As teams complete their seasons, ESPN Insider's NBA team will take a look at the offseason picture and priorities for all 30 teams. Below, Kevin Pelton offers a snapshot of the New Orleans Pelicans.
2014-15 record: 45-37
Pythagorean record: 43-39
Offensive rating: 105.4 (9th)
Defensive rating: 104.7 (22nd)
Draft picks
Memphis second-round pick (56th)
Projected cap space
Maximum: $23.1 million
Minimum: $0
Likely: $0
What's returning
Assuming that guard Eric Gordon opts into the final season of his contract, which will pay him $15.5 million, New Orleans will bring back the six players who played the most minutes per game for the team last season. Naturally, the centerpiece is Anthony Davis, who emerged as an MVP candidate at age 22. Davis grows by the day, and the Pelicans will surely offer him a maximum five-year contract extension as soon as they can on July 1.
Gordon made his player option something more than a no-brainer by playing well in the second half of 2014-15 after a disastrous start to the season and a shoulder injury that cost him 21 games. He ended up shooting a career-best 44.8 percent from 3-point range, good for second in the NBA.
Gordon and Tyreke Evans helped New Orleans survive Jrue Holiday missing half the season with a stress reaction in his right leg that dates back to a stress fracture during the 2013-14 season. Evans was effective replacing Holiday at point guard -- he averaged 7.6 assists per game after the All-Star break -- though the team was at its best with both Holiday at point guard and Evans at small forward. Per NBA.com/Stats, the Pelicans outscored opponents by 4.5 points per 100 possessions when Holiday and Evans were both in the lineup.
New Orleans will hope Ryan Anderson bounces back after the worst season of his career. Anderson made a career-worst 34.0 percent of his 3-pointers, robbing him of much of his value as a stretch 4. Quincy Pondexter proved a more dangerous outside shooter, knocking down 43.3 percent of his triples after coming over midseason from the Memphis Grizzlies. Pondexter had shot 23.3 percent from beyond the arc in Memphis.
Free agents
The big question is Omer Asik, the Pelicans' marquee acquisition last summer. New Orleans envisioned Asik and Davis dominating the paint together. Instead, Asik regressed as a rim protector, and it's tough to tell whether that was due to coach Monty Williams' scheme or physical deterioration.
The Pelicans played better with Anderson next to Davis than Asik, who was limited to a bit role in the playoffs against the Golden State Warriors. Ideally, Asik will come cheap in a market filled with free-agent centers. Otherwise, New Orleans faces a tough call on whether to bring him back.
Having traded their first-round pick to Philadelphia and forfeited their salary-cap exceptions in the Asik trade, the Pelicans had to fill out their bench on the cheap. They hit on Norris Cole, acquired midseason from the Miami Heat, and Alexis Ajinca. Cole provided a bench spark as a backup point guard, shooting more accurately than he had in Miami, and Ajinca supplied finishing, rebounding and shot-blocking in limited minutes. Both could be back, along with Dante Cunningham, who saw action at both forward spots.
Biggest need: Paint defense
New Orleans' slow pace (27th in the league) hid how much better the Pelicans were on offense than defense. Those problems were primarily in the paint, where New Orleans surrendered the league's most attempts at the rim and 20th-best shooting percentage, per NBA.com/Stats. In Asik and Davis, the Pelicans had two of the league's better shot-blockers, but they were ineffective at deterring opponents.
Asik allowed 51.1 percent shooting at the rim (up from 46.8 percent in 2013-14) and Davis 48.8 percent. Too often, Asik and Davis were out of position to contest shots, which may suggest the problem is at the team level rather than a matter of personnel.
Biggest question: How does New Orleans take the next step?
The Pelicans rightly celebrated their first trip to the playoffs since 2011, before Chris Paul was traded to the L.A. Clippers and the franchise rebuilt around Davis. But with one of the league's five best players headed toward his prime, merely making the playoffs and getting knocked out in the opening round can't be enough for New Orleans. Securing the eighth spot apparently saved the jobs of Williams and GM Dell Demps. Now, without the benefit of a first-round pick, Demps must plot a path toward strengthening the roster around Davis as he continues to grow.
Ideal offseason
Despite the questions about Asik's season and fit, re-signing him is still probably the Pelicans' best scenario. Even if New Orleans renounced its rights to all other free agents, including Cole (who's restricted), letting Asik go would clear only about $8 million in cap space -- not enough to bring a real upgrade. Using cap space to sign a new center would also force the Pelicans to give up their midlevel exception and settle for the room midlevel, which brought them John Salmons last year.
With the full midlevel, New Orleans could target a couple of depth players like Dorell Wright and Brandon Bass to help survive inevitable injuries and give Williams more options. Better health might be the most ideal scenario for the Pelicans, who lost 10.6 WARP to injuries in 2014-15 after losing a league-high 17.1 WARP in 2013-14.