study. Despite recording his second-lowest usage rate to accommodate the team’s other two stars, McCollum has averaged 19.1 points and 4.7 assists while shooting a career-high 42.5% from 3-point range, a number that also currently leads the league among shooters that take at least seven 3s a game.
“It’s just me figuring out what the team needs and figuring out how to get better and improve in certain areas and utilizing my skillsets,” McCollum said. “I have a diverse skillset and am ready to play with different groups of people and with different teams. I’m being utilized in different ways.”
The Pelicans’ identity does not just hinge on their three core players, though.
The Pelicans are ranked high in various defensive metrics, including third in steals (8.2), sixth in deflections (15.3), seventh in loose balls recovered (5.8) and 11th in total charges drawn (26). New Orleans has a bruising big man in Jonas Valanciunas, who averages 13.9 points on 57.9% shooting and 9.5 rebounds.
The Pelicans also have strong perimeter defenders in Daniels and Herb Jones, whom Green called “two young perimeter players that defensively can pretty much guard anybody in the league” because of how well they switch on screens, block shots and play physically.
Jones has tied for 12th in the NBA in total charges drawn (nine). Meanwhile, Dyson has held opposing team’s top players to ow numbers, including Dallas’ Luka Doncic (3-for-9), Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (37.5%), the LA Clippers’ Paul George (4-for-11), the Lakers LeBron James (2-for-7) and Sacramento’s De’Aaron Fox (3-for-10).
“We have an extremely high potential when it comes to our defense,” Williamson said. “But we still have to build chemistry on that end with different groups. Some units get out there and our defense is really good. Other units, it’s not like that. The more we communicate and more we trust each other on rotations, the better we’ll become.”
So far, the Pelicans have played well enough to collect signature wins against the Clippers, New York, Oklahoma City, Denver, Sacramento, Philadelphia and Minnesota. That explains why the Pelicans resisted making any trade-deadline moves. That happened less than 24 hours after Green praised his teams’ character for a dominant win over the Clippers.
Despite failing to build off of that win against the Lakers, the Pelicans appear more encouraged with their progress than discouraged with their growing pains.
“All of these guys are like-minded. They all work hard. They’re all high character,” Green said. “They enjoy coming to work and being around each other. When you have teams that enjoy being around each other and play for each other, you tend to be better on the floor.”
In about two months, the Pelicans will receive clarity whether that will be enough to make a deep playoff run.
“We’re happy with where we are, but we know that we have room for improvement,” Green said. “So we won’t be complacent in saying this is it. We want to take another step.” Mark Medina is an NBA insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on X, Instagram, Facebook and Threads