Not long ago it still seemed so far away, not quite tangible, but the New Orleans Pelicans are now only a few practice days from competing against another NBA team, albeit in a scrimmage that won’t impact the standings. New Orleans is scaling up preparation for Wednesday’s 6 p.m. scrimmage against the Brooklyn Nets, the first of three warmup games for the Pelicans prior to a July 30 matchup vs. Utah that will count toward the Western Conference playoff chase.
Alvin Gentry plans to treat the scrimmages – the others are vs. Denver and Milwaukee – similar to exhibition games in terms of rotations and substitution patterns.
“We will try to play a rotation of players that we’re probably going to play during the regular season games, but they’ll also probably not play nearly as many minutes that they would normally play in a regular season game,” Gentry said. “We’ll give everybody an opportunity to kind of get on the floor and have some minutes out there. We’ll play some different combinations of players, especially maybe in the third and fourth quarters. That’s going to be our approach.”
Broadcast information for the scrimmages is TBD, with details forthcoming soon. Pelicans center Jahlil Okafor indicated Friday that New Orleans has been increasing the amount of fullcourt, 5-on-5 it’s playing during some lengthy practices. The NBA gives each team a daily three-hour window to practice, which is longer than the vast majority of sessions under normal circumstances.
“I think the best way to ramp up is just competing against each other, playing 5-on-5, with all of the guys going as hard as they can, trying to make each other better,” Okafor said. “That’s what we’ve been doing and are going to continue to do to be ready.”
One question the Pelicans must address – at least until Zion Williamson returns to the lineup – is how to fill the rookie’s spot in the starting lineup. At points early in the season, New Orleans moved Brandon Ingram to power forward and used a three-guard alignment, but Gentry indicated Friday that he doesn’t want to commit to a heavy dose of Ingram at the “four” spot. Incidentally, the Pelicans’ most successful non-Zion starting five featured Lonzo Ball, Jrue Holiday, JJ Redick, Ingram and Derrick Favors. That lineup went 5-3, including a four-game December win streak consisting of victories vs. Portland, Denver, Indiana and Houston.
“I think we’ll use him there some,” Gentry said of putting the spindly 190-pound Ingram at power forward. “I don’t know how much. We’re going to experiment with some other situations, because I think the physicality of that position – when you try to play (Ingram) 35, 38 minutes, is a little much. We’re going to look at some things during these scrimmages, as far as how we can fill the void if Zion is not back. Hopefully that won’t be the case.”
For his part, Ingram is happy to line up at whatever spot the Pelicans need.
“Whatever the Coach wants,” the 2020 NBA All-Star said. “If I’m still at (small forward), or at the four, I know we have guys who can step up in those positions. We have shooters coming off the bench, a bunch of shooters who can space the floor. It’s just kind of a different dynamic.”
