Last season was one to forget for most Pelicans fans, and was filled with missed games, missed games and more missed games. But with a new season comes a fresh start, right?

Unfortunately not for the Pelicans, who will start the season without their starting point guard, shooting guard and have a three-man PF/C rotation which doesn’t have a player who has played in more than 68 games since Asik, back in 2014-2015.

Player Movement

Notable Ins	Notable Outs
Buddy Hield NBA Draft Chris Copeland Milwaukee Bucks E'Twaun Moore Chicago Bulls Lance Stephenson Memphis Grizzlies Langston Galloway New York Knicks Solomon Hill Indiana Pacers Terrence Jones Houston Rockets	Ryan Anderson Houston Rockets Luke Babbitt Miami Heat Eric Gordon Houston Rockets

New Orleans Pelicans Depth Chart

Point Guard	Shooting Guard	Small Forward	Power Forward	Center
Jrue Holiday Langston Galloway E'Twaun Moore Tim Frazier	Tyreke Evans Buddy Hield Lance Stephenson	Solomon Hill Alonzo Gee Dante Cunningham Chris Copeland	Anthony Davis Terrence Jones	Omer Asik Alexis Ajinca Robert Sacre

Rotation Player Projections

POS	PLAYER	USG	MPG	PTS	REB	AST	STL	BLK	3PM	FG%	FT%	TO
PF	Anthony Davis	33	35	26.9	10.7	2.3	1.3	2.1	0.7	49.3	75.8	2.4
PG	Jrue Holiday	28.9	32	19.1	3.4	6.8	1.6	0.3	1.5	43.9	84.3	3
SG	Tyreke Evans	24.7	30	14.9	5.1	6.5	1.3	0.3	1.3	43.3	79.6	2.8
SG	Buddy Hield	20	28	16.1	3.6	1.7	0.9	0.3	2	44	80	1.7
SF	Solomon Hill	15	28	9.1	5.3	2.2	1.1	0.4	0.9	44.7	85.7	1.3
PG	E'Twaun Moore	16	24	8.4	2.6	1.9	0.7	0.3	0.9	48.1	62.9	1
PG	Tim Frazier	21.9	24	10.7	3.6	6.1	1.1	0.1	0.7	45	76.3	2
PF	Terrence Jones	18	22	8.5	4.6	0.8	0.6	0.9	0.5	45.2	66.4	1
SF	Dante Cunningham	11	19	4.6	2.3	0.8	0.4	0.3	0.5	45.1	69.5	0.4
C	Omer Asik	11.3	18	4.2	6.3	0.4	0.3	0.3	0	53.3	54.5	0.9
PG	Langston Galloway	15.6	18	5.5	2.5	1.8	0.7	0.2	0.7	39.3	75.4	0.5
SF	Alonzo Gee	9.2	10	2	1.5	0.4	0.4	0.1	0.1	51.8	66.7	0.4

Position Battles

Starting Point Guard (until Jrue Holiday returns)

Frazier played big minutes in the last 16 games of last season, putting up 13.1 PTS, 7.5 AST, 4.4 REB and 1.4 STL in 29 minutes of playing time. His offensive production is good, but his defence is not. Which is where Moore comes into play, who has reportedly been working on his ball handling in the off-season in an attempt to be a viable point guard option.

It’s hard to say who will start, but if it’s Frazier his value will be tied to Holiday’s return, whereas Moore still has value, even with Jrue in the starting lineup with his ability to backup both guard positions.

Starting Small Forward

The Pelicans got very little in terms of fantasy production and real, NBA production from their small forward position last season, and it doesn’t look like much will change this season with Solomon Hill likely to get the start over Cunningham, Pondexter and Gee, with Hill being the best fantasy option, but only in deep leagues.

Injury Risks

Anthony Davis

Let’s start with Anthony Davis, who has averaged 65 games in his four-season NBA career, with 68 being his best in 2014-2015. There’s no denying that his numbers are great when he’s on the court, and with his usage set to soar at the start of the season he could very well be the best fantasy basketball player come January, but he’s going to miss games and is always an early shut-down candidate when the Pelicans fizzle out of the playoff race. While this doesn’t matter too much in Roto leagues, it’s crucial in H2H as you want your best players available during your league’s playoff weeks.

Jrue Holiday

Jrue Holiday will miss the beginning of the 2016-17 season to be with his pregnant wife as she faces brain surgery. Firstly, this is terrible news for the Holiday family, and Jrue’s number one priority should be to be with his wife. Don’t expect him on the court before January.

Tyreke Evans

Tyreke is a counting stats machine when he’s on the court, but last season he only managed to play in 25 games, and he’s already set to miss the first two months of the season.

Terrence Jones

Terrence has been one of the biggest fantasy basketball teases of the past few seasons as a big man who can block shots and hit three’s, but he has only played in 83 games over the past two seasons, and when he has been on the court he hasn’t lived up to the potential. A new location could be exactly what he needs, with plenty of opportunity to showcase his talents in New Orleans.

Other Player Summaries

Omer Asik Don't Draft

Gentry, for some reason, is persisting with starting Asik at center again this season. Mostly to protect Davis from getting too banged up, which is a shame, because Davis is the perfect modern-day center. Do not draft Asik, unless you’re in a 20 team league.

Buddy Hield Deep League

Buddy is set to be one of the better rookies this season and will get plenty of minutes to be fantasy relevant, but he doesn’t have a fantasy friendly game. He’ll put up points and threes, but doesn’t very little in his other counting stats.