Young stars make mark as Pelicans show vast depth in scrimmage games

The 2019-2020 New Orleans Pelicans are an exciting team with a very good future.

Without Zion Williamson for 49 games, the Pelicans got off to a very slow start, including a 13-game losing streak, the longest in franchise history.

At that point, the Pelicans were 6-22.

Who loses 13 straight games and makes the playoffs?

The New Orleans Pelicans are poised to make that happen.

The Pels are 22-14 since that abysmal start.

All New Orleans must do is get to the ninth spot in the Western Conference, the play-in spot.

With all hands on deck, that is a good possibility.

Williamson, who returned to the team in Orlando after being out of “The Bubble” for several days due to a family issue, must quarantine until Wednesday. He will be eligible to play on Thursday when the team resumes its season against always tough Utah.

Will Zion play and how much?

My guess is yes and somewhat.

Of the teams the Pelicans are battling with to make it to the postseason, New Orleans appears better equipped, simply better overall than Portland, Sacramento, San Antonio and Phoenix.

The Pelicans swept Portland, have a win over the Kings and the Spurs are without leading scorer LaMarcus Aldridge.

For that matter, the Pelicans, at full strength, look to be a good matchup, if not a better team than Memphis.

New Orleans is 4-0 against the Blazers, 1-0 against the Kings, 0-1 against the Spurs and 1-1 against the Suns.

The Pelicans are 2-0 against the Grizzlies, whom they trail by 3.5 games heading into the restart.

While the Pelicans are not the best team in the league or the Western Conference, they are as deep a team as anyone in the league.

The New Orleans roster is loaded with players capable of playing, contributing and even starting from 1-13.

That has once again been evident in the two scrimmage games in Orlando.

Nickeil Alexander-Walker, who has played sparingly for much of the season, has been the leading scorer in the two games with 35 points. Frank Jackson was excellent in the win over Denver Saturday night. Jaxson Hayes came up huge in that contest as well.

Zylan Cheatham and Sindarious Thornwell each scored in double figures against the Nuggets while Jahlil Okafor was good in the opener against Brooklyn. Kenrich Williams is capable of playing in the league and Darius Miller, a proven player in the league, is out for the season.

For the most part, those are not players the Pelicans have counted on a great deal, if at all, to this point of the season.

The key players include Williamson, All-Star Brandon Ingram, Jrue Holiday, Lonzo Ball, Derrick Favors, JJ Redick, Josh Hart, E’Twaun Moore and Nicolo Melli.

Does any other NBA roster feature 15 players capable of playing and contributing nicely?

Perhaps that is the case with some but no one has more options than Alvin Gentry.

That is why the future is so promising.

That is why the present is so interesting.

That is why the restart is so intriguing.

To make the playoffs, the Pelicans will have to win at least five of their eight games. If they win six, there is little doubt that will make it to at least the ninth spot.

The first three games are extremely important.

Utah and the Clippers are top-flight playoff teams while Memphis is a team that the Pelicans are trying to catch.

Before they get to the business of trying to reach the playoffs, the Pelicans face a final scrimmage against the best team in the Eastern Conference, if not the best team in the NBA in Milwaukee Monday night.

It will certainly prove to be a good measuring stick.

It will be interesting to see how Gentry handles his rotations with so many options, including a host of good young players to go with four solid veteran players.