I mean, I guess? You seem to be no-selling the fact that they apparently played a more difficult schedule, while they had Cousins, and have only been just-as-good, with an easier one. You also seem to be disregarding the fact that they significantly upgraded their roster since he got injured: trading for a quality sixth man, signing a center who probably would have kept Cousins from getting injured in the first place, had they signed him three weeks earlier, and recently finally getting their best perimeter defensive wing (and originally projected opening night starting SF) back healthy.
It's a little simplistic to suggest that it's as simple as Davis stopped deferring, and borders on disingenuous to even intimate that the Pelicans would be where they are now, had they started the season without Cousins.