Pelican'ts

New Orleans is down bad and the vibes are gone. Is this real, or was the hot start a better indication of the team's power?

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Mary, Queen of Scots; Nicholas Hilliard; 1578

The New Orleans Pelicans’ ascension early this season felt natural. This was a team that finished really strong last season after trading for C.J. McCollum and Larry Nance Jr., a club with three high-end offensive threats in McCollum, Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram, plus smart and able role players in Nance, Herb Jones and Jonas Valanciunas, plus some exciting young players in Jones, Trey Murphy III and Dyson Daniels, plus a well-regarded coach in Willie Green. They had assets too thanks to the previous Anthony Davis and Jrue Holiday trades.

On the morning of New Year’s Eve, the Pelicans were tied for first in the Western Conference despite Ingram having missed much of the year and other key players having had spurts of unavailability. This didn’t feel — to me, at least — like a flash in the pan moment frozen in time. It felt like a real ascension, a coronation of sorts. The Pelicans were joining the ranks of the Grizzlies as a force to be reckoned with among the West elite.

Since that day, the Pelicans are 3-13. They are now No. 8 in the West, some 8.5 games behind the Nuggets they had been tied with. What happened?