As one media member correctly pointed out Wednesday during Alvin Gentry’s pregame meeting, perhaps the biggest thing the New Orleans Pelicans looked forward to entering 2015-16 was roster continuity – the team’s top 11 point producers from last season returned. Instead, Gentry’s lineups and rotations have constantly been in flux, as a result of rampant injuries.
Hosting Utah tonight, for example, three projected starters – Tyreke Evans, Eric Gordon and Quincy Pondexter are sidelined by injury. The Pelicans have lost a total of 150 man-games to injury this season, the third-highest total in the NBA, behind only Washington and Denver.