The New Orleans Pelicans will host the Denver Nuggets at Smoothie King Center on Wednesday evening to begin their 2016-17 season.
The Pelicans are coming off quite a poor season and do not really have anywhere to go but up. The health of star player Anthony Davis will be the main factor in the success of the Pelicans this season but a few new additions should give them some extra firepower. Terrence Jones, Lance Stephenson, Solomon Hill, E’Twaun Moore and rookie Buddy Hield can all impact the game in more than one way and can certainly fill the spaces left by the departures of Ryan Anderson and Eric Gordon. The Pelicans will be waiting on the return of Tyreke Evans, who is expected back mid November as he rehabs from knee surgery and also on Jrue Holiday who has suspended his career in order to be with his wife as she is faced with medical issues.
Meanwhile, the Nuggets are a team that certainly has something to build on after youngsters Emmanuel Mudiay, Will Barton, Gary Harris and Nikola Jokic all showed promise last season. Jokic also showed very well in the Rio Olympics as he dropped 25 points against team USA and led Serbia to a silver medal. Rookies Jamal Murray and Juan Hernangomez both show a lot of upside and will be interesting to keep an eye on as the season goes on.
