After a busy off-season that saw the New Orleans Pelicans rehaul their roster, many tabbed them as one of the dark horses to make the playoffs. An exceedingly slow start to the season, though, put a massive damper on those hopes and may cost the team a chance at the postseason.
Lonzo Ball was one of those players who got off to a slow start individually. Through the team’s first 19 games, Ball featured in just 11 due to injury and averaged 11.1 points while shooting 34.3% from range.
As a team, the Pelicans went just 6-13 in that span and eventually started 6-22 after a 13-game losing streak. During his appearance on JJ Redick’s podcast on The Ringer, Ball talked about the adjustment to New Orleans and the team’s slow start.
“I really didn’t know what to expect because everybody knows I lived in California my whole life. So, just moving to New Orleans, I didn’t really know what it was going to be like coming in. I was happy that obviously (Ingram) came and (Hart), two dudes I’m close with so obviously I didn’t have to do it by myself.”
“I think at the beginning of the year, I think we had a brand new team. People didn’t really know what their spots were, what their positions were, what their roles were. I felt like after we finally got past that and the injuries and looking at the schedule and seeing we still had time, I think ever since then things started coming together.”
Fortunately, the Pelicans found their footing and, since the subpar start through the first 28 games, have gone 22-14 to make their run at the eighth seed in the playoffs.
For Ball, after his own rocky start, he was able to find his groove and excel in the latter stages of the season. Since the opening 19 games, Ball hasn’t missed a contest in the last 45 games for the Pelicans. In that span, he’s averaged 12.7 points but has shot 39.2% from range on 6.5 attempts per game.
It certainly took both Ball and the Pelicans longer than expected to gain their footing, a strong second half of the season righted the ship and left a far more positive feeling about the season than through the opening weeks.
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