New Orleans Pelicans: 3 players who need to step up after All-Star Break
By Willie Lutz
Nickeil Alexander-Walker
Heading into the backstretch of the season, the Pelicans would be hugely benefited if some of their younger players started developing with a little more pace. In particular, Nickeil Alexander-Walker is due for a lot more success than he’s had up to this point.
Reserved mostly to mop-up duty in his first season for the New Orleans Pelicans, Alexander-Walker has yet to find the same grove that other youngsters and rookies seem to have found at this point in the season.
Coming off of the Pelicans bench for an average of 12.2 minutes per his 41 appearances, Alexander-Walker is posting 5.1 points, 2 rebounds, and 1.8 assists while shooting 33.9% from the floor on 2.9 attempts per contest.
More than anything, Alexander-Walker has to play a cleaner brand of basketball if he wants to help this team win games.
The hardest part of watching Nickeil this season has been his lack of passer vision, or perhaps it’s passer feel. Far too often, Nickeil Alexander-Walker seems to be seeing ghosts or just not understand the play,
Until this season, I’ve never seen a player throw a higher percentage of passes to no one; far too many of his pass attempts sail out of bounds without a teammate within 5 feet.
Even if Alexander-Walker can’t find his groove before the end of the season, he’s a huge part of the Pelicans’ future and has shown enough at his best to prove he’s got the tools nessacary to succeed at a high level in this league.