How the Boogie-Davis Duo Has Fared so Far This Season

Almost immediately after the 2017 NBA All-Star Game, the New Orleans Pelicans and Sacramento Kings finalized a trade that sent DeMarcus Cousins to "The Big Easy."

The trade sent shockwaves through the NBA and formed one of the most polarizing duos fans have ever seen. Anthony Davis, arguably the best power forward in the NBA, would be joined by arguably the best center in the league.

However, it was no guarantee this partnership would work out. In the era of three-pointers dominating how most teams play nowadays, the Pelicans zigged when the rest of the NBA was zagging. While both players have the ability to shoot from the outside, the potential matchup problems against teams that went small was enough to doubt the success New Orleans would experience after such a risky move.

Last season, the Pelicans failed to reach the playoffs after making the blockbuster trade. New Orleans was 23-34 before the trade, and finished the last 25 games of the schedule with an 11-14 record. The team ended up with a 34-48 record overall, which was good for tenth place in the Western Conference.

This year is pivotal for these two talented big men to get on the same page. So far, Davis has missed a few games with a knee injury, but has returned to action in the middle of Cousins playing like an MVP candidate.

The two-man combination of Davis and Cousins has a net rating of +13 so far this season. This compares to Stephen Curry-Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant-Klay Thompson, and Blake Griffin-DeAndre Jordan. What's even more impressive is that the Cousins-Davis duo is 16th in the league in true shooting percentage. Two bigs placing that high in a statistic dominated by perimeter scorers shows you the potential of this partnership.

The Pelicans seem to have figured out a way to use Davis and Cousins in an effective way that should cause endless matchup problems for any team that tries to defend them.

One thing you may notice with the Pelicans this year is they use Cousins and Davis while keeping the players on opposite sides of the floor. This keeps defenses from overloading one side, and since both are bigs, it can keep rim protectors outside of the paint. Both players have developed into strong outside shooters, which is key for this strategy to work.

In the clip above, Cousins has the ball in the post, with Davis on the opposite wing. Iman Shumpert looks to be helping Tristan Thompson by staying close to Boogie, but Cousins is a good passer and finds Moore on the cut. With Davis stretching out Kevin Love, it's a wide-open layup. If LeBron James decided to help on the cut, it leaves a wide-open shooter in the corner.

Spacing Cousins and Davis also gives the Pelicans more chances for one-on-one opportunities. In this play above, Cousins is on the right wing keeping Love out of the paint, while Davis has Thompson all alone. Davis is able to score easily in a one-on-one matchup, and New Orleans can use this all season if it wants.

Usually, teams can double team a post up if they want, but with Cousins or Davis spreading the floor completely, opposing teams won't get away with doubling in the post, as long as the Pelicans keep shooters on the floor.

When the Pelicans decide to bring both players on the same side of the floor, defenses over-compensate and leave the other three players fairly open. Opposing teams don't really have a choice but to send at least three defenders toward Davis and Cousins.

With Cousins' passing ability, he is able to find Moore, who slipped into the middle of the lane for an easy floater. Similar to the play Moore is involved in before, he could easily make the pass to an open three-point shooter if the defense rotates to him.

This type of action is scary for what the rest of the NBA will have to deal with when playing the Pelicans. They run a double screen with Cousins and Davis on either side of Jrue Holiday. Whichever side Holiday picks, that player rolls and the other pops.

With the talent of Davis and Cousins, this type of play is really hard to defend if Holiday makes the right play. One of the three players will have a decent look almost every time. Here, Holiday finds Davis, and he gets a pretty easy layup with Shumpert switched onto him and Cousins keeping Thompson away from the paint.

Then there are situations like this where Holiday finds Cousins on the pop and he drills the open three. If the Pelicans were to make it to the playoffs, they would be a handful in the half-court. The postseason tends to be played at a slower pace, and having two of the best big men in the league running double pick-and-roll is an advantage no other team has.

The Pelicans still have a lack of depth on the perimeter, but the players they have now will have plenty of opportunities to hit opens shots and score off cuts. When you have inexperienced players or some that lack offensive skill-sets, putting them in easier spots to score helps tremendously.

New Orleans' problems this season will stem from the defensive end of the floor, thanks to lack of depth and versatility. It's a small sample size, but the Pelicans are 19th in defensive rating this season and 19th in allowing points in the paint.

With Davis and Cousins inside, they will have to improve their paint defense and hope their perimeter defense holds up. The Pelicans acquired Tony Allen and Rajon Rondo this offseason, so they will certainly help make things difficult on opposing backcourts. However, the defensive versatility of this Pelicans team worries me, and they should really look to try and add to that area of their roster this season. Their offensive potential is through the roof with the two most talented bigs in the NBA, and I would hate for their defense to prevent them from making noise in the Western Conference playoffs.