Let's say the Pelicans finish 37 and 45

I would call it a good building block.

Do you think we can win 10 of our next 16 games?

Heat, Clippers, Spurs, Blazers, Sunds, Thunder (2), Rockets (2) all left on our schedule

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That's a ten game improvement over last season. Given the injuries, is this acceptable? Or big disappointment even taking injuries into account?

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Finishing the season going around .650 in the last quarter-third would be a sick accomplishment. In this scenario, Monty is kind of damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't.

- Reke starting would have made a massive difference, and people will correctly wonder why the hell it took almost 60 games in to start him.
- The young guys will be performing down the stretch and will have people wondering why more Rivers, Withey, Miller, Babbitt wasn't used in place of Roberts, Steimsma, Aminu.

So either Monty proves what an idiot he is at evaluating rotations OR he stays the course and there's no way we get to 37 with the current rotations being used against playoff teams.

Regardless, AD being so damn good should make this season a win for any Pelicans fan. There's still room for improvement, especially in the post on the offensive end. Using him as a facilitator should come with time also. It's not unrealistic to bank on a 24/11/4/1/3 season next year, and that's with having 4 other players on the floor who need the ball.

I still don't think Monty is the coach for this team. I don't think he has it in him to turn AD into an All-NBA 1st guy instead of an All Star. However, I think we're seeing that these players can turn it around on their own with proper rotations and playing time. The basketball IQ on the floor only goes up with Jrue/Ryno returning. If Monty would just get out of Monty's way, this team would be successful.

ETA: To answer the question in summary. a 37-45 finish would be a massive win for the franchise going into next season. It will completely destroy the losing culture of this club considering what we have left on the schedule.

If they can win just 5 more, I think that's a success given the context of injuries. Would love to see more of the younger guys and let Davis explore the limits (wherever they might be) of what he can do on the floor.

Future looks good, but lots of questions re the roster and how it is deployed.

Davis looks like he will be a number 1 option on offense which was unexpected. How do three ball dominant, high usage guards fit with a budding superstar big man? If you're running offense through Davis, how does that effect his defense? He's young, but anchoring an offense AND a defense on a nightly basis is quite the task. He needs someone who isn't a sieve out of the 3 frontcourt positions.

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It's tough losing 3 big contributors for the season

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3? Ryno, Jrue, and...Smith?

I'd take smith over Stiemsma and withey

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That's a ten game improvement over last season. Given the injuries, is this acceptable? Or big disappointment even taking injuries into account?

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Depends on how you look at it.

It's an improvement given the injuries, we've seen development from like AD, and we've seen what guys like Tolliver can do given the minutes.

What we have NOT seen is a coach who can adapt well to problems. He rode guys like Steamer and Aminu well past the time when other guys would have said "We need to shake thinsg up."

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Running the offense through Davis may end up being less tiring than some think. Use him in a Noah role with more freedom to shoot the ball could be less tiring

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I don't know. Noah doesn't even take 15 FT/FG per game and has a USG rate under 20. I think Davis could up his FT/FG total (21/g) by about 5 (Love is at 26/g) and still maintain his efficiency. That type of burden takes a toll over a long season

Its more just something no one was really planning on. Davis was supposed to dominate defensively and be an effective complement on offense. He has blown all expectations away

Regardless, I think he can handle the load and be quite effective on both ends. But he needs help and he needs a better scheme.

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If we get our starting five healthy and back on the floor

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Keep hearing this brought up, but I'm curious how long it would take for Monty to figure out how to use this unit.

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I figure that Holiday, Evans

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I'd much rather have Davis being the engine of the offense than Holiday. Evans can be more useful, but even still I want Davis over him as a focal point.

It just doesn't make sense to me to limit a guy who can be an efficient volume scorer in favor of relatively inefficient guard play.