Four Ways the New Orleans Pelicans Could Be Worse Next Season
April 18, 2015; Oakland, CA, USA; New Orleans Pelicans head coach Monty Williams (center) stands next to guard
Quincy Pondexter(20, left) and guard
Norris Cole(30) during the second quarter in game one of the first round of the NBA Playoffs against the Golden State Warriors at Oracle Arena. The Warriors defeated the Pelicans 106-99. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
Quincy Pondexter and Norris Cole May Not Shoot as Well
There are a lot of shooting related questions for the Pelicans this season. In the improvement article we touched on one, with Ryan Anderson‘s road shooting expected to tick back to normal rates. In this article it would have been hard to ignore the other shooting questions surrounding the Pelicans.
When Quincy Pondexter and Norris Cole joined the Pelicans in the middle of last season, they seamlessly fit into the roster and gave New Orleans an incredible boost in the depth department. They also gave the team an incredible boost in the shooting and spacing areas of the game and that isn’t guaranteed to happen again.
Of the two Cole’s shooting seems more unsustainable. After arriving in New Orleans last season, Cole shot an incredible 50 percent on shots from 16 feet to the three-point line per basketball reference despite the fact that those difficult shots made up 30.2 percent of his attempts. That number was by far his career best as Cole has shot under 40 percent from that distance in two of his four season career.
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Cole also shot a career best from three-point land with New Orleans at 37.8 percent after shooting 34.5 percent the season before and 26.5 percent in Miami before being traded. At the end of the day Cole rode a 28 game hot streak in New Orleans that just won’t continue. Considering that he looks likely to share a bench unit with non-shooters Tyreke Evans and Dante Cunningham that could be an issue at times.
Along the same lines is Quincy Pondexter, the veteran wing the Pelicans got from the Grizzlies for nothing. In New Orleans last season Pondexter made 43.3 percent of his three-pointers, on essentially the exact same percentage of attempts he took in Memphis. For the rest of his career Pondexter has made 36 percent of more of his threes just twice, with a season of 30.1 and 32.4 joining the 23.3 percent he posted in Menphis last season.
Pondexter’s shooting seems most likely to stay as he gets to spot-up in the corners while sharing the floor with Anthony Davis but if both fall the Pelicans could be in a spacing crunch.
Also, Alexis Ajinca is not finishing in the 97th percentile in post-up offense again.
Next: It Takes Time