Adding head coach Alvin Gentry to a young, impressive core made the New Orleans Pelicans everyone’s dark horse Finals contender entering this season. But a string of injuries has caused a team ready to explode to instead sputter out of the gate. After securing their first win of the season last night against what looks to be a middling Dallas team, New Orleans is now 1-6 with the fourth worst scoring differential in the league, not exactly the look of a team ready to compete deep into the spring.

Since seven games is hardly a big enough stretch to make any definitive statements, we’ll take a deeper look at three issues facing the team and whether there’s hope for the Pelicans to turn it around.

- Issue No. 1 - The Injuries

Wings Tyreke Evans and Quincy Pondexter haven’t played a game all season. Big men Omer Asik and Alexis Ajinca have been in and out of the lineup. To top it off, starting point guard Jrue Holiday has been held out of back-to-backs while having his minutes limited in the games he’s actually played. Missing all those players is not exactly a recipe for success.

The two missing bigs haven’t been too much of a blow as it has forced New Orleans to get to it’s Ryan Anderson-Anthony Davis frontcourt more frequently. Based off last year’s data, that would typically be a good thing (more on that in a second, however) as the Pellies were slightly better when both Asik and Ajinca were off the floor, though as nominal starters those two likely faced more staunch opposition than Anderson the supersub.

Besides Davis, Evans had the biggest on/off split of players who saw extended minutes, per NBA.com data. But his role as creator has actually be filled pretty well by veteran guard Ish Smith. While struggling from the field (36.1 percent), Smith ranks fifth in NBA.com’s adjusted assists and has authored an on/off split that makes LeBron look like a replacement level player.  

With Smith and Holiday combining to run the show, it’s arguably been Pondexter who has been the team’s biggest injury-related absence. In his absence, New Orleans has been forced to cycle through Dante Cunningham (admirably trying to transition from a 4 to a 3), Luke Babbitt (a shooter converting only 23.8 percent of his 3’s) and Alonzo Gee (an energy/defender type with a PER of 6.95) on the wing. None of those players have the 3 & D type profile of Pondexter and it’s certainly played a role in the team’s early season struggles.

Concern Level: Get back soon, Quincy.

- Issue No. 2 - The Anderson-Davis pairing has not been very good

In 140 minutes this season, this duo has a net rating of -9.5, per NBA.com data. It’s a staggeringly bad number for a duo that, on paper, should be one of the premier frontcourts (at least in terms of offense) in the league.

The number that’s been somewhat shocking has been their offensive rating of 102.6, a number that would put them on par with last year’s Laker team, per NBA.com. It’s a far cry of the 112.7 mark the duo posted last season, something that suggests that the results these two are getting right now is just a small sample size fluke.

The only worrisome sign is that Anderson is kind of a hard player to figure out. Once everyone’s favorite stretch 4 -- I can’t imagine how many times that dude has been put into RealGM's Trade Checker -- there are certainly things about his game that make it hard to figure out how much value he actually brings to a team.

Defensively, the concerns are obvious. Anderson isn’t great at battling stronger players on the block and can often be a target in pick-and-rolls, getting exposed attacking guards when he’s executing a “drop” coverage designed to have the Pellies bigs can between the ball and the basket.

That Anderson isn’t going to be a boost for a team’s defense isn’t some mind-bending observation. It’s often been overlooked because of what he brings to the table on offense -- 3-point shooting and offensive rebounding. But while Anderson has struggled a bit from deep to start this year at just a shade below league average), he’s also looked much improved in is the post, where he’s produced a sterling 1.16 points per possession his 25 charted attempts, per Synergy’s database. It’s mark that, if sustained, would vault him from ‘solid’ to ‘very good’, a jump he needed to make given the rise of switching defenses capable of neutering stretch 4s.

But where Anderson still struggles is both finishing around the rim -- he was below league average last year and is converting just 46.9 percent of his close range chances this season -- and finding shots on kickouts that aren’t 3’s. Because Anderson isn’t a player that can get chased off the 3-point line by a defender and get all the way to the rim, he has tried to find solutions to the latter issue in the form of a stepback jumper.

And while Anderson has worked hard to get proficient at it, it’s still not the type of shot that will hurt a defense. After all, with all the weapons the Pellies possess, having Anderson beat you with a high volume of tough, mid-range 2’s seems like an outcome any opposing team would accept. That said, if Anderson’s post up improvement is real, this duo should have no problem matching or exceeding last year’s success.

Concern Level: Low

- Issue No. 3 - The defense is dead last in the league

That sentence above is not a typo. A team employing shot-blocker extraordinaire Anthony Davis ranks dead last in the NBA when it comes to stopping opponents from scoring through their first seven games.

But part of the Pelicans' defensive issues is just that this short stretch has seen them play four of their seven games against teams currently sitting in the top five of our offensive efficiency rankings (Golden State twice, Atlanta and Portland once).  Playing a Warriors team that has started the year on a mission twice in the early going will certainly skew anyone’s defensive data. The Hawks checked in at sixth last season and the Blazers, despite losing LaMarcus Aldridge, has assembled pieces in his stead that may make up for his talent through fit and efficiency.

Had New Orleans opened the season with multiple games against Brooklyn and Philadelphia -- the league’s worst two offenses -- their numbers would likely be drastically different. On top of that, the team’s defended, 3-point field goal percentage, currently is the fifth highest in the league, per NBA.com’s fancy tracking data. That number is something that could go either way (I think?), where the Pellies might be getting unlucky (or just guarding Steph Curry) or it’s a precursor to a team that lacks the length, athleticism and overall defensive prowess to truly bother opposing shooters.

The absence of Asik also has played a role in the early struggles. Though he hasn’t been the same defensive savant he was in Chicago, New Orleans was nearly three points better defensively when Asik was on the floor last year (though they were generally worse overall). Having their Turkish big man back to use situationally will certainly be a boost, at times, to both the Pellies defense and overall effectiveness.

Those caveats aside, there are definitely some lingering concerns. The Anderson-Davis frontcourt duo has not shown signs of being even more than adequate defensively. So despite being a net positive overall, heavy minutes from those two is likely going to leave New Orleans nothing more than a mid-tier defensive unit. Combined with a bunch of perimeter players that aren’t exactly defensive stoppers -- Cunningham, Babbitt, Eric Gordon, etc -- and the Pelicans aren’t really capable of throwing out lineups that lock down opposing perimeter players, leaving lots of pressure on the team’s frontcourt to pick up the slack.

Holiday continuing to get healthy should be a boost as should the return of Pondexter (who is more solid on that end than disruptive). Norris Cole should return as well, but given the play of Smith, Gentry may choose for the offensive-orientated option as his backup point guard. That same dilemma will face him with Pondexter, to a degree, as his return will likely move Gee completely out of the rotation. Because of such choices, it'll be interesting to see what Gentry prioritizes and how that affects the team’s defensive success.

Concern Level: Moderate