Halo

Anthony Davis can save the New Orleans Pelicans.

Cautious optimism as it pertains to him is kaput. Gone are the maybes and the conditional enthusiasm. After the 2013-14 campaign and the summer that followed, there is no overhyping him. There is only recognizing him for who he is: An NBA megastar.

Excuse me.

Franchise-rescuing megastar.

Every hurdle standing between New Orleans and postseason progress is one Davis can clear. Though the collective transformation is not yet complete, these Pelicans officially and unequivocally have a superstar who ensures present scrapping and clawing—and waiting—won't be for naught.



Supporting Players and Coaching



Talent and coaching remain issues for the Pelicans.

Realistically—not to mention optimistically—their rotation stretches six deep without inciting angst or panic. Davis, Jrue Holiday, Eric Gordon, Tyreke Evans and Omer Asik make for a tantalizing starting five; Ryan Anderson, when healthy and firing away, is one of the best sixth men alive.

After them, the pool of talent becomes a puddle. The Pelicans will find themselves relying on a combination of Austin Rivers, Jimmer Fredette and John Salmons—as they did in their opening victory over the Orlando Magic—to varying degrees. Until they or anyone else on the roster prove otherwise, the team's performance is tightly tethered to the aforementioned six.



And don't count on Monty Williams to conjure systematic miracles to change this. While he's been a solid coach by most accounts, he hasn't set the world on fire. The Pelicans have never finished in both the top half of offensive and defensive efficiency under his watch; in fact, they've ranked in the bottom five of at least one category three times since he took the reins in 2010-11:



Granted, Williams hasn't always had much to work with. But finishing 19th in offensive efficiency during the 2010-11 season, when New Orleans still employed Chris Paul, is something of a red flag.

Here's the thing: None of this matters as much with a healthy Davis. Not the coaching, not the thimble-deep rotation.

The proof is in the pudding (aka last season).



Lineup continuity was, without question, a campaign-crusher for the Pelicans. Anderson missed 60 games; Holiday found himself sidelined for 48; Gordon rode pine for 18; Davis missed 15 himself. The team didn't have a five-man unit that appeared in more than 22 games or played more than 200 total minutes together as a result, according to NBA.com (subscription required). For added context, consider that 52 other five-man lineups logged more time together than the Pelicans' most-used combine.



Still, they fielded a top-13 offense, tallying 107.2 points per 100 possessions. When Davis was on the floor, they were even better, scoring 108 points per 100 possessions, the equivalent of a top-11 attack. And again, that was while battling barrages of injuries.

If Davis can render the Pelicans a formidable point-totaling machine amid a dispirited game of musical lineups, think of how much higher they could climb at full strength. That they are healthy (for now) means they have top-10 potential, spacing issues and all.

Even their 27th-ranked defense stands to dramatically improve with Asik patrolling the paint and Davis policing every square inch of hardwood ever manufactured. If their season-opening win was any indication, the defense is already on the right track, as Deadspin's Kevin Draper writes:

In Davis's 36 minutes on the floor, the Pelicans had a defensive rating of 82.5. For context, last year's best defense (the Pacers) had a 99.3 defensive rating across the entire season. Sure, they won't get to play teams as bad as the Magic every single night, but with Davis and Asik anchoring one of the best defensive front courts in the league, that alone will allow the Pelicans to compete every single night.

It is not, under any circumstance, far-fetched to believe the Pelicans now boast their most well-balanced squad ever. Only once in franchise history (2007-08) has a team ranked in the top 10 of offensive and defensive efficiency. This year's group of players, assuming health, could become the second.

Look no further than the impact Davis had with basically no help to see how far he can carry the Pelicans now that he has a little assistance.



Talent Acquisition



Playing in New Orleans is a disadvantage for the Pelicans.

Top-flight free agents don't flock toward small-market locales. Los Angeles, New York, Boston and Chicago, among others, are premier destinations because of market size. Those teams will always be linked to big names, even if unsuccessfully, because of bright lights and large stages.

When the NBA's Board of Governors voted against draft lottery reform ahead of the 2014-15 season, it was with this obstacle in mind, per Yahoo Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski:

Presti declined comment to Yahoo Sports, but his case, laid out to others, is this: The big-market teams badly want this change because it'll give them one more advantage over small markets in securing top talent. Big-market teams have an advantage signing superstar free agents and an advantage trading for them because those players are far more apt to agree to sign a contract extension. And, now, the big market teams will get better access to top players higher in the draft.

This isn't a conspiracy theory. Teams like the Pelicans typically have to overpay to retain and poach players. Why else would they have given Evans $44 million in 2013? Or match Gordon's $58 million offer sheet from the Phoenix Suns in 2012?

Small-market bias is real.

But Davis diminishes the harm it causes.

New Orleans has its very own LeBron James. Cleveland is now a first-rate destination—see: Kevin Love—because of him, not its weather or off-court potential.

That's what Davis is to the Pelicans: a draw. Free agents will be open to playing in New Orleans so long as he's there, and he'll be there for a while. He's eligible for an extension this coming summer, one the Pelicans will offer and he will accept.



Players coming off rookie contracts don't turn down the max extension Davis is speeding toward. They ink shorter, option-loaded deals (Love, James) or they sign the longest contracts possible (Kyrie Irving, Paul George). If Davis turned down his inevitably lucrative offer in 2015, it would be unprecedented.

It works out for the Pelicans, then, that they should lock him up one year before the NBA's projected salary-cap eruption in 2016, when Gordon's and Anderson's contracts come off the books and they're primed for serious cap space, per ShamSports.

Perhaps the Jameses and the Kevin Durants are out of reach. But, by and large, the Pelicans—much like the Cleveland Cavaliers—are now worth an extended look for any free agents who understand the importance of playing beside a world-whipping superstar.



The Final Hurdle



In the end, no matter what Davis does, part of the Pelicans' fate is outside his control.

It's in the hands of a ridiculously remorseless Southwest Division.

Immediately, the Pelicans play within a loaded sector that includes the reigning champion San Antonio Spurs, Houston Rockets, Dallas Mavericks and Memphis Grizzlies. All four project as playoff teams. All four could also be legitimate title contenders.

All four, both now and later, could fair better than the Pelicans.

Why would anyone ever believe anything different?

Davis.

For all the Spurs, Rockets, Mavericks and Grizzlies have, they don't have Davis, the record-razing, logic-drubbing man-child with immeasurable potential.

It's him who became the youngest player in NBA history to average at least 20 points, 10 rebounds, one steal and 2.5 blocks per game last season. It's him who ranked fourth in player efficiency rating behind only Love, James and Durant. It's him who used 2014 FIBA World Cup and preseason opponents as his own personal chew toy. And it's him who made history to open the 2014-15 crusade:



"I'm only 21," Davis told ESPN The Magazine's Jordan Brenner.

Only 21.

If nothing else does it—if the incumbent talent isn't good enough, if the future additions don't seem bright enough—look to Davis' age. The Spurs' core will disband at some point. The Grizzlies front line is aging too, and they may be approaching a free-agent crossroads with Marc Gasol in 2015. The Rockets are still in superstar-planning mode. The Mavericks are on the clock with Dirk Nowitzki and Tyson Chandler.





Davis, though, is only 21. His career is only just beginning. Any obstacles an ultracompetitive division and conference throw New Orleans' way, he cannot only conquer but outlast.

“My NBA journey so far has been incomplete,” Davis told Pelicans.com's Jim Eichenhofer. “I say ‘incomplete’ because I want to make the playoffs. When we do that, it still won’t be complete, but that’s the next step for me and my team."

A next step that, while closer to a leap, Davis is more than ready to take for—and with—the Pelicans.



*Stats courtesy of Basketball-Reference unless otherwise cited.

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