Evaluating Each New Player’s First Season with the New Orleans Pelicans

The New Orleans Pelicans’ roster had a lot of new faces this season. Let’s take a look at who had the best first year in the Big Easy.

The New Orleans Pelicans have done something that doesn’t happen very often in the NBA or any other league, which is to nearly change out the entire roster and still remain competitive.

With 14 players from last season departing, the New Orleans Pelicans needed to replace some major production.

The biggest infusion of talent came from the trade between the New Orleans Pelicans and Lakers; gone was Anthony Davis, coming back were Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball and Josh Hart.

The draft was another source of talent addition; Zion Williamson, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Jaxson Hayes, were first round selections in the 2019 draft.

The Pelicans activity in free agency added some veteran leaders and depth to the roster as well, with Derrick Favors, J.J. Redick and Nicolo Melli signed to deals during the summer.

The players who spent their first season with the Pelicans during the 2019-20 season are Zion Williamson, Nickeil Alexander Walker, Jaxson Hayes, Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart, Derrick Favors, J.J. Redick, Nicolo Melli, Zylan Cheatham and Josh Gray.

Let’s look at how each fared this year and see who had the best year. To figure this out we’ll compare the preseason projections and expectations to how each player performed this season (all projections are from ESPN).

Didn’t play enough to make a strong impact

Josh Gray – 2 games, 1.0 points, 1.0 rebounds, 1.0 assists, 50.0 FG%
Zylan Cheatham – 3 games, 1.3 points, 2.0 rebounds, 0.7 assists, 40.0 FG%

Gray only played in two games this year, filling in as a reserve guard when the New Orleans Pelicans dealt with injuries. He only played 23 minutes in those two games and his advanced numbers weren’t great in that limited time.

New Orleans would prefer to keep him in the G League where he played 37 games, averaging 22.5 minutes and improving as a player.

Cheatham falls into this category as well, playing 3 games with New Orleans and 34 games in
the G League. He’s a versatile defender who shot a decent 33% from three in Erie.

If he can improve as an offensive player he fills a need the New Orleans Pelicans will have in the future.

Young guy who got lost in the teams depth

Nickeil Alexander-Walker – 41 games, 5.1 points, 2.0 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 33.9 FG%

2019-20 Projections – 13.2 points, 3.4 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 44.7 FG%, 25.0 min

NAW had a strong summer league where it looked like he was going to crack the rotation and be a key piece of the reserves (I took him in a fantasy league off his summer performance).

But he averaged only 11.2 minutes in the 41 games he played this year and broke his wrist a week before the NBA shut down.

NAW’s defense (0.4 WS) grades higher than his offense (-0.7 WS). For a rookie to
be better on defense than offense is a little encouraging as it shows NAW has the basketball IQ to handle NBA defensive schemes already.

His shooting needs to get better to earn more playing time. A 33.6% two-point FG% won’t cut it in the NBA. His shot profile fits the current thinking across the league with 34.8% of his shots being of the catch and shoot variety and 37.9% coming from within 10 feet.