New Orleans Pelicans Franchise All-Time Team: Starting Shooting Guard

Apr 10, 2015; New Orleans, LA, USA; New Orleans Pelicans guard Tyreke Evans (1) dribbles the ball past Phoenix Suns guard

(2) during the second quarter at the Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

Nathan (@NathanHeck22): Tyreke Evans

Tyreke Evans is an odd player, to say the least. For starters, it’s difficult to nail down exactly what position the man plays. For the purpose of this All-Time team, I’m putting him at the two guard spot.

Then, you get to his game. As most Pelicans fans can tell you, Tyreke has the innate ability to ruin a break with his questionable decision-making (Matt recently explained why Tyreke would be terrible at dodgeball because, instead of running by a defender, he simply plows into them at least once a game).

To focus on the poor decision-making would limit how special Tyreke Evans is as a player, though. At times, Tyreke Evans has literally left me speechless. I remember sitting in the Smoothie King Center being completely baffled by what I just saw on multiple occasions last season. Passes that have no business getting through somehow make it to a big ready to slam it home. Layups that have seemingly no chance at making it in the basket somehow dance around the rim and glide through the net.

In the pick-and-roll, Tyreke Evans is one of the league’s elite. He consistently finishes at the rim or makes a play to set up a teammate, illustrated by his 16.6 points and 6.6 assists a game last season. He has shown the ability to carry the team through rough shooting stretches, and he excels at making the defense pay for every single mistake.

Evans definitely doesn’t fit the definition of efficient, nor can he be considered a lockdown defender by any stretch of the imagination, but he is incredible at both putting the ball in the basket and setting his teammates up to do the same. A lot of questions can be asked about Tyreke Evans. Will he ever improve his jump shot? How about his defense or decision-making?

Somehow, though, he always has me asking the same question. How did he do that?

Next: Austin's Pick