NBA Season Projections Show New Orleans Pelicans As Bottom-Four Team

With the start of the season right around the corner, the New Orleans Pelicans have hopes of turning the tide and getting back into the postseason. Many people outside of the building, though, might view those hopes as pipe dreams.

ESPN released the updated Basketball Power Index rankings for the season, and the Pelicans are at -5.3. That is the fourth-worst rank in the NBA, and they have a projected win-loss record of 28-54, which would actually be their best finish since 2023/2024.

No formula is perfect, but this is a useful look at how the team is being viewed heading into this season.

Despite the heavy focus on the defensive side of the ball, it is the offense that ranked a little bit higher at No. 24. The offensive does have the potential to be solid this year if healthy with Dejounte Murray, Trey Murphy and Zion Williamson all starting.

The biggest weakness that this team has to overcome on that side of the ball is a lack of spacing. They were one of the least effective teams from both the mid-range and three-point range, ranking in the bottom four in both categories. A whopping 50.0% of their points came from inside the paint, which was the highest mark in the league.

Their players are talented at scoring in the paint, but it can be inefficient if they know it's coming. Last year, they did. 

While they didn't really add a dynamite shooter to the mix this offseason, Bennedict Mathurin could potentially help out there. Zion Williamson and Derik Queen have both talked about shooting more. Pretty much the only player who wasn't working on his jumper this offseason was Yves Missi.

New Orleans hasn't completely thrown the offense to the wayside since training camp began, but the emphasis has largely been on trying to fix one of the league's worst defenses. Jamahl Mosley and his staff are known for that side of the ball, but it looks like it is going to take some time for them to really turn things around.

The Pelicans' defense currently ranks No. 26 overall on the BPI rankings. That would certainly be a disappointing finish, but the preseason hasn't given much hope for things changing yet.

The buy-in is there, but the team needs to go through the process of implementing this system and learning what the staff expects from it. As long as there is progression as the year goes along, all will be going to plan.

A third straight season under 30 wins would be massively disappointing, so the fanbase will certainly be hoping that all of these preseason rankings are miscalculations.