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No. 7: New Orleans Pelicans
Last Season: 45-37
8th place in West; Lost 4-0 to Golden State in Round 1
In his third NBA season, 2012 No. 1 overall pick Anthony Davis continued his inexorable march toward superstardom, leading the New Orleans Pelicans to their first playoff berth since Chris Paul played point guard in the Big Easy. The Pelicans overcame a series of injuries (and took advantage of several to the Oklahoma City Thunder) to claim the eighth seed in the Western Conference on the final night of the regular season.
Alas, a sweep at the hands of the Golden State Warriors wasn't enough to save head coach Monty Williams' job. Now, former Warriors lead assistant Alvin Gentry has been entrusted with developing Davis into one of the league's best players. With New Orleans bringing back a similar cast, the Pelicans are counting on a stylistic shift under Gentry and Davis' improvement to help them move closer to the West's best teams.
Year 3 saw Davis take an important step in his development, improving his scoring from 21.3 points per 36 minutes to 24.3 and becoming a more consistent defensive presence. Despite rostering one of the league's best players, the Pelicans were still a .500 team at midseason because of their weak bench and injuries to starting guards Eric Gordon and Jrue Holiday.
General manager Dell Demps worked tirelessly to improve the team during the season. New Orleans acquired Quincy Pondexter and a second-round pick for reserves Austin Rivers and Russ Smith in January, upgrading a huge weakness at small forward. In-season signing Dante Cunningham and deadline acquisition Norris Cole also joined the rotation.
The newcomers were key in an important stretch after the All-Star break when the Pelicans went 4-1 without Davis, keeping their playoff hopes alive. New Orleans finished 18-11 after the break without Holiday for nearly that entire stretch, beating the Warriors in early April and holding off the San Antonio Spurs at home in an emotional final game to clinch a trip to the playoffs for the first time since 2011.
Despite playing shorthanded, the Pelicans were competitive with Golden State in the playoffs. New Orleans held a 20-point lead through three quarters in Game 3 at home before an epic comeback allowed the Warriors to force overtime and eventually win. Golden State completed the sweep two nights later in Williams' last game as head coach.