The New Orleans Pelicans have a pair of dominant big men in a league that has moved towards multi-dimensional guards and wings.

The Pelicans acquired DeMarcus Cousins last February to pair with Anthony Davis.

“It really has become a guard-oriented league,” Alvin Gentry said. “Look at Washington’s backcourt and Portland’s backcourt. We’re bucking the trend and seeing if we can start a fad of our own by playing big guys and trying to take advantage of mismatches.”

“There’s very few bigs in the league compared to 20 years ago,” Steve Kerr said, referring to the Pelicans as an anomaly. “Who else is going to get two bigs like these guys? They present a challenge because they make us play a different style of defense than what we’ve grown accustomed to.”

The Pelicans acquired Cousins because he was an available talent and not to purposely go against the trends of the NBA.

“It’s really hard to get elite players,” Dell Demps said. “We had the opportunity to get elite players. That’s where it started.”

Cousins and Davis each have a special set of skills.

“They’re not typical bigs,” Demps said. “They’re both really skilled. They can shoot, they can pass, they can handle the ball, they can make plays for other people. Now, the key is to make it all mesh.”

Giannis Antetokounmpo is perhaps an unprecedented talent when it comes to his length and quickness moving up the floor.

Antetokounmpo covers an average distance of just over 15 feet when driving in for a layup or dunk off just one dribble, according to an analysis run by STATS SportVu at FiveThirtyEight’s request. The average player covers just 10.8 feet on similar plays, which is a difference of 32.6 percent.

Antetokounmpo is averaging 36.8 points, 10.8 boards and 5.3 assists per game heading into Thursday’s matchup with Boston. 

After Week 1 of the 17-18 NBA regular season, Giannis Antetokounmpo leads all players in PER with a rate of 42.5. Antetokounmpo is averaging 38.3 points, 9.7 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 2.7 steals per game with a True Shooting Percentage of .709. Antetokounmpo had a PER of 26.1 in 16-17, which ranked 10th in the league.

PER Rankings (Week 1)
1. Giannis Antetokounmpo: 42.5
2. Nikola Vucevic: 35.6
3. Clint Capela: 34.4
4. Blake Griffin: 33.1
5. Hassan Whiteside: 31.4
6. Anthony Davis: 30.9
7. Stephen Curry: 30.8
8. C.J. McCollum: 30.6
9. Damian Lillard: 30.4
10. LeBron James: 28.7
11. LaMarcus Aldridge: 28.0
12. Kristaps Porzingis: 27.7
13. Myles Turner: 27.5
14. James Harden: 27.4
15. Dejounte Murray: 26.5
16. DeMarcus Cousins: 25.6
17. Tobias Harris: 25.6
18. John Wall: 25.3
19. Nerlens Noel: 25.0
20. Marc Gasol: 24.9
21. Jonas Valanciunas: 24.8
22. James Johnson: 24.8
23. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope: 24.5
24. Enes Kanter: 24.3
25. Karl-Anthony Towns: 24.3

Kevin Love was initially unhappy with the Cleveland Cavaliers' decision to move him from power forward to center with the starting lineup.

During the first three seasons of Love's career with the Cavaliers, he started at power forward with Tristan Thompson at center. 

"It's going to be tough for fives to move around with him," Lue said recently. "When we run pick-and-rolls, they can't really get out and show. He's going to have a lot of open shots and we know Kevin, he can make shots.

"When we play big and Tristan goes to the 5 and he goes to the 4, we're back to our normal positioning. We're going to try it out and see how it works. He was frustrated at first, but now he's enjoying it."

Love hasn't been a full time center since early in his career with the Wolves.

"It's been a little bit of a change for me," Love admitted. "I still find myself spacing a little bit wanting to roll a little bit more and on the defensive end just playing the primary big on their team the whole time on the defensive end. It's been a little bit different figuring things out on that end, but it comes with the growth I'm talking about. We need to do that and hopefully be a machine when things start clicking."

John Paxson spoke about the state of the Chicago Bulls during a radio interview on Thursday. The Bulls are beginning a rebuild after trading away Jimmy Butler in the offseason.

"You can't put a timeline on it, because there's so many variables out there," said Paxson.

Paxson was also asked about their decision to sell the draft pick that became Jordan Bell to the Golden State Warriors. Bell already appears to be a quality rotation player with the Warriors.

Paxson referenced "building up equity" with the ownership of the Bulls for future decisions.

Gregg Popovich believes he made a mistake in trying to change LaMarcus Aldridge as a player when he first signed with the San Antonio Spurs.

"I did talk with him several times during the summer. He just didn't feel comfortable," said Popovich. "It's 98.75 percent on me, and whatever's left - because I can't subtract that much - on him. But I tried to change him. I thought back to when Timmy [Duncan] came, and people said, ‘What are you going to do with Tim Duncan?' I said, ‘Nothing. I'm just going to watch him for about six months, see what he does. He's a pretty good player, and if there's something I think I can add, then I'll do it.' With LaMarcus, he got here and on Day 1, I said, ‘OK, you're going to do this, and you're going to do this pump fake.' I tried to change him. I tried to make him a different player, and I think that really affected his ability to feel comfortable and confident on the court. And we took care of that, basically by me letting him know that we were going to do it differently, and that it was on me, not him."

Aldridge agreed upon a three-year contract extension before the start of the season.

Kristaps Porzingis prefers playing power forward, which works out well for the New York Knicks since they have four centers on their roster. Two of the centers, Joakim Noah and Enes Kanter, are on expensive multi-year contracts.

“I think it’s better for us,” Porzingis said. “Me at the four, especially if it’s a non-shooting four, I can do a lot. When I’m playing against the five I’m fighting with the big a lot of times and I’m wasting a lot of energy. Obviously offensively I have an advantage but I’m just more comfortable playing at the four.”

Porzingis' best case on defense is to play center so he can defend the rim. Porzingis also struggles against more athletic power forwards.

While Doug McDermott was surprised by his trade from the Oklahoma City Thunder to the New York Knicks, he believes it could be better for his career.

“I think it is [better] for me individually — a good place for me,’’ McDermott said. “Coach Hornacek runs some great stuff. We got some really good young players. I fit that mold and can grow with them. It’s one of the teams you dream of playing on.’’

“Obviously Doug can really shoot the ball,’’ Jeff Hornacek said. “His rotations are in the right spot. Most of the times you don’t have to be a great defender to be a great team guy on the defensive side. [Former Jazz coach] Jerry Sloan always said that about me about defense. … I never really thought I was a very good defensive player [but], I was always in the right spot. You look at some of the guys on our team: Doug, Ron [Baker], these guys that aren’t maybe the athletes some of the others are, just by being in the right spot 100 percent of the time is very helpful.’’

“It’s tough for anyone to follow in [Anthony’s footsteps] but to hear your name called in the Garden in the starting lineup was a dream come true,’’ McDermott said. “But it’s not about starting. I’ll be fine either way. I know I can provide shooting and play hard every night.’’

Karl-Anthony Towns was voted the player general managers would choose to build a franchise around if they were starting from scratch. Towns received 29 percent of the vote.

Giannis Antetokounmpo ranked second at 21 percent, followed by LeBron James at 18 percent, Kawhi Leonard at 14 percent and Kevin Durant at 11 percent.

Towns received 48 percent of the vote last season.

The Miami Heat are interested in experimenting with playing Hassan Whiteside and Kelly Olynyk together during the preseason.

Olynyk signed a four-year, $50 million contract with the Heat in the offseason.

“They will have the ability to play together,” Erik Spoelstra said. “How much will depend. Their games are so different. Their skill sets complement each other.”

Whiteside is intrigued by the combination, saying Olynyk is “a really good passer. He can space the floor. He's physical. So it's going to be good.”