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As training camp opens, Pelicans optimistic personnel changes lead to improved defense

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Recently-retired L.A. Clippers TV broadcaster Ralph Lawler coined the axiom “Lawler’s Law,” which dictates that in an NBA game, the team that first reaches 100 points usually wins. The 2019-20 New Orleans Pelicans hope to popularize something one might call “Somak’s Score.”

At a mid-July press conference, Pelicans Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations David Griffin noted that the team’s analytics director, Somak Sarkar, “likes to say that our games are going to be the first team to 95 (points wins), and we’d like that to be the case.”

For a score in the upper 90s to translate to likely success for New Orleans, however, the Pelicans will need to greatly improve their defensive performance compared to last season, when they finished 22nd among 30 teams in efficiency (allowing 112.0 points per 100 possessions). New Orleans gave up 116.8 points per game, the most in franchise history and ranked 27th (only Phoenix, Washington and Atlanta were more porous points-wise).

Although it’s normally unrealistic to expect any NBA team to make a gigantic jump defensively from one season to the next, the Pelicans believe their offseason roster overhaul makes it doable. Among the returnees, shooting guard Jrue Holiday was named first or second-team All-Defense each of the past two seasons. He and point guard Lonzo Ball should comprise one of the stingiest backcourts in the league, with Ball described by Griffin as a “truly special defensive guard.” Meanwhile, one of New Orleans’ biggest veteran additions was center Derrick Favors, an elite rim protector who finished 10th last season in blocks per 36 minutes (2.2). Holiday is encouraged by the defensive potential of the Pelicans’ personnel.

“Especially with Lonzo, I feel like his defense kind of goes unnoticed at times,” Holiday said, beginning to explain why New Orleans can be a formidable team at that end of the floor. “Maybe it’s because of injuries or how much he played, but he can definitely lock up (opponents). (Second-year guard) Franklin (Jackson), he’s a freak athlete who can move his feet pretty easily. We’ve seen what Derrick Favors can do. Brandon Ingram looks like he’s 7 feet, with that wingspan, which is crazy. We also have Josh Hart, who locks up. I think how we put the pieces together is great. Now we just have to go into (training) camp and try to get that connection (defensively) early. If we get that connection early, I think we’ll be fine.”

Asked about New Orleans’ shutdown talent during his July introductory press conference – in a question that also mentioned the presence of athletic rookie Zion Williamson – Ball responded, “There could be a lot of potential. All those guys you just named are great defenders. I don’t like to do a lot of talking. I like to let my game do the talking, but I think we could be one of the best defensive teams in the league.”

After participating with 15-plus teammates in fall voluntary workouts, Ball was more specific, saying of the Pelicans, “We can do a lot of switching. We’ve got height, strength and speed. We’ve got everything you need to be a good defensive team. Now we’ve just got to put in effort.”

The Pelicans’ defense-related changes weren’t only reserved for the roster, either. New Orleans hired longtime NBA assistant Jeff Bzdelik as Associate Head Coach, Defense in September. Bzdelik, whose Houston teams rated better defensively than New Orleans each of the past two seasons, will focus on improving an area where the Pelicans have historically struggled. Although media and fan attention generally fixates on offense in basketball, New Orleans’ recent year-to-year inconsistency is much more due to finishing 22nd or worse in defensive efficiency five times in the past seven seasons. Over that same timeframe, the team’s offense has ranked better than its defense in all but one instance (’16-17); under Alvin Gentry, the Pelicans have been No. 12 offensively two consecutive years, despite injuries often decimating the rotation.

“Alvin plays a style of ball that everybody looks at on the offensive side and says we shoot a bunch of threes and we play fast,” said Griffin, alluding to the Pelicans being a top-two team in pace for two straight seasons. “Well, what that means is we have to have the ability to defend at that same rate.”

Gentry: “The league has changed a bit. It’s become almost a position-less league, with guys who can play multiple positions. What (the NBA has) become is good, solid basketball players who can do a lot of things and are very defensive-minded.”

By season’s end, New Orleans hopes that’s how the rest of the league describes the Pelicans.

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