NBA bubble games show rebuilding Pelicans are inconsistent and incomplete

It could be worse.

After having their bubble popped in Orlando, the New Orleans Pelicans will end up in the NBA Draft Lottery.

You may not like that. You may think with a different head coach, the results this season would have been far different.

I say the Pelicans are right on schedule.

They have a few very good pieces, but they also have a ton of question marks. Many of those were exposed in the basketball version of the magic kingdom.

Is point guard Lonzo Ball the player who in five games in March averaged 20 points and almost eight assists?

Or is he more like the guy who struggled mightily in the re-start?

With Ball struggling, did Nickeil Alexander-Walker deserve more minutes?

How long before Zion Williamson becomes a proficient rebounder and defender on the highest level?

Will the Pelicans attempt to procure personnel in the offseason to provide more shot blocking and rim protection?

Will the organization place more of an emphasis on defense moving forward?

And perhaps most importantly, does the Pelicans hierarchy see the team they saw when Williamson started playing earlier in the regular season more of a reflection of who they are and what they can be than the disappointing group seen in the bubble?

It would be easy to lay all the failures of the Pelicans on the shoulders of head coach Alvin Gentry. Yet it clearly was not Gentry’s decision to limit Zion’s minutes to 15 in the bubble opener against Utah. If Williamson had played a few minutes more, the Pelicans may have won a game they lost when Brandon Ingram’s three-point shot went in and out at the buzzer.

The Pelicans never really recovered from that loss, getting shellacked in the next game by the Clippers.

In the bubble, the Pelicans are what we thought they were. That is, not ready for primetime.

New Orleans defeated a depleted Washington Wizards team and the Memphis Grizzlies, who have stumbled badly in the re-start. The Pels also lost to the two best teams on their Orlando schedule, were run off the floor in the first of two losses to the Kings, who will miss the playoffs, and lost to the Spurs, who are decent but no great shakes.

So, what you have is 30 wins, 40 losses and mediocrity at best.

The future is still bright. Any club that has Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram as young pieces has a chance but the team’s liabilities were all exposed in Orlando.

Those who think Alvin Gentry is alone responsible, must think Mickey and Minnie can dribble.