As basketball fans everywhere witnessed throughout the 2016-17 regular season and playoffs, defense has perhaps never been more challenging than it is in the modern NBA. Not only was the past campaign the most efficient offensively for the league overall since 1977-78, but the proliferation of three-point shooting is making the court much better spaced and more difficult for a defense to cover.
Partly with that in mind, New Orleans Pelicans players Cheick Diallo, Quinn Cook and Axel Toupane have spent much of their time in recent weeks working out together in the team’s Metairie practice facility, focusing on the less glamorous end of the floor. Instead of primarily trying to hone their jumpers, post moves or ballhandling skills, the trio – all slated to play for the Pelicans in summer league July 7-17 – are drilling on things like defensive communication, proper footwork and being in the right spot at the right time.
“In general, when you’re a young player, one thing you’ve probably got to do is get better defensively,” Pelicans third-year head coach Alvin Gentry said. “That’s usually a big key to your development. They’ve been doing a lot of work there. Sometimes when you’re doing summer workouts or player-development stuff, a lot is centered around offense. What we’ve wanted them to do is center it around the defensive end.”
Diallo, 20; Cook, 24; and Toupane, 24; each gained varying degrees of NBA regular season experience in April with the Pelicans, particularly during a four-game Western Conference road trip. In Game 82 at Portland, they combined to tally 31 points, 18 rebounds and four steals off the bench in a 103-100 victory, highlighted by Diallo’s 12-point, 16-rebound outing. Four nights earlier, Cook delivered a career-best 22 points on 10/13 shooting against eventual NBA champion Golden State, while on April 11, Diallo registered 19 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks vs. the Lakers.
Several of those late-season statistics represent offensive achievement, but the three young Pelicans have been concentrating more on defensive techniques this month, individually and team-wise. That emphasis helped contribute to New Orleans making the biggest improvement in the NBA in defensive efficiency last season, jumping from third-worst in 2015-16 (allowing 107.3 points per 100 possessions) all the way up to ninth-best (104.9).
“We got defensive players in here like Solomon (Hill) and E’Twaun (Moore), who did a phenomenal job of protecting each other,” explained Jamelle McMillan, who will serve as the summer Pelicans’ head coach in Vegas. “We got better and better as the year went on at trusting each other at that end of the floor. There are so many (defensive) actions players have to learn, but there are basic principles that we got down during the season. For guys like Cheick, Quinn and Axel who were with us at the end of the regular season, they saw what they need to be doing. Now we want to drill home how important that is, as part of our culture.”
“For young players, it’s important to understand different rotations, as well as the defensive language, because sometimes those are things you struggle with,” Gentry said. “We want those things to be repetitious for them, where they work on it over and over again in drills, hopefully catch on and get better at it.”
As a result, it’s been common in June to see Diallo, Cook and Toupane – either in morning group workouts or even later in the evening – out on the floor together, trying to get down everything they need to know defensively. The extra study time could pay off down the road, starting with the trio potentially receiving plenty of opportunities to play together in Vegas.
“We are all trying to push each other,” said Cook, a Duke product who logged a total of 188 regular season minutes, split between Dallas and New Orleans, during his rookie NBA season. “Even though we all just kind of met in the last year or less, we push each other in the weight room and the gym. You want to be around guys who want to get better. I’m using Cheick and Axel as tools to get better. When I’m slacking, they let me know, and vice versa.”