Immanuel Quickley is ascendant in new New Orleans scheme
All offseason all anyone could talk about in the Big Easy was that the trade for Immanuel Quickley appeared to have been a huge mistake. Though the New Orleans Pelicans did improve in win percentage overall and reversed a swoon to fight their way to the play-in tournament, his performance and efficiency cratered. Wasn't worth giving up the beloved Cedric Henderson Jr, the sweet story of Scotty Pippen, Jr., and a future first for IQ they said. Even with Savion Flagg's surprise breakout.
And then Khem Birch installed the pressure defense as part of a system switch, Mychal Mulder acquired in a minor offseason trade, Oso Ighodaro drafted 15th overall to address weaknesses in the post and shooting efficiency. Evans Gamanpo, whom the Pelicans front office had a secret crush on, signed in free agency on a one-year minsal on the theory that he'd be a good fit for the new press scheme.
It's only preseason, but. 3-1 mark, dropping a game by 4 in Utah with Olivier-Maxence Prosper and Flagg both sidelined by injury.
And there's IQ, averaging 16 points, 7.5 assists, 0.8 blocks, and 1.8 steals, shooting 55.6% from the floor, 33.3% behind the arc. The Pelicans' #2 scorer with stellar shooting, and the #3 best +/- mark behind... well... we'll get to that.
Offensive Rating? A lovely, sequential 123.4, tops in the league. Net Rating? 15.4, also 1st in the CSL.
Oh, and the lineups.
IQ/Tatum/Poku/JJJ/Ighodaro: +39.8 Net Rating
Yes, that buzzy, fizzy idea that flitted around the front office after Ighodaro's attention-getting Summer League and eye-popping training camp was the primary lineup, and it delivered beautifully, absolutely dominating the opposition. Tatum did Tatum things of course, averaging 28.8 points and shooting 55.1% from the floor, 46.2% behind the arc while racking up 4.3 rebounds and 1.3 steals. But Poku at SF has been a revelation, averaging 12.5 points, 6.3 assists, 5.8 rebounds, 2.3 blocks, and 1.8 steals as the do-everything glue, shooting 46.3%, 43.5% behind the arc playing almost exclusively at SF (he still can't play center in the Pelicans' scheme, as it turns out. Ighodaro? Try 11 points with a block, shooting 71.4% from the floor. Yes, he can't rebound. No one cares. JJJ is playing his worst statistical basketball (9.8 points, 8.5 rebounds, 2 blocks, 46.9%) of his career, but his +29.4 ON leads the team, and again, no one cares that he's currently redefining his role as the dirty paint man after more luminous years in New York and Utah.
Evans/Whitmore/Mulder/OMP/Spalding: +15.3 Net Rating
It's been really hard to find a bench lineup that works for CSL Jestorball teams. Cue this one up, which features young players and old man Spalding, outplaying their opponents much to everyone's surprise. Ganapamo is averaging 12.8 points, 4.3 assists, and 4 rebounds, shooting 47.8% from the field as the long-sought after bench scorer, with 20 and 19 point games to his credit so far. Oh, and he has a 0.7 PA/SF ratio, tops on the team. Whitmore is shooting 48.3%, 54.5% from long-range to average 8.8 points, 0.8 blocks, and 0.8 steals. Still needs more scoring aggression if he wants to become Tatum's heir in the truest sense of the word, but the shooting improvement is greatly welcomed. Mulder isn't shooting much, but he's hitting 58.3% of his shots, 42.9% of his trey tries, for his 4.3 points and 3.3 rebounds. OMP is shooting a poor for him 43.3% but laughs in +16 ON, while Spalding's 55.6% shooting for 5 points and 6 rebounds is exactly what he was signed to do if he forced his way into playing time.
Sure, it's preseason. Yes, this could all just be a team-wide hot streak that collectively collapses over the next few games. But damn if this doesn't represent a much higher ceiling than literally anyone projected. These are the kind of numbers that mark New Orleans as a potential contender if the trends hold.
One final, insane note. The Pelicans have the third-slowest pace in the league as is typical. They're also tied for 3rd in points scored, just 0.1 behind the second place Miami Heat, and locked even with Memphis, who is also 3-1.
2020, 2023, 2027, 2035
