The New Orleans Pelicans were on the losing end of a tightly-contested matchup against the Detroit Pistons. Despite a valiant effort from the home side, it was still the Pistons who emerged victorious, 105-103.

That's now nine straight losses for the Pelicans, who currently sit just one game above the hapless Golden State Warriors at the very bottom of the Western Conference. Following another loss, New Orleans head coach Alvin Gentry admitted that this has definitely been a very challenging stretch for him and his squad.

The Pelicans entered the new season with so much hope on their revamped squad. The loss of former cornerstone superstar Anthony Davis during the summer was indeed a big blow, but nevertheless, New Orleans has a lot of young studs in their side that could have potentially somewhat made up for the void left by Davis.

This has certainly not been the case so far, with the Pelicans currently in possession of a 6-18 record. The good news for the team is that we're barely a quarter of the season in at this point, so optimistically, there is still a lot of time to turn things around.

Right now, the Pelicans are surely itching for the debut of rookie phenom Zion Williamson, who currently remains on the shelf due to a long-term knee injury. As it stands, though, the first overall pick does not appear to be close to making his highly-anticipated debut, as there has currently been no firm target date set as of yet.

Zion was initially expected to miss the first eight weeks of the season, and if we were to follow this timetable, he should be making his debut sometime in mid-December. This is anything but certain, however, and even when he finally takes the court, there is no doubt that the Pelicans will be extremely cautious with their prized star. It remains to be seen what type of impact the former Duke standout will have on New Orleans this season.