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

Big men who played well in the limited minutes they got

Nicolo Melli – 52 games, 6.8 points, 3.0 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 44.2 FG%

2019-20 projections -N/A

Melli coming from the Euroleague was expected to be the floor spacing big man the New Orleans Pelicans needed to open up space for teammates to attack the rim. He shot 36.1% from three point range this year which is decent, but I’m sure the team was hoping he’d hit them at a higher rate.

While this was his first year playing in the US there may have been some adjustment to a slightly longer three-point arc. He did shoot lights out in January and February draining 51.9% and 46.0% respectively from three in those months (in March he shot a very bad 19.0%, but I’m not putting much stock into 4 games).

Defensively Melli was solid and actually graded out nearly as well as he did on offense. He does need to stop fouling as much (he averaged 2 per game) if he wants to get more than the 17.1 minutes he did this year.

Jaxson Hayes – 56 games, 7.5 points, 4.0 rebounds, 0.9 assists, 55.0 FG%

2019-20 projections – 8.0 points, 5.4 rebounds, 0.9 assists, 58.6 FG%, 20.2 min

Hayes was a highly regarded prospect coming out of the University of Texas and the flashes he showed this season prove why.

His athleticism was on full display with that put back; Hayes ran the floor after the defense caused a turnover and didn’t quit on the rebound even though one of the best three-point shooters in the NBA had an open look.

While he was solid as a rim-running center in this rookie year he needs to develop some range as a shooter to become more of a threat on offense.

Hayes was a pretty good rebounder in his 17 minutes per game and being such a raw player it’s encouraging to see that he developed some chemistry with Lonzo and the rest of the young core.

Similarly to Melli, Jaxson would pick up bad fouls while playing (while this is accepted as part of the learning curve for young big men) and it caused head coach Alvin Gentry to bench the rookie for five of the last seven games before the shutdown.