When the original Omer Asik for Ryan Anderson rumor surfaced prior to last season, I thought that both players were being criminally underrated. In Anderson’s case, he’ll never be an elite defender, but true big men who can shoot like he can are extremely rare and they open the floor immensely for their teammates. And I don’t think the Pelicans have reaped Anderson’s full value yet; the team’s lack of a legitimate offensive threat at small forward has allowed many teams to continue to clog the lane despite the stretch-big’s presence.

Still, I was on board with the Asik side of that deal at the time, and it appears that at best, the Pels will be able to keep both and at worst, they’ll have put together an indirect version of that deal (As of Friday deadline, rumors were that the Pelicans were actively shopping multiple players, including Anderson, to free up the cap space needed to secure Asik’s 8.3 million dollar cap number).

Asik has been one of the league leaders in adjusted plus-minus rating for years. He defends the rim extremely well and is arguably the league’s best rebounding center. His teams have been worlds better with him on the floor regardless because his other skills are elite.

Asik and Dwight Howard weren’t a great fit together because both are true centers, and the league has gotten away from that. One of those guys would too often be asked to check a stretch or small ball four and taking them out to the perimeter on a regular basis is like pulling a fish out of water. Anthony Davis and Asik, though? That’s filthy.

Davis is so athletic, so quick, and we’ve seen him commonly show and make plays out on the perimeter defensively. He’s also one of the league’s best shotblockers. With both he and Asik defending the lane, the Pelicans have a legitimate identity now: nobody, but nobody, goes inside.

Those two manning the front line together also gives Monty Williams some flexibility that he simply didn’t have last season. When healthy, the 2013-14 Pelicans weren’t his kind of team: the best five players together always boasted Davis at center with a trio of guards, a group that could hope to outgun everyone and had scant hope to stop anyone.

This roster looks like it will have a lot more synergy than the healthy version of last season’s team. This roster seems more built with a purpose. That’s always a good thing.