Apr 7, 2015; New Orleans, LA, USA; Golden State Warriors forward
Harrison Barnes(40) drives past New Orleans Pelicans guard
Quincy Pondexter(20) during a game at the Smoothie King Center. The Pelicans defeated the Warriors 103-100. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports
Throughout the early part of last season the New Orleans Pelicans searched and searched for a player that they could trust at the small forward position. The year started with John Salmons and Tyreke Evans splitting minutes there, but eventually injuries moved Evans back to point guard for the most part and left Salmons, Luke Babbitt and Darius Miller playing more minutes than they ever should for a team looking to make the playoffs.
New Orleans tried to fix things by bringing in veteran Dante Cunningham, who had played almost exclusively at power forward during his career, and placing him into the starting lineup at small forward. Somehow it worked as Cunningham used his energy and intelligence to give the Pelicans a player that wouldn’t kill them at small forward, at least for a few weeks.
But there was never the feeling that Cunningham was the long-term answer. Luckily, New Orleans did finally find that answer when they acquired former New Orleans Hornet Quincy Pondexter in a trade with the Memphis Grizzlies.
Pondexter arrived and immediately made a difference on both ends of the floor. While Cunningham was fine defensively, Pondexter raised the bar from fine to average or above-average on that end of the floor while exponentially improving the team’s offensive output from the position.
Thanks to understanding his role and where his shots could come from, Pondexter scorched nets from beyond the arc down the stretch, shooting 43 percent from three-point range after arriving in New Orleans. Pondexter also provided the Pelicans with ball movement that Cunningham couldn’t and even showed a bit of an off-the-bounce game when defenders closed out too hard.
Yet for all the improvements there are plenty of questions surrounding Pondexter going forward. Will the three-point shooting hold up? Just how good is his defense? Should he really start for a team with championship aspirations?
We touch on all that and a few more questions in this Pelicans Rank roundtable.
Next: The Surgery Decision