NBA Free Premium Play 04/02: New Orleans Pelicans @ Denver Nuggets

New Orleans  at Denver

NBA - 521 New Orleans Pelicans @ 522 Denver Nuggets Play #1 This is going to be a classic game between two losing teams that won’t have much incentive to play defense. Despite scoring only 92 points in the last game, the Nuggets actually were pretty efficient vs. MEM’s elite defense – they shot 49.3% FG and had a nice Off. Rtg. of 110.7! The problem? The game was played under MEM’s terms w/ a super slow paced factor of 84.8! For this contest, I expect the Nuggets to dictate the pace and the game to be a run and gun affair because this is what happened in the previous 3 contests between these two teams. The Pelicans are coming from a bad offensive performance vs. SAC in a game that A. Davis looked like a bit off sync after missing one game due to an injury. As usual, NO’s defense was atrocious as they allowed SAC to abuse them down low while dominating the boards. I expect Davis to bounce back strong in this favorable matchup vs. K. Faried. The last H2H game ended w/ 188 points @ regulation in a game where both teams were incredibly sloppy w/ 51 total TO’s and combined to shot 12-37 3pts! Still they were able to score easy near the basket w/ 62 & 58 points. I expect both teams to score easy at the rim but w/ better overall offensive numbers, my fair line for this contest is 212 points. Pick: 3 units (Single Dime Play) on 521/522 Over 209 @ -110 / 1.91 on 5 Dimes

NBA Game Preview 03/19: Toronto Raptors @ New Orleans Pelicans

NBA - 609 Toronto Raptors @ 610 New Orleans Pelicans 

This is really a tough matchup for the Raptors tonight…. They played last night @ATL in a game that went to OT and obviously, their key players logged some major minutes: Lowry 41min, DeRozan 45min and Ross 40 min.

More importantly, Jonas Valanciunas got injured and most likely he will miss tonight’s game. I’ve said yesterday that the absence of P. Patterson is troublesome for TOR and now that Valanciunas is also banged up, I expect TOR to have some problems on the frontcourt. To make things even worse, the Raptors will face Anthony Davis tonight! Davis is just dominating offensively right now and TOR simply don’t have any player that could slow him down….Amir Johnson, Chuck Hayes or Hansbrough are all WAY TOO SLOW!

I understand that NO perimeter defense is atrocious but they can be a dangerous unit on the offensive end. TOR has struggled L2 games to prevent dribble penetration from the opp. Guards (Dragic & Bledsoe and last night J. Teague) and this is bad news for them tonight vs. E. Gordon and especially T. Evans.

I expect this contest to be a close battle but ultimately, TOR awful physical spot will be a major factor and that’s why I’m taking the Pelicans in here. 

NOTE: A. Davis is banged up and could miss tonight's game, so the "potential play" was scratched.

NBA Free Premium Play 02/09: New Orleans Pelicans @ Brooklyn Nets

New Orleans  at Brooklyn

NBA - 805 New Orleans Pelicans @ 806 Brooklyn Nets Play #3 NO is in my opinion the most “enigmatic” team in the league right now, as I don’t “know” how they were able to perform such amazing comebacks in the L2 games. They’ve defeated ATL behind a strong 34-25 4th quarter and last game, they crushed MIN 37-20 after trailing by double digits points. Do you want to know the lineup that was largely responsible for such huge comeback last game? Answer: Rivers + Gordon + Morrow + Babbitt + Davis! Yes! Their offense basically depends of only 3 players in Davis, Gordon and Roberts while defensively, they are really a poor perimeter defensive team w/ Roberts + Gordon + Rivers on the perimeter. I expect today BKN to explore such weaknesses w/ Deron Williams and Joe Johnson on the backcourt. BKN is coming from a clear loss @DET in the last game. We are talking about an “old” team that is now 1-6 SU in b2b games on the road… Garnett didn’t play and Kidd “managed” well the minutes of his key players, so BKN will be ready for today’s game. Garnett will be rested and so, I expect him to be “decent” against Davis while the real X Factor of this contest is related w/ backcourt battle in which I give BKN a tremendous edge. Pick: 3 units (Single Dime Play) on 806 Brooklyn Nets (-4.5) @ -110 / 1.91 on Betonline

NBA Free Premium Play 11/01: New Orleans Pelicans @ Orlando Magic

New Orleans  at Orlando

NBA - 701 New Orleans Pelicans @ 702 Orlando Magic Play #1 Orlando started the season with two tough games back to back, as they faced the Pacers at Indiana and then they played an overtime game at Minnesota. Their "Big Three" formed by Nikola Vucevic, Arron Afflalo and Jameer Nelson made a huge effort especially on the game against the Wolves by playing 46, 41 and 41 minutes respectively. The Magic will now face a team that will be a quite tough matchup for them tonight. New Orleans with a backcourt led by Jrue Holiday and Eric Gordon will cause havoc on Orlando's poor backcourt defense, especially on such a poor spot for the Magic. Jrue Holiday will absolutely dominate Jameer Nelson and even though Orlando has in theory a good edge with Nikola Vucevic, the truth is that he is coming from a big effort in Minnesota and so, I wouldn't be surprised to see him physically struggling at some point tonight. Besides this, the matchup between Anthony Davis and Jason Maxiell is also quite favorable to the Pelicans. I have no doubt that New Orleans is the better team right now from these two, besides the fact that they are a tough matchup for the Magic and that they will be facing Orlando on a really tough spot for the home team. Therefore, I believe the Pelicans will pick up a comfortable win tonight and so, I'll be taking them in here. Pick: 3 units (Single Dime Play) on 701 New Orleans Pelicans (-4) @ -110 / 1.91 on Bookmaker

New Orleans Pelicans NBA Team Season Preview 2013-14

NEW ORLEANS PELICANS

Season Review 2012/13:

Advanced Stats
	Numbers	Rank
Pace	88.5	29
Offense	105.7	16
Defense	110.1	28
Rebound	51.8	4

4 Factors
Offense	Numbers	Rank	Defense	Numbers	Rank
eFG%	48.9	17	eFG%	52.0	28
TO%	14.0	19	TO%	13.1	25
Reb%	29.2	6	Reb%	25.6	8
FT%	19.3	23	FT%	20.8	19

Monthly Performance
	Record	OffRtg	DefRtg
November	4-10	106.0	112.6
December	3-13	103.9	111.0
January	8-8	109.2	109.6
February	5-8	107.9	113.0
March	6-9	110.3	115.1
April	1-7	103.1	114.1

The past season was the first season of rebuilding project of the Pelicans after Chris Paul leaving the team. As the Pelicans were as expected one of the worst teams in the league in the past season, they had two Top 10 draft picks, with one of them being the #1 overall pick.

If the pick of Anthony Davis with the #1 pick was a consensual decision, the same can’t be said about picking Austin Rivers with the #10 pick. Even with the acquisition of Ryan Anderson in the offseason and Eric Gordon having a healthier season, the Pelicans didn’t still have big expectations to be competitive.

As expected, it was too soon for the Pelicans to be competitive and they were out of playoff contention by the end of the 2012 season, with a 7-25 record on the first 32 games of the season. Then, they entered tank mode in the final of the regular season in order to have another high draft pick on this offseason. What the team really wanted was to develop their young players and the results on that were mixed.

Surprisingly, Anthony Davis showed to have a good offensive weaponry, while he struggled on his defensive positioning against stronger players. On the other hand, the Pelicans wasted a pick on Austin Rivers. He had a terrible season as a rookie. Nobody expected him to be any good on defense, but he was surprisingly poor on offense by being a super inefficient shooter and playmaker.

Ryan Anderson had a good season while coming off the bench. He showed that he doesn’t need to have Dwight Howard around him to be a good player, while Greivis Vasquez and Robin Lopez clearly showed that they are also serviceable players on this league.

The Pelicans didn’t struggle a lot on offense, but the same can’t be said about their defense. They were passive on defense while forcing a low number of turnovers, while their perimeter defense was attroucious.

Offseason Report:

Already with the new name of Pelicans, the organization surprised by trying to rebuild via free agency and not via draft during this offseason.

With the #6 pick on the draft, the Pelicans acquired Nerlens Noel, who was supposed to be the #1 overall pick until an injury cloud made him draft value considerably decrease. Still, with Noel on the team, the Pelicans would have a potential formidable frontcourt for the next years. However, New Orleans decided to immediately trade Noel to Philadelphia in exchange for Jrue Holiday. They also picked up Jeff Withey from the Blazers, when they traded Robin Lopez to Portland.

The Pelicans surprised everyone by getting involved early and heavy on the pursuit of Tyreke Evans and eventually signed him to a massive offer sheet that the Kings didn’t match and accepted a sign-and-trade where they got Vasquez. The Pelicans struggled on much on their perimeter last season that they tried everything to reload their backup and they managed to do that without a doubt.

New Orleans also got two players as bargain deals in Greg Stiemsma and Anthony Morrow, who will give good depth in key positions for the team.

Pelicans Offseason Report: Players vs Coach?

From all the teams in the league, the Pelicans are the most intriguing team for me after the different moves that they made during this offseason. Jrue Holiday, Tyreke Evans and Anthony Morrow join Eric Gordon, Al-Farouq Aminu, Anthony Davis and Ryan Anderson to form a very young team and with a lot of explosiveness that combines very well with Head Coach Monty Williams's system. Well, the last part is a joke of course because the Hornets/Pelicans with Monty have always ranked at the bottom in the pace factor: 

2012-13 ranked #30 w/ 90.86 Pace Factor
2011-12 ranked #30 w/ 90.67 Pace Factor
2010-11 ranked #29 w/ 90.89 Pace Factor

New Orleans is coming from back to back seasons where they were the slowest paced team in the league and according to MySynergy numbers, only Chicago and the NY Knicks had a smaller volume of transition plays during the past season. New Orleans had just 10% volume on transitions, but the truth is that they were #3 in the league in effectiveness with 1.18 PPP (Points Per Possession). It wouldn't be smart at all for Monty Williams not to take advantage of the roster's speed and mobility, but this goes against his offensive system, so it will be curious to see how the Pelicans' offense will play next season.

The Pelicans were the second team in the league with more pick and roll ball handler plays with 16% volume, with Greivis Vasquez being the primary ball handler with 0.76 PPP (#97 in the league, according to MyS). Even though Vasquez is now gone, Jrue Holiday had 0.78 PPP (#80) last season on this kind of play, while Tyreke Evans had 0.84 PPP (#47), so in theory Monty will have two players who can be an upgrade to Vasquez on this kind of play that is the most important one for Monty, who had Chris Paul as his primary ball handler on his first season as the Hornets' head coach.

Offensively, Monty will have a lot more tools this season than he had last season (no more Austin Rivers handling the ball), but the truth is that the Pelicans will need a reboot on their offensive scheme. On the other hand, I believe the Hornets will also need to do some major changes on defense, as they were the third worst defensive team in the league, only in front of Sacramento and Charlotte.