As a society, we must do everything in our power to ensure Anthony Davis has a strong, healthy New Orleans Pelicans’ roster ready to compete in the NBA playoffs next season. A second-round, five-game exit by way of the Golden State Warriors was just a taste of what could be a true postseason force.
These Pelicans were fun. Re-sign DeMarcus Cousins and let’s run it back.
New Orleans has a team if everyone returns and stays healthy.
Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images
We must wrap each Pelicans player in bubble wrap, have them bathe in Purell, and replace damageable limbs and tendons with indestructible robot parts. Davis is ready to take on the best of the best right now, and though his Pelicans’ team fell short in the playoffs, they proved they’re close to competing.
In a season of devastating injuries, DeMarcus Cousins’ torn Achilles in February — just as he and Davis were hitting their stride — struck a heartbreaking chord. After just one appearance of Playoff AD in five seasons, we were set to watch a pair of seven-foot bullies crash the party together.
In one season-changing hustle play, that all came crashing down.
That said, what a run by the Pelicans anyway
The void left by Boogie’s injury wasn’t left completely unfilled. The 2017-18 Pelicans were pretty dang fun — and good! — without him. Alvin Gentry marched a unit without 50 percent of its star power to a four-game sweep over Damian Lillard, C.J. McCollum and the Portland Trail Blazers and they won a game against Golden State.
This postseason — and regular season — marked the return of two players from the NBA Twitter grave, as Jrue Holiday became a two-way star again, and Rajon Rondo returned to the ball-handling wizard of old.
The Pelicans weren’t a lost cause post-Cousins’ injury either, as shown by the team’s willingness to part ways with a first-round pick for Nikola Mirotic, who became a key contributor scoring next to AD.
E’Twaun Moore came to life too, shooting the second-highest three-point percentage of his career, thriving on kick outs from the bigs, scoring the most points of his career.
The pieces were all there for New Orleans.
Now, we beg for a few things
- Please re-sign Cousins, Pelicans. His injury is devastating, and a lot of players don’t recover fully, but we need a chance to watch this experiment again. Boogie and The Brow was like a cinematic genius film ending with it all just being a dream in the end. Don’t ruin the opportunity for something golden.
- Please, Cousins, get healthy. I know it’s mostly out of your control, and I’m sure you’re trying your hardest to get back in shape, but please just figure it out. You deserve a real postseason run as much as AD and fans deserve to see it play out.
- Please, Pelicans, re-sign Rajon Rondo because he is BACK!
- Please, Moore, Mirotic and Holiday, stay good, in-shape and healthy. The team needs its core back.
Please, please, please keep everyone healthy and bring them all back.
The Pelicans are for real if the forces of nature leave them alone.
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