Two preseason games are hardly enough to stamp a verdict on Jamahl Mosley’s first run with the New Orleans Pelicans. But they’ve been enough to raise a familiar question: is the offense already drifting toward the same trouble Mosley faced in Orlando?
That’s not a shot at the coach’s broader track record. Mosley earned plenty of credit with the Magic for helping build culture and an elite defense.
The problem there, at least in the eyes of many fans, was the other end of the floor. Orlando wanted a more fluent, efficient offense, and Mosley never quite unlocked it.
The biggest frustration was his inability to get Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner humming together the way the team needed.
Those same concerns are starting to peek through in New Orleans, even with the obvious caveat that preseason is a laboratory. Mosley is still experimenting with lineups and rotations, and that kind of trial-and-error naturally creates some rough edges. Still, the early offense has looked too thin, too linear, and too easy to disrupt.
The issue is not just that possessions are coming up empty. It’s how they’re breaking down.
The reads appear limited, and when the first option isn’t there, everything seems to stall. From there, the possession can collapse into a messy isolation, a possession stuck in place, or a turnover.
That’s not the kind of rhythm anyone wants to see from a team trying to install a new system.
One specific point of frustration has been the way Missi keeps getting put in the middle of the action as the decision-maker. The idea behind it makes sense enough: get him comfortable with the ball, force him to read the floor, and build out his game.
But in practice, it has too often ended with blown-up possessions or giveaways. At some point, he needs to be allowed to do what he does best - screen, roll, and finish.
Mosley also isn’t working with clean spacing, and that matters. Modern offenses are harder to build when the floor isn’t opened up properly, so he can’t shoulder every bit of blame for the team’s early stagnation.
Even so, it would have been encouraging to see a more noticeable shakeup on the staff after Orlando. Instead, Brett Brielmaier, who was with the Magic, remains viewed as Mosley’s offensive coordinator.
There’s still a long runway before the regular season begins, and Mosley himself still doesn’t know what his best starting five-man unit is. That keeps the whole thing very much in the early stages. But for a Pelicans team that already spent the last two seasons wrestling with a bland, predictable offense, these first signs are worth watching closely.
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Trey Murphy III stands to benefit as much as anyone, and the two have already been spending time together on perimeter shooting drills and two-man game work during practice. For a Pelicans team trying to unlock another layer of spacing and ball movement, the early camp work hints at a more versatile attack, even if the most important pieces are still being put in place. [Read more 🡒]