New Orleans Pelicans could cash in on the NBA Summer League
By Rick Stone
With glaring holes surrounding the New Orleans Pelicans’ roster, the team could look to the NBA Summer League for answers.
The New Orleans Pelicans are going to have some roster spots to fill.
Currently, the Pelicans have just nine players under contract for next season. Their expiring contracts, for the most part, are not going to be brought back to the team.
Eric Gordon, Ryan Anderson, Norris Cole, Jordan Hamilton, Kendrick Perkins and James Ennis could very well be looking for a new team next year. While many New Orleans fans would be happy with Tim Frazier returning, it’s not a guarantee he will return either.
While the Pelicans could lean on bringing back the squad from last year, they could look to something they decided against last season: Bringing in talent from the NBA Summer League.
The New Orleans Pelicans’ Summer League roster had quite the impressive performance in 2015. Some of the big standout performers for New Orleans were guard Seth Curry, guard Larry Drew, big man Khem Birch and forwards Fuquan Edwin and Victor Rudd. This led the Pelicans to a 5-1 record and a semi-finals birth in the Summer League Playoffs, before losing to the Phoenix Suns.
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Taking a gander at the players after their Summer League performance, there’s a lot of promise from those on last year’s squad. Seth is the most obvious, with 44 games played on the Sacramento Kings this past season. Averaging 6.8 points per game out of college undrafted is not easy, yet Seth did well.
Larry Drew, Khem Birch and Fuquan Edwin all spent time on the NBA D-League’s Sioux Falls Skyforce. Each helped the Skyforce to a D-League best 40-10 record. Drew was on the team for their run to the NBA D-League Championship, while Birch and Edwin both went overseas to play in the Turkish Basketball Super League.
Victor Rudd played for the Delaware 87ers in the NBA D-League and recorded ten double-doubles, before going to Nizhny Novgorod in Russia. He played 28 regular season games before the team qualified for the Eurocup of Basketball. They made it all the way to the quarterfinals of the 64 team tournament before being eliminated. Rudd led the team in scoring.
Each of the New Orleans Pelicans’ Summer League players has had success this past season. That shows the team’s impressive ability to bring talented youngsters to their summer roster. However, the big change they need to make is attempting to cash in on those players in New Orleans.
Seth Curry could have been signed by the Pelicans, however the team felt they were fairly set at the guard positions before the season had passed. Was that a mistake? Who knows. But they missed their chance on an up-and-coming player they could’ve had at a much cheaper price than he’ll go for this summer.
There will be plenty of players with great talent that will be looking for a Summer League roster. The New Orleans Pelicans will get another chance to get some quality players to sign up. Getting those players to play on the team past the Summer League should be a new priority. Guys like Khem Birch and Fuquan Edwin could have played key bench roles for a team decimated by injuries.
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With glaring holes and big decisions on salaries for next season, the New Orleans Pelicans would be doing themselves a favor by looking carefully at their summer league players for the longer term. Instead of shoving money at veterans, it’s time to give the youngsters a real shot at the big league.