New Orleans Pelicans: 3 Goals for the Upcoming 2018-19 Season

Goal 2. Land in Top Ten in Three-Point Makes and Efficiency

As has been mentioned throughout, the New Orleans Pelicans have enough shooting to obtain a postseason birth. Last season, they were not really a prolific three-point shooting team, but that area of their squad should be much better. Payton will be able to operate in pick-and-rolls with Mirotic, Randle, and Davis, which should open up spot-up chances.

Last season, the Pelicans were in the back half of the league in three-point makes and were in the bottom ten in perimeter efficiency. In order to give Davis more spacing for post-ups and lobs, they’ll need to be more consistent from deep.

Losing Rondo’s playmaking and amazing passing instincts is tough, but if New Orleans’ perimeter threats are aggressive on their drives, open threes should be there, as was previously stated. If the Pelicans can improve on their mediocre 52.2 effective field goal percentage on catch-and-shoot triples, that will give them a good chance at returning to the postseason.

Holiday can get to his spots off the bounce, and Moore, Clark, Miller and Mirotic all utilize ball fakes well to get themselves more room after close-outs. Mirotic is also a gifted cutter that utilizes great timing to combat defenders hugging him on the outside, and he showcased that counter often against the Portland Trail Blazers in last year’s playoffs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OvjqQAwkHY

Heck, maybe Solomon Hill’s shooting since coming to New Orleans will turn around a bit, at least to make him a threat (his wing defense is always solid, but his shooting has been awful for some time).

Like Cousins, Randle is a very effective offensive rebounder (and so is Mirotic silently), so additional kick-outs will be there. A three-point specialist’s best friend is a quality offensive rebounder, and the Pelicans still have three of those with legitimate spots in their rotation. In the postseason, those extra possessions often prove essential.

For the first goal, New Orleans should strive to return to the second round. In the West, that’s anything but easy.