New Orleans Pelicans: Aleksej Pokusevski is Draft and Stash Option

Aleksej Pokusevski’s Weaknesses

Pokusevski has a couple of glaring weaknesses that balance out his enormous potential as a draft pick for the New Orleans Pelicans.

The first weakness is just that, weakness.

Pokusevski is seven feet tall but weighs about as much as an orange on a toothpick. When he turns sideways he bears a strong resemblance to a thinly sliced piece of white bread.

His weight is listed anywhere from 185 to 201 lbs. so Pokusevski will have to add some girth and muscle to his frame if he wants to bang with NBA power forwards.

While he does project as a guy who could be an effective weak side shotblocker, Pokusevski has to get a lot stronger to play the four.

He also lacks athleticism, especially lateral movement and hops, though those things should get better as he fills out and develops physically.

Another knock on Pokusevski is that he hasn’t gotten much run for Olympiacos in Greece, so scouts have not seen him play much against competition that can grow a beard.

Though his numbers for Olympiacos were impressive at 9.9 points, 7.3 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.7 blocks in 21.3 minutes per game, he only played in 12 games and most of it was mop-up duty.

Though he projects as a potential high-volume 3-point shooter in the NBA, his shot thus far has been lacking, as he shoots just 40 percent from the floor overall and has just a 48.1 effective field goal percentage.

But it is important to remember that Pokusevski is just 18, so many of these problems could go away once he puts on strength and fine-tunes his shot.

If he can get there, he would fit in nicely on the New Orleans Pelicans.