It has been four years since the Pelicans rushed a prefab identity around Anthony Davis by dealing for Jrue Holiday and Tyreke Evans -- the last two "young veterans" in a Finishing Five that would barely play together before disbanding.
Injuries torpedoed any chance for New Orleans to figure out what kind of team it wanted to be. Suddenly, Holiday and Evans are set to enter free agency a year after Ryan Anderson and Eric Gordon bolted for Houston.
"It came so fast," Holiday told ESPN.com last week in New York.