The Coveted Hubie Brown Endsorsement...

[new city champ]

Mostly I don't listen to what the pundits who don't cover the Pels have to say, but I'll confess to a small thrill when Coach Brown gave the Pels a shout out during tonight's Cavs/Grizzlies broadcast. He even lobbied for starting Tyreke at SF! Brown is (by a longshot) my favorite broadcast analyst as 90+% of what he says is actually, you know, analysis of what's happening on the court. If Hubie "likes what they are doing down in New Orleenz" and thinks we've got a chance to make the playoffs this season that's cause enough for me to be optimistic...

[DroopyDawg]

As always... it'll come down to our health. I think had we been able to stay healthy last year we could have gotten a playoff spot. I think if we stay healthy this year we'll sneak in at around 5 or 6. Call me an optimistic homer, but I think we have the players to do it IF they can stay healthy.

[Tomdda]

Mostly I don't listen to what the pundits who don't cover the Pels have to say, but I'll confess to a small thrill when Coach Brown gave the Pels a shout out during tonight's Cavs/Grizzlies broadcast. He even lobbied for starting Tyreke at SF! Brown is (by a longshot) my favorite broadcast analyst as 90+% of what he says is actually, you know, analysis of what's happening on the court. If Hubie "likes what they are doing down in New Orleenz" and thinks we've got a chance to make the playoffs this season that's cause enough for me to be optimistic...

I've never needed a reason to be optimistic where my favorite teams are concerned (heck, in the late 60s and throughout the 70s when the Saints were absolutely horrid I ALWAYS thought "next year" was going to be our year) but given Hubie's level-headedness and solid analysis, my optimism just got ratcheted up just a bit. Not that he's always right, but you gotta admit the man knows basketball. I wouldn't describe my optimism as "irrational exuberance", but like MM says, if we can get to January at around .500 the schedule will be favorable the rest of the way to make a serious run at the playoffs. And yes, I for one will be disappointed if we don't make the playoffs come April.

[odine]

Isiah Thomas also said that Pelicans is a team made for playoff. The question is can we survive the regular season

[RaisingTheBar]

My wife keeps telling me, "I NEED the Pelicans to be good, are they going to be good this year? I can't have both my Saints and Pelicans sucking in the same year". I just keep telling her look if we can stay relatively healthy there is no doubt we will win games and make the playoffs.

[Tomdda]

I just keep telling her look if we can stay relatively healthy

"If" has to be the biggest little word in the history of written language. Hope he's on our side this season.

[Asteptooslow]

Our bench isn't strong enough yet...especially if injuries occur. We will be about the same as last year. Healthy who knows.

[Perth_Hornet]

Our bench isn't strong enough yet...especially if injuries occur. We will be about the same as last year. Healthy who knows.

THis.

I think you'll see us start most games with a bang, but when the bench comes in the offense dries up.

If the starters play heavy minutes and stay healthy, we should be good for 7th or 8th.

[WhoDatPelican]

Our bench isn't strong enough yet...especially if injuries occur. We will be about the same as last year. Healthy who knows.

This bench is leaps and bounds better than the bench we had during the Cp3 era. That team pushed the Spurs to game 7.... Did we forget about the great Bonzi Wells, Mike James, JuJu, and Melvin Ely?

[Asteptooslow]

Cp3 was inspired. I don't have confidence with Jimmer and Rivers if things go bad. We need to pick up a vet if possible.

[UNO Gracias]

Hubie is the most competent commentator the NBA has known since the passing of Dr. Jack Ramsey. He wasn't the greatest coach, but that had more to do with a lack of talent than anything. Not that the NFL or MLB have much better commentators, but Hubie is towards the top of all these lists.

[Mythrol]

Cp3 was inspired. I don't have confidence with Jimmer and Rivers if things go bad. We need to pick up a vet if possible.

If Brian Roberts can hold down PG duties, AR and Jimmer will be fine.

It's that hot garbage behind Tyreke at 3 that worries me. I'd almost be willing to say screw it and roll all 3 of our bigs.

[pelafanatic]

November will be an extremely important section of our schedule. Other than games at SA and at Cle, which happen to be one after the other, it seems as though every game is very winnable and we may even be favored in 11 out of the 13. If we can come out of November some where around 11-4, we should be in very good shape leading up to the hardest part of our schedule. Hopefully we'll have some momentum built up as well. December has the potential to be brutal.

[RaisingTheBar]

November will be an extremely important section of our schedule. Other than games at SA and at Cle, which happen to be one after the other, it seems as though every game is very winnable and we may even be favored in 11 out of the 13. If we can come out of November some where around 11-4, we should be in very good shape leading up to the hardest part of our schedule. Hopefully we'll have some momentum built up as well. December has the potential to be brutal.

Hopefully by then the chemistry is there.

[new city champ]

Think we'll still need some time to gel. if we arrive at Jan. 1 at .500 I'll be pleased and hope we are ready to make a push into playoff contention starting sometime in January...