New Orleans will enter the upcoming regular season with 10 players who filled substantial roles for their NBA teams in 2018-19, a group that obviously doesn’t even include the Pelicans’ three first-round picks, all drafted in the top 20. That means that even before factoring international forward Nicolo Melli into the conversation, on paper the total number of New Orleans players competing for minutes is over a dozen.
That extreme roster depth might make it more difficult for NBA analysts to predict an exact Pelicans rotation than anywhere else in the league, but fifth-year head coach Alvin Gentry and his staff will use the next two-plus weeks to determine the best lineups and combinations.