2017 New Orleans Pelicans

Written by Paul Banks of the Washington Times, David Kay and Peter Christian of the The Sports Bank. Send Paul an e-mail here: paulb05 AT hotmail DOT com.
All other e-mail, including advertising and link proposals, send to: [email protected]

New Orleans Pelicans (Last Year: 34-48)

2017-18 Projected Depth Chart:

C: DeMarcus Cousins/Omer Asik/Alexis Ajinca

PF: Anthony Davis/Cheick Diallo

SF: Solomon Hill/Quincy Pondexter

SG: E’Twaun Moore/*Jordan Crawford

PG: Tim Frazier

NBA Free Agents:

PG-Jrue Holiday (UFA)

F-Dante Cunningham (UFA)

PF-Donatas Motiejunas (UFA)

*SG-Jordan Crawford (TO)

2017-18 Team Salary: Approximately $85.5 million

NBA Offseason Team Needs:

1. Point Guard: With Jrue Holiday hitting the free agent market, New Orleans has to either re-sign him or find a replacement at a value since the team doesn’t have a ton of cap space to spend in free agency.

2. Wing Depth: New Orleans overpaid to sign E’Twaun Moore and Solomon Hill last summer, and is paying the consequences. The Pelicans could use upgrades at both positions, but with no first-round pick and as mentioned above, limited cap space, they have to search for some bargains to bring in more talent.

3. The Boogie Man: The Pelicans rolled the dice on trading for Cousins, hoping to pair him long term with Anthony Davis. With Boogie entering the final year of his contract, New Orleans has to try to extend him or possibly even trade him prior to the deadline if a deal appears unlikely. Either way, the Pelicans need to make sure the risk was worth it.