New Orleans Pelicans By the Numbers: Number 4
After a few fairly strong numbers in a row things start to get rough for a bit in New Orleans Pelicans (Hornets) history with the number 4. Things got off to a decent start when David Wesley wore the jersey for his time in New Orleans before a four person procession of sadness took over. It is a bit of a glimpse into the way things start to head in many of the proceeding numbers and speaks to a lot of the reasons that things haven’t been going well in New Orleans lately.
The First to Wear #4: David Wesley, 2002-2005
The Most Recent to Wear #4: Melvin Ely, 2014
The #4s in Between: Jackson Vrooman (2005-2006), Sean Marks (2009-2010), Xavier Henry (2012-2013)
Number 4 started things off the right way with David Wesley who started 159 games over two and a half seasons in New Orleans before being traded to the Houston Rockets in the middle of the 2004-2005 season. Wesley had his best season in 2002-2003 for the Hornets when he averaged 16.7 points, 2.4 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.5 steals in 73 games for the playoff bound team.
From there though things went south for the number 4 as it was passed to Vrooman, who played just 1054 minutes and scored just 269 points in his 77 games New Orleans career spread over two seasons. After a few years off Sean Marks picked up the 4 jersey and used it for just 74 games and 913 minutes over two seasons before moving on to Portland to finish his career.
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The 4 again went out of circulation for a bit before Xavier Henry took his chance in trying to change the fortunes of it, which unfortunately didn’t happen. Henry struggled in his two seasons in New Orleans, playing in a total of 95 games while averaging just 4.5 points, 4.3 rebounds and 0.5 assists per game in his Hornets career.
After Henry left, Melvin Ely took his turn in the number 4 jersey for the final two games this past season and by being traded for Omer Asik this offseason became the most productive player to wear the jersey since Wesley back in 2005.
With a franchise that has struggled so much since moving to New Orleans it isn’t a surprise that the Pelicans have a group of numbers with plenty of struggles and the number 4 is just the first of many examples. From international players to journeymen to lottery tickets the Pelicans have tried everything with the number four so far and it hasn’t worked out. If things continue according to college numbers Patric Young looks like he will get the next shot to make number 4 work and break recent history. If Summer League is any preview it won’t be long before Young is right behind Wesley as the best number 4 in franchise history.