New Orleans Pelicans using injury time to develop young talent

New Orleans Pelicans head coach Alvin Gentry calls out from the bench in the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Houston Rockets in New Orleans, Monday, Nov. 11, 2019. The Rockets won 122-116. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) | AP

SALT LAKE CITY — Developing consistency for an NBA team can be difficult if the players you want to build around aren’t always available due to various injuries. The New Orleans Pelicans are in the process of creating what the organization hopes will be a perennially competitive team, but the injury bug has thwarted their efforts thus far in this young season.

Six players have missed games this season, prompting head coach Alvin Gentry to use 14 different lineups in the team’s 15 games leading up to the Saturday night matchup against the Utah Jazz at Vivint Smart Home Arena. He noted that while having limited player availability can be challenging, it has had some benefits as well.

“We can’t seem to get traction on consistency because we’ve had all of these different lineups, but I do think we’re playing hard and we’re starting to kind of figure it out a little bit,” Gentry said after the team’s shoot-around at Vivint Arena. “We’re also starting to have some consistency in rotations and lineups a little bit.”

He said having to deal with so many injuries has been difficult in the early going as the team tries to compete in the stacked Western Conference.

“It’s tough because obviously when you play together — we’ve got nine new guys on our team — playing in a new system (is tough). When they’re all healthy and playing together, there’s a consistency that you can develop as far as where guys want the ball and certain plays that you run and the consistency of just being out there together,” he explained. “The injury thing is part of it, but you’d like it to be just be minor things where it might be one game or something. But unfortunately for us, we’ve had injuries where guys have been out for extended period of time.”

The Pelicans have been without No. 1 overall draft pick Zion Williamson, who had arthroscopic surgery on his right knee last month to treat a torn meniscus. He is expected to miss another four weeks. Center Jahlil Okafor is questionable for Saturday’s game against the Jazz due to an ankle sprain, along with guard Josh Hart for knee pain, former Jazzman Derrick Favors is unavailable due to a back injury and forward Darius Miller is out recovering from surgery on a ruptured achilles tendon.

Gentry noted that playing in Utah is always tough for any opponent. From the altitude to the players on the court, it’s a major challenge for any team.

“Quin’s (Snyder) team has always been great at execution. They’ve got one of the premier guards in the league. (Donovan) Mitchell is a tremendous player and he’s such a team guy that it makes it real difficult for you,” Gentry said. “They’ve got a rim protector (Rudy Gobert) that has done an amazing job at taking away easy layups and things like that.”

“And they’ve got great shooters, obviously, adding Bogdanovic and some of the other guys to the mix — they make it very difficult,” he said. “They’re not a team that beat themselves. You got to be able to really take care of the ball and not turn it over and you got to be able to execute.”

Of note for the Jazz will be the fact that center Gobert is listed as questionable for tonight’s game due to a left ankle sprain.

from Deseret News https://ift.tt/37GRVse