New Orleans Pelicans year in review: Alonzo Gee

The New Orleans Pelicans could not get any consistent production from free agent signing Alonzo Gee, even if he played the second most games on the team.

The New Orleans Pelicans’ season was crushed by the weight of injuries throughout the season. Only two players on the roster played over 70 games in the 2015-2016 campaign. One of those players had a pretty subpar year, and that player is Alonzo Gee.

The Pelicans signed Gee to the squad in July of 2015. He was seen as an athletic veteran who could bring physicality off the bench at a cheaper price. New Orleans didn’t have a ton of money to work with this past offseason, yet still wanted to upgrade their depth at the wings. Gee was seen as such. The result was a lot of “gritty, yet disappointing” performances.

Alonzo Gee finished the year tallying 4.5 points per game, 3.4 rebounds per game and just under a steal per game in an average of around 22 minutes on the floor. Gee’s strongest quality this season was his ability to stay on the floor, missing only nine games of the season; that’s ahead of everyone on the team except Dante Cunningham. Unfortunately as far as positives go, it’s hard to find many more with Alonzo’s play this season.

His struggles on defense is the first major subject of criticism. At age 28, it would seem Gee would’ve figured out how to stay in front of his man and make driving difficult against him. He did have 0.9 steals per game, which equates to something. However, as the year went on, teams found it easier to attack him off the dribble and use a quick first step to drive past him before he could set up.

His help defense was a work in progress as well and he demonstrated the inability to come off his assignment to cover an open lane left on a defensive switch or a double-team. It led to a lot of open layups and dunks for opposing teams who utilized strong off-ball movement. His 2.3 fouls per game made it tough for him to stay on the floor and gave his opposing matchups too many free points.

As far as shooting goes, Alonzo Gee actually had a decent season. Gee finished the season shooting 51.8% from the field, a career high for percentage in a single season. The negative of this was his 3.5 shots taken per game. For how many minutes he was on the floor, that’s not enough looks to help spread the offensive load.

The other major issue was his lack of long-range shooting, a stat the Pelicans needed desperately all season. Gee took less than one three-pointer a game and made just 28.3% of his attempts this year. His game is not about shooting from behind the arc or really jump shots at all, but it was still a disappointment from what the Pelicans had hoped.

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There is one thing that has to be said about Alonzo Gee: he gave a lot of great effort. A few performances this season showed where he willed himself to play above his expectations. It wasn’t a common theme, but he occasionally came out and played much more successfully than his norms, mostly due to his exceptional effort. While it was a loss in late March, he had quite the inspired performance against the Toronto Raptors. Gee finished with 18 points on 8-12 shooting from the field, along with eight rebounds and two assists.

The season was already over for the New Orleans Pelicans and he could’ve packed it in. However, he seemed motivated all night to give the Raptors as difficult a test as possible. The Pelicans still lost by over 20 points, but his effort was exceptional for the circumstances.

Alvin Gentry and the New Orleans Pelicans’ season as a whole draw a lot of parallels to the kind of year Alonzo Gee had. It had some shining moments of joy and strong effort, yet there was not enough of it to see any real progress and excitement. While Alonzo Gee’s presence in this league has been one, at times, of strength, it’s only in small spurts.

For a team that has very high expectations in the near future, questions about Alonzo Gee’s fit on this team will inevitably come up. The newer options of Bryce Dejean-Jones and James Ennis might end up being a better idea to try and craft instead of forcing Alonzo Gee to fit into the system

Next: New Orleans Pelicans year in review: Omer Asik

The New Orleans Pelicans will be getting more looks at Alonzo Gee next season, as he will enter the second and final season of his contract in 2016-2017. His first look on the team was not stellar, however his cheap price and ability to give the team minutes on the floor will likely hold a roster spot for him going forward. With the return of many injured players and new faces on a franchise looking to take the step forward, it’s likely the effort veteran will see a lot less looks of the floor and a lot more looks of the bench for the remainder of his Pelicans tenure.

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