The New Orleans Pelicans have a reputation for playing paint-pounding bully ball, but the team is starting to lean more heavily into their three-point barrage battle tactics. It's working wonders in opening up what was a ‘congested' offense a few weeks ago. The Pelicans even set a franchise record in Wednesday’s 132-112 win over the visiting Charlotte Hornets, their 25 made triples just the most recent milestone worth celebrating.
Willie Green has difficult decisions rotationally speaking, but giving the green light to the locker room was an easy call that's being well rewarded. New Orleans has been above the 40% three-point threshold as a team in eight of the last 10 games.
The problem is the Pelicans sometimes forget to seek out those opportunities, leading to inconsistent shot charts that vary wildly from game to game. For instance, New Orleans hoisted up 47 three-pointers against Charlotte, but only 23 in a loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Monday. The Pelicans must be fundamentally consistent with their volume because when they are firing on all cylinders, the offense is borderline artwork.
The structure, space, and shot diet fit the roster, but so far New Orleans has lacked championship-level discipline.
“Sometimes we fall into these moments where we don't take them,” Green admitted at Thursday's practice. “And we come back the next day, we watch it on film, we talk about it. To the guys' credit, they're more responsive in the fact that they get on the floor and look for each other. They're willing to take those shots. We are trying to be more consistent and I feel like we are getting better at looking for threes, attempting threes, and especially corner threes.”
The players have had half a season to digest assistant coach James Borrego's offense schemes. It took a while to get sorted, but the Pelicans have been climbing up the standings since a 6-7 start. New Orleans, currently fifth in the Western Conference, is 19-10 since a one-point, mid-November loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Seven of those 10 losses were one-possession games during the final minute of play as well. The players being asked to execute are now starting to show their appreciation for three-heavy game plans through their on-court production and post-practice responses.
“It's beautiful,” said Trey Murphy III. “There's definitely a lot of space on the court. Also, when me and Hawk are on the same side defenses can't just hug up me and him because that just opens up layups. They have to make a choice between me and Hawk so it's nice out there with him.”
Pelicans rolling with ‘right shooter, right shot' strategy
The Pelicans' ‘right shooter, right shot' philosophy is paying off, even if some players are developing a bit of favoritism. It's a healthy, competitive bias as explained by one of the team's best sharpshooters.
“If I'm going to pass the ball I want to make sure I get my highest chance for an assist so gotta throw it to the guy shooting the lights out,” Murphy joked. “[Jordan Hawkins] is definitely a guy I'm looking for.”
Seven players are hitting over 40% of their attempts from beyond the arc in 2024. It's only a nine-game sample size but it is an encouraging trend. Somewhat surprisingly, defensive ace Herb Jones leads the Pelicans in the new year (60%, 18-of-30), and has improved his season average (39%) by a full five percentage points. The front office could not have asked for a better response from Jones after inking a new $54 million contract this summer.
It's also not surprising that Murphy (34%, 16-of-47) is not quite locked in from deep. He is still shaking off rust and dealt with some soreness in his surgically repaired knee since returning, but no one doubts Murphy's ability or confidence. Veteran Larry Nance Jr. (57%, 8-of-14) and Hawkins (51%, 23-of-45) are giving better-than-coin flip odds when they fire away. Matt Ryan (47%) will be back sooner rather than later to give Green another 6'6” spacing option.
The Big 3 is starting to catch on, too. CJ McCollum (48%, 31-of-64) is taking more threes than ever and leads the Pelicans in total makes. Brandon Ingram, at 3.9 attempts per game, is constantly being encouraged to up his quantity of long-range looks, however. Still, the 2016 NBA Draft's No. 2 overall pick is on pace to make more threes before this year's All-Star break than he did all of last season.
Zion Williamson and Jonas Valanciunas were the only two Pelicans to not attempt a three-pointer over the last two games. Valanciunas is respected but will be encouraged to take threes by any potential playoff opponent. Williamson is better equipped to put three points on the scoreboard through and-1 situations.
Green is content to let those two big men carry on with their bully-ball tactics. The rest of the Pelicans have to give them space by not forgetting how valuable their three-point opportunities really are, make or miss. After all, keeping up a constant barrage from deep of late has led to more than a handful of comfortable wins.
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