The Pelicans were ravaged by injuries last season: Jrue Holiday played 34 games, Ryan Anderson 22, Eric Gordon 64, and even Anthony Davis missed 15 games.
This season, if they can stay healthy the Pelicans are a playoff team in the West.
Which is why this note from GM Dell Demps, via Nakia Hogan of the Times-Picayune, is a good sign.
Demps said Eric Gordon, Jrue Holiday and Ryan Anderson appear to be healthy. Players have been working out in different parts of country
— Nakia Hogan (@nakiahogan) August 19, 2014
The Pelicans are a team on the rise that had a great off-season. They have the fastest rising star in the NBA in Anthony Davis, a guy primed to breakout into the public consciousness using Team USA this summer as the springboard. Within a couple years he’ll be the third best player in the NBA.
But New Orleans needed a real center to pair with him, so they went and got Omer Asik from the Rockets during Houston’s “clear out the cap space” sale. He is a perfect fit next to Davis and may give New Orleans the best defensive front line in the NBA. Then they can bring Anderson, one of the game’s best stretch fours, off the bench (Davis and Anderson had crazy good +/- numbers when paired last season).
Then if the Holiday/Gordon backcourt steps up and Tyreke Evans can give them anything, you’ve really got something.
Something that will start with a trip to the playoffs next season.