On paper, the New Orleans Pelicans are supposed to have one of the deepest frontcourt in the league. Guys like Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram, and Jonas Valanciunas should be able to deliver more than any other big-man combinations. But, it seems like they have been falling short in the NBA Preseason and it is not just because of the injuries. A huge testament to this would be their matchups against the Houston Rockets and Atlanta Hawks.
The Pelicans and their big conundrum
Rebounding is essential to closing out plays and getting second-chance buckets. It all starts by having a steady presence in the paint. Now, the Pelicans have all the strength and talent with their main man inside being Zion Williamson and Jonas Valanciunas backing him up. All of this remains on paper as they did not show out against the Rockets. They allowed a whopping 29 defensive rebounds from the Rockets in their NBA Preseason matchup. A lot of the time their bigs would just get dragged out of the paint and forced to play drop coverage. This creates delayed crashes on the boards and fewer opportunities to box out.
The same thing happened against the Trae Young-led Hawks. Atlanta grabbed 36 defensive rebounds which gave them a lot of second-chance points and fresh clocks to thrive on. It was the same Achilles' heel during both losses with the same outcomes. Against the Rockets, it led to a demolition job where they lost by a 33-point margin. The Hawks, on the other hand, just managed to squeak past the Zion Williamson-led squad but copied the same plan of attack. Rebounding was just the tip of the iceberg.
Paint presence and strength inside
When boards do not end up in the defenders' favor, the other team gets another opportunity to scorch them on offense. The Pelicans dealt with this problem a lot. They were often not in good positions to score nor contest inside which led to disheartening losses.
Again, the Rockets hammered the Pelicans inside the paint and disallowed them from grabbing boards. This led to allowing 52 points in the paint with only some smothered by a big man like Jonas Valanciunas. They tried to outrebound and outshoot them on the other end but it was just not enough. Their 12 offensive boards only boosted them to 26 points in the painted area.
The loss against the Hawks made this problem more visible despite the final scoreline. The Pelicans started to recognize their rebounding woes and packed the paint a little bit more. But, the amount of overcompensating box outs and individuals in the paint made it hard to get enough space to jump for a rebound.
All of this led to the Trae Young-led squad notching 46 total boards while New Orleans only got 37. This led to a lot of wearing and tearing on the inside which did not help their big men's fatigue. On defense, it was not a good look when they were chasing down layups, and inside passes. What did this lead to? A lot of delays in the defensive transition and getting outmuscled on half-court sets. This meant that Atlanta eclipsed the Pelicans with their 62 points in the paint.
It is certain that this core of Williamson, Valanciunas, and Brandon Ingram is a good offensive frontcourt. They will shoot the lights out and rock the rim on all three levels of scoring. But, allowing these many boards and points in the paint is surely not a good idea if they hope to get better after the NBA Preseason.
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