Pelicans look to improve in first-round sweep, Open vs. Bulls – Field Level Media – Professional sports content solutions

The New Orleans Pelicans were open to trading Brandon Ingram during the offseason, and the Chicago Bulls were open to trading Zach LaVine.

But neither team received a satisfactory offer for their former All-Star players.

So when these teams meet in the season opener in New Orleans on Wednesday night, Ingram will still be a Pelican and LaVine will still be a Bull.

Both teams made significant moves in the offseason to break out of the middle of the pack in their conferences.

New Orleans brought guard Dejounte Murray from Atlanta in exchange for four players, none of whom were starters. Murray was absent from the team earlier in the week due to a family emergency but was expected to return late Tuesday.

New Orleans is excited to pair Murray with Ingram and forward Zion Williamson, but there is uncertainty at center after sending Jonas Valanciunas to Washington. Journeyman Daniel Theis, European rookie Karlo Matkovic and first-round pick Yves Missi will rotate at center. Sometimes the Pelicans play without a traditional center.

“We are working on being a team that goes out every night and competes at a high level, brings energy and effort, a team that is disciplined and a team that goes out and plays with joy and has fun doing it,” said head coach Willie Green said. “I think these are the ingredients that make success possible.”

The Pelicans won 49 games last season and lost in a tiebreaker to Phoenix, the No. 6 seed in the West. They were eliminated from the play-in tournament, but were then defeated by Oklahoma City while Williamson was sidelined and Ingram played injured.

In each of the last two seasons, a team that finished one game ahead of New Orleans (Dallas last year, the Lakers two years ago) reached at least the Western Conference Finals.

“We talk every year about how important it is to make sure we are detailed and clear up outstanding questions because it can make or break a season,” Green said. “Sometimes it all comes down to this one game.”

Last year, Chicago finished the regular season 39-43 and didn’t make it past the play-in tournament. In July, the Bulls traded leading scorer DeMar DeRozan to Sacramento in a three-team trade that netted them guard Chris Duarte. This deal came after Chicago traded guard Alex Caruso to Oklahoma City for guard Josh Giddey.

The Bulls have gotten younger and head coach Billy Donovan has prepared them for a faster game.

“As fast as we try to play, we’re probably going to need a rotation of about 10,” Donovan told 670 The Score in Chicago. “I generally had a rotation of nine, but for us I think we need to switch to 10.”

There is no guarantee that Ingram will finish the season with New Orleans or LaVine with Chicago.

“It’s going to be part of the season,” LaVine told The Athletic. “Not everything will be perfect. I truly believe I’ll be fine, weathering the waves and the roller coaster ride and just keeping a cool head.”

–Field level media