By Andrew Lopez | Posted November 26, 2018 at 03:00 PM
(Photo by David Grunfeld, NOLA.c
A quarter into the NBA season, the New Orleans Pelicans are not where they want to be. Through 20 games, the Pelicans are sitting at 10-10 and are eighth in the Western Conference standings.
The West is a mess this year so far. A .500 record for New Orleans has them 3.5 games out of first place... but just a game ahead of Utah who sits in 14th place.
Pelicans forward Anthony Davis is convinced the team is better than their 10-10 record, but he also is aware of the Bill Parcells saying, "You are what your record says you are."
"We lost a lot of games we should have won," Davis said Monday (Nov. 26). "A lot games where we gave the game away. We beat ourselves instead of having other teams beat us. We know we're better than a 10-10 team. It doesn't matter when that's your record. You have to go out there and prove it."
Before the Pelicans take on the Boston Celtics on Monday night -another 10-10 team that had much higher expectations - let's take a look at New Orleans after the first quarter of the season.
Best offseason move
Jim Mone
Best offseason move
Getting Julius Randle for a two-year, $17.7 million deal looks like one of the steals of the offseason so far. Randle's rights were renounced by the Los Angeles Lakers as the team looked to get pieces around LeBron James but he wasn't on the market for long before the Pelicans stepped in to swoop him up.
Randle has settled into a bench role for the Pelicans but has started four contests because of injuries. Still, he's averaging a career-best 18.1 points per game. He's shooting 55.5 percent from the field -- just a tick below the career-best 55.8 percent he shot last season. He's improved his three-point shot and is shooting over 30 percent for the first time in his career.
There is a player option on Randle's deal for 2019-20 so he's likely going to opt out and try to cash in for a big pay day -- especially if he continues as his current pace.
Biggest surprise:
Aaron Lavinsky
Biggest surprise:
Right now, the Pelicans have five players averaging at least 16 points per game -- Anthony Davis, Jrue Holiday, Nikola Mirotic, Julius Randle and ... E'Twaun Moore.
Moore has had a stellar start to the 2018-19 season averaging 16.3 points while shooting 55.1 percent from the field and 46.6 percent from deep which was sixth among qualified NBA players on Monday. Moore also leads all qualified point guards, shooting guards and small forwards in field goal percentage.
Moore already has three 30-point games this season. He had two such games prior to this season. He averaged 12.5 points per game last season so a jump of nearly four points does qualify as a surprise.
Best interview:
After the Pelicans came from behind to defeat the Spurs, Alvin Gentry had some fun in his post-game interview session.
Biggest disappointment:
AP
Biggest disappointment:
Having Elfrid Payton available for only six games this season has been a big disappointment. First, Payton missed nine games because of a sprained right ankle. Then in his first game back, Payton broke his left pinky finger and will miss about five more weeks of action.
In the five games the Pelicans have started their opening night starting lineup of Payton, Jrue Holiday, E'Twaun Moore, Nikola Mirotic and Anthony Davis, the team is 5-0.
Not having Payton has exposed a big problem for the Pelicans...
