For the past several years there has been an absence of an athletic wing player who could defend the best scorers in the game for New Orleans. Peja Stojakovic was added as a shooter and scorer, Morris Peterson a shooter, and James Posey as a bum.
Two season later and rather than be helpful championship pieces these players were financial burdens hindering the development of the New Orleans Hornets. As the 2010 NBA Draft approached many of us hoped we could finally grab a defensive, athletic wing player above 6’5” that wouldn’t be a complete flop.
This is where Quincy Pondexter’s story begins. A senior in college Q was the leader of a strong program and the University of Washington. This wasn’t some AAU player, this was a respected senior who had produced for a number of years in college. And this respect has transpired among many Hornet fans for this upcoming season.
I would be a lier if I told you I didn’t expect big things from the 22 year old. Okay these big things I talk of may not happen this year, but I would expect to see some positive signs. To be truthful Q has a lot of supporting pieces around him that can help him to succeed. Monty Williams is notorious for developing small-forwards into decent NBA players. Chris Paul is a winner and will show Pond his desire and passion for the game and may light a fire underneath the forward. As well and more importantly in front of Pondexter there are two NBA veterans, one with a scoring history in Peja Stojakovic and another with a defensive history that also has a ring in Trevor Ariza. These two players can further assist the rookies development in the league by leading by example on the court. These aspects of the team added with a decent start to the season can really demonstrate what it means to be in the NBA.
In order to get a grasp on whether Quincy will be effective this year and beyond we must look back to his college days as well as his summer league performance.
First, let’s start off with Pondexter’s college performance. Every year Quincy improved, season after season he became more of a leader on the court of the Huskies. Many have come to criticize his ability to score, however he has shown that in the right offense and with the proper coaching adjustments he can put the ball in the hoop. Each season there was an improvement in Q’s scoring average per game, 10.7 (2006), 9.9 (2007), 12.1 (2008) and 19.3 (2009). He did this while maintaining a very good field-goal percentage (49.8, 45.2, 51.1, 52.8).
In his senior season Quincy put up games of 30 points (vs. San Jose St.), 29 points (vs. Portland St.), 31 points (@ Texas Tech), 25 (@ Texas A&M), 23 (@ UCLA) and 31 (@ Oregon). Now while this is still college ball, my point is that Pondexter has the capability of scoring. As well he usually does it efficiently, he doesn’t force bad shots and really try’s to be a part of the team rather than trying to be the team.
Translating this into his NBA performance is difficult, but evaluating his performance against the best college players in this year’s summer league can be a start. For many Quincy was a player that flew under the radar heading into the summer, but a stellar performance soon turned the attention of many NBA commentators.
"The last weekend of summer league, when things get really messy, is tailor-made for a ball dominator like Quincy Pondexter, who unleashed a series of nasty incursions into the paint. Pondexter spent the afternoon bursting off side screens or attacking in isolation at the top of the floor, drawing a ton of contact. He finished with 26 points on 7-for-15 shooting from the floor, along with a 12-for-15 day at the stripe."
In summer league action the 4 year man out of Washington put up numbers of 15.2 PPG/4.0 RPG/2.0 AST/1.4 STL in 34 minutes of action per game. Accounting for a small-sample size as well as a reduced role in the regular season, Pondexter’s supposed weakness of “scoring” will not be a problem. If he plays an efficient role as part of the bench I really believe that Q will be a tremendous player in this league.
I also think that Quincy could see time at the 2-guard position. I’m really concerned about the lack of a decent backup for Paul, so I think at this point a bench lineup of Belinelli/Pondexter/Stojakovic/Songaila/Gray is all the more probable. Pondexter has a great ability to defend athletic guards as proven by his ability to defend John Wall in this year’s Las Vegas Summer League.
"After the first quarter, Quincy Pondexter was charged with guarding John Wall, and he generally performed his task well. He showed good lateral quickness in guarding the extremely speedy Wall, who did most of his damage in transition rather than in the half-court set. On the offensive end, Pondexter started off well, but ended up cold. He finished with 16 points on 4-11 shooting, but he turned the ball over 7 times. He did a good portion of his damage from the free throw line, where he was 7-8. He made a couple of nice off-the-ball cuts to get to the rim and displayed his creativity off the dribble. He even picked up 5 rebounds, tied for second on the Hornets."
Even our own head coach Monty Williams saw some promising things from him, “Quincy’s a guy who plays with passion, he defended John Wall better than anyone I saw this week.”
To me Quincy is a soft-spoken, hardworking player that if anything will be a solid role player for any team over his NBA career. It would be fitting if Q had a career similar to our own Monty Williams, a solid but not outstanding player. Many will expect to see immediate things from him, because if he doesn’t deliver in a hurry his time in the rotation will be as short as his NBA career.
Season Guesstimate:
Points per game: 6
Rebounds per game: 2
Steals per game: 0.7
Minutes per game: 11
Credit to DillonWasserman25