Are the Pelicans the worst franchise ever?

[Godymas]

The New Orleans Pelicans, a Pelican as the mascot of a sports team. Before even talking about the basketball stuff, I want to give the name a moment of recognition. It is really the worst name of all the teams in the NBA.

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The name doesn't exactly roll off the tongue. The worst part about the team name is the difficulty when it comes to shortening it with a nick name. I mean "Pels" or "Pellies" doesn't exactly come across as interesting or intimidating. You can't really call them the "'Cans" or the "Icans" Saying the full "Pelican" is too much. It's a 3 syllable word, generally sports team want to be 1-2 syllables to make them easy to say. Pelicans don't exactly ignite fear. It isn't something rolls off the tongue easy as an apex predator like the "Hawks". Look at other bird teams in sports, they're really iconic birds. "Falcons", "Eagles", "Cardinals". Even the "Seahawks" sounds much more intimidating than a "Pelican" I mean of all the bird name sports teams the Pelicans is the worst one, right? I can't think of a single one worse.

Ok, now onto the history of this storied franchise. First of all, I don't think anyone in New Orleans cares about them. Legitimately I was in New Orleans November of last year and every single sign was "THIS IS SAINTS COUNTRY" with immense love for the New Orleans Saints, and how can you not appreciate such an awesome franchise with the iconic Gold and Black, "WHO DAT" "Oh when the Saints..." and of course Drew Brees.

Now the Pelicans kind of just exist. In terms of franchise greats, Anthony Davis is the franchise's greatest player of all time. Now That would be cool and all except for the fact that Anthony Davis literally played NONE of his prime there. I mean seriously, he was 26 when he was traded, he was barely in his prime. I mean sure he has more All Stars and All NBA selections in a New Orleans uniform, but it doesn't really change that the lesser Anthony Davis is their best player of all time and they almost never made the playoffs or contended with him.

Oh and then they had Chris Paul too, who also had some awesome years and actually put out some respectable basketball teams during his time there. Never made a conference finals, but hey CP3 made his name known in a New Orleans..uhhhh Hornets uniform. Yeah no one even thinks about CP3 as a Pelican, they know him as a Hornet. Confusing, isn't it? Much like Anthony Davis, CP3 turned 25 and said "get me the **** out of here"

So yeah, basically the two best New Orleans franchise Basketball players of all time barely made to to the age of 25 before saying "Get me out of here"

This franchise is so awful that Zion Williamson has played 194 career games and is actually 6th all time in their franchise scoring. Oh, by the way, Zion turns 25 soon which is so fitting because now is exactly when he's starting to throw tantrums and ask out. What is it about the age of 25 that makes a basketball player want to get out of NoLA?

But yeah, this team sucks, I mean it's hard to really see what the draw is for this team. The name sucks, the city is, truly, kind of dirty and grimy if you've ever been. The fandom is non-existent, the history isn't there, you're not exactly getting models. Sure the food is "good" (overrated if you ask me). So they've bombed out of another era of what was supposed to be a "change" for the future. Every year cursed by injuries despite looking like a really good team by mid October. The coach, Willie Green, is actually kind of awesome and David Griffin is an underrated GM in some ways who's managed to get good returns for the amazing assets this god awful franchise pulls.

Now of course we have to look at the other "historically awful" franchises and compare. Well the go to would be the Wizards, but I'd rather be the Wizards than the Pelicans. For starters, the Wizards actually have legitimate fans. People who loved the Gilbert Arenas era, the John Wall era, and these eras actually fulfilled their potential. Sure the potential wasn't exactly super high, but they did produce memorable teams. Oh and Elvin Hayes would literally lead NoLa in almost every major stat if he played his career out there. Plus the Wizards actually have an MVP, his name is Wes Unseld! Oh and multiple finals appearances with a ring! There was at one point in time a monstrous Wizards team. The market is better too, play in the same arena as an elite NHL team which helps.

Then there's the Hornets, well the Hornets do suck, they kind of share history with NoLA who at one point held to the title of "Hornets". I'd still rather be the Hornets though, the market is also better, NC is a classic basketball state, you have Duke and UNC carrying legacies. The 90s Hornets were actually an iconic team. NoLA has never had an "era" like a meaningful "era". So because of that and the fact that today they have good opportunity for the future with Miller and LaMelo, plus I think their stars actually want to be there. The jerseys and colors are AWESOME. There's a lot of like about being a player there. Even a guy like Steph Curry said he would only play there.

Then the other classic throw-ins like the Kings, TWolves, Clippers, well these teams have turned leafs around or have had enough iconic eras and players that they have legitimate fandoms today.

So yes, the Pelicans might be the worst franchise in the NBA and it really sucks.

[ValvPiti]

They have assembled lots of talent on this roster. They are usually pretty darn good with a healthy Zion, so ofc no.

[JRoy]

Pelicants?

[God Squad]

Focusing strictly on the name- it's probably one of the worst in all professional sports (NHL, NFL, NBA, MLB and WNBA).

IMO

[Mr. Perfect]

I don't believe New Orleans ever was a viable market for the NBA, it didn't really make sense back then why George Shinn relocated the Hornets to begin with. More personal reasons than business reasons. They've been gift-wrapped two #1 overall picks both in drafts where generational talents were available (AD and Zion) without much to show for it. They had Baron Davis and CP3 before that too.

They probably should have just relocated to OKC instead of the Sonics, but Stern didn't want the bad PR of allowing a team to leave the city after a natural disaster. The Pelicans franchise is probably the obvious choice if one had to relocate a team to Seattle or Vegas.

[bkkrh]

Funny enough before they turned into the New Orleans Pelicans, the worst name for me belonged to the Charlotte Bobcats and they were definitely also the worst franchise.

To be fair, they are in that sense also the youngest team in the league, since Charlotte got his Hornets history back, so from that perspective it kinda makes sense. Considering as well that they were heavily impacted by Hurricane Catrina for a few seasons the franchise definitely didn't have the best circumstances in general.

Still you are of course right that they didn't achieve much based on the amount of talent they had on their roster.

[HiRez]

Zion in Seattle would be amazing. Replace the beignets and fried chicken and po'boys with salmon and he might get to be the player we were all promised he could be.

[JustBuzzin]

Zion in Seattle would be amazing. Replace the beignets and fried chicken and po'boys with salmon and he might get to be the player we were all promised he could be.

It rains a lot in Seattle. Zion would be stuck in the house with his personal chef. Sounds like a disaster.

[axeman23]

Pelicans are SAVAGE, bro! Here we have one in the early stages of devouring a whole GIRAFFE!!!

[bisme37]

Pelicans are SAVAGE, bro! Here we have one in the early stages of devouring a whole GIRAFFE!!!

Spoiler:

I made fun of the Pelicans name years ago when they first announced it and said something like no one wants to be a pelican and no one is scared of pelicans. And another poster immediately shut me down with a video of tourists screaming and fleeing from an angry pelican. Apparently they can be quite terrifying and ferocious lol.

[axeman23]

Pelicans are SAVAGE, bro! Here we have one in the early stages of devouring a whole GIRAFFE!!!

Spoiler:

I made fun of the Pelicans name years ago when they first announced it and said something like no one wants to be a pelican and no one is scared of pelicans. And another poster immediately shut me down with a video a tourists screaming and fleeing from an angry pelican. Apparently they can be quite terrifying and ferocious lol.

[Castle Black]

Quick history lesson: The Pelican is the state bird of Louisiana and there was a very successful Minor League baseball team named the New Orleans Pelicans dating back to the 19th Century. They won multiple League Titles and League Pennants during the early-mid 1900’s. Tom Benson chose that name because he wanted to honor that team and its historical significance to the city of NOLA.

Don’t love it personally, but I do like team names that are historically relevant to their city.

[Godymas]

Quick history lesson: The Pelican is the state bird of Louisiana and there was a very successful Minor League baseball team named the New Orleans Pelicans dating back to the 19th Century. They won multiple League Titles and League Pennants during the early-mid 1900’s. Tom Benson chose that name because they wanted to honor that team and its historical significance to the city of NOLA.

I don’t personally love it, but I do like team names that are historically relevant to their city.

A baseball team named the New Orleans Pelicans seems a lot more fitting than a basketball team. The idea that they hit balls into the air to fly around like Pelicans seems pretty damn cool

[ropjhk]

Pelicans are SAVAGE, bro! Here we have one in the early stages of devouring a whole GIRAFFE!!!

Spoiler:

I made fun of the Pelicans name years ago when they first announced it and said something like no one wants to be a pelican and no one is scared of pelicans. And another poster immediately shut me down with a video a tourists screaming and fleeing from an angry pelican. Apparently they can be quite terrifying and ferocious lol.

I remember when the name was first announced and people were making fun of the name for the reasons you mention. I'm pretty sure I posted this video back then on RealGM.

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[Dan Z]

If you're not including the Hornets then the Pelicans haven't been around as long as other teams.

The AD trade was good, but they've spent too long waiting for Zion to be healthy. They should've traded him a year or two ago.

[Doctor MJ]

Focusing strictly on the name- it's probably one of the worst in all professional sports (NHL, NFL, NBA, MLB and WNBA).

IMO

Utah Jazz is FAR worse. If the two cities swapped names, not only would NO go from almost the worst to the best, but Utah would be slightly less bad.

[kenwood3333]

The team has talents, even without Zion. Its quite confusing on why they are so bad this year.

[Doctor MJ]

I don't believe New Orleans ever was a viable market for the NBA, it didn't really make sense back then why George Shinn relocated the Hornets to begin with. More personal reasons than business reasons. They've been gift-wrapped two #1 overall picks both in drafts where generational talents were available (AD and Zion) without much to show for it. They had Baron Davis and CP3 before that too.

They probably should have just relocated to OKC instead of the Sonics, but Stern didn't want the bad PR of allowing a team to leave the city after a natural disaster. The Pelicans franchise is probably the obvious choice if one had to relocate a team to Seattle or Vegas.

Yeah, I love New Orleans but I don't think the NBA should be fighting so hard to keep a franchise in a market that will just keep getting smaller. Great that NO has the Saints who I think can thrive there forever, but I think eventually the Pelicans are going to move.

[Doctor MJ]

Funny enough before they turned into the New Orleans Pelicans, the worst name for me belonged to the Charlotte Bobcats and they were definitely also the worst franchise.

To be fair, they are in that sense also the youngest team in the league, since Charlotte got his Hornets history back, so from that perspective it kinda makes sense. Considering as well that they were heavily impacted by Hurricane Catrina for a few seasons the franchise definitely didn't have the best circumstances in general.

Still you are of course right that they didn't achieve much based on the amount of talent they had on their roster.

Bobcats was certainly a strong contender for the worst non-Utah-Jazz name.

[Jon1798]

Pelican isn’t even in the bottom half of the league as far as names. Knickerbockers, Celtics, Lakers, Clippers, Thunder, Heat, Magic, and on and on. It’s a bird, a really big one, and the state bird.

And all the rest…..yeah Chris Paul was great there but, yeah AD was great and had more accolades there but….. not sure how to respond to those. Only reason the Pels aren’t better this year is because their top 8 players have been hurt. Nothing more, nothing less.