New Orleans Pelicans: Two Statistics that Deserve More Attention
New Orleans Pelicans: Numbers that Must Improve
The first statistics that jumped out were 72.9 and 63.6 percent.
These are the New Orleans Pelicans’ overall team free throw percentage and their free throw percentage in the clutch respectively.
The Pelicans are the 29th best free throw shooting team in the NBA and when it comes to clutch situations, they rank 30th, aka worst in the league.
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Considering that the Pelicans are tied for 4th in the NBA in 3-point shooting at 37.2 percent, it makes no sense that their free throw shooting is this bad.
The biggest reason is that their primary ball handlers, Lonzo Ball and Jrue Holiday, stink at free throws. Lonzo shoots just 56.7 percent from the line, while Holiday isn’t much better at 70 percent.
In addition to Lonzo and Jrue, Zion Williamson, Derrick Favors, Kenrich Williams, E’Twaun Moore, Jaxson Hayes, Jahlil Okafor and Nickeil Alexander-Walker all shoot below 70 percent from the line.
If you’re counting, that’s more than half the roster.
Brandon Ingram and J.J. Redick are the only two Pelicans who could be considered good free throw shooters.
The Phoenix Suns, who are the best free throw shooting team in the NBA, shoot nearly 10 percent higher as a team.
This is an important number that needs to be addressed.
Why this statistic is important
Obviously more free throws leads to more points and more wins, but there are other reasons why they are particularly important to the New Orleans Pelicans.
The first is that Zion is going to get fouled a lot, which means the Pels will often be in the bonus early in games. This is a potential advantage that they are not capitalizing on if they miss the free throws.
The next is that the Pelicans were terrible in the clutch. Clutch situations are basically just the last five minutes of a close game.
According to NBA.com, the Pelicans were tied for 27th in win percentage in clutch situations. A big reason they can’t close out these types of games is that they shoot just 63.6 percent from the line in the clutch.
The Pelicans often build big leads only to watch them disappear late in games. This would happen less if they could make free throws at even a league average rate.
How this will affect the future of the New Orleans Pelicans
The first effect this number should have is embarrassment.
There is no way Lonzo should be shooting a lower free throw percentage than Andre Drummond. The Pelicans need to take more pride in their free throw shooting and do what it takes to improve, even if that means shooting 10,000 a day during this hiatus.
This especially applies to Ball and Holiday, who simply must do better.
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This might also cause the New Orleans Pelicans to value free throw shooting more heavily when making decisions about draft picks, trades and free agents.
Their poor free throw shooting will also affect their lineups late in the games, when they may decide that Lonzo or Holiday have to head to the bench in favor of Redick or even Josh Hart.
The New Orleans Pelicans must improve their free throw shooting and it should have a big effect on how they construct and coach the team.