New Orleans Pelicans: 3 reasons to feel positive about the Pels start

The rookie New Orleans Pelicans are giving fans a lot of reasons to feel excited about the present and future.

In the first round of the 2019 NBA Draft, the New Orleans Pelicans seemingly stumbled upon three pretty good talents, all of whom seem apt at sticking around for the long haul.

Zion Williamson was always going to be special. His blend of basketball skills, athletic ability, and general humanity has made that kid loveable since his early days in Duke blue. His debut will come in the next few weeks.

As many fans were drawing this season up to be all about Zion, the rookie is finally inching closer and closer to being back in the game. Truly, his debut could be right around the corner, as the calendar turns to the first week of December.

What fans needed to learn is what they actually were getting in eighth-overall pick Jaxson Hayes and seventeenth-overall pick Nickeil Alexander-Walker, who were lesser-known college products.

In turn, Hayes and Alexander-Walker have responded with pretty impressive basketball, especially when considering the two still have a few weeks before they’ll have played even 20 NBA games.

Drawing his first start of the season yesterday against the Warriors, Hayes is averaging 7.7 points, 3.8 rebounds, and shooting 68.9% from the floor in New Orleans.

The New Orleans Pelicans are also +2.1 with Hayes on the floor, as the rookie is posting a +1.4 box plus/minus, plus is taking 84.4% of his shots from within three feet. Hayes is playing smart, causal basketball fresh off of the college shelf.

Alexander-Walker took a little longer to find his rhythm in the NBA but after a 27-point outburst against the Heat and posting 19 points, 4 assists performance against the Warriors, the rookie looks a lot more comfortable on the floor.

His numbers don’t look great thanks to some truly ugly shooting performances early in the season, but Alexander-Walker is averaging 7.5 points, 2.6 assists, and 2.4 rebounds while shooting 36.4% from three for the New Orleans Pelicans.

Getting positives out of their rookies so early, the New Orleans Pelicans have a lot to feel good about heading into their next stretch out games.

Truly, this season was starting to feel like something of a lost cause, but players stepping up into their roles could make this team back into a fringe playoff club. On both ends of that argument, there’s still a lot left to learn and a lot of games left to play for these Pelicans.