Following the Alvin Gentry hiring, groans resonated throughout New Orleans when the Pelicans announced they had re-signed both Omer Asik and Alexis Ajinca. Two slow-footed centers in an uptempo system didn’t seem to make for good ingredients, and indeed the recipe proved to be a disastrous mixture.
Asik, Ajinca and Kendrick Perkins posted below average advanced metrics across the board during the 2015-16 season. For instance, the highest PER (13.8) and RPM (-1.13) among the group belonged to Ajinca. Asik sported the best — if one doesn’t mind the use of such a deceiving adjective — Box Plus/Minus (-4.