The New Orleans Pelicans entered the 2023-24 season with high hopes. After all, Zion Williamson is back healthy, and as they showed last year, they are one of the best teams in the league whenever the left-handed highflyer isn't plagued by injury woes. However, the Pelicans have had an uneven start to the new season, now moving to 4-4 on the year after suffering a 104-101 loss to the Houston Rockets on Friday night, their third consecutive defeat.

The Pelicans, of course, have been without CJ McCollum during this stretch, and they were also without Williamson during their clash against the Minnesota Timberwolves, leading to a pronounced struggle on the offensive end. They have mustered a paltry 105.8 points per 100 possessions over the past three games, per StatMuse, a figure that would have them ranked 29th if it stuck.

Nevertheless, even if it is still November and the Pelicans have 74 games to go in their 2023-24 regular season journey, Zion Williamson wanted his team to have a greater sense of urgency lest they fall behind in the congested Western Conference playoff picture.

“We have a lot of progress to make. Which is good. It means we have a lot of room for improvement. It means our potential is high. But I mean we are NBA players. We have to be able to figure it out a little bit quicker,” Williamson said in his postgame presser, per Christian Clark of NOLA.com.

Given the inexperience of the Pelicans' roster on Friday night outside of Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram, and Jonas Valanciunas, there's no surprise that they have faced an uphill battle when it comes to putting the ball through the hoop. Jordan Hawkins has been helpful as a floor-spacer, but it's not like he's self-sufficient as a shot-creator, while Dyson Daniels has had difficulties with shooting and taking care of the basketball.

The Pelicans also got a grand total of seven points from their bench, compared to 19 for the Rockets, which simply won't cut it. New Orleans simply cannot wait for the likes of CJ McCollum, Trey Murphy, Herb Jones, Jose Alvarado, and Naji Marshall to return just to give the team more offensive flow outside of their top guys.