Anfernee Simons has been the most critical piece to New Orleans' surprise season
Last year, the New Orleans Pelicans won just 22 games the entire season. So far in 2032? 24-26 - already two more victories in 50 games than they had all 82 the campaign before. The question that everyone is wondering is how? "When you look at their numbers, the picture becomes a little clearer," a neutral scout said. "They're a team that ranks in the Top 10 in Opponent FG%, 3P %, and PPS. Despite the fact that none of the rest of their stats look astounding, the Pelicans will straight up force you into playing inefficient, slow basketball. It's not pretty to watch unless you're a defensive purist, the style they play, but it's a refutation of today's flashy offensive game. So they're not efficient themselves. Doesn't matter - they'll give you hell at trying to convert shots, and that's what allows them to win these pig ugly games."
It's resulted in a 12-6 (66.7%) record in games decided by 10 points or less, meaning they're 12-20 (37.5%) in games decided by 10 points or more, but even the latter is far superior to their 26.8% overall winning rate last season. "They remind me a lot of the 2024-25 Washington Commanders in the NFL," continued the scout. "A team that manages to be clutch in late/close games and grind out wins that could just easily as flip the other way. It's hard to call it luck - it's just built into how their system runs."
As for who the Jayden Daniels is on the squad? Most people would say it's Tyrese Maxey. In actuality, it's Anfernee Simons. Need evidence?
Player of the Game Nods This Season
Anfernee Simons: 15
Tyrese Maxey: 5
Victor Wembanyama: 2
Zach Collins: 2
62.5% of New Orleans' wins have come on the back of sterling Simons showings.
Many questioned the Pelicans' free agency signing of Simons fresh off a Minnesota Timberwolves championship. All he's done is become New Orleans' team MVP, leading in scoring, assists, and tied for 1st in full season team steals with Olivier Maxence-Prosper. Along with PER and PIE, Assist %, and tied for 1st in full season team turnovers forced with Aaron Wiggins. Oh, and those shooting numbers from last year that everyone said was a fluke? He's shooting even better this season.
"Without him, I think the Pelicans are on track for being one of the worst teams in the league again," added the scout. "And he fits the mold of the most successful Jestorball teams - it all starts with a two-way ball-dominant point. Chris Paul with the NLL champion Miami Heat, Rickey Green with the two GAH Finals New York Knicks teams. Simons is his own flavor of it of course, but he's exactly in that framework."
And yet, not one single team came calling during the season to inquire about his services. The plan to trade him to continue getting rebuilding assets and slowly build vanished. There was no market for the player the Pelicans considered their most valuable piece. And so the start that defied expectations has become the season that has upended them, Simons now an irreplaceable piece in New Orleans' scheme. The team even gambled by trading away their first next year with protection to acquire Moses Moody (a move that appears to have possibly backfired horribly, to be fair, but there's still a lot of season to go).
The Thunder in the Thunder and Lightning backcourt has definitely surpassed all expectations. But enough bandwidth about Simons. And everyone is tired of hearing about Maxey. What about the rest of the roster?
Olivier Maxence-Prosper
Doesn't have flashy stats, but the rookie's +2 ON is the best of the starters and the team is high on his potential as a fifth starter or 6th man hybrid forward off the bench. Primarily at PF, but has switched to the starting SF in the new lineup (more on that later).
Victor "Wemby" Wembanyama
Excellent training camp has translated into a vastly improved second season from a stats and efficiency standpoint, even though he appears to have struggled starting at PF in the refreshed lineup. Has no friends on the team at the moment and hasn't blossomed into the franchise star everyone is expecting. He's not even the third star offensively. But you have to remember that he's a sophomore and came in extremely raw. His time will come - possibly as early as next season.
Moses Moody
Has drawn a lot of hate, but was instrumental in wins against the Timberwolves and the Warriors. Probably in need of refining his shooting form. But what does that look like? Answering that correctly will be the key to unlocking his full potential. This summer will be quite interesting for him...
Aaron Wiggins
Largely coasted on his reputation as a perfect fit for the lineup last season. But then the numbers revealed this year that he wasn't quite as perfect a glue fit as everyone thought, so still good, so he's been moved to the bench while the team experiments with different combinations to see what life after him looks like.
Zach Collins
Solid, reliable veteran. The front office has never been quite so high on him as some front offices around the league. Nice security blanket, but he'll play elsewhere next season.
Mouhamed Gueye
Funky shooting profile has resulted in horrible efficiency - the worst of his career. It's an open question as to if he gets his fourth year option picked up. Nor is there any inclination to work on his preferences. Every once in a while he'll have a great game off the bench, but he doesn't seem like a good long-term fit.
Chuma Okeke
Preseason brilliance gave him unexpected minutes early in the regular season. But the bloom faded and he's since dropped out of the rotation.
About Those Lineups
Because of the constant trades and tinkering with the bench that lately transferred over to the starting lineup, there's only 6 lineups that even crack above 90 minutes, and only two of them are still possible because of all the movement. But what we do know:
Simons/Maxey/Wiggins/OMP/Wemby
772.3 minutes - the most by far as the starters (next most-used lineup has 165 minutes). Net Rating is a solid +4.4 and outshoots everyone else thanks to Maxey and Wiggins drilling 3 pointers all day long.
Simons/Maxey/Wiggins/OMP/Collins
94.6 minutes and the next Net-positive lineup of the Top 6 at +3.3. 41.9% Opp FG, 28.6% from 3 point range makes this one of the prime forced inefficiency lineups.
Simons/Maxey/OMP/Wemby/Brown
The New Starters have only played 41+ minutes together and three games, but it's currently a +19.7 Net despite being badly outshot from 3 point range. Small sample size of course, but its Net Rating trounces literally every other lineup the Pelicans have used until you get to 25 minutes, where the Simons/Moody/Wiggins/OMP/Collins lineup is +34.3.
Overall Outlook
We still don't know how good New Orleans actually is as a whole. What we do know is that with 32 games left in the season, they're currently 4 games up on the Utah Jazz for the last play-in spot, and of course the Thunder and Lightning backcourt is a permanently set fixture. Wemby shifting back to CE at some point seems certain, though expect the current New Starters to get some more burn together to see how they go.
Looking Forward
Is Moses Moody the answer as a 6th man combo guard? Who becomes the backup SF next season? Will there be a different starting SF coming through the draft? Can Wemby become the franchise player everyone is expecting and hoping for? Will the Pelicans strike again in free agency with their cap space? There's still a lot of questions to figure out before we talk about New Orleans taking the next step to a bona fide playoff team... but they're already well ahead of anticipated schedule than anyone expected - including their GM.
2020, 2023, 2027, 2035
