Brian Schmitz:
Pelicans may have déjà Dwight moment.
Sightings of the New Orleans Pelicans in Orlando are rare, considering they are housed in the Western Conference. They visit once a year in the regular season, but they arrive with a look very familiar to Magic fans: The One-Man Gang.
Everything revolves around Anthony Davis, much the way everything revolved around Dwight Howard years ago.
Davis is an engaging, young big-man star who is said to be the next face of the NBA.
If that isn’t deja Dwight, nothing is.
The Pelicans, in town Wednesday night for a preseason game, are praying Davis doesn’t follow Howard’s career course and leave another off-Broadway market in ruins. But it’s inevitable. They all leave.
LeBron left. Kevin Love left, although he was technically traded.
LaMarcus Aldridge just left.
DeAndre Jordan left for Dallas and returned to Los Angeles a few minutes after dipping his toe into free-agent waters.
Dwight left two particular teams — Orlando and the L.A. Lakers — as did Shaq, who made more stops than a roadie.
’Melo moved on. So did Chris Bosh.
No wonder Oklahoma City fans are nervous nellies: Kevin Durant can become a free agent this summer.
It’s controlled chaos, well, except in orderly San Antonio. Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili have been Spurs lifers.
Anywhere else, it’s always hunting season in the NBA.
As former Magic GM Otis Smith once said, “You never stop recruiting them.” And Otis was talking about his own player — Howard, who was under contract at the time.
Smith had to recruit Dwight 24-7 near the end of Howard’s eight-year stay. Howard was expressing his discontent, whether it was lack of playoff progress, lack of a star sidekick, lack of rockstar love or lack of pats on the head from Stan Van Gundy.
This brings us back to Davis, and why the Pelicans realize they are on the clock because virtually every team with a superstar is on the clock.
Davis is saying all the right things now, how he “loves” New Orleans and “has a lot of trust in the organization.”
Then again, the Pelicans signed him in July to the richest contract in league history — five years, $145 million.
But the Pelicans are vulnerable to losing Davis and at some juncture liable to be on the endangered species list of NBA teams.
While the city of New Orleans offers hedonist delights, it hasn’t exactly carved a foothold for pro basketball.
Last season was the first time the club climbed over .500 and reached the playoffs the past four years. What 45 wins in the stacked Western Conference earned them is a No. 8 seed and the privilege of getting swept by the Golden State Warriors, the eventual champions.
Davis is surrounded by some decent players, but not a co-star who can help with the heavy lifting, especially in the postseason. When the elite performers don’t have a dance partner or two, they go searching to join a team that does.
Worrying the Daviswatchers is that All-Star Chris Paul honestly tried to make a go of it in the bayou. But Paul forced a trade in 2011 — a year before the Pelicans landed Davis with the No. overall pick.
A young star is fine going solo while he’s compiling his stats and landing his first large contract. Eventually, the criticism directed their way for not winning can sour even the best well-intentioned franchise player.
That said, the Magic would love again to be in the Pelicans’ position.
Better to have lost a star than to never have loved one at all — or something like that.