The New Orleans Pelicans are 18-28 and 2.5 games out of the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference. At this point, making the playoffs is still within-play and a reasonable goal. To what end purpose simply “crashing the postseason” would have at this point is less clear, but there is the notion that a team with (arguably?) the league’s best big man should at least be postseason-worthy.
If all the Pelicans do is strive for an inevitable sweep, though, has much of anything actually been accomplished?
Perhaps, at this point, the postseason is a noble enough goal.