The New Orleans Pelicans are saying all of the right things, but there is still little confidence in the team’s improvement as the NBA calendar nears yet another flip. From the the top of the organization to the players themselves, everyone seems to be paving their own path instead of helping each other along a collective one. For inspiration, the Pelicans should turn their gaze North (far, far, far North. It actually snows there) to see how another small market team went from laughing stock to battling the vaunted Miami Heat in the playoffs.
The march to relevance for the Toronto Raptors can largely be attributed to the arrival of Dwane Casey, a well respected, career coach that had just won a championship with the Dallas Mavericks.