USA Today column on the Pels

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After a 27-win season in which a lack of health and lack of help were the recurring themes, 2012 No. 1 pick Anthony Davis, forward Ryan Anderson and now-happy-to-be-here shooting guard Eric Gordon are suddenly surrounded by the sort of talent that will make them one of the most intriguing teams around.

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How will coach Monty Williams use Evans?

Williams, who came up through the San Antonio Spurs system with New Orleans general manager Dell Demps, will use training camp in October to find the answer to this particular question.

"Obviously (Evans) is really gifted on the offensive end," Williams said. "It's hard to keep him from getting to the basket. I like the fact that we have the versatility with the size defensively. He can guard one, two and three. I think once he learns the way we play defense and the level that we play with every day — offensively a lot of it is just going to be up to him.

"He can play the point, the two or the three. I think it will take a good training camp to see how he's going to fit into our system. Playing with Anthony, playing with Ryan and Jason, that's going to be a major deal for us to figure out some chemistry with those guys. And they play with Austin (Rivers) a lot, so we just have to wait and see. With Jrue, and Eric and Tyreke in the lineup, at times, it can be difficult for teams to match up against that."

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Is Eric Gordon happy now?

And if ever there was a sign that he wants to be part of this program, it was there for all to see inside the Cox Pavilion at UNLV: Gordon stood courtside for Pelicans games when he could have been vacationing, having made the trip from Los Angeles to watch his teammates in action.

"It's an all new beginning for me," Gordon told USA TODAY Sports. "That Holiday (trade) — that was surprising because he's still a young dude. You would've never thought that would happen. It's good that we have him for sure, and we've made some pretty good moves for sure.

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Oh yeah, that Anthony Davis guy ...

Davis was an unofficial Pelicans assistant coach this week, looking the part in his white collared shirt and pulling players like Withey aside to dissect the action during timeouts. It was just the sort of thing that Williams expects to see much more of this season.


Williams drew criticism for the way he handled Davis, keeping his minutes lower than expected (28.8 per game) while the Portland Trail Blazers' Damian Lillard ran away with top rookie honors. But Williams didn't want Davis to have too much on his plate too soon, and the strategy will be seen as a success if Davis takes another step forward as part of a team pulls off this turnaround.

"I just thought it was the best way for him to come along," Williams said. "With all the expectations, and from spending time with him, I thought the best thing for him was to bring him along slowly and I think he's better for it.

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