On Feb. 22, the Pelicans announced Anthony Davis would miss one to two weeks after re-injuring his shoulder. That should have been it for New Orleans, a fringe playoff contender at the time that still trailed the Oklahoma City Thunder for the No. 8 seed in the West. On the same night, Ryan Anderson also suffered a knee injury (he's still out), joining Jrue Holiday on the shelf.
How the hell are the Pelicans still in the playoff race?
New Orleans is a half game out of the No. 8 seed in the West despite a terrible run of injuries. Shouldn’t they be dead by now?
Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports
In response, the Pelicans won five straight games to close the month of February before finally falling to the Mavericks on Monday. Two days later, they bounced right back to beat the Pistons, 88-85, in Anthony Davis' return. After the Thunder lost on Thursday, New Orleans is now just half a game back from the playoffs and will move into eighth with a win over the Celtics Friday because they have the tiebreaker over Oklahoma City.
How did this happen?
Turns out the Pelicans' success is about more than any one player, however imposing Davis may be. Tyreke Evans and Eric Gordon have helped pick up the slack, but the Pelicans also have Dante Cunningham and Quincy Pondexter averaging more than 30 minutes over the past seven games. They've received unlikely contributions from players once thought to be irrelevant, like Alexis Ajinca and Luke Babbitt.
I asked Oleh Kosel from SB Nation’s Pelicans site The Bird Writes to explain who has been the most important person keeping the Pelicans alive in the playoff hunt. His answer: general manager Dell Demps for finding all those guys.
There are so many deserving candidates, and I touched on a number of individual players when I recently broke down the Pelicans five-game winning streak, but Dell Demps deserves the most accolades. His ability to find usable talent outside of the United States, like Brian Roberts and Gustavo Ayon in the past, has proven quite worthwhile. This season, NBA cast-offs Alexis Ajinca and Luke Babbitt have made a positive impact in keeping New Orleans afloat in the Western Conference.
Further, Demps uncanny ability of continually making under-the-radar in-season moves are largely responsible for saving the team's fragile playoff hopes. Once his name was cleared, the Dante Cunningham signing in December helped solidify the weak wing defense. Later, trading for Quincy Pondexter and Norris Cole added necessary depth at the small forward and back-up point guard positions. The Pelicans latest winning streak would have never been possible if Dell Demps had not provided all the necessary roster band-aids.
Demps couldn’t account for the rash of injuries, of course. In addition to Davis, Holiday and Anderson, Eric Gordon also missed time early in the year. But the pieces he brought in, some who probably had no expectations of playing much, have come in and thrived. Ajinca can never replicate Davis’ individual impact on a game, but a similar skill set (as much as you can have a “similar skill set” to The Special Man) allows him to take Davis’ place more easily. The same can be said up and down the roster.
Since the All-Star break, the Pelicans boast the league’s No. 5 offense, per NBA.com’s stats page. Their defense is only No. 16 -- understandable when you factor Davis’ impact on that end and the six games he missed -- but they’ve done enough to keep winning and to keep the Pelicans in the hunt.
Anderson should return before the end of the season. Holiday isn’t quite there, but he’s making some progress and isn’t wearing a walking boot any longer. Of course it’s Davis who’s the key to this all, and he’s made his triumphant return.
While we marvel at Davis’ near quadruple doubles, we should also appreciate the job Demps has done structuring this team to succeed even when the stars have gone down. Everyone has missed time -- 12 games for Davis, 24 for Holiday, 21 for Gordon, nine for Anderson.
The Pelicans shouldn’t even be in the playoff race anymore, and yet here they are with a quarter of the season left. Don’t count them out.
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